Stories from 19 May 2006
Nigeria: Balls of fire
Nigeria: A long and difficult history posts a piece on the recent pipeline fire in Lagos which killed over 200 people with some photos.
Africa: High internet costs
Swamp Cottage points out the high cost of internet in Africa especially when compared to the US….$1800 for 1GB of data which is over 90 times what Kenyans pay.
Nigeria: Obasanjo's achievements
Grandiose Parlor points to an article in e-life online magazine which discusses Nigeria's President Obasanjo and his achievements during his political and military careers.
Malawi: African Hand Cart
Timbuktu Chronicles reports on the the “African HandCart” being built by local carpenters in Malawi...”novelty lies in its use of readily available bicycle wheels and a wooden chassis and body. In addition, all bolts are bicycle components, the only other fasteners being common nails and wood screws.”
Ethiopia: Blogspot blocked
Ethiopian Life reports that the Government has blocked all blogspot blogs….”Over the last two days, all blogspots blogs including http://www.seminawork.blogspot.com/ have been blocked in Ethiopia.”
Somalia: Warlords and the US
Yebo Gogo points to a White House press briefing which refused to deny the US was backing warlords in Somalia.
Advocacy: Help protect global bloggers
Bloggers, like others at the forefront of activities promoting freedom of speech and information, can run into trouble with the authorities. At Global Voices we have had first hand experience of this with the illegal detention of one of our editors, Hao Wu. He has now been held for three...
Indonesia: Mount Merapi Eruption
Enda Nausation links to a blog run by an Indonesian journalist who is monitoring the volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi.
Philippines: Bootleg DVDs
VillageIdiotSavant has a very good reason for not buying bootleg DVDs.