When schoolgirls dream of jihad, society has a problem (Guardian)

Don’t underestimate the role of the burqa ban in turning teenagers into would-be militants. The influence of repressive and discriminatory legislation on vulnerable young minds should not be ruled out.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/03/schoolgirls-jihad-society-problem-france-burqa-ban

Obesity: Africa’s new crisis (Guardian)

Fat is no longer just a developed world problem. Forget those tired old clichés beloved by the aid industry. Today more people in poorer countries go to bed each night having consumed too many calories than go to bed hungry.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/21/obesity-africas-new-crisis

Why Did Crowd Flee Shanghai Subway After Foreigner Fainted? (NPR)

"The prevailing ethical system in traditional China is based on close-knit community ties, kinship ties." Yan says in traditional, agrarian society, Chinese sharply divided people into two categories: those they knew and those they didn't. "A person might treat other people in the person's social group very, very nicely," he says. "But turn around, when facing to a stranger, and [a person might] tend to be very suspicious. And whenever possible, might take advantage of that stranger."

[...] but As more young Chinese are exposed to the world, Yan expects them to continue to adopt a newer, more modern notion: empathy.  

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/01/344033379/why-did-crowd-flee-shanghai-subway-after-foreigner-fainted?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140901

Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist? (NYT)

"Research in the last couple of decades suggests that the problem is not so much overt racists. Rather, the larger problem is a broad swath of people who consider themselves enlightened, who intellectually believe in racial equality, who deplore discrimination, yet who harbor unconscious attitudes that result in discriminatory policies and behavior".

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/opinion/nicholas-kristof-is-everyone-a-little-bit-racist.html?referrer=&_r=0

How much has the Ice Bucket Challenge achieved? (Bbc)

From 29 July to 28 August this year ALS received $98.2m - compared with $2.7m donated during the same period last year.

From 1 August to 27 August this year, the ALS Wikipedia page had 2,717,754 views. This compared with the 1,662,842 people who had visited the page during the whole of the preceding 12 months, according to data company Dataviz.

Average daily visits to the ALS association website were about 17,500 before the ice bucket challenge, compared with the peak of 4.5 million visits on 20 August (of which 83% were new to the site). During the past month there have been about 30 million visitors in total.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29013707