Stories from 11 June 2007
Ukraine: Kyiv Street Cleaners Get a Raise
Kyiv street cleaners - all 6,000 of them - will be getting $400 a month from now on. This raise, city administration officials hope, will help hire 3,500 more people needed to keep the Ukrainian capital tidy. Judging by a discussion that erupted after the Ukrainian news website Korrespondent.net ran an item on this salary increase initiative, Kyiv's laborer corps might soon become overstaffed - and many of the new recruits are likely to be overqualified for the humble yet arduous work of a street cleaner.
South Asia: On Paris Hilton
Sepia Mutiny on the sudden relevance of Paris Hilton. “Meanwhile, you have so-called “enemy combatants,” some of them South Asian, who in many cases don’t get a lawyer or even...
Pakistan: Understanding Pakistan
iFaqeer introduces a project – ‘Understanding Pakistan’. “Pakistanis often complain that the history of their country–or the history of the region as it relates to them and their country–is often...
Bolivia: Santa Cruz Newspaper Joins the Blogosphere
The Santa Cruz newspaper El Deber recently provided coverage to the Bolivian blogosphere and has even joined in the act with the launch of three new blogs of its own. The three blogs may be a catalyst for other newspapers to begin blogging and interacting with its readers.
Bangladesh: Carnival of Islam
Sadiq Alam on the Carnival of Islam in the East. “Inspired by Hakim Abdullah's ‘Carnival of Islam in the West’ yesterday it came to me that there is a necessity...
Bangladesh: Radio Stations
black and gray on radio in Bangladesh. “Slowly but surely a silent revolution is taking a shape in Bangladesh. Several private radio stations in Dhaka have gone on-air a few...
Arabeyes: Greedy Doctors, Cheating Spouses and Parliamentary Scuffles
Today's translation of Arabic blogs makes five stops: one each in Libya, Tunisia and Kuwait and two stops in Egypt to give us a gist of what some of the bloggers are writing about. Issues being discussed include how doctors put money before their patients' interests; cheating spouses; why Arabs are not progressing and the latest on why the Kuwaiti Parliament is in a shambles.
Kenya: the double edged nature of personal media
Following the explosion in Nairobi today, Thinkers Room discusses the double edged of personal media: Today has just illustrated the double edged nature of pervasive communication like blogs, email and...
Jamaica: Caribbean Americans and the American dream
Geoffrey Philp confesses that he had no intention of becoming a Caribbean-American, because he wanted to be known only as a Jamaican writer – but he now realises that Caribbean-Americans...
Iran:Ortega in Iran
You can see several photos of Daniel Ortega‘s trip to Tehran in Kamangir’s blog.The President of Nicaragua talked with Iranian leaders and gave a speech in the University of Tehran...
Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados: West Indies Decline
West Indies Cricket Blog quotes Sir Gary Sobers and former England captain Mike Arthurton on the decline of West Indies cricket.
Martinique: Legislative Election Underwhelms
le blog de [moi] writes about the legislative elections in Martinique [Fr], noting that 65% percent of voters stayed home–nearly the same proportion as voted in the French presidential election. ...
St Vincent & The Grenadines: Beauty or Brains?
Abeni cannot help but recall West Indian poet Paul Keens-Douglas’ parody on beauty shows while watching a local beauty pageant: “We learnt from one contestant that global warming is a...
Jamaica: Police Corruption
Francis Wade shares his thoughts about police corruption in Jamaica: “At a pay rate that is abysmal, how much can be expected? They have dangerous jobs, in one of the...
Iran:No to violence, yes to equal rights
In Weforchange we read[Fa] that 700 people who demand equal rights for women,in a letter, condemned the violence against women, students and workers. They say tomorrow is the anniversary of...
Haiti: Impressions of Haiti
“I spent a good number of hours in the country trying to come to terms that this magical western portion of Hispaniola was not living up to all the negative...
Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Caribbean Film
“Much of local and Caribbean cinema remains inaccessible to the majority of Caribbean people. Somehow they figure that we would rather see failed American sitcoms than our own people on...
Bahamas: Race, not Racism
“It turns out that the things that we have been taught to regard as fundamental to our own identity here in the Bahamas…are based on a lie. But it's a...
Anguilla: Hazardous Waste
Corruption-free Anguilla is concerned about the environmental hazards being caused by the island's public garbage dump.
Egypt: Blog Turns Three
Egyptian blogger Freedom for Egyptians is celebrating her blog's third anniversary. “My baby is turning three years this month. I cannot believe how time has passed so quickly. On June...
Egypt: Land Sale Scam
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia writes: “I don't know exactly where we are heading Egypt ,surely we are not heading towards the safe side , no way we are going already in...