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3 February 2012

Kuwait: Parliamentary Election Marred by Violence

Written by Mona Kareem · Middle East & North Africa

Incidents of violence have marked Kuwait's parliamentary elections. One candidate, Mohammed Al-Juwaihel, became the target of angry tribespeople after making discriminatory remarks and his election tent hub was burnt down. Mona Kareem provides a multimedia report.

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Senegal: A Week of Living Dangerously

Written by Marc-Andre Boisvert · Translated by Negarra Akili Kudumu · Sub-Saharan Africa

On January 31 in Senegal, the opposition came out in the streets to protest against a third term for incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade and other decisions taken by the country's Constitutional Council, resulting in violence and vitriol both offline and online.

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23 January 2012

Madagascar: Exiled Former President Ravalomanana Refused Return

Written by Avylavitra · Sub-Saharan Africa

Since January 18 2012, former president Marc Ravalomanana has announced that he would return to Madagascar soon after being in exile in South Africa for three years. On January 21, the capital city anxiously anticipated his return as thousands gathred on the roads leading to the airport waiting for the plane to land. However, a few minutes after the plane entered the Malagasy airspace, the plane was told to divert from its route and land in a different city. Malagasy citizens reacted in real time to the tumultuous event.

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22 January 2012

Yemen: Saleh Gets Impunity After All

Written by Noon Arabia · Middle East & North Africa

Yemen's parliament has endorsed the law granting outgoing Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh total immunity from any crimes committed during his rule, including the killing of protesters since the beginning of the popular uprising against his regime in February. Netizens react to the news.

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17 January 2012

Pakistan: In The Time of Rumors

Written by Qurratulain Zaman · South Asia

Recently rumors about a military coup were being pushed along by TV channels and were all over on social media in Pakistan, especially on Twitter. The Twitterati were informing each other about the latest developments on the political front in the country.

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15 January 2012

Video Highlights: Activism, Freedom of Speech, Identity and Culture

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

A selection of Global Voices' recent and interesting stories including video from Middle East and North Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, Western, Eastern and Central Europe, East Asia and Latin America, selected by Juliana Rincón Parra.

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Updates about Breaking News

1 February 2012

Ukraine

On Jan. 31, the Ukrainian authorities shut down Ex.ua, a popular file-sharing site. A selection of relevant tweets [en, uk, ru] is here: e.g., @sinplotnika [ru]: “The state has deprived you of bread, now it's also decided to take the show [entertainment] away.”; @Urshulia [uk]: “For me, the loss of Ex.ua is the loss of the alternative to TV. […]”; @rlasuria [ru]: “Is Ex.ua [shutdown] #SOPA tricks?)”. More details and comments - at TorrentFreak; reader Taras writes: “In Ukraine movie on BlueRay costs $40 when minimal salary is $120.” Following Ex.ua's shutdown, the Interior Ministry's site has been down for hours; @kotusenko wrote: “[…] is this some sort of hacker retaliation 4 ex.ua?”

• Veronica Khokhlova

24 January 2012

Russia

Creators of popular citizen crowdsourcing projects RosYama and RosPil Alexey Navalny and Georgiy Alburov launch a new project RosVybory [ru], a community of election observers. Users submit their data to the website, then project moderators apply for the necessary observer documents and send registered users to the nearby voting ballots.

• Alexey Sidorenko

23 January 2012

Mozambique

Newly elected mayor Manuel de Araújo of Mozambican city Quelimane shared photos on Facebook of the damage, flooding and suffering caused by tropical storm Funso in his coastal home. Last week another heavy storm, Dando, caused serious flooding in the capital city of Maputo, displacing hundreds.

• Janet Gunter

20 January 2012

Russia

Ilya Klishin, creator of the Facebook groups that organized Russians to participate in Bolotnaya [ru] and Sakharov protest demonstrations, wrote [ru] that his mother had received a call from FSB (Federal Security Services) and his father was summoned to the local police department. Later he added [ru] that he might be accused of inciting ethnic hatred. “It is a Kafkian case… since I've consistently against fascism, Nazism, and any kinds of xenophobia,” wrote Klishin.

• Alexey Sidorenko

16 January 2012

Lebanon

Najib is reporting about the collapse of a building in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Beirut. Rescue workers are removing rubble while trying to save about 30 inhabitants who were in the building when it fell.

• Moussa Bashir

South Korea

Sam posts an open letter to Andry Rajoelina written by Mamy Rakotondrainibe that demands more transparency on the return of Daewoo Logistics in the economy of Madagascar [fr]. Mahefa Rakotomalala provides more context on this return [fr]. The South Korean company is notorious for an attempted land grab deal that provoked the fall of former president Ravalomanana. Other land deals are still supposedly in the work in Madagascar.

• Lova Rakotomalala

13 January 2012

Myanmar (Burma)

A reporter from the Democratic Voice of Burma is among the political prisoners released today by the Myanmar government. The reporter was given an 18-year prison term for documenting a grenade attack in the capital.

• Mong Palatino

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