Archive for
November 9th, 2005
Stories
Explosions Rock Jordanian Capital, Amman
Three explosions hit Jordanian capital Amman Wednesday night; one in Radisson SAS, the second in Hyatt Amman, and the third in Days Inn.
For more on the explosions occuring in Amman:
Aggregated news feeds from Jordanian blogosphere community, Jordan Planet; AP ; Flickr; MSM RSS; Technorati posts tagged with “Amman Explosions”
Up-to-date Jordanian bloggers reaction:
Random Consistent Ideas, Arab Chatter, Tololy's Box, SHIFAA, Whats up in Jordan?, I Heart Amman, mozzy's blog, 360east | Ahmad Humeid's blog and podcast, Thoughts that Echo, Into the Wind, Isam Bayazidi's Blog, jameed.net,Reega Reega Hareega, Sugar Cubes, Mental mayhem, And far Away, Sabbah's Blog, Abeer’s Blog, Chronicles Of A Utopian Writer, PALFORCE, Part of MY world, Bataranzi, Discovering life, AquaCool, Daoud Kuttab.
Update[November 10, 4:40 PM]: Thousands of angry Jordanians rallied Thursday shouting, “Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!”
Update[November 10, 1:40 PM]: Jordan TV - There is no truth to reports that Israelis staying at the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman on Wednesday were evacuated by Jordanian security forces before the bombing that took place there.
Update[November 10, 12:06 PM]:Tourism Board Hotline - +9626 5678444
Update[November 10, 12:04 PM]:Demonstrations of anger sweeps Jordan - Largest Demonstrations expected to take place at 1:00 PM today starting from the Third Circle in Jabal Amman and heading towards Dakheleyeh Circle.
Update[November 10, 11:00AM]: Jordan Planet publishes the names of the casualities.
Update[November 10, 7:16 AM]: Al Qaeda claims Amman blasts.
Update[November 10, 6:26 AM]: King Abdullah the Second visited the affected hotels earlier this morning.
Update[November 10, 5:05 AM]:Shocking photos from Jordan News Agency here and here.
Update[November 10, 4:11 AM]: According to Al-Jazeera, Jordanian Police put their hands on a video recording showing the suicide bomber of Hyatt taken by someone in the hotel by accident.
Al-Arabia also confirms that a fire was started earlier last night in Amman in order to divert attention from the incident about to occur.
Update[November 10, 3:44 AM]: According to Elaph, Jordanian authorities have arrested 12 people from different nationalities including Iraqis, Bahrainis, and Jordanians. Al-Muashar also said that death tolls could have been higher if one of the explosive laden-cars managed to smash into the entrance.
The Islamic Action Front and the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood both condemned the attack referring to it as “Terrorist and criminal attack”.
Update[November 10, 1:31AM]: Eye witness on Al-Jazeera says that suicide bomber was speaking in an Iraqi accent.
Update[November 10, 1:06 AM]: Al-Arabeya reports that Iraqis have been arrested, and Mamdoh Abadai called for marching in opposition against such acts of terrorism.
Update[November 10, 12:29 AM]: Jordanian police Maj. Bashir al-Da'aja said officials believe all the Amman hotel blasts were carried out by suicide bombers.
“The attacks carry the trademark of al Qaeda,” a police source said on condition of anonymity in line with police regulations. “However it is not certain. We are investigating.”
Ayman al-Safadi, editor of Jordan's Al-Ghad newspaper, told Al-Arabiya satellite network that it was a “terrorist operation.”
“Finally, the terrorists succeeded in breaking the security in Jordan,” he said, referring to past success in foiling a number of terror plots.
Source: CNN
Update[November 10, 12:29 AM]: There are conflicting reports on the matter of casualities; Al Arabaya reports 67 fatalities and over 150 deaths.
Update[November 9, 11:50 PM]: Jordan announces three days of mourning.
Update[November 9, 11:27 PM]: According to Al-Jazeera, casualities have reached 53 deaths and 300 injuries.
