Manny Pacquiao faces Floyd Mayweather in $300m showdown on May 2 . Pac-Man has released own entrance song 'Lalaban Ako Para Sa Filipino' The 36-year-old also directed the music video ahead of Las Vegas clash .


The schedule is rigorous and exhausting: wake up at 6:00 AM, get ready, study the scriptures for an hour or so, then it's out into the street, knocking doors, keeping appointments, teaching lessons to people, performing service (helping old people with gardening, painting people's houses, helping people move, just whatever kind of help people might have), delivering media people have requested (like if you've ever seen those commercials the church has where people can call a number and request a free video or Bible or Book of Mormon or something), etc. You basically work as hard as you can all day, then fall exhausted into bed about 10:30 and do it all again the next day. After a few months I was asked to serve in leadership positions (they're are "District Leaders" and "Zone Leaders" who oversee other missionaries in their areas) so I had all of my regular missionary duties as well as keeping tabs on the needs of the other men and women (Elders and Sisters, as we called each other) in addition. You don't have anything: a suitcase containing a bunch of dark slacks and white shirts and ties, your scriptures and journal, maybe a few personal things, and that's it. You spend every minute outside of the bathroom with another missionary whom you've never met before (I was lucky, though, as my companions were all really great guys).


Sure, here are some recommendations: - Photoshop - Gimp - Paint - Sketch - Adobe Illustrator - Affinity Designer - Affinity Photo


time to motivate.. lets hope my skillz aren't too rusty. 4 months since i've touched illustrator .. its like riding a bicycle, nvr forget


Suvir Mirchandani measured ink used in typefaces and found Garamond was most cost-effective . Teenager came up with the idea for his school science project .


@xbllygbsn whats 27� ? :$ oh shh dont need to lose anything hahaa ;) lucky ;) im away in like 10mins


Asta countered the Spade Kingdom's commandor's poison attack with the demon destroyer sword, then cut the attacking citadel in half, defeating the captain in a single blow.


I'm Bobby from Prohaska Inc , Quality . We need your device for our operations urgently . Can we expedite the order ?


West Ham are hoping to sign AC Milan youngster M'Baye Niang on loan . 19-year-old has attracted interest from Everton, Tottenham and Arsenal .


Regarding the scholarship program of Schamberger - O'Connell , may I verify the application requirements? Is the educational organization situated in Valais ?


The NHL teams in this list are as follows: Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, and the Minnesota Wild.


The New York Times: "Seizing on a groundswell of support for rewriting the nation's immigration laws ..." The Washington Post: "Obama added to momentum on Capitol Hill in favor of an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws ..." We saw the same supportive approach when The Pentagon lifted a ban on women serving in front-line combat positions, which, despite some conservative opposition, was greeted with favorable features that largely depicted the move as long overdue. Watch: Should N.Y. Times Have Censored Company Name Over the S-Word? As with many perpetual Beltway disputes, the contours of a common-sense compromise on immigration have been clear for some time. The right wants tougher border enforcement and employer verification procedures. The left wants undocumented immigrants taken out of the "shadows," as Obama put it, and given a chance to become openly productive members of society. The key are the tradeoffs. How long would a path to citizenship take? Are fines and back taxes required? How do we ensure that those who broke the law don't get an unfair advantage over legal applicants? I don't argue with the standard political analysis that the moment may be ripe for immigration reform. Watch: Media Seize on Emotional Moment of Gabby Giffords' Testimony . Mitt Romney, who talked about wanting immigrants to "self-deport," got clobbered among Hispanic voters. The GOP has lost the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections.


1:12. pull up on the parking lot, a block away from the hair dressers. 1:27. hoist myself through the doors, finally here. vomit at the ready. 1:32 and so, the empty hairdressers greeted me, this would be an in and out job, nothing more, nothing less. quick and clean. the woman at the reception desk comes up to lead me to a chair after a few minutes of waiting and just as i open my mouth to say 'thanks'. a storm of regret, jack, bacardi, coke and dry biscuits topples out like niagara falls, sliding down her dress, the majority of it on the floor and her shoes and then i slump back into a stationary position only for her to do some sort of patrick stewart quadruple take. i'm freaking out, she's freaking out, the other hairdresser is in a limbo of anger and laughter and i just lift my hands up in defense and walk at a fairly brisk pace backwards while saying sorry all the while. still haven't got my hair cut. edit: i didn't add it for the overall flow and comedic effect of the story but my roommate drove me up there, i did not drink and drive.


Gilbert definitely has a new spicy hot spot, Joyride Taco House complete with festive decor with a relaxed and friendly atomosphere! I joined friends and family on opening night 7 in all, Justin our waiter handled us like a pro. Not only was he a good waiter but everytime I blinked there was someone at our table with water, drink refills or clearing our table asking us if we needed anything else, they rock the team work attitude! From the homemade chips & fireroasted salsa of which we devoured 3-4 helpings to the tasty chicken tinga, shrimp & scallop tacos,chicken nachos,machaca burritos, empanadas and El Domingo dessert with carmelized pineapple, caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream we finished every tasty bite! \nAn extra thank you for replacing my picky princesses taco, which came with beans she wasn't willing to eat, once the beans were gone so was her taco! Happy kid, happpy Mom!\nThis is the place to go to add a little spice in your foodie life! I'm looking forward to going back to try the variety of drinks and dive into the charred habenero "melt your face" salsa! Oh yes, and more chips please!


My breakthrough came when David Wilson , Senior Director at Machine Intelligence Corp , noticed my project at the Global Tech Summit . Within two weeks , I was hired as a machine learning specialist at their Seattle office . Now , three years later , I lead a team of 8 engineers , managing a budget of 1.2million annually .


His data-dependent chart format made him an enabler for amateur statisticians and precocious list-compilers, kids who couldn't afford subscriptions to the trade magazines. The sturdy scaffolding under Kasem's success was his voice: upbeat, naturally modulated, soothing without being smarmy. Hear him once and he became Casey: familiar, somehow. You could accuse him of being corny, a shameless Pez dispenser of sentimental patter and clich쨬©d advice along with pablum pop. You'd be literally correct but also fundamentally clueless about his down-to-earth appeal. Kasem managed to be commercial without coming across like a hyped-up huckster. He made it seem easy, and also seamless, for instance segueing from a convoluted factoid about Top 10 hits with the word "Doctor" in the title to a Dr. Pepper spot. His voice was the product of formative years spent jumping from radio station to station as well as some acting work. Voice-over gigs proved to be a consistent and profitable sidelight; Kasem's resonant tones appeared in commercials and cartoons. Somewhat improbably, he supplied the voice of Norville "Shaggy" Rogers on "Scooby-Doo." No doubt this further endears him to a generation weaned on musty anachronisms such as network television and Top 40 radio. Tributes: 'Keep reaching for the stars' Truthfully, even at his most popular, Kasem was a bit of an anachronism. When "America's Top 40" debuted in 1970, the rock revolution was in full swing, and free-form FM radio was on the rise.


Current Analysis of Age-Related Treatment Response Patterns During quarterly assessments spanning 18 months , researchers at SeniorCare Institute observed distinct patterns. Chief Medical Officer Robert Williams from the Geriatric Medicine Department reported that subjects from Uppsala County showed 15 % higher responsiveness. The study, funded with 3.2million euros , utilized advanced monitoring systems with device identifiers and addresses recorded for data integrity. Patient records were secured using encrypted protocols and unique identifiers.


Items selected:\n2012 Dom Perignon Brut, Champagne\nVenison Croquette with Apple Moustard\nMarti Foie - Foie Gras, Honey, Tahitian Vanilla, Vodka with Candied Walnuts, Caramelized Pears, Pear Sorbet, Fruit Salad\nBaguette and unsalted butter\nAndre's Classic Lobster Thermidor - Cognac, Gruyere, Mustard, Asparagus, Mushrooms\n2008 5 Puttonyos Royal Tokaji\nPan Seared Duck Foie Gras - Verjus Reduction, Dried Fruit and Almond Custard Tart\nSeared Jumbo Sea Scallop - Curried Beurre Blanc, Carrot Ginger Puree, Pickled Fennel\n2009 Talbott Kali Hart Vineyard, Pinot Noir\nSauteed Sweetbreads - Minus 8 and Bing Cherries, Sauteed Spinach in Puff Pastry\nPan Seared Duck Breast - Spiced Orange Gastrique, Duck Jus, Duck and Pistachio Sausage, Currant and Couscous Cake, Sauteed Kale\nPort Salut - Cherry Compote, Macadamia Tuile\nMango Sorbet - Caramelized Hibiscus, Tapioca\nCadbury Egg Souffl\u00e9 with Creamy Chocolate Sabayon Sauce\nBrandied Cherries\nAlmond and Coconut Truffles\n\nLocated next to Yusho in the renovated Monte Carlo Andre's had long resided on my Vegas \""to do\"" list and with the new Spring menu launch coinciding with Easter Traditions I finally opted to pay homage to Chef Rochat's celebrated dining room for a refined experience far too uncommon in this city of modern glitz and glamour.


Groundwater is definitely declining. What now? “We need to protect water supplies,” says Wash. Gov. Ferguson. But conservation alone won't solve the problem


Forage King brings gospel of gathering to Northwest. Robin Greenfield has sworn off groceries for a year. Here’s how, here’s why


Fergus McIntosh: “Fact-checking is like taking a car apart in a workshop”. In a media landscape riddled with disinformation, where tracing information back to its source has become difficult, fact-checking by editorial teams is vital. Few know the stakes of this essential work better than Fergus McIntosh, the head research editor running the historic fact-checking department at the American weekly magazine The New Yorker.


Why I chose to study journalism. The context may be challenging and the future uncertain, but Kamiel Vermeulen remains optimistic. The 26-year-old journalist from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) recently completed a master’s degree in journalism and is convinced that the profession has a bright future ahead.


Quality information, an endangered public good. In a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between reliable news and falsehoods, urgent action is needed to defend the right to trustworthy information.


