Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2009 December 03

3 December 2009

Daily archive · 8 posts

Stories from 3 December 2009

M-banking: Going where no bank has gone before

Written by Aparna Ray · Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia

Millions and millions of low-income, unbanked people stand to benefit (and maybe prosper?) from the development of mobile financial services in the next years, but there are several technological, logistical, and security challenges that must be addressed first.

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Young Leaders from Sweden and Middle East in Dialogue

Written by Suzanne Lehn · Middle East & North Africa

Last month, the Swedish Institute in Paris hosted a meeting of 26 young people from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Sweden to improve dialogue between opinion leaders in Sweden, the Middle East and North Africa. Global Voices in French was there.

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Bangladesh: The Rising Voices of Women in a Drowning Country

Written by Belen Bogado · South Asia

Even in the most extreme circumstances when survival is at stake, Bangladeshi women stand out for their capacity to unite and together overcome climate change’s effects on their lives.

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Colombian 3D Animation short film to be released online

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Latin America

After more than a year's worth of work, two Colombian companies have finished a short animated film telling the impossible love story between the flu virus and a white blood cell and wish to share it with the world through a free online premiere.

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Climate Change Skeptics Incited by Leaked Emails

Written by Lester Bolicenni · Western Europe

Hundreds of emails and documents from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (UEA) have been hacked and posted online, adding fuel to the beliefs of climate change skeptics.

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Disaster Management and the role of ICTs (Part 2)

Written by Aparna Ray · Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia

In this post, we examine some more ICT based tools and applications in the arena of early warning systems to help reduce damage to life and property in natural disasters across the globe.

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Dominican Republic: Factory in Los Haitises to be Relocated

Written by Rocio Diaz · Latin America

Complying with a briefing by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and with the demands of public protests of the Dominican community, the cement factory that was planned to be built in the protected area of Los Haitises National Park will be relocated.

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Philippines: Social Media puts spotlight on the Maguindanao Massacre

Written by Julius Rocas · East Asia

More than 60 people, including journalists and lawyers, were brutally murdered in Maguindanao Province in the Philippines. Bloggers and netizens were quick to express their reactions through the various social networking sites.

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Updates from 3 December 2009

Russia

The Web site of a popular Russian tabloid “Moskovsky Komsomolets” [RUS] lost all of its online data due to the recent hacker attack, radio “Ekho Moskvy” reports [RUS].

• Alexey Sidorenko

Pakistan

Adil Najam discusses about a recently released list of 8000 persons including the president of Pakistan and 34 Pakistani politicians who have benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf on Oct 5, 2007. This ordinance “grants amnesty to all those against whom politically-motivated cases were registered between Jan 1, 1986, and Oct 12, 1999.”

• Rezwan

Pakistan

“Over a span of about 30 odd years, the Pakistani military and its establishment allies in the intelligence agencies, the politicised clergy, conservative political parties and the media have, in the name of Islam and patriotism, given birth to a number of unrestrained demons which have now become full-fledged monsters threatening the very core of the state and society in Pakistan,” comments MB on the use of Islam in Pakistan politics. Read the two part series “Hijacking Pakistan (Part 1, Part 2)” for more.

• Rezwan

Venezuela

Political humor blog El chiguire bipolar (The bipolar capybara) mocks the Government of Venezuela [es] after intervening four banks of the country: from now on, author parodies, Bancolchón [Mattress Bank] will manage public money, as customers can carry out cash withdrawals, make national and international transfers and “keep a glass of wine from tipping over while a bear makes itself comfortable beside it”.

• Issa Villarreal

Cuba

“In a recent speech President Raul Castro announced the elimination of free services, with the exception of those established by the Constitution, and unnecessary subsidies”: Repeating Islands links to a report which suggests that the Cuban ration books may be on their way out.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad & Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago bloggers Tattoo and gspottt are critical of the Prime Minister's comments on human rights issues in his capacity as incoming Commonwealth Chair.

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad & Tobago

This Beach Called Life worries “that the TT dollar might soon be worth less, if not worthless. Hops bread will be the new Miami condo.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermuda

Vexed Bermoothes blogs about the loss of goodwill towards the Bermuda Post Office, suggesting that a performance audit will help turn the tide: “The Post Office is a logistics business … and the only way to improve a logistical business is to pinpoint where lags are occurring.”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica

Jamaica Salt lauds Courteney Walsh for “using cricket to reach young people in 12 inner city communities and offenders in Jamaica’s prisons”, but wonders “Is it really a game that can be a real ambition for young inner city boys, for youth offenders?”

• Janine Mendes-Franco

China

A female student Wang Zifei, who sat behind Obama when he delivered his speech at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, has become a Internet celebrity. Local media recently found out that her boyfriend actually paid 100,000 yuan to hire a Beijing Internet promotional strategy company to use the opportunity of Obama's speech to hype up the ‘Obama girl.' (via ESWN)

• Oiwan Lam