North Korea is about to have another election. And though the winners are not in doubt, government leaders still want a huge turnout, so they are turning to poems exhorting people to vote. Plus, at the NSA, even the spies are fed up … with being spied on. All that and more, in today’s Global Scan.
Sochi’s dogs were recently described as pests, expected to be exterminated from the Olympic venues. But that cavalier attitude prompted international outrage and at least one Russian billionaire has opened up his wallet to help save some of Sochi’s dogs. Meanwhile, in the UAE, the government is ready to launch a drone delivery service. And a homeless man in England looks set to return to his native Jamaica, thanks to the generosity of strangers.
Glenn Greenwald has been telling important journalism stories for a while — but he was never a household name until he published the first stories based on leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. And he says his life has changed drastically since then.
When news broke revealing the extent of the NSA’s data collection strategies, it quickly became not only the most-talked about story of the year, but it raised all sorts of questions regarding the privacy of citizens and the constitutionality of mass surveillance. Journalist Glenn Greenwald helped break the stories and says we need to rein in the runaway surveillance.