International News

Namibia - At home in the wild!

This largest animal rehabilitation farm in southern Africa is home to 310 orphaned animals and offers visitors a chance to get close enough to the cheetahs, leopards and lions. Most of the animals at the Harnas farm were rescued when they were young and hand reared. They all have names and are treated as family by the Ms. van der Merwe, who shares her bed with baby baboons. Ms. van der Merwe and her late husband, Nick, gained the reputation for rescuing animals. He died in 2001 of Congo fever, and now his wife heads the family business. The farm includes dogs, zebras, baboons, cheetahs, lions and others. Behind the house is a nursery where spindly-legged buck and baby meercats get bottle-fed as well as an infirmary where an epileptic baboon, blind monkey and one-winged falcon named Nelson are kept. van der Merwe's daughter, Marlice van Vuuren, is interested to say a special hello to Joeters, the cheetah that was her childhood companion. Her friendship with the wildlife animals even tamed the lions as shown in this photo.

Vatican - Is Pope John Paul II a Saint?

French nun sister, Marie Simon-Pierre, says her Parkinson's disease was cured thanks to the former pope. Her claims could be accepted as the miracle that the Vatican needs to beatify Pope John Paul II. She mentioned, "for me it is a bit like a second birth. Look my hand is no longer shaking. John Paul II has cured me." Marie was diagnosed with the disease in 2001 and her symptoms worsened with time. Causing difficulty walking and her left arm being hung limply at her side. Her cure came on the night of June 2, 2005, exactly two months after the pope's death during which period her condition had worsened dramatically. She said that after evening prayers, an inner voice urged her to take a pen and write. She was surprised to see that her handwriting was clear, and since that day, she has not taken any medicines for her diagnosed condition. Before her cure, her fellow nuns in the Little Sisters of Catholic Maternities had been praying to John Paul II for her recovery. Marie Simon-Pierre was 17 when the pope was elected pontiff. Before John Paul II can be beatified - the last formal step for possible sainthood - the Vatican requires that a miracle attributed to his intercession be confirmed.

Egypt -- Secrets of the Lost Queen

One June 27, 2007, Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny and the top Egyptian archaeologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass, announced in a Cairo news conference that they believe that the mummy discovered by Howard Carter (the discoverer of King Tut's tomb) at the beginning of the last century belongs to the famed pharaoh queen Hatchepsut. Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh who ruled the country 3500 years ago for about 21 years (1439-1458 BC). The mummy of the obese queen who died in her 50s showed she had rotten teeth and suffered from liver cancer. The decisive evidence of the mummy identification was a molar tooth in a wooden box inscribed with her name found in the 1881 cache of royal mummies hidden at Deir al-Bahari. Dr Hawass' crew includes 4 distinguished Egyptian professors: Ashraf Selim (radiologist), Galal Beheri (dentist) , Yehia Zakariya (molecular geneticist), Hani Abdelrahman (pharmacologist). MRI and DNA studies showed similarities between the mummies DNA and that for her grandmother Ahmose Nefertari, the wife of the founder of the 18h dynasty. The mummy's left had was positioned on the right side of the chest, a traditional sign of royalty in ancient Egypt.

Prof. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's foremost archaeologist who led the research, said: "This is the most important discovery in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamen, and one of the greatest adventures of my life." Pharaoh Hatshepsut yielded more power than two other famous ancient Egyptian women, Nefertiti and Cleopatra.

Doha, Qatar  - Sheikha Mozza at Democracy Conference

The second conference on Democracy and Reform in the Arab world took place in May 2007. The conference was organized by the Qatari National Human Rights Committee, together with the Ibn Kaldhun Centre of Dr. Saad Ibrahim and No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and was headed by Sheikha Mozza bent al-Mesnad, wife of the Emir of Qatar. There were 400 participants at the conference from various Arab countries. The Doha conference aimed at offering a further example and a model of consultation between civil society and government institutions at a regional and national level also for other countries and inaugurating the Arab Democracy Foundation (ADF). The three-days conference provided an opportunity to analyse various topics related to political reforms and democratization in the Arab region, including: civil society and political parties; constitutions, rule of law and independence of the judiciary, women, youth and political participation; media and information technology; governance, parliaments and transparency; and Islam and minorities. Within this framework No Peace Without Justice took responsibility to assist in coordinating the substance of the discussion in respect of the two working groups on transitional justice and on the role of external actors. The board of the newly founded ADF includes: former Mauritanian president Ali Weld Muhamad Al-Fal; former Sudanese prime minister Al-Sadek Al-Mahdi; former Egyptian prime minister Dr. Aziz Sedky; former Lebanese prime minister Selim Al-Hys; former director of Kuwait University Dr. Hasan Al-Ibrahim.; Dr. Ali Fakhro from Bahrain; Khaled Al-Attiya (Qatar); among other international figures such as former Irish prime minister Mary Robinson and former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell.

