Stories from 19 October 2011
Bangladesh: EMV And Bangladesh Elections
An Ordinary Citizen reports that the introduction of electronic voting machine is drawing sharp criticism from the oppostion and they will oppose any attempt to introduce it in the next Bangladesh election.
Pakistan: Release Of Mumtaz Qadri
Aftab Afridi writes about the inherent flaws in the religiously inspired laws of Pakistan. He warns that if Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, is released, it will have very serious ramifications for the coming generations.
Sri Lanka: Lanka E News Blocked By Mobile Service Providers
Sunanda Deshapriya reports that “two of Sri Lanka’s Internet Service Providers – Dialog and Telecom – have illegally blocked Lanka E News to their customers”.
Ecuador: International Free Culture Congress Held in Quito
Juan Arellano has published two Storify posts with tweets covering the first [es] and second [es] days of the International Free Culture Congress [es] held in Quito, Ecuador on October 17 and 18, 2011.
El Salvador's School Food Program
Colleen O'Brien, from the blog Locavore del Mundo, writes about El Salvador's school food program: “The Ministry of Education has recently announced that this new school feeding program to be a success (mission accomplished?), but apparently many schools are not receiving nearly enough food.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Project Runway’s Social Media Queen
The season finale for Lifetime network's hit reality show, Project Runway, is almost here and Trinidad and Tobago’s Anya Ayoung-Chee, a designer who has made it into the top five, has a shot at winning this season's coveted prize. Caribbean netizens rally around her.
Indonesia: Yogyakarta Royal Wedding
The Yogyakarta sultanate in Indonesia is celebrating the Royal Wedding of Princess Bendara and Prince Yuda. The happy event was live streamed through microblogs and other social media platforms for the entire world to see.
Malaysia: Food and Blog Action Day 2011
For this year’s Blog Action Day, bloggers around the world discussed food. Many Malaysians took part in the cause and wrote about highly diverse topics in their blogs. Some described their favorite dish and recommended good restaurants while others pondered about hunger and poverty in the world
Commemorating Mozambique's Founding Father, Samora Machel
Mozambique commemorates on October 19, 2011, the 25th anniversary of the loss of its founding father and President Samora Machel, who was killed in a plane crash in Mbuzini, South Africa on October 19, 1986. The government declared 2011 the "Year of Samora Machel".
France: Tunisian Diaspora Set to Vote
Tunisian residents in France will vote ahead of their compatriots, from Thursday, October 20, until Saturday, October 22, whereas polls in Tunisia open on Sunday 23 October. There are an estimated 600,000 Tunisians living in France. Les cahiers de la liberté (Notebooks of Freedom,) [fr, ar] has published a guide to the...
Italy: October 15 Protest Turns Violent in Rome
This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide. Inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in New York and by the Spanish “Indignados”, citizens in 951 cities and 82 countries across the world took to the streets on October 15, 2011, to protest against the stranglehold on the...
Cameroon: Retrospective on the 2011 Presidential Election Candidates
So much has already been said about the recent presidential election in Cameroon: too many candidates, strange promises, unflattering political slogans, and so on. Philippe Menkoue provides a retrospective of the candidates prior to the results being announced.
France: The Twittosphere Pokes Fun at the Presidential Election Campaign
As can be seen on social networking sites like Twitter, the 2012 presidential campaign is well and truly underway in France. The left wing Primaries have animated the media landscape over the last couple of weeks, and resulted in François Hollande being named the Socialist Party (PS) representative. On Twitter, many Trending topics make reference to the up coming elections and are provoking amused reactions.
Cuba: Immigration Policy
At Translating Cuba, Jeovany J. Vega blogs about the country's immigration policy, calling it “one of the most traumatic and thorny issues in Cuban society. The twisted mechanisms created to impede the free flow of people, whether to travel or to emigrate, have turned what would normally be one more...
Cuba: Journalist Held While Trying to Pay Respects to Pollan
Uncommon Sense reports that “the Cuban independent journalist and blogger Dania Virgen Garcia Garcia was beaten and arrested…while trying to attend a gathering at the home of the late Laura Pollan.”
Puerto Rico: Animal Rights
Dondequiera says that “Puerto Rico has seen some horrible abuses with respect to animal cruelty”, adding that the high kill rate at animal shelters is essentially “a funding problem.”
Bahamas: Visual Poetry
Two new video poems have been posted at tongues of the ocean, here and here.
France: Violence Erupts in French Overseas Departement Mayotte
Violence has erupted during demonstrations against the rising cost of living in Mamoudzou, the capital city of the French overseas departement Mayotte, where one man has died and another is reported wounded [fr]. Events can be followed on Twitter via the #mayotte hashtag. Rue89 has published testimonies [fr] from Mayotte citizens, while Politis...
Jamaica: New Prime Minister
Jamaican bloggers talk about the swearing-in of the country's new Prime Minister, which is scheduled to take place this Sunday.
Brazil: Thousands March Against Corruption
20,000 people attended the 2nd March Against Corruption in Brasília, on October 12. Youtube user estnagum registered the event. Chanting slogans and the national anthem, protesters held brooms to “sweep away” corruption and impunity. The first march, on September 7 (independence day), was motivated by the secret voting that absolved...
Tunisia: Democratic Test for Tunisians on October 23 Election Day
Tunisians will head to polls on October 23 to elect a national constituent assembly which will write a new constitution for the country that was the spark of the so called Arab Spring. Though, the election is much anticipated, about half of Tunisian voters are still undecided, and there are fears of a low turnout rate.
