Stories from 28 July 2008
Zambia: Most owned ICT assets
What are the most owned ICT assets in Zambia?: “The Central Statistics Office (CSO) 2006 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey (LCMS IV) results in Zambia indicate that the most owned assets were the radio at 55.6 percent, Cell phones at 24.2 percent and Television at 24 .1 percent while the least...
Sri Lanka: 25 years after Black July
Sepia Mutiny on this weekend marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of war in Sri Lanka, which is commonly dated to the anti-Tamil riots there in 1983.
India: Apathy and Terror
Greatbong on the institutional and cultural apathy in India surrounding acts of terror – with people not pressing for political action.
Sri Lanka: Riots in the early 80s
groundviews has a moving post, recollecting ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka in the early 1980s.
Sri Lanka: On the SAARC
Chaar Max Returns on the perceptions of the SAARC in Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh gets a ‘Blog-Ban’ scare
On 15th of July, Bangla bloggers were disconcerted to find that they could not access Sachalayatan , a popular Bangla blogging platform that focuses on literature and contemporary issues, from within Bangladesh. Those living outside Bangladesh, however, had no problems with accessing the site. In the beginning, people thought it...
Bermuda: Business or Pleasure?
The latest statistics from the Caribbean Tourism Organisation prompt 21 Square to ask how much of Bermuda's tourist market “is actually…reliant upon business travelers”, while Vexed Bermoothes adds that the sagging tourism sector is causing an even greater salary gap between hospitality employees and international business workers.
Nepal: Library Movement
Nepal Monitor profiles Dr. Antonia Neubauer, the person leading Nepal's Library movement.
Jamaica, India: Signs of the Times
The recent bombings in India trigger Jamaican blogger Annie Paul‘s memory about “one piece of graffiti by a Muslim group that had struck me with the simple force and stridency of its message.” In examining the many murals around Kingston, she wonders if “the signs are on the walls.”
Bahrain: Bloggers agree on code of ethics
Bahraini blogger Redbelt reports on a meeting where bloggers agreed on a code of ethics aimed at combating hate and discrimination online.
China: Bring your own wifi routers with you!
Re: exorbitant prices for internet access in Beijing's Olympic Media Village, one writer on Andrew Lih's AndrewLih.com: “I just can’t believe that not only do I have to deal with the Great Firewall of China, but also pay through the nose to use it!”
Kenya: Blogging workshop for marginalized youth
Kristina Rosinski, a volunteer at the Undugu Society of Kenya (USK), describes a blogging workshop in which she taught poor and marginalized youth how to blog and post photographs. She links to the blogs and Flickr photostreams of all 17 participants in the workshop.
Malawi: Pornography Scandal
Stories on Malawi reports that last week a renowned banker and the wife of a prominent lawyer were arrested for acting in pornographic materials, which were widely exchanged via e-mail causing a social scandal.
Zambia: Anti-corruption commission
Zambian Economist comments on the lack of funding of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Zambia: “Yet another example of how poor funding undermines institutional reform”.
Malawi: Healthworkers use of Frontline SMS
Kiwanja describes some of the initiatives that are using the software Frontline SMS (an collective SMS service for NGOs), such as Josh Nesbit in Malawi who's using it “to drive field communications between a local hospital and its six hundred roaming community health workers (CHWs)”.
Proposal to close Hausa Wikipedia
The blog Hausa Online reports that a few days ago a proposal had been made in Wikipedia's discussion pages to delete the Wikipedia in Hausa language, an African Chadic language spoken by more than 24 million people. This comes a few months after the blog Beyond Niamey expressed his concern...
Mongolia: In the Wake of Parliamentary Crisis
Bilguun reports that 16 Democratic Party members stuck to their promise to boycott the new Parliament and submitted a written notice to the President.
Sudan: YouTube Blocked
Too Huge World reports that YouTube has been blocked in Sudan.
Kazakhstan: U.S. Urges Astana to Foster Reforms
Zhanna Zhukova reports on what was said Tuesday at the U.S. Helsinki Commission hearing on Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship bid. Washington urged Kazakhstan to show clear signs of democratic progress before the end of this year.
Kyrgyzstan: Islamic Education Institutions
Elena discusses the results of a two-month research project entitled “Modernization of Islamic Education Institutions in Kyrgyzstan”.
Afghanistan: Seeking Justice
Despite its reputation for a very conservative brand of Islam, Afghanistan is deeply torn. Before the recent decades of war, the country was more known for its mystical Sufism that attracted crowds of hippies and tourists than anything else; the Soviet War helped entrench a more fundamentalist brand of Islam...
