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Guinean President personally presents condolences to José Eduardo dos Santos

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The President of Guinea-Bissau, Úmaro Sissoco Embaló, presented this Friday, 30, his condolences to the former Angolan President, José Eduardo dos Santos, on the death of his son-in-law, Sindika Dokolo, yesterday in Dubai.

In a post on his Facebook page, Embaló published three photos of the visit to Santos, after the death of the husband of the eldest daughter of the former Angolan President, Isabel dos Santos.

Sindika Dacolo died of drowning while diving on Thursday, 29, in Dubai, a family member of Sindika Dokolo told VOA.

The Guinean Head of State does not reveal details of the conversation or the location of the meeting, but in another post, published hours earlier on the same social network, Embaló publishes photos of a shirt exchange with Guinean soccer player, Ansu Fati, who is active in Barcelona.

The meeting may have taken place at Santos’ home, who lives in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

Ansu Fati receives and offers sweaters

“The shirt exchange between the President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Úmaro Sissoco Embaló, and Ansu Fati, a player from Barcelona of Bissau-Guinean origin, took place this Friday, October 30, 2020 in the city of Barcelona, ​​where the President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau is on a private visit ”, reads the page of the Head of State.

On the occasion, Fati offered Úmaro Sissoco Úmaro an autographed shirt with his number and name.

In return, according to the post, the head of state “offered the young player who tomorrow is going to celebrate 18 years of age a shirt with the symbol of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau and the Presidency of the Republic”.

No further details of Embaló’s private visit.

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Nuns not seen since the occupation of the Port of Mocímboa da Praia

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Brazilian nuns Maria Inez Leite Ramos and Eliane Costa Santana reappeared this week in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, after having been incommunicado for 24 days.

The Catholic Church lost contact with them in August, when the village where they live, Mocímboa da Praia and its port, were occupied by insurgents, who the authorities say have links with the Islamic State.

Maria Inez Leite Ramos and Eliane Costa Santana, from the Congregation of São José de Chambery were located on September 6, reported the Catholic Church in Cabo Delgado.

“The sisters are safe and sound,” said Dom Luiz Fernando Lisboa, Bishop of Pemba.

“The sisters Eliane and Maria Inez, and the congregation, ask for prayers for all the people in that part of Mozambique who have been displaced and harmed by the rebels,” the General Council of the Order of Nuns said in a statement.

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The Togolese have eliminated sleeping sickness

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LOMÉ —

Rodrigue Apénou, 22, is a student in 2th year of IT management, in Lomé. He doesn’t know anything about sleeping sickness. “I don’t know about sleeping sickness. I never heard of it”, he tells VOA Africa.

Rodrigue Apénou was not born when Togo experienced its last case of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT). It’s the same for his comrade Joël Atohoun, aged 21, who had to use his previous knowledge to remember.

“It is a disease thought to be caused by a fly called a tsetse fly. We were taught that in elementary school “, he said proudly as if to taunt Rodrigue. Playing the experts, Joël continues, “as a sign, it can be noted that the person who is bitten will sleep a lot. It’s a bit like that “.

It was in 1996 that Togo recorded its last case of HAT, commonly known as sleeping sickness. The latter is characterized by sleep disorders as confirmed by Dr Kossi Badziklou, former coordinator of the HAT control program in Togo.

Dr Kossi Badziklou, former coordinator of the HAT control program in Togo, Lomé, September 2, 2020 (VOA / Kayi Lawson)

“What we see in patients at a given level is a little messy sleep. That is, people who can spend the whole day sleeping and in really abnormal conditions. Someone to whom we serve a dish, who is at the table and who begins by sleeping without eating for example. Someone who goes to the field, who takes his hoe to work, he sits and sleeps all day “, explained this doctor. “Without proper treatment death is inevitable “, added Dr Badziklou.

Eliminating sleeping sickness as a public health problem should not lead to slackening, warns the former coordinator of the disease control program.

“What we should not forget is that the disease can come back. Already in the 1960s many countries were at this stage “, he said. “But there was a relaxation and we were surprised by the resurgence of this disease”, recalled Dr Kossi Badziklou.