Update[November 9, 10:59 PM]: According to Jordanian officials, latest casualities are 31 deaths and 200 casualities, among them Chinese and Iraqi nationals, most casualities are Jordanian.
Update[November 9, 10:50 PM]: According to Al-Jazeera, some suspects have been detained, their involvement has not yet been determined though.
Update[November 9, 10:39 PM]: According to Abeer El-Ziben of Jordan TV, all roads in and out of the capital have been blocked; authorities are now looking for suspects il Al-Weibdeh area in West Amman, near explosion sites.
Update[November 9, 10:15 PM]: Jordanian News Agency Petra reports that the bombings were results of suicide attacks. As is natural in such cases, videos and images captured by reporters have all been confiscated.
Update[November 9, 10:11 PM]: Casualities have reached 20 deaths and 120 injuries according to Al-Jazeera.
Update[November 9, 9:58 PM]: Casualities have now reached 18 deaths and 45 injuries according to the AFP.
[November 9, 9:30 PM]: Five fatalities have been reported and tens of injuries.
The Week That Was - Bolivian Blogs
An event in Washington DC attracted a lot of attention in the Bolivian blogosphere during the past week. A lecture by former Bolivian President Gonzalo “Goni” Sanchez de Lozada was supposed to be the night’s main attraction. However, a group of U.S. activists presented the former Head of State with papers to appear in a Bolivian court, which apparently was not on the evening’s agenda. The Bolivian government had requested that Sanchez de Lozada testify about his role in the events of October 2003, in which approximately 80 protestors and police were killed.
Christian Gomez, author of the blog Juanson World, was the event’s organizer, which was hosted by the organization Princeton in Latin America. He was able to answer directly to some of the comments and criticisms launched at him in the comments section of the Democracy Center’s blog.
Eduardo Avila also blogged about his firsthand account of the event in his blog Barrio Flores. In addition, Paula Pfoeffer, an Australian librarian living in Bolivia, posted a report written by U.S. citizen Douglas Hertzler, who served Sanchez de Lozada the papers to appear in court.
Meanwhile, in the Southern part of the hemisphere, the Summit of the Americas in Argentina also became a topic of discussion, especially because MAS Presidential candidate Evo Morales took a prominent role appearing side by side with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and soccer superstar Diego Armando Maradona. Miguel Buitrago of MABB posted a humorous cartoon depicting the two celebrities exchanging musical and footballing tips. Also, Rocko, who maintains a blog containing the columns of Paulovich, posts one column about a fictional meeting between the two, which includes the exchange of the year:
Maradona: For which football team did you play for, when I played for Boca Juniors?
Evo: I played for Coca Juniors in the Chapare.
On a more serious note, Nick Buxton of Open Veins wrote about his experiences in Mar del Plata where he accompanied a delegation from the Movement against the TLC and ALCA. The delegation ran into a string of bad luck incidents including finding cockroaches in the food, lost luggage, a stolen wallet and a scam involving the local police.
With less than six weeks to go before the scheduled December 18 elections, many bloggers are discussing strategies and possible outcomes. Alvaro Ruiz Navajas writes in his blog Off Topic and wonders whether Morales might benefit from the roadblocks constructed in Congress against the elections. Miguel Centellas publishes on his blog Ciao! his predictions on how the election results may shape up. He also recently updated his Bolivian politics wiki to reflect the changes in the candidate lists, which needed to be modified due to the redistribution of Congressional seats.
Finally, a new blog called Journal of Bolivian Business and Politics was recently launched. The site's author is Jonathan Olguin, a Bolivian living and studying in Florida, and he writes that the Brazilian budget airline carrier GOL recently began its service to Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Cambodian Kids with Swords, Guns, and Poems
Last month Jinja captured this photo of these two Cambodian boys playing with toy guns in the streets of Phnom Penh. Even though Jinja played with guns as child, he thought these scenes were a little disturbing because the guns looked so real!
