大象传媒

Abdirahman Koronto was on his way to work on the 7th July 2005 when he boarded the Number 30 bus at Tavistock Square but he changed his mind and stepped off again. Moments later the bus exploded in front of his eyes. As crowds fled the scene, he walked towards it, and set about administering first aid to the injured. It was a shocking but not altogether unfamiliar sight for him. Abdirahman is Somali and grew up in Mogadishu where he witnessed the height of the violence of the civil war in the 1990s.

Alice in Wonderland
2015 marks the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Since her first appearance in English, Alice has been translated into more than 170 languages. We hear about the impact she made in Arabic, Bengali and Russian from Angy Ghannam of 大象传媒 Monitoring in Cairo, Manoshi Barua of 大象传媒 Bengali, and Katerina Linnik of 大象传媒 Russian.

Spas, Mountains and Militancy: a tour of the North Caucasus
Russia's North Caucasus has often been destabilised by rebellions and insurgencies. Now there's rivalry between the main militant group, the Caucasus Emirate, and so-called Islamic State, which recently proclaimed a new province in the North Caucasus. Meanwhile tourists from Russia and neighbouring countries continue to enjoy the region's spa waters and healthy mountain air. Leyla Akbar of 大象传媒 Monitoring in Baku takes us through the contradictions.

Urdu poetry and the tradition of the Mushaira
For Urdu poets in Pakistan and India, the traditional way to show off their work is to attend a mushaira, or formal recital. The tradition goes back at least five hundred years to the Muslim rulers of India, and is experiencing a resurgence now far beyond the sub-continent. David is joined from Islamabad by journalist and poet Zafar Syed of 大象传媒 Urdu.

And Fifi shares her favourite stories from the world of webbery this week

Main image: The bombed out bus in Tavistock Square, London 09 July 2005. Credit: ODD ANDERSEN / AFP / Getty Images