Global Voices · Citizen media stories about Breaking News

Breaking News

Topic archive · 1699 posts

RSS feed for Breaking News

Latest stories about Breaking News

22 March 2012

Mexico: 7.8 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles the Country

Written by Miguel Angel Guevara · Translated by Elizabeth Rivera · Latin America

On March 20, around midday, a strong 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the south and central part of Mexico. Many turned to the Internet to contact family and report the situation on the ground. Here are some reactions on the web.

· 1

· read »

21 March 2012

South Korea: Three Major TV Stations Protest for Fair Journalism

Written by Lee Yoo Eun · East Asia

In South Korea, following one of biggest TV network’s desperate attempt to overthrow its president over unfair news coverage and corruption allegations, the nation’s two other major TV stations have joined forces in standing up against their management.

· 3

· read »

20 March 2012

Mexico: Videos of the 7.8 Earthquake Felt in Mexico

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Latin America

On 20 March, an earthquake struck off the coast of Acapulco in Mexico, reportedly between 7.6 and 7.8 on the Richter scale. So far, no casualties have been reported. Following, some videos of how the quake was felt in different regions of the country. All audio is in Spanish.

· 4

· read »

Turkey: Riot Police Continue to Clash with Kurds Celebrating Newroz

Written by Ruwayda Mustafah · Middle East & North Africa

Kurdish people are the largest ethnic group in Turkey. They have been subject to state-sanctioned discrimination and human rights violations. Today, in Yuksekova, which is a district in the Hakkari province of Turkey, Kurdish people were attacked for gathering to celebrate Newroz - the Kurdish new year.

· read »

18 March 2012

Turkey: Police Attack Kurds Celebrating Newroz

Written by Ruwayda Mustafah · Middle East & North Africa

Thousands of Kurds took to the streets in celebration of Newroz across Turkey today but were dispersed with water cannons and tear gas. The celebration marks the first day of Spring. Kurds in the past were not allowed to exert their Kurdish identity in public, but since the 1980s, Newroz has become a symbolic event in highlighting Kurdish culture, and identity.

· 3

· read »

Egypt: RIP Pope Shenouda III

Written by Nermeen Edrees · Middle East & North Africa

Yesterday, the sun set on Egypt with a somber note - Pope Shenouda III, the Head of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church, had died after a long severe battle of illness at the age of 89. Netizens react to the news.

· 3

· read »

17 March 2012

Macedonia: Peace March - Enthusiasm, Controversy

Written by Filip Stojanovski · Eastern & Central Europe

The upcoming March for Peace in Skopje has overwhelming support, evident through the positive uproar in social media. Lone voices, however, warn the initiative is used as a PR opportunity by celebrities, and even as a hypocritical alibi for known hatemongers.

· 5

· read »

16 March 2012

Saudi Arabia: Tweets for Jailed Saudi Activist Draw Global Attention

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa

Saudi Twitter users have joined forces to highlight the plight of a political prisoner Shaikh Yusuf Al-Ahmad on the micro-blogging site. Their effort has made the Islamic scholar's name become a worldwide trend, raising awareness about his imprisonment without charges and access to a fair trial.

· read »

Arab World: Hands Off Clooney!

Written by Amira Al Hussaini · Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa

The United States has arrested actor George Clooney and his father Nick at a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC. Arab Twitter users register their protest on their arrest on Twitter.

· read »

15 March 2012

China: End of Chongqin Model Upon the Removal of Bo Xilai?

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

The former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, has been removed from his post and replaced by Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang. Some believe that it signifies the end of the Chongqing model, which adopts a Maoist populist approach to justify a hard-fist crackdown on organized crime. Does it mean that China will be more open now to initiating political reform?

· read »

Updates about Breaking News

4 March 2012

Russia

At pro-Putin rally, Vladimir Putin cried (photo, video) when heard that he apparently won in the first round of elections. This fact immediately became a hot topic among commenters. “He began to stream myrrh,” and “Moscow does not believe in tears,” a reference to the popular Soviet movie, are among the most popular reactions.

• Alexey Sidorenko

Russia

YouTube-user iFegor had recorded a video transmission from North Ossetia republic where two women are putting numerous ballots into the ballot boxes. In Dagestan, another user had recorded an unidentified man also stuffing ballots. Both republics are known for their unusually high (more than 90 percent) support of candidates and parties of power.

• Alexey Sidorenko

Russia

Bloggers share pictures of numerous police and military trucks that flooded central streets of Moscow. Video summarizing [ru] buses and military vehicles. Photo of trucks standing next to the Red Square. Ridus.ru had compiled a big collection [ru] of pictures of special police forces.

• Alexey Sidorenko

Russia

Russian Twitterers report numerous ‘election carousels' (form of vote rigging when people vote several times at different voting stations). Bolshoy Gorod shares a picture [ru] of buses that allegedly are transporting ‘carousel voters.' Echo Moskvy reports [ru] 6000 voters illegally added to Strogino voting station. Users share their carousel observations via hashtag #Карусель. User Estraniero Estranio, posts a video, how carousel voting looks like [ru]. Earlier, numerous voters couldn't receive absentee certificates, documents crucial for ‘carousel voting.' List of Russian political Twitterers can be found here [ru/en].

• Alexey Sidorenko

Russia

Glenn Kates (@gkates) shares a link to an election webcam video from a polling station in the North Ossetian village of Chikola, which “appears to show ballot stuffing.” “They could just be testing the machine though,” @gkates adds. Of the 91 comments on the video's YouTube page, the most popular right now is the one posted four hours ago by user rus1488rus [ru] and “liked” by 45 viewers: “To test [the machine], it's enough to feed it just one ballot )))”

• Veronica Khokhlova

1 March 2012

24 February 2012

Cameroon

Princess Akeelah talks on her blog [fr] about an online campaign launched to fight against Tribalism in Cameroon. In a country where it is estimated that 280 different ethnic groups live together, she explains that this diversity is a wealth and should be “the foundation of a National Union”.

• Julie Owono

22 February 2012

Saudi Arabia

A Facebook page [ar] has been created calling on Saudis to protest tomorrow (Thursday) and on Friday against financial and administrative corruption, the jailing of activists and the lack of justice, among other grievances. The page details are being circulated via Twitter by bloggers. Previous calls for protests in Saudi Arabia have failed to materialise into large scale demonstrations.

• Amira Al Hussaini

Argentina

A commuter train crashed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, leaving at least 49 dead and hundreds injured according to the latest reports. Netizens are using the hashtags #Sarmiento [es], #Once [es] and #TBA [es] to tweet about the crash.

• Silvia Viñas

Georgia

ЖЖ Сухуми სოხუმი cyxymu [RU] updates its readers on another assassination attempt made today on the defacto President of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region, Alexander Ankvab. The blog reports one bodyguard was killed, with another two wounded, in the fifth attempt on Ankvab's life since 2005.

• Onnik Krikorian

Comments on "Breaking News"