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Madagascar: despite series of unfortunate events, bloggers are still upbeat….

Lova Rakotomalala · 15:30 · Sub-Saharan Africa

Greetings all,

This is my first post on Global Voices. I am fortunate and quite thrilled to have the opportunity to share with you the perspective of the Malagasy blogosphere. Unfortunately, the current news from Madagascar are quite sad. The main topic of discussion on the Malagasy web is the disastrous impact of the latest series of cyclones in Madagascar:
cyclones hjk (Courtesy Harinjaka)
“Series of unfortunate events”

Harinjaka wrote:

“Deux cent quarante deux millions huit cent soixante deux milles et trois cent cinquante trois Dollars US (242.862.353 USD) c’est l’argent qu’il faut à l’état malgache pour réparer les dégâts du Cyclone pour cette saison 2006-2007 selon ce communique officiel que j’ai lu aujourd’hui sur le site du ministère des Affaires Etrangère Malgache.
En effet, suite au passage de cyclones successifs depuis le mois de décembre 2006 au mois de janvier 2007, plusieurs régions de Madagascar se trouvent dans un état dramatique…”

two hundred forty two millions eight hundred sixty two thousand and three hundred fifty three US dollars ($242.862.353). This is what the Malagasy government needs to repair all the damages from the cyclone for the 2006-07 season according to today's official report from the Malagasy ministry of foreign affairs. In fact, after successive cyclones have passed through from Dec 06 to Jan 07, many regions of Madagascar are in shambles…

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Nigeria: Internet Exchange, Making Money, Abuja, Political Endorsement, And the Niger Delta

Oluniyi David Ajao · 08:30 · Sub-Saharan Africa

We begin this week's blog round-up with Timbaland's entry about Nigeria Internet Exchange.

It so happens that I desire to create an Internet utopia in Nigeria. I have a dream of providing Internet access to every Nigerian citizen. This became stronger when I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday and in our discussion, we identified that there are a lot of problems that could be solved.

I have fallen into the temptation (many times) of wanting to solve all these problems. Today, I might decide it’s going to be web applications - I mean lots of Nigerians are going online these days and there is not enough local content and so I think being a web developer will help solve this problem. Tomorrow, I identify that lots of Nigerians have Internet-enabled mobile phones and there’s lots of applications that can be built upon this platform. Honestly speaking, I will probably list about 20 or so problems that I can solve but to make any significant difference, I will require focus.

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China: Disgraced Party member promoted?

John Kennedy · 08:25 · East Asia

Last autumn, Qin Zhongfei, a low-ranking civil servant in Pengshui County of mid-western China's Chongqing Municipality, wove some sarcastic political humor into a poem and sent it out to a few dozen friends via text and instant message.

Charged with slander by then County Party Secretary Lan Qinghua, one of several political leaders mentioned in the poem, Qin was arrested for a month, released on bail, saw the case found faulty and himself pronounced innocent, apologized to and, finally, financially compensated [blocked in China]. (more…)

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The Jordanian Blogosphere: February Clippings

Naseem Tarawnah · 08:03 · Middle East & North Africa

The Jordanian blogosphere is abuzz with two controversies this month. The first revolves around the proposal to build a tourist complex near the Dibbin Forest that will result in the cutting down of many trees. While a small online campaign has started up in recent days, other bloggers see the issue in a completely different light.

The other issue involves a recent decision to remove two bloggers from the central Jordanian aggregator - Jordan Blogs. It seems Several bloggers have thrown their two cents in. The central theme seems to be about whether there should be limitations on freedom of speech.

“Freedom of speech is not limitless, there are boundaries and the moderators of JB understand those boundaries and act upon them, accusing JB of oppressing freedom of speech is just ridiculous, think about it for a minute, what’s their motive?”, says Bakkouz.
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Peek at Poland: Time to Make the Pączki

Jordan & Maria Seidel · 07:59 · Eastern & Central Europe

lingua → es

“Polish Doughnuts” by Polska＊ポーランド＊Poland

For at least one moment in the dark days of winter, life is sweet in Poland. Marking the last Thursday before Lent, Tłusty czwartek (or, Fat Thursday) is a day of over-indulgence in sweets.

This past Thursday, in scenes disturbingly reminiscent of Communist days, the local sweet shops and bakeries were full of people, lining up to get their hands on the source of sweetness and symbol of this special day - the traditional Polish doughnut, or pączki. Unfortunately, by lunch break, our local bakery was sold out already!

Typical sight in Poland on Fat Thursday, Wikipedia

Interestingly, each country has its own way of marking the last day before Lent: in Greece, instead of sweets, they eat loads of meat on Tsiknopempti. In Latin and South America, they celebrate in a more dynamic way with the Carnival.

How does your country mark the start of Lent? Do you sit in a sweet shop and gorge yourself on baker's delights or do you take to the streets?

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Hindi Blogoshere: Going Places, Tag Epidemic & Indibloggies!

Amit Gupta · 06:04 · South Asia

Sorry for the late update, I've been busy off late & then went to a weekend holiday, so wasn't able to do my fortnightly roundup of the Hindi Blogosphere. So without much ado, lets have a crack over the happenings of Hindi Blogosphere in the last fortnight!

Disturbed with the current social & political scene, Rachana gives a sarcastic look in her future news bulletin while Jagdish is contemplating; is Yahoo is saving Hindi or is Hindi saving Yahoo! Jitu is also not far behind in telling everyone about the Hindi Portal game where he drops a hint towards a possible upcoming hindi portal from Google!! On the other hand, Neeraj wished Gazal King Jagjit Singh a very happy birthday & long life. The hunt for truth about Netaji's death continues for Srijan Shilpi as he posts his latest piece. Ravi Ratlami blogs about Blogging Ethics & Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. No, its not about the medical condition but a funny look at the condition from blog addiction's perspective!! He then continues on writing some FAQs on commercial blogging or blogging for profit. And Tarun was not far behind in expressing his own views on the topic.

Personally, I seldom talk about such heavy topics, so after being tagged by Ben(not from Hindi Blogosphere), I decided to spread this disease in the Hindi Blogworld & so far I think I've been successful as this tagging epidemic has claimed more than 5 bloggers so far & more are expected to be affected soon. But it'll not end here as I've been tagged again by Alka and as soon as I see the ripples of earlier tag fading out, I'll create some more ripples by throwing this other tagstone!! ;)