April, 2009
Stories from April, 2009
19 April 2009
Bolivia: Piecing Together the Life of an Accused Terrorist
Bolivian police killed three foreign nationals in a Santa Cruz hotel. What is not entirely clear is the connection between the men, who national authorities say were a part of a terrorist cell that had been planning to assassinate President Evo Morales, as well as others from the opposition. One man has emerged as the ringleader of the group, Eduardo Rózsa-Flores, a Bolivian-Hungarian citizen with a long history. The media, as well as bloggers, have been trying to piece together his background to draw conclusions.
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Morocco: On “Jewish Morocco”
Morocco has a long relationship with Judaism; during the spread of the Roman empire, a number of Jews settled in what is modern-day Morocco. Over time, relations between Morocco's majority Muslim population and its small Jewish population have ranged from very good to heavily strained. Following the creation of the state of Israel, the vast majority of Morocco's Jews emigrated (approximately 15% of Israeli Jews are in fact of Moroccan descent), however, approximately 7,000 Jews reside in Morocco today. Moroccans are often quick to point out that the king's top adviser, André Azoulay, is Jewish.
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18 April 2009
Israel: What Happens when IDF Soldiers Testimonials are Taken Out of Context
On March 19th, Israeli daily Ha'aretz published a report describing the alleged incidents in a closed-door meeting of Israeli soldiers at a military prep program, where they described multiple accounts of immoral orders and actions taken by the Israeli military during the recent Gaza operation ‘Cast Lead'. Their testimony runs counter to the IDF claim that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation, but falls in line with stories coming from Palestinians, describing multiple Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
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Egypt: Filmmaker's struggle finally pays off
Egyptian cinema-goers will finally be able to watch Ibrahim El Batout’s film Ein Shams [Ar] (Eye of the Sun) as an Egyptian movie at the end of this month - after a long drama with censorship. Nermeen Edrees brings us the story.
Global Recession: The world is talking. Are we listening?
There is no lack of online articles about the various aspects of the global economic crisis. Many of them are written by economic experts and policymakers. What about the perspectives of ordinary bloggers? This global roundup of blogs gathers stories of people around the world who are struggling to survive the economic downturn.
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Argentina: Cleaning Up the Riachuelo
La Matanza River, better known as El Riachuelo, flows through one of the most colorful tourist attractions in Buenos Aires, Argentina. However, the contamination from nearby industrial plants has left the waterway heavily polluted. Despite promises from local authorities, little progress has been made to clean up the river. A Greenpeace icebreaker is arriving to take part in a campaign to raise awareness and to push for results.
Zimbabwe: Was the ministerial retreat necessary?
Zimbabwe coalition government officials went for a Ministerial Retereat recently at Victoria Falls whose aim was for them to come up with a 100 day Action Plan for the implementation of the Short Term Emergency Economic Recovery Programme (STERP). Was the retreat a waste of public money or a necessary step in healing the nation?
Peru: Recovering Memories of the Amazon
Historical records and memories of the Peruvian Amazon are often locked up in the archives of governmental offices or other non-governmental organizations, and often never seen by the general public. Now through the use of the internet, many of these publications, photos and videos are being shared with the world, which allows those living in the present to see how things have changed.
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Nice post Aparna. Good to see that Kolkata men and women are organizing against street sexual harassment. Kathmandu organized its...