Stories from 24 July 2010
France: Rioting in the Itinerant Community after Shooting Sparks Row
On July 18th, after 22 year old Luigi Duquenet was shot and killed, riots shook the quiet town of Saint Aignan in the Loire valley and immediately revived law-and -order reactions while also highlighting the discriminatory practices towards Roma people.
Russia: Ask a Search Engine About the Weather
“When the heat will pass away?” is this week's most popular search enquiry in the Russian Google. Another most popular search requests include: “How to survive heat wave?”, “How to cool down the room without an air conditioner?” and “Where people swim in the Moscow region?”, RIA Novosti reports [RUS].
Russia: First Cyrillic Word Tops Twitter Trends
Russian heatwave makes history not only in the streets of Moscow but also in the virtual space. The Russian word “дождь” (rain) turned to be the first Cyrillic word in Twitter's worldwide trending topics, RIA Novosti [RUS] reports. It happened after Moscow bloggers witnessed a minor rain, that followed several weeks of unusually...
Pakistan: The Perils Of Travelling Alone
Tazeen at A Reluctant Mind talks about the perils of a single Pakistani woman traveling alone.
Iran: Bloggers remember Shamlou
Several bloggers wrote about Ahmad Shamlou‘s 10th anniversary. Shamlou was probabaly the most influential poet in modern Iran. VatanParast, Iranian blogger, quotes [fa] Shamlou: “underdeveloped countries are like people who are sleeping.”
Angola: Coins Gleaming Again
Last May the National Bank of Angola brought into circulation kwanza coins again. In a country where the population uses US Dollars along with Kwanza in the daily life, people are getting used to a new practice and discussing its purpose.
Iran: A village in the middle of rocks
Kandovan is a ‘strange’ Iranian village in Eastern Azarbaijan province where houses are in the middle of rocks. Watch the photos.
India: The Korean Cultural Wave In Nagaland
Many people in Nagaland, a tribal state in Northeast India, feel disconnected from India and a different culture has been making an impact in recent years - that of Korea.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Moving the conversation forward
Le Retour (in 3 Parts), a blog by a Canadian-Armenian resident in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, comments on the three recent guest entries posted on The Caucasian Knot, the blog of Global Voices’ Caucasus regional editor, and summarized here. The blog looks forward to more conversations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Brazil: Training Citizen Media in the Suburbs of São Paulo
A new citizen journalism project is underway in the poor, marginalized suburbs of São Paulo. Journalist Bruno Garcez launched blog Mural [pt] where he posts citizen media tips and interacts with his students. The new citizen reporters are also invited to publish their reporting and explain the process they have...
Armenia: More homophobic media reports
Unzipped: Gay Armenia continues to monitor the level of homophobia evident in the local media and comments on reports that members of the country's LGBT community meet next to the capital's municipality building.
Turkey: Armenians and Turks show Gay Pride
Despite a long history of animosity between Armenia and Turkey, Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts photographs of Armenians and Turks side by side at this year's Gay Pride rally in Istanbul. The blog says that the pictures are incredible.
Ghana: Meet Co-founder of Global Voices Online in Accra
Are you a blogger or a social media activist living or visiting Ghana, especially Accra? Meet-up with follow the co-founder of Global Voices Online, Ethan Zuckerman, this weekend.
Ghana: Ghana's Police Force Online
Emmanuel is happy about Ghana's police force being online: “That they have a website, which can be reached at http://www.ghanapolice.info/main.htm can only go to confirm that they're well-ensconced in the 21st century.”
Malawi: An eye on charcoal trade
An eye on the charcoal trade in Malawi: “Like the rest of the world, forests in Malawi play a vital role. They are the engine of survival to millions of poor Malawians, but at the rate with which forests are being cleared, mainly through illegal logging and burn agriculture, the...
Niger: Offering choices to unheard voices
Niall Tierney writes Concern Worldwide and hunger in Niger: “Concern launched an early, groundbreaking response using “short-harvest” seed varieties, mobile phone technology and cash, and emergency nutrition programs to reach the most vulnerable before the food ran out…”
Colombia: Twitter Reactions After Special Session Between Venezuela and Colombia at OAS
The recent tension between Colombia and Venezuela was eventually taken to a Special Session in the Organization of American States (OAS) where both ambassadors presented their points of view. During and after the assembly, Colombian twitter users reacted to the events. Here is a summary of those reactions.
Japan: Mob collusion soils the sumo ring
After the National Police decided to crack down on the connections between crime syndicates and sumo wrestlers, sumo fans question the image of sumo as a sacred sport.
