Stories from March, 2006
Guinea: currency devaluation
Black Star Journal laments about the devaluation of the Guinean franc relative to the US dollar. In the past 20 years, the Guinean franc appears to have lost almost 18,000% of its value against the greenback.
Positive Nigeria
From its warm and friendly citizens, soccer stars, its community spirit, movie industry and musical tradition, ijebuman’s diary celebrates all that is positive about Nigeria.
Battling HIV/AIDS
The Concoction appears to disagree with former US president Bill Clinton when he calls for mandatory testing for HIV/AIDS. It also tells of what it calls “brave Catholics” in South Africa who are going against Vatican teachings and advocating the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Uganda: Conflict
Uganda Conflict Action Network reports that the “current rate of death from the war in northern Uganda is three times higher than [that] in Iraq following the US invasion.” Facts and figures are provided to back up this claim.
Israel: Rabbis and Imams for Peace Meet in Seville
Richard Silverstein argues that “there is no end of those who criticize Islam and its imams for their supposed hatred against Israel and the west… Such attitudes toward Islam are unfair and anti-Muslim. I’ve argued here against such individuals saying that Islam is as varied a religion as Judaism or...
DRC: Priest Describes 3/22 Protest
Le Blog du Congolais posts (FR) a Le Phare interview with a priest, Rev. Blaise Kanda, who attended UDPS’ March 22 protest. Rev. Kanda reports that even though UDPS leadership may not be ready to take up arms, rank-and-file demonstrators shouted slogans that indicated they were. He was also surprised...
Trinidad & Tobago: Shouter Baptist Liberation Day
JT at the Caribbean Beat Weblog explains the origins of Shouter Baptist Liberation Day, which was observed yesterday in Trinidad and Tobago with a public holiday.
DRC: Malu Malu Announces Delay in Communal Elections
UDPS Liege blogger ngstephane comments (FR) on electoral council President Appolinaire Malu Malu's appearance on a Belgian talk show yesterday. Blogger is especially disappointed with Malu Malu's announcement that communal elections will have to take place later than the constitutionally mandated June 30, 2006 deadline and predicts that Malu Malu...
Bahrain: Ship Disaster
Beside the deepest condolences expressed by Bahrain bloggers to the families who have lost relatives and friends in the catastrophic ship disaster, for Amira, this toke away the excitement of returning home, and Mahmood believes that people who were directly responsible for flouting safety laws should be punished, and this...
El Salvador: Dollars and Donuts
Rob Mercatante, usually based in Guatemala, just got back from a trip to El Salvador. Here are his reflections on dollarization and donuts.
Costa Rica: Global IT Ranking
Uri Ridelman notes that Costa Rica lost eight places in global IT ranking according to the World Economic Forum. Costa Rica was ranked below El Salvador and Panama, but above Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Brazil: Brazil's First Man In Space
Made in Brazil explains why 43-year-old astronaut Marcos Pontes was on the front page of all Brazilian papers today.
Bolivia: “Battle at the Cochabamba Airport”
Eduardo Ávila is covering a developing story at Jorge Wilstermann airport in Cochabamba, where workers of the airline Lloyd Aereo Boliviano are demanding that the indebted airline be nationalized. Writing from Cochabamba, Jim Shultz describes LAB as “one more lab rat in that great IMF-induced economic experiment of privatizing all...
Argentina: Indie Online Radio
unaRadio is an online radio station based in Argentina which describes itself as “a free medium to distribute the work of independent artists in Spanish and other languages.” You can listen to it in any media player by clicking here.
Latin America: Top Sports Blogs
Bar Deportes lists the top thirty sports blogs according to Alexa (ES). They nearly all focus on football.
Mongolia: Reporter in Court
Luke Distelhorst writes about the case of a journalist in Mongolia being taken to court for slander by the country's president and says that the country would greatly benefit from more skilled investigative journalists and greater access to government documents.
Kazakhstan: Wedding
Betsy, author of Stanmenistan, writes about Kazakh weddings.
Georgia: Ethnic Tensions
Raffi K. of Life in Armenia writes about tensions in Georgia between ethnic Georgians and ethnic Armenians.
Kyrgyzstan: Wireless Broadband
David Read, a blogger in Bishkek, writes about the trials and tribulations of getting a wireless broadband connection in Kyrgyzstan.
Armenia: Eclipse
Nessuna writes about seeing yesterday's eclipse from Armenia and posts to some photos and local online discussions.
Belarus: Prison Journal
Ivan Lenin at Rush-Mush links to an English translation of a Belarusian protestor's jail journal. (Written by LJ user forion in Belarusian, translated by LJ user kapitan-tanaka.)
