Confrontation between supporters and opponents of Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara.

POLITICAL CRISIS IN IVORY COAST

« Peace is not a word, it’s a way of life so I wish that all Ivorians could live in peace »

 These words spoken by   a group of Ivorian workers illustrate a point of view shared by some sections of the country that fear a resurgence of tension in Ivory Coast following the disputed results of the Presidential Election. But despite these calls for calm, confrontation between supporters and opponents of Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara continues online.

 In this open letter with music, an Ivorian man addresses the outgoing head of state, Laurent Gbagbo directly and calls his time in power into question. He criticizes his bad management of public money and states that Gbagbo made many promises during his career that he has yet to honour, like the modernization of Abidjan.

In this online interview, Seth Koko an influential Ivorian blogger and former aide to Gbagbo, believes Gbagbo confuses peace and division. He thinks Gbagbo is only looking for power and does not care about his fellow citizens and is therefore not the man to bring the country out of crisis.

 But Laurent Gbagbo does not only have enemies on the Internet, on the contrary. Numerous sites devoted to the worldwide Ivorian diaspora are siding with the outgoing President. In an article posted online, Farida Nabourema criticizes the international community’s attitude towards Gbagbo who she sees as a victim of an international smear campaign. She thinks if Ouattara comes into power foreigners will have taken victory over Ivorians.

 Others meanwhile have managed to hold on to their sense of humour. Like this Twitter user who suggests the Ivorian people, who have now have two presidents, give one to Belgium which has been suffering a political crisis for several months now.

CALLS TO FREE AMERICAN HIKERS

 The young woman singing here is Sarah Shroud. She was one of three American hikers who were arrested for spying in Iran in July 2009. She was released for medical reasons on the 14^th of September of this year, but this former prisoner has not abandoned her former cellmates and has dedicated this song to them so they continue to hold out hope.

 This is part of a mass online mobilization to obtain the release of these two hikers, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who are still detained by the authorities of the Islamic republic. 

 The site « freethehikers.org », was set up for the prisoners and reminds people that the hikers have already spent over 490 days in prison. It is asking web users to sign this online petition addressed to the Iranian authorities, seeking the immediate and unconditional release of Josh and Shane.

 The site is also broadcasting these two videos filmed just several days before the three Americans were arrested, it shows them singing and dancing. Their supporters believe these images prove the hikers are not spies.

 And mobilisation is also growing on sharing sites, where dozens of videos and photo montages like these ones can be found. They are aimed at raising public awareness on the two prisoners’ situation and call for a speedy release. 

 And finally, these two Twitter threads are providing web users with real time updates on the development of events concerning the two young Americans who are still held prisoner in Iran.

 SPACELOG

 Immerse yourself in the secrets of space exploration with Spacelog. The site presents official transcripts from two famous space missions, including the Apollo 13 mission that failed to land on the moon and almost cost the three astronauts on board their lives. Web users can read original documents and even follow the different phases of the mission minute by minute via conversations between the astronauts and NASA’s Mission Control.

KOREA: ONLINE GAMING BAN AFTER MIDNIGHT

 No games after midnight. The South Korean government is planning to adopt a new so called “Cinderella law, which forbids any child under the age of 16 to play online games between midnight and 6am. Gaming companies will have one year to prepare for the application of this law. The government is also thinking about limiting young gamers’ daily access to these games if their parents so wish. According to the South Korean government, the country has some two million “web addicts”.  

VIDEO OF THE DAY

 It is unlikely this family of ducks will forget this trip in a hurry. They found out the hard way that it is not easy to move in the wind when you weigh just a few grams. These ducklings and their mother were caught up in a storm last week in Toronto, Canada and were pushed around by strong gusts of wind. The journey home must have been particularly hard work!