5 October 2011

Stories from 5 October 2011

Colombia: Expouniversidad 2011 in Medellín

  5 October 2011

The University of Antioquia and Colciencias (Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation) [es], together with other organizations, have opened the sixth version [es] of Expouniversidad 2011 [es] (Sep.29 to Oct.7) in Medellín [es] to promote learning and to show advances in projects related to science, technology and innovation in...

India: The Advent Of $45 Tablet PCs

  5 October 2011

Aakash, the world's cheapest Tablet PC ($45), has been launched in India, reports Anupam Saxena. The government plans to distribute 10 million tablet PCs to post-secondary students in India.

Ukraine: Interview With Author Vasyl Shklyar

  5 October 2011

Brian Spadora‘s RFE/RL interview with the Ukrainian novelist Vasyl Shklyar – who “has attracted a lot of attention in Ukraine this year both for his bestselling novel, Black Raven, as well for the statements he’s made against the erosion of freedoms that has taken place under President Viktor Yanukovych” –...

Sri Lanka: Media Silenced

  5 October 2011

Sunanda Deshapriya reports that the police in Moratuwa forced a video cameraman from a private television station to erase a video recording of people protesting the death of a suspect in police custody.

Ukraine: Anti- and Pro-Tymoshenko Camps on Khreshchatyk

  5 October 2011

Alexander Motyl of Ukraine's Orange Blues writes about the pro- and anti-Yulia Tymoshenko camps thathave for months occupied the block near the court where the ex-PM is being tried. According to this article [uk] in Ukrainska Pravda, people recruited to wave flags from early morning till around 8PM at the...

Pakistan: The Militant Heroes

  5 October 2011

Malik Siraj Akbar reports that the widely read Urdu newspapers in Pakistan are repeatedly glorifying Punjab governor Salman Taseer’s murder and are depicting the murderer, who has been sentenced to death, as a “hero”.

Ukraine: “Tension is Growing”

  5 October 2011

Foreign Notes reviews Ukraine's relationship with Gazprom prior to Yulia Tymoshenko's 2009 deal (“for which she may be jailed for seven years”); quotes economist and politician Oleksandra Kuzhel on the conditions in which small- and medium-sized Ukrainian businesses have found themselves in; and writes about the expensive watches “so beloved...

Russia: State-Funded Blogging School Opens in Chelyabinsk

RuNet Echo  5 October 2011

Svetlana Gladkova of Profy comments on the launch of the first public blogging school in Chelyabinsk, Russia: “This state-funded not-for-profit nature of the school is particularly interesting because it looks like the authorities in Russia have not only realized the power of social media but have decided to influence it...

Ethiopia: People As Tourist Attraction

  5 October 2011

When people become a tourist attraction: “When my girlfriend and I decided to go there [South Omo, Ethiopia] in the first place it wasn’t just because we are expecting to see beautiful animals – but also exotic people. These are people who can attract tourists with their life style.”

Sudan: Concern Grows About Detained Sudanese Writer

  5 October 2011

Concern grows about detained Sudanese writer and activist: “There’s been no word of Abdelmoniem Rahma, a poet and political activist, since he was arrested a month ago. Rahma was close to the ousted governor of Blue Nile State, Malik Agar, and involved in the arts.”

Malawi: Who Murdered Robert Chasowa?

  5 October 2011

Mabvuto Jobani says that Malawian police know the people who were involved in the death of Robert Chasowa – a fourth year engineering student at the university of Malawi: “Two Blantyre police officers who asked for anonymity told me that so far two theories have emerged as to why he...

Cuba, Jamaica: “Them is Russians Too”

  5 October 2011

“The totalitarian regime in Cuba seeks to rewrite its past to give the appearance of being relevant and ‘with it'”: Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter uses an upcoming homage concert to Bob Marley to prove his point, saying: “The best way Cubans can honor Bob Marley is to get...

Jamaica: A Proud Black History

  5 October 2011

It's Black History Month in the UK and Kei Miller turns on its head “those tired statements of black pride – how, for instance, we are the sons and daughters of kings and queens”, saying: “It seems so banal…it betrays such a lack of imagination. Me… I’d rather imagine other...