8 September 2006

Stories from 8 September 2006

TV still reigns in Brazil, but here comes YouTube

  8 September 2006

The magnitude of Internet numbers in Brazil has puzzled specialists in the last months. After overtaking Google's Orkut and exceeding their own world record in navigating time spent on the Internet, Brazilians are now preparing to dominate YouTube. The incredible jump from 9% to 20% of active users visiting this...

Kyrgyzstan: Tekebaev Update

  8 September 2006

Sean Roberts has an update on the fallout from the arrest of Omurbek Tekebaev, a Kyrgyz opposition politician, on drug charges in Poland. Edil Baisalov, meanwhile, has video (RU) and photos (RU) that suggest Tekebaev was set up.

Jamaica: 5 Questions with Kwame Dawes

  8 September 2006

Geoffrey Philip publishes the second in his “Five Questions with. . . ” series on Caribbean writers. This week he interviews Ghana-born, Jamaica-bred poet Kwame Dawes.

Jamaica, USA: Writers’ retreat

  8 September 2006

Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp pays homage to a writers’ retreat in Seaside, Florida where he once spent a month living “what is every writer’s dream: waking up in a windswept villa by the sea, writing, having breakfast while watching whitecaps, then writing some more after lunch. . . . “

Trinidad & Tobago: First Nation People

  8 September 2006

“It is my belief that our people should be included in all discussions pertaining to the environment and the well being of our country,” writes Cristo Adonis, shaman of the Arima Carib community in Trinidad, in a letter gently protesting the continued exclusion of the country's “First Nation People” from...

Thailand: Thailand and Expats

  8 September 2006

Thailand has a good number of foreigners who decide to settle down in the country. One such expat asks “So where is home? Can I, as an expat call this home? Does that make me an expert on Thai Culture? No.. infact the longer I’m here the less I seem...

Trinidad & Tobago: A history of air travel

  8 September 2006

Karen Walrond offers a personal history of air travel, which has changed, she notes, “not just because of planes flying into skyscrapers. . . it's just that societal customs have also changed so much in the last 4 decades, we all view something as illogical as air flight with a...

Cambodia: Jailed Professor

  8 September 2006

The Details are Sketchy blog takes on the appeal by Asian Human Rights Commission to free an arrested professor Tieng Narith in Cambodia. The blogger feels that the commission is not aware of the actual facts surrounding the arrest. “Let’s be clear. Tieng Narith was teaching racism and hate from...

Bermuda: Safe against drugs?

  8 September 2006

An newspaper interview with an pseudonymous drug leader outlining the deficiencies of the authorities in charge of securing Bermuda's ports and borders leaves Sean disheartened: “What would be interesting would be for a spot test. Hire a consultant (secretively) to bring in contraband and see exactly how secure the airports...

Bermuda: Civilian hurricane relief

  8 September 2006

The Limey in Bermuda's latest “open mike” topic is tabled by a former Corporal in the Bermudian Regiment, who draws on his experiences working the hurricane relief detail and calls for “a parallel force based on the ideals of grassroots democracy rather than military hierarchies, to assist with hurricanes.“

Cuba, Bahamas: Ambassadorial priorities

  8 September 2006

The Cuban ambassador to the Bahamas has been promoting the Non-Aligned Movement Summit which takes place in Havana from September 11, says Rick Lowe, but “we wonder if he will pay as much attention to the plight of the wives of the Cuban political prisoners asking for the release of...

Belize: Independence

  8 September 2006

Lee Vanderwalker reminds us that September is the month Belizeans celebrate their country's independence from Great Britain and offers a “quick, bad-memory recap of historical events,” which begins: “On September 10, 1798, the English Baymen who were loggers, farmers and pirates, along with their slaves beat the crap out of...

Poland: The Week's News Selection

  8 September 2006

In the past week, the beatroot has covered these subjects: a Polish goalkeeper in “the wonderful world of Scottish sectarian football”; 26 years later, something's wrong with the Polish Solidarnosc; a missile defense competition between Polish and Czech governments that both “would rather lose”; Elton John meets Lech Walesa at...

Estonia: Historical Revisionism

  8 September 2006

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's Russian community and the differing interpretations of history: “Under the premise of spooky Stalinist history, everything the USSR did up until the very moment that Nazi Germany invaded the USSR in 1941 was just fine, including the partionining of Europe. Because how...

Russia, Ukraine: A View From the Roof

  8 September 2006

Last month, St. Petersburg lost one of its landmarks: built between 1828 and 1835, the Trinity Cathedral (Troitsky Sobor) caught fire on August 25, while under reconstruction. As the cathedral's main dome, one of the city's most noticeable roofs, went down, LJ user english_voodoo posted an R.I.P. note in the...

Cote d'Ivoire: Toxic Waste Scandal

  8 September 2006

Kangni Alem writes (Fr):”There is no virtue in politics, let alone in business. The case of the toxic waste from a Greek (or was it Russian?) ship dumped in Abidjan illustrates the violence of this maxim and reminds me that since the 80s, political leaders and economic elites of Africa...

Iran:Old Ayatollah

  8 September 2006

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, blogger and reformist politician says there is a problem that old officials do not retire. He reports about old Ayatollah Meshkini's,the head of the Assembly of Experts, last talk in the Assembly of Experts which is the most supreme governmental institution.Meshkini talked about the preference of lunar...