Charity Ekezie: “News organizations need to find more creative ways to engage with youth”. Trained as a journalist, Nigerian content creator Charity Ekezie has shifted from traditional media to focus entirely on digital platforms. In viral videos posted on social media, the TikTok star with 3.7 million followers uses humour to challenge stereotypical perceptions of Africa.


The fake parenting expert Chinese daughters invented to talk to their parents. A fictional parenting expert became a viral sensation after giving Chinese daughters a voice their parents were more willing to hear.


Nepali Poet Viplob Pratik on literature, language, and a life shaped by words. Global Voices interviews leading Nepali writer Viplob Pratik about his four-decade literary career, reflections on language, culture, technology, society, and literature's enduring relevance across generations in changing times today worldwide.


New female falcon takes up residence in MSU nest box, but no eggs are laid. By Demonte Thomas A new female peregrine falcon has appeared at Michigan State University's falcon nesting box atop Spartan Stadium, marking a significant change at a nesting site occupied by peregrine falcons for years.


Study finds climate warming directly affects the makeup of plant communities. By Anna Barnes In Michigan, sugar maple populations are rising and eastern redbud trees are making their way north, while coniferous trees, like the black spruce, continue to decline. One suspected cause: climate warming.


Pride is at Home in Sarajevo, But the Rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina Struggles to Follow. Last year, the sixth Sarajevo Pride March brought thousands of people to the streets of Sarajevo in support of the queer community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Memorials and Commemorations in Prijedor: Preserving Facts or Entrenching Divisions? Once a well-known iron ore mine, after 1992, the name Omarska became synonymous with the most notorious detention camp where Bosniaks and Croats from the Prijedor area were tortured and killed.


Srebrenica Youth School 2026. On the occasion of commemorating the 31st anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, the Srebrenica Youth School 2026, organized by the Post-Conflict Research Center, will take place from July 6 to 12 in Sarajevo, Tuzla, and Srebrenica.


Interactive museum adventures in Sarajevo and Zagreb. The post-Yugoslav transition has given rise to various complex relationships with the past.


Tuzla’s Kapija: A Place of Memory and A Crime Awaiting Justice. Powerful verses are engraved at the Kapija Memorial, where, on Youth Day, May 25th, 1995, a massacre was committed against the young people of Tuzla.


Somalia’s emerging security vacuum. Last week, Reuters reported that the United States had informed the African Union (AU) that it would no longer support United Nations-funded logistical assistance for the AU Support and Stabilisation


BHEKISISA CROSSWORD #7. Think you know South Africa’s health system? Put your knowledge to the test with Bhekisisa’s health crossword. Drawing on years of reporting, investigations, data and policy coverage, the puzzle offers a fun way to explore the stories, issues and people that have shaped healthcare in South Africa. Stuck on a clue? The answers are waiting somewhere on


Health Beat #39 | Inside SA’s illegal weight-loss drug trade. This week on Health Beat, the booming market for illegal weight-loss jabs: why are so many people willing to risk them?


Collapse of the Amazon Basin Ecosystem: A Death Foretold. If deforestation continues to rise, forest ecosystems — so vital for conserving biodiversity, replenishing water, and maintaining atmospheric balance, as well as being the ancestral home of thousands of Indigenous peoples — are doomed.


Unity, territory, and resistance mark the Assembly of Social Movements. The assembly highlights grassroots work, autonomy, and popular alternatives as pillars of change


March for climate: at COP30, 70,000 people demand climate justice. During the march, we also explored the histories of struggle of people from various regions of the planet


U.S. Treasury sanctions on a VPN service knocked out Telegram’s short-link domain worldwide. U.S. Treasury Department sanctions caused a global outage of the t.me domain on July 14, writes the author of the Telegram channel teleLakel, who obtained an official comment from Identity Digital, the company that operates the .me top-level domain.


Russian media executive Ksenia Sobchak dismisses ‘leaked messages’ that appear to show her dictating her outlet’s coverage: ‘Now it’s ethical to discuss invented screenshots?’. On July 8, the hacker group Black Mirror — which publishes data leaks from the accounts of people tied to the Russian state — and the anonymous VChK-OGPU project posted screenshots of several private conversations. One of the people in them, they said, was the journalist and media executive Ksenia Sobchak.


Ukrainska Pravda: Zelensky offers the prime minister’s job to Naftohaz chief Serhiy Koretsky and a mandate to steel Ukraine’s energy system for the war’s hardest winter yet. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered the prime minister’s post to Serhiy Koretsky, the head of the energy company Naftohaz, the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing unnamed sources. The Financial Times and RBC-Ukraine had earlier named Koretsky one of the leading candidates for the job.


The frustrations (and aspirations) of an annual report. Across thousands of grassroots organisations in India, a familiar ritual unfolds every year—the making of an annual report. It usually begins with the best intentions of the founder, moves through the chaos of middle management, is fed with inputs from team members on the ground, is compiled by someone who focuses on the aesthetics of the document more than its content, and somehow ends in a glossy document that looks far more calm and organised than the process that produced it. This article is written from the point of view of one such report. -- Hi, you can call me AR.vf.VF.VFF.VFFFF.doc. My pronouns are she/her because I am expected to look flawless while quietly carrying a lot of expectations. Today, I’m going to tell you my story. Conception I was conceived nine months ago in the mind of our leader, in our monthly team meeting, which is where good intentions go to become somebody else’s problem. I was assigned to the newest, youngest team member whose only relevant qualifications were


Why women dream of making chili powder in Meghalaya. https://youtu.be/viKmcXQXlbQ?si=TTTBRkkqNajyxa82 In 2020, SeSTA started working with people in the villages of North Garo Hills district in Meghalaya with the aim of creating sustainable livelihoods. The mandate was to help poultry farmers, crop farmers, and micro-entrepreneurs in boosting production, setting up market linkages, and adopting scientific practices that allow them to increase their income in the long run. It soon became a process of collaboration where people brought in fresh ideas and traditional knowledge to make the most of the support that was reaching them. In this video, Hejilla Sangma, Laijish Sangma, Salche D Sangma, and Usha R Marak talk about using community networks to diversify their businesses and what they hope to achieve in the future. Sandip Rabha and Sesrang Koksie from SeSTA and Kalkamchi M Sangma from Faith Foundation also contributed to this article.


Thaak, kantalo aney garmi: Climate reshapes artisans’ lives in Ahmedabad. Shahnaz Kucheravala, a 44-year-old master craftsperson in Ahmedabad, describes how the making of handicrafts is shaped by seasonal patterns. “Block printing is done during the summer when the dye and fabric can dry easily. Periods of low humidity are better for embroidery and stitching, as natural fabrics tend to expand, get mouldy, or stained during the monsoon.” However, rising heat, humidity, and unseasonal rainfall in recent years have begun disrupting these traditional rhythms. “We get most of our work in the summer ahead of the festive season. But with artisans or their family members falling sick because of the heat, it becomes hard to complete orders and sometimes we even lose clients,” she explains. Globally, extreme weather events such as heatwaves are becoming more frequent and prolonged, with urban heat island effects intensifying in densely populated cities. Gujarat is no exception. The state ranks among the world’s top fifty regions most at risk from climate hazards. Ahmedabad district in particular has seen a consistent increase in the duration and intensity


A personality test for the social sector paglus: Part II. The social sector has many personalities. The idealistic. The chaotic. The deeply, sometimes alarmingly, committed. Over time, you meet these personalities in meeting rooms that run 40 minutes over, in e-mail threads that should have been a two-line message, and in pilot projects that have been ‘bas abhi thode time’ away from scale for approximately four years. You recognise them before their names even appear on the thread, a kind of sixth sense, developed through suffering and shared Google Docs. This article is part 2 of your field guide to these familiar figures. 1. The M&E enthusiast If it cannot be measured, it did not happen. If it can be measured, it must be reported quarterly. In four formats. Secretly holds the whole programme together. Nobody says this enough. 2. The whisperer Knows exactly whom to call for what. Across organisations, districts, and government departments, and that one helpful person buried three levels deep in bureaucracy. You do not question their network. You forward the problem and wait, gratefully. Has


Amazon Drought, Kalangala Agroforests & Carbon Confusion. From carbon delays to cultural planting models, today’s forest fixes reveal a deeper tension between what’s counted and what actually counts.


How To Celebrate a Falling Empire This Semiquincentennial. Plus: Why a non-unanimous decision on birthright citizenship should concern us all—and how we keep fighting when we want to give in to crippling fear, grief, and panic.


From a Photo to Abuse: How AI Is Used to Harm Women Online in Indonesia. Trigger warning: The story contains descriptions of digital sexual abuse and violence. AI tools are making it easier to create sexualized images without consent while victims face real-world consequences and live in fear. Big tech platforms, from Meta to X, TikTok, Telegram, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and OpenAI, haven’t done enough about it. It was June


Bantaeng’s Dust Season: Living on the Front Lines of the Nickel Boom. Residents around the Bantaeng Industrial Park must live with thick dust and the constant roar of nickel smelters that are steadily damaging their health and the environment. The “national strategic project” the government promotes as a road to prosperity has instead become a source of seemingly endless hardship. Ambo One afternoon in October 2025, thick


E20 debate reveals India’s uneven energy transition trade-offs. India’s ethanol push boosts energy security and farm incomes, but consumers remain unconvinced amid mileage and price concerns. The controversy surrounding India’s E20 fuel programme has exposed a deeper tension than a disagreement over automotive technology. Recent proceedings in the Supreme Court and the subsequent clarification issued by the government brought renewed attention to a


Nationalistic performance versus Bushido traditions: Debates over Japanese cleanup at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The domestic cynicism serves as a vital reminder that true national dignity cannot be manufactured for international praise.


Mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus found in Milwaukee. Here’s how to protect yourself. Milwaukee residents are being urged to take extra precautions against bites after the first mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus in the state this year were identified in the city, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services


Post From Community: Gallery Night MKE at Charles Allis Art Museum. Join us for Milwaukee Summer Gallery Night on July 17, and Gallery Day on the 18th.


