Stories from 9 December 2009
Corruption Impeding Development In Nepal
This year Nepal has slipped further down on the Transparency International's (TI) anti-corruption scale. The culture of corruption has spread beyond the government and politicians as the social life in Nepal has also fallen victim to this disease.
Armenia: 21st Anniversary of the 1988 Earthquake
Monday marked the 21st anniversary of the 1988 earthquake which devastated many areas in northern Armenia leaving around 25,000 dead and many more homeless. Bloggers examine conditions in the region more than two decades later.
Cuba, U.S.A.: Reduced Sentences for Cuban 5
Circles Robinson posts an update on The Cuban Five for Havana Times.
Bahamas: Interest in Climate Change
Bahama Pundit‘s Larry Smith says of the Copenhagen Climate Change talks: “The good thing about action to address climate change is that it presents unprecedented opportunities for the world in terms of energy security, pollution control, technology innovation and sustainable development.”
Controversies Surround French National Identity Debate
The national identity debate, launched by the French government a month ago, has had its critics on all sides of the debate: from those who speculate the official website is being run by Moroccans to intellectuals who have called for the closure of the Ministry of Immigration.
Dominican Republic: Días Has Died
Repeating Islands acknowledges the passing of “the ‘father of the Dominican rock'”, Luis Días.
Trinidad & Tobago: Customer Service
Trinidadian Taran Rampersad jumps through hoops to get his mobile phone number reactivated after his handset was stolen.
Bermuda: Second Chances
Of the escalating crime situation in Bermuda, 21 Square asks: “Can we help people get off the path to destruction early enough to get them back on the right path?”
Jamaica: Testing the Windies
“Well, well, well, what was previously thought to be impossible in international cricket, actually happened, today”: Jamaica's Girl With A Purpose congratulates the West Indies cricket team on drawing the second test match with Australia.
Kazakhstan: Taking the blogosphere’s pulse for the month
Bloggers continue to share their opinions on current events, from questions of government and regional development in the republic, to musings on the interrelatedness between social behavior and consumer priorities.
Kazakhstan: Big city lights, gerontocracy and Photoshop
Kazakhstan’s bloggers continue to monitor the state’s traditionally non-transparent politics and comment on the news. Among their concerns is the government’s announcement that due to the economic crisis, wage increases for state employees, pensioners and students on stipend, scheduled for the beginning of 2010, would have to be postponed for...
Tweets from Beirut: Day Two of the Arab Bloggers Workshop
The second day of the Arab Bloggers Workshop kicked off with a presentation about Herdict Web, a site which uses crowdsourcing to gather reports of Internet filtering from users around the world. Qatari workshop participant Muhammad Basheer tweeted a photo from the presentation: Following the first presentation, Egyptian blogger Manal...
Indonesia: Movie ban puts freedom of speech in question
The Indonesian Censorship Board has banned the public screening of Balibo, a film about a group of Australians who were murdered during the 1975 Indonesian military invasion of East Timor. Indonesia-based bloggers share their reactions
Cambodia: Anti-Corruption Advocacy of Bloggers
December 9 is annually celebrated as International Anti-Corruption Day. Cambodian bloggers share their views on the anti-corruption efforts of the government and other advocacy groups.
Africa: Can Africa benefit from the World Cup?
Bankelele shows how Africa can benefit from the World Cup: “Back to the post, so besides global giants like Sony and Coca Cola, what other opportunities are there for Kenyan and other African nations & companies?”
Nigeria: Nigerian farmers take Shell to court
“A unique court case, brought by four Nigerian victims of Shell oil spills, in conjunction with Friends of the Earth Netherlands, begins on Thursday 3rd December in the court at The Hague,” Ben reports on Remember Saro Wiwa blog.
Arab Bloggers Workshop: Twitter Reflections on Day One
As the first day of the Second Annual Arab Bloggers Workshop comes to a close, we'll take a look at participants’ reflections from the whole day, to find out what they learned and how they're feeling. The day started off with a bang, as Global Voices organizers Sami Ben Gharbia,...
Serbia: Threats to B92's Journalist
Serbian journalist Brankica Stankovic, the author of a recent TV show about Belgrade's football hooligans, has been receiving serious threats, including via Facebook. Sinisa Boljanovic reviews the response in the Serbian blogosphere.
Zambia: 52 died from climate changes related incidences
52 Zambians have died from climate change related incidences: “A New Global Climate Index for 2010 released Tuesday in Copenhagen listed Zambia as one of the countries already bearing the brunt of climate change.”
Featured Author: Jillian York
Jillian York describes herself as "a writer, activist, Internet censorship combatant, and blogger." She is based in Boston where she works at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society on the OpenNet Initiative and Herdict, a crowdsourcing project to identify blocked websites.
Featured Author: Eman AbdElRahman
Egyptian Global Voices Online contributor Eman AbdElRahman, also known as Lasto Adri, is active in a project called Kolena Laila, which she presented at the Second Arab Bloggers Conference in Beirut, Lebanon.
