Stories about LANGUAGES from June, 2007
Central African Republic: Rebel soldier executed for shooting MSF volunteer
The young rebel soldier responsible for the death of a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) volunteer has been executed, Alliance Pour La Democratie et Le Progres writes. The director of MSF was shocked. “A tragic death is followed by an absurd one.” (Fr)
Congo: Small business important for economic growth
Congopage writes about the importance of small and medium businesses (Fr) and private initiative for economic growth.
Benin's fans get rowdy at the Togo-Benin match
Togo played Benin in Cotonu this Sunday, the fifth day of qualifying matches for the 2008 Africa cup. Benin won (4-1), but not before their supporters engaged in what Togo-iTunes calls “gratuitous violence” (Fr). Togo-iTunes has photographs of the match and the rowdy fans, taken by a Togolese journalist posing...
Togo: Possible avian flu outbreak
Togo iTunes writes about a suspected case of avian flu in Togo [Fr]. On a semi-commercial farm 45 km outside of Lome, 2,000 of 3,000 chickens died in two days.
Phénix, Défi Liban, a collaborative blog for Lebanese and French middle school students
Phénix, Défi Liban is a collaborative blog between two middle schools, one French, one Lebanese, that seeks to “symbolize and make concrete the desire for peace that animates us.” [Fr]
Gay Pride in Brazil: 3.5 Million March and Government Sponsorship in São Paulo
There are controversies about the exact numbers — estimates range from 3 to 4 million people — but São Paulo's Gay Parade last week probably set a record as the world's most attended street event. In a country that prides itself for allowing the free flow of its cultural diversity,...
Japan: Confidential Police Files Leaked, Again
What do a group of sex crime victims, police informants, traffic violators, members of Japan's largest crime syndicate and a man being stalked by his girlfriend all have in common this week? They all had their personal information -- including names, addresses, photos, bank account numbers, private testimony, and interrogation reports -- leaked from a police officer's personal computer onto Japan's hugely popular bulletin board 2channel Tuesday morning. Japanese bloggers have responded to the leak with outrage and frustration.
New Caledonia by aerodrome
5 minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie: Sebastian took a tour of New Caledonia by aerodrome and has the video to prove it.
Bookcovers from Tahiti
Tahiti: Litterature, Musique et… has been posting retro covers of Tahitian novels and books about Tahitian history, culture and society.
Gabon: Libreville mermaid hoax (via St. Petersburg, Florida)
Association des gabonais d'Amiens dispels a mermaid hoax [Fr]. Photographs of a mermaid supposedly discovered dead on a beach in Libreville were actually downloaded from an eBay auction for a mermaid sighting in St. Petersburg, Florida. The St. Petersburg photographs sold for US$1500 to a French natural history museum.
Congo-Brazzaville: Misgivings about upcoming legislative elections
Demain Le Congo-Brazzaville has major misgivings about the upcoming legislative election, scheduled for June 24th. For months Demain has been calling on President Denis Sassou Nguesso, without success, to establish an independent electoral commission to prevent the irregularities that have plagued past contests.
Central African Republic: MSF volunteer shot dead by rebels
The United Nations has suspended aid [Fr] to northwestern Cameroon Central African Republic following the shooting death [Fr] of a 27 year-old Doctors Without Borders volunteer, Alliance Pour La Democratie et Le Progres reports.
Japan: The Disappearing Pension Accounts
For the past few weeks, pressure has been intensifying against the Japanese government over its apparent mismanagement of over 50 million public pension accounts belonging to millions of Japanese citizens. While the government has attempted to deflect attacks by issuing flyers pinning the blame on a former member of the opposition, many Japanese bloggers are not buying it.
Senegal: In Memory of Ousmane Sembene
Togolese writer Kangi Alem has a short tribute [Fr] to famed Senegalese filmmaker and novelist Ousmane Sembene who passed away this weekend in Dakar. “I used to read the greats of African literature in my literature textbook in the 1980s, and I imagined all these authors were dead. What it...
Algeria: On the Kurds in Iraq
“With the situation between Turkey, the PKK, and Iraqi Kurdistan heating up, with regular engagements between Turkish and PKK forces along the Turco-Iraqi borderlands and the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Kurdistan regional president Massoud Barzani claiming that a Turkish invasion of Kurdistan “would be first of all an attack...
Japan: The Matsuoka Suicide
The story is now over a week old, and yet the sensational suicide of Agriculture Minister Matsuoka Toshikatsu, who hung himself in his apartment on May 28th and later died in hospital, is continuing to ripple through Japanese society. As others have noted elsewhere, while the rate of suicide within...
Chávez, Lula and the media: is it a samba or a waltz?
It was a funny week that passed by here in Brazil, in the wake of the implementation of the Chávez government decision not to renew the broadcasting license of Radio Caracas Television. The Brazilian Senate debated the issue in one of its sessions this week and decided to ask the...
AIDS in Japan: Blame it on gays?
Since the first case of AIDS in Japan was officially reported in March, 1985, official figures have indicated that the number of cases of HIV/AIDS among Japanese has been steadily increasing over the years (this despite the difficulty of making assessments due to the low rate of HIV testing among...