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Algeria referendum • Not English, but 'globish' • Russian returns to his pre-1917 estate

Algeria referendum: The bloodshed in Algeria at the beginning of the 1990s saw the deaths of over 150,000 people. Others have disappeared. A controversial national referendum later this month will propose a charter for national reconciliation.

Globish: A retired French marketing executive has devised a new method of learning English -- simplifying the language by restricting the vocabulary to 1500 words. We'll be taking a lesson in this simplified language -- globish -- before discussing whether it's likely to catch on.

A Russian returns: After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks arrested wealthy landowners and confiscated their property. Now, for the first time since the fall of communism, a Russian descended from a long line of aristocrats has managed to buy back his family's country estate, which has had a very chequered history in the family's absence.
Read entire article at BBC World Service "Outlook"