France - "Maladies of Celebrities"

The mighty French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, who died at age 52 in 1821, on the remote south-Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he had been sent into exile by the British after his defeat in Waterloo, had succumbed to stomach cancer according to an international study led by Prof. Robert Genta from the pathology department at the University of Texas. The autopsy report clearly described the presence of a massive tumour in his stomach, and historical evidence also suggests that Napoleon lost 10-15 kilograms in the last year of his life. The study which was published in the Journal Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology rejected the old theory that he died from arsenic poisoning, since none of the signs of such death were detected at the autopsy.

Canada - Dietary Treatment for Psychosis

Dr. Abram Hoffer, president of the Schizophrenia Foundation and alternative medicine pioneer, succeeded to help the 58-years-old actress Margot Kidder to overcome her bipolar disorder with his dietary plan and supplements. She married and divorced three times. She benefited from orthomolecular psychiatry and controversial therapy. Dr. Hoffer offered her a supplementary diet with a Taylor made regime of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, hormones and essential fatty acids - and no longer taking any pharmacological drugs. She had freed herself of the manic-depression she suffered all of her life and that caused public meltdown in 1996.

South Africa - Scottish Medial Hero

Dr. Tony Moll of the Church of Scotland Hospital in Tugla Ferry is helping patients with drug-resistant TB in a region already struggling under the weight of HIV/AIDS. He is the chief physician in an area which now has the title of "Home of XDR TB". The TB bacillus has been totally treatable since the advent of antibiotics in the 1940s, has suddenly morphed into something virtually incurable. The disease is spreading simply by laughing, talking or breathing droplet infection). Dr. Moll was terrified to see that the new strain of the disease killer 52 of 53 people who had it within two weeks of his arrival to the hospital. The bacillus was resistant to all six medications available for use in Tugla Ferry. Among the 52 killed, 4 health workers. He diagnosed 340 people with XDR, and more than half of them have ready die. The Scottish medical hero and his crew are doing an excellent job to help his ill African patients.

Germany - Adolf Hitler's Moustache

One theory about Hitler's distinctive toothbrush moustache is that he modelled after Charlie Chaplin, who began wearing the style in films dating from 1914, most notably when he impersonated the Fuhrer in his 1940 spoof, The Great Dictator. During the First World War, Hitler had a pointed Prussian moustache. He was instructed to clip off the tips of his moustache so that it would fit into a gas mask. The masks were essential against Allied mustard gas attacks. The more detailed story of the Fuhrer's moustache will be published in a new book. Dr. MacGregor Knox of the London School of Economics, said that historians know very little about Hitler's early days aside from where he lived and for how long. Still, the story of Hitler's moustache is amusing and could be accurate.

British Columbia, Canada - Danger Exotic Pets

A tiger paw flashed out from underneath the chain link cage at the Siberian Magic exotic animal farm, slashing at Ms. Tanya Dumstrey-Soos and dropped her to the ground. The 32-year-old woman was taken to hospital in 100 Mile House, about 40kms west of the farm. The attack was quick as it was deadly. The death of the popular animal-loving employee has stunned the community. The tiger had not been de-clawed.  The tiger is one of three owned by Kim Carlton, who keeps the big cats on his property in the tiny community of Bridge Lake, and invites the public to visit and have pictures taken with the tigers. The City of Vancouver passed By-law amendments that prohibit people from selling and keeping certain animals including lions and tigers. It was found that the prohibition of keeping exotic animals because of their volatile and unpredictable nature. In June 2006, a crocodile tumbled out an apartment window in Kitsilano. Provincial regulations may help protect animals and people, but the federal government should include tighter regulations about bringing exotic animals into Canada.

North America - Giant Tortoise Searching for Wife!

A Galapagos tortoise that was the last of its kind is looking for a companion, and perhaps even a specific female to mate with. Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835, where he was stunned to find that the giant tortoise on every island were distinct. Of the 14 tortoises that were alive during Darwin's visit, only 11 remain. A solitary male tortoise was spotted on Pinta Island in 1971. Lonesome George was believed to be the last of his kind. The researchers kept him in captivity at the Charles Darwin Research Centre on Santa Cruz Island, and they are looking at having a campaign for him from Isabella Island. For more than 35 years, researchers had believed that George was the lone survivor of a kind of tortoise that had evolved in isolation on the arid island of Pinta. Researchers have tried to arouse his interest by putting two females on Pinta Island with him in his enclosure - but he failed to perform. Dr. Jeffrey Powell, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University said, "he (Lonesome George) is a wonderful character, but very shy." His blood was tested showing normal blood hormonal levels. Some speculated that his sex organs may be faulty. Whether or not it is a physical malady, or behaviour, or level of interest is debatable.

London, UK - The Senior Zimmers Rock

Zimmers, a rock bank made up of 40 old-age pensioners with a combined age of more than 3000 years, including who's 99 and another who's 100, have released a single they hope will raise attention to the problems faced by senior citizens in Britain and around the world. Their video rendition of "The Who's My Generation," sung by 90-years-old Alf Carretta with backup vocals by a choir of pensioners on walkers (called Zimmer frames in Britain) has been viewed more than 2 million times in 2 weeks on the website YouTube. Several of The Zimmers have been friends for 30 years. While they hope their performances will draw attention to the isolation and abandonment faced by many elderly people, they are also determined to have a good time.

