November, 2013

Stories from November, 2013

A Durian Village In Sri Lanka

  30 November 2013

In Southern parts of Sri Lanka the cultivation of Durian, regarded by many in southeast Asia as the “king of fruits”, is becoming popular as it has export demands. The Sri Lanka Ministry of Agriculture has taken steps to commercially cultivate Durian, reports Ajith Parakum Jayasinghe. A 30-acre Durian village...

Ukraine: Understanding the #Euromaidan Protests

  30 November 2013

It may seem to many that the #Euromaidan protests in Ukraine grew out of nowhere and overnight, but this is not the case. There is a long history behind the protests and the government's decision to back out of what was supposed to be a historical and significant move toward...

China: Ai Weiwei's Flower Protest

  30 November 2013

The Chinese government has restricted artist-activist Ai Weiwei from traveling outside the country since 2011 when he was prosecuted with Tax evasion. To express his discontent, he decided to put flowers on his bike outside his studio. @dgatterdam retweeted @aiww's picture with a brief note. Every day @aiww will put...

Impunity: The Biggest Threat to Freedom of Expression in Latin America

  29 November 2013

In the last 20 years, 670 journalists have been killed in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to delegates from the IFEX-ACL alliance, which recently presented their Annual Report on Impunity 2013: “Faces and Traces of Freedom of Expression in Latin America and the Caribbean.” The crimes — most of which remain unsolved —...

Spanish Police Attempt Dead-of-Night Shutdown of Valencia Public Broadcaster

  29 November 2013

The Valencian government, belonging to the conservative People's Party, has sent the police at 3 a.m. to shut down the regional public broadcaster Ràdio Televisió Valenciana (RTVV) [ca]. Since the government announced the decision to shut the broadcaster down on November 5, the journalists have been running both the radio...

Keeping up with the 2013 World Forum for Democracy

  28 November 2013

The second World Forum for Democracy is currently taking place in Strasbourg, France. The motto of this year conference is “Connecting Institutions and Citizens in the Digital Age”.  Follow the four themes and the 21 workshops of the conference with the hashtag #CoE_WFD. 

Vote Counting Errors in Honduras Elections

  28 November 2013

RNS in Honduras Culture and Politics writes about some of the anomalies noted by observers of Sunday's elections in Honduras, “some of which have been corrected, and others of which have not.” He concludes: A public recount of the Actas would go a long way to providing confidence that everyone...