By eliminating sleeping sickness as a public health problem, Togo becomes the first in Africa to achieve this feat. WHO has acknowledged that the country has met all the criteria.

“To eliminate human African trypanosomiasis, it must be proven that there have been no indigenous cases at least during the last 10 years. Beyond that, it was necessary to follow up and then present a file. A very good file because it is necessary to document the entire history of the disease since it started in the country “, detailed Dr Fatoumata Binta Diallo, WHO resident representative in Togo.

After the elimination of sleeping sickness, Togo will work to verify that its transmission has stopped. The last level, which is its total eradication, concerns all endemic countries, as was the case on August 25 for wild polio in Africa.

According to a WHO file, the disease is present in 36 African countries.

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young Guinean works to make a difference in their home country

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After graduating in nursing in Morocco in 2014 and working two years in the health field, Guinean Siradjo Biague decided he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He went after his dream and moved to Brazil. Four years have passed and now he is a tourism entrepreneur about to complete his general administration course at the Municipal Faculty of Palhoça, Santa Catarina.

In an interview with Voz da América, Biague spoke about the experience of studying at a Brazilian university and how to obtain scholarships for Guineans. He addressed the social action recently organized by Guineans in Brazil to raise funds to help people with financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus in Guinea-Bissau. He also commented on the volunteer project of Brazilians in Guinea-Bissau that he is organizing.

On scholarships available to Guineans, Biague explained that the Guinea-Bissau Brazil Netherlands University (UGBH) has an agreement with the Municipal Faculty of Palhoça, Brazil, with a university in the Netherlands and now also with universities in Portugal. So far, three groups of Guinean students have gone to study in Brazil. Entry is not automatic, as interested students need to take a test.

For students arriving in Brazil, one of the challenges they face is related to new technologies and software. However, Biague explained that this is overcome after the first semesters. A positive point for African students is that there is already a regulation in Brazil that allows them to do paid internships or work in the country.

Volunteer work

Siradjo Biague has a project to take Brazilian doctors, nurses and specialists to do voluntary work in Guinea-Bissau. The coronavirus pandemic interfered with the plans, but when the situation improves the project will be carried out. The idea is for professionals to stay in the country for two weeks.

Fundraising

Biague said that recently the Association of African Students of Santa Catarina (Florianópolis), organized an action to raise funds to help people with financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus in Guinea-Bissau. He said that the association managed to raise 2300 euros and that 250 people will be helped with basic food baskets through organizations already established in Guinea-Bissau.

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progress compromised by the Covid-19 epidemic

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Thousands of Muslims took part in Istanbul on Friday in the first prayer organized at the former Hagia Sophia since its conversion into a mosque.

It was the first prayer organized at the former Hagia Sophia since its controversial conversion into a mosque; a ceremony in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recited a passage from the Koran.

During this prayer broadcast live, Mr. Erdogan, who wore the Muslim Djellabah for the occasion, read the first sura of the Koran. Then the four minarets of Hagia Sophia issued the call to prayer on Friday. Then the four minarets of Hagia Sophia issued the call to prayer signaling the beginning of the rite.

“We are witnessing a historic moment (…) A long separation comes to an end,” said Religious Authority leader Ali Erbas who, during his preaching, held a scimitar symbolizing the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453.

This is the first collective prayer organized in 86 years at Hagia Sophia, a major architectural work built in the 6th century which has successively been a Byzantine basilica, an Ottoman mosque and a museum.

On July 10, Erdogan decided to return the building to Muslim worship after a court ruling revoking its museum status obtained in 1934.

This measure has aroused the anger of certain countries, notably Greece, which closely follows the fate of Byzantine heritage in Turkey. Pope Francis also said he was “very distressed” by this reconversion.

Despite the epidemic of new coronavirus, compact crowds formed in the morning around Hagia Sophia, AFP journalists noted. Several faithful even spent the night there.

“This is historic. May Allah bless Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He is doing such beautiful things. I am very moved,” Aynur Saatçi, a 49-year-old housewife who cut short her vacation to come, told AFP. pray in Hagia Sophia.

