28 January 2012

Stories from 28 January 2012

Brazil: ‘Vale’ is Elected the World's Worst Corporation

  28 January 2012

Researcher Telma Monteiro wrote on her blog [pt] about the election of the Brazilian mining company Vale as the world's worst corporation of 2011, with over 25,000 votes on the Public Eye Awards. She attributes the victory to Vale's involvement with the construction of Belo Monte Dam, in the Brazilian...

Iran: ‘Hostages in Syria are not military’

  28 January 2012

Free Syrian Army says it has taken hostage seven Iranians, five of whom were allegedly soldiers complicit in the Syrian government's crackdown on protesters. But an Iranian in Friendfeed writes [fa]: “They show a card as a document to show that this people were affiliated with military but that card...

South Sudan: Urgent Steps Needed to Counter Inter-Communal Violence

  28 January 2012

Urgent steps are needed to counter inter-communal violence in South Sudan: “Inter-communal violence in Jonglei and throughout South Sudan, while traditionally cyclical in nature, is not inevitable. The causes of this violence go beyond the retaliatory nature of cattle raiding and touch upon broader issues of accountability, reconciliation, political inclusion,...

Ethiopia: Standing With Ethiopia's Tenacious Blogger

  28 January 2012

Standing with Ethiopia's jailed blogger: “It would be hard to find a better symbol of media repression in Africa than Eskinder Nega. The veteran Ethiopian journalist and dissident blogger has been detained at least seven times by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government over the past two decades, and was put...

Africa: How Africa Tweets

  28 January 2012

Young people Tweeting from mobile devices are driving the growth of Twitter in Africa, according to How Africa Tweets, new research launched by Portland: “In the first ever attempt to comprehensively map the use of Twitter in Africa, Portland and Tweetminster analysed over 11.5 million geo-located Tweets originating on the...

Bhutan: Promoting National Language

  28 January 2012

Penstar protests against the tendency of some Bhutanese newspapers to undermine Dzongkha language and suggests that the national language needs to be promoted everywhere.

China: Redpad for Government Official Only

  28 January 2012

China Bubble Watch blogs about the introduction of Red-pad, an electronic device similar to i-pad but sold at a price (RMB9,999) twice as high as an Apple i-pad exclusively to Chinese government officials.

Slovakia: Roma “Apartheid” – and New Housing?

  28 January 2012

According to this report [en], a US-based Hindu group was shocked by the “maltreatment” of the Roma in Slovakia, calling “to end Roma apartheid.” At the same time, the Slovak government announced [en] a new wave of social housing construction for the Roma, expecting that “the number of illegal Roma...

Slovakia: More News on Overly Expensive Website Design

  28 January 2012

Aktualne.sk reports [sk] that, following the initial financial inspection by the Ministry of Culture, the Slovak National Gallery is now required to pay 140 euro back, from the 25,000 euro that it reportedly spent on its new website (more on this here and here). Meanwhile, according to the World Association...