Stories about English from January, 2014
Alarm Bells Ringing (Again) Over China's Housing Bubble
Continuously jumping home prices has raised concerns again about real estate bubble in China as the government refrains from introducing more property curbs that would hinder economic growth.
Jamaicans Deserve Details About Proposed Logistics Hub
You are being manipulated. Jamaicans are effectively begging and paying their government for vital information about their country. How can we accept this? Talk of developing an environmentally protected area...
Outdoor Air pollution in Bhopal
Proloy Bagchi reports that outdoor air pollution in Bhopal, the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, has risen to an alarming proportion mainly from the emission of the...
The Other Side of Social Media
That’s Twitter – it makes a joke out of serious issues and takes jokes seriously. - comments blogger Purba Ray while discussing Sunanda Pushkar’s sudden death who underwent a Twitter...
Cries of Discrimination as Israel Detains Undocumented African Immigrants
Many have fled their home countries for Israel and are seeking refugee status. The detentions have unleashed a wave of demonstrations in Tel-Aviv.
‘AFTER 25 Conference': Tokyo and Berlin Discuss Creative Culture
As Berlin and Tokyo mark 20 years of friendship as sister cities, representatives of two creative industries, including Chairman of the Club Commission of Berlin Marc Wohlrabe and Takahiro Saito, a...
Bangladesh Gets Its First LGBT Magazine, ‘Roopbaan’
"Finally Bangladesh is prospering. I had to leave Bangladesh for being gay, now I feel like going back and do[ing] something there."
China Sentences Citizens’ Movement Icon Xu Zhiyong to Four Years in Prison
His imprisonment is part of a crackdown by new Chinese Communist Party leadership under President Xi Jinping against political liberals who have been trying to advocate for constitutional reform.
Four Biggest Misconceptions About #Euromaidan Protests in Ukraine
Ucrainica Marginalis published an overview of the four largest misconceptions about #Euromaidan, written by scholars Sofiya Grachova & Stephen A. Walsh. What this overview points out is the vast gap...
Online Mapping of Spreading Unrest After Killing of Protesters in Ukraine
During violent clashes between Euromaidan protesters in Kyiv and police, two protesters were killed. Mass anti-government protests erupted in several regions of Ukraine and spread quickly through the country.
Independent Ukrainian Filmmakers Create #Euromaidan Documentaries
In Ukraine, several filmmakers united to produce a video chronology of the events that came to be known as the Euromaidan protests. “BABYLON'13”, named after a bar in which the...
Pig Photos Censored in Malaysia
Photos of pigs were blackened out by a printing company in the Malaysian edition of the New York Times. The 'pig censorship' shocked many people in the Muslim-majority nation
Chinese-Style ‘Tiger’ Parenting Triggers Complaints Among Younger Generation
"[They] kill innocence during children's’ childhoods, kill our romance during adolescence and kill our will during our youth."
Indonesia Apology Urged Over Massacre of a Million Citizens in 1965
Human rights groups Tapol and East Timor and Indonesia Action Network have launched a campaign called ‘Say Sorry for '65’ addressed to the Indonesian government in relation to the reported...
East Timor's Rising Budget for ‘Public Transfers’
The La’o Hamutuk NGO is concerned that the East Timor government is alloting more funds for so-called ‘public transfers’ which lacks transparent mechanisms: In recent years, Timor-Leste has spent about...
Super Bowls: Olympic Toilet Humor
Are the "toilet-gate" conspiracy theorists correct in their paranoia? Does it even matter if they aren't?
Protest Against Rape : WordToon by Subhendu Sarkar
In India women often fall prey to sex crimes where police fail to take proper action. Subhendu Sarkar, an artist from Kolkata created cartoons from words (see Youtube video) in...
Things I Love About South Sudan
Twitter users share their love for South Sudan using the hashtag #ThingILoveaboutSouthSudan. South Sudan has been at war since December 16, 2013 after an attempted coup.
The Biggest Indian Blogging Conference In February 2014
The WIN – Blogadda conference will take place in Mumbai on February 9, 2014. This conference is claimed to be the the biggest offline Indian blogger conference where a mix...
“Find and Support all the Mandelas in the Villages” for Reconciliation in the Central African Republic
Residents of Bangui were asked about the current escalation of violence in the Central African Republic. Here are some of their thoughts as collected by ATD Fourth World : It’s...
Saving Elephants in Laos
There are only several hundred elephants in Laos today, a country which was once known as the 'land of the million elephants'. Animal welfare groups vow to save the elephants
