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On Saturday, September 3, 2011 a group of around 200 young people assembled in Luanda, Angola to protest lack of freedom and the 32-year reign of President José Eduardo dos Santos. According to witnesses, the protest ended with police beating a number of protesters.

A video call to protest, uploaded on September 1, featured bold, personalized calls to protest by a number of the protest's organizers, many of whom are hiphop artists. The tagline of the video “32 anos é muito” means simply “32 years is a lot.”

Li Keqiang, China's current vice premier and premier-to-be, began three-day visit to Hong Kong on August 16, 2011. On the first day of his visit, Li tried to show concern for Hong Kong people's livelihoods by visiting a center for the elderly and a residential campus in Lam Tin district. However, Li's “friendly” gesture turned into a performance of political brutality when a male resident was forcibly dragged away and arrested by a number of “men in black”, because he wrote a political t-shirt with the slogan “Vindicate June 4“.

Hundreds of Chilean students, fighting to overhaul their education system, clashed with an intensified police force as they protested without permission on Thursday through the center of Santiago.

The Student Confederation of Chile (CONFECH) called students across Chile to protest in April, a month after school began. Students were fed up with the growing privatization trend in Chile that began under Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in the 1980s.

So far, every protest for education reform ended with marchers drenched by water cannon jets and clouds of tear gas. Thursday morning’s protest was no different, except some politicians said, this time the violence against students crossed the line.

In Chile, a cup of coffee at Starbucks costs more than the baristas' wages for one hour of work. This is what the 3 union leaders [es] on hunger strike in Chile state through a handwritten sign in this video [es]. They demand Starbucks to comply with only 4 out of the original 25 demands [es]: adjusting their wages which have been the same through 7 years despite inflation, include a lunch subvention, provide employees with uniforms and assist with transportation costs for those who live far from work.

Lanterns, dances, flowers and bonfires were some of the elements used in celebrations all over the world in observance of the Summer and Winter Solstices. Lets tour around the world to check out the different celebrations: Solstice at Stonehenge, Feast of Saint John's bonfires in Spain, Inti Raymi in Peru, we tripantu in Chile and Kupala Day in Russia or Midsummer's night in Poland.

Solstice Dawn by Taro Taylor, CCBY

What do singer Shakira, actor Gael Garcia Bernal, chef Ferran Adria and writer Mario Vargas Llosa have in common? They are all part of the group of 30 celebrities who have shared through video their favorite word in Spanish as part of the celebrations for E Day by the Cervantes Institute.

ready to celebrate E day

The Cervantes Institute of Spanish has set out to celebrate the Spanish Language in a weekend of cultural and educational events all around the world at their institutes on the weekend closest to the Summer Solstice, and this year, that date will fall on June 18th.

A few weeks ago I found myself in Medellín, Colombia, when I realised that up until then there was no interview with Cati Restrepo [es] on Gobal Voices. I decided to rectify this omission and got straight in touch with her and we met up in a place known as Pueblito Paisa [es], where I recorded the videos included in this post. The remainder of the text was completed in the following days. Of course, I am taking it as read that everyone knows @Catirestrepo, who was the natural leader and most public face of the project financed by Rising Voices: Hiperbarrio, a project which she left one year ago.

It is a fundamental principle of the United States legal system that courts should be open to the public.  This principle is widely regarded as more aspirational than factual, because of numerous practical barriers to courtroom access -- not the least of which is that most of us do not have the time or ability to travel to the court to witness proceedings in person.  While the news media report on judicial proceedings, their resources are limited; as a result, coverage is normally focused on specific cases of particular interest.  Moreover, audiovisual recording of judicial activity is sporadic due to a complicated patchwork of largely discretionary rules about allowing cameras in the courtroom.

In an unexpected flareup up of football violence, fans of two local football clubs, Iraklis and PAOK, clashed in the center of Thessaloniki, Greece on April 26, 2011. They attacked storefronts, apartments buildings and parked vehicles, while riot police flooded the downtown area with tear gas. The trouble began when Iraklis fans converged to protest against the revocation of a license to play in an upcoming championship, in an area where PAOK fans usually gather to protest.

Residents expressed their outrage on Twitter and blogs, and wondered whether the rise in tension may also be connected to the growing despair over the financial crisis in Greece.

Written by Scilla Alecci

This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.

The recent escalation by the Government of the crisis at the Fukushima power plant from a category five to category seven, the highest level, now puts it on a par with the disastrous accident at the Chernobyl power plant in Russia in 1986. Even as a category five disaster it had prompted an unprecedented outpouring of public criticism in Japanese society.