Saturday, March 03, 2007

The World Marches On

There was a not-so-distant time when we knew relatively little about what was happening in other parts of the world. Now, on a daily basis, news reaches us about those parts of the world familiar to us but whose quotidian news-events were never available. As for those other, far-flung areas of the world about which we knew very little and likely cared far less, we now realize we do care. We care to learn about all the little events and large that loom on the horizon of other countries.

And through vast media networks those little bits and pieces of information are available for us, to enable us to become more aware and better informed about the world we live in. The stories of failures and those others of undeniable triumphs against adversity of one kind or another. We may form skewed opinions about countries, but we can also begin to distinguish which news items hold true merit in reportage and others whose accuracy should be questioned.

Still, reading all those news tidbits allows us to gain a picture in the round, to recognize that we and those we love, the small community which we inhabit represents a minuscule portion of mankind and its communities of communities. Some of the items serve to remind us just how alike we are to other peoples anywhere. Some of them remind us of just how fallible human nature is, along with the governments in place to represent their interests.

Herewith, today's little sprinklings of interest-worthy news. Or not:
  • India - Sex workers from across India ended a week-long meeting yesterday with the demand they be allowed to work legally. The forum, attended by nearly 50,000 men and women, was held in the eastern city of Calcutta, organized by the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a group of sex workers from West Bengal state. Selling sex is illegal in India, although the prohibition is rarely enforced.
  • Ethiopia - Britain yesterday sent a team of officials to Ethiopia as part of efforts to trace 5 of its Addis Ababa embassy staff or their relatives who have gone missing in the northeast of the country. An undetermined number of missing western tourists, belonging to separate tour groups, were reported missing or feared kidnapped.
  • Morocco - King Mohammed VI pardoned nearly 9,000 prisoners to celebrate the birth of his baby girl. In addition to the 8,836 pardons, the king also reduced the sentences of 24, 218 other prisoners. The North African kingdom's massive pardon came after Princess Lalla Salma gave birth to a baby girl on Wednesday.
  • Britain - Britain's attorney general obtained an injunction yesterday to prevent the British Broadcasting Corporation from broadcasting a story about a police investigation into alleged corruption in the political honours system, the BBC reported. The injunction was requested by police probing allegations that honours - including seats in the House of Lords - were given in exchange for loans to the Labour or Conservative parties.
  • United States - A Norman Rockwell work stolen from suburban St.Louis more than three decades ago was found in Steven Spielberg's art collection, the FBI announced yesterday. The painting, Rockwell's Russian Schoolroom, was snatched during a late-night burglary at a gallery in Clayton, Missouri, on June 25, 1973. The filmmaker purchased the painting in 1989 from a legitimate dealer and did not know it was stolen.
  • Zurich - What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighbouring Liechtenstein. According to the Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers from the neutral country wandered more than 1.5 kilometres across an unmarked border before realizing their mistake and turning back. There were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.
  • London - Radical Muslims are being accused of blackmailing young Hindu and Sikh women into changing religion. Ranjeet Singh, of the British Organization of Sikh Students said: "There are cases of aggressive techniques, of drugging and of rape, of the man taking photos and blackmailing the girls into converting. They know that by dishonouring the girls they will make their families disown them. It's a problem that has been going on for a while, but a lot of people are reluctant to come forward and there's not much being done."
  • Berlin - Germany is planning to land an unmanned craft on the moon in an ambitious revival of a dream that has haunted the nation since the 1930s. There have been clear signals from the German government, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, a physicist, that it is willing to put up $396 million U.S. over 5 years for the initial funding of the Lunar Exploration Orbiter. It was under the Nazis that German scientists made the decisive breakthrough toward space travel in October 1942 by launching an A2 rocket 100 kilometres into space. The rocket design, renamed the V2, was later used to bombard the southeast of England and Antwerp in Belgium, killing thousands. Other European countries, including Britain and Italy, have been considering independent projects in space.
And there we have it, the not-entirely-so-dreadful, but perhaps rather interesting news items revealed by our news media this day.

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posted by Pieface @ Saturday, March 03, 2007

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