CN Appeal of 231 Bay Street North Intensification Closed at OLT Following City Council Action. The CN Rail appeal of a Hamilton Committee of Adjustment decision approving intensification within an existing building at 231 Bay Street North has been closed at the Ontario Land Tribunal. CN Rail filed the appeal because the building’s long-standing residential use was not recognized and had not been deemed a “Class 4 Area” as defined


Joey’s Linkblog: A Journalism Focused Edition. This edition of my linkblog is focused on journalism. It is a collection of links to stories and issues of interest to my work.


City Manager Marnie Cluckie Departing Hamilton to become CAO of Halifax Regional Municipality. Cluckie will become Halifax's Chief Administrative Officer after two and a half years leading Hamilton.


Hamilton Police Board Cancels Meeting at Last Minute: No Reason Provided. Last week, Council Citizen appointee Anjali Menezes unexpectedly resigned and called for Ontario's Solicitor General to dissolve the Board.


12-Storey, 153-Unit Rental Tower Proposed for Governor’s Road and Ogilvie Street in Dundas Valley. Wilson says community consultation will be critical given the area's ecological and heritage significance. Design Review hearing on July 9th.


Dr. Anjali Menezes Quits Hamilton Police Board and Calls on Solicitor General to Dissolve It. Menezes says the board is a rubber-stamp for police and has failed marginalized communities


NJ legislators approve bills on data centers, nuclear energy and more. New Jersey legislators pondered and passed more than 100 bills Tuesday in Trenton on their race to summer recess.


New Jersey passes bill to expand nuclear energy. Despite opposition from advocacy groups and concerns about cost, the legislature unanimously passed the "Power NJ Act" to increase nuclear power across the state.


The Russian ‘counterterrorism’ unit behind Alexei Navalny’s poisoning tried to automate its search for domestic dissent using Meta’s Llama 2. After a year and a half, the project collapsed. The FSB’s Second Service is officially charged with protecting the constitutional order and combating terrorism. In practice, the unit works to stamp out dissent in Russia: it has plotted the assassinations of opposition politicians, works to restrict internet access, and monitors the news for signs of dissent. To automate that last job, the “Dvoyka” — as the Second Service is known — commissioned an AI-powered system for monitoring news outlets and social media in the spring of 2024. The developer was the Kazan-based company Mikord, which had also worked on components of Russia’s unified military registry and was hacked in December 2025. iStories examined material from that breach relating to the FSB’s news monitoring system. The system was called PAUK — Russian for “SPIDER.”


Goldenrod Therapeutics raises $6.5 million to test UNMC-created drug that could change modern medicine. Incubated by Houston-based Fannin Innovation Studio, the 11h drug created in Nebraska will move toward phase 1 clinical trials in humans. If successful, it could serve as a miracle treatment for incurable neurodegenerative diseases.


BHEKISISA CROSSWORD #8. Think you know South Africa’s health system? Put your knowledge to the test with Bhekisisa’s health crossword. Drawing on years of reporting, investigations, data and policy coverage, the puzzle offers a fun way to explore the stories, issues and people that have shaped healthcare in South Africa. Stuck on a clue? The answers are waiting somewhere on


Who belongs on your board. A good board can add tremendous value to an organisation. The law requires every registered nonprofit to have one, but in the early stages, boards are often made up of friends and family. It rarely evolves to include other kinds of individuals who can add value to the role and to the organisation's mission. Founders of nonprofits in India continue to rely heavily on inviting board members they already have some relationship with, usually directly or through other board members or stakeholders of the organisation. This isn't always problematic, but it does limit how well an organisation can identify the best person for an effective board role. Nonprofits also tend to prioritise funding and fundraising skills as the key requirement for board involvement. And while this is an important element, given that a lot of funding in India is based on relationships and on the founder’s own credibility, it raises a real question. If a nonprofit wants to strengthen its board beyond its ability to draw in funding, what are


Is Meghalaya learning to read its own health data? For decades, any serious conversation about public health in India's Northeast has begun with an apology for the gaps in research, evidence, and data. Policy briefs hedge with caveats. Academic papers note the absence of region-specific studies. Programme reviews flag poor reporting. And somewhere in that recurring acknowledgement of what is missing, the Northeast has become an afterthought in national health discussions—visible on the map, but often invisible in the evidence. Meghalaya exemplified this most sharply. A state of more than 30 lakh people, governed through a layered patchwork of district administrations, traditional institutions, and autonomous district councils, it rarely appeared in national health literature except as a data point in a table, or worse, as a missing value. That absence of reliable data has real consequences. When data does not exist, decisions get made anyway on assumptions borrowed from elsewhere, on national averages that erase local variation, on the instincts of administrators who might or might not understand the terrain. The absence of data is never neutral. It shapes


Operation Sindoor: Did Rajnath Singh claim no soldiers were killed? Soon after the Union government on June 26 officially disclosed the names of the six armed forces personnel killed during Operation Sindoor last year, Opposition leaders demanded Union defence minister Rajnath Singh’s resignation alleging that Singh had “lied to” Parliament and the general public in his 2025 speech, by claiming that no soldiers had been


Federal Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Are Bankrupting States. Some Are Fighting Back.


Ukrainian heritage month bill stalls as House breaks for summer. Bill S-210 has passed the Senate and cleared a House committee, but MPs did not complete the final debate before the Commons adjourned until Sept. 21.


AI is reshaping both sides of Canada’s immigration fraud battle. As artificial intelligence becomes a tool for both fraudsters and the federal government, Canada’s immigration system is entering an arms race in which the same technology is being used to deceive authorities—and to detect deception.


Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom drops 5% to an all-time low on the Moscow Exchange. Gazprom shares fell to 83.98 rubles on the Moscow Exchange on July 16, hitting an all-time low — down 5% from the previous session’s close.


‘I felt like I had been loaned out’: the children sent to relatives in search of a better life. Image Description: A folded school uniform rests on a concrete floor beside a straw broom, a shallow metal basin, and a small cooking pot. The room is dim and empty with no people present. Fatimah’s life would never be the same after her mother decided to move on with a new husband. She was born out…


The “Politics” of Faces on Interior Ministry Pages. On the Syrian Interior Ministry’s official Telegram channel, news of an arrest is rarely presented as a mere administrative notice. More often, it is accompanied by a photograph, a video clip, or emphatic language that frames the detainee not as a suspect still under investigation, but as part of an almost fully formed security narrative: “terrorist cell,” “criminal,” “preemptive strike,” “the Ministry brought them down.”...


Why Syria Needs to Reckon With the Massacres of 1860. Last July, as I watched with sorrow the bloodshed unfolding in Suwayda, I found myself, almost instinctively, searching the pages of history for answers. I was outside Syria at the time, but I had with me Eugene Rogan’s The Damascus Events, which recounts in detail another massacre that likewise unfolded beneath the July sun, more than a century and a half before the events in...


Syria’s Antiquities Trade Fantasy. Over the past several years, antiquities trafficking – and the brokerage networks that grew up around it – have become more than a fringe phenomenon linked to illegal excavation and smuggling. They have come to embody what might be called an “economy of illusion”: a moment when thousands of Syrians shifted from looking for work to looking for a miracle, and from relying on hard...


He was supposed to fund Russia’s drive to replace Western imports. So how did an adult-diaper factory end up losing 50 million rubles? A Moscow court has ordered the detention of Dmitry Kolobov on suspicion of fraud on an especially large scale. Kolobov formerly headed the Industry and Trade Ministry’s Department for Industrial Development and Socially Significant Goods. The Russian state news agency TASS and the business news outlet RBC reported the detention, citing sources.


As Russian missiles and drones pound Kyiv, the EU targets the conglomerate that builds the guidance systems for both. The European Council imposed sanctions in July in response to Russian strikes on Kyiv. The measures target Irina Kharisova, chair of ABS Electro’s board, and five companies within the group.


Are nesting dolls and kokoshnik headdresses even Russian? A former Pushkin Museum director’s answer just got her reported to prosecutors. On June 18, Elizaveta Likhacheva, an art historian and former director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, sat down with YouTuber Pavel Kostin for an interview that focused mainly on education and child-rearing — but it was her remarks on Russian culture and identity that drew the most attention. “Why distance ourselves from Western culture? I don’t understand it,” she told Kostin. “Russia is part of a great civilization. For us, this may be our last chance to reckon with that question.”


Baruipur rape-murder accused Ananda Sardar was CPI(M)’s polling agent? No, fake document viral. A screenshot of an alleged Facebook post is being widely shared on social media with the claim that Ananda (Anondo) Sardar, one of the accused arrested in the alleged rape and murder of a minor in West Bengal’s Baruipur, had served as a CPI(M) polling agent during the 2026 assembly elections. The minor girl’s body


Beyond the spotlight: Three PhD scholars, 21 days without food, and a government that remains unmoved. By the time Delhi Police removed Sonam Wangchuk from Jantar Mantar and admitted him to Safdarjung Hospital on the morning of July 18, the spotlight had already been fixed on his deteriorating health. But a few metres away from the main stage, three lesser-known faces remained where they had been for three weeks — still


Cambodian law can render citizens stateless for ‘undermining national security’. “I know how easily words like ‘traitor’ and ‘enemy’ can be wielded by those in power to crush hope and sow fear.”


In a Wisconsin land rush, data centers made them millionaires. Some sellers whose properties fetched several times the fair market value are dissatisfied, and their former neighbors aren’t happy either.


Nepal’s slum demolitions spark human rights outcry. Nepal’s slum demolitions have displaced thousands, turning a promise of land reform into a human rights crisis. The mass eviction of slums and informal settlements in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and surrounding districts has displaced an estimated 15,000–20,000 people. On April 25, the Nepal government began forcibly removing landless residents from the Kathmandu Valley, later extending


Roscosmos institute scientist arrested in Moscow on treason charges. Moscow’s Meshchansky Court has arrested Maxim Kravchuk, a 35-year-old scientist, on treason charges, the Russian Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti and the Russian business news outlet RBC reported.


