News
Video: Raising of the flag
Following last week’s filming session in the Zócalo, where I was denied the chance to film closeup to the military whilst they were raising the ntaional flag, I managed to edit the move into a decent summary of the ritual. This film was made for La Plaza, and you can see it here on this […]
Mexico’s HIV-positive orphans look to the future
Oscar, above, is 10 years old and his favorite subject at school is math. He wants to be a lawyer when he grows up. Oscar also is HIV-positive, and he lost his parents to complications with the virus two years ago. He lives in a community of children here at La Casa de la Sal […]
Phone 4 Me
Has anyone tried the Sonim XP1 phone, which Time seems to be claiming as a “tough gadget”? My current Samsung U600 is pretty wrecked after four months. Its screen is scratched to pieces after a couple of trips to Sudan, a week in the DRC and a lot of battering in my pocket. Battery life […]
Farc are weakened but prospects for peace remain remote
There’s been much speculation in Colombia and among international pundits about whether the Farc are on their way out. Thomas Shannon, US assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs echoes the views of many, when he recently said the Farc “are in their final phase.” One local analyst believes that in 10 years time, the Farc […]
Last Words
The last word, I think, should go to Mahdi, from Behsud, and Wakil Hani of the Wardak People’s Council. (see post below this for more info/context). Mahdi is self-explanatory, and Hajji Wakil Sahib (at the end) is just explaining that he hopes that the stories of the people from Behsud will be told to the […]
Behsud: Kuchi atrocities?
The story is so small and on such a local level that nobody is particularly interested. With an ever-growing insurgency, are international readers really interested in a conflict within the conflict, in which there are no international actors, nor anyone the ‘international community’ need particularly pay heed to… Even within Afghanistan, it doesn’t merit any […]
Twitter and the Bangalore Blasts: Part IV – Twitter vs the mainstream media
A series of bomb blasts was detonated in Bangalore last Friday, killing two people and injuring several others. Mukund Mohan, a technology entrepreneur, who was working nearby, decided he would provide updates on what was happening using Twitter, a micro-blogging tool that enables people to publish short, 140-character, updates online. Prompted by some interesting comments, […]
Filming the raising of the flag in Mexico City
Every morning in Mexico City’s Zocalo, the country’s military raise the national flag in a ceremony enjoyed by tourists and Mexicans alike. Many of the Mexican bystanders on their way to work stop and salute as the flag goes up. Sometimes it goes up at 6, sometimes at eight, and it usually comes down around […]
You Know You Have Been a Mzungu in Kenya Too Long When…
“Very OK” has become a standard response to a variety of questions Matatus are no longer a welcome bit of colour on the roads. They are a pain in the arse You have stopped picking out politicians who might be Kenya’s best hope You can’t remember the last time you filled your car’s petrol tank. […]
Twitter and the Bangalore Blasts: Part III – Does Twitter ‘hype’ the news?
A series of bomb blasts was detonated in Bangalore last Friday, killing two people and injuring several others. Mukund Mohan, a technology entrepreneur, who was working nearby, decided he would provide updates on what was happening using Twitter, a micro-blogging tool that enables people to publish short, 140-character, updates online. Prompted by some interesting comments, […]
Hermaphrodites or Mercenaries
Have picked the final book for my Africa Reading Challenge. In the end it was a toss-up between Sydney Brenner’s My Life in Science and Horn Of Africa by Philip Caputo. At one stage in my life I knew more about the vulva of the nematode worm than is healthy. Specificially, I knew more about […]
Twitter and the Bangalore bomb blasts: Part II – Verification
A series of bomb blasts was detonated in Bangalore last Friday, killing two people and injuring several others. Mukund Mohan, a technology entrepreneur, who was working nearby, decided he would provide updates on what was happening using Twitter, a micro-blogging tool that enables people to publish short, 140-character, updates online. Prompted by some interesting comments, […]
Frontline Twitter power
I’m on holiday for a week, but I’d like to send you all over to Daniel’s blog. He’s blogging a series about the journalistic uses of Twitter. Meanwhile, Deborah in Mexico talks about her multimedia blogging work for the LA Times. And Rob is grumbling about the price of swimming lessons in Sudan, $40 – […]
Twitter and the Bangalore bomb blasts: Part I – The eyewitness account and online reporting
A series of bomb blasts was detonated in Bangalore last Friday, killing two people and injuring several others. Mukund Mohan, a technology entrepreneur, who was working nearby, decided he would provide updates on what was happening using Twitter, a micro-blogging tool that enables people to publish short, 140-character, updates online. Prompted by some interesting comments, […]
Cash Float