Miami, USA - A Religious Quack

Yahweh bin Yahweh is the classical religious quack, who said that he is the wonderful who rose from the dead to lead a lost tribe! He was the charismatic leader of a religious, black separatists sect in the Miami Area of Florida. He was convinced of conspiring to murder white people as an initiation rite. He said that he rose from the dead to be messiah to American members of a lost black tribe of Israel. He said, "I am the messiah, I am the word, I am incarnate. Yahweh bin Yahweh, whose Hebrew means the "lord's son of the lord," and whose followers were charged with killing former members who disagreed with the leader. in 1992, he was convinced of conspiracy to commit murder, but not racketeering, and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He got out on parole in 2001. He was born Hulon Mittchell in a small rural community in central Oklahoma. He was the first of 15 children. Over the decades, he adopted and shed several religious identities. In 1991, he was known as "Hulahshah", Father Mittchell and Brother Love. He earned a psychology degree. He went to Chicago to become involved with the Nation of Islam, until he was expelled for encouraging violent tactics. He moved to Miami 1976, pronouncing himself to be Yahweh bin Yahweh. He lives at his huge Temple of Love and has bodyguards, who were called, "The Circle of Twelve." In addition to the temple, the sect also owned a 4-story apartment building, restaurants, houses, stores. A hotel in Miami, a restaurant in Atlanta, hundreds of white cars, vans and 18 wheeler trucks. The empire's peak value may have been $100 million. The 71-year's old religious quack died with cancer last May, leaving four children and six grandchildren.

Washington, DC - The Queen Humour n the White House

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 81-years-old, enjoyed her fifth journey to the United States and White-tie State Dinner. During the welcoming speeches for the Queen, President Bush slipped in his tongue by saying that Her Majesty had celebrated the founding of the United States in 1776. He meant to say that she had attended the 1976 international festivities. He then followed it with a wink to the Queen, who responded by giving him an unamused silent glare. At the special dinner, a high-end meal was served, including spring pea soup with US caviar, dover sole almondine, spring lamb with chanterelle sauce and local vegetables, an arugula, mustered greens and romaine salad while Virtoso Itzhak Parlman played the violin. The Queen did not forget the presidential mistake earlier in her trip, and to demonstrate her sense of humour, she said in her speech at a dinner, "Mr President, I wondered whether I should start this toast saying when I was here in 1776 but I don't think I will."

Montreal, Canada - 60-kg Church Bell Stolen!

The sharp increases in the price of copper and copper alloys, such as brass and bronze, have turned these metal artefacts into coveted commodities. Copper fetches now around $4/pound. A bronze statue of St. Anthony of Padua was taken from a grave in a Montreal cemetery. Recently thieves tore a Parks Canada bronze plaque from the facade of a Chateaugay church bearing the names of war heroes from a St. Lambert memorial monument, and stole a 60-kg church bell in Sherbrooke. The bell was later recovered after turning up at a local scrapyard. Many of the stolen items were finely crafted pieces with both historic and artistic values.

Kentucky, USA - Colonel Sanders' New Look!

Some of the world's best known corporate mascots are being modified to appeal to a changing consumer, such as KFC Corp's trading in his white suit for a stripped apron. Last year, KFC introduced an updated look for its founder and former pitchman to wear a red-striped white chef's apron. The Michelin Man was slimmed down to reflect a more health conscience society.

Guinea - Woman Fears FGM in Homeland

Mrs. Qumou Toure, 24, will never forget the genital mutilation she underwent in her west African nation of Guinea. She fears that her 2-years-old daughter, Fanta, who was born in Montreal, will be exposed to this barbaric action if she goes with her back to her homeland. The child is a Canadian citizen living in Canada, where the country has made a commitment to protect children. Female genital mutilation is a physical violation that will leave an impact on the girl's health, both physically and mentally. The female mutilation includes the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia. The mothers who was desperate to avoid deportation says, "it hurts me when I think of my daughter going through the same thing that I did. And I don't want to be separated from her." Following the review of the case, the Canadian government granted the mother permanent residency. This June, Dr. Hatim El-Gabaly, Egyptian Minister of Health, announced the abandonment of the practice of female circumcision after the death of an 11-years-old girl in a private clinic.

USA - Martin Luther King's Daughter and Secretary

Yolanda King, the eldest child of Rev. Martin Luther King, pursued her father's dream of racial harmony through drama. She was an actor, author, producer, advocate for peace and non-violence. In 1963, when she was 7, her father mentioned her and her siblings at the March on Washington saying, "I have dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation will be judged not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character." She was 12 when her father was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. She died last May with heart problems a few months after her father's secretary, Dora McDonald, with cancer. In 1964, Dora accompanied Dr. King and his wife Coretta to Norway to collect the Nobel Peace Prize.

