The Hilarity of Murder Among Russians · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Alexey Navalny (left) and Irina Yarovaya (right). Images from Wikimedia commons.
Where do you draw the line between a joke and a death threat? That question has been on Russians’ minds this week, after a controversial tweet [ru] by famed blogger and opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who described the assassination [ru] of a judge in Ukraine as a “greeting card” to judges in Russia. The murder victim, Aleksandr Lobodenko, was responsible for sentencing several protesters convicted of rioting in Ukraine’s Poltava region, leading police to believe the killing was politically motivated.
Duma deputy Irina Yarovaya quickly branded [ru] Navalny’s tweet “extremist,” interpreting it literally. Navalny’s message, she claimed, “not only mocks a man’s death, but transmits a positive attitude about murder.” Other state officials soon chimed in. Kirill Kabanov, a member of the President’s Council on Human Rights, implied that he believes Navalny was joking, but warned that some of his readers might misunderstand, saying, “Navalny has a pretty big group of fans, who aren’t always evenly balanced, and some of them might see [the tweet] as a call to action.” Georgy Fedorov, a member of Russia’s Civic Chamber, accused [ru] Navalny of being a thug disguised as an activist, calling the tweet “reckless” and “twisted.”
A day after his “greeting card” tweet, Navalny responded [ru] to the backlash, addressing only Yarovaya. Changing the topic entirely, he pummeled Yarovaya for hiding a luxurious Moscow apartment in her daughter’s name. Indeed, Navalny first blogged about the secret accommodations nearly a year ago, in March 2013, when he republished [ru] findings by an opposition-leaning newspaper. At the time, Yarovaya denied the accusation, calling it “a dirty insinuation.” This week, Navalny presented on his blog a copy of a real estate title in the name of Yarovaya’s daughter for a four-bedroom apartment in a posh area of Moscow.
Navalny offered to delete his tweet about the Ukrainian judge’s murder, if Yarovaya could clarify how her daughter, at 18-years-old, managed to buy property worth an estimated three million dollars. Comedically undeterred, Navalny even offered, in the event of an explanation from Yarovaya, to compose a new tweet, “calling on people never to kill on-the-take judges or corrupt deputies.”
Navalny’s sarcasm has always been a major feature of his persona. Particularly before he became one of the political opposition’s most prominent figures, Navalny’s public image was foremost associated with his blogging. Though he rarely responds to comments on LiveJournal these days, and his blog posts now are heavier in information than opinion, Navalny’s voice online is still consistently snide and disparaging. This is not to say he’s meaner than most using the Internet, but Navalny’s manner distinctly remains a blogger’s style.
How else can we explain why Navalny considers it appropriate to issue a mock death threat to judges throughout Russia? In a year that has kicked off to multiple harsh reactions by authorities in response to ‘offensive utterances,’ Navalny is clearly advertising his fearlessness about pushing the bounds of free speech. Others elsewhere in Russia have responded with similar resolve (or stubbornness, depending on your point of view), when accused of speaking irresponsibly. TV Rain may have apologized and canceled a program, after it caught hell for a survey about abandoning Leningrad to the Nazis, but the station’s management refused to fire anyone. Victor Shenderovich, who enraged many by noting uncomfortable similarities between Russian and fascist Olympians, has stuck to his guns and defended himself against critics who say he crossed a line.
Navalny may very well think he’s rallying behind the country’s beleaguered and besieged civil society. His choice of resistance—turning a man’s killing into a jab at Russia’s own admittedly hated judges—may have been in poor taste, but Navalny is far from the only opposition member who’s alluded to prospects for Ukrainian-style unrest in Russia. Making this stand with a joke, however (and then refusing to defend it directly), suggests that Navalny and his generation have room to mature.


Mexico: Felipe Calderon presents its Economic Cabinet · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ricardo Carreón lists Felipe Calderon's newly appointed Economic Cabinet. Ana Maria Salazar says there are some surprises among the choices.


Malaria Eradication: USAID Advocates Behavioural Change - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 4
April 8, 2019
The United States Agency for International Development through Breakthrough Action, one of its sponsored programmes, has advocated for social behavioural change in eradicating malaria.
The Programme Coordinator for USAID/Breakthrough Action Nigeria, Sunday Moses, who disclosed this in Jos, said that social behavioural change was key in eradicating malaria.
He said imbibing practices such as sleeping under Insecticidal Treated Nets, the use of Rapid Diagnostic Test kits for actual diagnosis and adherence to the full course of the ACTs were salient changes needed for elimination of the disease.
Moses called on traditional and religious leaders to advocate for positive change of harmful social norms, beliefs and practices that were related to malaria eradication among their subjects and congregants.
He explained that if these changes were effectively implemented, there would be minimal or no cases due to malaria and there would be an effective decline in under five as well as maternal and new-born deaths caused by malaria.
Moses said this could bring about a healthier and more educated state and country at large.


Cambodia: Cambodia Thai Border and Google Earth · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Borin finds Google Earth displaying Cambodia's border with Thailand incorrectly.


Liberia: floating hospital · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Liberia Ledger blogs about a giant floating hospital in Monrovia: “giant floating hospital has arrived in the Port of Monrovia, carrying 400 staff for the purpose of repairing cleft upper lip & palate, crossed eyes, flesh-eating diseases, and other important surgeries that most Liberian hospitals can't do. Of course, this is a great thing, and they should be commended.”


South Korea: Economy Over Human Rights? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Cho Eunseok from chamnews translated a debate over anti-discrimination bill in South Korea. Apart from conservative religious group, the Korean Employers Federation is a major opposing force.


PULSE: Eastern Europe – What You Didn’t Read in the Mainstream - New Canadian Media
Lucy Slavianska
July 2, 2015
As mainstream media focus on the war in Ukraine and Canada’s position on it, headlines in the Eastern European diaspora media reveal some of the other challenges, struggles and joys of its community in Canada.EndFragment
Romanian and Bulgarian media report on the Harper government’s decision to relax the visa requirements for Romanian and Bulgarian nationals.
According to new regulations coming in 2016, Bulgarian Flame reports, Bulgarian citizens who have held a Canadian visa in the last 10 years or who hold a U.S. non-immigrant visa will no longer need to apply for Canadian visas, but will only have to register for an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA). The same regulations apply for Romanian citizens.
The news came after Romania and Bulgaria, both European Union (EU) members, declared they would not ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a EU-Canada free-trade agreement, if Ottawa would not lift the visa requirements for their nationals. In order for CETA to come into effect, all 28 EU members must ratify it.
Prior to Bulgaria and Romania, the Czech Republic declared it wouldn’t ratify CETA if Canada didn’t lift the visa requirement for Czech citizens. The Harper government removed visas for Czech citizens, but only relaxed the requirements for Bulgarians and Romanians.
“It is a step towards the total lifting of visas for Romanians,” Pagini Romanesti writes, “but it seems unlikely that the Canadian authorities will take this decision very soon.”
Canadians, on the other hand, don’t need visas for any of the EU countries, including Romania and Bulgaria.
Biometric Data Collection Expands for Visitors to Canada
The federal government announced that the collection of biometric data from people entering Canada would vastly expand.
Polish website Bejsment.com, however, informed its readers that Poles who cross the Canadian border do not have to provide such data, because the new regulations do not apply to nationals of countries with which Canada has visa-free agreements. Also, the website explains that the biometric data of the Polish citizens are already saved in the electronic chips of their passports.
However, citizens of 148 countries who require visas will be subject to biometric data collection which includes fingerprints, facial and iris scanning. According to the federal government, the tightening of border control would not only increase the internal security, but would also limit the influx of unwanted people.
The drawback of the new project is the high cost – about $200 million for installation, and about $20 million annually for maintenance of the system.
Despite the expenses, security expert John Thompson believes that other countries should follow Canada’s example. In fact, collecting biometric data is already a common practice in Europe, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
Photo Credit: Bejsment.com (Accompanied original referenced article.)
The Fight for Kindergarten Ukrainian-Language Programs
Parents, teachers, community activists and organizations are concerned about anticipated changes in the decades-old Ukrainian language program running in three kindergarten classes in Toronto’s Eastern-Rite Catholic schools. In five articles, the Ukrainian-Canadian news portal New Pathway followed the heated discussions and actions of the Ukrainian community to preserve the language program.
Until 2014, the three kindergartens, which included separate half-day classes in Ukrainian, were partly funded by parents. When they became fully funded by the province, John Yan, senior coordinator at the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), said there would be changes to the Ukrainian language component’s delivery.
After several meetings, the prompt and united actions of the Ukrainian community members resulted in successful negotiations with TCDSB.
Meanwhile, a petition stated, “Teachers were informed that they have to abandon their separate Ukrainian classrooms and assume support duties within the regular English curriculum.”
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) Toronto branch announced a committee of parents and community activists would challenge the changes. Some of the group’s main concerns were, “the difficulty of combining instruction in two languages for young children in a single session,” “the volume of instruction in Ukrainian” and “ways to ensure the interests of Ukrainian teachers in the new circumstances.”
After several meetings, the prompt and united actions of the Ukrainian community members resulted in successful negotiations with TCDSB. On June 3, 2015, the UCC and TCDSB released a joint statement announcing children would spend half a day with an English teacher and the other half with a Ukrainian one and an ECE (early childhood education) team.
Photo: St. Josaphat Catholic School Celebrates 50 Years // Photo Credit: tcdsb.org
To stimulate young people of Polish background to learn, use and improve their Polish-language skills, Polish schools in most provinces organize competitions in essay writing, reading and spelling at the end of every school year. Polish portal Goniec published Teresa Szramek’s report on the most popular competitions in the country.
This year, the Best Essay in Polish Language competition was held for the 50th time. According to Szramek, the jury did a tremendous job, reading and evaluating hundreds of essays sent from Polish schools from all across Canada. Among the grading criteria were the ability to use the language beautifully and the courage to speak out on difficult subjects.
The reading contest, “Champion at Reading Beautifully,” took place at John Paul II Polish Cultural Centre Mississauga. Children read a text by Barbara Gawryluk’s My Bullerby, a novel about a girl who faces challenges when her parents decide to emigrate from Poland to Sweden.
“The reading contest for children is really important,” Szramek writes, “especially in the era of ubiquitous Internet. The contest aims, among other things, to arouse interest in books, which are a cultural asset of every nation, and to encourage reading, because books develop the imagination and enrich the vocabulary of the young readers.”
A record number of candidates also competed for the title of Spelling Champion of the Year 2015.
Photo Credit: Goniec (Accompanied original referenced article.)
Volunteers Run “Food Bank On Wheels”
People who use the Canadian social assistance system should not just passively wait for help – many of them could be more actively engaged in improving of their situations and the lives of others in need, says Lada Alexeychuk in Russian Week.
Alexeychuk is involved in an organization created and run by volunteers who call this activity “food bank on wheels.”
The work is simple: the volunteers talk to grocery store and warehouse managers and, at the end of the day, pick up the food that has not been sold. They immediately deliver this food to the homes of people in need. In this way, about 100 people receive fresh fruit and vegetables every week.
Since products are delivered the same day, the “food bank” doesn’t need storage or administrative staff. All it takes is the will to help others.
Alexeychuk writes that elderly people are especially grateful for this home-delivery service in winter, because they don’t have to walk the slushy, slippery streets to get food.
Since products are delivered the same day, the “food bank” doesn’t need storage or administrative staff. All it takes is the will to help others.
“The reasons people need help are different – unemployment, sickness, old age, immigration,” Alexeychuk says. “However, if a person is in need of social assistance, this doesn’t mean that he or she is completely helpless. If you think about it, every man, even the weakest person with disability can be of some help in some way.”
Photo Credit: Russian Week (Accompanied original referenced article.)
Lucy Slavianska is a Toronto-based journalist who has lived and worked in Bulgaria, Japan, Venezuela and the Netherlands. She has a PhD in clinical philosophy and background in editing and publishing.