$40 for a swim. No wonder it’s empty Before heading to Darfur last week I treated myself to a swim. Not any old swim you understand, but a dip in the Rotana swimming pool. This is a new hotel in Khartoum that seems to be designed specifically to mop up those generous per diems paid […]
Video: Mexican public give their view on oil reform
I headed down to Mexico City’s Zocalo on Sunday to get some video for the Los Angeles Times. There was a slow but steady flow of Mexicans arriving to register their view on the current debate in Mexico over whether to allow private investment into the state-owned oil company, Pemex. The left-leaning opposition party the […]
Tijuana: Reflections on the Border
“TJ? Really?” was the response from most people last week when they learned I was heading down south of San Diego for a research trip. They were right to be cautious. I live in Mexico City — one of the biggest, baddest towns around — but still gave Tijuana a second thought. The world’s most […]
Richard Mills found dead in Harare
Richard Mills, a photographer with The Times newspaper, was found dead in a hotel room in Harare on July 14 after a suspected suicide. The Belfast Telegraph reports that Richard officially died of “asphyxiation by hanging”. Richard was working on an undercover assignment in Zimbabwe when he was found dead. He had previously worked in […]
It’s Not About Boots on the Ground
A UN-AU hybrid patrol sets off for Siliea in West Darfur. The helmets have been painted blue but no-one has got around to removing the old Amis logo African aid agencies released a report today saying the joint African Union and United Nations mission to Darfur was failing to protect civilians. We’re at the six-month […]
Using Twitter to follow the Bangalore bomb blasts
A series of bombs was detonated in Bangalore earlier today. The latest reports indicate that seven devices exploded, in five different locations in the Indian city. The police have confirmed that at least two people died in the attacks. Mukund Mohan, a technology entrepreneur, has been reporting on the events using microblogging tool, Twitter. He […]
Identity of ‘LT G’, former Kaboom milblogger, revealed
The man behind the popular military blog, Kaboom, is 25 year old Matthew Gallagher. His blog was shut down after he failed to allow a blog posting to be vetted by a superior. He was serving with the 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment. His platoon was based in a small village north-west […]
Bedtime in Nyala
Beds in a courtyard in Nyala, Darfur, before it started raining At the end of a long day standing in the blistering sun without water watching the Sudanese president addressing 10,000 people in El Fasher and then 20,000 people in Nyala, what you want is a bed. If it is a bed in the cool […]
The Bashir Boogie
Omar al-Bashir arrives in El Geneina, West Darfur Just back in Khartourm from a trip to Darfur with President Omar al-Bashir, who is waiting to find out whether the International Criminal Court will issue a warrant for his arrest. The trip was astonishing and fascinating in many ways. It was a whistle-stop tour of El […]
Child Soldier Recruitment Continues in Chad
They usually come at night, to the sprawling refugee camps in eastern Chad along the border with Sudan. Recruiters for Chad-based rebel groups, which are locked in bloody combat with Khartoum and its militia proxies in Sudan’s Darfur region, sometimes simply show up at the camps and new recruits, many of them still boys, come […]
Royal Navy advisor: Iraqi Navy not capable of protecting oil until end of 2010.
The Iraqi Navy will not be able to take full responsibility for counterinsurgency operations to guard Iraq’s oil infrastructure until the end of 2010 at the earliest, according to a Royal Navy advisor. Captain Paul Abrahams is the director of the maritime strategic transition team and the senior advisor to the Iraqi Navy. Speaking at […]
Reporter’s Notebook 3: Do not stand near the military band
[video:youtube:SrRsTLC4Gkw] Via the good folks at Abu muqawama.
My Home from Home
The old timers will tell you it’s not how it was, but there’s still a special spirit among foreign correspondents. The new arrivals from London don’t always get it at first but they usually fall into line eventually. The point is that exclusives are few and far between and they will anyway end up on […]
More on the death of foreign news reporting
One of the least favourite (yet most common) topics of this blog since we started has been the decline in foreign news coverage and the various attempts to try and rescue it. The New York Times, quoting the latest Pew Research report today, suggests the grim tidings are only set to get grimmer, “It’s really […]
Video journalism awards open for business
The International Video Journalism Awards nomination phase is now open, The awards contain two international prizes and a series of categories for German videojournalists. A total of €12,000 is up for grabs across eight categories. The deadline for entries is October 15 and the winners will be announced at an event on November 28-9 in […]
Getting into Zimbabwe
Andrew Geoghegan, an ABC News journalist, marvels at how he has been allowed to enter Zimbabwe four times without arrest, It’s easy to develop a false sense of security in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe’s notorious thugs work behind the scenes. It’s the police roadblocks that make me nervous. Most of the time the cops just want […]
