28 April 2006

Stories from 28 April 2006

Poland, Russia: Katyn Massacre

  28 April 2006

In 1940, the Soviets executed some 22,000 Polish officers; the victims’ families have now brought charges against Russia and are demanding full disclosure of the truth about the tragedy. Vilhelm Konnander examines the issue.

Belarus, Ukraine: Chernobyl Meaning

  28 April 2006

Vilhelm Konnander explains the meaning of Chernobyl for Belarus 20 years later. Tim Newman of White Sun of the Desert disagrees with Sean Guillory's take on the lessons of Chernobyl: “To use Chernobyl as a reason to abandon nuclear power is like using the Titanic as a reason to discontinue...

Riots and panic in East Timor

  28 April 2006

Violence broke out in East Timor's capital Dili earlier today. Dili-gence says The usual press outlets have already reported 2 dead and 21 injured. We received a phone call from a Timorese in the current hot area Comorro. People are scared and people have seen smoke rising from the general...

West Indian literature online

  28 April 2006

One of the crucial elements in the rapid development of the literature of the Anglophone Caribbean in the 1940s and 50s was a weekly radio programme called Caribbean Voices, broadcast from London on the BBC's Caribbean Service and produced by Henry Swanzy. Caribbean Voices featured stories and poems by West...

Egypt: Lesson to be learned

Today Zeinobia talks about important Egyptian term that you may have heard or read it while reading the modern Egyptian political history or even while following the news of the clash between the Judges and the regime nowadays. The term is “The Judges Massacre”!

Jordan: Customer Service

Speaking her mind about the ‘customer service’ in the Arab world, Khalidah says: “We see large companies with hundreds of employees and fancy titles, their organization charts can fill a whole wall, each manager has managers and those report yet to more directors, those directors report to boards and boards...

Palestine: Confused!

Lucy Widaad has a serious question for you: “Can you guys help me make a list of things we can do here in Palestine to help progress the peace process… How can we demonstrate that we do not want occupation any longer without resorting to violence?”

United Arab Emirates: Democracy or no democracy?

Keefieboy is afraid that the real danger that democracy poses to the Middle East right now is that the ‘wrong’ people will win. Because the moderate voices of the moderate candidates will not be heard. Because the indigenous population of the Middle East is so pissed off with the way...

Saudi Arabia: No chance for woman's rights

Woman's rights in the Arab/Islamic world is hitting the Middle East news again. Justice and marriage are the last two compromised systems in favor of men, Sabbah said. In fact, he sees that the new Fatwa, which allows marriage after the woman forfeit her rights, is sort of legalization of...

Hong Kong: Incentives for local musicians

  28 April 2006

This week on n8ma's Xanga site: “news of a new orchestral fellowship for string-playing graduates of the Central, Shanghai, and Hong Kong Conservatories that will help curb the mass emigration of Chinese musicians to more promising and lucrative employment in American orchestras.“

Taiwan: A Chinese Africa

  28 April 2006

In ‘Hu charms Africa‘, Taiwan-based American blogger Richard at The Peking Duck links to a story on China's “efforts to create a new world order ” evidenced by president Hu Jintao's recent visit to Africa. “Score another one for Mr. Bush,” Richard writes. “His inane ‘War on Terror’ is chasing...

China: Culinary journey to the West

  28 April 2006

In ‘The startling truth behind my Xinjiang pilgrimage‘, Imagethief comes clean on his his real holiday plans: seeking the chuan master. “It is this man who fascinates me. Enigmatic and serene, he is a staple of the signboards of Xinjiang restaurants. A prophet of cheap eats. A sage of savory...

China: Staring happens

  28 April 2006

Laowiseass‘ Lalaoshi blogs out the reasons why he gets stared at in some places and passed over in others: “I remember no one stared at me in Zhumadian, a Henan province city where foreigners do not go unless they're journalists trying to sneak into the Shangcai AIDS village nearby.”

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

Football and ice hockey, hijab and fatwas, bloggers meetups, and much much more from the Saudi blogosphere this week. Let's go… Starting with Swalfy, who did not seem so surprised that Riyadh Gitex, which supposed to be the biggest IT exhibition in Saudi Arabia does not has a website. He...

Trinidad & Tobago: Press statement on aluminum smelter

  28 April 2006

The Rights Action Group T&T blog pulls no punches in the press statement outlining the group's views on the aluminium smelter project proposed for south Trinidad: “What is at stake for Trinidad and Tobago is not only the giving away of our natural gas, which accounts for 20% of our...