Afghanistan - Silencing Women's Voices

Two media Afghani women were assassinated: Zakia Zaki and Sanga Amach. Mrs. Zakia, 35, was a prominent Afghanistan journalist who headed Radio Sohl (US-funded station Peace Radio). In addition to operating her own radio station, she was headmistress at a local girls school, a community organizer, and a mother of six. She demonstrated to women that they did not have to hide in their homes or behind their burkas, that women have valuable contributions to make to the reconstruction of their country. She helped to design a project that would create four women's radio stations, a women's production unit, and a women's newspaper. Through the period from 2002-2005, the women's radio stations garnered considerable international attention. Zakia's murder was the second assassination of a female journalist within a week. It is not just a warning to female journalists, it is a warning to all Afghan women - a clear message that women are not welcome in the public arena. Journalism is always dangerous in Afghanistan, especially for women. The extremists don't like women to work, with conservative forces view Zakia and her fellow journalists as a visible symbol of women's emancipation.  Abdulhamid Mobarez, president of the Press Commission of South Asia, said "it is a very great loss for us. We are carrying on with our struggle for the freedom of the press in Afghanistan - a country where many still believe women should not show their faces in public.

Edmonton, Canada - Hutterites' Licences Free of Images!

The Hutterite community in Alberta believes that being photographed is a sin. They have won the legal right to have a provincial driver's licence without a picture. The Alberta Court of Appeal held a lower court decision from last year that the provincial regulation requiring photographs on driver's license violated the Hutterian Brethren of Wilson Colony's religious freedoms guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The head of the Wilson Hutterite Colony, John Wurz said, "This is good news. Not being photographed is one of the 10 commandments." There are about 30,000 Hutterites living in Canada today according to statistics. Other provinces with large Hutterite populations include Manitoba and Saskatchewan allow driver's licenses without photos for religious reasons. Madam Justice Carole Conrad wrote in a 37-page decision that driving is important to the Hutterite communal way of life, and the lack of photo-free license violated their Charter rights. The issue of religious rights versus the state's need to identify its citizens emerged in Quebec during the last election. Hutterites live across the four western provinces. They can trace their beginnings to Ana Baptists, a radical Protestant sect that evolved in Europe in the 1520s. Many of them fled to Canada during the First World War.

USA - Sexomania Epedimic!

Dr. Carlos Schenck reported in the journal, Sleep, that there is an increasing number of reports of sleep sex or sexomania, a sleep disorder that causes people to have sex with others or masturbate without waking up. The associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Schenck, found that all sleep disorders, from sleep walking to sleep apnoea, carry a risk for abnormal sexual behaviour when the lights are turned off. He blames the hectic modern lifestyle for aggravating sleep disorders in a caffeinated high stress society. In his book, Sleep: The Mysteries, the Problems, and the Solutions, he found that sleep sex is rarely isolated from other sleep disorders. People who suffered from sexomania had two to four other sleep disorders from sleep walking to sleep terrors. The issue ended up in court, where sleep sex has been raised as a defence in sexual assault cases in Canada, US and Europe. Two years ago, a Toronto judge acquitted a man of rape after ruling that he suffered from sexomania and was asleep during the attack. Now there are treatments available such as Clonazepam

When Santa Claus parade rolled through the streets of Vancouver, the people enjoyed the sight of a big blue bird lolling about in the bow of a massive cedar canoe. The bird was Raven, a cartoon adaptation of the mythical trickster from the native legends of the Pacific Northwest, and is the principle figure in the pre-Christian folklore. Raven really should rank right up there with jolly old Santa Nicholas. School children enjoy watching the Raven Tales, that gives ancient aboriginal stories a modern spin, as told through the wacky adventures of lazy Raven, worrywart Eagle, and wise old Frog. The 13 episode series has won international awards and it will soon reach audiences around the world. In Canada, Raven Tale presented on the Aboriginal Peoples TV Network (APTN). The show has already made it to New Zealand, Germany, Japan, France, Norway and all across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe on the Arabic language Al-Jazeera Children's Channel.

New Delhi - Macaque Monkey Attack!

India's members of parliament are demanding protection from marauding monkeys that have invaded the parliament building, ministries and the departments in the national capital of New Delhi. They are creating havoc in the heart of the city. Monkeys are even invading kitchens in MPs apartments and they are roaming free in ministry lobbies and often break into the fortified office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The city has struggled with the growing monkey population. Last year, the Delhi High Court reprimanded authorities in the Indian capital for failing to stop monkeys from terrifying monkeys and asked them to find a permanent solution to the monkey menace. Part of the problem is that devout Hindus believe monkeys are a manifestation of the monkey god, Hanuman, and feed them with bananas and peanuts, which encourages them to frequent public places. In 2001, several city residential districts petitioned the court to initiate steps to make New Delhi monkey-free.

France - Tour de France Winner Scandal

1996 Tour de France winner, Bjarne Riis, said he used blood booster EPO (Erythropoitin) from 1993-1998, including during his 1996 race victory. He said, "I have made errors, and I would like to apologize." His admission means that the top three finishers in the 1996 Tour have all been linked to doping and two have admitted cheating. Mr. Riis's confession comes while the 2006 Tour winner, Floyd Landis, is trying desperately to keep his right to cycle and awaits the verdict in his doping case. The runners-up to the 1996 race was Germany's Ian Ullrich and Frenchman Richard Virenque. Mr. Ullrich retired after being implicated in Operation Puerto, the Spanish investigation into an alleged blood doping ring. Mr. Virenque was kicked of the 1998 Tour because of his involvement in the Festina scandal. Interestingly, Mr. Riis's admission came on the same day the Italian committee prosecutors recommended that 2006 Giro d'Italia cycling champion, Ivan Basso, be banned for 21-months for his involvement in the Spanish doping scandal, Operation Puerto.
 

