15 July 2009

Stories from 15 July 2009

Russia: Politkovskaya laureate murdered

Just another death, just another obituary. That seems to be the general sentiment as news of today's murder of Russian Human Rights activist, Natalya Estemirova, broke. However, there are still people out there, in the Russian blogosphere, who challenge disillusion as yet another voice of conscience and tolerance is silenced by violent death.

15 July 2009

Turkey: Tick Encounter

“Did you know that for a couple of years now, there has been an invasion of infectious ticks in Turkey? They carry a disease that causes death after a couple...

15 July 2009

Armenia: ‘Bloggers’ call for foreign minister's resignation

Following a July 10, 2009 statement by the U.S., Russian, and French presidents calling for Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the longstanding conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, some bloggers in Armenia have launched a campaign demanding the resignation of the country's foreign minister.

15 July 2009

Egypt: The Egyptian Apostate

Egyptian progressive thinker, Dr. Sayed El Qemany was granted the State Award for Social Sciences. Egyptian liberals and seculars hailed the award while Wahabis and conservatives declared war on the “Egyptian Apostate”. Marwa Rakha reports from the Egyptian blogosphere.

15 July 2009

Jamaica: Time for Arbitration?

From Jamaica, Girl With a Purpose thinks that the conflict between the West Indies Players Association and the West Indies Cricket Board “needs to go to arbitration…the West Indian public...

15 July 2009

Bahamas: Writers on Blogging

Nicolette Bethel blogs about The Bahamas Writers Summer Institute, at which one discussion focused on “the value of blogging” and “the radical power of blogs and bloggers” – Womanish Words,...

15 July 2009

Malaysia: Prime Minister marks 100 days in office

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia celebrated his 100th day in office last week. Malaysian bloggers share their reactions as the government announced several economic and administrative reforms to mark the occasion.

15 July 2009

Ghana: Global discussion of Obama's visit to Ghana

The diversity of voices participating in the global discussion concerning President Obama’s visit to Ghana and the speech made on Saturday 11th of July in Accra almost universally share a common thread irrespective of the arguments, views and opinions otherwise expressed: sincere hope for Africa and Africans. And bloggers have been asking: Why Ghana? Why not Kenya, the President’s ancestral home, or Nigeria, the self-professed “super-power”? And why now? Is it about oil or democracy?

15 July 2009

Arab World: Trouble for Gay Travels in the Muslim World

The first gay book to have been ever translated into Arabic after being originally printed in English has run into problems straight off the press. Katharine Ganly reports on blogger reactions to the book Gay Travels in the Muslim World, whose translation has spurred a heated debate.

15 July 2009

Morocco: Free Speech Call to the King

Allal El Alaoui, a Moroccan blogger based in Rabat, reports and links [ar] to the open letter written by Khalid Jamai, 65 – a Moroccan veteran journalist known for his...

15 July 2009

Ghana: Hope and candour float in Ghana following Obama's visit

In anticipation of the coming of US president Barack Obama to Ghana from 10-11th July, the ghanablogging.com community—established in 2008 to promote the work of Ghanaian bloggersand bloggers writing about Ghana—set a theme entitled “Obama’s visit: A View from Ghana”. Below are some of the highlights of the blog entries.

15 July 2009