Stories about English from October, 2015
Female Entrepreneurs Give a Major Boost to the Development of Francophone Africa
Increasingly, civil society—and especially women—are keen to partake in the boom by starting businesses and joining Africa's new entrepreneurial mobilisation.
Ladies, You Can Wear Men's Briefs as Shirts to Save Money. Just Ask This Russian TV Show.
Oil is cheap, the West has levied sanctions, Moscow’s military interventions in Ukraine and Syria are costing who-knows-how-much money, and women are being encouraged to wear men’s underwear as shirts.
It Looks Like Snow, But That Fluffy Stuff on Bangalore's Lakes Is Much More Toxic
The foam in Bangalore, India, is largely being produced in a lake called Bellandur, into which raw sewage and chemical waste have long been pumped without effective water treatment.
Myanmar Activist Faces 5 Years in Jail for Facebook Post Mocking Army Uniform
The Facebook post compared the color of the army's new uniform to a traditional dress worn by opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Egyptian Facebook User Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Putting Mickey Mouse Ears on Sisi
Egyptian Facebook user Amr Nohan has been sentenced to three years in prison by a military court for adding Mickey Mouse ears to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's image.
200 Days of War in Yemen
Many are likely unaware, thanks to the mainstream media's lack of coverage, that Yemen has been at war for almost seven months. This has been the fallout, so far.
Marlon James Makes Jamaica Proud With His Man Booker Prize for Fiction Win
Bob Marley. The CIA. Politics. Gang warfare. What's not to love? The judges of the Man Booker Prize thought so; they named Jamaican Marlon James as this year's award winner.
So You Want to Conduct Open-Source Research
These general instructions address specific ways to assess the reliability of photographs, videos, and human sources, with a special focus on the Russian Internet.
Advancing Technology in a Digital India
India waits to see if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a more connected India yields a more prosperous society, or only causes further problems.
Outrage After Ugandan Police Strip a Female Opposition Official Naked in Public
"A regime that loses respect for women deserves no respect either"
Tajiks Angry at Government Re-Formatting Their Quaint Capital
"Rohat teahouse is not only a beautiful national building, but a memory from more sincere, humane and affordable times."
In Brazil, Where Abortion Is Illegal, a Domestic Worker Faces Public Scrutiny After Abandoning Her Child
A woman working as a maid in São Paulo, who abandoned her infant child "out of desperation," has received public condemnation, media criticism, and sparked a discussion of women's rights.
Watch Out, Internet! Ukraine Is Getting Its Own Cyberpolice
The new Ukrainian cyberpolice force is tasked with protecting the country and its citizens from malicious Internet activity, and is expected to do it better than its predecessors.
Why Some Chinese Seem to Be Gloating Over Their Country's Exclusion From the Trans-Pacific Partnership
"...are so many Chinese rejoicing over China's misfortune? No. What’s behind this is discontent over the status quo and demands for reforms."
Futureplaces: Porto Hosts Do-It-Together Medialab for Citizen Initiatives
The annual event that turns the city of Porto into a “medialab for citizenship” is coming back to Portugal from October 20 to 24th.
WhatsApp Leads in Popularity, But Not Substance in Tanzanian Election Campaign
As a campaign platform, WhatsApp engages the most Tanzanian users, but political communication there mostly boils down to "trash talk," leaving Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to provide more substantial debate.
Orthodox Serbian Village ‘Threatens’ to Convert to Islam in Bid to Restore Local Church
Residents of Šopić, a village just outside of Belgrade, threatened to "collectively convert to Islam" if their damaged Orthodox church wasn't reconstructed by the parish in October 2015.
Documentary Explores What It's Like to Be Black in Japan
This interesting full-length documentary, made by a pair of popular Japanese video bloggers explores what it's like to be black in Japan.
Is Beirut the Codeswitching Capital of the World?
In Beirut, most people don't just speak one language, but a mix of three: English, French and Arabic. It's what many in Beirut call Lebanon's mother tongue.
The Murky Ethics of Publishing Data on Russian Servicemen ‘Bombing Syria’
Ukrainian "civic investigation" project Mirotvorets, previously preoccupied with exposing the Russian military presence in eastern Ukraine, has published personal data of Russian servicemen allegedly engaged in airstrikes in Syria.
Refugees Take Over Danish Daily Newspaper For a Day to Tell Their Stories
The Danish daily newspaper Information invited 12 refugees, some newly arrived, all professional journalists, to take over the entire 48 pages of the newspaper on Friday, October 9.
