Democracy & Civics

Tracking: Iran Election Blogs & Realtime Web Feeds

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Updated: 6/22 Newsdesk.org is collecting links to realtime citizen and mainstream news feeds and blogs following the turmoil in Iran. Post updated information sources in the comments section below. Not all citizen-media postings are clearly sourced, and include propaganda as well as first-person witnessing. Use your judgment when interpreting the text, video and images. Twitter hashtag: #IranElection
140-character bulletins and links sent by members of the public.

World

Cuba, Across Political Divide, Shrugs at OAS Vote

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Cuba has no plans to rejoin the Organization of American States, despite the diplomatic body’s vote in June to allow Cuba back into the fold after 47 years. Cuba rejected on Monday the OAS offer to rejoin in a statement published in its state-run newspaper, calling the organization one “with a role and trajectory that Cuba repudiates,” the Miami Herald reported. Instead, the island nation is pushing a plan to establish a new inter-American and Caribbean organization that would exclude the United States, according to a report by Inter Press Service. Plans for the organization will be discussed at a regional summit in Mexico later this year. The first meeting, staged in Brazil in December 2008, was the first time a Latin/Caribbean regional summit was held without the United States, but included Cuba, according to a Tribune Media Services report.

World

High-Speed Rail Makes Tracks Worldwide

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High-speed rail is the latest public transportation buzz in the United States — and it’s also making tracks around the world. Spain, already admired for its high-speed rail system, got lots of international attention in May when it hosted U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood. Agence France-Presse reports that La Hood rode the trains there, as well as in France and Germany, looking for high-speed models to use back home. Spain intends to have a high-speed connection between Barcelona and the French border in place by 2012, according to the ThinkSpain.com website. Russia is also hoping for a rail-travel renaissance.

World

For the Twitterati, Literature Lives Online

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News of the written word’s demise has been greatly exaggerated — though it may not turn up as often on your parents’ printed paper pages. Literature is being tailored to fit the dimensions of technology — making works great (and not-so-great) available on computers, cell phones and mobile devices, using text messages, Twitter, RSS feeds and installments delivered via e-mail. In the United States, new technologies and diverse media are being used to teach literacy. Ohio University students are looking at how video gaming can to teach basic reading and writing skills, reports the Chilliocothe Gazette, while an article in the Poughkeepsie Journal adds graphic novels and comic books to the list of teaching tools. But most of the electronic focus is still on high-end consumers with their array of mobile tools, reports Computerworld Magazine.

Economy

Two Wheels to the World

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Pedal power is getting new respect worldwide, as concerns about climate change and hard economic times make bicycling increasingly popular. In Paris, “bike sharing” gives riders access to thousands of two-wheelers around the city, a service that is also gaining momentum in Mexico, Brazil and Canada. The women’s blog prettytough.com even calls bike sharing “the new public transportation.” Bicycling is also getting a big push from Asian governments. South Korea’s president wants to make his country “a bicycle heaven,” The Korea Times reports, while Time Magazine chimes in with news that Taiwan’s leader hopes to create “a cycling paradise” in his island nation.

Democracy & Civics

Nicaragua Targets Illiteracy

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Nicaragua’s leftist government is linking a new literacy campaign to July’s 30th anniversary of the overthrow the Somoza dynasty. The program is a repeat performance for President Daniel Ortega, who led the country after Sandinista guerrillas toppled the Somoza family dictatorship in 1979. According to Inter Press Service, a left-leaning news source, the National Literacy Campaign in 1980 reduced illiteracy in the country from 52 to just below 13 percent, before succumbing to further civil war and ongoing political conflict. Now, the government hopes to meet UNESCO standards of under five percent illiteracy in the next few months. Nicaraguan government statistics showed more than half a million citizens, out of a population of 5.3 million, were illiterate in 2005.

Democracy & Civics

Brazilian Blacks Assume Majority, Not Equity

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Brazil’s African-descended citizens now stand at 49.6 percent of the population, edging out their European-descended brethren by .2 percent, but lacking proportional access to education and food. Twenty percent of Brazilian blacks are more likely to be illiterate, and have to work as much as 76 hours for their “basic food basket,” compared to a 6 percent illiteracy rate and 54 hours of work for basic food needs for Caucasians, reports Merco Press. In 1888 Brazil became the last country in South America to abolish slavery. President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has proposed new quotas for blacks in universities, in an effort to drive social and economic integration. –Brittany Owens/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Black population becomes the majority in Brazil”
MercoPress, April 25, 2009

World

Children Still Soldiers in Global Battlefields

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Up to 200,000 children have been forced into armed service by government troops and rebel groups in 20 countries throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, according to news reports. This ranges from conscription of teenage boys into the Peruvian army, as reported in LivinginPeru.com, to grim stories of children used in terrorist operations. In one such incident, Inter Press Service reports that Iraqi insurgents placed explosives on a young girl and detonated her by remote control. The worst abuses are found in Myanmar, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo; insurgent fighters in Afghanistan, Burundi, Nepal, the Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Colombia also habitually conscript child soldiers. The Daily Star of Lebanon also reported various Palestinian groups are still using children as soldiers.

Economy

China Comes Calling in Latin America

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China’s search for natural resources is taking it to Latin America, and bringing considerable economic clout at a time when U.S. trade with the region is steadily declining. In Peru, China has locked in control of copper production with its multibillion-dollar purchase of a mountain that holds most of Peru’s copper reserves, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Venezuela, meanwhile, has sealed a new agreement that will increase crude oil exports to China to one million barrels daily by 2012, reports Portworld.com. Other Chinese investments in Latin America include $1 billion for a hydroelectric plant in Ecuador and a $10 billion loan to Brazil’s national oil company, The New York Times reports. China is now Latin America’s second largest trading partner, with trade increasing by almost 40 percent in 2008, up to $140 billion, according to China Daily, while a Foreign Policy magazine essay states that China is signing currency swap agreements worth more than $100 billion.

Democracy & Civics

After a Thaw, East Bloc Democracies Face New Freeze

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The fledgling democracies of Moldova and Ukraine are struggling with new political and economic challenges. In Moldova, young protesters stormed the national parliament building in a show of anger over April 5 elections they believe were rigged in favor of the ruling Communist Party, the BBC reports. President Vladimir Voronin dismissed the protestors as “fascists,” and election observers said the vote was fair. Yet doubts remain among students and opposition parties. Communists have ruled the nation since Mr. Voronin was elected in 2001 by older Moldovans disillusioned by post-Soviet reforms, creating a schism between young voters seeking quicker change and reform, reports the Associated Press.