Samoa - Longest Serving Monarchs

King Malietoa Tanumafili II, one of the world's longest serving monarchs, for 67 years, died in Apia when he was 94 in the National Hospital in the Samoan capital. HE succeeded to the Malietoa title in 1940 when his father passed away. He was the world's third longest serving sovereign after Thailand's king, Bhumibol Adulyadej who has reigned since 1946, and Queen Elizabeth II who ascended to the British throne in 1952. In 1977, Queen Elizabeth visited Samoa for one day and presented the king with the Collar Badge and Star of the G.C.M.G., the Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George. Many American Samoans considered him to be the father of the two Samoas.

Any polygamy activists have long been critical of the conduct of leaders of the Canadian branch of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They wanted British Columbia authorities to follow the leadership of US officials who charged American FLDS leader - Warren Jeff, with six crimes for his role in arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-years-old cousin. Canadian authorities believe that underage girls are routinely married off to older men at the fundamentalist Mormon Community of Bountiful, B.C. In addition to underage girls' marriages, one hundred children were reported to have more than 20 wives. This issue raised several discussions: can polygamy be ruled unconstitutional?; can religious rites of a particular sect or person trump any right to persecute?  In other words, there is a fundamental religious rite for a person to engage in acts of polygamy. That is what's been suggested. It seems that this is a correct legal position.

Montreal, Canada - First University Puppetry Programme

The University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) offers a puppetry degree, the first of its kind in Canada. Marthe Adam will head the program, which will include everything from the history of puppetry classes to puppet-making workshops. The university offered in the past a few undergraduate puppetry courses in the drama department, and has now decided to create a two-year graduate diploma program devoted to the study of contemporary puppetry. The new generation of puppeteers may turn Canada's puppetry scene into a vibrant artistic frontier.

Johannesburg, South Africa - Tears of Nelson Mandela

On January 6, 2005, former South African President and freedom leader Nelson Mandela announced that his son, Makgatho Mandela, had died of AIDS at age 54. He said, "let us give publicity to HIV/AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness, like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and to say somebody has died because of HIV. And the people will stop regarding it as something extra-ordinary." The announcement shocked South Africa. The personal tragedy finally persuaded the hero of South Africa to join the war on AIDS. Makgatho was Mandela's only son. In 2005, 800 people died of AIDS daily in South Africa, no one liked to say the word, and that, Mandela said, was why he and his family had decided to go public to bring dignity to the dying. Over the past couple of years, Mandela and Graca Machel had become two of the foremost campaigners on the issue of AIDS in Africa, sponsoring ARV treatment and orphan initiatives through their charitable foundations, hosting massive fundraising events, and personally lobbying the leaders of rich nations to provide more funds for research and treatment efforts. In November 1999 in Mozambique, Graca Machel's brother-in-law died of AIDS and she insisted on being open about what had killed him. The Machels were not the only African leaders to admit AIDS had troubled them - that was Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, who's son Masuzyo died in 1986; the leader of the independence struggle in Zimbabwe, Joshua Nkomo, announced in 1996 that his son Ernest had died of AIDS; and in 2004, the South African opposition leader, Chief Mangosutho Buthelezi, announced that both his son and daughter had AIDS. At the time Mandela's son died, 28 million were infected across the continent.

China - Urging Families to Have Daughters

A campaign has been launched in rural towns of China to promote gender equality, "Let Girls Grow Healthy". The government is trying to eliminate the gender imbalance among newborns by the end of this decade, for despite the propaganda, most villagers cling to their old beliefs that if a family has no son, it means it has no heir or successor. In a classroom in Sanbai, boys vastly outnumber girls 34 to 20, exemplifying China's gender imbalance. A billboard in the centre of Ledong town in southern China urges families to have daughters! In a recent Chinese government report warned that 118 boys was born for every 100 girls in 2005. More than 60% of male farmers cannot find wives in Sanbai and Paishan. Interestingly, Dr. Devra Lee Davis, director of the Centre for Environmental Ecology at the University of Pittsburgh, published a recent study showing that the world's most skewed sex ratio was in Canada, in a native community surrounded by petrochemical plants in Sarnia, Ontario - where the number of boys born has plunged since the mid-1990s at a rate never seen before. The study suspects chemical pollutants as a possible factor to this sex ratio gap.

