Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2009 March 24

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24 March 2009

Daily archive · 6 posts

Stories from 24 March 2009

Colombia: Are Politicians Making the Most Out of Twitter?

Written by Julián Ortega Martínez · Latin America

In the last few weeks, as the race for the May 2010 presidential elections has started, two presidential candidates have decided to join the Colombian 'twittosphere'. But, after some initial skepticism, Colombian twitterers show that both candidates (or staffers within their campaigns) are failing to reach the intended audience correctly.

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Israel: The Language of Taxis

Written by Ayesha Saldanha · Middle East & North Africa

Rasha Helwa, who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel living in Acre (and describes herself as living in Palestine), has written a series of short posts at her blog Zaghroda about her thoughts when taking shared taxis, and on the significance of the language - Arabic or Hebrew - that the driver chooses to use.

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China: Names to be remembered

Written by Oiwan Lam · East Asia

The death toll and identity details of school children victims in the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake last year has been sealed in a black box by Chinese government officials, like...

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Student Elections in Nepal

Written by Bhumika Ghimire · Nepal

Last week Nepalese students exercised their democratic rights. Student elections were held at public universities and colleges campus throughout the country. Private institutions do not hold elections. The call to...

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South Africa: Uproar over visa refusal for Dalai Lama

Written by Ismail Dhorat · South Africa

The South African government has denied the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a Peace Conference that will be held in South Africa. The government decision has sparked an uproar online on Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

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Brazil: A Private Nature Reserve – Is It Possible?

Written by Danilo Gonçalves · Latin America

Society demands green action and Brazil’s policy that motivates land onwers to join the National Conservation Units Systems is having a great impact on society. Under the program known as RPPN, land onwers receive investments and credit too. Land use is restricted to research, environmental education and ecotourism. Blogs are one of the tools used to report experiences and document the work being carried out to keep Brazil green.

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Updates from 24 March 2009

India

Vinod Joseph at Desicritics asks “Why aren't Indo-Bangla ties warmer?”

• Rezwan

Azerbaijan

Following last week's controversial referendum in Azerbaijan, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on news that the Council of Europe has warned Baku that it could be expelled from the international body as a result of the conduct of the vote. However, the blog notes, it is unlikely that the Azerbaijani authorities will take heed of the warning.

• Onnik Krikorian

Armenia

Blogian says that passengers on local transport in the Armenian capital, Yerevan were recently impressed by the vocal talents of his 6-year-old niece. However, the blog notes, while talent is not enough to succeed in Armenia, money is.

• Onnik Krikorian

Sri Lanka

Rajaratarala at Perceptions: musings of a renaissance farmer reports that this year more and more Combine Harvesters have taken over the job of harvesting from the manual labors in rural Sri Lanka.

• Rezwan

Estonia

Itching for Eestimaa writes about kevadväsimus - 'spring fatigue' in Estonian: “It is the yearning for sunlight and all of the earthly pleasures that you know must be right around the corner coupled with the grim knowledge that nature will find a way to delay your satisfaction for as long as possible.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Israel

Caught with cannabis in Israel? It may very well go to a good use. Israelity reveals that Israel has one of the top medical marijuana programs in the world, treating pain associated with cancer, HIV, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, and post-traumatic stress syndrome, with the narcotic.

• Maya Norton

Israel

Israel is the world leader in water technology solutions with 75 per cent of sewage water recycled for agricultural use. Israeli water technologies are exported to more than 100 countries worldwide. Jonathan Shapira of Cleantech Investing in Israel and Jacob Richman of Good News from Israel have the story.

• Maya Norton