Stories from Quick Reads from August, 2013
A Letter on Syria to Western Narcissists
From Lebanon, Sean Lee, of The Human Province, pens a letter to Western narcissists on Syria: But please, don't let the conflict in Syria be about opposing America. Let it...
Lebanon: The Smell of Death
On August 23, two bombs exploded in outside two mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. Forty-seven people were killed, and over 500 injured. Joey Ayoub, at Hummus for...
1100 Year Old Hindu Temple Discovered in Bangladesh
Bangladesh Unlocked reports that archaeologists from Jahangirnagar University (JU) have excavated an 1100 year old Hindu temple from the Pala dynasty at a village in Dinajpur district of Northern Bangladesh....
Iran: Facebook Diplomacy
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs, posted a short piece with six questions about Syria on his Facebook page which received 1,100 comments as of Friday, August 30. Some called Zarif on...
VIDEO: A Portrait of Equal Marriage in Brazil
Liberdade na Rede blog shares [pt] a short documentary by Brazilian journalist Alicia Peres on equal marriage, called Meninas (Girls). The documentary portrays moments in the lives of Priscila and Juliana: São menos...
Secrets To Enjoy Your Traffic Jam
Traffic jam at the overcrowded mega-city Dhaka is one of the most irritating problems in Bangladesh. Karim at Amader kotha shares some secret tips to utilize those boring moments of...
VIDEO: Angolan Prison Authorities Crack Down on Prisoners
A video showing what appears to be prison guards and firefighters beating a group of prisoners in Luanda (warning: graphic) has been widely shared on Angolan social media. Amnesty International...
South Korea: 4500 Catholic Leaders Protest Against the Spy Agency Scandal
Prominent citizen journalist Media Mongu posted a Youtube video of Catholic leaders denouncing the state spy agency's interference in the presidential election. His description read ‘an unprecedented number of 4502...
How Vietnam Got its Name
Le Minh Khai traces the history of how Vietnam got its name and explains the inaccuracies in some historical accounts about the origins of the name. Ultimately, the name Việt...
South Koreans Call for Medical Checkups for Rescue Workers Dispatched to Fukushima
As it turns out radioactive water leaks at Japan's Fukushima plant are ‘much worse than‘ the authorities are willing to admit, South Koreans call on government to provide regular and thorough medical...
Peruvian Merchants Burn Clothing to Protest Chinese Imports
Merchants from the Gamarra [es] area, a well-known center of textile manufacturing and commercialization in Lima, burned imported Chinese clothing [es] in the streets as a protest over the low...
A Historian's Pessimistic Farewell to Macedonia
Historian, analyst and blogger Harald Schenker, who has lived in Macedonia since 1999 and is now moving to Switzerland, created social network buzz with his farewell post, addressed to a...
China's Decision on Cultural Reform
China's current crackdown on online rumors is consistent with the official decision [zh] released after the Sixth Plenum of the 17th Party Congress in October 2011. Oxford scholar Rogier Creemers from China...
Strike in Colombia Gains Momentum
Colombia's national strike, which began with an agrarian strike on August 19, is “gaining momentum with shows of support from the citizenry”, as Steven Cohen writes in Colombia Reports: More...
Trinidad & Tobago: No Action on Dog Control Act
Trinidadian diaspora blogger Jumbie's Watch, upset over the news that another person has been mauled to death by a pit bull, wonders why the President hasn't yet proclaimed The Dog...
Peruvian Runners Win Mexico City Marathon
Peruvian athletes Raúl Pacheco and Gladys Tejeda won their respective categories in the Mexico City Marathon [es]. Pacheco won the male category, crossing the finish line with a time of...
Kyrgyzstan to Become a ‘Beam of Light’ in the ‘Dark’ Region?
Blogger Bektour Iskender suggests [ru] that “free” Kyrgyzstan should allow citizens of the less free nations in Central Asia, particularly Turkmenistan, to stay in the country visa-free: OK, we have [visa-free...
Kazakhstan: Script Reform Is ‘Hardly Possible at All’
As Kazakhstan prepares for a highly controversial shift from Cyrillic script to Latin alphabet, its netizens are keen to note that a similar reform implemented years ago by Uzbekistan has...
Online Reporting of Bribery in Thailand
Bribespot Thailand encourages Thais to report cases of bribery and corruption in the country. Through an interactive map, the website also identifies bribery hotspots in Thailand.
Wikipedia in Guarani
This year, Wikipedia in Spanish reached one million articles and released a basic user guide in Guaraní. The idea is to revive the Guaraní-speaking community in this great platform. So...
