12 April 2013

Stories from 12 April 2013

Peru: Smile for Your ID Picture

  12 April 2013

In Peru, Twitter users turned to the hashtag #DNIfeliz [happy ID card] to encourage citizens to smile for their ID document photo, commonly known as DNI. Traditionally, citizens have a serious or even stern expression on their ID picture.

Kyrgyzstan: Where Every Joke is on the Capital's Mayor

  12 April 2013

KVN - the Russian abbreviation for Club of the Funny and Inventive - remains a national comedy institution in many states of the former Soviet Union. Kyrgyzstan, whose capital has recently hosted the Central Asian league of KVN, is no exception. But while most people in the country enjoy the humor, the Kyrgyz capital's mayor is looking on red-faced, emerging as the butt of every other joke.

São Tomé and Príncipe: Petition Against Deforestation

  12 April 2013

Raul Jorge, a Santomean citizen, launched a petition [fr] against deforestation in São Tomé and Príncipe, addressed to the current Prime Minister Gabriel Costa. The petition has already gathered more than 700 signatures. In October 2012, Global Voices reported about the situation; in response netizens published videos and a Facebook...

Egypt: Prime Minister Prescribes Smurf Diet

Hesham Qandil, Egypt's Prime Minister, is an illustruous expert in healthcare issues as attested by, e.g. his insightful comments about ‘dirty boobs breastfeeding’. The Prime Minister delivered another priceless advice to Twitter users, this time about a healthy diet:

Caution as Yemen Hands Diplomatic Immunity to Top Military

Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has removed former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's son Ahmed, the head of the Republican Guard, and appointed him as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Saleh's nephew Ammar, the deputy intelligence chief, was appointed military attache in Ethiopia, Ammar's brother, Tareq Yahia, head of the Presidential Guard, was appointed as military attache in Germany. Removing the Saleh's relatives from power has been an major challenge in restructuring Yemen's military, and an obstacle to the transitional government. Netizens react.

You're Sponsoring Neonazis on Greek TV!

  12 April 2013

@northaura: #xa_advertising is about a twitter movement protest by email in #Greece to push advertisers off ever again supporting pro-neonazi TV shows. Blogger @ypopto_mousi started a campaign to inform the sponsors [el] of a highly controversial SKAI TV panel featuring four neonazi Golden Dawn MPs, that they are sponsoring hate speech. The blogger is...

Greek Government Shutters Athens Indymedia

  12 April 2013

A leading alternative news site in Greece, Athens Indymedia announced it was being suppressed by Greek judicial authorities, along with two radio stations, and provided a Tor link [el] for alternate access. Potmos asserted on the significance of the site for independent news in Greece: @potmos: Fast and accurate info posted on Athens #Indymedia led to life sentence...

Haiti: CARICOM Should Speak Up

  12 April 2013

Appalled by the “legal immunity” that the United Nations appears to have in the country's cholera epidemic, Kevin Edmonds says that it's high time Caribbean leaders speak up for Haiti.