Ontario, Canada - Judge Sam Filer Fights for the Rights of the Disabled

The Honourable Judge Sam Filer fought for justice at home, first as a lawyer and then as an Ontario Supreme Court judge. He fought for the rights of the disabled, and for 20 years, he battled a disabling disease that never clouded his sharp mind. He lived with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease - a progressive neuro-muscular illness but he continued to serve on the bench even as he rapidly progressed to nearly complete paralysis. The loss of speech, mobility, and reliance on a ventilator barely dented his determination. He showed how rewarding a life can be even with ALS. He was named a judge of Ontario's County and District Court in 1984, and sat in Brampton Ontario, where he heard all kinds of cases, about half of them criminal. A year later, after a car accident, he noticed a lingering pain in his shoulder and difficulty in lifting his right arm. In July 1987, he was diagnosed with ALS, and soon his speech began to slur and by the next summer he was in a wheelchair, and experienced brief lung failure in 1989. Despite these highly debilitating conditions, he continued to work as a judge until his retirement in 2004. The extraordinarily resilient judge passed away in March 2007 due to smoke inhalation in a house fire at the age of 71.

Sudan - Charles Tombe's Goat Wife Dies!

The black and white goat, known as "Rose" to close friends, became a web phenomenon when it was reported that she had been "married" to Sudanese man Charles Tombe. The wedding was enforced by elders after a drunken Tombe was found taking advantage of the animal and to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Rose's original owner. The BBC's story of the "wedding" caught the public imagination and became one of the most read internet stories. Others pointed out that the tale got their goat, or wondered whether Tombe had become a "goatee"! Though forced into human institutions, Rose remained a goat to the end, and died as she choked after eating scraps of a plastic bag. Her human "widower" is perhaps wisely not commenting!

Global - Historical Letters: For Sale

Almost one thousand documents, collected over thirty years by a wealthy Austrian banker, including letters written by Winston Churchill, Peter the Great, Mahatma Gandhi, Alexandr Pushkin, John Donne, Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon Bonaparte, Isaac Newton, and Ernest Hemingway. One of the rarest of the collection is a passionate letter written by an apologetic Napoleon to his wife-to-be, Josephine, the morning after a furious argument, "I send you three kisses...one on your heart, one on your mouth and one on your eyes." The letters which cover more than 500 years, are to be auctioned by Christie's in London on July 3. The owner, Albin Schram, began amassing the archives in the early 1970s. The letters were kept in the laundry room of his villa in Switzerland. When he died in 2005, his family barely knew they were there. The collection includes a letter from Isaac Newton, in which he compared his views on gravity and universe to those of Aristotle, Plato, and Plutarch. Another lot of interest is a letter written by Ernest Hemingway to the American poet and critic Ezra Pound in 1925, explaining why bulls are better than literary critics. Interestingly there is a set of 30 unpublished letters and telegrams from Hemingway to the German singer/actress Marlene Dietrich. They started writing to each other when he was 50 and she was 47, remaining in close contact until his suicide in 1961. The correspondence has now been released by the Kennedy Library in Boston on instructions of Dietrich's daughter.

Montreal, Canada - Russel's Used Books Empire

Reginald Russel, who died last May at the age of 96 with a stroke is considered the dean of Montreal's English-language second-hand and antiquarian books. His book-selling business has spanned more than four decades, with many of his family members working with him. In 1971, the "Book Nook" was his first of 7 bookstores which would eventually involve four generations of the Russels in Montreal (Quebec) and Victoria (British Columbia). The first non-family member employed at the Book Nook was Giacomo Falconi, who was paid first in books, and it was only later after the store had prospered that he received a salary, and now he too has his own book business. Another Montreal bookseller, Wilfrid de Freitas, was similarly inspired by Reginald's business. Mr. Russel subsequently operated "Diamond Books" and in 2001, he was made a member emeritus of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Canada. He finally retired in 2004 and sold "Diamond Books" because of his declining health.

Global - The Seven Wonders of the World Revisited!

In 200 B.C., the Seven Wonders of the World were selected Philon Byzantium, as a travel guide to fellow Athenians to stunning sites around the Mediterranean world. All were man-made monuments built between 2500-200 B.C., but only the Pyramids of Giza remain standing today. The others were: The Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus at Ephesus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Realising that 6 of the original 7 wonders are now gone, Mr. Bernard Weber decided in 2000 to launch a contest at www.new7wonders.com to choose seven new sites that would celebrate the world's heritage. The Egyptian Government was disappointed that the pyramids would have to be voted back into "wonder" status by an internet poll, and hence the pyramids were removed from the voting list and kept with special status as the voting would be done among a list narrowed down to 20 from an original 177. The list includes wonders from Greece, Spain, Cambodia, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Chile, France, China, Turkey, Japan, Russia, Peru, Germany, Jordan, New York, England, Australia, India and Mali. The final results of the internet-based voting is planned to be announced on July 7, 2007, or 07.07.07, in Lisbon, Portugal, in the Estádio da Luz, Benfica's stadium. Incidentally, Jean-Pierre Houdin, a French architect, says he has cracked a 4,500 year old mystery surrounding Egypt's Great Pyramid, saying it was built from the inside out. Now an international team is being assembled to probe the pyramid using radar and heat-detecting cameras supplied by a French defence firm.

Afghanistan - The Disabled as Suicide Bombers

Dr. Yusuf Yadgari, the Afghani forensic pathologist said that, "almost 90% of suicide bombers in his country are people with some form of disability." Quari Samiullah, the suicide bomber at a Kabul internet cafe was disabled. Taliban and other forces are recruiting marginalized and vulnerable groups to carry out suicide attacks while men from their own ranks keep up the ground offensive. Every bomber's body in Kabul-based attacks passes through the forensic pathologist. He has so far detected such disabilities as amputated toes, blindness, mental illness, skin diseases, and muscular dystrophies in the bodies of suicide bombers. Those physically or mentally handicapped prove to be more prone to be bombers.

