Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2009 February 04

4 February 2009

Daily archive · 8 posts

Stories from 4 February 2009

Brazil: The Cybercrimes Bill meets the “Cybercriminal” Camp

Written by Daniel Duende · Latin America

It's no surprise then that the controversy should grow further when this bill is brought into debate at a huge cyberculture meeting. Daniel Duende joined the crowds of bit-torrent-using p2p-addicted geeks who attended the debate at Campus Party.

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Paraguay: Loofah and Plastic makes a home

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Latin America

Loofah gourd (luffa cylindrica) by Laura512 Paraguayan innovator Elsa Zaldívar has won the 2008 Rolex Award for Enterprise thanks to her project which consists of not only training women heads...

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Egypt: Erdoğan, Leader of the World

Written by Tarek Amr · Middle East & North Africa

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip has new fans across the Arab world, notably in Egypt where one blogger went on to describe him as the “leader of the world.” Another sees fault in Arab leaders who are not standing up for the Palestinian cause.

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Italy Seethes over Brazil's Extradition Refusal

Written by Bernardo Parrella · Western Europe, Latin America

Italians are still debating a controversial decision of the Brazilian government to guarantee political asylum to convicted felon Cesare Battisti, in spite of an extradition request by the Italian foreign ministry. The decision to grant asylum is currently being considered by the Brazilian supreme court.

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Japan: Bloggers respond to new filtering measures

Written by Chris Salzberg · East Asia

Over the past week, Japan's major mobile phone operators have commenced filtering web access on mobile phones contracted to minors (users under 18 years of age), following on legislation introduced in late 2007 and on developments over the last year toward the regulation of “harmful” content. Bloggers respond.

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Cuba: A Look at Sports Blogs

Written by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

Sports form a large part of the Cuban identity and many blogs have been emerging on the island to discuss the topic. Even though there is a lack of comments and reader participation, they still serve a purpose especially to provide sporting information about the Cuban provinces. This article by Yudivián Almeida Cruz of Bloggers Cuba takes a look at some of these blogs.

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Updates from 4 February 2009

Ukraine

Abdymok comments on the statement by the director of the IMF’s European Department: “you don’t have to be a genius to figure out that it’s a big risk to dole out billions of dollars to ukraine’s inept leaders. um, so . . . what, exactly, is the problem?”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Romania

Antal Dániel of Central Europe Activ writes about the ruling in the Romanian-Ukrainian dispute over the Serpent Island.

• Veronica Khokhlova

Latvia

Another update on the political situation in Latvia - at Baltic and Free Speech Emergency in Latvia (the latter post includes a video from today's peaceful protest).

• Veronica Khokhlova

Slovenia

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about the lawsuit filed by the Slovenian police against writer Goran Vojnović for a novel he has written: “But the problem arises when the only organisation which can legally use force against a citizen starts using these powers to curb freedom of speech, thought and artistic expression. Sure, file a libel suit against a writer for writing a work of fiction. Make a fool of yourself. But treating a work of fiction as a criminal offence is dangerous.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Hungary

Hungarian Spectrum writes: “It is hard to call the joint meeting of the Slovak-Hungarian parliamentary committees on human rights anything other than a fiasco. Or a scandal.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Estonia

Andrei Tuch of AnTyx writes at Th!nk About It: “So, for the eleven member states who still use their own currencies - and especially the more developed ones, whose economies might have some chance of standing on their own without leaning on the European Central Bank - the question is: do we want to join the Euro?”