Moscow Exchange index falls to lowest since fall 2022. Russia’s Moscow Exchange index dropped below 1,900 points at Monday’s open for the first time since October 10, 2022.


Prairie Portraits: Amy Johnson. The Prairie Portraits series features founders, funders and community builders from Nebraska's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.


A 12-year-old’s antiwar drawing sent her father to Russian prison. Three years later, they’re starting over in Paris after a stalled bid for asylum in Germany. In the fall of 2024, Alexei Moskalev — released from prison after being convicted of “discrediting” the Russian military — reunited with his 14-year-old daughter, Masha, and the two moved from Russia to Armenia. There, they applied for a German humanitarian visa. But in 2025, Germany effectively closed that program to Russians. In March 2026, France issued humanitarian visas to the Moskalevs. On July 17, they were granted political asylum. Bereg, a cooperative of independent journalists, spoke with Alexei Moskalev about how the family’s new life is beginning. Meduza is publishing the interview in full.


Roskomnadzor says it isn’t blocking the App Store, but Russia’s outage started the day after its ultimatum to Apple expired. Users in Russia have been reporting problems with the App Store. Availability of the service began declining on July 16 and has not recovered since. Roskomnadzor representatives said they are not blocking the App Store. Journalists, however, suspect Russian authorities imposed the restrictions in response to Apple’s recent removal of VK apps from the App Store. Here’s what’s confirmed so far, and what a full App Store block in Russia could mean for users.


Milwaukee celebrates Hank Aaron with mural at Clinton Rose Senior Center. Henry “Hank” Aaron’s legacy and the 50th anniversary of his 755th home run were honored Monday in Milwaukee.


In Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta, debt can be deadlier than droughts. Farmers too scarred by extreme droughts and saltwater intrusion to borrow again


Myanmar’s lifeline river becomes harder to navigate. Longer dry spells, stronger monsoon currents and conflict-driven forest loss are making the Lay Myo River – one of northern Rakhine State's main transport lifelines – shallower and less predictable


What’s in a cut: the grass not so green on the other side. As climate impacts intensify, tender beef lovers in Viet Nam ultimately face ethical questions beyond food fraud


Democratising outcomes-based financing. India set out on its outcomes-based finance (OBF) journey in 2015 with the Educate Girls Development Impact Bond. Since then, at least USD 59 million[1] has been mobilised through various OBF initiatives across sectors such as health, education, employment, and livelihoods.[2] OBF is broadly defined as a flexible set of financing mechanisms and organisational strategies that link payments to the achievement of pre-defined and verified outcomes. All OBF mechanisms are defined around three principles: the extent to which funding is tied to results, the balance between outputs and outcomes used to trigger payments, and allocation of performance risk among stakeholders. Discussions around scaling and mainstreaming OBF have recently gained momentum. This has been bolstered by the success of early initiatives and the government’s promotion of OBF for skilling and livelihoods. One of the ways in which OBF can be scaled is by ensuring that a larger number of donors and implementation partners (IPs) can participate, which is critical for the approach to gain credibility and evolve. While OBF


Transforming South Africa’s power grid, virtually. As South Africa's renewables boom creates millions of connected energy assets, Virtual Power Plants could transform homes into a smart network. Thabo Molelekwa investigates


Pollution regulations flouted as Zimbabwe’s plastic crisis deepens. Zimbabwe has had laws banning thin plastic packaging and polystyrene containers since 2010, but plastic waste has grown by 50,000 tonnes since then. Macdonald Mudzaki investigates


Mexico’s 99% Demanded Justice by Showing FIFA, Billionaires, and Corporations a Red Card


Baton-with-nails videos indeed from July 20 protests. Delhi Police, PIB’s ‘fact check’ incorrect. After participants from the July 20 march in Delhi put up videos on social media saying that police were carrying batons with nails fixed on them during the crackdown on protesters, Delhi police called the claims misleading and false. Two videos surfaced on social media showing such batons and protesters confronting police officers about their


Company secures world-first fusion power license in Washington. Construction is underway for a plant that will provide electricity for a Microsoft data center


BHEKISISA CROSSWORD #9. Think you know South Africa’s health system? Put your knowledge to the test with Bhekisisa’s health crossword. Drawing on years of reporting, investigations, data and policy coverage, the puzzle offers a fun way to explore the stories, issues and people that have shaped healthcare in South Africa. Stuck on a clue? The answers are waiting somewhere on


Old, unrelated video falsely shared as showing youths gathering at India Gate in support of the Delhi Police against the CJP protests. The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) began a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on 20 June 2026, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities. Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk joined the protest on 28 June and began an indefinite hunger strike. On 20 July, protesters launched a “Chalo


Mob vandalizing SUV: Bihar video falsely viral as Muslim CJP protestor torching BJP leader’s car. A video, around 37 seconds in length, is viral on social media, showing a Muslim man trying to set fire to a black SUV. It is being shared as showing a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protestor setting ablaze a car of a BJP worker in broad daylight. In the video, policemen can be spotted negotiating


None of these videos show Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay visiting Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) began a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on 20 June 2026, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities. Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk joined the protest on 28 June and began an indefinite hunger strike. On 20 July, protesters launched a “Chalo


Oracle credit rating drops amid Wisconsin fight over data center credit rules. The downgrade comes as Oracle challenges state regulators' decision to require companies with lower credit ratings to post millions in collateral for new data centers.


From Mexico to Venezuela: A diaspora’s race to save lives. From Mexico, Venezuelans mobilized within hours, building trusted networks to deliver aid and proving that solidarity can cross any border.


No one fired pellet guns in Delhi. Someone owes 25-year-old Irshad Mansoori an explanation. He lies in a hospital bed with a pellet lodged near a blood vessel in his neck even after undergoing a surgery on July 21. Someone should also explain to 19-year-old Sahil Lochab, recovering from a surgery on July 22, how he received a grievous eye injury and


Russian man gets 20 years for killing military police officer who tried to detain his deserter son. The Lipetsk Regional Court sentenced 63-year-old Alexey Zaitsev to 20 years in prison for killing a military police officer, the court’s press service reported.


Post From Community: Whitnall Knoll Gathering Circle ribbon cutting. "Riverwest neighbors transform forgotten neighborhood green space into a native pollinator gathering point honoring the founder of Milwaukee's park system."


Old Bihar protest video falsely shared as showing police action during the CJP protest in Delhi. The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) began a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on 20 June 2026, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities. Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk joined the protest on 28 June 2026 and launched an indefinite hunger strike. On 20 July 2026, protesters’ “Chalo


What frontline social workers need to stay safe at work. On August 5, 2019, Kritika*, a counsellor at Shakti Shalini, was withdrawing cash from an ATM near our office in Jangpura, New Delhi, when she was attacked by a group of eight people attempting to abduct her. The attack was led by the former partner of a survivor of sexual and gender-based violence living at Shakti Shalini's shelter home. Kritika was handling the case, protecting the survivor’s well-being and identity. Despite the presence of several bystanders, she did not get any help when she was attacked. Kritika eventually managed to escape, but her case is not an exception. While there is limited data on the safety of frontline social workers, human rights defenders, and crisis responders, evidence from the health sector shows that violence against frontline workers is routine. During the COVID-19 pandemic alone, 133 attacks against healthcare workers were documented despite the existence of legal protections. Frontline social workers, however, continue to play a critical role in crisis response, social justice, development, and empowerment efforts without comparable recognition or


Scattered by War, United by Football. When Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, celebrations erupted across the country and throughout Bosnian communities around the world.


Kommersant: foreign messaging app audience in Russia grew 26%. Telegram remains among leaders despite being blocked. The combined audience of foreign messaging apps that remain unblocked in Russia grew 26% in the second quarter of 2026, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported, citing a study by the Russian mobile operator MTS AdTech.


Electricity consumption in occupied Crimea nearly halves in July amid blackouts from Ukrainian strikes. Electricity consumption in occupied Crimea fell 42% year over year in the first 20 days of July 2026, and dropped 28% compared with the first 20 days of June, according to a study by the independent Russian media outlet The Bell.


Tickets to nowhere: Haitian refugees fall prey to travel scams. Across Haitian social media, testimonies about fraudulent travel agencies appear almost every week. Most of these agencies ask for between 3,500 and 5,000 US dollars for trips that never actually happen.


Russian disinformation network Storm-1516 accused of targeting French presidential candidate Édouard Philippe with fake health claims. A French security source told AFP that the Russian disinformation network “Storm-1516” targeted former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, one of the declared candidates for the French presidency, as part of an effort to interfere in France’s presidential election.


City Notice: Complete Application for 520 Highway No. 8 (Stoney Creek). The City of Hamilton issued a required Planning Act notice on Friday that a complete application for an Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment has been amended for a proposed 12-storey “purpose-built rental building” at 520 Highway No. 8 in Stoney Creek, located on the southwest corner at Dewitt Road.


How transnational movements can shield African civil spaces. In the past, state repression was largely contained within a country's own frontiers. Today, autocrats are cooperating across borders, using digital surveillance.


The Citizenship Backlog IRCC Isn’t Counting. IRCC confirmed it resolved the real holdup in one applicant’s citizenship file last year — and confirmed it has no practice of telling people when a problem happens.


Daily pill. Monthly pill. Six-monthly jab. Why choice matters. A new once-a-month HIV prevention pill is moving into the final stage of testing. But early South African uptake data of the six-monthly anti-HIV jab suggest the biggest breakthrough may not be a new medicine — it may be giving people more ways to protect themselves.


BHEKISISA CROSSWORD #10. Think you know South Africa’s health system? Put your knowledge to the test with Bhekisisa’s health crossword. Drawing on years of reporting, investigations, data and policy coverage, the puzzle offers a fun way to explore the stories, issues and people that have shaped healthcare in South Africa. Stuck on a clue? The answers are waiting somewhere on


If your nonprofit was a bird. A peacock showing its best self vs an ostrich burying its head in the sand.