– “Breaking the chains” –

For many observers, the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque aims to galvanize the conservative and nationalist electoral base of Mr. Erdogan, in a context of economic difficulties aggravated by the pandemic.

By making this decision, the Head of State, often accused of Islamist drift, is also attacking the legacy of the founder of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal, who had transformed Hagia Sophia into a museum to make it the emblem of the Republic. ‘a secular Turkey.

As a symbol, Mr. Erdogan chose for the first prayer the day of the 97th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne which fixes the borders of modern Turkey and which the president, nostalgic for the Ottoman Empire, often calls for revision.

Hagia Sophia remains in Turkey closely associated with the capture of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmet II, said the Conqueror. An Ottoman brass band was also present on the forecourt of the building on Friday.

“This is the moment when Turkey breaks its chains. From now on it will be able to do what it wishes, without being subject to the West,” said Selahattin Aydas, a trader who came to pray in Hagia Sophia.

“No one other than our president could have turned it back into a mosque,” he adds.

The Friday prayer also comes against a backdrop of strong tensions between Ankara and Athens, particularly related to Turkish hydrocarbon exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

Greece strongly denounced the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, seeing it as a “provocation against the civilized world”.

– “Political show” –

In protest in Greece, Orthodox churches were to ring their bells on Friday. “It is a day of mourning for (…) all of Christendom,” said the head of the Greek Church, Archbishop Iéronymos.

Israfil, a kilim seller near Hagia Sophia, is also unhappy with the conversion of Hagia Sophia, fearing a “negative impact on tourism” which has already suffered greatly from the epidemic.

“This whole show is for political reasons,” he grumbles.

But Ankara rejected all criticism in the name of “sovereignty”, stressing that tourists will be able to continue to visit this building classified as a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

In any case, the authorities’ haste to organize a first prayer there raises concerns.

“The measures taken in haste (…) can have disastrous consequences and cause irreversible damage” to the 15-century-old building, underlines Tugba Tanyeri Erdemir, researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.

The fate of the Byzantine mosaics found inside Hagia Sophia is of particular concern to historians.

The Religious Affairs Authority (Diyanet) claimed that they would be covered by curtains only during prayers, as Islam prohibited figurative representations, and would remain visible the rest of the time.

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São Tomé and Príncipe, Lusophone country in Africa with more deaths in mandatory confinement

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The authorities of São Tomé and Príncipe revealed that one more person died due to the new coronavirus, increasing the number of deaths to four, while the cases now rise to 187, 13 more infected than on Monday, 4.

With this update, the country becomes the second Portuguese-speaking country in Africa with more cases, after Guinea-Bissau, with 475, but with the highest number of deaths.

Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Angola registered two deaths each.

Sao Tome’s Minister of Health, Edgar Neves, said that on Monday there were 35 rapid tests, of which 22 were negative and 13 were positive.

The governor revealed that there are children among the patients, but that, like the other infected people, are in their homes, being, in their majority, asymptomatic cases.

In this period, only employees of essential services and food sectors are left out of this restriction.

“A difficult measure for a country where the majority of the population works to eat on the same day”, considers Óscar Baía, president of the Associação Sãotomense dos Direitos Humanos.

Given the warning from the authorities that anyone who does not comply with the mandatory confinement incurs a crime of disobedience, Baía predicts that many people will be arrested on the streets.

“And the worst thing is that these people are arrested and placed in the same cell. If they do not catch the virus on the street, they run the risk of becoming infected in the cells”, adds Óscar Baía, who calls on the Government to “put into practice those announced financial support measures for certain sectors of society, including taxi drivers and motorcyclists, in order to minimize the suffering of families ”.

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doctors are trying to understand the causes of high mortality from COVID-19

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The frightening speed with which the condition of people infected with coronavirus worsens, and completely sudden deaths shock even experienced doctors and nurses who do not yet understand how to stop such a sudden deterioration in the condition of patients.

Patients “look good, feel good, and then … if you turn your back on them, they don’t react anymore,” says nurse Diana Torres, who works at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Torres complains that in recent days she has developed paranoia associated with fear of sudden death of patients. Not only the elderly or the seriously ill die. This, according to doctors, is now happening with young and healthy people.