Video from South Africa passed off as Gir Lions surviving Cyclone Tauktae - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 24, 2021
A video accompanying a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the Lions of Gir Forest in Gujarat have survived the recent Cyclone Tauktae. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Lions in Gir Forest survived Cyclone Tauktae.
Fact: The video was shot at the MalaMala game reserve located within Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Mpumalanga province in South Africa on 13 February 2021, according to an Instagram post by the Game Reserve and several news articles. Gujarat officials who have posted that the video was in relation to Gir forest have apologised after sharing the video. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we did reverse image search on the screenshots of the video, we found an Instagram post by MalaMala Game Reserve published on 13 February 2021, containing the same video. The Instagram post describes that this video was part of a Safari in MalaMala Game Reserve where they witnessed a Pride of Lions named Nkuhuma Pride and later another Pride of Lions named Kambula Pride. MalaMala Game Reserve is located within the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Mpumalanga province in South Africa.
When we searched for news articles to find out about the claims made in the video, we found few news articles. The news article titled ‘Gujarat officials apologise after sharing video of lions from South Africa that claimed Gir lions are safe after Cyclone Tauktae’ confirms that the video was shot at a South African game reserve earlier this year. As Cyclone Tauktae ravaged several parts of Gujarat wreaking havoc in many coastal districts, people were also concerned about the wildlife in the state; the state forest department tried to allay the fears by tweeting out a video that claimed to show a pride of lions in Gir crossing a stream says the article. However, upon finding that the video was fake and is originally of African lions, the video was deleted, and apology was issued, according to the article. Articles regarding this incident can be seen here and here.
The video had even been tweeted by the Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Prakash Javadekar saying that he was happy to know that lions are safe in Gir landscape post Tauktae Cyclone. However, the tweet attached to his post was later deleted. Dr. Rajiv Kumar Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary (Forest & Environment) for State Government of Gujarat had posted an apology letter through his Twitter post for the wrong video. It is regretted that a wrong video was posted along with a statement of lion safety in Gir landscape, Chief Wildlife Warden Shyamal Tikadar had apologised for his lapse and indiscretion, inconvenience, and confusion caused is sincerely regretted with an assurance for double caution in future, says the Twitter post.
It is regretted that a wrong video was posted along with statement of Lion safety in Gir landscape.PCCF(Wild Life)Sh Shyamal Tikadar has  apologised for his lapse & indiscretion.Inconvenience &confusion caused is sincerely regretted with an assurance for double caution in future. pic.twitter.com/ibs6n31LCU
Regarding the safety of Gir Lions post Tauktae Cyclone, the Gujarat State Forest Department had responded in its Twitter post. The forest department said the lions had moved to safety on their own during the storm, but no lions were missing. Other posts by the Gujarat State Forest Department regarding Gir lions’ status can be seen here and here. However, a few media reports quoting senior forest officials mentioned that 18 lions were reported missing from the coastal districts of Amreli, Gir Somnath, and Bhavnagar which bore the maximum brunt of the cyclone.
વનવિભાગે કહ્યું વાવાઝોડું આવતા સિંહો જાતે જ સલામત સ્થળે ખસી ગયા હતા, કોઈ સિંહ ગુમ થયા નથી https://t.co/oH2eSkame7
To sum it up, video from South Africa passed off as Gir Lions having survived Cyclone Tauktae.


Malaysia: Dress worth $30 million · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Despite the economic crisis, a designer in Malaysia has created a dress adorned with 751 diamonds. The price tag: US$30 million. The dress is called the “Nightingale of Kuala Lumpur”


A preview of the trial of ex-CIA officer Jeffery Sterling, accused source of journalist James Risen
Marcy Wheeler
January 6, 2015
In the coming weeks, we will be republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts.
Next Monday, the jury selection for the Jeffrey Sterling case will start. After a jury is selected, the trial is expected to take about two weeks.
Sterling has been accused of the following 10 charges:
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The allegations consist of three charges (1-3) for which the government will have to prove this material was “defense information.” They consist of four charges (4-7) for which the government will have to prove the information Sterling allegedly leaked had been protected by the CIA and that Sterling knew the leak of it would hurt the US. They consist of two picayune charges (8 and 9) dealing with the distribution of Risen’s book. And they consist of one charge (10) premised on Sterling destroying an email that referenced past discussions about Iran, but which itself contained no classified information.
The government has a great deal of what thus far appears to be circumstantial evidence — notably, lots of email and phone calls between the two — showing that Sterling spoke to Risen, and spoke to Risen about Iran’s nuclear abilities. The focus of the case will be on whether those communications offer enough evidence that Sterling is the person who provided Risen the most sensitive information that appeared in the chapter of his book. Given the course of Monday’s dry run of Risen’s testimony, Sterling’s lawyers will surely emphasize that Risen has discussed “sources,” plural, and the government had previously represented to Judge Leonie Brinkema that they themselves believed they could not prove Sterling’s guilt unless Risen named his sources. That is, Sterling’s team will now try to use the government’s decision not to press Risen for testimony to attack their case. But the government only has to prove that Sterling leaked this stuff, not that he was the primary or only person to have leaked this stuff.
In addition, the government will call a series of witnesses — including his former colleagues at the CIA, congressional staffers, and possibly even Sterling’s former civil attorney Mark Zaid — to lay out how Sterling responded negatively to his Equal Opportunity challenges between 2002 and 2003. They’ll do so to establish what they claim to be Sterling’s motive: to retaliate because CIA had successfully denied Sterling any compensation for what he claims was unequal treatment because he is African American.
Sterling’s team has just renewed an effort — made unsuccessfully in 2011, just before the trial was supposed to begin — to argue he is being selectively prosecuted. Even in 2011 he had prepared a substantive motion showing that others who had done what he is alleged to were not prosecuted; he has argued that the government has only chosen to prosecute him because he made a stink about being treated unfairly as an African American. But surely the defense will point to a number of additional details — the key witnesses against him who have themselves mishandled classified information, the apparent non-prosecution of the source of the StuxNet leak, even then CIA Director Leon Panetta’s leaks about the Osama bin Laden raid — to argue he is being selectively prosecuted. Thus far, that argument remains entirely sealed; it would be remarkable, and useful, if Judge Brinkema unsealed it, as the government’s selective enforcement of secrecy rules lies at the heart of this case.
Sterling’s team will undermine the national defense and classified information charges by calling Retired Colonel Patrick Lang to explain that the CIA is responsible for any leaks of the information, and anyway its leak didn’t hurt the US; here’s a preview of what Lang will say. The prosecution had planned to call former weapons inspector Charles Duelfer (best known as the author of the report on what WMD the Iraq Survey Group didn’t find in Iraq after the invasion), though the government submitted a sealed motion on Christmas Eve that suggests they may have changed their mind about whom to call to rebut Lang. The government may also call Condoleezza Rice, who — as National Security Adviser — successfully convinced the Times not to publish a Risen story on Operation Merlin in 2003 because it was too sensitive; the government maintains this would prove that the information was closely held national security information. The government had wanted to introduce the talking points she used to make that case, but Judge Brinkema ruled the government could only do so if they called Rice as a witness.
Perhaps the most difficult challenge to rebut will be the obstruction charge (which is probably why it was included). It is entirely conceivable that Sterling did not leak any classified information to Risen, and that the reporter got the gist of his story from other sources. Even so, the government will surely argue, Sterling showed intent to protect himself by deleting that email. Sterling’s team will need to argue he did not have the intent of obstructing the investigation when he deleted the email.
Sterling’s lawyers will also face the challenge of combatting the mystique the government will create with a series of measures to protect 10 or more CIA sources (including, per a recent filing, even the Russian who dealt the nuclear blueprints to Iran). The identities of these witnesses will be closely protected, especially from the public (the jury will see their full names as part of the jury selection process, but the names will never be made public). Such measures not only appropriately protect the identities of CIA officers whose role in the government remains secret, but it will make it harder for Sterling’s team to claim that this information isn’t national defense information.
But that is what we’ll probably see: a great deal of circumstantial evidence Sterling was Risen’s source, along with a retaliation motive, and the theater to claim this was all necessarily secret, all presented to jurors who live in the heart of the government’s defense industrial complex.


