· March, 2010

Stories about Breaking News from March, 2010

India: Tribals Using Cell Phones To Publish News

  30 March 2010

Indian Tribals Blog reports that “dozens of citizen journalists in India’s chronically neglected tribal communities are producing and sharing audio news reports for the first time through an innovative cell phone system.”

Ukraine: Fire Destroys 20% of Hosting.ua Servers

RuNet Echo  28 March 2010

Some 20% of the servers at Odessa-based Hosting.ua data center – one of the biggest in Ukraine – are reported to have been destroyed in a fire on March 27. UkrainianWatcher writes (UKR) that “tens of thousands of Ukrainian and a number of Russian sites are currently offline” and re-posts...

Russia: Top Blogger's Account Hacked

RuNet Echo  26 March 2010

Livejournal account of Igor Bigdanov (aka LJ user ibigdan), one of the top RuNet bloggers, has been hacked, Bigdanov reported. The most common version of the motives of the hack – commercial. This one and several similar attacks were allegedly carried out by the so called the “Brigade of Hell”,...

Russia: Website Closed By Police Order

RuNet Echo  26 March 2010

20marta.ru, an opposition website dedicated to the “Day of Anger” held on March 20, was closed by police after just one day of functioning, kasparov.ru reported. According to the source, the police have sent the letter informing that the website is closed due to inciting anti-government sentiment.

Russia: One of the Top Bloggers Dies

RuNet Echo  26 March 2010

Dmitry Gorchev (aka LJ user dimkin), a writer and artist (some of his translations are here), died today in his house leaving about 13,000 readers mourn, openspace.ru reported. Gorchev was one of the first bloggers on RuNet with his Livejournal account registered in 2001.

Sri Lanka: The Akon Controversy

  25 March 2010

A recent video of R&B singer-songwriter Akon featuring a group of scantly clad women dancing at a pool party in front of a Buddha statue caused much uproar in Sri Lanka. This became a hot topic in the Sri Lankan blogosphere.

Trinidad & Tobago: Money Done

  25 March 2010

“I yawned last night when the news on all local TV stations reported that the police, famous for being loyal to our incorruptible leader, raided UDeCOTT offices, Sunway International’s offices and the home of Calder Hart, possibly looking for remnants of The Treasury”: This Beach Called Life says that Trinidad...

Nepal: Death of a polarizing ‘statesman’

  23 March 2010

Former Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala passed away on Saturday March 21st, after prolonged illness. The legacy of this often controversial and polarizing figure is being discussed by Nepali bloggers.

Bermuda: Violent Crime

  23 March 2010

Vexed Bermoothes says that crime in Bermuda is “a lot worse than most people assume, particularly given the small size of this rock and the even smaller neighbourhoods that are being scarred by this violence.”

China: Singing farewell to Google

  23 March 2010

Google has formally closed its mainland Chinese search engine and rival Baidu will not need long to pick up the slack; nonetheless, former users of Google.cn search braved the cold air to show their support outside the company's Beijing headquarters, singing an anti-Internet censorship protest song while they were at it.

Russia: Bank Employee Spoils Credit History for $0.26

RuNet Echo  21 March 2010

Blogger logra published the recording of her conversation with a Russian bank employee who called her and in a strikingly impolite manner said he would spoil her credit history for the debt of 26 cents on her account. Logra's post gathered almost 3500 comments, seriously undermining the reputation of the...