· September, 2012

Stories from Quick Reads from September, 2012

Sri Lanka: The New Displaced Peoples

Dilrukshi Handunnetti reports in Groundviews that Sri Lanka’s largest internment facility was officially closed last week and its 346 interns were relocated to other confinement(s) instead of being resettled.

30 September 2012

Iran: Alternatives to Google and Gmail

Deputy Telecommunications Minister, Ali Hakim Javadi said to Mehrnews he hoped to launch the Fakhr search engine and Fajr e-mail as alternatives to Google and Gmail in the near future.

30 September 2012

Cambodia: Human Rights Situation

The Special Rapporteur also noted the use of the criminal justice system against human rights defenders and those peacefully exercising their right to express opinion freely This was part of...

30 September 2012

Nepal: New Media Gufa – A New Experiment

Blogdai reports: Dharma Adhikari's Media Foundation held a “New Media Gufa” or “cave” where 5 of Nepal's top tech-savvy journalists chained themselves to their computers for three days in a...

29 September 2012

Sri Lanka: The Rights Of The Homosexuals

Sri Lanka and India, despite our pre-colonial religious and social accommodation of differing sexuality, have remained Victorian in attitude long after the colonial powers have changed. In terms of gay rights, we really need to catch up, and be more honest to ourselves and each other.

29 September 2012

Armenia: Government Pressure on NGO

The Washington Post blog features an entry by David Ignatius detailing pressure on an Armenian NGO particularly active online. Founded by former Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian, government pressure...

29 September 2012

Russia: Nation's Top Blogger Headed to Prison?

RuNet Echo

The criminal investigation targeting Russia's most prominent oppositionist blogger, Alexey Navalny, is heating up. Viacheslav Opalev, the former director of a logging firm in Kirov, has confessed [ru] to participating in...

29 September 2012

Nepal: Another Plane Crash Dips Optimism

Lex Limbu used to share his optimism and hope for the domestic airlines industry of Nepal. But the recent Sita Air crash, and the death of 19 people on board,...

29 September 2012

Africa: Arranged Corporate Marriages

Bankelele points out corporate marriages of note in Africa: Barclays of UK and South Africa’s Absa Group are in talks to merge their African operations – but this is not...

28 September 2012