Chad bans Islamic face veil after suicide bombings

Chad bans Islamic face veil after suicide bombings- should this be allowed? 

It has been done to in the face of 2 terror attacks in the last weeks, Anoter central African country DR Congo has had a ban in place for a while.

The face veil is worn by Muslim women for religious reasons but also so that they can cope with the heat in the country, which is mostly desert. 

No more nutella......

If you chocolate spread- look away now!
Eating Nutella has been said in the guardian this week, to damage the environment- especially the Indonesian rainforest- which is cleared every year to grow palm oil.

BUT the company that makes it; ferrero says it is made from SUSTAINABLE palm oil.

Margate- coming back to life!...

Is the re-opening of Margate's dreamland going to act as a catalyst to rebrand?

Brazil's Belo Monte dam puts livelihood of 2,000 families at risk, prosecutors say

Construction of a massive hydroelectric dam is endangering the livelihoods of at least 2,000 families in Brazil’s Amazon jungle state of Para, according to federal prosecutors who recommend that efforts to move the residents be suspended.

the $11bn Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River has violated 55 previously agreed-to items to guarantee indigenous groups, farmers and fishermen their means of survival.

The 11,000-megawatt dam would be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric energy producer behind China’s Three Gorges dam and the Itaipu, which straddles the border of Brazil and Paraguay.

The government has said Belo Monte will be a source of clean, renewable energy and is fundamental for the economic development of the region and country.

The dam, the government has said, was designed to minimize environmental damage.

But environmentalists and indigenous groups say it would devastate wildlife and their livelihoods.

Will Havana ever open up?

Is Cuba really opening up to the western world? Will the trade embargo be lifted? 

Cuba today- ‘Havana today can be a jarring collision of the antique and the nouveau’. Photograph: Walter Bibikow/JAI/Corbis

Another language set to die out?

The San language Nluu is spoken only by 2 sisters and their 95 yr old mother, linguists are working with them to transcript and translate it before it is too late.
It is a language with 112 unique sounds and has been passed on in spoken word through the ages but never written down.
Brilliant quote from guardian article 9/6/15
"N|uu has one of the biggest speech sound inventories in the world, he added, including more than 45 click phonemes, 30 non-click consonants and 37 vowels. “Language is the most important cultural asset, so if you lose your language, you lose your culture. In Canada, there is a clear link between those indigenous people who lose their language and suicide rates. In this globalised world, local identity is essential,” Brezinger"
A second section of the article-

"Koper’s sister Katrina Esau, 82, who has received an award from President Jacob Zuma for her work to preserve San language and culture, added: “Other people have their own languages. Why must my language be allowed to die? It must go on. As long as there are people, the language must go on.”

Moscow's food revolution

Interesting article on Russia and its food. How the trade ban has impacted people in Russia.
How some western establishments like McDonald's were closed and then re-opened and how aims to create an indigenous chain came unstuck.

Up coming TV you should watch year 12 and 13......

2 things you should watch....

Living with nomads- Kate Humble BBC2  Fridays at 9pm (episode1- 5/6/15 on Nepal, 12/6/15 on Nenets of Siberia and 19/6/15 on the Yak herders of Mongolia)
The tribe- Channel 4, Thurdays at 9pm- looks at life among the Hamar tribe in Ethiopia

Is Starbucks too American for Europe?

iNTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT THE SUCCESS OF TOP GLOBAL aMERICAN BRANDS IN eUROPE (ESPECIALLY frANCE)

good neighbours?

n article about how the TV show Neighbours does not reflect the diversity of the city it is sET IN- Melbourne!

Multicultural London?

Brilliant article about cultural diversity in London