Stories from Quick Reads and Western Europe
#JesuisKenyan Trends in Francophone Social Media to Show Support for Garissa Victims
147 people were killed by gunmen on the campus of Garissa University in Kenya. The world and specifically the french speaking world after Charlie Hebdo, shows support to the victims
Nicaraguan Mother Recovered Her Child Detained At German Embassy in Managua
Ximena Gutiérrez, a Nicaraguan mother, recovered her child who was detained by his father at the German Embassy in Nicaragua. Arun was taken to the Embassy's office in Managua by his father, a German citizen. Considering the unwillingness to leave the place, the little child's mother reported to the authorities...
Eerie Similarities Between Germanwings Tragedy and Argentinian-Spanish Film ‘Wild Tales’
More than once, screenwriters have found inspiration in reality for their fiction. This time, it seems reality was inspired by fiction. The news that the co-pilot of German airline Germanwings‘ Flight 9525 is suspected of intentionally crashing the plane, taking the lives of 149 people with him, seems to be one of...
German Company's Videos Imagine Modern Women as Passive and Dependent
Women in Germany are outraged over one insurance company's videos explaining different types of policies, in which women are described as passive and naive — a role more in line with the expectations of the 1950s than 2015. Birte Vogel writes on her blog Thea – Frauen in Sprache, Medien und Gesellschaft (Thea –...
Can Artists Earn a Living in the Age of Social Media?
Not only can artists live off their work, but the Internet can actually be a lifeline for them in today's increasingly competitive marketplace. The blog RamGon looks into opportunities for painters in social media and, more importantly, into how the medium can help artists to publicize and market their work. In...
Gun Attack Kills 5 in Bamako as Mali Tries to Consolidate Peace
A shooting in a restaurant in Bamako, capital city of Mali, claimed the lives of five people on Friday night, March, 6. The attack took place around midnight in a restaurant called La Terrasse in Downtown Bamako and a dozen people are seriously injured. Two suspects are in detention and...
Spain and Latin America Celebrate Open Data Day
One again, bloggers, hackers, designers, experts, as well as citizens interested in open data and transparency will meet to celebrate International Open Data Day 2015 all over the world to promote the opening of government data. The event is expected to have online meetings but also in-person activities all over...
Ireland's Cricket World Cup Win Against West Indies No Laughing Matter
Irish satirical website Waterford Whispers News certainly enjoyed the Ireland cricket teams’ victory over the West Indies on 16 February in Nelson, New Zealand: THERE were concerns this morning among the Irish Cricket Union after the success of the Ireland team at the World Cup caused massive strain on the...
How to Reduce the Production of CO2 in Daily Life?
Rut Abrain reflects on her blog Esturirafi about one of the main cause of climate change: the production of carbon dioxide (CO2). In this sense, the blogger stresses out that not only factories, vehicles and planes produce CO2, but also each one of un in our daily lives. To have...
Online Entrepreneurship: Interview With Ana Bizarro from ‘Acción Alegría’
Andrea Collazo, who we already know from her blog Profesora de Informática (Computing teacher), shares an interview with entrepreneur and creator of accionconalegría.com, Ana Bizarro. Bizarro's website aims to provide support to “entrepreneur parents, with children and no time, this is, people who are responsible for their lives”. There is...
What is Sinology?
Sinology is still unknown to many people, as Isma Ruiz writes after attending the I International Congress of Sinology in Spanish, last June at the University of Tamkang – Tamsui, Taiwan. Although the focus was translation and interpretation of classic Chinese books, the necessity of learning a new language when...
Astrophysicist Shares the History of the Rosetta-Philae Mission
The comet Churymov-Gerasimenko was discovered on 1969, the same year a mission landed on the Moon. Back then, no one would have imagined that 45 years later a small spacecraft called Rosetta transporting a landing module and the hopes of thousands would touch down on surface of a comet known as...
Architects in Finland Battle Over the Helsinki Guggenheim and the “Next Helsinki”
In early December 2014, the shortlist for a competition of the desing of the new Guggenheim museum in Helsinki was announced. The bulk of the building of the new Finnish venue of the famed museum of modern and contemporary art will be financed by the government of Finland and the...
Do You Read Ecolabels When Shopping?
Rut Abrain Sanchez on her blog Esturirafi defines and identifies legal and volunteer product labels. Among the latter we find ecologic labels, “so manufacturers show us they are abiding by a series of requirements and for the consumer to be able to identify products environmentally more sustainable”. There are Type...
Promoting Responsible Use of Social Networks
Andrea Collazo, blogging for Mujeres Construyendo (Women Building), proposes educating parents about the resposible use of social networks, so they can promote it among their children. Collazo advises parents on how to socialize their children from very early age with new technologies, promoting responsible use of social networks. She points...
Do You Know What Sustainable Fashion Is?
After watching Sweatshop TV series, where three Norwegian youngsters travel to Cambodia to discover the miserable living conditions of garment industry workers, Rut Abrain reflects on sustainable fashion. Sustainable garments are those that take care of the environment on the electing their raw materials and their manufacturing processes. Likewise, those...
Sexual Violence as Weapon of War
Marita Seara, blogging for Voces Visibles, invites us to reflect on the suffering of women sexually subdued during armed conflicts. The author recommends us to watch the documentary The war against women, where director Hernán Zin describes rape as real “weapons of war” and confronts us with the reality of...
A March in Solidarity with Migrants Who Perished Trying to Reach Europe
“Europe is fighting its own make-believe enemy”: This is the message that a dozen of associations in defense of migrants wanted to convey when they organized a human chain between the tramway station “Droits de l'Homme (Human Rights)” and the EU Parliament station in Strasbourg on November 26. In order to put Human Rights back at...
Paddington Bear Visits the Land of His Peruvian Forefathers
El oso Paddington, popular personaje de ficción de literatura infantil del Reino Unido, llegó al Perú, su tierra natal como parte de una campaña del Ministerio de Comercio Exterior y Turismo del país andino.
Moments of Life: A Call for Sympathy
Carlos G. de Juan, blogging on Hacia rutas de cambio positivo (Towards routes of positive change), offers a reflection through a short mute film about the story of many homeless people in big cities, who had a normal life until life struck them so hard they just lost heart: Esta...
What is Your Carbon Footprint?
Today it is becoming increasingly common to hear about climate change, a topic everybody talks about but are rarely aware of its real impact. We've heard many times that we are all contributing to the destruction of the planet, but how can we know the footprint we are leaving behind? This...
