Stories from 3 December 2010
Ukraine: Bloggers React to Police Demolition of Tax Protest Camp
Early on Friday morning, some 250 policemen, including riot police, appeared on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) to back up municipal maintenance workers who came to dismantle the tax code protesters' tent camp. The demolition immediately drew attention of the Ukrainian blogosphere: many bloggers were angry with the authorities and saw their actions as undemocratic. Tetyana Bohdanova reviews some of these reactions.
Mexico: Recent Drug Related Crime Statistics
Diego Valle-Jones introduces his post with graphs that show recent developments on drug related violence: “The Mexican government recently released data on all crime statistics from January 1997 to October 2010 […] This information provides an unprecedented look at what has happened since the drug war began and allows for...
Sri Lanka: Media Misinformation And The Role Of The Government
Serendipity criticizes the media misinformation about Sri Lanka and its government's inability to tackle these.
Bangladesh: Tax And Public Service
Ekram Kabir at Kotha-Chhilo narrates about the poor public service of Bangladesh and the amount of tax citizens have to pay.
India: What Is An MP?
Ugich Konitari explains what are the perceptions of Indian citizens about an MP (Member of parliament).
Colombia: Floods in Riosucio, Chocó
The recent winter weather in Colombia has been picked up by traditional media and social networks are talking about the flooding, landslides and uprooted trees happening there. The national news reports that 28 of the 32 departments in Colombia have been affected; on Territorio Chocoano's Twitter account, people have been following the difficult situation in the Chocó department of northeast Colombia, especially in the Riosucio municipality.
Russia: “Help Map” Wins Runet Award
Runet Echo Editors Grisha Asmolov and Alexey Sidorenko win Russia's prestigious Runet Award 2010 in the category "State and Society."
Zimbabwe: Once upon a Christmas
Once upon a Christmas in Zimbabwe: “Drinks at this time of the year could be quite unique – Bols Brandy mixed with coke and milk (was this our version of Amarula before Amarula)? For those on an economy budget – sorghum beer mixed with fresh cream. The outcome of these...
Cote d'Ivoire: Tensions high, borders closed
Tensions high in Ivory Coast, borders closed, Kingsley Kobo reports; “The military in the Ivory Coast closed that country's borders with its neighbours and blocked foreign media as tensions rise over the outcome of the presidential election run-off. “The air, land and sea border of the country are closed to...
Uganda: Breasts and election campaigns
Another glaring omission from the ongoing presidential and parliamentary campaigns in Uganda: Breasts: “Four years later, there is no legal requirement for either the public or private sector to allow nursing mothers to leave work during the day to breastfeed their children. I won’t even go into the option of...
Ethiopia: Addis Photo Fest
Africa is a Country writes about Addis Photo Fest: “(The festival is curated by the young, photographer Aida Muluneh). One of the highlights is a retrospective of the work of London-based Shemelis Desta, who was official photographer to the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, from the early 1960s until Selassie...
Uganda: Uganda deserves a new leader in 2011
Why does Uganda need a new leader in 2011?: “One major and simple reason why the time for new leadership in Uganda is well overdue is because, no single leader, however brilliant or powerful he may be, has all the answers to solving the most intractible problems of a modern...
Brazil: Blogosphere reacts to WikiLeaks
The leak of more than 250 000 documents denouncing the practice of espionage by the U.S. government also caused an uproar in Brazil, where dozens of documents ended up putting the Defence Minister, Nelson Jobim, in a delicate situation. Natalia Viana, from Opera Mundi, details [pt] the number of leaked...
Russia: Bloggers Mock the Pronounciation of the Russian Sports Ministry
Numerous bloggers are both excited and sarcastic about Russia winning World Cup 2018. Besides many jokes on unpreparedness of Russian infrastructure [RUS], a lot of people mock Vitaliy Mutko, Russian sports ministry, and his “typical Russian accent” speech. User zagda even posted a fake Cyrillic transcript of the speech stressing...
Caribbean: Regional Reviews
The Caribbean Review of Books has some interesting reading this week.
Cuba: Activist Warned
Uncommon Sense reports on a recent “catch, threaten and release” incident involving Cuban human rights activist Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramírez.
Haiti: Protests Over Polls
Haiti, Land of Freedom says that “furious demonstrations continued across Haiti…following the Nov. 28 highly contested election in which thousands found themselves unable to vote.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Drawing the Line
“Less than twenty four hours after our Commissioner of Police marked the proverbial line in the sand that this is where violent crime ends, someone killed someone else in almost the very same spot and the dead man's blood washed the Commissioner's line away”: Plain Talk says the only way...
Barbados: What's in Wikileaks?
“We have mixed feelings about Wikileaks but we have no control over what has been done, so we might as well make it a learning experience”: Barbados Free Press speculates over the content of the cables pertaining to their country.
China: State Media Report on Chinese Global Thinkers
Alice Liu from DANWEI notices that the Xinhua News report on the Foreign Policy magazine's selection on the 100 top global thinkers 2010 have highlighted Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of People's Bank of China and Han Han, one of the most popular writers in China, but omitted this year's Nobel Peace...
Japan: A Visionary Call for a “Japanese-style Immigration Nation”
Tofuunion at Japundit reports on the latest figures released by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry of Japan according to which “Japan’s population has shrunken since 2008 and continues to decrease at an accelerating rate”. According to the post, the government has been implementing a new immigration plan to cope...
