Stories from 14 September 2011
Trinidad & Tobago: A Sleeping Giant?
aka_lol says of recent developments in Trinidad and Tobago's State of Emergency: “The plus side of extending the SOE and increasing the number of hot spots by eleven is that the criminal element will be even more dormant. But dormant means asleep and like all hibernating evil creatures, once awake...
Cuba: Released/Re-arrested
Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense reports that bloggers who were detained allegedly for taking part in protests commemorating fallen Cuban prisoners have been released; Babalu, however, posted this morning that “Cuban independent journalist Jose Luis Ferrer Garica reports through Twitter that former prisoner of conscience from the Group of 75, Angel...
Bahamas: Convicted Child Molester May Walk
“It is shocking to me that a judge in this country can sentence a man to freedom after a jury has found him guilty of a violent crime”: Womanish Words is demanding jail time for a twice-convicted child rapist, saying: “This family, this child, deserves justice. Violent crime against women...
Guyana: Hidden Waterfall
The Voice of the Taino People Online blogs about ‘Barbadiana Jones’, reportedly the first outsider to ever see – and photograph – a ‘hidden’ waterfall in Guyana's South Pakaraima mountains.
Trinidad & Tobago: Looking Forward to Film Festival
MEP Caribbean Publishers is “really excited for the opening of this year's installment of the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival”, which begins next week.
Puerto Rico: Tuning In to a New Voice For Political Satire
En Serio is a new political satire program broadcast on TV and through the web. It’s inspired mainly by successful American political satire shows, and the team of hosts and producers have adapted those influences for a young Puerto Rican audience.
Mexico: Protest Calls Attention to Slain Journalists [Video]
Erwin from The Latin Americanist posts a video by Periodismo IDN of a protest held on Sunday, September 11, where around “250 protesters marched in Mexico City to call attention to the eighty journalists slain in Mexico since 2000.”
Honduras: Recent Cables Released by WikiLeaks
‘La Gringa’ from La Gringa's Blogcito summarizes the content found in selected diplomatic cables that were recently released by Wikileaks. The cables “were from 2002-2004, when Larry Palmer was US Ambassador to Honduras, and Ricardo Maduro was president,” she explains.
Paraguay: Indigenous Peoples Fighting to Save Their Ancestral Home
At the Council on Hemispheric Affairs Blog, Research Associate Sean O’ Leary reports that the Ayoreo indigenous people are “fighting for their very survival. These indigenous people are struggling to save their ancestral home in the Chaco region from cattle companies, farmers and religious sects who are moving into the...
Palestine: Twitter Debate on the Statehood
Chris Keeler, from Notes from a Medinah, rehashes a Twitter conversation between Blake Hounshell of Foreign Policy, Marc Lynch (Abu Aardvark) of the Middle East Channel and Yousef Munayyer of The Palestine Center on the Palestinian statehood here.
Tunisia: Bloggers for Parliament
A number of Tunisian bloggers will be running in their country's parliamentary elections, announced Tunisian blogging portal Nawaat [Fr].
Colombia: “New York Hurts More”
@RedMujeresC, the Twitter account of Red Mujeres Ciudadanas – Colombia, quotes Mare Nubium on the massacres perpetrated by illegally armed groups in Colombia [es]. The author manifests her indignation because, in her opinion, some Colombians seem to care more about the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States than...
Mexico: Mexico City Mayor and His Online Interaction with Citizens
Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubon is the mayor of the Federal District (Mexico City), headquarters of the union powers and capital city of the United Mexican States. He is becoming known for his interactions online with netizens about their claims and doubts.
Brazil: Floods Hit Santa Catarina State Again
Intense rains over the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil’s South Region have once again caused floods in several cities. Since September 8, floods, flash floods and landslides have hit 96 cities in the region and, according to mainstream news, nearly 1 million people have been affected.
Bhutan: Copyright And The Right To Translate
Penstar raises questions about some news reports published in Dzongkha language newspapers. A number of those reports are translated from news sites like CNN, BBC or NDTV, but no credit to the source is usually given.
Russia: Prosecutor General Calls For Control Over Social Networks
“You saw what had happened in London. To my mind, it is evident that there should be control over this [social network] activity, and I think it will be a reasonable control, in the interest of protection of the civic liberties,” said Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika at the summit of...
Iran: Protest Art to Save Lake Urmia
Protesters took to the streets again on Monday in Ardabil, in Iran's Azarbaijan's region, to demand that the Iranian government save Lake Urmia, one of the world's largest salt water lakes. Fred Petrossian reports.
India: Open Letter to The British Parliament On Kashmir
After decades the British Parliament is going to discuss Kashmir tomorrow. Al Haqu Murun writes an open letter to Mr Steve Baker, MP for Wycombe, and the British Parliament asking to increase pressure to Pakistan and India to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
China: WikiLeaks Misreading Leads to Online ‘Spy’ Hunt
The release of unredacted United States (US) diplomatic cables since late August 2011 by WikiLeaks, has resulted in an online witch hunt in China. The word "informant" in the documents was misinterpreted as "Xianren" which usually refers to a "rat" or "spy" who makes a living by selling information.
China: Chinese blaze new paths in Africa
Jing Gao from Ministry of Tofu translated a NetEase story feature on Chinese people working in Africa on Chinese invested construction projects.
Ukraine: Photographing the TB Epidemic
Ukrainian photographer Maxim Dondyuk (@dondyuk) is documenting the TB epidemic in Ukraine: “Each day 30 people die. Each year takes more than 10,000 lives.” Dondyuk's powerful, heartbreaking photographs of TB patients can be viewed online on his Tumblr blog [ru], his website, and on Lightstalkers.com [en]. On Sep. 15, an...
