On the 9th November of this year, Catalans were called to vote in a referendum on the independence of their region. This referendum, without legal effect and forbidden by the central state, saw an excellent participation of more than 2 million people. The citizens had the choice between independence or status quo. A third way, corresponding to a federal system, was also proposed to them. Le Journal International went to meet Javier Romero, a Catalan living in France who chose the option of the...

“The first thing the police asked when my mother disappeared was ‘does your mother drink?’“. This sentence destroyed Loma Martin, whose mother Marie Jean Kreiser disappeared in 1987. It also clearly shows the discriminatory clichés that plague Canada. Women who cannot stand the decades of inertia on the part of the authorities are now pushing for a national investigation regarding the 1,181 disappearances and murders of Native women. Upon landing on Canadian soil, cultural integration was the...

On the 17th November, the Czech Republic celebrated the “Velvet Revolution”, which had accelerated the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989. The commemoration turned into a protest. President Zeman and the « Lennon Wall » are under the spotlight and cause controversy. The Velvet Revolution, which was so named because of its peaceful nature, ended almost 45 years of communism in Czechoslovakia. It was followed by a “divorce with Slovakia” (also referred to as “velvet”), which created the...

On the 16th November, the Christian Liberal candidate won the Romanian Presidential elections, crushing his opponent, Prime Minister Victor Ponta. In one of the poorest countries in the European Union, where corruption is rife, the victory of this reserved man who nobody had expected to win symbolises a dramatic change in the political landscape. Several weeks previously, no-one would have counted on his success. And yet, this November, against all odds, Klaus Iohannis was elected as the new...

With its popularity growing rapidly in Dakar, surfing represents a beacon of hope for a Senegalese tourist industry damaged by the economic crisis. The sea breeze offers a welcome reprieve from the Dakar heat. Plastic chairs creak under the weight of parents who have come to cheer on their children. Others, cameras in hand, capture the scenes as they slalom between street sellers who are taking advantage of the event to sell sunglasses and African artifacts.

On November 21 this year, Alina Bica, the Head of the department for Combating Organised Crime and Terrorism, was indicted. She was suspected of involvement in a scheme of corruption. A plot, believed to cost the Romanian state approximately 76.7 million dollars (62.5 million euros), was being revealed. Since its accession to the European Union in 2007, Romania keeps mentioning corruption and organised crime as one of its main concerns. But how to combat this scourge when those primarily...

A little quiet Canadian town in the suburb of Toronto, a handful of inhabitants of whom the majority are Christian and a mosque. That's what established the Little Mosque on the Prairie, a rare little pearl of Canadian television, which started in 2007. At a time of intense western worries and the growth of religious extremists in the Middle East, it seems to be beneficial to set the record straight. A little warning. Without any doubts, Little Mosque on the Prairie is more than a simple TV...

After the elections last May, the Eurosceptic parties won almost 25 % of the European Parliament’s seats. A paradox that says a lot about the condition of Europe today, weakened by the crisis and the rise of nationalism. Who is to blame? A young team of journalists trying to answer this question decided to go on a road trip. The rise of anti-European sentiment represents today a reality fixed in every mind. No need to remind you of the scores obtained by radical right movements in France, The...

“With the crisis, I fear an anti-German mobilization”, said Daniel Cohn-Bendit, former Member of the European Parliament, Germanophile and pro-European. From working class revolts in Southern countries to the political elite’s criticism in France, Germanophobia is gaining ground. Let’s analyze. The European elections’ results in May 2014 highlighted the rise of Germanophobia in Europe. “140 anti-Europe MEPs join the Assembly” ran Le Parisien as a headline. In Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Spain,...

Neil Young, 69 years old, has released his thirty-fifth album of his career and second produc-tion of the year, “Storytone". More enthusiastic than before, this album shows mostly his devotion to Nature. On the occasion of his European summer tour, Le Journal International went to meet this legend, the first "protest singer" and godfather of grunge. Four songs in forty-five minutes, the tone is set from the start. Neil Young and Crazy Horse delivered a pretty clear message that night: love each...