While on duty, nurse Lori Douglas, working in a hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a young woman suddenly died. Douglas says that after 34 years of working in the hospital, she has long had a kind of intuition: a nurse usually feels which of the patients may die and who will recover soon. But now she does not understand why people die so unexpectedly.

“Last week, she planned her wedding, and this week her family will bury her,” says the nurse, referring to the deceased patient.

When patients are hospitalized, it says nothing about a possible fatal outcome: people breathe freely and are able to conduct small talk, an ambulance doctor working in the New York Presbyterian Hospital says. The doctor, who agreed to talk with Reuters on condition of anonymity, says that many of these people can begin to choke in a few hours and find themselves on ventilators.

“It’s scary that there is no pattern here,” the doctor notes.

Doctors observe a similar development in many hospitals – COVID-19, a severe respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, has already caused the death of more than 83 thousand people worldwide.

The rapid deterioration of patients is probably the result of an “over-reaction” of the immune system to the fight against the virus, says Dr. Otto Young, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The so-called “cytokine storm” occurs when the body produces too many immune cells. Cytokines appearing in the blood – peptide molecules that activate immunity – cause high blood pressure, lead to lung damage and organ failure.

“This is madness”

Emily Muzyka, a 25-year-old nurse working in a New York hospital, says that the “turning point” for her was the situation last week, when a relatively healthy 44-year-old patient suddenly needed mechanical ventilation.

51-year-old Anik Jessdanoon, an Associated Press reporter who never complained about his health and ran a 83 marathon, unexpectedly died last week from COVID-19. This was posted on Facebook by his cousin Prida Mulpramuk.

Jessunun at first did not need hospitalization. After infection, he began to recover, his tests were in order, and his lungs, as his doctor testified during a visit to the hospital in late March, were clean. However, on April 1, the journalist suddenly became worse: he was taken to the emergency department, where Jessdunun died 13 hours later.

A nurse at the Mount Sinai Intensive Care Unit repeatedly witnessed a patient’s kidney failure. For many of them, doctors intravenously injected heparin, a medicine that prevents blood coagulation.

“It makes me crazy how quickly they get sick … We’re actually trying to figure out how to treat them,” the nurse says.

According to doctors, patients who require mechanical ventilation cannot always be saved.

According to Dr. Craig Smith, chief surgeon at Columbia University Medical Center, intubated patients spend an average of about two weeks on ventilators. An ambulance doctor from the Presbyterian Hospital testifies that the mortality rate of intubated patients with COVID-19 is above average when compared with people who are placed under mechanical ventilation machines for other diseases. The exact numbers are still unknown – in the midst of the epidemic chaos is happening in many hospitals, and doctors do not have time to keep statistics.

Doctors sometimes have to experiment with drugs whose effectiveness in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 has not been proven – including using the drug hydroxychloroquine, which is usually used to treat malaria.

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how COVID-19 turns body cells into viral factories

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When the coronavirus attacks the body of its next victim, it turns the patient’s own cells into original factories for the production of new viruses.
The process begins on the surface of the cell when the virus captures the protein, which usually helps regulate the patient’s blood pressure. The cell involuntarily lets the virus inside itself, where the “attacker” unloads his load: instructions for creating new copies of the virus.

Apoptotic cell (greenish brown) highly infected with SARS-COV-2 virus

Without its own tools for self-reproduction, the virus begins to control the cell’s mechanism: it copies its genetic code to produce more and more viral envelopes and deliver microbes to the outer surface of the cell, with the help of which it manages to begin the process of infection of the remaining cells.
Medicines that have been available to pharmacists for years can affect various parts of this process. Despite the fact that some of these drugs were not initially used as antiviral agents, scientists hope that previously invented drugs can contribute to the fight against the treatment of dangerous infections.
“We cannot afford the luxury of a five-year drug search program. We need medicine right now, ”says Warner Green, a doctor and researcher at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology.
As a result of an active search, researchers have already discovered, at first glance, several unexpected “candidates” that may be useful in the fight against coronavirus. Anti-cancer drugs, drugs for the treatment of the cardiovascular system, drugs for schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease – all of them are now considered as potential treatments for COVID-19. Now, for example, there is an active testing of chloroquine – a drug intended for the treatment of malaria.
Inexplicably
Despite all the knowledge accumulated by mankind in the entire history of the development of medicines, scientists often do not know exactly how and why certain medicines work.
“In many cases, we don’t know all the mechanisms of their action,” says Jason Kindrachuk, a virologist at the University of Manitoba. “Sometimes we do find that a drug has unexpected effects that were not recognized initially.”