A few days ago, Chlim01 is Bored blogged about a recent news item about children and young adults attacking each other with Samurai swords, injuring a 10 year-old- boy and briefly alarming people living in a provincial town. The kids with swords were arrested by police. All were clients in a NGO's drug program, Mith Samlanh, and were recovering from drug addictions. One wonders how these got their hands on Samurai swords?
Despite the newspaper headline, the organization is well-known for its work with homeless kids in Cambodia and one of the two NGOS that dares to work with drug users in this country. Mith Samlanh's programs have been mentioned on blogs by expats, like Sweet Cucumber and Jungle Blog.
Life as a homeless child in Cambodia is a very difficult life, as this poem by a former orphan and blogged by Tharum indicates. There is a ray of hope, as this struggling poet was able to improve his circumstances.
Nigerian Blogs This Week
POST OF THE WEEK from Naija Jams discusses a recent 419 (scam) article that was floating around the blogosphere and online media. The article appears to have centered on a song by popular musician, Nkem Owoh. Jams was confused (as I am and probably you are) until he saw the video of the song "Oyinbo man, I Go Chop Your Dollar"… Like Jams you will have to watch the video and all will be revealed.!
Kazey Journal decides he has had enough:
- “I would no longer participate in any forum discussions, I might use it only for advertisement proposes if allowed”.
- “I would wipe all my messenger list and keep only those that are beneficial to me or appreciate me in one way or the other”.
- “I would no longer accommodate useless acquaintances on the net”.
- I would no longer interfere on issues because I care. I have learned that to be “NICE” is not what is needed in this world. Besides I was told that, it means “Not interestingly caring enough”.
Kid's Doc in Jos is a blog by Dr Mike Blyth a pediatrician at Evangel Hospital in Jos, Nigeria. This week he meets with Baby O and his mother. "The baby is bouncy and happy" but cries all night. ! But this is not such a happy story as Baby O was born without any arms
“A big blessing was that when O was born, early this year, we happened to have a magazine article about a young man (Kyle Maynard) who has a similar defect and who is a successful wrestler, among other things. The mother has read that encouraging article. This week I told her just a bit about Joni Eareckson Tada. We’re going to meet again Friday and compare notes about what we have found on the Internet about caring for these children, and I’ll take her a copy of Joni. I’ll mention this blog and perhaps she’ll be willing to share some thoughts or a photo.”
Nigeria's next elections will be held in 2007. Chippla's Weblog, is baffled as to why anyone would want to vote for retired Nigerian military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida in 2007. "But then again this is Nigeria…"
“But should I be any surprised? After all, we are talking about Nigeria. Reports of the Babangida campaign group hiring aircraft to spread the new gospel: "IBB - The Brave Reformer" are already filtering in. And they have chosen to do it in style, using a large banner to proclaim the coming of the kingdom, a message with resonates via an aerial campaign.”
CyBlug (GidiBlog) also has a “must see” video this week. This one is a view of Nigeria from Nigerian International - a documentary about "showing the perception of Nigeria both by foreigners and Children of Nigerians living abroad (awayrians) it gives a good insight for those people completely ignorant of Nigeria, in digital format online". For tasters one woman expected Lagos to be like Peckham! (south London that is) - a bit like me going to the Costa del Sol and expecting it to be like England! Via Grandiose Parlour
Finally Orikinla Osinachi of Nigerian Times Blog has some thoughts on "Why America has failed to catch Osama Bin Laden". He also asks a number of key questions about Bin Laden, America and God.
“As I was wondering, I was thinking of the possibility of the impossibility.
Why America has not been able to catch Osama bin Laden.
What if Osama bin Laden repents?
Will America forgive him?What if the devil decides to repent?
Will God forgive him?You think I am nuts to have such weird thoughts.
Well, with God all things are possible.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Wikipedia: The Peruvian Faces Behind the Project
The following is an excerpt of an interview conducted by Juan Arellano with four Peruvian contributors to Wikipedia and translated by Eduardo Ávila. To read the entire interview in Spanish, please visit Juan’s blog.
