"Watching a pink sunset off my balcony at magnetic island. Balmy 25 degrees. Life is good." (Posted by @DannyjClayton of Sydney, Australia, May 1, 2009)
May 1, 2009
Featured TwitPic: Sunset at Magnetic Island in Australia
"Watching a pink sunset off my balcony at magnetic island. Balmy 25 degrees. Life is good." (Posted by @DannyjClayton of Sydney, Australia, May 1, 2009)
China takes precautions as swine flu hits Hong Kong
BBC adds that 300 people at the Hong Kong hotel the man was staying at are being quarantined and police wearing masks are guarding the hotel.
Twitterers in Hong Kong provided context about the impact of the case:
Actress4life_hk (Hong Kong) The frist swine flu case just happened in Hong Kong..!!This is also the frist day of Golden week holiday a long weekend in HK!...Bad!!!
HotJaney (Hong Kong) There's just been a confirmed case of Swine flu in Wan Chai in Hong Kong 2 hours ago. Everybody is wearing masks.
ruisi1 (Hong Kong) Swine flu has hit the shores of Hong Kong! People here are ready to party like it's 2003. Bust out the masks and pass the sanitizer!
One Twitterer used the incident to voice frustration with mainland China.
victorsteve (Hong Kong) the mainland chinese continue to bestow gifts on hong kong... they sent the first swine flu case across the border just yesterday...
Here's some other initial reaction from Hong Kong Twitter users:
AndreMartin (Hong Kong) Either the Hong Kong hotel with a swine flu infected guest has also been sealed off communications or there is just no Twitter user inside..
kaylawebley (Hong Kong) 1st case of swine flu reported in Asia is in Hong Kong, in my neighborhood nonetheless. 300 people quarantined. Time to break out the mask?
caitlinx852 (Hong Kong) can't believe this swine flu [expletive] is in hong kong :(
what a bad summer this is going to be!
U.N. criticizes Egypt's pig slaughter
The Egyptian government initially said it called for the killing in part to prevent panic. Other countries have restricted or banned pigs and pork imports, even though the World Health Organization (WHO) has said eating pork is safe. More recently an agriculture minister in Egypt said the cull would diminish the unsanitary farming conditions in which pigs are reared in garbage-filled slums, per The Times.
Some allege the decision was prompted by religious discrimination, as pig farmers are predominantly part of the Coptic Christian minority.
Twitterers discussed the scientific merits of the situation and WHO's response.
HCarim (Paris, France) H1N1 Swine Flu ... and Egypt has undertaken to slaughter its own 350K- taking care of 2 touchy issues in 1 ... http://tinyurl.com/dnl5w9
fustat (Undisclosed) Trying to reasure society, by a measure that does not provide any real protection, is really making things worse. # swine flu # H1N1 # egypt
Shannon_Iris (California) @cory_grimes don't you mean H1N1? The WHO changed it to avoid the slaughter of pigs thats been happening in Egypt and other places.
An earlier report by Breaking Tweets examined the response to the news from Twitterers in Egypt.
Delara Darabi executed in Iran
Two Twitter accounts broke the news to the world some five hours before these initial media reports confirmed it. Shortly after the tweets, a Farsi-language community Web site also reported that Darabi had been executed.
The first Twitter account to report the news was @DelaraDarabi, the official Twitter of the "international Save Delara!™ campaign" (http://www.savedelara.com/). The other account is attributed to Iranian-American human rights attorney Lily Mazahery (@LilyMazahery), who has long spoken out about the Darabi case.
The @DelaraDarabi account delivered the news with a single tweet:
It then began retweeting reaction from both Mazahery as well as other Twitterers, specifically addressing one tweet:
DelaraDarabi (Rasht, Iran) It is. She was hanged not too long ago. RT @dakster9: I hope this is not true. RT @LilyMazahery: @DelaraDarabi was hanged to death by t ...
Mazahery's tweets started with the news and became more animated over time.
LilyMazahery (Washington, D.C./New York) @DelaraDarabi was hanged to death by the terrorist government of Iran today.
Darabi has long denied being guilty in this case, causing a surge in her support around the world. Amnesty International reported that her death was "imminent," on April 19, before an agreement appeared to give her a two-month stay. Jerusalem Post reports today that Amnesty International is "outraged" by the execution.
April 30, 2009
Eight-year-old Saudi girl’s marriage annulled
A judge had earlier rejected the girl’s mother’s appeal in the town of Unaiza. He was replaced by a new judge who decided to nullify the case after the marriage was confirmed illegal by the girl’s husband, per BBC.
Twitterers had these reactions when the legal news first penetrated worldwide:
Donnette (South Africa) a Saudi marriage officiate declared that a girl can be married at the age of one if sex is postponed http://tinyurl.com/cev327
danie_d (San Francisco, Calif.) 8 year old girl married to a 47 year old man in Saudi Arabia. U.S. doesn't allow it to affect trade. But mention trade w/ Cuba and "OH NO."
quantifyme (Undisclosed) A 8 yr old Saudi girl married to a 50 yr old Saudi man is a shame. Not only is a violation of human rights, it is "child slavery"
newbert (Cape Town, South Africa) RT @geekstats 8: age of Saudi Arabian girl married by father to settle debts. (http://bit.ly/WrvB). This world can be hideous.
Following the most recent media reports, Twitterers noted these reactions today:
michou83 (New Jersey) http://tinyurl.com/cwrmxa- Young Saudi girl's marriage ended.... THANK GOD. Now they just need a real policy.
forakin (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Young Saudi girl's marriage ended but not by the courts and hidebound religious judges http://is.gd/vEqY
macleans (Undisclosed) Out-of-court settlement allows Saudi girl, 8, to divorce 50-year-old husband http://tinyurl.com/cqbcmk
No immediate reaction could be found within Saudi Arabia itself. Tweets were searched for in both Arabic and English.
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