cafebabel.com

The Experience of Ridesharing

Antoaneta Ivanova — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:39:17 -0000

It’s Norway rising in Rouen

valerio caruso — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:29:13 -0000

New Polish cinema showcased at Filmland Polen

valerio caruso — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:58:51 -0000

Belfast celebrates 10th birthday with Triage, Tetro

valerio caruso — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:26:42 -0000

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

Elaine Jordan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:45:00 -0000

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

Elina Makri — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:21:19 -0000

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

cafebabel.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:15:00 -0000

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)

Katharina Kloss — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:38:52 -0000

Election Bazaar in Iraq ongoing

Ari Rusila — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:47 -0000

“Obama and the Europeans” at the Burgtheater

Mélanie Sueur — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:10:01 -0000

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

Jean Anot — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:57:21 -0000

UK to Poland via France: hitch-hiking Europe

Sara Szeremeta — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:21:01 -0000

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

Laura — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:05:07 -0000

Join our Greek naked conversations!

Elina Makri — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:02:58 -0000

One Red Paperclip!

Elina Makri — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:59:22 -0000

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

sally harbinson — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:15:00 -0000

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?

Tim Mac an Airchinnigh — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:08:10 -0000

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

Antoaneta Ivanova — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:53:13 -0000

Women's day: Femibook, testosterone and internet

Sarah Truesdale — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:30:00 -0000

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!

Daiva Repečkaitė — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:52:00 -0000

Urban space and politics, not sex

Daiva Repečkaitė — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:19:09 -0000

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

euro topics — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:31:36 -0000

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

Mana Livardjani — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:02:45 -0000

The Europeans nominated for the more 'random' Oscars 2010

cafebabel.com — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:08:17 -0000

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

valerio caruso — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:57:10 -0000

Global Warming: Talking Hot Air in Copenhagen and Vienna

Mélanie Sueur — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:31:43 -0000

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

Antoaneta Ivanova — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:09:06 -0000

Italian, French and Bulgarian press vs genetically modified potato

euro topics — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:45:00 -0000

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

mary maistrello — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:45:00 -0000

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

Mélanie Sueur — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:32:42 -0000

The EU and food safety

By Daniel Spichtinger

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

Domantas Sirvinskas — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:15:42 -0000

Welcome to doingood.cafebabel.com

Domantas Sirvinskas — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:14:32 -0000

A tea party for Britain?

Dave Keating — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:20:53 -0000

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.

Kinshasa Symphony: why is Mozart in Africa an alien concept?

Annie Rutherford — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:18:39 -0000

People passionately making music is always good film fodder. This German documentary offers a contrast to the conflicts and states of mind dealt with its 2008 predecessor 'Trip to Asia', which followed the Berlin philharmonic

His & Hers wins Dublin award

valerio caruso — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:44:28 -0000

Alternative Casimir market in Vilnius

Daiva Repečkaitė — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:45:56 -0000

Tired of the pseudo-folk traditional Casimir market (which, despite all criticism, does have good stuff in it, I must say)? Try the new one. Sorry, the announcement is in Lithuanian, but I will translate the basic info.

A snippet view of cultural diversity: what the Google Books Settlement means for Europe

Rob Compton — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:07:42 -0000

Have you ever done a search on Google Books and been annoyed at seeing only ‘snippet views’ of the book you wanted? In theory, we all know this has to do with copyright – information being expensive to produce but cheap to reproduce, authors have a right to be rewarded for their work and protected against its unlawful distribution. In practice, you may be ever so slightly irritated. By Anne-Kathrin Marquardt

Songbeat, Berlin: story of a German music start-up

Jude Lister — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:46:37 -0000

Philip Eggersglüß and Marco Rydman are two Berliners who launched an online music business at the age of 25. We discuss court cases, 'limited company' statuses via the UK and Hong Kong and the benefits of working in the German capital

Diplomacy and Social Networks

Elina Makri — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:42:46 -0000

Few things you shouldn’t miss out on living in a student’s dorm

Antoaneta Ivanova — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:58:30 -0000

PIIGS unwelcome in the EU parlour: war of words rocks Eurozone

naomi o'leary — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:00:00 -0000

Despite Silvio Berlusconi’s dreams, the next member of the Eurozone is unlikely to be Israel; even Croatia or Turkey have taken a back seat. The current pan-EU squabble is over who should have been admitted to the eurozone in the first place

On texts

Daiva Repečkaitė — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:32:19 -0000

I sometimes get comments both to this blog and the Lithuanian one, saying that the statements in one or another blog entry are "not objective", "biased", etc. Hence today I wanted to share some basic knowledge about categories in opinion journalism. I hope that you'll excuse me for only refering to Wikipedia, but these things are encyclopaedially basic :)

Anderlecht, Molenbeek, Schaarbeek: spot the crime in Brussels

Thimi Samarxhiu — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:21:47 -0000

Petty crime and unemployment rates (17.6%) are high in inner city Brussels, which registers a low violent crime rate in Europe. Nevertheless, police arrested 12 Belgian Albanians linked to a crime gang on 15 February*, whilst certain districts remain dangerous. Is this down to the crisis?

Condescend or help?

piola — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:54:00 -0000

What is the role of Bulgaria for Turkey accession to the EU?:The Rebate of the Debate

Babel Sofia — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:21:36 -0000

We were tempted to start this blog entry by retelling you a scene from “Pearl” ("Gumus") but we couldn’t. Why? Simply because none of us has even a clue what the plot is about or has watched a series. For better or for worse, it has turned out that this is what defines the Bulgarian public opinion on Turkey.

Le Sketch 9 out and free on demand!

Marco Riciputi — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:43:52 -0000

The Growing “European Family” From the Dream to the Reality

Babel Sofia — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:39:42 -0000

In the past Europe was the most controversial continent and nowadays is one of the most peaceful and powerful regions, that still searches to find its unification and completeness.

How to make Polish potato pancakes

Paulina Dominik — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:30:00 -0000

It’s cheap and available, warm and nourishing, omnipresent in most traditional European cuisines – but the starchy crop only hit the continent from South America as late as the 16th century

Guy Verhofstadt, Honorary President of the Union of the European Federalists - Belgium

Mana Livardjani — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:55:15 -0000

Bad taste - big success?

Daiva Repečkaitė — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:42:23 -0000