Stories from October, 2021
Paulina Chiziane, Mozambican writer, wins the Camões Award of 2021
Paulina Chiziane, 66, was born in Manjacaze, Mozambique and studied Linguistics in Maputo. In 33 years, this is the third time that the prize has been awarded to a Mozambican author.
Pandora Papers revelations across Lusophone countries
Numerous politicians were implicated in Angola, Mozambique, and Portugal. Before that, their names had never been attached to offshore scandals.
NGO says Egypt's North Sinai residents were badly abused by both military and militants
Abuses by the army documented by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights against civilians included random shootings, airstrikes targeting civilian buildings, eviction of people, arbitrary arrests, and extrajudicial killings.
Cats, crows and planet Earth: drawings by Belarusian political prisoners
Drawings sent to friends and family by Belarusian political prisoners, detained in a crackdown after the 2020 elections, provide an insight into their lives.
A McDonald's drive-through in Japan gets a visit from a sacred horse
A popular post on Japanese Twitter provides a glimpse into the long connection between horses and Shinto shrines in Japan.
News site founders, editor resign under pressure from Kazakhstan's authorities
A sophisticated attack on Hola News's website kept it down for 10 days. The core team then abandoned the project, citing pressure from the authorities.
Bangladesh’s upcoming Data Protection Act may suppress, not protect, citizens rights
Analysts fear that a proposed data protection act in Bangladesh contains some loopholes including the indemnification of government agencies, which could be weaponized like the existing controversial Digital Security Act 2018.
Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of Trinidad & Tobago's attempted Islamist coup, dies 31 years after failed insurrection
"Have you lot praising this ‘community leader’ ever thought about not only the people killed but the people living on after being traumatized?"
The son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos wants to become the Philippines’ next president
The danger that Ferdinand (Bongbong) Marcos Jr., son of the hated Philippine dictator, being elected as president in the May 2022 elections is real and a grim possibility.
Why Salvadoran farmworkers ponder migrating to the United States
"I leave the house for work at around 4 in the morning, and I return around 5 in the afternoon. This is my daily routine six days a week."
We need ‘painless’ glucose monitors, says Mia Chichkarikj, a 16-year-old diabetes patient from North Macedonia
“This should be a plea to the authorities at the Ministry of Health, to take our needs for 'painless' glucose monitors seriously and to provide them as soon as possible.”
Cameroon’s teenage cricket star Maeva Douma takes women’s sport to greater heights
Cricket, a relatively new sport in Cameroon, is on a steady rise with over 7,000 children from different regions who are now being trained for the game.
Key suspect in Haitian president’s assassination held in Jamaica on immigration charges
Details are still coming to light, but the suspect, Colombian national Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, was arrested in central Jamaica, and was being held on immigration charges.
‘Self governance is self love': Barbados elects first local head of state on journey to becoming a republic
"We have a good relationship with the British monarchy. Long may it continue, as equals. Congratulations to our incoming President Dame Sandra Mason."
How Dave Chappelle's new comedy special went over in the Caribbean
"[Chappelle] built his deconstruction of the importance of comedy to the human condition using the various gender and LGBTQ movements of this century as his prisms."
Decoding the ‘Saakashvili effect’ with two experts in Georgian politics
As Georgia prepares for municipal elections on October 30, and Saakashvili remains on hunger strike, stability seems but an empty dream in a country deeply divided over political and economic lines.
‘I wrote the book you all wish you had when you were 15,’ says Afroczech Obonete Ubam
Czech Nigerian activist and writer Obonete Ubam interviewed ten prominent Afroczechs in his latest book, to talk about discrimination, integration and role models for an emerging community in the Czech Republic.
Taiwan: Deepfake pornographic video victims call for new laws against sexual violence in cyberspace
Taiwan's recent arrest of popular YouTuber Xiao Yu, Zhu Yuchen, for allegedly selling deepfake pornographic videos of public figures has drawn public attention to artificial intelligence (AI) crimes.
I was invited to celebrate ‘Columbus Day.’ This is what I answered
"The 'National Day of Spain' is a mockery and offense to our Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples."
Film festival documents stories of sustainable development in Africa
The festival will facilitate conversation and action among a diverse mix of creatives, innovators, activists and campaigners working on Sustainable Development Goals across Africa.
Basque separatist group ETA lowered its weapons 10 years ago. Has reconciliation truly happened?
A lot has changed for the better in the past 10 years … but Basque society is still working out a public memory about the previous four decades of violence.