Web users react to Bin Laden’s death

Web users react to Bin Laden’s death

Osama Bin Laden’s initials; "Abbottabad", the town in Pakistan where he was hiding; "Navy Seals", the US navy’s special operations force which killed him, and also “Mission accomplished”. Most of the trending terms dominating Twitter on Monday evoked the death of the Al Qaeda leader.

And the news was even announced on the micro blogging platform before the official announcement was made by the media and the US president. Keith Urbahn, chief of staff to former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfield, was the first to announce Bin Laden’s death via the social network.

And in Pakistan, Sohaib Athar live tweeted the US army’s commando operation near his home in Abbottabad, without knowing it. He described the helicopters circulating overhead and an enormous explosion.

Once the news had been confirmed, scenes of jubilation erupted across the United States. Hundreds of New Yorkers gathered at Ground Zero, whilst other citizens went online to celebrate the death of public enemy number one.

In just several hours, this Facebook page drew over 300 000 web users, sharing their initial reactions to news of the death of the world’s most wanted man.

The news spread across the Internet like wildfire, but not everyone has been celebrating. Web users on Jihadist forums are sharing mixed feelings of disbelief and anger. Some find it hard to believe that Osama Bin laden is dead, and others promise to continue his fight.

Argentina: Qom community fights for lost lands

In Argentina, activists from the indigenous Qom community have been protesting for several months now against the decision made by authorities from the north eastern Formosa province, to commandeer 1300 hectares of their land. The combat is being widely relayed online.

As these images, which have been circulating on sharing sites show, dozens of Qom Indians gathered in the center of the capital, Buenos Aires at the end of April, set up temporary shelters close to the famous 9th of July Avenue and spent near to one week there, some even went on hunger strike. Objective: protest against what they consider to be illegal expropriations and ask the government to commit to rehousing indigenous people from the region.

The demonstrators were uprooted from their camps by security forces on Sunday, but despite all this, judging from comments made by representatives from the community on their blog, they are not prepared to give up. They state that nothing will stop them in their fight for justice, not even the violence and repression by the authorities, of which they claim to be victim.

And the Qom community can count on the support of many web users, like the author of the blog "Red Latina Sin Fronteras" who explains here that it is important that the rights of minority groups are respected in a democratic country like Argentina. She is asking the authorities to listen to the demands of the indigenous peoples and grant them the same rights as the rest of the country.

Numerous NGOS, including Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, are also supporting their fight.

Facebook page aims to return lost items to tornado victims

The tornados that recently hit the US claimed hundreds of lives and caused considerable damage. In the wake of this disaster, a woman from Alabama has set up this Facebook page to help disaster victims find their personal belongings and other objects caught up in the storms.

18 month old toddler signs professional contract with Dutch football club

A Dutch professional football team, the VVV-Venlo, has signed up an 18 month old toddler. The little boy’s talent was spotted in an online video, in which we see him shoot several balls into a box, with skill and precision. He is the grandson of one of the club’s former players and has been signed up on a symbolic ten year professional contract. The club is full of praise for the toddlers shooting technique but has not yet decided which position he will play.

Video of the day

In this video, Kevin Olusola takes on the unlikely challenge of blending beat box with cello to perform his own version of the Mark Summer track “Julie-O”. The American artist pulls it off extremely well, and harmoniously blends the worlds of classical music and hip hop.