No Internet, you're Cuban!

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez wanted to test the limits of internet censorship, so she visited a luxury hotel in Havana with a friend - and a hidden camera.

Since Raul Castro came to power last year, Cuba has eased some restrictions on its citizens. Ordinary Cubans can now go into tourist hotels - but they’re not allowed to use the computers. Yoani’s friend didn’t like it. "You know that infringes on my constitutional rights," he told the receptionist. "Our constitution bans discrimination based on nationality."

Yoani doesn’t like the censorship either. "It’s harder and harder to get access to the internet," she says. "To update my blog, I have to send my posts to a friend abroad. He puts them online, then sends me the reader comments."

Yoani’s experiment is a reminder that the new freedoms in Cuba have limits.

Pig phobia

César Chagoya is convinced that the village of La Gloria, in Mexico, is the origin of the global swine flu outbreak. The village of 2,000 people is where the first case of the flu was confirmed.  It’s just a few kilometres from huge pig farms that are a joint venture with American pork giant Smithfield.

Many villagers think there’s a connection. But Smithfield says its pigs, and its workers, show no trace of the flu, and its facilities are safe and “state of the art”. César sent us photos that appear to tell a different story, with one showing a pig carcass rotting in a lake.

Across the world, in Egypt, Mina Zekry tells us the pig slaughter continues. The World Health Organization has been very clear that the flu can’t be transmitted by eating pork. That hasn’t stopped the Egyptian government ordering a mass slaughter of all the country’s pigs.

Mina believes the government’s true motivation is real estate. "The government is trying to steal profits from the pig farmers," he says. "The farms used to be on the edge of cities. But the cities have grown and the farms are now in residential areas where land prices have shot up."

The pig farmers have protested, but the government hasn’t budged. Workers are continuing to slaughter all 350,000 pigs in the country.

They make our keyboards

Charles Kernaghan helped write a report on working conditions in a factory in Dongguan, China that makes keyboards.  He used photographs taken secretly by one of the workers.

The workers work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. The rules posted on the wall are clear. No talking, no long nails, offenders must pay a fine. The workers sleep 10 or 12 to a room, and get 15 minutes for lunch.

Graffiti at any cost

Pichadores are Brazil's homegrown graffiti artists, whose specialty is taking risks. The higher they tag, the better.  
 
Sergio Massucci, a former pichador in Sao Paulo, explains: "The pichadores’ message is rebellion. To demonstrate that kids from the favelas exist. They push the limits, break the rules and try to shock society with their graffiti."

For more stories, go to The Observers site.