cafebabel.com

No job, no perspective" - 1st impressions from the BabelWien conference: "

2010-03-17T22:39:49Z

Greece that whole Europe is observing

2010-03-17T22:07:21Z

From Bergamo to Laos: parkour with Gato, Italian traceur

2010-03-17T11:32:18Z

Federico, or 'Gato' ('Cat') as he likes to be known, is an Italian biologist. But his real passion is for parkour - or rather the art of moving, a discipline which allows man to discover his own body and its limits

On St. Patrick's day, drink Poitín, the world’s strongest alcohol

2010-03-16T15:30:00Z

You’ll often find it in a clear, unmarked glass bottle, innocently snuggled at the back of a neighbour’s fridge, but the real Poteen (pronounced 'putch-een') isn’t sold in any shop in Dublin. St. Patrick apparently brewed it, and few people in Ireland haven’t tasted this ultra-alcoholic brew, but the lethal concoction has been illegal here since 1661

10 Things you should definitely do while in Germany

2010-03-16T10:39:09Z

Finding Việt N(y)am in Hungary

2010-03-16T09:32:56Z

Written by Lien Hoang

Việt Nam and Hungary go together as obviously as, well, let's say their respective soupy icons, pho and goulash. But as a Việt Nam-born student in Hungary, I take any reason to blend the two countries. Enter Édenkert, the house of Vietnamese culture and food, located on the outskirts of Budapest.

I expected another night of bad Vietnamese cuisine, but it turned out the place's raison d'être is not completely culinary. After my friend and I ordered dinner, the effusive owner, Nguyen Phuong Thao, gave us a tour of her establishment. Or more accurately, she whisked us from room to room of the three-story, museum-like edifice she opened two years ago. Thao might be justification alone to visit. The petite, instinctively cheery entrepreneur didn't just take to me because we're from the same hometown (the old imperial capital Hue, displayed dramatically in a person-sized wall photo of the ancient palace in central Việt Nam). She was just as exuberant to my friend, switching fluently and fluidly between Vietnamese and Hungarian.

More fights over Vilnius space: nationalists are kosher?

2010-03-16T08:43:20Z

...somewhere in Brussels.

2010-03-15T14:49:42Z

Unpleasant side of spending time on the beach

2010-03-13T08:00:03Z

Tel Aviv has a very long coastline and has many diverse beaches for all tastes. Now that I live in South Tel Aviv, I go to the southernmost one. Something I noticed yesterday exposed the fact that not all beaches are treated and serviced equally.

European indie film: 'Sundance' in Paris

2010-03-12T16:48:49Z

It's all eyes on the French capital's Latin quarter between 12 and 14 March 2010; the fifth edition of 'ECU', run by an Australian and supported by G-Technology by Hitachi, showcases 72 works from 28 countries across various categories. Here's our top five trailers

Sweden to recognize Armenian and Pontian Greeks genocides

2010-03-12T14:50:42Z

Agop J. Hacikyan: 'I don’t feel I am translating my culture into English'

2010-03-12T10:44:37Z

The playful Armenian-Canadian author talks his latest novel - hailed as a 'love letter to Istanbul' - straddling continents and his opinions on Turkey in the EU

Ozpetek’s Loose Cannons in competition at Tribeca

2010-03-11T22:15:42Z

Freiburg explores world cinema

2010-03-11T22:11:41Z

Greek Point Supreme Architects win EUROPAN Trondheim, Norway

2010-03-11T20:03:02Z

EXPERIENCING CULTURE SHOCK?!

2010-03-11T16:55:53Z

The Experience of Ridesharing

2010-03-11T14:39:17Z

Zaher Rezai: dead after eight kilometres of illegal immigration

2010-03-11T11:48:04Z

In December 2008, the 13-year-old died under the wheels of a lorry after trying to evade Italian immigration officials. A year on, artist Gianluca Constantini's cartoon strip tells the story

It’s Norway rising in Rouen

2010-03-10T20:29:13Z

New Polish cinema showcased at Filmland Polen

2010-03-10T18:58:51Z

Belfast celebrates 10th birthday with Triage, Tetro

2010-03-10T18:26:42Z

Getting to grips with djembe, tro-tro and obronis in Ghana

2010-03-10T15:45:00Z

I was told before I arrived in Ghana that everyone wants to speak to the foreigner or the obroni (‘white person’) as they say in Twi, one of the main dialects of the forty spoken in Ghana. I had several on the spot marriage proposals; but that’s Ghana and its people for you

Finally Greece joins Visa Waiver Program

2010-03-10T14:21:19Z

Europarl TV: 'technology is more fast-paced than the institutions'

2010-03-10T12:15:00Z

In September 2008, the TV channel started streaming parliamentary sessions and news features on MEPs and their speeches on the European parliament’s webpage. The challenge is to give the institutions a human face - press service chief Jean-Yves Loog tells us how

WANTED: Cafebabel.com looking for 3 journalists + 1 photographer for Vilnius (15th-18th April 2010)

2010-03-10T10:38:52Z

Election Bazaar in Iraq ongoing

2010-03-10T00:00:47Z

“Obama and the Europeans” at the Burgtheater

2010-03-09T20:10:01Z

By Alexandra Skwara

The latest instalment in the Debating Europe series presented an array of Atlanticist viewpoints, but not enough real debate.

Watch the news on EuroparlTV

2010-03-09T15:57:21Z

UK to Poland via France: hitch-hiking Europe

2010-03-09T13:21:01Z

You could stay in a hotel in Egypt for a week. Or you can spread the same amount of money over a month and a half for a trip of an alternative kind: hitchhiking Europe. Here’s one way to do it, which included 30 drivers, volunteer work and new friends

New EU economic strategy - Repeating the failure of Lisbon strategy

2010-03-09T12:05:07Z

Join our Greek naked conversations!