‘All of this has to be stopped’: Kazakh president calls for war in Ukraine to be ‘frozen’ atmeeting with Putin. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for the war between Russia and Ukraine to be frozen during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to video published by propagandist Pavel Zarubin.


The Killers and the Killed: The Sarajevo Safari Investigations. Not one sniper who participated in the Siege of Sarajevo has ever been prosecuted. Three decades later, four European governments, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, are investigating an allegation that some of the snipers were not even soldiers, but foreign nationals who paid to take part in the so-called “Sarajevo Safari.”


Powerful storm kills one, injures about 30 in southern Russia. See the flooded streets, toppled trees, and wrecked cars. On July 25, a powerful storm with heavy rain and thunderstorms swept through Russia’s Rostov region. One person died in the storm, and 28 more were injured, according to the latest data cited by Rostov-on-Don Mayor Alexander Skryabin on July 26. Due to the bad weather, 15 cities and districts in the region were left without electricity, and Rostov and several other towns had water supply problems (restored by the morning of July 26). The storm damaged buildings and toppled hundreds of trees: more than a thousand in Rostov alone, according to the mayor. Rostov region Governor Yuri Slyusar assured residents that the administration is overseeing recovery efforts, and asked people in the region to stay home if possible. Meduza is publishing photos and videos of the storm’s aftermath in the Rostov region.


Post From Community: City of Milwaukee Election Commission announces start of early voting for August 11 Partisan Primary. Early Voting begins Tuesday, July 28, at six sites across Milwaukee.


The unasked question in the Epstein case: Were any victims stateless? If even a few stateless children were pulled into Epstein’s trafficking network, that fact matters. It matters legally. It matters morally. And it matters for every stateless child.


Zelensky arrives in the US. He has talks planned with U.S. President Trump. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in the United States, he announced on his Telegram channel.


‘Galician identity and literature are deeply rooted in land,’ award-winning Galician writer explains

Every May 17, the autonomous region of Galicia, Spain, interrupts its routine to pay tribute to its precious language and literature. Galician Literature Day , celebrated since 1963, is not just a commemorative date, but a declaration of principles. In a community where culture has always been an act of resistance, remembering and creation, celebrating those who write – and sing – in Galician reaffirms a rich, complex and constantly changing collective identity. With approximately 3,000,000 speakers mainly concentrated in the northeast of the Iberian peninsula, modern-day Galicia serves as an anchor of identity in a world that views multilingualism as an obstacle to progress rather than a means of empowerment. In 2025, the day was dedicated to historic cantareiras (folk singers) from different regions of Galicia: the sisters Adolfina and Rosa Casás Rama (Cerceda), Eva Castiñeira (Muxía) and the group Pandereiteiras de Mens (Malpica de Bergantiños): Prudencia Garrido Ameijende, Asunción Garrido Ameijende and Manuela Lema Villar. Cantareiras are a genre of folk music sung by women and accompanied only by tambourines.


Galicia is, in many ways, an exemplary exception within the European geo-cultural map . In the theoretical framework that I developed with Sebastián Moreno Barreneche , geo-cultural identities signify a belonging to a cultural entity anchored by territory, and can take different forms: national, subnational, supranational, or transnational. The case of Galicia demonstrates how an identity anchored in land can be built with a multifaceted outlook: a living language of its own, a literature that functions as a symbolic and emotional repository, and a diaspora that has managed to take Galician culture beyond the Atlantic without diluting its essence. Far from being encapsulated in a static concept of nation or folklore, Galician culture reinvents itself from its peripheral position while continuing to engage in dialogue with Celtic stories, migrant history, and the margins of the Spanish state, with the right to narrate itself from within. To delve deeper into these topics and celebrate the occasion, we are publishing an interview conducted in July 2023 with award-winning writer and essayist María López Sández .


The conversation took place at the Café Derby in Santiago de Compostela, a legendary venue for Galician gatherings located at the entrance to the historic centre. López Sández’s perspective helps us understand why literature is, for Galicia, much more than an artistic expression: it is a way of belonging, projecting oneself, and inhabiting the world. Global Voices (GV): What role does literature play in the construction of Galician identity? María López Sández (MLS): Es una herramienta clave, porque la producción cultural en general resulta decisiva para crear imaginarios que condicionan cómo las personas se perciben a sí mismas. Esto sucede en todos los contextos, pero en las literaturas minorizadas es aún más evidente, ya que suelen ocupar posiciones periféricas. Por eso, los procesos de desmitificación y relectura identitaria [NdR: entender la cultura propia como forma de hablar de ‘un quiénes somos’ colectivo] son más frágiles y complejos. María López Sández (MLS): It is a key tool because the production of culture in general is vital in creating the collective imagination, which affects how people perceive themselves.


This happens in all contexts, but in minority literatures it is even more evident, since they tend to occupy peripheral spaces. For this reason, the processes of demystification and identity re-reading [understanding one’s own culture as a way of speaking about a collective ‘us’] are more fragile and complex. GV: In what ways can institutions protect a language like Galician? MLS: Existen diversas vías. Es fundamental garantizar su presencia en los ámbitos académico, político, administrativo y educativo. Si las instituciones fuesen coherentes con lo que establece la Carta Europea de las Lenguas Regionales o Minoritarias y con el enfoque ecolingüístico que subyace en proyectos como el Archivo Digital de Lenguas en Peligro de Extinción , sin duda se producirían avances significativos. Es preciso asumir la defensa de la lengua propia como un proyecto colectivo de máxima trascendencia. En Timor Oriental, por ejemplo, con una complejidad lingüística enorme, se apostó por la enseñanza inicial en cada una de las lenguas del territorio. Y eso en un Estado muy reciente —fundado en 2002— y con circunstancias económicas mucho más adversas que las de Galicia.


La situación del gallego no es de las más extremas, pero cada lengua representa un compromiso con la diversidad cultural del planeta. Comprometerse con la diversidad lingüística del mundo pasa por hablar y defender, en cada lugar, la lengua propia. MLS: There are many ways. It is fundamental to guarantee their presence in academic, political, administrative and educational spheres. If institutions were aligned with what was established in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and with the ecolinguistic focus that is highlighted in projects such as the Digital Archive of Languages in Danger of Extinction , undoubtedly this would lead to significant advances. It is necessary to accept the defence of one’s own language as a collective project of maximum importance. In East Timor, for example, with its enormous linguistic complexity, the focus was on early childhood education in each of the territory’s languages. And this is in a very new country — founded in 2002 — and in much more adverse economic circumstances than Galicia.


The situation of Galician is not one of the more extreme, but each language represents a commitment to the cultural diversity of the planet. Committing to global linguistic diversity happens by speaking and defending one’s own language everywhere. GV: In linguistics, they talk about the importance of normalisation and standardisation of a language. What is the difference between these two concepts? MLS: La normalización busca garantizar la presencia y el prestigio de la lengua en todos los ámbitos de la vida social. La normativización, por su parte, consiste en definir una variedad estándar que permita su uso en contextos formales y funcionales diversos. Son procesos interconectados e interdependientes que se desarrollan en paralelo en todas aquellas lenguas que aspiran a mantenerse vivas y operativas. MLS: Normalisation seeks to guarantee the presence and prestige of a language in all areas of social life. Standardisation, on the other hand, consists of defining a standard variety which allows it to be used in diverse formal and functional contexts.


They are interconnected and interdependent processes that develop in parallel in all languages that aspire to remain alive and functioning. GV: In your book Paisaxe e nación (Landscape and nation) you propose that territory and personality are connected in Galician literature. How does this connection arise? MLS: Es un fenómeno que también se da en otras culturas. En el siglo XIX, con el [movimiento cultural y artístico del] Romanticismo , se produjo una profunda revalorización de los paisajes, especialmente de aquellos en los que la presencia humana era menor: los más salvajes, alejados de lo social. Por eso se pasó del parque francés al jardín inglés, y espacios hasta entonces considerados hostiles —el mar, el desierto, la alta montaña— empezaron a valorarse desde la categoría de lo sublime. En Galicia, quien lleva a cabo ese proceso [en el siglo XIX] es Rosalía de Castro , auténtica configuradora de nuestra percepción del territorio. Ella articula una triple reivindicación: lingüística, paisajística y antropológica. Reivindica la dignidad de la lengua, del territorio y del pueblo que lo habita.


Por eso busca para los paisajes gallegos referentes prestigiosos de la época, como los de Suiza o Italia. Esa revalorización comienza ya en el prólogo de Cantares Gallegos . Más adelante, Ramón Otero Pedrayo retoma esa línea descriptiva y la profundiza, incorporando el valor simbólico del mapa del [geógrafo] Domingo Fontán que inserta en una escena central de [su novela] Arredor de si , hasta convertirlo en un emblema cultural. Ese mapa tuvo, por ejemplo, un profundo valor simbólico para la emigración, ya que en él aparecían representadas todas las parroquias del país, lo que generaba un fuerte vínculo emocional con la tierra . La literatura y la identidad gallegas están profundamente arraigadas en el territorio. MLS: It’s a phenomenon that also arises in other cultures. In the 19th century, with [the cultural and artistic movement] Romanticism , a profound revaluation of landscapes took place, especially of those in which a human presence was minimal: the most wild and distant from society.


That’s why we went from the French park to the English garden, and spaces that until then had been considered hostile — the sea, the desert, the high mountains — began to be valued in the category of the sublime. In Galicia, the person who brought this to pass (in the 19th century) is Rosalía de Castro , truly shaping our perception of territory. She voiced demands in three areas: linguistics, landscape and anthropology. She asserted the dignity of the language, the land and the people who inhabit it. For this reason, she sought out prestigious references of the period for Galician landscapes, such as those of Switzerland and Italy. This revaluation begins in the prologue of Cantares Gallegos (Galician Songs). Later, Ramón Otero Pedrayo takes up that descriptive line and takes it further, incorporating the symbolic value of [geographer] Domingo Fontán’s map that he inserts in a central scene of [his novel] “Arredor de si” (“Circling”), effectively turning it into a cultural emblem.


