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Economics & Business

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9 May 2012

Kenya: Chronicles of a Kenyan Farmer Online

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · Sub-Saharan Africa

E.K. Kamwenji is a Kenyan blogging farmer residing in Nyeri. He believes that farmers need to use new technologies for networking and marketing of farm produce. His blog, Chronicles of a Kenyan Farmer, was nominated in the Agriculture Category in this year's BAKE Blogger Awards.

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Africa: Will Local Content Policies Help Avert the Oil Curse?

Written by Julie Owono · Sub-Saharan Africa

In recent years, major reserves of oil have been discovered at various locations across Africa. This 'black gold' may represent an opportunity for economic growth, but the fear shared by experts and Sub-Saharan Africa citizens is that the windfall may not benefit local populations at all.

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Hungary: “Oligarch” is the New Buzzword of the Hungarian Net

Written by Atlatszo.hu · Eastern & Central Europe

József Ángyán, the former Hungarian State Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development, resigned in January and since then has been trying to draw attention to the shady relations between the government and some Hungarian 'oligarchs'. It's a sensitive issue, and he is facing retaliation of the powers others had also tried to call into account.

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8 May 2012

Martinique: “Think Like A Man”, Just Not in France

Written by Fabienne Flessel · Caribbean

The cancellation of the release of American movie “Think Like A Man” in movie theaters is being discussed by French of African descent. Read on to find out how an American movie finds a place in the French social debate.

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7 May 2012

Switzerland: An Initiative to Establish Basic Income for All

Written by Stanislas Jourdan · Translated by Vivienne Griffiths · Western Europe

An initiative to establish a new federal law that would give a basic monthly income to all citizens, regardless of employment status was formally introduced in Switzerland in April. Stanislas Jourdan looks into the details of the initiative.

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Spain: Barcelona Sieged During European Central Bank Meeting

Written by Chris Moya · Translated by Claudia Parra · Western Europe

On May 2, 3, and 4 the European Central Bank meeting took place in Barcelona, Spain, a city that became sieged by the police. For this meeting, Spain temporarily suspended the Treaty of Schengen on the border with France.

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5 May 2012

India: Google Search's Change in Algorithm and Its Impact

Written by Rezwan · South Asia

Google’s recent algorithm change in their search engine affected low quality Search engine optimization/link building services, much of which was being outsourced by the US to countries like India. While some are predicting an impact on outsourcing jobs in India, experts say that this will clean webspam and improve the field of online advertising.

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Spain: Madrid Preparing for “Indignado” Anniversary

Written by Elena Arrontes · Translated by Elizabeth Rivera · Western Europe

The anniversary of 15M - which will be celebrated throughout Spain - promises a month full of initiatives led mainly by neighbors and town assemblies. The common objective is to achieve the political permanence on the streets of Madrid claiming the right to assembly and free speech.

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2 May 2012

Africa: Calls for Transparency Over Marked Increase in Land Deals

Written by Lova Rakotomalala · Sub-Saharan Africa

Almost 5% of Africa's agricultural land has been bought or leased by investors since 2000. Observers are increasingly worried about the fact that such land deals usually take place in the world poorest countries and how they impact its most vulnerable population, the farmers.

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30 April 2012

Sri Lanka: Tackling Agricultural Surpluses

Written by Rezwan · South Asia

The Sri Lankan Government is facing a new kind of challenge, tackling surplus production of rice. However a Sri Lankan farmer sheds a light into the plights of the rice farmers in Sri Lanka, who are not obtaining a fair price for their produce.

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Updates about Economics & Business

4 May 2012

Colombia

lncognito wonders what is behind [es] the ‘telework law' (Decreto 884 de 2012 [es], which regulates the Ley 1228 de 2008 [es]), signed by President Juan Manuel Santos at the headquarters of Microsoft Colombia [es], and whose official website [es] seems to be sponsored by the Labour Ministry and the American company: “Interestingly, while most developing countries bet on free software, in this colony, sorry, Colombia, ICT and labour laws are signed by Microsoft.”

• Julián Ortega Martínez

2 May 2012

Kenya

Learn about the state of software and intellectual property law in Kenya: “Kenya’s judiciary does not deliberate many software and IP cases and the country remains lax in terms of piracy with domestic uses of pirated software being allowed, but companies being liable for piracy if software installed on office computers or used for official purposes.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

29 April 2012

Nigeria

Mbwna Ally wonders whether copy/clone strategy works in Africa: “Every so often I hear venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley ask a recurring question regarding Tech Startups in Africa- why not just use the “copy to” strategy? Clone an e-bay, clone a Groupon… After all there are 1,000s of Groupon clones in China! And the Samwer brothers in Germany are notorious for doing this right that it angers many innovators in America.”

• Ndesanjo Macha

Kenya

Bankelele discusses a new report on the African Consumer: “It’s a useful road map for companies looking to understand future trends in Africa and offer lessons such as be online (Africa had more Google ad clicks than Western Europe), brands & quality matter, distribution is king, data is scare, respect country differences & act local, prepare for talent shortage, and expect to iterate (have dynamic execution).”

• Ndesanjo Macha

28 April 2012

China

The Stream, a social media community with a daily TV show on Al Jazeera, has put together content from different social media sources about Chinese billionaires, known as the ‘red aristocracy' for their connections with Communist Party leadership.

• Violeta Camarasa

27 April 2012

26 April 2012

Bulgaria

The blog “Работнически глас” (”Worker's voice”) tells [bg] about a trial scheduled for May 26: a former female employee is suing a company for a discriminatory clause in the work contract, which stated that any female employee who gets pregnant after being hired will have to pay a fine (700 lv, around 350 euros: nearly double the average salary in Bulgaria). In her lawsuit, the employee argues that this clause constitutes a discrimination based on sex. It is still unclear how such a contract could have been approved by the official labor administration.

• Rayna St.

25 April 2012

South Korea

While Apple factory workers' suicides are widely known, not enough data on Samsung's labor workers is available online. A Youtube user posted a video entitled “Samsung's Truth” with English subtitles explaining how labor workers suffered under the biggest corporations in South Korea.

• Lee Yoo Eun

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