16 January 2013

Stories from 16 January 2013

PHOTOS: Pakistan's Countrywide Shia Solidarity Protests End Peacefully

After the bombings in Quetta killed more than 100 people of the Hazara Shia community, protests spread like fire across Pakistan. People from all sects and tribes joined hands together to show solidarity with the Hazaras chanting #WeAreAllHazara. Sit-ins were registered in more than 100 cities and towns.

16 January 2013

Peru: Flooding of Toll Road Via Parque Rimac

At 3 am on 28th December, 2012, part of the retaining wall of the Rimac River yielded to the flood, alongside the work which was being carried out from the VIa Parque Rimac above the normal riverbed height. Here we have a chronology of events as well as reactions to what took place.

16 January 2013

Director of Films Denouncing President Sata Arrested in Zambia

Chanda Chimba III, a freelance filmmaker who made documentaries denouncing Michael Sata, while he was the opposition Patriotic Front leader and before he became the President of Zambia, has been arrested. Once reviled, the documentaries are now hits on YouTube as most of the things that Chimba predicted are now a reality.

16 January 2013

China's Transparent Reporting on Air Pollution

Beijing's record-breaking pollution has been reported by both Chinese and international media for the past few days. What's surprising is the official media's transparency in reporting about pollution, a topic often...

16 January 2013

Homophobic Hashtag Makes Waves on Twitter in France

The hashtag #SiMonFilsEstGay made waves on Twitter on December 22, 2012, in the French twittersphere. The hashtag is basically a homophobic incitement to violence accompanied by some poor taste "humorous" tweets. The alleged jokes consisted of telling other Twitter users the punishment you would give your son if he turned out to be gay. Some posts expressed a disturbing penchant for violence.

16 January 2013

Brazil's World Cup Construction Threatens Indigenous “Living Museum”

About six years ago, the abandoned building of the First Museum of the Indian, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil turned into a “living museum” and became home to several different indigenous communities. On the morning of January 12, 2013, the military police arrived ready to evict the community. Activists soon arrived on the scene.

16 January 2013

Belize, St. Vincent: Garifuna Culture

…the Garifuna language, which integrates Arawak and Carib, and which was declared a ‘masterpiece of the oral intangible heritage of humanity’ by UNESCO in 2001, is severely threatened. It possesses...

16 January 2013

Laos: Where is Sombath Somphone?

Sombath Somphone, a development economist and educator from Laos, was last seen on December 15, 2012. A month after his mysterious disappearance, his friends and supporters from around the world are asking the Lao government to intensify the search for Sombath.

16 January 2013

“Silly Season” with Tobago's Elections

Tobago will be holding its Tobago House of Assembly elections on Monday, January 21 - and though these are not national elections, it is still an important vote, as the result will determine who will steer the semi-autonomous body which governs several key functions of what Trinidadians refer to as “the sister isle”. One political blogger examines the issues...

16 January 2013

Russian Facebook of Horrors: From Tragedy to Humor

RuNet Echo

Humor is sometimes the only way to deal with a tragedy like the one that struck Russian Facebook over the weekend, when it turned out that Alexey Kabanov, chef and father of three, had allegedly strangled and dismembered his wife, Irina Cherska.

16 January 2013

Haiti: Water & Cholera

Was there a simultaneous sabotage of Haiti's municipal water systems while the country was grappling with cholera? kiskeácity links to the details.

16 January 2013