Stories from Quick Reads from May, 2013
Leaving North Korea
Concerns over insufficient protection of North Korean refugees have grown ever stronger as news came out that nine young North Korean defectors have been forced to return to North Korea...
Is There Still a President in Madagascar ?
Patrick Rajoelina argues that [fr] by law, if the president of the transition Andry Rajoelina still wants to run for the upcoming presidential elections in Madagascar, he can no longer be...
Tajik Constitution's ‘Fairy Tales’
Mardikornoma blog comments [tj] on the constitution of Tajikistan, suggesting that it has become more of a fairy tales book than the country's supreme law: As I skim through the pages...
Turkmenistan's White Marble-Clad Capital
Turkmenistan already has a record-breaking president and ever-rising wheat harvests. But this is not enough for the oil-rich country. Don Croner reports that Turkmenistan's capital, Ashgabat, has recently been awarded a...
VIDEO: Brazil's Police Intimidate Indigenous
Video [Audio and subtitles in Portuguese] recorded by the native Paygomuyatpu Mundurukku shows soldiers of the National Force verbally intimidating his tribe on the area of Belo Monte dam.
Chinese Motherland or Otherland?
The micro-blogger explained the meaning of otherland as: You thought it is motherland, in fact it is otherland; this country belongs to foreigners and those whose offsprings are living overseas....
Alleged South Korean Tax-Evaders Revealed
South Korea's independent investigative journalism site, NewsTapa, together with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), released its initial list containing names of South Korean corporate moguls who allegedly have founded paper companies in the...
Little PSY and his Vietnamese Heritage
After learning that Korean child actor Hwang Min-woo or Little PSY of Gangnam Style fame has been receiving hate messages for being half-Vietnamese, James Bao wrote him a letter urging...
Peruvian Physicians Separate Conjoined Twins
Peruvian physicians accomplished an unprecedented medical achievement in the country: for the first time they separated two female conjoined twins who were born united by their abdomens and shared a...
Oz Cyber Security Czar Ignorant of Tor
IT website Delimiter reports what would seem inconceivable to most people with an interest in Internet security: a senior Australian public servant responsible for cyber security policy has confessed to...
Macedonian Journalist's Arrest Stirs Protest
Macedonian journalists gathered [mk; video and text: sq, mk] in front of the Criminal Court in the capital Skopje today to protest against the arrest of their colleague, Tomislav Kezarovski,...
Taiwan Copyright Bill Worse Than SOPA
It said the U.S Stop Online Piracy Act demands IP blocking requests to be determined in court while the Taiwan copyrights amendement filter list will be managed by a government...
Central Asia's ‘Weird, Sad’ World Records
As Turkmenistan celebrates a recent Guinness World Record award for the highest density of white marble buildings, Caravanistan writes about the “weird, sad, and revealing” world records held by other countries...
New Blog Celebrates Sri Lanka’s Diversity
Mixed Rice is a new blog, which aims to celebrate Sri Lanka's diversity and provide a platform for thoughtful discussions about the forces that threaten unity.
35,000 Child Prostitutes in Bangladesh
Amader Kotha, a site dedicated to women's issues in Bangladesh reports that at least 35,000 children are being exploited sexually on a commercial basis in the country. More than half of...
Campaign to Liberate Oscar López Rivera
The campaign for the liberation of Puerto Rican independence fighter Oscar López Rivera has intensified. During 32 years López Rivera has been imprisoned in the United States charged with “seditious...
Vietnam and Same Sex Marriage
Writing for Tuoitrenews, Valentine Vu explains why Vietnam is not yet ready for the legalization of same sex marriage: …majority of the population still holds prejudice against homosexuality being a...
13-year-old Girl Publicly Shamed in China
A 13-year-old girl was handcuffed and then paraded on the streets after “accidentally spilling water on a town government vehicle” in Guizhou province. Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated Chinese netizens’ reaction.