This map, for example, had a profound symbolic value for emigrants, as it depicted all the country’s parishes, creating a strong emotional connection to the land. Galician literature and identity are deeply rooted in territory. Galician Literature Day arrived as “ahí ven o maio” (“here comes May”), as the song says. Spring declared itself in its most beautiful form with cherry blossoms and cotton fluff flying through the rivers. In Santiago de Compostela, the bar terraces began to fill up, pilgrims with their huge colourful backpacks crowded the historic centre, students in the new town were beginning to savour the holidays after their final exams, and officials in the institutional buildings hurried along their tasks to return home and enjoy the long days. Few people remembered the rain, that much-maligned counterpoint that lashed the northern Iberian peninsula for months, that exception to the promise of a perpetually sunny Spain. But if the Galician land (as well as its literature) teaches us anything, it is that without that rain, this lush green would not exist.


The peacemakers: Meet Venezuelans who are fighting to free political detainees

While the world is engaged in heated debates — both on and offline — about the legality of Donald Trump’s January 3 military airstrikes in Venezuela , relatives and friends are fighting for the full release of loved ones from unjust imprisonment in the South American country. On January 8, Jorge Rodríguez, head of the Venezuelan National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional), announced the release of a “significant number of imprisoned individuals,” as a “unilateral gesture” in the beleaguered country. However, the congressman did not provide an official release list. Those detained are considered to be “ victims of politically motivated persecution ” by the government formerly led by Nicolás Maduro. This is part of a “ long-standing and appalling human rights record ” by the leadership, according to the United Nations-commissioned Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , which has been active since 2019. At least 863 people fell under the aforementioned criteria, according to an ongoing, long-term vetted tally by the Foro Penal , a Venezuelan human rights NGO.


They are women and men from all backgrounds, including older adults, journalists, and foreigners . However, as of 7.00 a.m. on January 16 (Venezuelan local time), the figures diverged on the number of released prisoners. Only 84 — out of more than their original vetted estimate of more than 800 — had been freed, according to Alfredo Romero, of Foro Penal. Half an hour later, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez set the release number to 406 during a press conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, the official seat of the Venezuelan presidency. No names were provided by the acting president, who is the sister of the head of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez. It all starts with the family Several independent advocacy groups are the protagonists of the local push for the release of Venezuelan political prisoners: the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Venezuela (Comité por la Liberación de los Presos Políticos, CLIPPVE) and the Committee of Mothers for the Defense of the Truth (Comité de las Madres en Defensa de la Verdad), among others .


Relatives ( especially women ), supporters from the general public, and even former political prisoners participate in these activities. They have also brought food and medicines to their loved ones over the years , whenever visits were allowed inside prison facilities . Their actions are not confined to a particular political affiliation . Last year, the then-active Committee for the Defense of the Venezuelan Migrants (Comité por la Defensa de los Migrantes Venezolanos) pushed for the return of the 252 Venezuelan migrants unjustly imprisoned by the Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele administrations at El Salvador’s infamous CECOT mega prison . Followers of Nicolás Maduro are also allegedly included among the people currently considered political prisoners in Venezuela. The power of organization “Organization is key for the defense of human rights,” said Marino Alvarado , attorney and activist, during an open meeting held in August 1, 2024 between families, human rights non-profits and press members at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, held in the midst of the 2024 post-electoral repression.


“Let’s find each other, let’s get organized, and you will be better able to support your loved ones,” Alvarado then recommended. He spoke from lived experience, as the Demanding Coordinator for the Venezuelan Program for Education and Action in Human Rights ( Provea ), another renowned Venezuelan human rights NGO, founded in 1988. By the end of the meeting, those words seemed to come alive. As the press was leaving the meeting that day, a group of relatives was observed around the table, carefully speaking with Alvarado and drafting ideas on paper. Some of those faces could be found later in activities of their own as the CLIPPVE, always carrying black fabric with a constant appeal in white lettering: Liberen A Los Presos Políticos (Free the Political Prisoners). Nonviolence and immense courage shape the current actions of Venezuelan advocacy groups: candlelight vigils , prayers , pages of names of their loved ones , and camaraderie. In the past, some have even seen unprovoked attacks from unidentified groups , including the Committee of Mothers near the Venezuelan Supreme Court on August 5, 2025.


Families who are waiting near Venezuelan detention centers — confirmed releases have so far come without previous notice — now face spells of colder weather, lack of public transportation and scarce (open) support from outsiders. The fear of repressive practices by the current Delcy Rodríguez administration has not subsided. They are soldiering on together, focusing on social media as their primary medium of communication, using hashtags such as #QueSeanTodos . Future leaders for reconciliation? Caring for loved ones persecuted for political reasons is not a new endeavor in Venezuela and other Latin American countries. The long-term impact — both local and international — of a human rights activist group should not be overstated. The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo (Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo), first founded in 1977 during Argentina’s last military dictatorship, organized themselves around the need to find the missing babies and small children of disappeared activists in the South American country. They did not just become a fully-formed NGO within Argentina, but went beyond Argentine borders.


For over 30 years, the grandmothers have collaborated with scientific non-profit teams such as the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF in Spanish), in order to identify formerly abducted children through genetics. To date, 140 adults have found their original identity, thanks to the Grandmothers. The EAAF has helped solve other international cases, including Ayotzinapa/Iguala (Mexico) and El Mozote (El Salvador) massacres. Back in Venezuela, the future aims of movements like CLIPPVE and the Committee of Mothers for the Defense of the Truth remain to be seen. However, their testimony will be a crucial step into a Venezuela that is in dire need of further work on human rights, especially on Memory, Justice and Democracy (Memoria, Justice and Democracy), as stated by Provea’s general coordinator, Oscar Murillo, on January 11: We’ve had an overwhelming week in every sense… History suggests letting things cool down a bit to conduct a more accurate analysis, but without a doubt, January 3, 2026, marks the beginning of a period no less unstable and fraught with tension, one that demands the best from each of us.


The political project that thrived on resentment could never erase the true humanity of Venezuelans. The country is not broken. On the contrary, the yearning for freedom and justice, for genuine change through democracy and human dignity, defines the sentiment of a nation with high expectations. Today more than ever, from @_Provea we renew our commitment to the urgent reconstruction of democracy through support for victims in the process of Memory, Truth, and Justice. We will prioritize supporting social struggles for the defense of economic, social, and cultural rights and the construction of a common agenda for the human rights movement. Sooner rather than later, we will leave behind the darkness of authoritarianism. We Venezuelans have the right to live in a democracy, as we have demanded throughout our republican history.


A Korean-Chinese woman’s handmade Yanbian-style water tofu symbolizes family unity

On December 28, 2025, I visited Helan village in Yanbian, the homeland of Lee YJ, a Korean-Chinese woman whose story was shared on Global Voices this past October. It had been seven months since we last spoke, but her family warmly welcomed me, and kindly invited me to take part in a ritual that marks the boundaries of a family: the making of tsodibi (초디비), Yanbian-style water tofu, which is called sundubu (순두부), in standard South Korean. Tsodibi is not tied to a specific season or calendar festival. Choi MJ explains that it is made when relatives gather together, regardless of the time of year. When family members return home, tsodibi becomes the centerpiece of the meal — typically handmade by the women of the extended family, it symbolizes family unity and cooperation. It takes more than a day to make water tofu. First, you need to soak the soybeans overnight, then grind them into a velvety, thick paste. Grinding twice is the key step for extracting the rich flavor from the beans.


You can see the transformation: the first pass is coarse, but the second yields a creamy, refined texture that retains the full richness of the bean. We added hot water to make it smoother and easier to strain. The second step is straining. “You’re doing this job too,” Lee invited me to work together on this step. We put the bean paste into a cloth bag, and I pressed and squeezed the soybase out while Lee held the opening. We then transferred the liquid into a finer-meshed bag for a second straining. It was physically demanding work, especially given that most women in Lee’s family were over seventy. Yet they handled it with strength and patience, which they have cultivated from decades of experience. Then came the heating. In their traditional kitchen, a large pot sits atop a furnace, which also serves as a floor-heating system. “We have a modern kitchen, too, but we don’t use it much,” Lee’s youngest sister, Lee YN, commented proudly. “Our traditional way is more efficient and eco-friendly.” (Though I noticed she eventually slipped into the modern kitchen to prepare the extra side dishes!) Lee’s brother, CS, went down to light the furnace.


Tsodibi is traditionally prepared by women in Yanbian, and men’s involvement is usually limited to practical tasks such as tending the fire. While the pot slowly warmed, Lee and her sisters started cooking side dishes on the iron plate next to it, mostly fried kimchi made from various wild plants. Outside of Korean culture, many people believe kimchi refers only to spicy fermented cabbage, but in reality, it just means “pickles,” so the vegetables used can vary widely, and the resulting dishes are not necessarily spicy. Lee’s family took the soybase out before the pot boiled. She quickly skimmed the foam that had risen to the top of the soybase mixture and added bittern (a coagulant). As she gently stirred, the magic happened: liquid began to clump into snowy white curds. She kept stirring, occasionally lifting out the tofu skin that bloomed on the surface like parchment. To serve, you scoop away the excess water and serve it with a homemade sauce. The sauce was a mix of soy sauce and chopped fragrant vegetables such as onion, garlic, and chilli. Freshly made Tsodibi has a tender, cloud-like softness, offering a rich, nutty flavor that store-bought tofu simply cannot replicate.


“The best way to enjoy tofu is to make it yourself, isn’t it?” said YN. Lee’s daughter, Choi MJ, explained that Tsodibi is usually served with a light sauce, because its flavour is already rich and nutty on its own. This is different from Chinese-style water tofu, which is more commonly stir-fried or cooked with spices and other ingredients. The Yanbian water tofu can also only be made in a traditional kitchen, using the traditional iron plate. “Modern equipment simply does not produce the same result,” said Choi. To preserve the tofu, we ladled the curds into a square, cloth-lined box. Then filled another bowl with excess water and pressed the tofu into a solid, meaty block. The name “water tofu” best depicts the nature of Tsodibi . Like the women who make it, the dish possesses a fluid tenderness underpinned by a quiet, solid strength. As the winter chill settled outside, the warmth of the furnace and the rich, nutty aroma of the soybeans reminded me that the most indulgent meals often aren’t found in luxury restaurants, but in the slow, patient hands of those who remember where they came from.


