Stories from 6 July 2007
Trinidad & Tobago: Catching a Vapse
Elspeth at Now is Wow speculates on the origins of the Trinidadian expression “to catch a vapse”…
Jamaica, Grenada, BVI, USVI: Focus on Tobias Buckell
Geoffrey Philp profiles Caribbean-born speculative fiction writer Tobias S. Buckell.
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
There is a lot on the menu in my post today. Reactions to the Iraqi bomber in London, the siege of Adhamiya, stories of exile, a little politics. And Chikitita borrowed a camera this week and took some snapshots of her daily life. I'll be dotting these around my post for added colour.
Bahamas: Triumph over Slavery
Rick Lowe of WeblogBahamas.com visits Nassau's Pompey Museum for a reading tour called Lest We Forget – The Triumph Over Slavery and shares his impressions of the visit. Posted with a link to the virtual exhibition.
China: Internet control after Xiamen protest
“Under a new city regulation, online users would have to use their real names when posting messages on more than 100,000 Web sites registered in Xiamen”, a Southern Chinese city where citizens used blogs, chatrooms and SMS to organize a protest against a planned construction of a toxic chemical plant.
Armenia: Fields of gold
Notes from Hairenik visits a farm in the Armenian Ararat region, where a resilient farmer is growing golden wheat but has to fight with irrigation problems.
Armenia: RFE/RL Update
Onnik Krikorian explains why the Armenian parliament rejected new media bills that would have put the broadcasts of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty at risk of being shut down. He also warns of complacency now that the immiment threat has waned – the government might find yet another reason...
Afghanistan: Rebuilding telecommunication
Afghanistan's telecommunications infrastructure is likely to be rebuilt now that the World Bank has announced it will support investment in the sector, says Bonnie Boyd.
Central Asia: The week in the news
For all news junkies out there, Central Asia Now features a comprehensive roundup of last week's headlines.
Uzbekistan: Power parallels
On neweurasia, Ali Said evaluates Uzbek president Karimov's options once the next presidential elections will have taken place in December.
Uzbekistan: Law and order
Rowan Wagner reports that, strangely, Tashkent's taxi drivers have suddenly become law-abiding traffic participants. Is the police finally doing its job?
Turkmenistan: Less festivities, more democracy?
Merdjen wonders whether the lack of festivities in honour of Turkmenistan's new president is a sign of democracy coming to town.
Argentina: Travel Blog in Clarin
Jorge Gobbi and his Blog de Viajes [ES] was recently featured in the Travel Supplement of the Buenos Aires newspaper Clarin.
Argentina: MIT Student Has Little Faith in OLPC
Luciano Tourn of Un Argentino en MIT [ES], an Argentine attending MIT, does not think that the One Laptop Per Child will end up working.
Japan: Defending Kyuma
DeOrio at Trans-Pacific Radio has posted a detailed essay defending former Defense Minister Kyuma Fumio's infamous remarks regarding the U.S. A-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WW2. DeOrio writes that Kyuma's “departure from the Defense Ministry and replacement by Yuriko Koike can only be a benefit...
