By Zia H. Shah MD – Twitter: @ZiahShah1
First something about the big picture ….
Daily Archives: 29/01/2013
50 Most Widely Spoken Languages – Sindhi language was also on International RADAR screen even in 1996
In 1996, Sindhi was the 50th widely spoken language in the world. Very useful and impressive information. More than 20 million persons spoke Sindhi in 1996. It is about the same number of people as those who spoke Dutch, Thai and Yoruba. Sindhi language deserves to be preserved and developed. Just as Sindhi people deserve to be more developed and more prosperous.
More » http://www.photius.com/rankings/languages2.html
via – Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, 28 Jan 2013.
With Timbuktu Retaken, France Signals It Plans to Pull Back in Mali
By LYDIA POLGREEN and SCOTT SAYARE
SEGOU, Mali — French paratroopers arrived in the ancient desert oasis of Timbuktu on Monday, securing its airport and main roads as thousands of residents poured out of its narrow, mud-walled streets to greet French and Malian troops, waving the two countries’ flags, with whoops, cheers and shouts.
“Timbuktu has fallen,” said the city’s mayor, Halle Ousmane Cissé, in a telephone interview from the capital, Bamako, where he has been in exile since the Islamist militants took over the city 10 months ago. He said he planned to return to his city on Tuesday.
The rapid advance to Timbuktu, a day after French and African troops took firm control of the former rebel stronghold of Gao, may spell the beginning of the end of France’s major involvement in the conflict here.
The French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, was a little more cautious than the mayor in his assessment of the situation in Timbuktu on Monday evening ….
Read more » The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/world/africa/mali-timbuktu-france-britain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0
Indus Asia Online Journal (Click here to go to home page) 