Stories from 16 October 2012
Ada Lovelace Day: Celebrating Women's Genius
Ada Lovelace Day, celebrated every October 16, honors international women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths -women's whose skills are urgently needed for the future of the world. Here we highlight some of these extraordinary women.
Yemen: Why Insult Women?
Yemeni netizen Hind Aleryani questions [ar] the demeaning manner in which some people talk about women on social networks.
The Stateless People of Egypt
Stateless people are those who do not have a nationality. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are up to 12 million stateless people in the world. Ahmed Awadalla introduces us to some of the stateless people of Egypt in this post.
Democratic Republic of Congo: A Francophone Summit too Focused on the Protection of the French Language ?
Sékou Diabate reacts on his Facebook page about the end of the fourteenth edition of the Francophone Summit, which was held from October 12th to 14th in Kinshasa. He writes: So how about this great Francophone Summit in Kinsasha, where millions and millions [of Euros] were spent while people are...
The Authors Behind the Venezuelan Literary Boom
This is the second part of an interview with Guillermo Parra of the blog Venepoetics, where he shares his reflections on the new rise of Venezuelan literature and his translations of Venezuelan poet Jose Antonio Ramos Sucre. In this part of the interview we will share Guillermo's take on the new authors who are painting the landscape of new Venezuelan narratives.
Haiti: Yéle Haiti Facing Allegations of Financial Impropriety
Various allegations of financial impropriety have been directed at musician and activist Wyclef Jean's charity Yéle Haiti. The allegations are centered on the millions that the defunct charitable organization received in donations after the Janury 2010 earthquake period that devastated the island.
Syria: The Revolution Goes Multilingual
The revolution in Syria is not just taking place on the battleground, between Daraa's alleyways or Aleppo's Citadel. There is a bigger battle going on online. We interview the netizens behind La Revolution Syrienne en Français (The Syrian Revolution in French), a popular page among hundreds of pages on Facebook on the revolution, to know the motives behind creating such a page in French particularly and how they think they are contributing to the uprising in Syria - virtually.
Colombia/U.S.: “We Need to Talk About Coke”
Colombia based American blogger Natalie Southwick writes about cocaine supply chain and asks her countrymen to think about how Americans may be perpetuating the cycle of violence and exploitation by feeding the demand for cocaine. “At the least, think before you inhale”.
Uganda: The Golden Jubilee Gift That Never Was
As Uganda was celebrating 50 years of independence on 9 October 2012, everyone was hoping that qualification for the African Cup of Nations would be the best gift Ugandans would get. It never happened. Uganda's national soccer team, the Uganda Cranes, last qualified for the African Cup of Nations in 1978 when it reached the finals but finished second.
Saint Lucia: Bananas as a Renewable Energy Source?
A 2011 blogpost on the use of bananas in the creation of biofuel has inspired Dane Gibson to ask some questions about the renewable energy sector in the small Caribbean country of Saint Lucia.
Indonesia: Impact of Bali Bombing
Reporting on Bali changed the way I looked at the world. Until today, I believe Bali could have been prevented if authorities paid attention to the signs along the way. When the explosions happened a decade ago, the Indonesian police already had the names of every single one of the...
Indonesia: Ending Police Corruption
Pramudya A Oktavinanda suggests several reform measures on how to eradicate corruption in the Indonesian police force. He reminds government that raising salaries is not enough and it must be complemented with other incentives and other bureaucratic reforms.
