6 March 2013

Stories from 6 March 2013

Activists Worldwide Mourn French Author Stéphane Hessel

Writer, human rights advocate, and French resistance fighter Stéphane Hessel, whose bestselling manifesto on peaceful uprising inspired the disenchanted of Europe and the United States to organize into protest, died on the night of February 26, 2013. He was 95. A peaceful march is planned on March 7, 2013, the day of his funeral.

6 March 2013

Facebook Instigates Another Russian Media Scandal

RuNet Echo

Earlier today, Yuri Saprykin, announced that Gazeta.ru’s editors have removed Maria Tsybulskaya from the newspaper’s video-interviews project, because her interview with Saprykin included off-limits political questions about the criminal cases surrounding last May’s violent protest at Bolotnaia Square, and Putin’s declining support in national polls.

6 March 2013

Nigerians Shake Up Twitter with Yoruba-Language Tweets

Twitter was abuzz with Yoruba, one of the three major indigenous languages spoken in Nigeria, on March 1, 2013 as speakers of the language lit up the microblogging site with tweets in Yoruba as part of a campaign to celebrate the language on social media and pressure Twitter to include it in its translation project.

6 March 2013

India Aims to Woo Women With New Budget

Women-centric programs get a hefty 10 percent increase in India's new 2013-2014 budget. However, some women’s and citizens' groups claim that the government's move is inadequate and superficial.

6 March 2013

Catholic Church Condemns Sterilization Law in Panama

Panama's National Assembly of Legislators has passed a law that allows women over the age of 23 with two or more children to opt for a free sterilization. The Catholic Church has deemed the law disastrous and has asked that it be repealed. At the same time, Panamanians are divided into those who see the law with good eyes and those who reject it.

6 March 2013

Russia's Public Petitions: By the People, But for Whom?

RuNet Echo

Yesterday, on March 4, Vladimir Putin signed an executive order regarding the creation of a government petitions online platform, which will allow Russian citizens to create and vote on various policy issues at the federal, regional, and local levels. The website, which is scheduled to go live for federal petitions in April 2013 and regional and local issues in November 2013, will be called the “Russian Public Initiative.”

6 March 2013

Harlem Shake Rocks Central Asia

With this cultural virus we clearly see that if people want to have fun, nothing will stop them. Fighting with Western influence or restrictions on YouTube will not  help the authorities.

6 March 2013

China Executes Burmese Drug Lord on Live TV

Naw Kham, a Burmese drud lord was executed through lethal injection in China. Many people in Myanmar are shocked and angered to learn that Naw Kham's execution was aired on live TV. Some are also disappointed over the failure of the government to arrange a prisoner exchange deal with China

6 March 2013