Stories about Western Europe from September, 2009
Serbia: The Death of a French Football Fan
Brice Taton, a 28-year-old French citizen and a fan of the Toulouse football team, was brutally beaten by fans of the Partizan football team in downtown Belgrade on Sept. 17, before the Partizan vs Toulouse game. He died in a Belgrade hospital on Sept. 29.
Denmark: International bloggers meet up to think about climate change
Copenhagen hosted the launch event of the European Blogging Competition TH!NK ABOUT IT - Climate Change, bringing together 92 European bloggers, and special guests from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and the USA.
UK: Przemek Wajerowicz's “From the Upper Deck”
the POLSKI blog highlights Przemek Wajerowicz's London street photography project: From the Upper Deck.
Poland: Sexual Crimes and Roman Polanski
Polandian writes about Poland's plans to legalize chemical castration for those who commit sexual crimes against minors – and about the arrest of Roman Polanski in Switzerland and the Polish foreign minister's intention to ask the U.S. president to pardon the film director: “Now, if the 1977 charge had been...
Czech Republic: Temelín Nuclear Power Plant
The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks writes about the Temelín nuclear power plant, which has been in the news recently “because of a controversial and overpriced contract awarded to a shady company whose former director was recently jailed for planning the violent abduction of his replacement.”
Egypt: Another journalist to be deported
"Your name [is] on the computer." With those words Cairo-based Swedish journalist and blogger Per Bjorklund is being turned away from the Cairo Airport, where he landed a few hours ago. Egypt's bloggers are angry and speaking up against it.
People with disabilities and the promise of ICTs
More than 600 million people in the world live with disabilities. Oftentimes, poverty and disabilities go hand-in-hand. Can the promise of ICTs help disabled people better integrate socially and economically?
Global Voices Mentors Update: Warming up to Climate Change
A team of 31 Global Voices Blogger Mentors have each been paired with one Danish or African student in order to help them become more familiar with both the technical and human aspects of blogging.
Japan: Homeless World Cup
Ikeda-san, at Greenz, uploaded some old and recent pictures and videos [ja] of Nobushi Japan, the football team that represented Japan at the Homeless World Cup, the championship held in Milan at the beginning of September.
Tourism and HIV Infection in Thailand
A report titled “Why Japanese and Western people are infected with HIV in Thailand” by Doctor Kyo Taniguchi from NPO Gina covers statistics about sex workers and “Love, Marriage, and Hopeless love”.
Egypt: Will Farouk Hosni be Unesco's Next Director General ?
Egypt's culture minister Farouk Hosny is vying for Unesco's top post. Marwa Rakha sums up the reactions of bloggers towards this nomination and the election process.
Can social media help make microfinance sustainable?
Microfinance agencies provide loans to small businesspeople who often can’t meet the strict credit terms of large banks. Either these entrepreneurs don’t have the capital or the cash to back the loan. Or as the large banks argue, their credit needs are too small.
A Halal Search Engine for Muslim Internet Users
ImHalal.com, a search engine in English launched earlier this month by a Netherlands-based company, only fetches results that are flagged as “Halal” and safe for Muslim users. Blogger Agharass [Fr] comments.
EU: Russophone Bloggers React to Dairy Farmers’ Protest
LJ user drugoi hosts a discussion of the Belgian dairy farmers' protest over low milk prices.
Françafrique casts shadow in Gabon, Madagascar, and Mauritania
Recent violence in Gabon and Madagascar, and a contested election in Mauritania, have added fuel to the idea that France 's influence looms large in the political arenas of her former African colonies, where it still has wide-ranging political and economic interests.
Azerbaijan: 9/11 and Islam
A day before posting, Scary Azeri tweeted that she needed to sleep on today's entry for the anniversary of 9/11. To mark the tragic event, the blogger takes a look at perceptions towards Islam in Azerbaijan and the U.K.
Global Voices Bloggers Mentor New Danish and African Bloggers
Emails have begun to fly this week between 31 Global Voices mentors and 31 participants in a newly launched educational program in Copenhagen, Denmark called Global Change.
France: Secularity, Required for Democracy and Human Rights
The French concept of the secular seems so distinctive that even the English-language Wikipedia's entry on the issue uses the French term, laïcité, worded in French, to describe it. Suzanne Lehn explains the very different ways bloggers in the US and France view the separation of church and state.