Global - High-budget Creationism Museums

A dozen new creation museums have opened in North America in the past five years. A $17 million new museum in Kentucky, USA is located 15 minutes west of the new Cincinnati airport. The first-class creation museum spares no expense in its effort to demonstrate that every single word in the Book of Genesis is literally true and is scientifically accurate. Visitors to the museum can enjoy seeing Eve offering Adam some fruit, and Rome descends into dark scenes of natural catastrophe. Dinosaurs march into the ark. Chairs rock and the audience spritzed with water while watching the video re-enactment of the flood. The Creation Museum was designed by curator of Jaws and King Kong attractions at Florida's Universal Studios Theme Park with roaring neck-swivelling dinosaurs. There is a debate in the US between Christian groups who want creationism taught in the classroom over evolution. About half of Americans don't accept evolution. Many scientists and educators from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana had signed an online petition protesting the "scientifically inaccurate materials at the Answers in Genesis Museum." The first Canadian creationist museum was born in Big Valley, a southern Alberta village, 15 minutes south of Edmonton. This science museum is crammed with material that purports to debunk evolution and prove that the universe was created by God, and that dinosaurs and humans walked together. The Big Valley Creation Science Museum has a dinosaur hanging over its front door. The museum contains a fossilised teddy bear and a scroll that claims England's Henry VI can be traced back to Adam and Eve to fossils offered as proof of the Biblical flood. The theory of Creation science is not as widely accepted in Canada as it is in the US, some people calling it pseudo-science. New polls show that 53% of Americans and 51% of Ontario Canadians believe that human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years.

Canada - Jehovah Witnesses parents battle transfusion for sextuplets

The neonatal ward of a British Columbia hospital faced legal, medical and religious views, where they have given blood transfusions in a struggle to keep alive four of the six premature born to parents who are devout Jehovah's Witnesses. The parents filed a court action against the Canadian government saying they want a hearing before the Supreme Court of British Columbia since being Jehovah Witnesses forbids them from having blood transfusion as a violation of their scriptures, while they accept most other modern medical practices. The parents mentioned that the government acted improperly when it obtained treatment order from a judge without hearing from the parents. British Columbia is the only Canadian province that allows the state to apprehend the children and authorize medical treatment without obtaining a court order. Dr. Fike-Henner Kluge, professor at the University of Victoria said that, "even though the Charter of Rights of Freedoms allows for freedom of religion, it does not apply in this case because the babies are not considered able to give their consent." This case addressed the issues concerning paternal rights, religion and the power of the state. Two of the sextuplets have already died since the January 7 multiple births.

Global - Miracles Around Us

Believe it or not. Recent to miracles seem to have taken place in both Poland and Canada. A railway worker, Jan Grzebski, 65, fell into a comma after he was hit by a train in September 1988, 160km north of Warsaw. Following a 19-year comma, Grzebski awakened last May to find that the Communist party which ruled Poland was no longer in power and food was not rationed anymore. He credited this miracle to his wife, Gertruda Grzebska, who cared and prayed for him for 19 long years. His observations on contemporary life held up as a fable on the ills of progress. Another miracle happened in Hamilton, Ontario, when a 5-year old survived a fall from the 9th floor of a building. His South Korean-Canadian mother, Jung-Mi Kim, 37, carried him to a nearby convenient store for help, as the boy was bleeding from the mouth and nose who only suffered two broken legs and a broken pelvis, but no life-threatening injuries.

Ismail Hassan, a Sudanese artist, proposed to his future wife by giving her five of his paintings as dowry, instead of the traditional $5,000 to be given to the bride. While his wife-to-be, Mai, accepted this offer, encouraging him to publicize and promote this option to all other young people seeking marriage, adding that his paintings were "more valuable than money or gold!". Many others in Sudanese society criticised this as diverting from cultural practices, while others supported the idea as it was seen as an alternative to the rising dowry rates.

Ingrid, the ex-wife of 66-years-old former Bre-X chief geologist, John Felderhof, is writing a book about living with Bre-X and with her husband. It has been almost 10 years since Bre-X Minerals collapsed amid allegations its claim of a massive gold find in the Indonesian jungle was a fraud. Mr. Felderhof is one of the key players in the scandal who used inside information to sell $84 million worth of company shares in 1996, not long before the Busang gold find was revealed to be worthless. The company's founder, David Walsh, who died with brain aneurysm in 1998, had mentioned in 1996 of there being potentially about 200 million ounces of gold in the jungle, which have made it the biggest find in the world. In May 1997, an independent review by Strathcona Mineral Services reported there was no gold, confirmed Bre-X has the biggest fraud in the history of mining - making the stock worthless.

