27 June 2011

Stories from 27 June 2011

Video: Celebrating the Solstice

The celebrations for Summer and Winter Solstices were full of lanterns, dances, flowers and bonfires. Lets tour around the world to check out the different celebrations: Solstice at Stonehenge, Feast of Saint John's bonfires in Spain, Inti Raymi in Peru, we tripantu in Chile and Kupala Day in Russia or Midsummer's night in Poland.

Sri Lanka: China Investing In Land

  27 June 2011

Indi.ca is concerned that Chinese investors are being allowed to reclaim and own 500 acres of Sri Lankan land from sea paying $700 million to the Sri Lankan government.

Azerbaijan: Bakhtiyar Hajiyev Video Campaign

Supporters of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, the Harvard graduate, parliamentary candidate, Facebook activist and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience recently sentenced to two years in prison on what human rights groups consider to be politically motivated charges, have launched a video campaign calling for his release. Details of how to participate in the...

Introducing Brunei's Most Popular Blogger

  27 June 2011

Meet RanoAdidas, Brunei's most popular blogger. His success as a blogger was recently celebrated even by the mainstream media. He proved that blogging is not only a potential source of income but a viable platform to influence many people as well.

Haiti: BBBC Benefits in Question

  27 June 2011

An interesting post on Bill Clinton's housing initiative, Building Back Better Communities (BBBC), which “seeks to construct housing projects across the nation of Haiti”, but upon closer examination, “seems as though the initiative won't live up to its name and in fact will build worse communities than even before the...

Thailand: ‘Vote No’ Campaign

  27 June 2011

Thais will troop to the polls next week and although the opposition is leading in some surveys, there is still no certainty of any group clinching a landslide victory. Unusually, the election ballot has a ‘no’ option provided to voters, and a movement has been orchestrated by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), or Yellow Shirts, to encourage citizens to 'Vote No'.

Cuba: Hunger Striker to Leave Island

  27 June 2011

Uncommon Sense reports that hunger striker Jorge Cervantes Garcia has ended his protest and “will be allowed to leave Cuba once he has recovered from the physical effects of his protest.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Progress for Gay Rights

  27 June 2011

gspott says that the President's assention to the Data Protection Act is “of great significance to gay, lesbian and bisexual communities in Trinidad & Tobago” as it “provides heightened protections for ‘sensitive personal information’, which is defined to include one’s ‘sexual orientation or sexual life’.”

Mauritania: Ending Slavery in Mauritania

  27 June 2011

Beyond abolition: Ending Slavery in Mauritania: “Slaves in Mauritania do not have a legal right to own property, let alone have a surname. Nor do they have a right to custody of their children. The 2007 law criminalizing the ownership of slaves was received with resistance and scoffing. The director...

Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Buju's Prison

  27 June 2011

“Buju Banton was the one who helped us figure it out. He danced between social commentary and slackness. He transformed himself into a thoughtful prophet”: Attilah Springer says it's “a nightmare when you wake up to realise that the one to offer a place for escape is in prison too.”

Bermuda: Position on Same-Sex Unions

  27 June 2011

Politics.bm looks at “some interesting scenarios [that] could play out…[if] Bermuda Immigration faces the question of a non-Bermudian worker coming to the island with a same sex spouse.”

Jamaica: Call for End to Anti-Gay Violence

  27 June 2011

Labrish remembers the life and work of her cousin, who was murdered on account of “his outspoken efforts to bring about an end to homophobia in Jamaica”, saying: “It is beyond time that the appalling homophobia that is a blight on certain parts of Jamaican society come to an end.”

Guatemala: What can you eat with one dollar?

  27 June 2011

In Central American Politics, Mike posts a video where Francisco Fion of the World Food Program explains that about half of the population of Guatemala lives in poverty with 7 quetzales a day –about 1 US dollar. How much food can you buy with 7 quetzales? Watch the video to...

Argentina: Buenos Aires ‘Cartoneros’

  27 June 2011

Simon Kofoed, In his blog argen-times, writes about ‘cartoneros': “The tens of thousands of cartoneros, perhaps best translated as cardboard people, make their living by extracting recyclable materials from the city’s rubbish.”

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