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.
India: Mumbai In Monochrome
Harini Calamur at POV provides us the opportunity to see glimpses of Mumbai city in monochrome.
Sri Lanka: China Investing In Land
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.
Sri Lanka: Candle Light Vigil For Tamil War Victims
D.B.S. Jeyaraj writes about a candle light vigil at the Marina beach in the Indian city of Chennai on June 26th to commemorate the Sri Lankan Tamil war victims.
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...
Macedonia: New Parliament Assembles, Cements Election Victory for “Big Fish”
The newly-elected Macedonian Parliament held its initial session on Saturday, June 25, 2011. Its composition promises “more of the same” kind of politicking from the last few years.
Argentina: River Plate Football Club Relegated to Second Division
River Plate, one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in Argentina and in the world suffered one of its worse defeats recently: on June 26 it tied with Belgrano Athletic Club in a match where its membership of the first division of Argentine football was decided.
Cuba: Women in the Cuban Blogosphere
Yasmín S. Portales has been posting her research [es] on women's voices in the Cuban blogosphere.
Introducing Brunei's Most Popular Blogger
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
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
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
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
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
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
“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.”
Egypt: Commemorating the Struggle Against Systematic Torture
As the world marked the International Day against Torture that falls on June 26, eyes were on Egypt where the struggle against citizen abuse has been particularly significant.
Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Racist Comments?
Barbadian bloggers are all over a WikiLeaks cable in which St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is “quoted extensively”.
Bermuda: Position on Same-Sex Unions
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
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?
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’
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.”
