30 August 2011

Stories from 30 August 2011

India: Acid Survivor Denied Access To Mumbai College

  30 August 2011

Shirin Juwaley, an acid attack survivor, writes in her blog that she was recently denied entry to a Mumbai college. Dheera Sujan writes an open letter to the principal who didn’t want her students to see Shirin's face and get scared of marriages.

Nepal: Live Tweeting Miss Nepal Contest

  30 August 2011

As the 17th edition of of Miss Nepal 2011 beauty pageant took place in Kathmandu this afternoon, many Nepali Tweeps resorted to the hashtag #MissNepal2011 to live tweet the event, informs Aakar Post.

Senegal: Grants for Pilgrimage to Mecca and Rome

  30 August 2011

Mamadou Sarr on assirou.net reveals [fr] how much money Senegal provides for pilgrimages: “The Senegalese government subsidizes the pilgrimage to Mecca to the tune of 1 billion 350 million CFA Francs [around 2.8 million USD] on years when no Christian pilgrimage to Rome is organised, and 1 billion CFA [around...

Bangladesh: Coming Home For Eid

  30 August 2011

Eid is the biggest religious festival in the Muslim majority country Bangladesh, and a key part of the celebration is going home to celebrate with family in distant places. Bijoy has a roundup of Bangla blog reactions on the struggle, frustration and the joy of reaching home to celebrate Eid.

Chile: Mapuche Youth Takeover Municipal Building

  30 August 2011

Katie Manning from Mi Voz reports that forty Mapuche teenagers have staged a takeover –toma in Spanish– in Ercilla: “Since August 19, the 11-to-17-year-olds occupied the town’s government center. They’re not giving it back, they said, until Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter hears out their grievances over the “constant police presence”...

China: Who Could Have Known The Libyans Hate Gaddafi?

  30 August 2011

One of China's top military analysts at home, has turned the official line on Libya into something of a joke, and abroad, China's nominal support for Gaddafi may end up costing the country oil contracts and much more. Netizens look at the lessons Beijing could stand to learn.

Cuba: Sixth Sunday vs. Women

  30 August 2011

“This Sunday August 28th was the 6th consecutive Sunday in which dozens of dissidents -mainly women- have been violently attacked by the regime’s forces. And, each passing day, the methods of repression are more ‘sophisticated’”: Pedazos de La Isla explains.

Trinidad & Tobago: Missed Opportunity re: Teen Video?

  30 August 2011

Another blogger weighs in on the Granny Quila video: “Yes this girl did a pile…having said that, it would have been a perfect opportunity to show the compassionate side of the State of Emergency, and used as an chance to reach out to disaffected youth.”

Cuba: Las Damas & the Archbishop

  30 August 2011

Uncommon Sense says that the fact that the leader of The Ladies in White has had to approach Havana's cardinal “to intercede…to halt the summerlong repression of the Damas and their allies…reveals everything there is wrong with the prelate.”

Brazil: Blogging on Poetry

  30 August 2011

The Brazilian professor Nelson Souzza, on his blog Literatura & Linguagens (Literature and Languages) [pt], writes literary and historic analyses of lusophone poetry, with a focus on famous Portuguese and Brazilian writers and musicians.

Brazil: Mozambique Cedes Land to Brazilian Agribusiness

  30 August 2011

Mozambique is ceding 6 million hectares of land to Brazilian farmers. The idea is to draw on the Brazilian experience in the Cerrado, a biosphere similar to the African savanna, where industrial cattle grazing and soy plantations have already devastated 80% of the richest grasslands in the world.