Zimbabwe: Nuclear Power · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

This is Zimbabwe reports on Mugabe's latest “if pigs could fly” idea – bringing nuclear power to Zimbabwe. He quotes a piece from the UK Guardian..”“Perhaps Mr Mugabe is also trying to get Zimbabwe to be considered as a strategically important state in the international community,” said Mr Robertson. “He can see how Iran and North Korea are using the threat of developing nuclear power as a bargaining chip with the United States.”


Kazakhstan: ENRC versus Kazakhmys · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Adam reports on the Kazakh government’s decision to exchange part of its share in ENRC metals corporation for 15% stake in Kazakhmys copper giant [rus].


Azerbaijan: Discrediting Facebook? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Global Voices’ Caucasus editor posts a translation of an article naming prominent alternative voices in Azerbaijan who have Facebook friends in Armenia. The reaction from many in the country still effectively at war with its neighbor is that the article was intended to discredit those activists and the the use of Facebook for activism.


Sanwo-Olu's sack of LASU governing council an absurdity ― Indigenous Lagosians | EduCeleb
24th May 2021
Prominent indigenes of Lagos State under the aegis of Ọmọ Eko Pataki have kicked against the decision of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu regarding the sack of members of the Governing Council and Registrar of the Lagos State University (LASU) as well as the prohibition of the members of the Committee that conducted the last two selection processes of the Institution’s 9th Vice-Chancellor from participating again in the third selection process, describing the moves as an absurdity.
Trustee of the group, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, who is also former Minister of Communication, gave this stand in a statement titled “LASU VC: Sanwo-Olu is playing a Russian Roulette”.
A copy of the statement was made available to newsmen, expressed concern that the governor had for the second time again annulled the due process in the appointment of the University’s 9th VC “simply because the outcome did not favour the Godfather”.
“For the second time the Sanwo-Olu’s government has once again annulled the due process in the appointment of the 9th Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos State University simply because the outcome did not favour The Godfather,” Olanrewaju said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu had last Friday ordered dissolved the Governing Council of LASU with immediate effect and ordered the removal of the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, among others.
A statement made available by the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, said Governor Sanwo-Olu as a visitor to the University took the action after consideration of the report of the Special Visitation Panel on the appointment of the 9th Vice-Chancellor and by the powers conferred on him by the Lagos State University Law, Cap L69 volume 7, Laws of Lagos State, 2015 (as amended).
Olanrewaju, while observing that all the laid down due processes were followed right between 2020 and 2021 to arrive at the list of the three most qualified candidates in terms of merit and academic distinction, expressed worries that Governor Sanwoolu rejected the list of qualified Lagosians “simply because they did not fit his own designed Russian roulette.”
“Ah! What absurdity. This is how much my ancestral Lagos has been reduced by alien hands. And yet those who ought to know better have chosen the silence of the grave,” the former minister charged.
Olanrewaju, however, declared that the group of prominent indigenous Lagosians had chosen the path of truth no matter the cost, saying they were “not afraid of the blackmail of little men,” but assured that truth would prevail in the end.
“We at Ọmọ Eko Pataki have chosen the path of truth no matter the cost. We are not afraid of the blackmail of little men. We are assured that truth will prevail in the end,” he said.


El Salvador, Peru, Mexico, Chile: Internet Day · Global Voices
David Sasaki

May 17th was “El Día de Internet,” or “Internet Day” in Latin America and several bloggers offered homages to the World Wide Web. From El Salvador, Hunnapuh asks [ES] “but really, what is the significance of the internet?” A commenter at BlogsPeru remarks that just around the corner is “International Webloggers Day.” (No sign yet when Martian bloggers will be commemorated.) And from Mexico City, Isopixel, ALT1040, and Chilanga Banda all have a review of events. The day coincided with Mexico's 20 year anniversary of being connected to the web. Ciberamérica celebrates [ES] Chile's advancements in e-commerce and e-government.


Russia: The Mirny Diamond Mine · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light writes about the Mirny Mine, “the largest open pit diamond mine in the world, and […] the second largest excavated hole in the world.”


A Heroic Fight Against Death | Balkan Diskurs
Dennis Miskić
October 17th, 2022
On July 14th, 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers shot Mevludin Orić at the Orahovac execution site in Zvornik Municipality – one of several locations where mass executions were carried out during the genocide in and around Srebrenica.
The body of a slain relative fell on top of Orić, who was unconscious at the time. When he regained consciousness, he wandered through the forests for days, hungry, thirsty, and afraid. He eventually managed to reach the free territory under the control of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH). After 27 years, he is still willing to talk about what he survived to ensure that the Srebrenica genocide is never forgotten or repeated. His story teaches a valuable lesson.
As the Srebrenica enclave was falling to the Bosnian Serb Army, a column of 15,000 Bosniaks set out on a journey of hundreds of kilometers through the woods to Tuzla, the nearest free territory. As mostly able-bodied men, they knew that staying in the UN headquarters would be equivalent to suicide. They grasped onto the last straw of hope, which was to march through the forest. Archival footage from July 1995 shows the men and boys setting off into the woods. Some are waving to the camera, while others appear to be staring into a void. Living for more than three years under siege in deplorable humanitarian conditions had taken a visible toll on them. Yet, the will to survive is written all over their faces.
A mere 3,000 of those who embarked on the journey came out of the woods alive, some only after months of living in caves, evading Serb patrols. The majority of the men were either killed in ambushes or captured by Serb soldiers and taken to execution sites. Only a handful survived the mass executions that followed. Mevludin Orić was one of them.
Orić was born in Lehovići, a small village near Srebrenica. His family owned some land and earned the majority of their money from growing tobacco. He recalls having had a normal childhood. When asked whether there were any problems with the local Serbs, he is quick to say no. In his own words, “We didn’t even know what nationalism was back then. We were like one people.”
Although he has positive memories of the past, the ghosts of the genocide still haunt him. Talking about his childhood, he struggles not to mention the impact the genocide has had on his family. “Of the 33 men who were killed from our village, 25 were my relatives.”
After moving to Zagreb briefly at the start of the 1990s, he returned to Bosnia in June of 1992 when his daughter was born. After arriving in Tuzla, he set off to Srebrenica on foot. “I will see my daughter or die trying,” was his only thought. Two months later, he reached Srebrenica.
“Nobody believed I was still alive,” he recalls. “They all thought I’d died in the woods.” Upon his arrival, he didn’t have much time to rest as the local war hospital was in dire need of medical supplies and a surgeon. Somebody had to go to Tuzla to pick up the surgeon and the medications and bring them back to Srebrenica safely. Since Orić knew his way around that territory, he agreed to go. Leading the way, he set off for Tuzla along with three other men. They collected the surgeon and the supplies and returned to the besieged enclave safely. This heroic deed surely saved countless lives.
Orić and his family lived on the outskirts of Srebrenica which meant that they were able to live off of the food they grew. By the spring of 1993, however, wheat, corn, rye, and oats were depleted. There was hunger on a massive scale, and people began to starve. Still, he always tried to help when people came knocking on his door, asking for food. “You give what you have. I could never turn someone away. I just couldn’t,” he says.
This and many other problems should have been solved with the arrival of UN protection forces. On April 16th, 1993, the Security Council passed Resolution 819 which declared the Srebrenica enclave a “safe zone.” Notably, it was not designated a “protected zone” – a distinction that would be shown to have massive consequences in 1995. “The shelling stopped, and some humanitarian aid started coming in. But I never trusted them. They sent too few troops to really defend the enclave. I never believed in them.”
Orić was right. Not only did the UN fail to deploy a sufficient force to the enclave, they also never intended to protect it. The key sentence was that the safe zone “should” be free from any armed attack. This vague definition of the safe zone left room for different interpretations based on political convenience. “After all, everywhere in the world ‘should’ remain safe,” war correspondent Adam LeBor wrote in his book Complicity with Evil.
When it became clear that the UN troops would not stop the Serbian soldiers led by Ratko Mladić, thousands of refugees gathered in front of the UN base in Potočari. Those who did not trust the UN decided to go through the forest. The column formed in Šušnjari, a few kilometers from Srebrenica. “When I saw the mass of people, instantly knew that at least half was not going to survive. I knew the way. I knew how dangerous it was“, remembers Orić.
The first ambush in Kamenica was the last time he saw his father. Close to 500 people died during that ambush, showing to the men and boys that this was not going to be an easy march to Tuzla.
On July 13th, Orić was captured. He was first taken to the Vuk Karadžić school in Bratunac, where he and others had to spend the night sleeping in a bus. The next day they were blindfolded and brought to Orahovac, a village near Zvornik.
Orahovac was one of the largest mass execution sites of the Srebrenica genocide. The judicial verdicts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Court of BiH have established that members of the Army of Republika Srpska, including soldiers of the Zvornik Brigade, participated in the shooting of men on July 14th, 1995, near the school in Orahovac. The Zvornik Brigade assisted with the executions as well as the transportation and burial of corpses in mass graves. Later, they would also exhume and move the bodies to secondary and even tertiary mass graves.
“I was standing next to my cousin Hariz. He was sure that they would kill us. Before I could contradict him, they started shooting at us,” recalls Orić with tears in his eyes, remembering the most horrifying moment of his life.
“He was shot right away and fell on top of me. I felt the life go out of his body as he shivered for a couple of seconds and then died.”
According to Orić’s testimony, while he was lying among the dead, he heard Bosnian Serb soldiers insulting the dead, cursing their “Turkish mothers” and saying that they were “best dead.” One prisoner managed to escape, and he heard a soldier complain that the operation wasn’t done properly because there were survivors. The soldier then shot one man in the head and shot Orić’s cousin once more.
Orić was unconscious under the body of his cousin, and Serb troops didn’t notice that he had survived. He stayed like that all night. “I was so hungry, thirsty, and tired. At this point it wouldn’t have made any difference if they killed me. I didn’t care,” he remembers.
He was woken up late at night by rain. When he looked around, he saw a meadow full of dead bodies. Together with another man who had survived, he ran into the woods. It was not until July 21st that they arrived in Nezuk, free territory under ARBiH control.
“I felt joy and sorrow at the same time. Joy because I had survived, I had made it out. But sorrow because I kept thinking about my family. The days went by, and I was thinking that they would show up. But they didn’t. At one point you just have to realize that they won’t come back.”
Seven bones from the body of Orić’s father were found in three different mass graves. His brother’s body was found and buried at the Srebrenica Memorial Center in Potočari.
Today, Mevludin lives in Iljaš, a town on the outskirts of Sarajevo. Although he tries to lead a normal life, his trauma follows him at every step. Memories of the mass execution remain with him constantly. He suffers from debilitating anxiety and struggles to find work.
Nevertheless, he is still determined to tell his story, even though he must relive his trauma every time. In this way, he contributes to ensuring that the crimes committed during the Srebrenica genocide are never forgotten.
The exhibition “In the Footsteps of Those Who Did (Not) Cross,” which is on permanent display at the Srebrenica Memorial Center, thoroughly thematizes the Death March during the Srebrenica genocide through video testimonies, court documents, and authentic artefacts recovered from the woods by the research team of the Memorial Center.


