13 February 2012

Stories from 13 February 2012

China: Online Protest Against the Bear Bile Business

  13 February 2012

Since early 2011, Gui Zhentang, China's largest bear bile medicine producer, has been trying to apply for stock market launch on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Last year, the application was turned down as a result of netizens' protests. Oiwan Lam updates the issue.

Madagascar : Crowdsourcing Information about Cyclone Giovanna

  13 February 2012

Cyclone Giovanna was expected to make landfall on February 13th at 23h00 local time in Madagascar. Malagasy Bloggers  have set up  a citizen reporting  platform  to crowd source information during the storm.  If you have any relevant information regarding the cyclone, you can share those with mutliple channels: via  SMS...

Bhutan: The Potentials Of Amateur Radios

  13 February 2012

Tshering Tobgay writes about the Dx-pedition of a ham radio operator from England to Bhutan and the challenges and potentials of the amateur radio and its enthusiasts in his country.

India: Internet Companies Bow to Censorship Demands

  13 February 2012

India took a giant leap back in time when it demanded that 20 major Internet companies, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter present plans to filter “anti-religious,” or “anti-social” material from the content available to Indian citizens.

Greece: Parliament Votes in New Austerity Deal Amidst Riots

  13 February 2012

As 200 out of 300 Greek deputies voted in favor of the new austerity deal “Memorandum 2″, these were some of the different scenes. Jimhellas provides his perspective [el] on yesterday's #12febgr huge citizen protest and massive police teargas repression in a post entitled “Mass murder attempt at #Syntagma, as I lived...

Singapore: Citizens Discuss Politician's Extramarital Scandal

  13 February 2012

An opposition politician has resigned from his party's Central Executive Committee amidst rumours of extramarital affairs. Netizens discussed the issue in various social networks and many expressed their disappointment over how the issue was handled by the Opposition Party

Cuba: Different Pope, Different People

  13 February 2012

Generation Y adds her perspective to the issue of the upcoming papal visit: “At the end of the nineties Karol Wojtyla lit up our hearts – including those of agnostics like myself – saying the word ‘freedom’ more than a dozens times in the Plaza of the Revolution. But now...

Jamaica: The Marley Brand

  13 February 2012

Active Voice blogs about a public talk that Damian ‘Junior Gong’ Marley gave at the University of the West Indies, while Jamaica Woman Tongue repors that “Jamaicans of all social classes” attended the 12th staging of the Bob Marley Tribute Concert, ‘Trench Town Rock’.

Jamaica: Engaging on Twitter

  13 February 2012

“Twitter is a very interesting space once you engage”: Grasshopper Eyes The Potomac finds himself empowered by the microblogging service.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Women's Congress

  13 February 2012

“There is great buzz about St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ first ever Women’s Congress to take place in March”: CODE RED says that “ff the Women’s Congress can move towards the creating women as a political constituency they will have achieved tremendous success.”

Arab World: RIP Whitney Houston

  13 February 2012

Arabs join the rest of the world in mourning the death of superstar Whitney Houston. Reactions on social media platforms ranged from sadness and shock to those questioning why the death of Houston got more coverage in a few hours than the death of thousands of Syrians over the last 11 months.