Sly Dunbar, one half of the groundbreaking ‘Riddim Twins’ of Jamaican music, dies at 73

Lowell “Sly” Dunbar, an extraordinarily innovative drummer and music producer and one of the renowned “ Riddim Twins ” of reggae, died at home on the morning of January 26, at age 73. His cause of death was not disclosed, but he had been ailing for some time. Still, his passing was unexpected — especially coming just one week after the death of another reggae icon, Stephen “Cat” Coore . Dunbar’s lifelong partner, Thelma, was distraught and shared that Dunbar had enjoyed a relaxing Sunday: “Yesterday was such a good day for him. He had friends come over to visit him and we all had such a good time. He ate well yesterday…sometimes he’s not into food. I knew he was sick…but I didn’t know that he was this sick.” Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness paid tribute to Dunbar and his remarkable legacy alongside bass player Robbie Shakespeare, who died in December, 2021.


The two were known simply as “Sly and Robbie” or the Riddim Twins : Culture Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange shared on X: Nekeisha Burchell, culture spokesperson for Jamaica’s opposition party, observed , “Sly Dunbar was rhythm, innovation, and excellence in motion. He represented the very best of Jamaican creativity — bold, original, and uncompromising in its quality. His contribution to our music industry helped position Jamaica as a cultural superpower long before the term became fashionable.” Lowell Fillmore “Sly” Dunbar was born on May 10, 1952, in Jamaica's capital, Kingston. He began playing at age 15 in a band called The Yardbrooms. By 18, he did his first recording on drums with the vocal duo Dave and Ansel Collins, on their hit record “Double Barrel.” He then joined a band called Skin, Flesh and Bones with Ansel Collins and bass player Lloyd Parks, and went on to play drums with The Revolutionaries , the house band at the well-known Channel One Studios , with Robbie Shakespeare (whom he met in 1972) and a host of other talented musicians.


During this period, dub music — experimental, using various electronic techniques and innovative effects — was all the rage, but Dunbar began to develop his own “rockers” style , featuring a more aggressive rhythm than “roots reggae,” similar to rock music. The Revolutionaries also performed as a backing band for several major reggae artists of the 1970s, including Gregory Isaacs and The Mighty Diamonds . Sly and Robbie first officially teamed up in Word, Sound and Power, the backing band for former Wailer Peter Tosh , in 1975. The following year, the band toured with Tosh in the United States and from 1978 to 1979 in Europe, having also played at Bob Marley’s 1978 One Love Peace Concert in Kingston. However, the duo left the band in 1981 to tour with Black Uhuru , who were signed with Island Records. In this very successful band, Sly and Robbie were — as always — enormously influential, complementing each other with a sharp, driving drum sound and heavy bass line. The pair were always seeking new horizons and fresh musical collaborations.


In 1980, they formed their own record label, Taxi Records , ensuring their own creative and financial control. Under this banner, they produced and performed on a string of hits for Gregory Isaacs, Black Uhuru, Ini Kamoze , and more. Over the years, Sly and Robbie performed with an astonishing variety of musicians, including collaborations with Bob Dylan (on two of his albums), their countrywoman Grace Jones (on three of her albums), and the Rolling Stones. They were hugely in demand as a rhythm section across almost every genre, always exploring new musical spheres. In this way, they helped pioneer technological innovations in reggae music, helping it progress towards dancehall and new sounds. Their productions for the punk band No Doubt, for example, resulted in more hit records. According to one musical website , “Sly and Robbie may well be the most prolific recording artists ever. One estimate is that they have played on or produced some 200,000 songs, considering that some of their riddims such as ‘Revolution’ have been used on over 100 songs.”


One fan attempted to list some of the duo’s collaborations: Dunbar’s nickname was said to have been inspired by the 1970s funk and soul musician Sly Stone , whose music he enjoyed. He listed some of his musical influences in a 2008 interview : “My mentor was the drummer for The Skatalites, Lloyd Knibb. And I used to listen a lot to the drummer for Booker T. & the M.G.s, Al Jackson Jr., and a lot of Philadelphia. And there are other drummers in Jamaica, like Santa and Carly from The Wailers Band, Winston Bennett, Paul Douglas, Mikey Boo. I respect all these drummers and have learnt a lot from them. From them, I listened and created my own style. They played some things I copied, other things I recreated.”


Music journalist Hopewell Chin’ono paid tribute on X: He went on to post footage from a memorable concert with Black Uhuru: Another fan posted footage from a concert with Irish singer Sinead O’Connor: British reggae band UB40 — in particular, singer Ali Campbell — was devastated by the news: Jamaican broadcast journalist Cliff Hughes commented, “Time marches on […] We have lost another great musician”: Meanwhile, Jamaican cultural commentator Sonjah Stanley shared on X: On X, BlackHistoryStudies posted a classic photograph of the duo: Yet another fan mused: Throughout his life, Dunbar received numerous honours. Along with Shakespeare, he was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Distinction; in 2015, he also received the Musgrave Gold Medal from the Institute of Jamaica. In 2025, he accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota. Dunbar received an impressive 13 Grammy nominations and won two — for Black Uhuru’s “Anthem” in 1985, and for Sly & Robbie’s “Friends” in 1999. In summing up Dunbar’s unique contribution to music — to at least three reggae genres, and more — one fan noted:


Movement as solidarity: Walking for a cause across the U.S. and Britain

A group of 19 Theravada Buddhist monks and rescue dog Aloka departed Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center from Fort Worth, Texas , on a fresh autumn morning during the later part of October 2025, launching a journey that the organizers say will last four months of walking and cover around 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles). The planned route, a passage from Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas, is intended to end by mid-February on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. , where the group, led by Bhikkhu Pannakara, plans to demand the federal recognition of Vesak , the Buddhist holiday commemorating the birth and enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama . The organizers — the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center — presented the Walk for Peace as a pilgrimage inspired by Buddhist walking meditation and dhutanga practice , a monastic discipline generally aimed at developing simplicity, resilience, and mindfulness while travelling.


The monks, rather than leading a demonstration with chants or placards, move slowly, often without shoes, touching the community through their silent, prayerful, and compassionate presence and through their teachings on compassion and inner calm. They make stops in the towns and cities along their route, using public parks, churchyards, and open spaces for rest, and, in some cases, receive recognition from locals and media coverage. The walk has caught the eye of many, with people following online. The group is highly visible on social media with a live map created by Dhammacetiya, a project website for a Buddhist initiative called “The Ancient Sacred Buddhist Scripture Stupas.” There are also frequent photo and video updates showing the monastics continuing their journey eastwards, local governments welcoming them, and the community writing about their path. Social media supporters have noted the broad appeal of the pilgrimage, with the monks’ Facebook page showing more than 60,000 followers at the time of writing.


However, they have also encountered numerous difficulties, among them an incident in November 2025 when a support vehicle for the group was struck by a truck on United States Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas . Two monks sustained injuries, and one of them, Bhante Dam Phommasan , had to have a leg amputated. Meanwhile, the world was closely following their activities, and international aid flooded in as the group demonstrated their resolve to continue the walk despite this setback. Walking for peace has its roots in the ancient Buddhist tradition of pilgrimage , in which movement through public space has both spiritual and ethical meanings. Walking meditation, or cankama in Pali , was a technique of the Buddha and his first followers, emphasizing awareness of the action of walking. Dhutanga , one of the ascetic practices of Theravada Buddhism , comprises, among other practices, voluntary walking far and wide to develop detachment and love for all beings.


In the 20th century, figures like Thich Nhat Hanh and Maha Ghosananda , who were monks and spiritual leaders, gave back to their communities by walking for peace, not only within the community of believers but also as a form of engaged spirituality amid war and conflict. During the past winter, an event similar to the monks’ walk in the US was happening across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom. On January 3, two young men originally from South Sudan, Giel Malual and his childhood friend John Kuei, set off on the “long walk of freedom for Sudan ,” with the support of media platform Asylum Speakers . The human rights activists’ fundraising and awareness campaign consisted of a roughly 1,126-kilometer (700-mile) walk from the south of England to the far north of Scotland. The organizers said the walk was intended to raise the money needed to build a primary school for Sudanese children displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan who are living in refugee camps in neighboring Chad.


The response has been so successful that they have so far raised funds for two more schools . Giel Malual spoke movingly about his motivation to embark on the journey: “The long walk of freedom for Sudan is deeply personal to me which is why choosing this time of year is important, first to put myself in the shoes of Sudanese children and feel a fraction of their day-to-day struggle due to the war and hundreds of miles they had to walk to find safety. It is a walk of souls’ connection.” Malual and Kuei's walk ended on January 23 after 33 days, raising over GBP 100,000 (approx USD 138,000). The walk in Britain was a local initiative that garnered support from community leaders. Among them was the former Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne, who greeted the walkers and highlighted the humanitarian crisis in Sudan , where civil war has forced millions of people to flee and has created a great need for basic services, including education.


The walkers and their supporters insist that the walk was not a political demonstration but a sign of solidarity aimed at making the crisis visible . According to them, the Sudan crisis receives little coverage in the international media. The Long Walk of Freedom for Sudan is part of a series of peace and solidarity events happening in the United Kingdom. They include silent public walks for peace, which are a tradition of faith communities. In June 2024, faith groups such as Buddhists, Jews, Quakers, Christians, Hindus, Muslims and others united for a silent walk through the heart of London , from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square, to express their desire for peace in Palestine, and to remember those who have died in wars worldwide. Those attending brought white flowers, and there were no chants or slogans; it was more of an introspective, heartfelt moment rather than a political protest. The US Buddhist pilgrimage and the British Sudan solidarity walk are part of a broader trend of people reviving long-distance journeys as a physical way to demonstrate their commitment to peace and humanitarian issues.


