Stories about Breaking News from June, 2013
Egyptians Want to Overthrow the Regime
Egyptians marked the first anniversary of Mohamed Morsi's presidency with huge rallies across Egypt on June 30, calling for him to leave office. Anti-Morsi campaign Tamarrod, whose name translates to rebel, says it has so far gathered more than 22 million signatures from citizens, which call for early presidential elections.
Father of China's Great Firewall to Quit His Job as University President
Fang Binxing, an information security expert nicknamed the “father of China’s Great Fire Wall”, has resigned as president of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. His abrupt decision to step down--made during a university commencement speech --has ignited uproar online and touched a nerve with China’s Internet-savvy community.
The Brazil Effect: Thousands Protest ‘For a Better Paraguay’
Following the trend that marked protests in Brazil in the last few weeks, some 3000 people took to the streets of Paraguay's capital to make their voices heard in protest against recent parliamentary decisions.
Tamim Bin Hamad Named New Qatar Emir
Former Qatari ruler Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani handed power today to his fourth son, Shaikh Tamim. Doha News maintains a live blog here to cover the story.
Chinese Social Web Slams Local Dog Meat Festival
The annual dog meat festival in China’s southwestern city of Yulin in Guangxi province is a summer tradition for many. But this year the festival was met with outcry online and calls for a boycott.
Saudi Human Rights Activist Sentenced To 8 Years in Prison
Abdulkareem al-Khadar, founding member of the Kingdom's defiant leading human rights organisation, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was sentenced to eight years in prison for inciting public opinion and establishing an unlicensed human rights organization, among other charges.
Thousands Are Joining Bosnia's ‘Babylution’
The death of a baby girl has people in Bosnia-Herzegovina crossing the country's deep ethnic divides by the thousands to protest together against the government's failure to remedy a lapse in the law that is preventing newborns from being given an identity number and, by extension, travel papers and healthcare.
Man Disappears in Uzbekistan Police Custody
On Registan.net Noah Tucker reports that the 71-year-old father of an Uzbek opposition politician has disappeared in police custody in Uzbekistan. The authorities intimidate the elderly man (as well as...
Czech PM Resigns Amid Sex Scandal
Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas steps down after his Chief of Staff and mistress, Jana Nagyova, is arrested on charges of bribery and corruption.
Nothing Can Stop Brazil's Vinegar Revolt, Not Even FIFA
As the international Confederation Cup football tournament played on in Brazil, massive protests against rising bus fares spread throughout the country.
European Award for Helping Victims of the Spanish Mortgage Crisis
The European Parliament has awarded its European Citizen's prize to the Mortgage Victims Platform, a Spanish grassroots organization that helps those affected by the housing crisis and champions legal reforms of mortgage lending practices. The ruling party had harsh words for the award, while netizens were strongly in favour.
PHOTOS: Hundreds Arrested in Brazil's Bus Fare Protests
Police are responding with teargas and violence as protesters crusade against the increase in public transportation fares during the fourth consecutive day of protests in Sao Paulo. The demonstrations are part of the Free Fare Movement that has already spread to other major cities throughout Brazil.
Orphaned in US, SOPA Finds Home in Russia
America’s controversial Stop Online Piracy Act is back—and it’s poised to become law in a matter of weeks. SOPA, however, isn’t coming to the US, where a wide coalition defeated the legislation in January 2012. A law that creates similarly harsh penalties for online copyright violations is on the cusp of finding a home in Russia.
Cuba Increases Internet Access From Designated Public Centers
Cuba opened 118 public centers with Internet access on the island. Called Nauta, the service can be requested in any Cuban State Telecommunications (ETESCA) commercial unit that has partnered with the program.
Pavel Durov, Founder of Russia's #1 Social Network, Is Not Going to Prison (For Now)
It looks like Pavel Durov can finally return to Russia without a prison sentence threatening from overhead. That seems to be the case, now that Petersburg detectives have closed their inquiry into Durov's alleged involvement in an April 5 traffic accident that forced "Russia's Zuckerberg" to flee the country two months ago.
Catalan Wikipedia Receives Official Recognition
Amical Wikimedia, the association that promotes Viquipedia, the Catalan Wikipedia, has got a chapter of its own within the international structure of the Wikimedia Foundation. This recognition comes after a...
Putin Loses His First Lady & RuNet Snarks
A three-person TV crew from Russia 24 standing in an empty Kremlin hallway, the black-suited reporter with her arms awkwardly crossed—that was the initial audience to Vladimir Putin’s announcement today, that he and his wife Lyudmila have split.
Japan Qualifies for World Cup, Cop's Crowd Control Performance Goes Viral
As Japan's football fans celebrate qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a police officer came under spotlight for his persuasive microphone performance in marshaling a large crowd of supporters gathered in Shibuya on the night of June 4th, 2013.
Turkey: A Social Media Chronology of Occupy Gezi
On April 10, a hashtag on Turkey's Twitter proclaimed, #ayagakalk ("stand up"). This came from a small group of activists trying to preserve the standing park, Gezi Park in Taksim Square, against plans to build a mall on the area. Nobody expected to this little incident to turn into biggest protest in the country’s republican history
All Hail Russia's Heroic Cop-Killers?
A group of unknown assailants is killing police officers in Rostov. Authorities have linked the same stolen weapons to the slayings of 5 officers, in attacks that resemble a wave of cop-killings from 2008 and 2009 that claimed 12 lives. The criminals’ tactics have led many to compare them to the infamous Primorsky Partisans, a self-declared "guerilla group" that terrorized the police of Russia’s Far East in early 2010.
Kyrgyzstan: Rule of Law Versus Rule of the Mob?
A week-long wave of regional unrest, ostensibly due to disagreements over the fate of a key gold mine, has sent Kyrgyzstan into a state of disorder that looks all too...
