March 2007

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

This famous film, pictured in Salem and definitelly worth seeing, was directed by Czech Milos Forman. Read more about this renowned director and his work!

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Armenia + Turkey = possible cooperation

As a step toward mending historical wrongdoing, the Turkish government has aimed to pay for the restorations costs of the Armenian Akdamar church. This church is considered by many historical experts as a denotation of medievel Armenian architecture. Along with Turkey's decision to pay for these costs, an opening ceremony of the church will proceed the restoration. Unsurprisingly there is tension, suspicion, and worry surounding Turkey's altruistic and social gestures. Some believe these gestures to be part of an elaborate act to gain publicity and propaganda. Continue to read more at the following site, if you so desire:

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International Women's Day!!!

The 8th of March is an official public holiday recognized by the Russian government. On these days, government offices, embassies and some shops, are closed. If the date of observance falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday will be a day off in lieu of the holiday.March 8th is designated by the United Nations as a day for celebrating women and their deeds they have made to society. The holiday is not as big of a deal throughout the world as in Russia. As a tradition, women are presented with gifts and flowers, which represents society’s admiration for their work and love. It is very similar to Mother’s Day celebrated in the United States with some variations borrowed from Valentine’s day.

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Colonial System Haunting Kenya

The British, during the colonial days in Kenya set up an administrative system to keep tabs on its citizens. It served its purpose but was oppressive to the locals. This system, though set up a long time ago, has hardly evolved to reflect modern situations. Interestingly, the administrators created from the system had grown so powerful that seemingly very few people were able to avoid its abuse.

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Passive Child Smokers Prevalent

According to the campaign “Active for passive smokers” 76.8% of children are passive smokers and 65.8% fall within the category in discotheques and internet clubs.

Only one-third of the students in the country live in an environment free of smoke. Children in families with smokers are three times more likely to become ill from asthma and bronchitis.

“The passive smoker,” states the article “has made the right choice – not to smoke." However, when he lives in an environment of smokers, he has to breathe in the smoke that burns near the cigarettes of the smokers as well as the exhaled smoke of active smokers.

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And the Oscar goes to… Germany… for “The Lives of Others (= Das Leben der Anderen)”

Let us start this year with German culture.

Yes, we did it again. After “The Tin Drum (= Die Blechtrommel)” from 1979 and “Nowhere in Africa (= Nirgendwo in Afrika)” from 2002, “The Lives of Others (= Das Leben der Anderen) is the third movie from Germany (Category: Best Foreign Language Film) which won the Academy Award “Oscar”.

A successful night for director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ended with a big party at the house of the famous German director Roland Emmerich, who lives in Hollywood on February 25th. With his wife and many actors of this movie he was celebrated this great success for the German movie scene. Donnersmarck’s first movie was a blockbuster in Germany that received rave reviews of American film critics.

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Ecuadorian bananas exports and their claim

This article discusses how Ecuador (the world's largest banana producer) is dissatisfied with the European Union. It also discusses how the rules of the European Union favor only Caribbean and African producers. To find out more please click on the provided site below. Hopefully, you will enjoy reading it!

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U.S. Missile Defense System to be built in CzechRep

Prague/Washington- The U.S. missile defense system, the radar part of which is to be stationed on Czech territory, would protect against possible activities of the states that do not want to observe the usual principles in the world. Its goal is to allocate and destroy possible limited intermediate to long-range ballistic missile attacks from the Middle East and from a limited long-range missile attack from North Korea.

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Watch this Film! -'Letters from Iwo jima"

Although this is not an article about the latest news in Japan, I would like to introduce you to a film called “Letters from Iwo jima”. This film is impressive and I think it has to be seen by many people in order to understand the truth about World War II. With "Flags of Our Fathers," director Clint Eastwood approached WWII's Battle of Iwo Jima from the American perspective. He chronicles the same time from the Japanese perspective in "Letters from Iwo Jima," featuring Ken Watanabe ("Memoirs of a Geisha," "The Last Samurai").

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Elif Shafak's outlook

Elif Shafak, a well-known Turkish writer, has been under fire for her audacious support of the unavailing French bill. France's National Assembly had recently been in the process of enacting a bill that penalized anyone who refused to acknowledge the Armenian genocide of 1915 committed under Ottoman rule.

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