LEHMAN BROTHERS: ONE YEAR AFTER COLLAPSE

Monday September 15, 2008, the official announcement date of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers commercial bank, could be remembered as the start date of the worst world economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Some Net users are posting online videos filmed that day. This amateur footage was taken by a former employee and shows the exit of the Lehman Brothers building in New York. Journalists and curious onlookers had besieged the building upon announcement of the bank’s collapse.

Whatever happened to Lehman's ex- traders? This parodic video carries out an investigation into the supposed life of a trader dismissed in 2008, when the bank collapsed. The man appears totally lost, incapable of living a normal existence.

And on Ebay, many Lehman Brothers objects are circulating. An online store has been created by the company itself. Pens, T-shirts, umbrellas, baseball caps and even soft toys carrying the bank’s name are for sale online.

On YouTube, this photomontage denounces the lack of change on Wall Street since Lehman's collapse.

Several videos posted online last year, at the time of the bank’s collapse, are resurfacing to mark this first anniversary. Here, two young Germans parody the descent into hell with a Monopoly game.

Here, an American country and western group sing an ode to Lehman Brothers, recalling the bank’s demise.

IRANIAN "MARTYRS"

In Iran, still more initiatives are appearing online in tribute to citizens killed during violent anti-government protests following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election this summer. Net users do not want to forget these martyrs.

The site "Never forget us" has been created to remind the public of the 72 people who lost their lives during the wave of subversion which rocked the country, according to the opposition. Here Net users can put a face to victims and are invited to send in messages of solidarity.

This second site offers information about the martyrs and the conditions in which they died. This blog, created by mothers who lost a child in the protests, calls for light to be shed on the deaths.

Several photomontages like these are circulating online, with the dual aims of paying a final tribute to the men and women who died for freedom and calling on Iranian opponents to continue their fight.

Others preferred to honour the memory of victims with music. This song, broadcast on share sites, is dedicated to protesters killed by government forces and their families.

Meanwhile, according to the Iranian philosopher, Abdelkarim Soroush, the country’s current situation can not last much longer. In an open letter sent to Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei (and available online) he asserts that the era of religious tyranny in Iran is over and that the people will soon triumph.

DANISH AD

"I am looking for the father of my child". This is the announcement made by this young Danish woman, who explains in this video that she met a tourist in Copenhagen one year on a drunken night out and subsequently gave birth to a baby. The original initiative was created by the Danish tourist office to attract foreign visitors. The video is a hit online and has already been viewed by over 800,000 net users.

FIGHTING HUNGER WORLDWIDE

Weight Watchers is undertaking to combat world hunger and is using the social networks to assist it. On September 15, on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or via a blog, people will be able to make an indirect donation by posting comments or links to the initiative’s site. For each Tweet, a dollar will be donated to organisations combating world hunger.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Here is the video currently creating an online buzz - a road safety campaign created by the Norwegian government. The aim is to show that motorcyclists are too often victims of driver carelessness.