25 January 2007

Stories from 25 January 2007

Senegal: Flooded by Chinese Products

  25 January 2007

Blog Politique du Senegal is worried (Fr)about imports from China “flooding” local markets: “China has extremely low production costs … By opening its doors wide to Chinese products, Senegal is preventing itself from developing a national production. Meanwhile, the country's industrialization is the only means of providing work to thousands...

Madagascar: WordPress in Malagasy

  25 January 2007

Says L'Odyssee de Tattum (Fr): “Our national webmaster, Hery, has struck again! And it's all for the better! He redid and finalized the WordPress in Malagasy project begun by [blogger] Many to come up with: Blaogy.org, a new blogging platform powered by WordPress.”

Belize: “Third parties” emerge

  25 January 2007

Melody at the Belize News Blog encourages readers to download the latest issue of the recently launched Belize Independent Newspaper, which is devoted to the emergence of new political parties in Belize and the challenge they represent for the two-party status quo.

Malaysia: Helping Flood Victims

  25 January 2007

Kenny Sia is asking his readers to assist in the flood relief efforts in Southern Malaysia. “Getting hit by the flood is bad, but getting hit by the flood twice in a week is even more suay. While we're wondering where to go for a night out drinking, those kids...

Barbados: Calypso for Desmond Haynes

  25 January 2007

Robert Frische at Cricketwukup.com remembers a calypso written by a Barbadian singer in honour of great West Indies cricketer Desmond Haynes, who, near the end of his career, was both passed up for the captaincy and dropped from the team. You can hear the song as well — an MP3...

Laos: Revisiting Laotian Modern History

  25 January 2007

The New Mandala links to a story from from the Boston Phoenix about the conflict in Lao between the US backed Lao Army forces and North Vietnamese backed Phathet Lao. The story was first published in 1972 and features a Lao Army officer talking about the lack of morale in...

The Arabist: Saudi Arabia Persecuting Ahmadis

  25 January 2007

The Arabist reported today a Human Rights Watch plea to the Saudi monarch urging him to stop presecuting Ahmadis. According to the letter, “Saudi Arabia has so far arrested 56 non-Saudi followers of the Ahmadi faith, including infants and young children, and deported at least 8 to India and Pakistan.”

Bolivia: 1/11: An Eyewitness Account

  25 January 2007

Jim Shultz on the violent protests that broke out in Cochabamba two weeks ago: “Since then I have also spoken to a half dozen people who were eyewitnesses to those events. One of those accounts, from a non-participant, Jonas Brown, a US citizen who lives in the exact spot where...

India, Latin America: Bangalore, a Role Model?

  25 January 2007

Kamla Bhatt, a resident of Bangalore herself, is intrigued by an argument set forth by Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer who calls the Indian tech metropolis a “role model for Latin America.” Boli-Nica, who usually writes in English, this time addressed [ES] his Spanish-speaking readers with a comparison of Oppenheimer's...

Arabisc: Hijab-clad Doll Under Fire in Tunisia

  25 January 2007

This is Fulla, the Hijab-clad Arab Muslim adaptation of the decadent West's Barbie doll. Our Barbie wears the Hijab (head scarf) and Islamic attire – a long dress with long sleeves. While she is a blessing to many parents in the Muslim world who are happy to see their children...

The Iranian Nuclear Crisis

  25 January 2007

The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to impose sanctions against Iran over its failure to halt its uranium enrichment programme on December 23, 2006. Despite the gravity of the situation, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described the UN’s decision as unimportant and vowed to continue uranium enrichment. As a result,...