CureVac, a German biopharmaceutical company, demonstrates a coronavirus disease vaccine research workflow (COVID-19) in a laboratory in Tubingen, Germany

These treatments may also be useful, because medications often have multiple effects on various processes in the body. According to Kindrachuk, our cells often use the same mechanism to perform various actions, and a medicine that affects this mechanism can have several results at once.
Often, these results manifest as unwanted side effects. But sometimes at the same time there are opportunities for the treatment of completely different diseases.
When men suffering from baldness started taking the drug minoxidil for blood pressure, they noticed a strange and pleasant “side” effect: their hair began to grow again. As a result, minoxidil received another name – Rogain, which is now used as a means to stimulate hair growth.
A drug called sildenafil was originally developed to treat chest pain from diseases of the cardiovascular system. However, its positive effect on erectile dysfunction was an unexpected and profitable surprise for the company, which had a patent for the production of this drug, which is now known as Viagra.
Synergetic Power
But a drug designed to treat a particular disease may not work against the virus alone.
“I think we could find a drug that is moderately effective, or several drugs that are moderately effective,” says Green. – And then the question arises: what if you combine these two moderately effective drugs? Can they enhance the effect of each other, and thus we get a very powerful antiviral drug? That is exactly what our plan is. ”

Researchers examining a sample of the respiratory virus in Novavax laboratories in Rockville, Maryland, March 20, 2020, in one of the laboratories developing a vaccine for coronavirus

The Green-led team is now testing thousands of medications to see if they work against coronavirus in vitro. Researchers hope to get the first results in two or three months. Several teams of scientists are conducting similar experiments around the world, using robots to simultaneously perform a large number of tests.
Other scientists are working to find out how the virus interacts with various processes taking place inside human cells, and are looking for drugs that affect these processes.
These studies are at a very early stage. Any medicine that performs well during laboratory tests should first be tested on animals and then on small groups of people to make sure that it does more good than harm.
According to Green, this process can be quite a long one. He warns that this is just the first step. However, scientists already have some clues that may ultimately lead to the achievement of the goal – the victory over COVID-19.
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Measles speed race, deadlier than Ebola

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At least 18 people were killed, including 12 rangers who came to the aid of civilians, Friday in an attack perpetrated by an armed group inside the Virunga national park, natural and tourist jewel in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In addition to the twelve rangers, their two drivers and four civilians died in the unclaimed attack north of Goma, a park spokesman told an AFP journalist.

A security source has for its part made a report of 13 eco-guards and five civilians killed.

There were also “wounded, some of whom are fighting for their survival,” the park said in a statement, referring to a day to mark with a “black stone” for this site classified as World Heritage by Unesco and “the residents of neighboring communities “.

It is one of the heaviest attacks targeting some 700 Virunga rangers, 176 of whom have been killed in 20 years, in this region of Kivu destabilized by the violence of armed groups for a quarter of a century.

In its statement, the park said the attack was carried out near its headquarters in Rumangabo, in the mountains of Rutshuru territory.

“All the information available at this stage indicates that it was an attack against civilians. The guards were not the target and died while assisting the civilian vehicle which had been taken under fire from the attackers” , details the press release.

Virunga Park claims it “is unable to provide details on the motivations and identity of the attackers”, and warns of “the spread of rumors and unrelated information verified. “

Covering an area of ​​7,769 km2, the Virunga cover part of the province of North Kivu (almost 60,000 km2), especially along the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

– Active armed groups –

The oldest natural reserve in Africa unseen in 1925, the park is a sanctuary for mountain gorillas.

