Featured stories from October 2010
Stories from October, 2010
Brazil: Dilma Rousseff elected president
Winning 55.7% of the total votes, Dilma Rousseff today became Brazil's first female president [pt]. Voter turnout was also high, with estimates lying between 92 and 96%. We will bring you views from the Brazilian blogosphere as they come in.
Bangladesh: Participating In Global Hand Washing Day 2010
“The students of The Dhaka Project staged 6 different drama’s addressing the importance of awareness of Global Hand Washing Day on 30th October 2010,” informs Touhid at The Dhaka project blog.
Cote d'Ivoire : SMS Service Suspended During Elections to Prevent Violence
diabymohamed informs on Twitter that in anticipation of the presidential election of Sunday, Oct. 31 in Cote d'Ivoire, the Ivorian Telecom Authority (ATCI) decided to suspend short text message services, a decision that is reasonable for some because of potential messages of violence : “RT @2romeo: #Abidjan closing of SMS...
Cote d'Ivoire : Citizen and Collaborative Election Monitoring System
The internetsansfrontieres.com website informs [Fr]: “For the presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire on Oct. 31, Internet Sans Frontières and Akendewa set up a citizen and collaborative election monitoring system. The system allows for direct access to citizen reporting.”
Caribbean: Hurricane Tomas
Trinidad and Tobago, the twin island republic that seemed to be directly in Tomas‘ path on Friday, was spared its effects, but as the storm veered north, islands that had previously been out of its path were suddenly thrust into storm warning mode. Tomas is now situated south-southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico; the hope remains that the Category 2 storm, which is expected to gather more strength, will steer clear of Haiti.
Georgia: Halloween protests & revelry
The Young Georgians examines the history of Halloween, and not least in Georgia where controversy often results in religious groups objecting to young people holding their own events. This year is no exception with Orthodox Christians planning to stage protests while several events in clubs and public gatherings are scheduled...
Japan: Photography Project ‘Yamanote Loop’
Steve from the Fwdmovement site has kicked off a photography project called Yamanote Loop. The project will cover each of the 29 stations in Tokyo's JR Yamanote Line, starting with Mejiro Station.
Armenia: Nationalist backlash against Azerbaijan film festival
Unzipped and Le Retour (in 3 Parts) comment on the nationalist backlash to a festival of films from Azerbaijan to be staged in Yerevan, Armenia, next week. The former says that the negative reaction is hypocritical when the same nationalists decry attempts to prevent artistic expression and freedom of speech...
Egypt: From Dakar … with love
Fatma Emam, an Egyptian female blogger, wrote about her experience in searching for her real identity during her visit to Dakar.
Egypt: Unauthorized Hebrew translation of a novel
M. Lynx Qualey, commented on the latest news that Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswany has lashed out at an unauthorized Hebrew translation of his most popular novel “The Yacoubian building“.
Egypt: The Story of Totalitarianism
Egyptian-in-USA wrote interesting reflections from George Orwell's novel 1984, projecting them to the current political situation in Egyptian today.
Palestine: Autumn in Gaza
Lina, who blogs at Live From Gaza gives us a view of the brooding autumnal sky from her window.
Jordan: Political Cartoonists Take Aim at Campaign Posters
Jordanian social media writers continue to focus their writing about the November 9th parliamentary elections on the election posters covering the country, and particularly the capital city, Amman.
MENA: Women Writing; Women Reading
Canadian expat, Maryanne Gabbani, recommended a few of her favorite female writers from the Arab world. In a way, she is trying to prove her experience that while life for women in the Middle East is all sunshine and lollipops, women are not the doormats that they are imagined to...
Vietnam: Analysis on blog arrests
Saigonnezumi from Vietnam provides some background to the “crackdown’ of bloggers in Vietnam in the past year.
‘Bloggers for Malaysia’ group
The ‘Bloggers for Malaysia’ group was formed this month to protect the welfare of bloggers in Malaysia in light of the recent cases filed by the police against online critics of the government.
Malaysia: Universal Service Provision fund
Bloggers from Malaysia demand an accounting of the Universal Service Provision fund which is being collected from telecommunication companies in order to improve internet connectivity in the rural areas.
Malaysia: Questionable overseas trips of tourism minister
Wee Choo Keong, a blogger-parliamentarian from Malaysia questions the cost of the 16 overseas trips made by the tourism minister last year.
Mexico: Drug Gangs Using Guerrilla Tactics?
Tim Johnson says that, “Thursday’s killing of nine police is important for what it reveals about the tactical military capabilities of drug gangs.”
Pakistan: Paypal Denied
Faisal Khan updates the struggle of Pakistani net users to bring Paypal to Pakistan.
Pakistan: Who’s perception is this?
Faisal Kapadia at Deadpan Thoughts questions the transparency and methodology of the Transparency International's Pakistan operation and the validity of its corruption perception index.
