Stories from 28 April 2006
Belarus: Rumors On Belarus-Russia Relations
TOL's Belarus Blog considers rumors of “the future in Belarus-Russia relations,” one of which is that Kremlin would like to get rid of Aleksandr Lukashenko in order to incorporate Belarus into the Russian Federation.
Poland, Russia: Katyn Massacre
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
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
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
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
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.“
China: Blog closed for birth
Last week Chinese blogger Bing Feng abruptly closed down his blog. Today he says why.
Taiwan: A Chinese Africa
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
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
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.”
China: Technorati unblocked
Not that it has much connection to the Chinese blogsphere anyway, but Technorati is back reports Danwei.
Hong Kong: Benefits blogs bring
More meta-commentary from Roland at EastSouthWestNorth in ‘Why Blogs Are Better Than Mainstream Media‘.
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...
Bermuda: Technology Education portal
The Limey links to the Bermuda Ministry of Education's Technology Education Learning Portal.
Trinidad & Tobago: Press statement on aluminum smelter
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...
Ghana : ICT seminar
Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly Arrived Denizen posts a couple of podcasts on the ICT seminar he is attending in Accra.