5 December 2011

Stories from 5 December 2011

Russia: The Revolt of “Net Hamsters”

RuNet Echo  5 December 2011

The day after the elections, Russians got together to rally against election fraud. Even though the United Russia party, according to preliminary results, is to lose some 77 seats compared to the previous Duma, most of the protesters considered the election to be neither fair, nor free.

Cuba: Loving Yoani

  5 December 2011

Along the Malecon links to an interview with blogger Yoani Sanchez’ husband, in which he reveals that “he quickly realized she was special.”

St. Kitts & Nevis: Poor Credit Rating

  5 December 2011

Abeng News Magazine notes that “the credit rating of St Kitts and Nevis…took a hit when it defaulted on a bond payment the end of November”, adding: “Maybe because there isn’t an Occupy movement in Basseterre, or because the people of one of the most indebted nations in the world...

St. Lucia: Poetic Preaching

  5 December 2011

Caribbean Book Blog profiles a local priest who “has just published a book of narrative prose and poetry”, which he describes as ” a Caribbean-centric “theological reflection on the social, historical, economic, religious, political, and national consciousness.”

El Salvador: Remembering El Mozote Massacre 30 Years Later

  5 December 2011

Tim's El Salvador Blog will publish a series of posts on the El Mozote Massacre, which took place 30 years ago on December 11, 1981: “All but one of the civilians taking refuge in the small village of El Mozote, more than 800 men, women, children and babies, were brutally...

Chile: Legislation to Limit Easter Island Visitors Fails

  5 December 2011

Around 400 Rapa Nui protested peacefully after a legislation that “would have limited the number of visitors to Easter Island as well as the number of individuals who could move and set-up residency on the Island” failed in Chile's Chamber of Deputies, as Ryan Seelau reports in Indigenous News.

Ashura Commemorations Around the World

  5 December 2011

Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, is a period of mourning for Shia Muslims. Events reach a climax on Ashura, the tenth day of the month. Ayesha Saldanha reports on Ashura commemorations around the world.

Lusophone Heritage of “Portugality” Around the World

  5 December 2011

A Facebook group and a mapping website called “Portugality” have been created to explore the cultures that result from the “global cultural fusion started by Portuguese navigations of the XVth. century and lasting to this day in places like Brazil, Mozambique, East Timor or Malacca”.

Kuwait: A New Prime Minister and Detainees Bailed Out

  5 December 2011

More than two weeks after protesters stormed the Kuwaiti Parliament, the country has a new Prime Minister. Netizens comment on the 'new era,' political action and the detention, hunger strike and release of protesters arrested for breaking into the Parliament. The protesters have been released on bail, pending trial. Here are netizen reactions to the country's latest developments.

France : Strike against the RFI – France 24 merger project

  5 December 2011

The blog Écrans, published on the online version of the daily French newspaper Libération, explains the issues [fr] of the merger of the RFI radio and the TV channel France 24 [fr] and its impact on the French public broadcasting system for international news. The RFI staff, worried about the radio...

Ghana : No juridical basis to ban homosexual marriages

  5 December 2011

According [fr] to West Africa online Radio, “The attorney general of Ghana, Ediké Amidou, recently said to a local radio at Accra that the Ghanaian law about sexual unions doesn't make provisions for homosexuality. As a result, consented relationships  between two adults wouldn't be criminally punished.”

China: Anti-rumor VS Anti-censorship

  5 December 2011

David Bandurski from China Media Project blogs about the appointment of the new head of the state-run China Central Television Hu Zhanfan and the firestorm between the official anti-rumor campaign and the anti-censorship on social media.