Stories from 15 April 2011
Russia: Interviews With Miriam Dobson, Thomas de Waal, Christopher Ward
Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog interviews authors Miriam Dobson (“Khrushchev’s Cold Summer: Gulag Returnees, Crime, and the Fate of Reform After Stalin”), Thomas de Waal (“The Caucasus: An Introduction”) and Christopher Ward (“Brezhnev’s Folly: The Building of BAM and Late Soviet Socialism”) for New Books in Russia and Eurasia.
Ukraine: Natural History Museum; Farmers’ Markets
A walk through Kyiv's Natural History Museum – at Uncataloged Museum; a look at Kyiv's farmers’ markets (here and here), as well as a traditional Ukrainian recipe for a viburnum (kalyna) drink, “delicious and nourishing” – at The Pickle Project.
Egypt: Gene Sharp Taught Us How To Revolt!
Last February, The New York Times wrote an article about the political science professor, Gene Sharp, whose ideas were credited as being an inspiration for the Egyptian revolution, as well as many other uprisings in the region. Egyptian netizens respond to the claim with the hashtag on Twitter.
India: The Missing Girl Child Exposed In The Census
Using the recent census data in India Razib Khan at Sepia Mutiny tries to analyze why the ratio of girl child against the boy child is dropping in different parts of India.
India: How Much Is A Housewife Worth?
In a ruling Indian Supreme Court questioned the Indian government’s Census parameters which placed housewives in the same economic bracket as “prostitutes, beggars and prisoners”. In this context Phoenixritu tries to fathom how much is an Indian housewife worth.
Pakistan: Text Books Being Updated After 11 Years
Faisal Kapadia at Deadpan Thoughts welcomes the steps by the Education Ministry of Pakistan to update the text books and supplementary materials for both students and teachers of primary and secondary schools, which were pending for so long. In states like Sindh & Baluchistan they were not revised in the...
Bangladesh: New Year Festival Getting Popular Each Year
Jyoti Rahman at Mukti analyzes why each year the Pahela Baishakh, new years celebrations in Bangladesh are getting bigger and more popular with the participation of mass people.
Sri Lanka: Threats Continue Against News Web Site
Freedom Of Expression In Sri Lanka informs via Net working for rights in Sri lanka (NfR), an exile network for media and human rights in Sri Lanka, that threats are still being made to staffs and well wishers of the news site Lanka e-news. Bennet Rupasinghe, the editor of Lanka...
Ghana: Bloggers React to Demeaning and Misleading Article
On April 8, 2011, Ghanaians came across a very demeaning and disgraceful article titled “Inside the criminal world of Ghana's e-mail scam gangs” by Thomas Morton, which got featured on the CNN website. Ghanaian bloggers consider the journalist to be completely uninformed and biased.
Czech Republic: Presidential pendemonium
Czechmate Diary discusses how the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, apparently snatches a pen during a state visit to Chile, and how people now are sending him loads of pens so that he will not be left without one.
Palestine: Remembering Murdered Italian Activist Vittorio Arrigoni
Long before the deadline set by his captors arrived, kidnapped Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni was killed, apparently hanged. Bloggers in Gaza and elsewhere have reacted with disbelief, anger and sorrow.
Russia: Complexities of LiveJournal attack
Putin Watcher tries to contextualize the various interests that may have been behind the recent attacks on Russian blog platform LiveJournal in the complex and fractionalized context of Russian politics.
Ukraine: Photos of presidential palace
Foreign Notes comments on pictures published by Ukrainian daily Segodnya [RU] of Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich's, new palace on the outskirts of Kiev, and the public outrage this luxurious mansion has provoked.
Libya-Bosnia-Hungary: Origins of Gaddafi's wife
Pestiside.hu reports about uncorroborated rumours that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's wife, Safiya, is from Bosnia with origins in Hungary.
Equatorial Guinea: Few, but Strong Virtual Voices
In Equatorial Guinea, where only 2% of the population has access to the Internet, and there are about 11,000 Facebook users and two known blogs. Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel and Eyi Nguema are the only bloggers writing in Equatorial Guinea. For them, blogging is a true commitment with democracy.
Egypt: Mubarak in Detention
Just a few months ago, many Egyptians might have wished to see the country's then-president Mubarak in jail, yet almost certainly none of them imagined this wish might come true one day. However, on Wednesday April 13, 2011 Egyptians woke up to the news of Mubarak's detention first thing in the morning. Here is how the moment was documented in the Egyptian social media scene.
Burkina Faso: President Campaoré Flees from Mutiny
Grioo reports that Burkina Faso President Campaoré has fled the Capital City (fr) Ouagadougou under the pressure of mutinous soldiers. The onset of the discontent in the army was reported on April 2nd when a mutiny first broke out.
Japan: Living near a nuclear reactor
Photographer and blogger Buddhika Weerasinghe published some pictures of people who live in proximity of a nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture.
Is Empowering Women Key to Eradicating Global Hunger?
As global food prices continue to remain high, with potential increases on the horizon because of soaring oil prices and supply concerns, experts says that there is one often-overlooked solution for fighting hunger: women.
Colombia: Netizens Discuss ‘Law Lleras’ on Copyright
"Law Lleras," which punishes those that share or download content from the Internet without paying royalties, has generated controversy among netizens, who have shared their opinions on blogs and social networks.
Kenya: Citizen Journalism of the Kibera News Network
Young people in Kibera, Kenya, which is known to some as Africa's largest slum, are determined to show a different face of the place where they live. With video cameras in hand, they scout the streets for stories to show the world how Kibera sees itself.
