Stories from 16 August 2010
Jamaica: Dance!
Tallawah posts photographs from the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica's 2010 season.
Haiti: Education Challenges
“Following the Jan. 12 earthquake, 1,263…schools in western Haiti were destroyed; 376,000 students were out of school and an unknown number of teachers and students were dead or wounded”: HAITI, Land of Freedom takes a look at the country's education struggle.
Caucasus: Observations on Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
Fearcuairt contrasts the three South Caucasus countries and says that Georgians consider themselves part of Europe, Azerbaijanis feel part of Asia, and Armenians view themselves as a mixture of both. Moreover, the blog notes, the rivalries between both Armenia and Georgia despite a shared religion is unfortunate given that both...
Bahamas: Breakdown
“Many of us are more educated than ever. Many Bahamians have more money, assets, and creature comforts than ever…”: Yet, says Rick Lowe, the intolerance is pervasive.
Trinidad & Tobago: 5.0
Repeating Islands links to a report about the earthquake that shook Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend.
Cuba: Walking a Fine Line
“Although there is some level of tolerance towards the independent press and the opposition, permissiveness should not be confused with impunity”: Iván García attends his meeting with the Cuban authorities and reports that when it comes to independent journalists, “there is a fine line that cannot be crossed.”
Macedonia, Romania: Blogger Detects Cross-Border Plagiarism
L'Acqua Al Deserto discovered [MKD] that Romanian singer Irena had recently released “a copy” of Milioner, a 2007 single by Macedonian singer/songwriter Elena Ristevska with music by Darko Dimitrov, also available in Serbian, and in English (with lyrics by Leroy Chambers). Irena's website claims [RUM] that the author of ‘her’...
Pakistan: Mobile Operators Respond to Flood Relief Calls
There are a number of international mobile operators in Pakistan who are responding to flood relief requirements. Telecomistan blog highlights that approximately PKR 238 million in funds have been pledged by three Mobile Operators as donation.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Dialogue through film
The free flow of information between Armenia and Azerbaijan since independence is obviously problematic given the still unresolved conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, but can new media move in to fill the gap?
Brazil: Gay Kiss Prejudice
Rafael Ximenes writes [pt] about the controversy in a university within the state of Minas Gerais, where the promotion poster for the 3rd Congress on Public Policy / Social Services depicts two women kissing. The teacher who decided to use the image has been fired and the case ended up...
Malawi: Missing out on online technology for transparency
While more and more Malawians are flocking online to use Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, the country has yet to make progress in using these tools for transparency and accountability.
Nepal: Indian Policy On Nepal
Dr. Hari Bansha Dulal comments on the recent Indian efforts to broker Nepal's stalemate in choosing a new Prime Minister: “India's policy toward Nepal is seriously flawed. It wants to turn Nepal into a subservient client state like Bhutan”.
Pakistan: Killings In Balochistan
Apart from the recent devastating floods Pakistan has other problems to tackle. Hamid Abbasi at Chowrangi points out to the recent brutal ethnic killings of Punjabis by members of a terrorist/liberation movement in Balochistan.
Cameroon: A Review of Francis Nyamnjoh's Intimate Strangers
Dibussi Tande reviews Francis B. Nyamnjoh's book Intimate Strangers (2010):”Intimate Strangers is a collection of transcribed accounts about maids and madams, presented from the perspective of Immaculate, a research assistant and transcriber for anthropologist Dr. Winterbottom Nanny.”
Kenya: A Donkeymentary: Through the eyes of a donkey
Do you know what is a donkeymentary?: “It is basically a documentary with donkeys. Through the Eyes of a Donkey is a new film about Lamu, a small island just off the Kenyan coast, with about 24,000 people, some 6,000 donkeys, and just 2 cars.”
Kenya: Fourth president will be a lot younger
Chris looks at some key political indicators following Kenya's referendum on a new constitution: “Referendum vote brought us closer to the fourth president of the republic of Kenya. He'll be a lot younger than most analysts want to believe.”
Zimbabwe: Violence mars constitutional outreach
Bev Clark posts a statement issued by Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Peace Project and Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights following violence that took place during Constitutional outreach campaign.
Ghana: The boy Barwuah who became the man Balotelli
Nana writes about the Italian football star, Mario Balotelli, who was born Mario Barwuah in Italy to Ghanaian immigrants:”The Ghana Football Association (GFA), at some point, asked Mario to play for Ghana. The boy slammed the GFA by sarcastically puking he never heard of the country…”
Ghana: Twitter users to follow #Ghana
These are interesting and useful twitter users to follow for information related to Ghana:@silverbirdghana, @modernghanaweb, @macjordan and @gaylepesscud
Singapore: No eating and drinking inside trains
Siew Kum Hong criticizes the absolute implementation of the ban on eating and drinking inside the trains of Singapore. The ban it seems is also applied on babies drinking milk.
Vietnam: TedxSaigon 2010
TEDxSaigon is the first ever TEDx event licensed by TED in Vietnam. Themed “Dream, Diversity and Development”, the conference took place on August 15 focusing on development issues in Vietnam
