Stories from 3 January 2007
Armenia: New Year
Nareg writes about celebrating the new year — both of them — in Armenia.
Trinidad & Tobago: Bernard Kerik
Keith Francis does some background research on Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner who has been invited to Trinidad and Tobago by the country's opposition party to consult on solutions to the crime situation.
Bermuda: Callling BLP bloggers
The Limey laments the lack of Bermudian blogs are supportive of the ruling party: “This decentralised model of debate cannot work. . . unless there are blogs offering all perspectives. That’s what’s missing in Bermuda today.”
Barbados: Piggies at the Trough winner announced!
Barbados Free Press announces the winner of the Piggies at the Trough awards, and tells the nominator of the winner that the US$1,000 prize money was “dropped off earlier tonight and it is waiting there for you right now.”
Afghan Whispers: Kabul Express, 5 More Years, and Lack of Legitimacy
Dialogue 3 talks about an Indian film, Kabul Express, which has created a lot of noise in Afghanistan without being shown on Afghanistan. The blogger says according to what is heard in the movie, very negative comments are made about the Hazara ethnic group such as that these people are...
Africa: new African website
Proudly African writes about Africanpath.com, “The thrust of this blog post is to introduce to you a new website that is poised to aggregate news and blogs from Africa.”
Malawi: wonders of a local mechanic
“Meet George. He repaired our punctured tyre in less than 20 minutes without hydraulic tools, and hand pumped it to exactly the right pressure with no guage,” writes Extra Extra.
Iran:Ahmadinejad predicts the destruction of the western world
According to Jomhour, Ahmadinejad in a speech in Ahvaz,in Khouzestan province, predicts that western countries will be destroyed [Fa].The blogger adds Ahmadinejad says after talking with ” scientists” who attended Holocaust conference in Tehran, he found out that there is no freedom of expression in the western countries.
Russia: Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Photos
White Sun of the Desert posts pictures of Yuzhno-Sakhalinks following a severe snowstorm – as well as pictures of the New Year's ice carvings.
Russia: Moscow Photos
Snowsquare posts a whole bunch of Moscow photos: of Holiday Moscow Streets, and of St. Basil's Cathedral, and of Red Square New Year's Preparations, and of Manezh Square, Hotel Moscow and Stolichnaya, and, finally, of Last-Minute New Year's Shopping (one, two, three, and four).
Hungary: 2007 Politics
Pestcentric posts a preview of Hungarian politics in 2007.
Belarus: Small Business Endangered
A new law is likely to wipe out some of Belarus’ small businesses, reports TOL's Belarus Blog: “Beginning at January 1st, 2008, individual entrepreneurs will be able to hire only family members and close relatives. It can end up closing half of small businesses in the country.”
Hungary: Balaton Vacation
Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar spends winter holidays at Lake Balaton: “But, most of all, what I really found attractive was the complete and utter silence round most of the place. No screaming children, no fireworks, no teenies half-cut on their first glass of pezsgo, no brainless TV presenters...
Poland: Corruption
Traveling Life writes about corruption among Polish post-Communists.
Poland: Politics
The beatroot explains how Polish politics works: “Polish PM Jaroslaw Kaczynski is not a central European version of Margaret Thatcher. If they met he would call her an economic ‘liberalizer’ (a dirty word in Polish government circles) while she would give him a sharp whack over the head with her...
Romania: Welcome to Europe! Photos
Csikszereda Musings posts some hilarious local EU-entry-related pictures.
Romania: “Crumbs”
Csikszereda Musings writes about the two-day New Year's partying ordeal: “Crumbs is this: The next day after a party, in the afternoon, you all go back to the house of the party to have lunch, and basically reminisce about the night before. Lunch, of course, being all the leftovers from...
Slovenia: Roman Candles
The Glory of Carniola re-learns to use Roman Candles.
Ukraine: 7th Kilometer; the Bandurists
Petro visits Odesa's 7th Kilometer open-air market – and attends a performance of Ukraine's two top Bandurists.
Ukraine: The President and the Rest of Them
According to Ukraine's president, he, the parliament and the government “are close to a mutual understanding,” Foreign Notes reports.
Ukraine: Politics in 2007
Political predictions for 2007 in Ukraine – from Foreign Notes.