Barbados: Collapse Caused by Negligence  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

About a year and a half after this apartment collapse, an earth and atmospheric sciences expert concludes that the tragedy was caused by “gross negligence”.  Barbados Free Press is calling for a proper inquest.


France’s Overseas Territories Now Under the Administration of the Ministry of the Interior · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Martiniquian Le Blog de [Moi] writes that under the new French cabinet, the Ministry of Overseas Territories has been abolished, or rather, folded in with the Ministry of the Interior to create the Ministry of the Interior, Overseas Territories and Collectivities.  This is a good thing, writes Le Blog de [Moi], since the old ministry was a holdover from the French colonial administration, and no distinction should be made between overseas French and those living in France proper.


HSR Assigning Operators to Pull Articulated Buses from Service in Middle of Transit Crisis – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

December 2, 2017
Hamilton’s Transit Crisis continues, on Wednesday this week, over 10% of the City’s bus runs had at least one trip cancelled during the day due to a lack of operators caused by Council cuts in early 2017.
Sadly, HSR management’s response to the crisis has been lackluster. The latest example of this lackluster response is a odd decision to devote limited resources to removing the higher capacity 60′ articulated buses from service in the evening.
A year ago today, I pointed out the absurdity of 1-King operating with 40′ foot buses at night when articulated buses are available. Until two weeks ago, the HSR inefficiently ran articulated buses in Stoney Creek at night.
Starting in January, those articulated buses will finally arrive on 1-King in the evening.
However, in the interim, the HSR is assigning operators to remove the articulated buses from service at night.
Friday night, I was at Eastgate transferring to the 58-Stoney Creek Local scheduled for 7:00pm when a 40′ foot bus arrived at the stop about 7 minutes prior to the arrival of the 60′ foot articulated bus that was operating on the route.
The operator of the 40′ bus is assigned every night to removing the articulated bus from service and taking it to the HSR garage. Friday night, the HSR was operating two buses short, one missing from the 1-King and another missing from the 10-B-Line.
Instead of putting this operator into service to fill the missing 6:45pm B-Line, or taking the a 60′ articulated bus and putting it onto 1-King to carry more passengers instead of leaving people waiting in the cold, HSR upper management prioritized optics over service.
As my bus pulled out of Eastgate, I looked at a long line of people squeezing onto a 40′ bus on King, and watched the 60′ articulated bus drive away to the garage.
Technically, HSR upper management is solving the inefficiency problem of misplacing articulated buses by removing them from service.
However, once again, HSR upper management have shown themselves to be focused on hiding problems instead of actually solving them.
The solution is simple, families switch the family car and van all the time; why can’t HSR managers figure this out?


From Liberated Aleppo · Global Voices
مرسيل شحوارو

This post is part of a special series of articles by blogger and activist, Marcell Shehwaro, describing the realities of life in Syria during the ongoing armed conflict between forces loyal to the current regime, and those seeking to oust it.
Taking flight in Aleppo. Photo by Zaid Muhamed. Used with position.
I am writing this article while repeatedly hitting the F5 key on my computer to reload the Facebook page with news about Aleppo, to see what the fighting on the front lines brings.
It seems my city is living a new situation, moving towards the liberation of some of its parts. We still don't know the size or extent of the new areas, nor can we verify what we're hearing. But all of us—those eagerly awaiting the liberation as well as those against it—are anxiously following the news.
The revolutionaries are hoping to reunite parts of the city, which has been divided for about two years. With some areas under government control, and others in the hands of the rebels, we residents of Aleppo have ourselves become a divided people, separated within ourselves. Parts of us live on in the memories we have left behind in areas of the city which we cannot visit for security reasons, while other parts try to integrate themselves into new areas of the city, and force ourselves to love these places.
The liberation of Aleppo started in July 2012. On that day we had dreams of peace which we are reassessing today, realising how naïve we were to assume that a peaceful movement of any magnitude would be able to overthrow a regime backed by international powers, on the one hand, and whose crimes—among them the use of chemical weapons—have been met with international silence. Between our dreams of instigating change in a peaceful manner in the exhausted countryside subjected to months of bombardment from the heart of the city, the liberation of huge swaths of the city took place. The armed revolutionary resistance forces took control of 70 per cent of Aleppo.
Liberation is usually accompanied by the destruction that takes place wherever firearms are used. The chaos and vandalism are compounded by the creativity of the regime and its airforce, which leaves behind the horrible stench of death wherever they fly. Suddenly, all the inhabitants of the liberated areas disappeared, moving either to the regime-controlled or occupied areas, which are safer from the bombardment and fighting, or towards the refugee camps on the Turkish border.
The four million inhabitants of Aleppo have no doubt been affected by the arrival of war at their doorstep. Those who believed in the importance of change as well as those who resisted it, have felt the impact of the liberation, which has changed the flow of time and life: the opening and closing hours of shops, the use of fuel, the constant cuts in the supply of electricity, water and communications services.
On the side of the war would rise warlords, profiteers who would not want the battle to end, who wanted to steal all that was good in us to sell to others.
The schools in the government-controlled areas were turned into refugee centres, to accommodate those who left the liberated areas and provide them with humanitarian aid: a wonderful gesture of comradeship. We believed this situation to be temporary, so some of us took the life-changing decision to move to the liberated areas and fill the places of the journalists, doctors and aid workers who'd fled. We were under the illusion that the complete liberation of the city would not be long in coming, and that we would soon be reunited with our families and return to our normal lives. Many left with nothing more than a small suitcase, not realising that they would be prevented from returning to their homes for almost two years.
At the time, I lived in the occupied part of Aleppo. On an almost weekly basis I was called in for a different type of interrogation—an experience I will write about one day. The interrogation was enough to paralyse all my activities related to the revolution, but it wasn't sufficiently threatening to force me to move to liberated Aleppo or outside Syria.
The areas which we heard were being liberated were as strange to us as the jungles of Africa, and didn't seem part of the city I have lived in my entire life. They were poor areas which we had no opportunity to learn about because of the lack of on-the-ground social work in Syria. They were areas which our social class, and perhaps our sectarian tendencies, prevented us from visiting before.
It's said that the Syrian revolution ignited the fire of sectarianism; some claim that before the revolution we lived together in harmony. But the bitter truth is that we lived side by side, in boxes which completely separated us from each other. It was in fact the revolution that brought all Syrians together, regardless of class, culture and sect. It wasn't until after the revolution that I heard the names of some of the district in liberated Aleppo, even though they're a mere a 10-minute car ride from my own neighbourhood. I had never had friends from those areas, and it would only after the revolution that I ever entertained the possibility that I would.
Salahuddin? The first revolutionary neighbourhood in Aleppo, and where I spent an entire year protesting almost daily? I never knew it exisited on the map of my city until 2012.
Aleppo was being liberated. It was being destroyed. And those of us sequestered in our cardboard boxes became subject to choices and uncertainties which mirrored those being experienced by the city itself. We had to chose between remaining captive in a self-imposed refugee centre, in an atmosphere of fear and the resistance of change; and liberating ourselves from that places in which we walled ourselves and our possessions, moving towards the others, joining them in the revolution with all its pain and sharing with them the anxiety and fear of barrels falling from the sky.
We complained constantly about all the friends we left on the other side whom we can no longer see. With every battle, a new extremist or a spiteful man wanted to rule us with his gun. We had to bear the feelings of neediness, sadness, and accumulated memories. Aleppo was changing, and we were changing with it.
Aleppo was liberated. Its new borders remained stable for almost two years, separated by a bloody passage manned by regime snipers ready to reap ten lives a day from among those who resisted the separation and crossed from one part of the city to the next. The alternative route between Aleppo's two sections, by car, took 10 hours, instead of the one hour it did previously. One day I will write about the impact of this division, and how the regime succeeded in making us spite each other.
The Aleppo which wasn't yet liberated was subject to the whims of the dictator. When he signalled his planes to rest, its residents would lead an almost normal life; and when he decided that no life should exist there, they'd have no life at all. This Aleppo is also on the threshold of a question: Are the liberated areas really liberated, given the existence of those who are forcing the city to look only like them? We were forced to lose parts of ourselves constantly, with every friend we have left on the other side.
Aleppo is redrawing its boundaries once again with blood: blood being spilled so we can move towards liberation, blood being spilled to maintain the status quo, blood being spilled to make us pay the price for opposing the oppressor.
Today we are all looking forward to a miracle that would make us all live in one city. So we can summon up the courage to dream of going back to having one state where we are all united in freedom.
We have the right to dream of unity.
And I have the right to dream of living as an individual, whole.
Marcell Shehwaro blogs at marcellita.com and tweets at @Marcellita, both primarily in Arabic. Read the other posts in the series here, here, here, here, here, here and here.


