François Hollande renames Kobane, "Konabe"

Even if you're not especially interested in what's making the news, the chances are that you've heard of Kobane.

The town on the border of Syria and Turkey has been the scene of fighting between Islamic State militants and Kurdish defenders for the past month and has received extensive coverage internationally.


So you would think that leaders from around the world would not only be familiar with what's happening there but would also be able to say the town's name properly.

All right, there might be differences in spelling, accents and stress between different languages (and those helpful people at Wikipedia provide a few alternatives) but there's surely consensus as to the order in which both the letters and the three syllables come.

Right?

Wrong.

Not, apparently, if you happen to be the French president, François Hollande.

François Hollande at the Institut du monde arabe (screenshot from Le Petit Journal on Canal +)

Proving once again that he is a verbal law unto himself, Hollande managed to mangle the town's name not once, but twice, during and after a speech he gave at the Institut du monde arabe (Arab World Institute) on Tuesday.

Kobane in Hollande-speak became Konabe.

And both he and his advisors seemed oblivious to the fact that he couldn't pronounce the town's name correctly.

You can hear Hollande's gaffe from 12 minutes 45 seconds until 13 minutes 45 seconds - the  "L'instant président" segment of the "Le Petit Journal" on Canal + with host Yann Barthès broadcast on Tuesday evening.

Classic Flanby...unless, as Barthès pointed out, Hollande really was referring to the village of Konabe in Japan (yes, it exists).

Now that brings back memories.

Wasn't it in Japan back in June 2013 that Hollande, while wanting to pay tribute to the 10 Japanese nationals who had died in the Algerian hostage crisis in January of the same year actually expressed his condolences to the Chinese?

Valls en déplacement pour un parking - Le Petit Journal du 14/10

Armenian couple name baby after French president - "Sarkozy"

Without doubt it takes all sorts to make a world, including parents who name their child in honour of someone they truly admire.

But how would you feel if a member of your family or a friend named their son after the French president?

Sarkozy Avetisian (screenshot from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report)

No not "Nicolas" which, let's face it, would be a more recognisably conventional first name, but "Sarkozy".

Well that's exactly what a couple in Armenia has done.

Sarkozy Avetisian was born last week in the country's second largest city of Gyumri and his parents had apparently planned on naming their first child after one of the grandfathers.

But they had a last-minute change of heart, and it was one full of symbolism.

How?

Well last week also saw the passing through the Senate in France, of a controversial bill that makes it a criminal offence in this country to deny that genocide was committed by Ottoman Turks against Armenians during World War I.

The bill was supported by Sarkozy (the French president that is. Are you getting a little confused?) and as it has passed through both the National Assembly and the Senate in France, now only needs his seal of approval to become law.

It's a decision that has not made him - or France - any friends in Turkey; quite the opposite in fact.

And France's foreign minister Alain Juppé has, and will have, more than his work cut out to ease those "diplomatic tensions" between the two countries that have occurred as a result.

In Armenia though and among France's half a million citizens of Armenian descent, the decision is of huge importance and was described as historic.

And it certainly wasn't lost on Karapet Avetisian, the father of the newly-born Sarkozy (the baby, not the French president, just in case you were wondering).

"On behalf of the Armenian people and my own behalf I thank Sarkozy (the French president, just in case you weren't following) for this step," Avetisian said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"And the name of the child is in his honour."