Canada - Dethroning the King of Suits

An Ontario judge has ordered a stop to Joseph De Teresi's record run of litigation: a blizzard of legal paper that targeted everyone from clients and landlords to banks, law firms, credit agencies and computer companies. The King of Vexatious Litigation is a 72-year-old Brampton paralegal with a passion for launching law suits has been dethroned. But only after fighting his 73rd lawsuit in the past 10 years. Madame Justice Bonnie Wein of the Ontario Supreme Court said, "I am satisfied that Mr. De Teresi is a vicarious litigant. He can no longer be permitted unrestrained access to courts in Ontario."

Doha, Qatar - The Fifth Inter-faith Dialogue

More than 150 international personalities, including religious figures, business people and media representatives met in Doha as part of the Inter-Faith Dialogue Conference for discussions between Christians, Jews and Muslims. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Qatar. The attendees agreed that spiritual morals and values are very important to achieving world peace. Of the participants were Dr. Ahmad El-Tayib, President of Al-Azhar University (Egypt), Cardinal George Saliba (Lebanon), Rabbi Samuel Seirat (France). The sessions were chaired by Dr. Aisha Al-Manaee, Dean of Sharia department at the University of Qatar. All participants agreed to the notion that all the religions represented called for peace and love amongst all people.

Belinda Stronach, 40, is daddy's girl. Her ex-husband, Johann Olav Koss, has similar anthropological facial features like her dad. Eighteen British and Polish researchers used a series of anthropological measurements to show how the spacing of father's facial features is mimicked in the faces of the men their daughters find attractive. The notion of sexual imprinting, or sexual preference based on sexual characteristics has been studied by evolutionary psychologists, who research mental and psychological traits relating to natural selection. Dr. Lynda Boothroyd, of the psychology department at Durham University in Britain is the author of this new study. Belinda's father is the founder and head of auto-parts company, Magna International. She has dumped two husbands, a foreign minister, and at least one boyfriend, but there is one man she can never leave and cannot divorce - her father. She left the Conservative Party to become a Minister in Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal government in 2005 and was re-elected to Parliament in 2006. Now she leaves the Liberal Party and returns to Magna as executive vice-chairman with her father after three and a half years on the political stage. Magna International, with 83,000 employees, is preparing to bid for a piece of Chrysler. Belinda is interested also to change her hair colour from blond to brown to beige and in choosing companions from the high brow (her good friend Bill Clinton), to the low brow (her current boyfriend, former hockey player Tie Domi). Her father is 75 while she is 40. She set off to York University, but after one year she quit to work under her father's tutelage. Stronach recently announced that she is battling breast cancer and has undergone a mastectomy and is interested in spreading the message of early detection.

Men in Guinea's capital have begun attacking women who they accuse of doing the popular buttock-swinging Wolosso dance exported from Ivory Coast. Teenagers wearing skirts or hipsters, associated with Wolosso, which partly expose their buttocks and midriff have been stripped naked and beaten up. The provocative dance is considered by many in the mainly Muslim West African country of Guinea to be pornographic. The police have confirmed a few cases of alleged rape committed by the rampaging youths and more than 30 men have been detained in connection with the violence. The craze for Wolosso music and the dress style adopted by fashionable teenagers and women in the capital has become a hot topic of debate. "Young Guinean girls and African women in general should not dress themselves like European girls," one man told the BBC.  One woman decried "this Wolosso business". "In a Muslim country like ours, we should not be watching and imitating these music videos. I advise all girls and women to dress themselves in proper clothes." A younger woman said that wearing revealing outfits at night was not advisable.

USA, Death of the Marijuana Doctor

A psychiatrist by profession, Tod Hiro Mikuriya made his name not as a traditional practitioner but as a long-time advocate for the legalization marijuana for medical purposes. During his notorious career which involved various confrontations with the legal system, he served as the director of non-classified marijuana research for the National Institute of Mental Health Center for Narcotics and Drug Abuse Studies. He is also the author of a landmark book entitled Marijuana Medical Papers 1839-1972 which is credited for energizing the modern movement for the legalization of medical marijuana. Until his death in May of 2007, he continued in private psychiatric practice limited to cannabis clinical consultation where he approved marijuana for medical purposes in for over nine thousand patients, not solely in terminal cases, but also for the alleviation of physical and emotional pain. His administration of cannabis to a large number of patients became controversial and drew the ire of authorities. He was on 5-years probation with the Medical Board of California resulting from prosecutorial manipulation and conspiracy with local, state, and federal law enforcement vendetta starting in 2000. Mikuriya famously wrote the lyrics for several songs used in the campaign for the 1996 Medical Marijuana Initiative in California known as Proposition 215. Mikuriya (whose father was a Japanese Samurai and a converted Christian and whose mother was born in Germany and was a practicing Bahá'í) once described the relationship between his family upbringing and his views. Growing up in the Quaker community of Fallsington, PA and attending Quaker schools, his parents raised all three Mikuriya children as Quakers. In a 1998 interview, he explained that "the Quakers were proprietors of the Underground Railway, I’m proud to say. The cannabis prohibition has the same dynamics as the bigotry and racism my family and I experienced." His Japanese heritage became a central subject in the discrimination which his family experienced. The day of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Mikuriya explains that on December 7, 1941 his family "were transformed from normal-but-different people into war-criminal surrogates."