Stories from 9 July 2009
USA: One Step Closer to Lifting HIV Travel Ban
Last week the U.S. government initiated the final steps required to lift long-standing travel and immigration restrictions imposed on HIV-positive foreigners.
Russia: History of handling vodka
English Russia tells the story of how the vodka issue was dealt with by political leaders during the soviet era.
Russia: Why Medvedev was drowsy at G8 summit
LJ user supehero gives his very own explanation [RUS] to why President Medvedev looked so drowsy at the G8 summit in Italy.
Russia-Belarus: Foreign policy split between Moscow and Minsk?
Sergei Makedonov at OpenDemocracy discerns an increasing foreign policy split between Russia and Belarus and explains why.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Mass grave exhibition
Srebrenica Genocide Blog reports about the opening of a mass grave exhibhition at the Sarajevo museum.
US-Russia: Rewinding the Russia reset
Two new presidents, two great powers, and three world leaders. That was the stage set as US President Obama earlier this week travelled to Moscow to meet Russia's President Medvedev and Premier Putin. With shared and conflicting legacies of idealism versus realism, the meeting held the promise of a new start in the two countries' relations. Still, as we rewind the "reset summary" for US-Russian relations, this was not exactly the outcome of the visit, at least when seen through the eyes of the Russian blogosphere.
Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada: Happy Birthday “Birdie”
Repeating Islands marks the occasion of “the King of Calypso Mighty Sparrow’s 74th birthday.”
Bermuda: PATI On The Cards
The Bermudian Premier has announced that Public Access To Information legislation “will be one of the first topics on the parliamentary schedule in November” – Vexed Bermoothes thinks that “the complete law must be exposed to the public in an advance consultation, and advice solicited from outside experts in freedom...
Jamaica: Women Needed
In the context of the West Indies Cricket Team's strike, Jamaica's Girl With a Purpose humbly suggests that “the West Indies Cricket Board needs to include at least three women, who are prudent, business and financially savvy, with guts, and who can get things done.”
Nigeria: Interview with Nigerian digital artist
Read an interview at Black Looks with Nigerian digital artist, Kenneth Shofela Coker.
Africa: Africans to text Obama during his Ghana trip
Erik discusses Obama's new media strategies for his trip to Ghana: We’re launching an SMS platform to allow citizens to submit questions, comments and words of welcome (in English and in French) . Using a local SMS short code in Ghana (1731) , Nigeria (32969) , South Africa (31958) and...
Japan: Personal Donations to Politicians
With “Love Japan“, Rakuten Inc. has enabled personal donations to politicians via credit card, a first in Japan. Hit Okano [ja] ponders about the relationship between the amount of donated money and its influence on politicians, while blogger Satotaku [ja] refers to U.S. President Obama's success with online contributions and...
Jamaica: H1N1 Sub-Type?
Jamaica's Yardflex.com reports that “health care professionals…are questioning whether the country has been seeing mutated forms of the virus.”
Guyana: Writing's Purpose
From Guyana, The Intellectual Elite finds himself “preoccupied with the purpose of writing.”
Kenya: Kenyan poet fears for his life
Kenyan Poet, singer and actor Grand Master Masese fears for his life after a series of bizarre phone incidences in the past week. On Friday night, he received an SMS threatening his life. It read: “Umekua ukijifanya mjanja but mwisho wako umefika” (You think you are clever but your end...
Kenya: Demand Dignity Campaign
Marvin blogs about Demand Dignity Campaign run by the Amnesty International in Kenya.
Madagascar: Community radio project by Foko and Radioactive
Lova writes about a community radio project to be run by Radioactive and Foko in Madagascar.
IDPs Are Also Sri Lankan And Have Their Rights
Indi.ca contradicts the idea that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka need to be kept in camps for their own good. The blogger opines that: “they are Sri Lankan and they have rights, including the right to movement.”
South Africa: Drumming to freedom
cueTV interviews a dance collective from Mauritius, Reunion and Madagascar about the dance, Ma Ravan’, a ritual and a performance, and paying homage to slaves and freedom fighters performed at the Grahamstown Arts Festival in South Africa.
South Africa: Jesse Clegg at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival
cueTV speaks to Jesse Clegg, the son of music legend Johnny, at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival.
Ghana: Guess who's coming to dinner
Guess who's coming to dinner in Accra, Ghana: “Today's edition of the nation's flagship newspaper Daily Graphic offered a rather hefty edition, starting with key articles like these, offering reasons for Obama's desire to come to Ghana.”