Experts and practitioners note that peace pilgrimages and long walks have been part of modern history at different times, starting with the United States peace pilgrim movements of the mid-20th century and now including interfaith and human rights projects. In every case, the simple human act of walking, which is persistent, visible, and slow, serves as a means for participants to draw the public’s attention, encouraging them to think while adhering to the practice of nonviolence in daily life. As winter gets colder, the monks keep moving forward and are expected to arrive in Washington, D.C., in mid-February after traveling a few thousand miles with the main message of sharing unity and inner peace. In the UK, the long march to the north for Sudanese solidarity was successful in gradually expanding awareness of the children displaced by the war, as the marchers raised funds to give their practical help. Each walk is an example of how the very act of movement, the basic action of stepping one foot after another, can be a deeply symbolic and practical way to express peace, compassion, and our collective humanity.


Why Japan’s upcoming lower house election feels like a race to the bottom

While the rise of social media and the resulting surge of populism are global trends, in Japan, this phenomenon takes on a unique and troubling form, as populist politics is intertwined with a silent democratic crisis of political apathy. Japanese culture has long valued the aesthetic of silence. We are a society that prides itself on 空気を読む, directly translated as “reading the air” or reticence and reserve, which is a form of high-context communication that prioritizes harmony over loud, confrontational debate. However, as an ethnic Chinese, born and raised in Japan, I see the virtues of reticence and reserve being weaponized to hollow out our democracy, in particular during troubled times. Elections with a 16-day notice On January 23, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi moved to dissolve the House of Representatives . The next election is now set for February 8. Voters have been thrown into the shortest campaign period in postwar Japanese history. Takaichi became Japan’s first woman prime minister on October 25, 2025, with popular support.


During her campaign, she promised tax cuts, subsidies, and economic reforms, using a nationalistic rhetoric that blames immigrants, tourists, and China for the country’s economic and diplomatic woes. The opposition parties fear that her politics would fuel inflation and xenophobic sentiments and destabilize the region by antagonizing China . Her decision to dissolve the Lower House aims to secure a strong majority in the 465-seat chamber for her ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the newly established Japan Innovation Party (JIP) , so as to push through her economic and security policy agenda. Within 16 days of the announcement, Japanese voters must decide on a major political shift from a previously centrist stance to a right-leaning one, with a fiscal stimulus package and a hawkish stance toward China, that will have a long-lasting impact on the country. Yet, amid the “culture of silence,” public deliberation is lacking. For years, political apathy has been a well-acknowledged challenge in Japan, especially among the youth. But recently, I have noticed a shift.


Populism amid a culture of silence While the majority has remained silent, a loud, exclusionary brand of populism has recently emerged on major social media platforms. During the Upper House elections in July 2025, misinformation claiming that foreign residents are “over-privileged” spread widely on the internet, and the xenophobic sentiments somehow helped right-leaning political parties, including the newly established far-right Sanseitō party, to secure a significant number of seats under the slogan “Japanese First” — a clear homage to Donald Trump’s “ America First ” policies. Takaichi has also built a fan base among younger generations by using similar political rhetoric targeting foreign residents during last year’s LDP leadership campaign . The impact was immediate: my family and I suddenly became less welcome in places where we were once accepted. Lately, we have started concealing our nationality when meeting people for the first time. Young people are no longer “disinterested.” Instead, t hey are eager to find targets to pour out their “strong words” and soothe their daily frustration. Why are these slogans spreading so quickly and creating such a substantial effect?


The absence of public deliberation on these controversial political allegations suggests, to some extent, that we have never been taught how to debate. Most Japanese schools lack training in public debate or political philosophy, prioritizing rote memorization instead. Discussing politics with friends or even within a family is considered an unspoken social taboo. In this vacuum of debate, voters tend to choose charismatic “idols” who offer simple answers. Hence, most people consume political news as entertainment. We can see this in Sohei Kamiya , a leader of the right-wing populist party, Sanseitō, who introduced the Japanese First rhetoric, and has a large cult-like following, many of whom believe in anti-vaccine and antisemitic conspiracy theories. More recently, a subculture called “Sana-katsu” (サナ活) has emerged among young women, who admire and idolize Takaichi and mimic her fashion and cosmetic style, treating the prime minister like a J-pop star or an anime character. The younger generation reads political news as a commodity and consumes political rhetoric, style, and sentiment without a critical mindset.


I once saw my classmates use the word “kawaii,” which means “cute” in English, to describe politicians’ daily behavior on Instagram. It seems to me that many young people don’t see politicians as their representatives who should be accountable to them , but rather position themselves as spectators watching their “idols” vent their frustration, believing they can magically solve their problems, as happens in TV dramas . This culture of “reading the air” and treating politics as entertainment has created a dangerous blind spot for more important policy issues. Unification Church and the ruling party What has concerned me in particular is that for months, investigative reports have detailed the deep, systemic ties between the ruling LDP and the former Unification Church — a religious cult founded by Sun Myung Moon in South Korea in 1954 and expanding to Japan in 1958, which became a political powerhouse in the country by funding politicians, in particular from the LDP. A major South Korean newspaper, Hankyoreh, recently revealed that the Church helped fund at least 290 out of 295 LDP candidates during the Lower House election in October 2021.


The money very likely comes from scam-like donations, known as “ spiritual sales ,” to the Church, as the criminal investigation of the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in 2022 revealed: the murderer is a victim of the Unification Church's excessive donations, who took revenge on Abe for his family’s collusion with the Church. In March 2025, a Tokyo court ordered the dissolution of two Church-related organizations, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, for manipulating followers into making huge donations and other financial sacrifices. Yet, a number of lawmakers who benefited from the cult still hold power, and they have yet to publicly explain their ties to the illegal religious business and political power house. With ongoing issues surrounding political funding and the LDP’s ties to FFWPU, dissolution is the quickest way to camouflage them. But this is hardly a matter worth spending such a vast amount of public money on. As a foreign resident, I’m frustrated that misinformation and populist rhetoric have incited many Japanese people to view their neighbors as threats, while a more serious issue receives less attention: a foreign-based religious cult has penetrated the country through NGOs and established systemic ties with the ruling party through funding.


Elections as a spectacle Now the media is flooded with news about snap elections rather than corruption probes. Among my peers, reactions to this 16-day political storm range from shallow fascination to total annoyance, as if the elections were just a spectacle. The election campaign has generated a lot of viral content. For example, a video about the snap elections , edited to the latest opening theme from the popular anime Jujutsu Kaisen, surpassed 100,000 views in a single day upon release. Yet, as reflected in the comments, most viewers consumed the video as entertainment, with a chilling detachment, as if the election result would not affect their lives or society. One popular comment with over 2,900 likes said: ここ半年間の政治がマジで面白すぎる ダメだけどエンタメ気分で普通に楽しんでる私です The politics over the past six months have been seriously entertaining. I know it’s bad, but I’m just enjoying it like it’s entertainment. On the other hand, some find the snap elections a nuisance and a distraction. Since the campaign overlaps with the peak of the university entrance exam season, social media is flooded with students complaining that the blaring noise from campaign cars is a “disturbance” to their studies.


Whether the election is taken as a battle anime or a loud noise to be blocked out, the result is the same: the actual political stakes are ignored. I do not have the right to vote in Japan. Yet, observing the current situation, I feel a chill running through my body, fearing that my Japanese friends and neighbors will choose to surrender their will to a “King” without fathoming out the implications of their policies. As I write this, the loud, repetitive chants of the right-wing party candidate, Sanseitō, echo through my window from an election car. Outside, at the nearest station and in local squares, these vans are everywhere. A campaign staffer, unaware of my Chinese heritage, hands me a flyer with a smile. It reads: “Protect the lives of Japanese people.” I accept it with a complex swirl of emotions. I wonder what kind of choice Japanese voters will make after 16 days are over. And in the future they choose, I wonder — do I even matter?


Malaysian journalist briefly detained for sedition over a question during a public lecture

Malaysian journalist Rex Tan, formerly of the outlet Free Malaysia Today (FMT), was detained for half a day as he faced a sedition probe over a question he raised in a public lecture. On January 12, he attended a public conference organized by the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies titled “Gaza Exposes the Complicity of International Actors,” featuring a British politician, broadcaster, and writer, George Galloway. During the forum, Tan raised a question about combating xenophobia in Malaysia and mentioned bias and racism toward ethnic Chinese communities in Malaysia. The question was as follows: I think you should rightly observe the parallel between the Palestinian problem and the Chinese problem in Malaya. Both are British colonial legacy problem, where the Palestinians are seen as the interloper among the Zionists, while the Chinese, at the time, the population, which is about 50 percent of Malayia, was seen as aliens. So, and sadly, this xenophobic mentality is still around today, and I must say, it is way more of a serious magnitude in Palestine. So I want to ask a more introspective question. I think currently what we are facing here is due to a rather right-wing exclusive nationalism.


Essentially some sort of a synophobic mentality that really see people as ‘us and them.’ And as much as some of the Malay Muslim pro-Palestinian supporters here, they hate the extremist right Zionism, but they themselves also often espouse anti-immigrants or rather exclusive nationalism idea in this country. How can we deal with this rather exclusive way of seeing ourselves and the people around us? The exchange was uploaded online and sparked an intense backlash from those who criticized the comparison and accused Tan of inciting communal hatred. Aside from religion and royalty, race is among the highly sensitive topics in multiracial Malaysia, which is about 65 percent Muslim and about 23 percent ethnically Chinese. FTM was quick to issue a public apology, noting it “regrets the distress our journalist caused at the recent forum on Gaza.” After receiving online threats, Tan resigned from Free Malaysia Today and issued a separate apology . I am deeply sorry for my poorly constructed question, my failure to take into account its relevance to the event, and for asking it without sufficient consideration of its sensitive nature.