Juan Arellano - There seems to be very few Peruvian contributors to Wikipedia, do you agree?
Alejandro Sal y Rosas – I would agree that we are very few. I think that there should be more who contribute, as there are many specific areas that the current contributors have very little knowledge about. It would be good to get more people involved.
Arístides Herrera – Peru, along with Chile and Argentina, has a large amount of contributors, some of which are more active than others. Of the 60 most active contributors to Wikipedia in Spanish, there are four Peruvians: Manuel González Olaechea y Franco, 10th; Huhsunqu (Guillermo Romero Guerra), 33rd; Chalisimo5 (Gonzalo Aguilar) 38th; and Arístides Herrera Cuntti, 59th. There are 24 registered contributors who are Peruvian-born or currently reside in Peru.
Augusto Maguiña – I think so, we should encourage this activity in the schools or universities.
J.A. - Wikipedia is divided according to languages. Could it also be divided according to country? Is there a special page devoted to Peru?
A.S. – Yes, there is a page devoted to Peruvian topics.
A.H. – For the sake of communication, the different editions of Wikipedia are organized according to language, and within each language it is organized according to country. However, that is not the only form of organization, as it is also organized according to interest. Each Wikipedian may be registered and involved with different fields of interest. For example, I write about archeology, gastronomy and history.
Guillermo Romero – Divisions according to language help with the accessibility. Divisions according to topic don’t seem to be very viable, because all of the topics are related somehow. Portals have been recently implemented, which are pages containing specific topics within Wikipedia. Another way to find articles about Peru is to use the [[Category: Peru]] option. The category pages list articles related to a particular subject.
A.M. – I think one can find topics using the [[Category: Peru]] option and see all of the topics listed that deal with Peru or other countries.
J.A. - Do you work collaboratively in respect to a particular topic?
Images From Indonesia: Hi, It Stop Working!
“Hi, It Stop Working” by Budi Sukmana
A tuk-tuk driver in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, pushes his stalled vehicle and its passengers to safety during a sudden downpour.
Note: We found this photograph because the photographer tagged this image with the “globalvoices” tag in Flickr, making it easy for us to find it. If you want your images to be seen by our editors, tag your photographs with “globalvoices,” too!
Links for Wed, 2005-11
Oil Wars tries to figure out if the opposition in Venezuela truly wants a better legal system or is just seeking complaints against Chavez.
Marie uses her experience in El Salvador to think about corruption's affect on donations to development groups.
Adam Isacson posts an English translation or an article he wrote in the Colombian daily, El Espectador about recently approved U.S. foreign-aid bill for 2006.
Taran Rampersad goes over the crime debate that took place in Trinidad and Tobago's Parliament.
Randy Paul and Western Hemisphere Policy Watch both go over former Peruvian president, Alberto Fujimori's arrest in Chile. Boz says that Fujimori critics should remember their history while Juan Arellano has a valuable summary of what Peruvian bloggers are saying (ES) about the arrest.
Vilho's World - Namibia reports on a scheme by the Council of Churches in Namibia which aims at changing the attitudes of men towards women and children abuse. It also hopes to “strengthen men's responsibility in their families and society at large. The group is to be called NAMEC (Namibian Men for Change)
Jewels in the Jungle adds his voice to the running commentary on the Paris riots in the blogosphere and wonders what would happen if the riots spread to Germany and possibly the rest of Europe - meanwhile he has his passport, airline ticket, clothes packed and car keys on the ready - lucky fellow to be able to up and run when the HEAT starts.
Malawian blog afrika-aphukira criticises the reporting of Africa by Western journalists for failing to go beyond “the vivid portrayal of the problems” and “attempt an analysis of the contexts within which these problems occur, African problems are written about in a manner in a manner that portrays Africans as having no clue as to how to solve their own problems, and making no efforts to even understand how and why we end up with such problems”.
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