18 January 2012

Stories from 18 January 2012

Iran: Women activist shot dead in Texas

  18 January 2012

A Texas Medical Center student and Iranian women activist was shot dead on Monday in Houston. Gelareh Bagherzadeh was driving her car when she was shot.  Authorities said it is unknown what prompted the shooting. Iranians users are showing concerns over this murder in Balatarin, an Iranian link-sharing website.

Spain: Electricity Cut Off for one School in Alicante

  18 January 2012

Power was cut off [ca] for 800 pupils in a secondary school in Alicante due to outstanding payments. The Valencian Community is currently mired in financial difficulties after years of extravagant spending. MPs Esther López Barceló [ca] from the United and Alternative Left and Mireia Mollà [ca] from the Coalicío...

Latin American Sites and Bloggers Protest PIPA and SOPA

  18 January 2012

Several Latin American blogs like SitioCero [es], alt1040 [es], and Sentidos Comunes [es] have joined the online protests against U.S. anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA. Some are speaking out against similar local laws, like the bloggers behind the Mexican blog network Indie Weblogs [es]. Popular series and film site Cuevana.tv...

Guatemala: Child Labor in the Sugar Cane Fields

  18 January 2012

The recent investigation done by journalists of Plaza Publica in Guatemala has uncovered how government authorities, although legally having to prevent child labor, allow children under 14 years of age to work in their cane fields, a physically demanding and dangerous work.

Myanmar: Freed Blogger's First Post

  18 January 2012

Myanmar Blogger Nay Phone Latt, who was released on January 13th along with other prominent political prisoners after being imprisoned for 4 years, wrote his first blog post about his experience in prison.

Cuba: Whither Gay Rights?

  18 January 2012

While Havana Times reports that Raul Castro's daughter “hopes the upcoming January 28 conference of the country’s communist party will help end the stalemate around a draft law intended to grant rights to transsexuals and homosexuals on the island”, babalu counters: “While…Mariela Castro, is busy jetting around the world promoting...

Caribbean: Solidarity with SOPA Protest

  18 January 2012

A few regional bloggers have joined “the largest online protest in history”, against the proposed PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), here, here, here and here.

Trinidad & Tobago: “Disturbing” Laws

  18 January 2012

Globewriter points out some “strange and disturbing laws” that are still on the books in Trinidad and Tobago, saying: “Yes, T&T can’t deal with LGBT rights but it is so on the ball for child marriage rights.”

Cuba: Hunger Striking Prisoner Close to Death

  18 January 2012

Cuban bloggers are concerned that there could be a repeat of what happened to political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, and draw attention to the plight of Wilman Villar Mendoza, who “has been on hunger strike since November, when he was arrested and sentenced to 4 years in prison for the...

Bermuda: Lack of Political Dialogue

  18 January 2012

politics.bm thinks that tIt speaks volumes about the PLP's interest in informed dialogue that two brief fact based and civil comments that I posted on their Facebook page were deleted and I was removed from the page entirely…not all comments were deleted. Only those that didn't echo the official line.”

Iran: Golshifteh Farahani posed nude for Le Figaro

  18 January 2012

Madame Le Figaro published a nude photo of Golshifteh Farahani, Iranian actress based in Paris, and there has been a huge interest and reactions to this quite rare photo on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. In a few hours the photo received more than thousands of comments and likes...

Costa Rican Blogs Protest SOPA and PIPA

  18 January 2012

Ticoblogger [es], a network of Costa Rican blogs, has joined the global protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA). Ticoblogger blogs like Ciencia Ficción [es], Carepicha [es], and El Infierno en Costa Rica [es] posted a message against the U.S. bills and “censored” part...

Iran: More web activists got arrested

  18 January 2012

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says [fa] Iran has arrested two web activists last week; Mohammad SoleimaniNia, who “hosts and manages websites of many Iranian civil society communities and intellectuals and manager of Persian literature website sokhan.com”, and Simin Nematollahi “Majzooban.org, the website of Iranian Gonabadi dervishes”.

Iran: Second blogger arrested in Tehran

  18 January 2012

Iranian authorities arrested Marzieh Rasouli, journalist and blogger, last night in Tehran. She writes stories and narrations of her daily life in ‘3 Rouz Pish’ [fa]. This is the second arrest of a blogger in a couple of days in Tehran. Parastoo Dokouhaki, blogger and journalist, was arrested on Sunday.

Nicaragua: Telecom Company CLARO Censors Clients

  18 January 2012

The perseverance of Nicaragua's internet community through social networks in denouncing the censorship act by CLARO Nicaragua was the reason the company stopped stonewalling and lifted the access block on the website claroqueno.com.