9 June 2009

Stories from 9 June 2009

North Korea: Two American Journalists Sentenced to Hard Labor

  9 June 2009

News coming out of Pyongyang is not encouraging. After being accused of illegally crossing the border to North Korea, American Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. The bleak outcome is eliciting strong reaction online from those who support freedom of press and want North Korea to release the two journalists.

Africa: If it works in Africa, it will work anywhere

  9 June 2009

“If it works in Africa, it will work anywhere,” says White Africa in his post about Gmail Preview in Africa: “Google realized what slow connections were doing to people’s interaction with their email accounts. So, they sent in a team of engineers to work in cyber cafes in Ethiopia to...

South Africa: Amandla! News Diary to support community media

  9 June 2009

Brett writes about a new project to support community media in South Africa: “The Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC) is working in partnership with the National Community Radio forum (NCRF) to produce a quarterly Amandla! News Diary. The Diary aims to support community media projects in South Africa…”

Pakistan: The Human Rights Commission Of Pakistan On IDPs

  9 June 2009

Teeth Mastro discusses about a recent report on the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan titled “A tragedy of errors and Cover-ups:The IDPs and outcome of military actions in FATA and Malakand Division”. The Human Rights Commission Of Pakistan published the report.

Iran: ‘All copies of a journal were collected’

Golamhussein Karbaschi, a leading reformist campaigner in Iran's presidential election, twittered [fa] that all copies of Ettemad Meli, a reformist journal, were collected by the authorities because Mehdi Karoubi, a reformist candidate,accused President Ahmadinejad of being involved in financial scandals.

Caste Based Communities on Orkut Mirror India's Splintered Society

  9 June 2009

I have written before about Shiv Sena's militant approach towards Orkut communities critical of the party, its leader Bal Thakeray, or its Hindutva ideology. Caste-based communities on Orkut are another disturbing example of online communities mirroring the splintered nature of Indian society.

China: Green dam user comment

  9 June 2009

Rebecca MacKinnon from Rconversation followed up the WSJ story on China PC filter, Green Dam, and gave more background information about the application of the software locally. She also reminded that criticism on the filtering system should be consistent globally. ESWN translated user comments on the Green Dam.

Bahamas: War vs. Domestic Violence

  9 June 2009

“Bahamian women and children are fighting for their lives in a terrible ongoing war that mainstream culture calls domestic violence,” reports Womanish Words.

Haiti: Fr. Jean-Juste Laid to Rest

  9 June 2009

“People were there from the USA, Canada, and all over the Caribbean – people of different religions and cultures”: Haitian blogger Wadner Pierre attends the funeral of Father Gerard Jean-Juste.

Iran:Ahmadinejad's blog was hacked

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's blog was hacked by one of Mir Hussein Mousavi's supporters. The hacker has published several ‘my vote is Mousavi’ slogan on Ahmadinejad's blog. Iranian Presidential election will be held on Friday and Mousavi is considered as Ahmadinejad's main challenger.

Iranian Election in Photos

The Iranian presidential election will be held on June 12. Only four men, out of more than 400 self-registered men and women, were given official approval by the Guardian Council for the candidacy. The sharp eyes of blogger-photographers have captured moments and scenes in the streets of Iran where people promote their favorite candidates.

Americas: Looking Forward to Central America Free Software Festival

  9 June 2009

The Central American Free Software Festival will take place on June 17-21 in Estelí, Nicaragua. This will be the first opportunity for many enthusiasts of open-source and free software from across Central America to come together to share experiences, promote their projects, establish common objectives, and to find ways to work together. The schedule of events include workshops, panels, and a “rapid-development” tournament for the creation of an application.

Global Voices Advocacy Wins Zemanta Blog Contest

  9 June 2009

Global Voices Advocacy won first prize in Zemanta's Blogging for a Cause competition today. More than 60 different websites were nominated, and the top 5 to receive the most votes from bloggers have each won $1200. Thanks for all the support!!