2010-03-09T08:02:58Z

One Red Paperclip!

2010-03-08T17:59:22Z

Krystof Hadek: 'foreign characters played by English-speaking actors? Disappointing'

2010-03-08T13:15:00Z

In the last month the 27-year-old Czech actor has picked up accolades at the Berlin film festival (one of the ten 'shooting stars' in Europe) and a Czech Lion for 'best actor'. We talk fame, acting genes and language in European cinema

Mrs, miss or ms?

2010-03-08T12:08:10Z

In the run-up to international women's day on 8 March, one of the debates rolling around the cafebabel circles cropped up - when on earth do English-speakers address a woman by Ms?

His Majesty – the World

2010-03-08T11:53:13Z

Women's day: Femibook, testosterone and internet

2010-03-08T09:30:00Z

100 years after the first international woman's day was organised on 8 March in Copenhagen, a short statistical wonder on where the woman's place rightfully is

Blog under attack!

2010-03-06T09:52:00Z

Urban space and politics, not sex

2010-03-05T19:19:09Z

As some of you know, Lithuania is waiting (or not) for its first LGBT parade/demo on the 8th of May. It was, as expected, a very controversial issue, yet the way it will go will provide an important test for Lithuanian democracy.

Fathoming the power of right-wing populist Geert Wilders in Europe

2010-03-05T15:31:36Z

If the freedom party leader is successful in the June parliamentary elections, Dutch politics will be destabilised and Europe will be forced to deal seriously with the man once nicknamed 'Mozart', write the Dutch, Swiss, Spanish and Slovakian press

Join the initiative for Haiti, tonight in Brussels

2010-03-05T12:02:45Z

The Europeans nominated for the more 'random' Oscars 2010

2010-03-04T14:08:17Z

There's a tendency to focus on which Europeans snag the best film or best actress prizes - but here's a trailer run down of the less famed contenders vying for other Oscars from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which takes place at the Kodak Theatre on 7 March

European films fill Febiofest line up

2010-03-04T10:57:10Z

Global Warming: Talking Hot Air in Copenhagen and Vienna

2010-03-03T21:31:43Z

By Daniel Speich

On 18^th December 2009, the Bella Center – Copenhagen’s largest conference center just 10 minutes drive away from the airport of Denmark’s capital – finally closed its doors as the discussions on solutions for global warming concluded, and the last representatives of the 192 participating countries of the 15^th Conference of Parties (COP), colloquially known as the United Nations Climate Change Conference, departed.

The disappointed facial expressions, however, say more than the final declaration of the world leaders: Europe, China, India and America, the major polluters, didn’t achieve a worldwide roadmap for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly those of CO2 and methane gas. Clearly, national interests won. However, the Guardian highlights some positive aspects as well: while no binding commitments to cut emissions were made, at least the delegates agreed to establish a fund to help poor countries adapt to the threat of climate change. This fund will initially contain 30 billion dollars per year, a sum which will rise to 100 billion dollars by 2020.

Graffiti Radio – We don’t protect people only from bad music

2010-03-03T15:09:06Z

Italian, French and Bulgarian press vs genetically modified potato

2010-03-03T13:45:00Z

On 3 March the European commission gave the green light for the 'Amflora', used for the production of industrial starch. This was the first time since 1998 that it has approved a GMO for cultivation. Some commentators say Brussels has bowed to the pressure of agriculture companies; others claim this paves the way for a better future

Niang Mor: story of a Senegalese 'near-extradition' from Italy

2010-03-03T10:45:00Z

You'd hardly believe that he was 57 if you saw his papers. Mor moved to France in 1982, then Germany four years later, to finally settle in Ravenna in 1990. He has a regular trading licence, has always been in work and has never had any trouble with the law. The story of his incredible 'near- extradition'

Safeguarding the food we eat

2010-03-02T21:32:42Z

The EU and food safety

By [Daniel Spichtinger|http://www.cafebabel.de/profile/display/4d7e9a6a-fc10-102c-9b39-e5384fe1717a/]

Nearly every day the media inform us about healthy and not so healthy eating habits (such as the worrying rise of obesity in Europe) and about real or perceived food scares. The EU is now the biggest global importer and exporter of food and the global trade in food has very real implications for all of us. As an example, contaminated milk in China has a potential impact on the safety of cookies sold in the Netherlands. At the same time we are asked to consider the environmental cost of shipping food over large distances and NGOs urge us to grow locally produced food. Many of these issues have led to low “trust” and “confidence” in food in some countries.

Support from alcohol or tobacco businesses: between demand and ethics

2010-03-02T18:15:42Z

Welcome to doingood.cafebabel.com

2010-03-02T18:14:32Z

A tea party for Britain?

2010-03-02T13:20:53Z

If you want a laugh this afternoon, check out this video of Tory MEP Daniel Hannan on Fox News in America talking about his efforts to bring the anti-government “tea party” movement to the UK.

The idea that this rag-tag movement of disaffected, gun-toting right-wingers with funny hats could ever catch on in the United Kingdom is laughably absurd. I probably couldn’t think of a more un-British phenomenon. But perhaps the most amusing part of this clip is watching Fox’s Neil Cavuto pretend that he knows anything about European politics.

Who knows how many people actually turned up to Hannan’s little gathering, I certainly didn’t hear anything about it in the British media (a quick check reveals about 100 people showed up). But though he may be on the fringe of British politics and is an unwanted thorn in the side of Tory leader David Cameron, it is important to remember Hannan is still a Tory politician. His brand of populist, anti-government rhetoric is just an extreme representation of a strain of thought that is still deeply engrained in the Tory psyche.