Stories from 27 September 2012
Jordan: Inkitab Group to Hold Second Used Book Fair
After the success of their first event, the Inkitab Group which works to promote reading, will hold their second used book fair in the Jordanian capital Amman on October 1,...
Armenia: A New Response to Hate Crime?
Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on news of an attack on transsexual sex workers in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The blog notes that not only did the victims report the crime,...
Iran: President Ahmadinejad's Men in Trouble
As President Ahmadinejad addressed the UN General Assembly on September 26, a foreign ministry spokesperson was attacked by protesters in New York and a government press adviser was arrested in...
Spain: Proposed Changes for Abortion Law
The 28th of September is the celebration of the Campaign for the Legalization of Abortion, which has taken place for years in Latin America and the Caribbean and this year...
Puerto Rico: Plagiarism Revealed Through the Net
Janet Marilyn Hernández, a Venezuelan blogger and public relations professional, discovered that her thesis was plagiarized in a newspaper article and blog post written by professor Ivan Ríos of the...
The Slap that Changed China's History
On September 24, the former police chief of Chongqing, Wang Lijun, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on four charges: bending the law for personal interest, defection, abuse of...
Russia: Yekaterinburg Police Raid Regional Internet Publication
On September 27th Yekaterinburg-based internet news portal URA.ru was raided by city police, reports [ru] Evgeny Roizman, local anti-drug campaigner. Roizman is dating the editor-in-chief of the portal, Aksana Panova, who has...
Georgia: A Caucasian Abu Ghraib
Eva Anderson, a Senior Analyst with Transparency International, examines the recent prison abuse video scandal in Georgia as the country prepares for crucial 1 October Parliamentary Elections. The blog post...
Mexico: Writing from Jail
Enrique Aranda Ochoa writes literature from jail. Convicted of kidnapping in 1997 with a sentence of 50 years in prison, Enrique has used his time in jail to write six...
Chad: Challenges to Freedom of Expression as Social Protests Grow
The recent arrests in Chad of three union officers and the editor of an independent newspaper are symptomatic of a disintegration of freedom of expression in the country. These arrests...
Colombians Cautiously Optimistic About Peace Talks with FARC
The Colombian government is planning its first set of negotiations with FARC in a decade. While many Colombian bloggers welcome this decision, others do not see the negotiations leading to...
Spain: Two Journalists on Trial for Revealing Corruption in Catalonia
On September 27, Albano Dante and Marta Sibina, editors of the magazine Cafè amb Llet, will appear in court in Catalonia, Spain. The journalists are being sued for libel by...
Jamaica: Storm Saulter on Film & New Media in the Caribbean
The 2012 Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival continues this week and one of the most high-profile regional attendees is Storm Saulter, the Jamaican director whose first feature film, Better Mus’...
Peru: Activists Begin “Civic Crusade” in Defense of the Nanay River
In our first post in this tree-part series we briefly introduced some water-related issues in Iquitos, and later presented the controversy generated by the transnational Conoco Phillips and their exploration...
China: Intraparty Democracy
Qian Gang from China Media Project reviewed the discussion and development of Intra-party democracy within the Chinese Communist Party through the so-called “open nomination and direct election” in the election...
Guatemala: Profiting from Catastrophes
Kevin from the Guatemala Solidarity Network blog points readers to an article by Danilo Valladares published in Inter Press Service about “‘big disaster business’ – profiting from catastrophes.” In a...
Iran: Eight Years of Deception
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has released a short video “demonstrating and highlighting systematic cover-ups accompanying the marked rise in human rights violations over the eight years of...
A Ghanain App at TechCrunch Disrupt
Erik writes about a Ghanaian tech team that pitched at TechCrunch Disrupt event: Saya is an app for texting. That mixes SMS, Facebook chat and hyperlocal findability to get in...
Will China Fall Prey to the ‘Skyscraper Curse'?
By 2022, the number of skyscrapers in China will reach 1,318 compared to 563 in the United States. But according to one theory, the world's tallest buildings often rise on...
Kenya: Safari 7s Rugby Tournament Excites Fans
One of the biggest sporting events in East Africa came alive between 21-23 September, 2012, in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi - the Safari Sevens, a rugby seven-a-side tournament which started...
