Stories from 26 June 2014
Western Ukraine Police Using Facebook to Increase Police Accountability
According to a report [uk] by RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe), heads of district police departments in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv have been ordered to set up Facebook profiles. As of June 25, 2014, all of them can be found and contacted through the social network, which the Head...
A Masked Superhero Is Riding Around This Colombian City and Feeding the Hungry
He is known as Super Pan (Super Bread, in English), and he gives bread to those who need it in the Colombian city of Bucaramanga.
How a Local Newspaper in India Is Empowering Rural Women to Write About Their Communities
Khabar Lahariya is an award-winning rural weekly newspaper published in local languages and run by 40 women. We spoke with editorial coordinator Poorvi Bhargava to find out more.
Meet Xiaobing, the (Fun? Annoying? Creepy?) Chatbot Taking Over China's Weibo
Microsoft's artificial intelligence robot, which is modeled after a 16-year-old girl, has found new life on Twitter-like Sina Weibo after being blocked on messaging app WeChat earlier this month.
China's Pixar? A Sneak Peek From New Animation Studio Light Chaser
Below is an edited version of the post “A sneak peek from China’s new animation-house upstart” by Jason Li, originally published on the blog 88 Bar. Light Chaser Animation is a startup animation studio based in Beijing. “Little Yeyos,” a short film about seven spirits living in the mythological Chinese spirit world, is...
Interview with Wife of Laos NGO Leader Sombath Somphone Who Went Missing in 2012
Writing for the Southeast Asia Globe, Kearrin Sims interviewed Shui Meng, wife of the disappeared Laotian development worker Sombath Somphone. Sombath, a prominent NGO leader in Laos, went missing in 2012. Various global groups suspect that local state forces have something to do with his mysterious disappearance. In the interview,...
This Philippine Wedding Video of a Dying Cancer Patient Will Move You to Tears
The groom died 10 hours after marrying his girlfriend. Diagnosed with stage IV liver cancer last month, his dying wish was to marry the mother of his two-year old daughter. The wedding took place in a public hospital in Manila, Philippines. The video instantly became popular in the Internet.
Farmers in China's Guangdong Province Are Buzzing About ‘Delicious’ Locusts
Charles Liu from Nanfang.com highlighted a new type of agriculture among farmers in Guangdong province: raising locusts to serve as a meal. Here is his suggested recipe: 1. Remove their wings; boil them in water to remove their excrement, and then deep fry them. 2. Add hot peppers, scallions and...
Confessions of an Ex-Football Fan in Chile
On the blog section of Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, Gustavo Santander writes that he doesn't like football, even though he ends up watching the matches with his friends and sharing stories so much that someone told him once: “you know a lot for someone who doesn't like football.” He explains there...
Tajikistan's GBAO Region – an Incredible Place
In the last few weeks Global Voices has published and republished several articles about the unlawful arrest of our community member Alexander Sodiqov. Those pieces are here, here, here and here. But the Pamir region (known administratively as Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, or GBAO) where Alex was conducting academic research is not...
Propaganda Wars: Russian Twitter Account Takes on American “Progress” in Iraq
Someone writing in Russian has issued the latest Internet challenge to the US government, launching a Twitter account parodying Washington's "counter-propaganda" feed about events in Ukraine.
Trinidad & Tobago: Secrets of the CL Financial Bailout?
The public is being told that the CL Financial bailout is being resolved, while at the same time the Minister of Finance & the Economy is withholding the fundamental information which any prudent person would need to make a decision. Afra Raymond wonders what is being hidden.
The Clock on Bolivia's Legislative Building Now Runs Counterclockwise
The clock on top of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia in La Paz's Murillo Square stopped working and had some defects. So a decision was made to repair it along with making some changes: the old Roman numbers on the face were replaced by new natural numbers. Another change that...