Stories from 16 May 2007
Bhutan: And now the Administrative Empire
Bhutan: For A Democracy follows up on the economy being controlled by the Wangchuks, and comments on the administrative empire. “Not only at the economy, the wangchuks have expanded their empire over the administrative circle of the country. This was meant to protect their interest and let there be no...
Guadeloupe Celebrates the Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery
Of all the festivities to celebrate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery, Guadeloupe Attitude was most impressed by the performance at the Victor Hugo Middle School of Saint-Yorre, which brought together the entire school community. Jean-Claude Haley links to photos.
Palestine: Four Ways to Die in Gaza
Palestinian blogger Amal A says there are four ways to die, if you live in Gaza. They are: “By an Israeli missile By a guided Palestinian bullet to the heart By a stray Palestinian bullet to the head By a heart explosion out of frustration, fury, and despair.”
Yemen: From Camels to Toyotas
Yemeni blogger Omar Barsawad notes how Toyota and Isuzu trucks came to replace camels and donkeys as Yemen's preferred “wheels of choice.” ‘Many times, I have asked people around – “why the old Isuzus?” The answers vary, but means the same: through experience, they say, the old Isuzus serve them...
Bahrain: Over Criticism
Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif reports that the Ministry of Agriculture and Municipalities has threatened to drag to court anyone who questions land sales and ownership in Bahrain. “In a communiqué by the Ministry of Agricultural Affairs and Municipalities in response to what has been published yesterday regarding the purported...
Iraq: Danish Soldiers Captured .. and Released
Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar reports that three Danish soldiers have been captured in Iraq. ‘A number of Arabic news websites, affiliated with armed groups in Iraq, are reporting that 3 Danish troops were captured by an ‘Iraqi resistance group’. A Danish military spokesman in Copenhagen confirmed that one soldier was...
Dubai: Tradional Dhow Sailing Contest
Dubai-based blogger Seabee brings us the latest in text and photographs about the traditional dhow (boat) sailing race later this month. “AED6 million (US$1.63 million) is the prize money for this year's traditional dhow sailing race, due to be run on May 26. It's a great sight too, the 60...
Palestine: Double Nakba
Writing from Gaza for the Electronic Intifada, Rami Almeghari says: “My pen is bleeding, my hand is shaking, my heart is sighing and my mind is stuffed with the bitter experiences of the past 14 months. The latest is today's anniversary of the Palestinian catastrophe (Nakba); today is a double...
Kenya: Presidential debate to stream online
The Alpha Quadrant reports that the Kenya presidential aspirants debate today is to stream online: “Today (Wednesday 16th May) at 1400hrs EAT live debate stream on http://idhaa.kenic.or.ke:8001/ Follow via blog – http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ The debate is calculated to ensure that ICT issues are put on the pedestal during the campaign period...
Israel: Daily Kos Bans Palestinian Bloggers
Jerusalem-based blogger DesertPeace announces : “In their continuing ‘War Against Truth, Justice and The American Way’ Daily Kos banned two other writers who dared to speak the truth. My dear Brother Haitham of Sabbah's Blog and my Sister Nancy of Umkalil.”
Korean dishes
This blog has put together recipes for some famous Korean dishes. If you don’t read Korean, try to guess the ingredients from the photos.
Should all handicapped people not have been born?
Lee Myung-bak, former mayor of Seoul, South Korea and a presidential candidate, answered a question about abortion for a newspaper “Fundamentally I am opposed, but there would be unavoidable cases. We should accept inescapable abortion like when fetuses have obstacles.” Bloggers show how handicapped people would feel and snapshots of...
Earthquake in Laos, Felt in Thailand
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck north western Laos on Wednesday afternoon. There are only a handful of bloggers inside Laos and no one has talked about the quake as of yet. In neighboring Thailand, some bloggers wrote about the tremors.
Iraq's Segregation
The Angry Arab News Service links to a Washington Post article by Nir Rosen which sheds light on the role Paul Bremer played in Iraq. He quotes Rosen as writing: ‘But Bremer himself never understood Iraq, knew no Arabic, had no experience in the Middle East and made no effort...
Algeria: Bad Translations
Algerian blogger and linguist Lameen Souag takes a look at bad translations. “The moral in all this for English-language media is clear: when some helpful organisation sends you a free translation of some foreign-language article or program, do look a gift horse in the mouth, and check the translation with...
Algeria: End of the World
Algerian blogger Nouri notes that the end of the world is near. “As a friend of mine put it: He thought the end of the world was coming, and he was right,” he posts.
Conservation 2.0: Congo Park Rangers Bring Global Attention To Endangered African Wildlife
Conservation, like many other areas of our professional, political and social life, is currently adapting to new trends in information and communication technologies. Despite the colossal digital divide that exists in the Democratic Republic of Congo, blogs are becoming an important information and communication weapon in the hands of Congo park rangers. Since last year, Congo park rangers have been using blogs to tell their stories and voices from the deepest part of Africa for a global audience. Armed with blogs and cameras, the elite park rangers highlight stories, which have hitherto been mostly ignored by the mainstream media.
Monem: first blog-post from prison
The Egyptian blogger Abdel-Monem Mahmoud managed to smuggle his first blog-post from his prison cell in Torah Mahkoum where he is being detained for a renewable term of fifteen days: “Despite all what happened from prison, torture, corruption and poverty; I am still in love with you Egypt. I might...
Barbados: Influence of America
After reading about the experience of Joseph C. Phillips, who visited Zimbabwe and discovered that African youth casually used “the N-word” to address each other, Barbados Free Press wonders “what Barbados would be like without the influence of our most powerful neighbour to the north.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Cricket Curfew
“If it was in my hands I’d have had guys more free to do what they want to do in the lead-up to the first Test match.” West Indies Cricket Blog quotes Chris Gayle on the issue of curfew.
Fiji: Blogs are a threat to national security
On May 14th, Intelligentsiya reported that the army's Land Force Commander has a list of about 20 people who will be arrested in connection with anti-military blogs. It has also been reported that the Fiji Military Forces (FMF) have pressured FINTEL, Fiji's only ISP, to block blogspot.com blogging platform, nearly...
