Category: international
China: the ever-expanding economy
| September 5, 2012 | Posted by Jane Lu under international |
On the 15th August, 14 Chinese activists sailed to the disputed island between Japan and China on the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, in protest to Japan for claiming the island which is part of the Chinese territory. The activists set foot on the island, sang the Chinese national anthem and planted the Chinese national flag on the rocky land; they were seized by the Japanese guards. Five of the activists were arrested and the other 14 were detained in their boat. Immediately after the incident, the Chinese demanded the unconditional release of the activists. On the 17th August, Japan said they would release and deport the 14 Chinese activists. The island, called Diaoyu in China and… more
Six ways Paul Ryan could help the Romney effort
| August 14, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge under international |
On Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney officially announced his running mate choice: Paul Ryan, the US Representative from Wisconsin. Romney passed up vice-presidential hopefuls such as Rob Portman of Ohio and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and now sites like Politico claim Romney wanted Ryan all along. Instead of looking to capture votes from individual states, Romney has focused on finding a partner whose policy-wonk, data-oriented personality fit in with his own. Here are six ways Paul Ryan could help Romney’s chances for office. 1. He’s young. At age 42 and the same age as Romney’s oldest son, Ryan has the ability to influence Republicans who fear Romney is losing touch with the demands of suburban families. He isn’t afraid… more
Interview with We Were Evergreen: nursery rhymes, peanut butter and “weird” French quotas
| July 25, 2012 | Posted by Jade Cuttle under entertainment, international, interviews |
The alternative-indie trio from Paris, We Were Evergreen, have recently supported the likes of Ed Sheeran, King Charles and Emeli Sandé. They create mesmerizing melodies that reduce the world and its worries to a heartbeat and beats fit to burst, and their enchanting vocals dip in and out of harmonies, hypnotizing the average hipster and bringing electro back to life. This band doesn’t just make music, music pulses through their veins as they rise and fall to the tinkling xylophone dancing gracefully through the summer air. In an interview with The Student Review, Michael Liot, the lead singer, guitarist and ukulele player of We Were Evergreen, who dances with enough energy to break the stage into two, reveals how his up-and-coming… more
L’Étranger by Albert Camus: a beautifully strange summer read
| July 17, 2012 | Posted by Jade Cuttle under culture, international, reviews |
“Today, mother died. Or perhaps yesterday, I don’t know.” You’ve got to admit, that’s one heck of an opening. The first time I read it, I laughed. I’m not heartless, I was simply shocked. How is it that something so short and simple can be so striking? Perhaps it was an instinctive fear towards death combined with the uncomfortable lack of compassion, or the sudden depths of a story I was plunged into knocking me unexpectedly off my seat. Either way, it prods sharply at your curiosity; a story you’ll be reluctant to emerge from once you’ve started. L’Étranger, first published in 1942, is a classic French philosophical novel divided into two parts: the life before and after an emotionally detached French-Algerian office… more
A taste of French comedy
| June 8, 2012 | Posted by Jade Cuttle under culture, entertainment, international, reviews |
It can be difficult to find foreign comedy funny. If we try too hard, dissecting each sentence, we lose sight of the surprise. It no longer smacks us in the face; instead it just politely taps us on the shoulder. The trick is to delve into it with little thought and approach it with no fear. Pierre Desproges: comedian Pierre Desproges had no fear; that’s what made him so funny. A French humorist from the 1980s, his humour extended into literature with Les Etrangers sont nuls, a catalogue of cultural criticisms written for the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie-Hebdo. He holds no hesitation in calling the reader an “imbecile,” while he himself poses imbecilic questions such as “are the English creatures of God?” Dehumanization is his strongest… more
Romney’s choice
| June 6, 2012 | Posted by Oliver Nott under international |
Mitt Romney’s chances of becoming the president of the United States took a considerable albeit predictable boost last Tuesday, when he amassed the majority of 1,144 Republican party delegates needed to unofficially confirm what many had seen coming for over a year now. With this in the bag, the issue now dominating the thoughts of numerous Republican party officials, conservative pundits, and political bloggers and journalists is the question over who Romney will pick to be his running mate in November, and, if successful, the next vice-president of the United States. This mathematical assurance, which has only substantiated what has been obvious for months, means that aside from new campaign strategy – get the old etch-a-sketch out – and the… more
A taste of French culture
| May 12, 2012 | Posted by Jade Cuttle under culture, entertainment, international |
Music: Christophe Maé An acoustic singer-songwriter from Vaucluse, Christophe Maé’s songs are stained with heartbreak but stitched together with hope. His voice, a patchwork of passionate outcries and soft sighs carried by the roll of a southern French tongue, combines with an earthy melody and the occasional harmonica to fashion a raw and authentic style. Inspired by Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley, Christophe Maé released his first album, Mon Paradis, in 2007, which became France’s second best-selling album of that year. Paving a path to further success, he won the l’Artiste Masculin de l’Année award in both 2008 and 2009 from World Music and NRJ Awards, and has had several songs reach number one in the French charts. La Rumeur, from his most recent albumm On Trace La Route, released in 2010, is hope to a… more
Where’s the humanity?
| February 11, 2012 | Posted by James Harle under international |
Two-year-old Wang Yue died on October 21st last year. The toddler wandered out of a market, and CCTV footage shows her being struck by a van, then subsequently run over by a second van, all while a succession of 18 passers-by ignore her. The event sparked controversy worldwide as people looked at China and asked: where is the humanity? A week later, a young boy was run over by a lorry driver in Luzhou, western China. The lorry driver stopped, and proceeded to reverse over the child, in order to avoid paying his medical bills by killing him outright. Some people have claimed that Wang Yue’s death was equally precipitated by financial motives: that the passers-by were, in some cases, afraid to help her… more
The devil’s advocate: Killing Gaddafi was a mistake
| February 1, 2012 | Posted by James Harle under international |
In 2011, widespread political protests in Libya developed into a civil war between rebel and loyalist forces. NATO supported the rebels by bombing loyalist troops, and establishing a no-fly zone over the country. With their help the rebels captured and killed Muammar Gaddafi, the erstwhile leader of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, on August 23rd. Reports claim that before his death, Gaddafi was shot in the chest and head, wounds which took half an hour to kill him. Mobile phone videos also show him stripped naked and sodomized by the ecstatic rebels. In June of that year, an investigation by Amnesty International showed that a large proportion of the allegations made by the rebels prior to NATO intervention were either inaccurate… more
Iraq: a state of despair
| January 26, 2012 | Posted by Alaa Jasim under international |
Something many people do not know about me is that, despite being born in Liverpool, I consider myself to be Iraqi. My parents both come from Iraq, I learned Arabic at the same time as English, and my family lives by Iraqi tradition. And throughout the past decade, I have watched the nation from which my parents originated be slowly, but surely, torn away from me. It think it is pretty clear now that I was never going to be an advocate of the war in Iraq, and over the years my opposition to this ludicrous endeavour has become only more vehement. False accusations of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) were the key into Iraq, and the incessant bombing caused thousands upon thousands of deaths. And… more
