A new global language will replace English

According to researchers, English as it is spoken today will have disappeared in 100 years and could be replaced by a global language called 'Panglish' (the article doesn't explain the name further). 

"New words will form and meanings will change with the most dramatic changes being made by people learning English as a second language. The global form of English is already becoming a loose grouping of local dialects and English-based common languages used by non-native speakers to communicate. By 2020 there may be two billion people speaking English, of whom only 300 million will be native speakers. At that point English, Spanish, Hindi, Urdu and Arabic will have an equal number of native speakers."

Who's rallying for Somalia?

All the attention going to Darfur, such as the Global day for Darfur protests that have been planned to take place all over the world next month is a great way to highlight the devastation taking place there. However, my frustration comes from the lack of international attention on Somalia. It's no news that a lot of celebrities and otherwise 'important' people have been standing up for the genocide in Darfur for a while now whilst the on-going devastation in Somalia rarely makes headlines, despite the fact that the situation in Somalia is far worse than Darfur:

"Many of these kids are going to die," said Eric Laroche, the head of UN humanitarian operations in Somalia. "We don't have the capacity to reach them. If this were happening in Darfur, there would be a big fuss. But Somalia has been a forgotten emergency for years. The officials working on Somalia are trying to draw more attention to the country's plight, which they feel has fallen into Darfur's shadow."

There's no doubt that there are a lot of African countries in a state of emergency right now but there seems to be a growing sensationalism around Darfur that unfortunately does not spill over to the other countries also in need. 

75 Somali Refugees drown off the coast of Yemen

Whilst trying to cross from Somalia, according to reports. Approximately 180 people have been reported to have survived. 

This comes right after the evaluation of Aid groups warning that Somalia is 'too dangerous' to work in. Seems like a never ending cycle where the innocent constantly pay the price, when will this end? 

More Muslims than Christians in Britain?

It's not enough to be fearful of global warning these days when we have media outlets like The Telegraph warning (who exactly?) about the increase of Islam in Britain to the point where they're estimating that in TWELVE YEARS TIME the number of Roman Catholics going to church will fall to 679,000 (failing to state how high the numbers are now) whilst the number of Muslims praying in Mosques on Fridays will have increased to 683,000 (again, as opposed to how many now?).

"The projections show that, if the Churches do not reverse their historical decline, there will be more active Muslims than Christians in Sunday services across Britain before the middle of the century"

This is yet another 'warning' from The Telegraph after the article by the (Asian) Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali who ironically criticised the growing multinationalism in Britain, covered previously here. Interestingly, the article only discusses the decline of (practising) Roman Catholics. This is the perfect article to throw into the on-going argument of the place of Islam in Britain as it suggestively ends with: "The continuing growth of the Muslim population since the 2001 census would have significant implications for society"

Oh? Was that the end of the sentence? Shouldn't the concern be more about why so few Catholics are going to Church and what to do about that? Or even perhaps what that implies for society?

Photo: Mosque at Plage d'Ouakam, Senegal

Cheap shot

One thing we know about the inner workings of the Iranian government is that no one knows, let alone commenting on personalities. BBC's Jon Leyne commenting on the results of the election in Iran writes:

And the internal battle within the conservatives may rather suit him. He has always been a leader attached to the principle of "divide and rule."

I'm amazed at the assured tone he uses, I wonder what information did have to reach this judgement? It could be true, but that was a cheap shot.

US missile strike in Somalia kills 3 cows and a calf

The fourth known attack by the US inside Somalia since 2006 was unsuccessful as it failed to hit its target - Saleh Ali Nabhan who is allegedly connected to the 1998 US embassy bombing in Kenya amongst other things. This attempted attack on a "known al-Qa'ida terrorist" only managed to hurt 6 civilians and kill 4 animals, according to reports.

Is anyone surprised?

Digital News Affairs (DNA2008)

I've arrived this morning in Brussels to attend NDA2008. The two day conference gathers some of the top professionals and executives at the intersection between news media and new media. The agenda of the conference promises to "answer the key questions" but I don't think there are "answers" as each organisation has a different approach to the issues discussed, instead, various approaches will be presented: CNN's iReport, Aljazeera's Youtube channels and the BBC's usage of social content.

Video content (and video journalism) is given plenty of space in the conference with panels like "Can video save the print industry?", "Video journalism goes mainstream?" and "How online video changes the broadcast industry?", to name a few. Other panels will look into news content in blogs, mobile devices and social networks, as well as panels on news content in video games (virtual reality) and, of course, dealing with user generated content. Branding, advertising and free content are all discussed in the second day.

There were few topics I'd hoped would be featured - but I can't find them in the agenda - including training (journalists and the executive management, for example). But I'm sure a discussion on this will surface somewhere in these panels.

The first day of the conference will be chaired by Aljazeera's Richard Gizbert who presents The Listening Post a weekly media critique program. Russell Merryman the Chief Editor of Aljazeera English - mistakenly printed in the conference literature as Aljazeera International - will be speaking on couple panels.

I won't be presenting or taking part in panels so I'll try to live blog (but I need to get an adapter for my charger first). Stay tuned!

U.S. Exchange Student Starved by Egyptian Host Family

This is by far the most ridiculous story I've come across so far this year. 

17 Year old Jonathan McCullum lost 50lbs after being 'starved' by his host family in Alexandria, Egypt. The family, who were Coptic Christians, fasted for the large proportion of his 4 month stay and gave him 'meager' amounts of food and hid treats in their bedroom. He said he never got breakfast and his first food of the day usually was a small piece of bread with cucumbers and cheese that he would take to school for lunch. There was a late-afternoon dinner consisting of beans, vegetables and sometimes fish, and a snack of bread later in the evening. When he returned home to Maine the 5-foot-9 teenager weighed a mere 97lbs and was so weak that he struggled to carry his baggage or climb a flight of stairs. Doctors said he was at risk for a heart attack.

And the reason why this boy didn't go downstairs and buy some shawerma and foul is because...? 

Next up he wants to visit Zimbabwe this coming summer to build homes and trails...