Romania: 1000 Szekely Girls Festival and More · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csikszereda Musings posts some photos, including those from the “1000 Szekely Girls” festival and from a local farmers’ market.


Silver Spring Neighborhood Center fosters hope, self-sufficiency | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Naomi Waxman
February 9, 2017
Darla Honeycutt (left), teen girls social development director, and Kailyn Jones, youth and teen program coordinator, show off the colorful room where participants in Silver Spring Neighborhood Center’s teen programming socialize, learn and play. (Photo by Naomi Waxman)
Editor’s note: This article is one of an occasional series profiling the 15 finalists for the Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDIs). The Silver Spring Neighborhood Center is a finalist for the BMO Harris Cornerstone Award, which recognizes an organization for its commitment and effectiveness over time.
By the time he was in eighth grade, Chaz Gary had accumulated 194 school suspensions. Raised in poverty by a mother who struggled with addiction, Gary, now 26, credits his survival and success to two consistent forces in his life: basketball and the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center.
A college graduate and real estate broker in Wisconsin and Texas, Gary recently returned to the center to work as the male coordinator for teen programming.
“No one threw me away here,” said Gary. “I would not be who I am today without this building. There’s always someone here [and] the lights are always on.”
The Silver Spring Neighborhood Center (SSNC), 5460 N. 64th St., was founded under the settlement house model in 1958. Designed to bridge gaps between socioeconomic and ethnic groups at the turn of the 20th century, settlement houses offered much of the same programming that exists at SSNC today, including child care, art and craft groups, sports and adult education opportunities.
Aram Lester (left) and Nigil Foreman settle into a toddler-sized sofa in their classroom at SSNC’s Elaine Schreiber Child Development Center. (Photo by Naomi Waxman)
Situated adjacent to the Westlawn housing development, the center provides a litany of services in an effort to promote community and self-sufficiency among the more than 8,000 individuals it serves each year.
Youth and teen program coordinator Kaylin Jones’ story is similar to Gary’s. Kicked out of middle and high school, Jones had difficult relationships with both her mother and her peers. At 14, she attended a basketball game at the center and found herself drawn to the community feeling. She never left and now can be found at SSNC seven days a week.
“I can guarantee without the mentorship, the family, the people who held onto me…I would never have finished high school,” said Jones. “I feel privileged to be able to pour back into the young people the way that I received as a teenager.” Jones is a graduate of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Opportunity for all ages
The recent recipient of a four-star (out of five) YoungStar rating, SSNC’s Elaine Schreiber Child Development Center has demonstrated marked improvement in communication and cognition skills among its young participants ranging between 6 weeks and 12 years old. YoungStar is Wisconsin’s childcare quality rating system.
“From infancy to college, we create a culture of raising children and getting them to come back,” said Executive Director Tom Ellis.
Gary calls this the “secret sauce”: strong, consistent relationships with young people coupled with low staff turnover that encourage young people to come to the center and reach out to coordinators in times of trouble.
Teens learn about teamwork and discipline through the Spartan Sports Program, a year-round support system on and off the court for young athletes. In the last three years, participants have earned $1.5 million in athletic scholarships. Darla Honeycutt, SSNC’s “lady” social development coordinator, brings her own background in fashion and design to the teen participants, which fosters a sense of entrepreneurship and pride among the young women in her program.
SSNC’s teen social development program boasts zero teen pregnancies and felony convictions among participants. One hundred percent of active high school seniors earn a diploma and 80 percent are pursuing post-secondary education or job training.
Programming is designed to help adults achieve as well. Adult education opportunities include GED preparation, English Language Learner and computer classes, while the Transform Milwaukee Program provides job training for residents who face obstacles to employment.
The center also provides access to an Emergency Food Pantry four days per week for residents of the 53218, 53209 and 53225 ZIP codes. Like many of his young charges, Gary said, he was heavily dependent on the center’s pantry during his childhood. Nearly 18 percent of Milwaukee County residents were designated “food insecure,” or struggling to avoid hunger, in 2014.
Other SSNC services include Community Learning Centers, created in partnership with three Milwaukee Public Schools, family programming and the UWM Silver Spring Community Nursing Center.
Moving mountains
“The hardest part [of the job] is not being able to take away all [the teens’] problems,” Gary said, recalling a young person’s request for help moving on the coldest day of the year.
Normal work hours are of little import to the SSNC team, who sometimes feed and clothe the young people in their program. Several staff members have gone so far as to take youth into their own homes.
Ellis grows emotional when talking about the center’s staff. “We’ve got a lot of people here who do hard work every day without recognition,” he said, voice quavering.
SSNC staff and leaders know that the communities they serve face many obstacles — poverty, hunger, trauma and mass incarceration, among others — yet they remain undeterred despite the enormity of the task at hand.
“The man who moves a mountain,” intones Ellis, quoting the Chinese philosopher Confucius, “begins by carrying away small stones.”


India: Minority Educational Institutes  · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Reality Check India on the issue of reservations for students from minority communities in certain educational institutions.


N5bn Libel Suit: Magu Closes Case Against Sun Newspaper - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 4
June 6, 2019
The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has closed his case in the N5 billion libel suit he  filed against the publishers of the Sun newspaper.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Magu’s counsel, E. O. Omoijaede, informed the court that the claimant  (Magu)  had presented two witnesses and would want to close his case.
Counsel to the respondents, Charles Ewelunta, expressed dissatisfaction at the development.
Responding, Omojiade said that the publishers of the Sun newspaper should save time by opening their case immediately.
Justice Doris Okuwobi, refused Omoijaede’s request for N50,000 cost against Magu’s legal team, saying that the suit which was filed in 2017, had not suffered  any delay caused by the team.
Magu sued the publishers of the Sun,  claiming N5 billion in damages over a publication that alleged that the Department of State Security uncovered two houses in Maitama, Abuja, which were traced to his wife.
The EFCC boss is also demanding that the newspaper should  publish an apology and retract the alleged libelous publication


Pakistan: Cricket and religion · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The all-pervasive religion of Cricket in Pakistan. Chapati Mystery shares a few memories, prompted by Youhana's conversion to Islam.


Kano State: Flood Kills 26, Destroy 1,000 Houses -Sema - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Publisher (A.M)
July 30, 2021
The Kano State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, said on
Friday that the flood killed 26 people and destroyed over 1,000 houses in
four Local Government Areas of the state from April to date.
The Executive Secretary, Kano SEMA, Dr. Saleh Jili, confirmed the
figures in Kano.
Jili said that 50 other persons sustained injuries due to the flood and
windstorm.
According to him, the affected local government areas are Bunkure,
Minjibir, Tarauni and Doguwa.
He said that the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, NiMet, had earlier
predicted that there would be flooding in 25 local government areas of
the state this year.
The SEMA boss said the agency had visited the affected areas to
sympathize with the victims on behalf of state government and
distributed relief materials to them to alleviate their suffering.


South Korea: Freedom of expression · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael Hurt complained about the freedom of expression in South Korea, especially towards foreigners.


Brazil: Movement Calls for March Against Law on Construction in Salvador · Global Voices
Thiana Biondo

The Movement ‘Desocupa Salvador’ – which recently claimed rights for public space during carnival -, is now calling [pt] people to march towards the City Hall on February 1. Major grievances include the illegal approval by the Mayor of amendments in a law that threatens the Enchanted Valley Ecological Park, an Atlantic Forest reserve, and allows tall constructions next to the  beach.


ICT: Minister Tasks Scientists To Provide Provable Statistics On Nigeria’s Progress In STI - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
September 24, 2021
He stated this at the opening ceremony of the 19th meeting of the National Council on Science Technology and Innovation, in Abuja.
Abdullahi noted that despite previous gains, Nigeria’s ranking on the global innovation index 2021 still remained low, attributing it to lack of data on the country’s activities in the innovation space.
He said data from relevant institutions did not address the challenges, just as inventions and innovations had not been adequately captured, despite our achievements.
Abdullahi however identified funding as one of the major challenges facing the Science, Technology and Innovation sector in developing countries such as Nigeria.
Governor Babajide Sanwolu of Lagos state, in a goodwill message, said that funding of research and development must be sustained to boost Science Technology and Innovation.


Sacked ex-TETFund boss accuses education minister of bribery | EduCeleb
23rd January 2019
The recently sacked former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Abdullahi Bichi Baffa has accused Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu of bribery.
Recall that Dr Baffa was on Monday fired by President Muhammadu Buhari from the office he had held since August 2016.
While speaking on a BBC Hausa programme, he claimed he was relieved of the position for refusing to give a N200 million bribe to the minister.
“The minister had demanded kickbacks from me. He sent a contractor for that purpose and even had the strength to dictate that amount of money.
“By his estimation, he said even if I deducted 10% from each institution, I would have collected at least N20 billion.
“I want to assure you that I’ve never collected a single naira from any institution as he thought and if he or anybody has evidence to prove against me, I will be willing to accept the death penalty,” Baffa insisted.
He revealed that he had got hint of his impending sack from sources within Aso Rock on Friday based on pressure from the minister.
“On Friday night, I was informed at the Presidential Villa that the Minister of Education came with a letter reporting me to the president,” the ex-TETFund chief said.
He added that his sources told him that the minister alleged him of inaccessibility, insubordination, and speaking to the press without approval – allegations he expressly denied in the broadcast.
He stated that he had “no regrets” for disobeying “the minister’s directives because I cannot sabotage my country.”
had earlier quoted the Deputy spokesman of Ministry of Education, Ben Goong who disclosed that Baffa was replaced “with immediate effect” by his predecessor, Professor Suleiman Bogoro but did not give an official reason for his sack.
Mr Goong is yet to comment on the allegation leveled against the Minister since when we contacted him.