The great apes are one of its tourist attractions, with the spectacular ascent of the Nyiaragongo volcano, and a nocturnal bivouac in the red glow of its active crater at more than 3,000 m above sea level.

But the park is also the field of action for dozens of armed groups active in the region, such as the Rwandan Hutu rebels of the FDLR, very present in the attack area.

Trusteeship Institute of Virunga, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) has identified all the threats to its natural jewel: “illegal production of charcoal”, “poaching of large mammals, especially the hippopotamus” , “illegal fishing” as well as the “presence of armed groups” and the “invasion by illegal diggers of minerals”.

In May 2018, Virunga Park had suspended its tourist activity, following the kidnapping of two British tourists, who were finally released. An eco-guard was killed in this attack.

The park had reopened its activity to tourists in February 2019.

In 2014, the park director, Emmanuel de Mérode, was injured in an armed attack.

That same year, the park had again gained notoriety in the world with the documentary Virunga produced in 2014 by the American actor Leonardo Di Caprio.

The Virunga company has also embarked on the construction of hydroelectric power stations, for the production and distribution of electricity in Goma and its region.

The visits had been suspended since March 19 as part of the preventive measures taken by the authorities in the face of the coronavirus epidemic.

“However, the personnel and the technical teams are the only ones authorized to circulate on these areas, while respecting the measures advocated by our leaders”, specified the body responsible for the park.

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Corrosive South Korean film “Parasite” broke down barriers

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The South Korean film “Parasite”, both a thriller and a corrosive satire on social inequalities, succeeded in breaking down language barriers to meet immense success around the world, up to winning three Oscars in one evening.

It is a consecration for “Parasite”, the first Korean film ever awarded an Oscar. Exceptional crowning of a year 2019 marking the hundredth anniversary of Korean cinema.

Its director Bong Joon-ho first received a first statuette for the best original screenplay. Then his film was crowned best international feature film, and he received the Oscar for best director.

Bong Joon-ho’s film had previously won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival last year and the Golden Globe for “best foreign language film” in January, two prestigious prizes which already constituted a first for a southern film. -Korean.

“Parasite” is also the first foreign language film to be awarded the “Best Actor Set”, the most popular award from the Screen Actors Guild, as well as two Bafta awards for British cinema.

If this feature film has won over an international audience, it is because it tackles problems common to all societies, explains Jason Bechervaise, professor at the South Korean University of Soongsil Cyber.

“There is a lot of political anger around the world, and it is compounded by a palpable feeling of growing social inequality. The word” parasite + “really fits that,” he told AFP. .

– Poverty and wealth “inextricably linked” –

Dark comedy, “Parasite” tells how four members of a family of unemployed – who vegetate in a dark and sordid apartment overgrown with cockroaches – manage to get into the daily life of a wealthy family in Seoul.

Their life begins to change radically the day the son becomes the private tutor of English for the daughter of this wealthy family, who lives in a sumptuous contemporary villa surrounded by a magnificent garden.

The film by Bong Joon-ho, known for his thrillers camouflaging satires of South Korean society, shows “very well how poverty and wealth are inextricably linked”, explains to AFP John Lie, professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

“The rich are parasites on the poor, like the poor are on the rich,” he said.

The international success of this work, especially in the United States, is all the more remarkable since the English language dominates international cinema and the success of non-English-speaking films is rare.

In France, “Parasite” has become the most seen Palme d’Or in cinemas for fifteen years.

– “A universal interest” –

During the Golden Globes ceremony, Mr. Bong – who was signing his seventh film there – called out to American spectators: “Once you have overcome the subtitle barrier, you will open yourself up to so many other amazing films” .

For Bao Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American director, Mr. Bong’s Oscar is an “example to follow for future Asian and American filmmakers”.

“Parasite” is a film “deeply rooted in its representation of Korean society, and has in no way yielded to the expectations of a foreign audience,” he told AFP.

Its success will open new horizons for other films, wants to believe Deborah Shaw, professor of cinematographic studies at the University of Portsmouth in Great Britain.

This should “make more international producers and distributors likely to invest in non-English speaking films,” she said.

But in any case, it is proof that a “good story, told in an excellent way and with universal interest, can transcend” language barriers, according to her.

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