Stories from 17 October 2011
Yemen: Azizah Abdo Othman, Yemen's First Female Martyr
More than 30 anti-regime protesters have been killed in Yemen on Saturday and yesterday, including the country's first female martyr Aziza Abdo, who was shot dead by a sniper during a protest in Taiz. Yemeni netizens react to the carnage.
Russia: the First Twitter Account Officially Registered as Media Outlet
Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecoms and Communications (RosKomNadzor) officially registered [ru] Twitter account of a microblogger Denis Plenin (@Dplenin) as the first mass media outlet on the platform.
Russia: Facebook Bots Massively Vote for Putin
Russian online magazine “Slon” exposes [ru] significant increase in activity of Facebook fake accounts who vote for Putin in online opinion polls. The bots are active not only on Facebook but also on online media websites that allow to use Facebook profiles for voting.
Jordan: New Government, Expectations and Hope!
Jordan saw the appointment of a new prime minister today after the majority of parliamentarians sent a letter to King Abdullah, pointing out grievances with Dr Marouf Bakhit's government. International judge Awn Khasawneh replaces Bakhit. Here are some netizen reactions.
China: No Clear Solution to the Wall Street Occupation
The occupation of Wall Street has gathered a lot of interest in China, as have three blog posts last week from an investment banker, a columnist and a Yale professor, none of whom seem too optimistic that a new economic vision will arise from the growing global movement any time soon.
Azerbaijan: Twitter Action for Jabbar Savalan
Following a Twitter campaign by Amnesty International calling for the release of imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, the international human rights watchdog has launched another in support of a young Facebook activist in Azerbaijan who was jailed in May. The earlier action was followed by Fatullayev's release just days later and...
Chile: “Anti-Occupation” Law Sparks Controversy
The Chilean Ministry of Interior (responsible for public order and security), drafted and sent to Congress a piece of legislation that would criminalize occupations of public or privately-owned buildings, arguably because of the recent occupation of schools and universities by Chilean students.
France: Global Voices in French Recommended in Volunteers’ Guide
Global Voices en français [fr] is happy to see the work of its volunteer translators highlighted and recommended in a recently published book in France, Impliquez-vous ! (Get Involved!) [fr]. Translating foreign blogs into French as part of the Global Voices Lingua project is one of “101 acts of solidarity” listed by...
India: Women Bloggers Meet In Mumbai
Ugich Konitari attended the Dove-Indiblogger Women Bloggers Meet held in mid-town Mumbai on the 16th of October 2011 and wrote about it. More than 90 women from various parts of Mumbai and possibly from nearby cities participated.
Pakistan: A Daughter's Plea To Free Her Father From Pirates
On 26 November 2010 MV Albedo, a Malaysian commercial ship was hijacked by the Somali pirates and its 23 crews including 7 Pakistanis have been held hostage ever since. Nareman Jawaid, the daughter of the Pakistani captain of the ship is trying her best via blog and Facebook to raise...
China: A Poem About the Self-Immolations in Tibet
A series of self-immolations happened in Tibet since early October. Tibetan poet Sengdor wrote a poem, “Mourning” to commemorate his fellows. High Peaks Pure Earth translated the poem and some of the comments.
China: Girl ran over by two vans, bystanders ignored
A cold-blood story happened in the weekend in Foshan city. A two-year-old girl hit by a van, the diver did not stop and drove away. Bystanders witnessed the scene did not help the girl, then another van ran over. The incident was recorded by a CCTV in a roadside store....
Armenia: More military deaths
Unzipped comments on the latest deaths in the Armenian military and says that it is an indication of endemic problems of violence and bullying in the ranks. The blog also criticizes the official response that highlighting such problems lowers morale and is the work of ‘foreign sponsored NGOs.’