Internet and Philippine elections · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Statistics vary on the actual number of internet users in the Philippines. It may range from as low as nine million to a high number of thirty-five million users. This figure is enough to compel politicians to recognize the value of online campaigning. Many candidates who aspire to tap the youth vote are using the internet as a platform for their candidacies.
Inevitable Karma believes internet penetration is not yet that impressive in the Philippines and politicians must still rely on mainstream media. This observation is shared by so many political analysts who insist that internet campaign cannot reach the most number of Filipino voters.
Still, the 2007 midterm election campaign has effectively shown how candidates can increase their chances of winning by maximizing the cyberspace. Candidates have put up their own personal websites, blogs and Friendster accounts (Friendster is the most popular social networking site in the Philippines).
There are various reliable websites and blogs which give updated news and information on candidates, political parties and other election matters. The Pinoy Vote 2007 provides useful links to candidates’ websites. Philippine Eleksiyon 2007 gives a daily report on important election news. Votester asks bloggers to submit election articles; and it conducts an online survey on voters’ preferences. Inquirer offers podcasts of senatorial candidates.
Online campaigning became a necessity for a jailed rebel soldier who is running for Senator. This young soldier has a Friendster blog and his friends have also established an election promotion blog. Check also the blog of his group known as Magdalo.
Tonyo links to an online petition calling for the immediate release of a jailed leftist lawmaker.
Since TV ads are expensive, candidates have begun using You Tube for its affordability and accessibility. Partylist groups representing the marginalized and underrepresented sectors of Philippine society have placed campaign ads in You Tube.
Cyberbaguioboy blogs about this interesting internet campaign of an independent senatorial candidate.
“Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan has launched his very own YouTube-based channel, hoping to show people his day-to-day campaign activities. Using MTV-style production, this online “reality show” is dubbed KTubed (as in KikoTubed) on multiply.com. This same video clip is also embedded in KTube, which the creators describe as an online reality series featuring the life of Senatorial Candidate Kiko Pangilinan as he runs for office and of course at home with his family. No scripts, gimmicks, just Senator Kiko on the go.”
Disbar the First Boor is a blog which became prominent (it was featured in primetime TV news) during the start of election campaigning since it seeks to discredit the First Gentleman.
Wiretapped Delusions has a good point:
“How does one regulate political advertising on the internet without bashing heads with Constitutional issues, like freedom of speech. I feel this is just the beginning. But as early as now, one can hear the warhorn sound in the distance…”
On my way home is the blog of a senatorial candidate whose political group, Ang Kapatiran, is very much praised by civil society for raising the issue of morality in Philippine politics.
The Journal of the Jester-in-Exile writes his rules for voting for a partylist representative.  Adarna's Attic has a list of top political TV ads.


Of coal pots, bicycles and macaroni pie: Is Trinidad & Tobago’s government out of touch? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Image of a coal pot via Canva Pro.
It's been a series of snafus for Trinidad and Tobago government officials on public speaking platforms over the past week. First, Prime Minister Keith Rowley, speaking at a post-Budget press conference on September 26, offended public sector workers by saying they were not ready for a “major work-from-home policy,” because it “requires certain technical infrastructure and a certain level of discipline.”
This is despite the fact that the 2020 election manifesto of the People's National Movement (PNM), the party currently in office, cited work-from-home policies and resulting reduced traffic among the reasons they should be elected. Moreover, the country's 2023 Budget includes a fuel price hike, to which one Facebook user, Ahmed Nicholls, responded:
[The prime minister] is showing no regard to what the average citizen faces, the amount of time we spend in traffic, the amount of money we spend in fuel – which is going to increase because of the removal of the [fuel] subsidy – and not only is it insensitive, it really shows that politicians just don't care about the lives of an average citizen.
The irony:https://t.co/pbm8Wz75Ad
— Dᴀᴠᴇ ☮ (@trinimarn) October 3, 2022
Rowley's comment was soon followed by a statement from Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe. At the opening of a community centre on September 28, she talked about the importance of making sacrifices in the present so that younger generations will benefit: “Everybody wants everything for nothing. Everybody wants everything but [is] willing to give up nothing.”
The Budget itself has prompted protests. It is being interpreted by at least one business chamber as “much of the same”, and by Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar as “a vicious frontal attack on the poor.” Given that parliamentarians on both sides of the political aisle did not volunteer to take pay cuts during the pandemic, and that the country's roads are in the most deplorable condition in years, the implication that citizens find it “hard” to make sacrifices hit the wrong note. Despite the backlash, Cudjoe stood by her statements, and accused the press of “cherry-picking.”
Acknowledging that the reduction in the country's fuel subsidy remains “the most contentious item” in the 2023 Budget, the Facebook page Newsauce said:
The government will need to deliver better service in terms of road repairs, social grants, public utilities and healthcare or face real backlash from this decision.
Yet, a third misstep came from Minister of Parliament Keith Scotland who, during his contribution to the Budget Debate on October 1, said in relation to the fuel hike, “I have a suggestion. For me, in order to lose weight, I will ride to court. I will take a bike in order to save fuel, that’s my solution.”
However, his advice did not stop there. Making the point that despite TTD 5.45 billion (about USD 803,136,554) in social grants being available and the government distributing food hampers to families in need, he said people were complaining that they could not cook the food as they could not afford gas. Scotland retorted, “I still have a coal pot, you know, where I put my coals and I roast my breadfruit. So if you don’t have that, go back till such time until you can afford the gas, but don’t come and blame you not having gas on the government.”
He added that the fuel price hike is being partially offset by a one-time TTD 1,000 (USD 147) transport grant that will benefit over 175,000 citizens. Many citizens, however, saw things differently.
Facecbook user Re Re posted this riposte:
Things I wish I knew before the [2023] budget:
1. Don’t choose to go into the traffic (so I’ll never work in POS again.. ever! Idk how my boss will take this news)
2. Ride a bicycle…from Chag to POS (not sure what lane I’ll be on thou)
3. Only high end vehicles use premium gas (stupid me was using premium in my swift)
4. Invest in a coal pot (stove nothing)
5. We as a people, indiscipline and not capable of WFH (even thou we did it for 2 years)
The leadership of Trinidad and Tobago.. impeccable!
Heston Greenidge added:
Many people grew up having to use public transportation because their family couldn't afford cars.
Some couldn't afford to have a stove, or a proper bathroom. This motivated them to put all the effort and hard work to be able to get these things.
The sad part is, they are being slapped in the face by being told to ride a bike, or to use a coal pot. People didn't sacrifice a lot of time, energy and effort to afford ‘luxuries’, that they are now being told to give up.
Well I never heard anything more bold face.
Anil Andrews, tongue firmly in cheek, put in his two cents:
Instead of cooking gas use coal pot
Instead of car use bicycle
Instead of toilets use latrines
Follow the cabinet for more budget savings methods
A meme of Scotland on a bicycle, with a coal pot and breadfruit in the basket, was soon widely spread on social media channels, while this Twitter user shared:
1. There is NO infrastructure in place to ride bikes safely in Trinidad.
2. Coal is one of the dirtiest fossil fuels and he’s encouraging people to use it more?? https://t.co/WHHliuVklY
— shaquille (@shaqrawlins) October 2, 2022
Kwesi Matthew, meanwhile, found Scotland's suggestion “a blatant insult and disrespect to the entire country.”
Adding a distinctly patriarchal tone to the whole affair was Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales, who said, “We may have to call our […] families together [and] say, ‘You know what? We can not longer afford to go to the movies, […] we may not be able to bake ham every month or make macaroni pie. […] We have cut back because we have to reapportion some of the scarce resources to other important things. And sometimes, our children may scream at us [but] that child […] must have no doubt in their minds that the decisions of their parents [are] for their greater good.”
Kathryn Stollmeyer Wight, who shared a video of the minister's remarks, responded:
Just NO.
On Twitter, journalist Laura Dowrich commented:
Our leaders not reading the room. Condescension is not it. Training is sorely needed.
— Laura Dowrich (@ldowrich) October 6, 2022
University lecturer and columnist Gabrielle Hosein expressed how much of the citizenry was feeling after the series of tone-deaf utterances:
The disconnect between political elites and the masses resounds, echoing off headlines, and it cannot be drowned out by shouting about how people are ungrateful. Those who have held power, which is primarily but not only the PNM, are responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars wasted, stolen, unaccounted for, misspent and frittered away. […]
We are told to tighten our belts today because of ‘unresponsibility,’ poor decision-making, failed promises and quid pro quo. Not a soul who has read the newspapers in the last 60 years can disagree. This is why people are angry.
Were things different, citizens would understand the buffeting impact of the pandemic, the war over Ukraine and a global downturn. They would understand banding our belly, together, if it felt as if there were less division and less disconnect, more respect and more shared sacrifice.
Perhaps it is not sacrifice itself that people are shunning, but rather the perceived expectation that it should always be on the part of the people.
Update: Minister Scotland subsequently apologised for his statements.


Russia: 13 Non-Political Claims to the Government · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

LJ-user skitalets sums up [ru] common claims to the Russian government: hypocrisy and amorality, lack of vision, amateurishness, fear of change, ‘psychology of a petty hooligan’ towards neighbors, deafness in a dialogue with civil society, stand on ignorant majority, denial of other countries experience, historical complexes, dropping support of culture and education, redundant centralism, and, weakness as a resulting vector of all these shortcomings.


