Not Just the Daily Grind: Today’s Must Reads (or so)
- Yesterday the parliament of Slovakia voted against the expansion of the euro bailout fund, but EU Pins Hopes on Second Slovak Vote This Week. The government of Iveta Radicova has fallen but will continue in a caretaker role. It has pledged to get the measure through parliament in a second vote. Alas, in vain the mouse roared...
- Danes firmly against euro - The latest Statistics Denmark euro barometer shows Danes firmly opposed to joining the Single Currency. Nothing new under the Danish Sun. They didn't want in before the financial crash, and a fortiori they don't want in right now. There is something right in Denmark.
- Italy Still Needs Silvio Berlusconi - Over at the National Review they think there's still hope for il Cavaliere. When the night is darkest the dawn is nearest...
- The Académie française: custodians of the French language - The Académie française was created in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu. Its aim was to "fix the French language, giving it rules, rendering it pure and comprehensible by all."
Each French ministry has its own commission of terminology and neologisms, whose job is to track down English terms and offer French alternatives. They send their proposals to the Académie, which debates the new terms and rubber stamps them.
Once published in the statues book, French civil servants are urged to use them. Its rulings, however, are only advisory; not binding on either the public or the government. About 300 such official French terms appear each year.
However, not all catch on. The French term "prix hypotécaire à risqué" is not often heard in place of "subprime", for example.
- Saudi Women Receive Husbands' Explicit Permission To Celebrate Right To Vote -
In the wake of the watershed decision granting them the right to vote in the 2015 elections, Saudi women have received their husbands' explicit consent to rejoice, sources reported Wednesday. "It is with great pride that women all across Saudi Arabia have been allowed to leave their homes under the guardianship of a male relative and celebrate this cultural landmark," father of four Khalid al-Kazaz told reporters. "It brings us great pleasure to permit them a few moments in which to smile beneath their hijabs before returning to their daily duties." Saudi officials followed the announcement with another historic decree that lowered from 10 to 7 the number of lashes that will be administered to women who drive themselves to the voting booth.
No further comment needed, right?
