Stories from 6 October 2010
Russia: Vladivostok's Golden Horn Bay Bridge Controversy
Masha Egupova reviews bloggers' reactions to the construction of the Golden Horn Bay bridge in Vladivostok, a project compromised by corruption scandals and lack of accountability.
Jordan: To Palestine, With Love
Bloggers in Jordan, where a majority of people are descended from Palestinians, wrote extensively about issues in the West Bank and the Middle East this week.
Egypt: Firing Eissa, or Firing Free Press
Al-Dostour - one of the leading Egyptian independent newspapers - new owners have fired the paper's editor-in-chief and founder Ibrahim Eissa, opening the door for bloggers to put the incident and Egypt's media scene on the discussion board.
Russia: Putin Turns 58, Gets Erotic Calendar as Birthday Present
The Moscow Diaries writes about an erotic calendar – allegedly featuring female students of MGU's journalism department – that was created as a present for PM Vladimir Putin on his 58th birthday.
Pakistan: A Patriarchal Society
“From a teenager girl to mature women; every female in Pakistan faces the problem of being harassed by her male counterpart. Wherever she goes from a school to the market she is not secure in terms of being teased by males,” comments Hifsah Saeed at Chowrangi.
Pakistan: In Search For A True Leader
“Pakistan needs a sovereign and honest leadership”, says Dr. Arif Alvi at Teeth Maestro.
Russia: Police Proposes Internet Traffic Control
Internet news portal Cnews writes [RUS] about the latest proposal by the IT-department of the Russian police to require Internet providers to block (on court demand) “illegal traffic.” If the proposal is put into legal form and approved, a number of law enforcement units (police, special services, prosecutor's office) will...
Russian Officials Push the Balance in Internet Governance
Nezavisimaya Gazeta [RUS] and CircleID blog present two opposite viewpoints on the Russia's proposition to transform Internet governance process at ITU conference, that would allow the International Telecommunications Union veto ICANN decisions. While the former source considers it an effort to “de-Americanize” the Internet, the latter believes this is an attempt to bureaucratize the...
Azerbaijan: Up in flames
After erecting the tallest flag pole in the world and importing London taxi cabs to service the capital city, Baku, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines says it is amazed at what it considers another waste of money — the construction of a fountain with a musical flame at its center.
Ecuador: Photographs of September 30
On Flickr, Germán López shares a set of photographs of the police strike on September 30. The photographs are under a Creative Commons license.
Puerto Rico: 133 Law and Order Officers Accused
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has just announced the arrests of 133 Puerto Rico state police officers, municipal police officers, officers of the Corrections Department and of employees of the federal government in Puerto Rico on charges of corruption. The operative has been described as the largest...
Brazil: Twitter raises awareness of plight of São Paulo squatters
Around two thousand people, many of whom are slum dwellers who face the threat of eviction, occupied four abandoned buildings in central São Paulo early Monday morning, calling for improved housing projects. The organisers, Frente de Luta por Moradia (Front for the Struggle for Housing, FLM), have been using Twitter to cover...
Costa Rica: The Threat of Drug Trafficking
In La Suiza de Centro America [es] Dean Córnito has written two posts about drug trafficking. The first post [es] introduces the topic from a Costa Rican point of vioew, and the second [es] focuses on the strategy to fight it.
Colombia: Medellín Receives Habitat Honor Award from UN-HABITAT
Albeiro Rodas reports: “United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, gave the Habitat Honor award to the City of Medellín in recognition for the advances of its administration to fulfill the objectives of the millennium like poverty reduction by the implementation of three main programs in the Andean city: ‘Solidarity Medellín’, ‘Healthy Start’ and ‘Quality of...
Trinidad & Tobago: Thoughts on CLICO
Plain Talk puts in his two cents’ worth on “the CLICO fiasco”, saying: “The Government needs to use its legal machinery to start prosecuting the guilty and stop the talk. The people are already confused and are looking for clear leadership…”
Puerto Rico: Stamps for Fast Food
“Puerto Rico has got to be the most bass-ackwards nation on Earth, canceling chess in schools because it's too passive while flinging federal funds around to promote fast food excesses”: Gil the Jenius hopes this is “the last of the mega-stupid ideas.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Easy & Lazy?
Do Trinbagonians take the easy way out? KnowTnT.com‘s Edmund Gall cites three instances in which he thinks “it's a case of doing what's easy and wrong rather than doing what's right and difficult.”
Somalia: Hawala Tech and Banks in Somalia
Erik looks at Hawala and bank systems in Somalia: “Somali’s have been using the Hawala form of money transfer for centuries, to the tune of approximately $1.6 billion annually. Somalia, per capita, has one of the largest diaspora populations in the world.”
Nigeria/Brazil: The Yoruba Institute in Brazil
Jeremy posts a link to the Yorube Institute in Brazil: “The holders of the culture, thousands of miles from home. Perhaps one day, the culture will return home and find less ambivalence and confusion..”
Trinidad & Tobago: History of Calypso
“Calypso, along with the steelpan, is probably Trinidad & Tobago's greatest cultural export”: MEP Caribbean Publishers blogs about Calypso History Month.
Barbados: Do the Shuffle!
As the Barbados government reshuffles its Cabinet for the third time since being elected (this time because of the Prime Minister's illness), Cheese-on-bread! says: “Public sentiment is behind PM Thompson, and that's that.”