Africa: African cities · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Saharan Vibe posts photos of different African cities in “African Cities Part 1: Isn't Africa beautiful!”


Moldova: Cheap Phone Calls from the U.S. · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Mihai Moscovici, a Moldovan studying in the United States, shares the cheapest way to make phone calls to Moldova.


Guatemala: One Year After Death of Rodrigo Rosenberg · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

One year after the death of Guatemalan lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg and his post-humous video that accused President Álvaro Colom of being behind his death, but which was later found to be a false accusation, Luis Figueroa of the blog Carpe Diem [es] still has a lot of unanswered questions about the case.


South Korea: Migrant Worker Film Festival · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The 2nd Migrant worker film festival has been announced. The program can be found here.


A Tribute to Espíritu Bautista, Defender of the Yanesha Language and Culture · Global Voices
Rising Voices

The following tribute to the late Espíritu Bautista was written by Anna Luisa Daigneault, Latin America Projects Coordinator at Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages on her Facebook profile. It is republished here with permission. Bautista participated in the Enduring Voices: Digital Media Workshop for Speakers of Endangered Languages in Latin America held in Santiago, Chile, in early 2013, in which Rising Voices also took part. There, he actively worked with his son to revitalize the Yanesha language through the production of the Yanesha Talking Dictionary. The above video shows some of this work.
My friend and colleague Espíritu Bautista passed away several weeks ago. He was a very charismatic and wise person, and he will be missed by his community, the indigenous Yanesha people of the southcentral Amazon in Peru, and he will be missed by everyone who got a chance to work with him. Espíritu was one of the last people in his tribe who had in-depth, detailed knowledge about all of the ancient Yanesha music and oral history.
Espíritu Bautista. Photo by Anna Lazuli
I had the immense privilege of working with Espíritu every year in Peru between 2008 – 2013 and help build the Yanesha Oral History Archives, a digital project that catalogued over 300 hours of traditional music and stories, recorded by Espíritu Bautista and Richard Chase Smith.
Espíritu loved eating fish (he would sometimes remark, “my people prefer to not eat birds”) and always had helpful advice to offer, and intriguing stories to tell. He would describe Yanesha music and stories in a vivid, meaningful way. Here are a few excerpts from his catalog (in Spanish, with English translations below) so you can learn a little bit about Yanesha heritage:
Mellañotheñrexh | Este canto fue originado por los dioses de la naturaleza. Ellos cuando nos concentramos para buenas cosas, siempre ellos nos compadecen.
Mellañotheñrexh – Song of the Mountain Gods | This song originates from the gods who reside within nature. When we concentrate and focus on good things, they are always compassionate towards us.
Rrartsorexh | Este canto fue originado de la madre yuca. Lo cantamos cuando sembramos la yuca para que se produzca buenas yucas de calidad.
Rrartsorexh – Yucca's Song | This song originates from Our Mother Yucca (aka cassava root). We sing this song when we plant yucca so that high-quality yuccas will grow.
Yachor Pallá | Esta es la historia de nuestra madre Palla, esposa del Inca. Ella nos trajó el algodón lo que hiló nuestra hermana personaje araña para que nosotros podamos tener nuestra vestimenta típica, la cushma.
Yachor Pallá – Our Mother Pallá | This is the story of Our Mother Pallá, wife of the Inca. She brought us cotton, which was woven by Our Sister Spider Woman, so that we could have our traditional robes, the cushma.
Espiritu's work is preserved in the Yanesha Oral History Archives.


Nepal Is Home to the World’s Leading Tiger Conservation Park · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Nepal's Chitwan National Park, accredited as Conservation Assured Tiger Standards, boasts of having 120 royal Bengal tigers. Image by Nabin Baral. Copyright Demotix. (26/10/2009)
Nepal's Chitwan National Park has beaten out all other tiger sanctuaries in the world to be become the first to be accredited by the new Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CA|TS).
Located in the subtropical inner Terai lowlands of south-central Nepal, the park earned the accreditation from the Tigers Alive Initiative (TAI) of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). To qualify, tiger conservation areas must meet a set of 17 standards. Chitwan National Park met them all, and is considered a well-managed, protected and effective refuge for tigers.
Ujjwal Acharya, a journalist and social media enthusiast, tweeted:
The @WWF accredits Nepal's Chitwan National Park as the first global site as Conservation Assured Tiger Standard!
— Ujjwal Acharya (@UjjwalAcharya) February 6, 2015
Ramesh Nath Pandey, a former foreign minister, wrote:
YeGood news. Chitwan National Park recognised as best conservation for Tigers.Govt should reward CNP for giving good name to Nepal
— ramesh nath pandey (@rameshnathpande) February 7, 2015
Barney Long, an Asian species expert with a passion for saola, rhinos and carnivores, tweeted:
Chitwan National Park becomes the first park to get CA|TS accreditation. Huge achievement @TigersAlive @mikebaltzer pic.twitter.com/h7vw1T5mmQ
— Barney Long (@Barney_Long) February 6, 2015
Tigers are an endangered species, with only a few thousand left in the world, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Chitwan National Park, which was established in 1973, boasts of having largest number of tigers in Nepal, with 120 tigers out of the 198 tigers in the country. The national park is also home to the world’s second largest population of one-horned rhinos, with 503 out of 534 individuals in Nepal.
Nepal achieved zero poaching for the year 2011 for rhinos and for 12 months ending February 2014 for rhinos, tigers and elephants. With tiger numbers growing by 63 per cent as per the 2013 census, the Chitwan National Park became the most successful park in conserving tigers.
The rise in the number of tigers is a good boost to the government’s target of doubling the tiger population by 2022.
Dr. Bishnu Hari Nepal, a former ambassador to Japan, tweeted:
#ZeroPoachingYear2014/o #Nepal brings #ChitwanNationalPark/w 534-#rhinos & 198 #tigers-1st/best #ConservationAward in 2015! BW&Congrats!#CAT
— Dr.Bishnu Hari Nepal (@drbishnuhnepal) February 7, 2015
Akash Thapa, an expatriate Nepali living in New York tweeted:
A visit to Chitwan National Park made it clear that I wanted to be a Wildlife Biologist/Conservationist #memories pic.twitter.com/k2ANLUDRH8
— akash thapa (@aaki2005) February 4, 2015
Not a single tiger was killed in Nepal in the last three years. However, the illegal wildlife trade has not stopped. News of poachers and traders being arrested with tiger skins and bones have not stopped in spite of the authorities claiming zero poaching.
Saurav Dhakal, a social entrepreneur and former journalist, tweeted:
@DeepakAdk @kanchanojha बाघ मारेकाे त पत्तै हुन्न । नङ देखी टाउकाे सम्म काम लाग्छ । थाहा हुने त गैडा हाे गैडा । #Zeropoaching #Nepal
— Saurav Dhakal (@DhakalSaurav) February 3, 2015
It’s not traceable when a tiger is killed. From fingernails to head is useful. It’s rhino [poaching] which gets traced. #Zeropoaching #Nepal
Asian species expert Barney Long Tweeted:
Nepal army conducts a minimum of 182 patrols per day in Chitwan National Park! #zeropoaching in action. @TigersAlive @mikebaltzer
— Barney Long (@Barney_Long) February 3, 2015
When a rhino is poached, the poachers hack off the horn and sometimes the hooves, but leave behind the body. However, the case of a tiger is different. Each and every part of the carcass is traded. The poachers don’t leave even a single trace of the hunt – be it skin, toes, nail, bones or meat – and everything is sold at high prices.
While the whole nation and the conservationists are overjoyed with the feat achieved by Nepal, the concerned authorities should leave no room for complacency. In May 2014, the Chitwan National Park officials and Nepal army personnel found a dead de-horned rhino only few weeks after the Nepal celebrated the second consecutive Zero Poaching Year.
Even though Nepal police was successful in bringing the most notorious rhino poacher, Raj Kumar Praja, suspected of killing over 30 rhinos, from Malaysia, petty smugglers and traders are still carrying on with the lucrative illegal trade.
The bright side is that Nepal's zero poaching has inspired the tiger range countries Bhutan, Russia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and Vietnam attending the Symposium on Towards Zero Poaching in Asia to join the effort to save the magnificent creature from poaching.
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, tweeted:
#NEPAL Zero Poaching Symposium ends with accord on 5 key ways to tackle poaching http://t.co/hu8eSQ55Sv pic.twitter.com/7l7ZBZVz8R
— TRAFFIC (@TRAFFIC_WLTrade) February 6, 2015
The five recommendations from the symposium, if implemented well, will lead to zero poaching in Asia.
While the world has a lot to learn from how Nepal got zero poaching, the CA|TS accreditation for Chitwan National Park is an inspiration to all – to save the royal Bengal tigers and all other tiger species from extinction.


Boko Haram: Two Feared Killed In Fresh Violence In Borno IDP Camp - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 2
July 27, 2019
Two peoplewere killed and several wounded when Boko Haram fighters raided a camp forInternally Displaced Persons in Borno State, emergency services said on Friday.
Dozens ofBoko Haram fighters on motorcycles and two motorised rickshaws stormed intoDalori camp on Thursday, shooting people and looting food supplies afteroverrunning a nearby military base.
Dalori,about 15 kilometres from regional capital Maiduguri, houses about 50,000people.
The BokoHaram fighters attacked the camp after pushing out soldiers at a nearbymilitary base in a shootout, several displaced people said.
A civilianmilitia member guarding the camp, Hassan Modu, said he ran into the attackersas he tried to flee.
Daloricamp and the neighbouring village have been repeatedly targeted in Boko Haramattacks by heavily armed fighters and female suicide bombers.


