Stories from 10 November 2010
Iran: Inflation for dummies
Azarakan has published two photos of a package of mushrooms in four days. The price rose about 30 percent. The Iranian blogger says [fa] here is the meaning of the inflation for some who try ignore it.
Iran: Pro democracy student was lashed 74 times
Pejvak,an Iranian blogger, writes [fa] that Behrouz Javid Tehrani, pro democracy student was lashed 74 times in prison in Tehran. He has been in prison for 8 years.
Video: It Gets Better for Queer Youth
The It Gets Better Project was started by Dan Savage as a way of preventing gay teens from committing suicide through videos explaining what gay adult life could be: lots better. And from different corners of the world, other people are also sharing their stories.
Nigeria: Oil War Resumes
Nigeria's oil war resumes: “Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main umbrella body of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region militants who rejected the amnesty granted to militants who surrendered arms and renounced violence by the government last year, have resumed hostilities after what seemed an initial ceasefire.”
MalawiSoc: Tracking Malawian blogs and news
Clement Nthambazale Nyirenda is a final year PhD student in the Hirota/Sakurai Lab in the Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science at Tokyo Institute of Technology and a lecturer, researcher and consultant in Electronics and Computer Engineering at the Malawi Polytechnic.He is the founder of MalawiSoc, a social bookmarking site devoted to news and blogs about Malawi.
D.R. of Congo: Criminalising Homosexuality
Criminalising homosexuality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: “The DRC parliament is presently debating proposed in the process of discussing legislation which will criminalise homosexuality. There are a number of major difference between the DRC Bill and legislation proposed in for example, Nigeria and Uganda which have proposed similar legislation.”
Nigeria: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa
Sokari remembers Ken Saro-Wiwa: “Today marks the 15th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa by the Nigerian state under General Sani Abacha on November 10th 1995. I still remember the day, a Friday.”
Kenya: The Kenya I Live In
This December 2010, Kenyan literary magazine, “Kwani?” will publish the top five entries of their “The Kenya I Live In” Short Story Competition. (Over 500 entries were received, the judges read 65 of these and announced the winners in February 2010.)
Africa: What drives unsafe abortion in Africa?
What drives unsafe abortion in Africa?: “In our view two key factors ultimately sustain the persistence of unsafe abortion in Africa: the first is criminalisation of abortionwhich was inherited from colonial times, despite the fact that abortion has since been decriminalised in the “mother countries”, beginning with the United Kingdom...
Haiti: Tweets on Cholera Outbreak
Twitter updates on the cholera outbreak: @carelpedre gets news that the disease is spreading, while @MissionMANNA tweets a quote from the director of Haiti's health ministry suggesting that the situation is “now a matter of national security.”
U.S.V.I.: No-Smoking Legislation
The Department of Health neglected to hold enough committee meetings to make the no-smoking law a reality; Live De Life hopes that despite the delay, “the bar and restaurant owners choose to go ahead and put this in place now before the start of tourist season.”
St. Lucia: No Bananas
Repeating Islands notes that St. Lucia's banana industry “could take up to eight months to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Tomas.”
Haiti: Cash for Work
“Is it a good thing that the sidewalks are jammed with people selling mostly imported goods and cast-off clothing and shoes from overseas?”: Haiti Grassroots Watch investigates whether cash-for-work programs help or hinder the country's recovery from the January 12 earthquake.
Cuba: Castro on Twitter
Along the Malecon thinks one of the reasons that Hugo Chavez has more Twitter followers than Fidel Castro is because “Internet use in Cuba much more restricted and expensive than it is in Venezuela.”
Barbados: Government-Media Link
Barbados Free Press makes “some observations about this ‘special understanding’ or ‘working relationship’ between the ‘professional’ Barbados news media and the government that results in the news media intentionally withholding news from the public for days.”
South Korea: Unicef T-shirt Guy Blocked From Entering G20 Venue
As G 20 Summit kicks off tomorrow, the summit venue is under maximum security. The government's ‘too much security’, though understandable, has drawn public annoyance online. Twitterer @michaelPARK83 tweeted that he had been blocked [ko]from entering the summit venue only because he was wearing a T-shirt with certain words on, which was ‘Unicef’.
Serbia: Netizens and Media Report on the Kraljevo Earthquake
Sasa Milosevic reports on the online and citizen media coverage of the earthquake that hit Serbia last week.
Brazil: why does the media fear debate?
On his blog, Ricardo Kotscho asks himself [pt] why Brazil's mainstream media is so afraid to debate new regulation of the sector. Meanwhile, Rogério Tomaz Jr, from the blog Conexão Brasília Maranhão, discusses [pt] the need for greater social control of the media in order to promote democracy.
China: 360 VS. QQ: What about privacy and user rights?
A commercial spat between instant messaging applications Tencent QQ and Qihoo 360 has affected million of users. Although QQ still monopolizes the market, public opinion shows that Chinese Internet users are on the side of Qihoo and are becoming increasingly aware of the averse effects of Tencent's monopoly, and the significance of protecting Internet users' privacy and rights.
Russia: Soccer Hooligans Might Be Involved in Assault on Oleg Kashin
Investigative blogger Anticompromat re-posts [RUS] a new version of attack on Oleg Kashin. He quotes LJ-user cleric_r saying that the assault might be connected with soccer fan groups. Kashin knew way too much about the relations between soccer fan groups, pro-Kremlin youth movements, and President's Staff. LJ-user semen_f19 adds [RUS]...
Kazakhstan: LiveJournal Suspends Oppositioner's Account
LiveJournal has suspended account of Rakhat Aliev, Kazakh opposition politician and a former president Nazarbaev‘s son-in-law, LJ-user Dolboeb reports. Previously Kazakhstan blocked entire LiveJournal in order to silence Aliev. At the same time, it is the second suspicious suspension in LiveJournal – on November 3, 2010 Russian opposition blogger pilgrim_67...