Stories from Quick Reads from November, 2011
Iran: The Storming of the British Embassy
Somayeh Tohidlou, talks about the storming of British Embassy compounds by Iranian protesters. She writes [fa] in Friendfeed: “Are they wrong about the date? This is 2011, not 1979 [when protesters took the US embassy in Tehran] and the regime is 32 years old now, not new-born one.”
Sri Lanka: Project Roku
Murshid introduces Project Roku, a next generation conversation system born in Sri Lanka.
Nepal: Constituent Assembly Extended For Six Months
United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal reports that a bill seeking to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly by six more months was passed today.
Côte d’Ivoire: Bloggers React to the ICC Warrant Issued for Gbagbo's Arrest
Kouamouo writes that the ICC has issued a warrant today to arrest former Ivorian president Gbagbo [fr]. In the comment section, Akpe wonders why Gbagbo has to be sent to Europe and not tried in Côte d’Ivoire.
DR of Congo: Citizens Organize Unofficial Polling as They Await Election Results
Colette Braeckman writes in her blog [fr]: “Congolese citizens have become experts in election monitoring; they are grabbing pens and notepads, going from one voting polls to the other and sharing the results they observe to friends via SMS.”
El Salvador: ‘Encachimbados’ Lead Occupy Movement
Danielle Mackey writes about the Encachimbados (meaning “indignant”), El Salvador's occupy movement: “They call the attention of both the U.S. and Salvadoran governments to the free trade model, regional militarization strategies, and environmental destruction and climate change—all policies that the Encachimbados see as designed by a transnational elite, and which...
Mexico: Guadalajara Hosts 25th International Book Fair
Guadalajara is hosting the 25th International Book Fair from November 26 to December 4, 2011. Álvaro López writes about the fair in Vivir México [es], and says he wishes Mexico had more readers and fewer TV viewers.
ActionAid: halve world hunger by 2015
“Let's fight climate change & hunger. Together” is a new video released by ActionAid & produced by the LatteCreative team, to support the world food crisis campaign and keep the ‘pressure on governments to deliver on their promise to halve world hunger by 2015′.
Trinidad & Tobago: Online Safety
Mark Lyndersay writes an enlightening post about online child safety, here.
Cuba: Mariela's Red Light Comment
Ernesto Morales Licea takes issue with Mariela Castro's now infamous statement to Radio Netherlands during her visit to Amsterdam's Red Light District.
St. Lucia: Looking Good for St. Lucia Labour Party
Caribbean-American Forum says that incoming results point to the likelihood that opposition leader Dr. Kenny Anthony has led the St. Lucia Labour Party to a sweeping victory in the country's recent general election.
Barbados: Response to Crime Affecting Tourism?
Barbados Free Press questions the role of the local police “in what has become an all-too-familiar story of covering up crime against tourists.”
Jamaica: Sabina Park & Lawrence Rowe
Active Voice gives a Twitter follower a tour of Jamaica's famous Sabina Park, and makes a plea for the powers-that-be to bring back the Lawrence Rowe Players Pavilion.
Guyana: Calling Violence Against Women by Name
CODE RED “felt very frustrated yesterday when someone told [her] that to say ‘violence against women’ is discriminatory, that it should be called ‘relationship violence'”, explaining: “There are a range of gendered ways in which women are targeted for violence, not all of which are ‘domestic’. Erasing the language feminists...
Iran: Raid on UK embassy
Amin Sabeti, blogger, linked to a picture which shows a man taking a poster of Pulp Fiction movie out of the UK embassy, wrote [Fa] in his Friendfeed page: “Look at this police! How strong he was reacting toward protestors!”
China: Sina's Credibility Crisis
B.Bishop looks into Sina's credibility crisis with its investors and offers some suggestions to the company.
China: Economic News Roundup
The China Digital Times has a news roundup about potential economic risks in China.
China: Regulation on Entertainment excessiveness
Recently the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has issued another regulation, the prohibition of interruption of dramas with ads, to address the issue of “entertainment excessiveness”. The China media project further discusses how the institutional nature of the television networks that will be impacted by the SARFT...
North Korea Ranked 3rd in Deforestation
North Korean Economy Watch blog consolidated current reports on severe deforestation in North Korea. According to one risk analysis firm, North Korea had the third highest deforestation rate among 180 countries surveyed and the UN estimates that North Korea had lost almost one-third of its entire forest mass.
Iran:“Battlefield 3″ in Tehran
Ali Nazifpour, believes Battlefield 3, a video game which includes a search for nuclear bombs in a future Iran, portraits a very inaccurate, ridiculous picture of Iran.An online petition launched against this game.
Guatemala: Survivors’ Testimonies Help Define Genocide in Online Documentary
Mike shares Spanish-language documentary “Our Voice, Our Memory: The genocide in Guatemala,” which is available in full on YouTube. He adds: “The documentary […] uses survivor and expert testimony to explain the concept of genocide, demonstrating how the atrocities committed by the Guatemalan military against indigenous Maya communities satisfy the...