How one Milwaukee artist is documenting the voices of health care workers who must care for COVID-19 patients | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Caroline White
June 11, 2020
Nirmal Raja will never forget the message sent to her from an emergency room nurse in Belgium.
“I may be a drop in the sea, yes, but it is my reason for being,” the message said.
Raja, a Milwaukee artist, embroidered the phrase on a cloth face mask, snapped a photo and posted it to her Instagram. The mask is one of nearly 50 in her growing art series “Feeble Barriers,” which features quotes from anonymous health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
The name “Feeble Barriers” refers to how the health care system acts as a barrier between the virus and the population and how daunting it can feel to face off against a pandemic, Raja explained.
Raja, 51, has lived and worked in Milwaukee with her husband and two children for nearly 20 years. She is represented by Portrait Society Gallery in the Historic Third Ward.
Artist Nirmal Raja came up with the idea for the “Feeble Barriers” series while sewing cloth face masks to donate. (Photo by Kevin J. Miyazaki, courtesy of Nirmal Raja).
Raja described her art as a response to lived experience. For example, her series “On Belonging” explored race and identity in America against the backdrop of Raja’s experience as an Indian American.
Raja said “Feeble Barriers” is her way of giving voice to workers who care for patients affected by the coronavirus.
“Health care workers themselves are vulnerable, but they’re busy,” Raja said. “They don’t have time to advocate for themselves.”
The idea for the series came to Raja “when the pandemic started feeling like a pandemic.”
Like others, Raja began sewing cloth face masks in early April to donate to various groups in need. While sewing, she was inspired to use the masks as a medium for quotes she was seeing in the news or hearing from loved ones working in health care. She posted an open call to participate in the project on social media, and she has since received nearly 30 messages.
One physician at Children’s Wisconsin expressed gratitude.
“Grateful for the incredible team support in our hospital and campus,” the doctor said.
A Milwaukee nurse shared her fear and anxiety.
“Will I take this home?” the nurse asked. “Will I be next?”
Some masks describe the sacrifices some have made to keep their families safe while working with patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.
“I sent my kids away for three months to keep them safe,” said a nurse in Arizona. “I cry all day for them.”
Other masks list the reasons health care workers have to keep working.
“COVID doesn’t stop childhood cancer,” said a health care worker from Children’s Wisconsin. “So COVID doesn’t stop me.”
Debra Brehmer, the owner and director of Portrait Society Gallery, noted how the use of the face mask and hand stitching work together to form a simple and direct “tribute to the vulnerabilities of this time period.”
“Ultimately, this project extends a feeling of caring and sharing,” Brehmer said. “It is both visually and conceptually potent.”
Raja plans on continuing the project until she makes 101 unique masks. Each installment of “Feeble Barriers” can be found on her Instagram. Later this summer, Raja will be installing the series at Grove Gallery, 830 S. Fifth St. in Walker’s Point, and filming a video of the installation.
Brett Waterhouse, co-manager of Grove Gallery, said he hopes “Feeble Barriers” will remind viewers of the humanity of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Regardless of what your political views are, this is affecting people who made a career decision to serves others,” Waterhouse said. “They need to be heard.”
Raja said in addition to amplifying the voices of health care workers, “Feeble Barriers” paints a picture of what life is like right now.
“We might look back at this work and say, ‘That’s what it felt like to live through this moment,’” she said.
Health care workers can contribute their thoughts and reflections to “Feeble Barriers” through Raja’s email address nirmalinbetween@gmail.com.


Saturday Polls: Police In Zaria Assures Of Peaceful Exercise - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 4
February 15, 2019
The Zaria Area Command of the Nigeria Policehas put adequate security arrangement for the smooth conduct of thePresidential and National Assembly elections on tomorrow.
The Assistant Police Commissioner-in-Charge ofthe area, Ibrahim Abdullahi while speaking to newsmen, urged residents of thearea to conduct themselves in orderly manner. He warned that the police willdeal with anyone that tried to breach the peace.
In a related development, the Sarkin Shanu ofJere Ishaq Usman has urged the people in the chiefdom to come out en-mass andexercise their civic duty on tomorrow.


Touring Libyan Blogs: Bloggers meet, traffic chaos, activism, corporal punishment at schools and more · Global Voices
Fozia Mohamed

In the last few weeks it looks like more bloggers met. This is developping into a real phenomenon. I think that Libyan bloggers are thirsty for like-minded individuals and Libyans especially and many are not camera shy any more and have posted their photos.
So this time it was the turn for Mani, AngloLibyan and A_Akak  to meet and they had a jolly grand time. You can read about it on their respective blogs.
“Well today i was fortunate enough to meet another fellow blogger, A person i respect and regard very highly as his posts are usually close to his heart and the person behind the persona of Anglo is as good and pure as his blog [sic] ” [more]
” have found both Ahmed & mani very friendly and very down to earth very well educated young men, it was my pleasure to meet them both, I really enjoyed the 3 hours I spent with them and we talked about all sort of interesting things,[sic] ” [more]
Driving in Libya and getting home safe is the stuff of legends not because people can't drive but because people are careless and irresponsible . Aladdin's latest rant is about a guy who hit his car but ran away instead of facing his responsibility.
” Driving in Libya is a cemetery, or it's a war ALNASR AW ELSHAHADA (Victory or Martyrdom)!!! …[sic]”
No comment !
AngloLibyan, ever the leader in such topics is launching a campaign against the shameful public services provided in Libya.
“Tourists paying money to come and enjoy our country should at least expect a clean toilet, clean streets and clean beaches, these so far have proved to be very difficult to find in Libya. I am not sure what to do to raise the authorities and Libyan awareness regarding these problems but there is a policy of Name & Shame here in Britain which sometimes works so perhaps some of my fellow Libyans in Libya should take pictures and videos of the offenders and publish them in popular websites” .
Mani is doing just that ‘naming and shaming’, another sector, a private tourism company and what he calls the ‘hit and run’ mentality of making business.
“THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. IT WILL BE EXPOSED AND THESE PEOPLE SHOULD BE PENALISED.
we cannot have these amateurs thinking that the new progress our country and it's young people are making is a short lived opportunity, with no holds barred.. take-before-you break.. “
Beggars around the world or hustlers as I would rather call some of them seem to have given themselves the word to unite on one single idea: asking money to continue a travel journey. I've seen that recently in Libya. A woman/man would approach me and ask for a few dinars to take the bus of car back home, even to buy fuel for their vehicle. Usually I give them, but now reading Braveheart's experience in the UK I'm going to use his trick for weeding out the sincere from the liars.
“he: well i want to go Manchester and i have £11 and i need another£5 to buy the ticket.
now i knew what he want and i must take a decision, but the problem for me i feel this guy is liar, because in libya there are many people do the same in stations and they told you the same story.if i decide to give the £5 i might be stupid and he will take my money and tell himself how he is clever and how me is stupid, and if i dont give the money it might be he is true and he is in need for this money to go to his city and if i dont give him money i'll lose a chance to help one guy in problem, all this i thought about it in seconds and i must take decision.i decide to take the money which he has and buy the ticket by myself to him,if he is lair he will refuse and if he tell the truth he will agree […] i told him give me ur£11 to buy the ticket, which he start loooking right and left and told me my money with my friend i'll go to bring it to you, and went and never come back. “
We all remember our school days with fondness, but Libyan kids have additional memories, that of the ‘Falga’ it is a typical  corporal punishment usually effected by hitting with a stick on the palms of soles of the feet. Although hitting is prohibited by law it is still done. Honestly with the state of students here I would probably wish to tear gas them as some are so naughty, still this hitting is just too much. Libyano cannot forgive his teachers who gave him  a falga and he has posted a photo of a poor kid getting one at a high school. Ouch that looks painful !
” I was only was 9 years when I had my first Falga , if you don't know what Falga is then I have a clip for you that explains it more than words do , why I had these Falgas ? , two Falgas because I was late , one because I hit another guy and the fourth was all the class Falga , it's the worst because we all laugh at each other and the teacher gets more excited to use his full energy , but yet I think Falga is much better than being hit on the hands because you get numb from the first hit on your feet and wont feel a thing after that .”
Libyan blogs have a rich harvest of posts and it would take too much space to highlight them all here, but if you want to read more I would recommend going to this website  which has collected a large number of blogs. Happy reading!


World Day: Mothers, Stakeholders Want More Women In Governance - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Abubakar Abubakar
April 1, 2019
Mothers and other stakeholders have called for participation of more women in governance and appreciation of their noble roles in nation building.
They made the call in separate interviews in Lagos in commemoration of Mother’s Day celebration across the world.
The 2018 Beauty Queen, Catholic Women Organisation Agatha Okorie urged men to recognise and appreciate the importance and value of mothers. The beauty queen, who is also a police officer, urged the government to promote standard of women in Nigeria, especially among men.
According to the Spokesman for Old Girls Association of Federal Government Girls College, Kazaure Lizzy Omojuwa-Okiye Nigerian women have evolved over the years.
Similarly, a retired Deputy Director and School Principal in Lagos State, Patricia Nwabuwa, said the most challenging issue affecting women was gender inequality and oppression.


Paraguay: 18 Deaths in Asunción Over Christmas · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Carlos Rodríguez of Rescatar [es] notes the high number of deaths in Asunción, Paraguay between December 24-25, which includes 10 traffic accidents and 5 murders.


Post-Polls Violence: Security Agencies On Red Alert Nationwide - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 4
March 1, 2019
The Nigerian armed forces are on red alert to foil anypossible violence that may erupt after the February 23, presidential andNational Assembly elections across the country.
Also on standby are the police, Department of State Securityand the various security and para-military agencies in the country.
It was gathered that the service chiefs and the InspectorGeneral of Police have been directed to remain in their respective headquartersthroughout the election period to monitor the security situations in thecountry with a bid to deploying at very short notice.
To this end, most military personnel would be wearing theduty dress camouflage, throughout this period.
Military authorities and indeed the security agencies werebeginning to express worries over intelligence report of a possible breakdownof law and order in some states of the country, which have been labeled as “hotzones.