Scotland gives young people a say in the future, Turkey’s “democracy” wants to punish people who say bad things about government officials, and when is the Japanese language not really Japanese?

Recognizing that young people have a stake in a nation’s future, Scotland's Parliament overwhelmingly passed legislation to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in next year's independence referendum.  It’s the first time citizens younger than 18 will be able to vote in Britain.  But it’s a one-time pass, young teens will not be able to vote in local elections or for the British Parliament.

The Turkish government is putting its pettiness in overdrive, with the deputy prime minister announcing police are investigating people who allegedly insulted Turkish officials or incited riots on social media.  Local media reports that police gave a list to Istanbul prosecutors of 35 people who had allegedly insulted Erdogan or other officials on Twitter or Facebook.

Bombings across the Mideast:  In Syria, a suicide bombing in the Christian quarter of Damascus has killed four people.  NO one has claimed responsibility, but attacks on Christians have increased during the civil war.  The is some resentment of Syria’s Christian community which makes up 10 percent of the country’s population but have long been the country’s elite. 

At least 22 people are dead in a series of bombings in and around the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.  The targets were cafes where people had gathered to watch a football match. 

US President Barack Obama got a tour of Goree in Senegal, the last place in Africa captured men and women saw before they were shipped off as slaves to the “new world”.  Obama struck a note for human rights, urging African nations to give gay people equal rights by decriminalizing homosexual acts.

Nelson Mandela’s family is getting a little irked at the foreign media’s deathwatch over the ailing former President. Makaziwe Mandela said it’s intrusive and reeked of racism.  The 94-year old Nelson Mandela remains in hospital with a lung infection, and family members admit, “It doesn’t look good”.

Angry Chinese workers released an American boss who they were holding inside his factory outside Beijing.  The “job action” was prompted by Chip Starnes plans to move his operation to even cheaper labor in India.  Some workers said they hadn’t been paid in two months.  But the union says they released Starnes after reaching an agreement on severance package for employees.  Starnes says the experience was “humiliating” and “embarrassing”.  Maybe it wasn’t as humiliating as a worker going home to tell the family his job is gone because the boss is moving the operation to a cheaper labor market.

China’s state media welcome conservative South Korean President Park Geun-Hye as an “old friend” on her first state visit to China.  Park and Chinese President Xi Jinping called Thursday for a swift resumption of six-nation North Korean nuclear disarmament talks.  Park’s haste in getting to Beijing could be a signal of realigning Asian geopolitics:  Usually, newly-elected South Korean leaders visit the US, Japan, and China, in that order.  Park chose to go to Beijing prior to Tokyo, with Japanese politics awash in nationalist hijinx that has been insulting to its neighbors.

A disgruntled 71-year old man is suing Japan’s national broadcaster NHK, for borrowing too many words from the English language.  Hoji Takahashi is troubled by loan words such as "toraburu" (trouble), "risuku" (risk), and "shisutemu" (system).  He accuses NHK of irresponsibility by not using the Nihongo equivalents.  He’s worried that Japan is becoming too Americanized.  Your intrepid CareerSpot correspondent gets NHK on cable TV, and can assure you the broadcaster features numerous programs about traditional poetry, crafts, music, a year-long Samurai Epic Drama that begins a new story every January, and bi-monthly Sumo Matches.

ABAYO!