THE WORLD
From Issue #9
GLOBAL ISSUES
World News Briefs
Read, contemplate, comment, discuss
THE UNIVERSE
The rectangle you see to the right is the official colour
of the universe.Astronomers at John
Hopkins University have
been busy averaging all
the colors from the light
of 200,000 galaxies. Their
research finds that the
current color of the universe
is a pale turquoise green.
Apparently, however, the
universe follows trends
as well. While this colour
is very much in vogue
this millennium, over the
next few billion years
the average colour of the
galaxies is predicted to
shift towards a reddish
hue. Although by then,
our own sun will have
blown up.
NORTH AMERICA
Environmental researchers
have studied the last five
years of the continent’s
industrial pollution and their
results are in. We’ve cut
down on air pollution by
25% but we’ve increased
our land pollution by 35%
and water pollution by 26%.
Almost 3.4 million metric
tons of toxic chemical
waste was produced in
1999. Of this waste, 8%
of total releases included
chemicals known to cause
cancer or birth defects.
Ontario was one of the
worst polluters, along
with Ohio, Texas and
Pennsylvania. The
Great Lakes were shared
by many of the key
water polluters.
UNITED STATES
A major study suggests
that some anti-smoking
ads actually encourage
teens to start smoking.
Expert findings and
common sense suggest
that one of the best ways
to attract teens to
something is to directly
tell them not to do it.
Predictably, the preachy
“Think. Don’t Smoke”
campaign run since 1998
by U.S. tobacco giant
Philip Morris has been
shown to increase youth
smoking, creating more
“addicted Philip Morris
customers” according
to the American Public
Health Association.
Philip Morris said it
would consider the claims.
COLOMBIA
One of the biggest
challenges facing newly
elected President Alvaro
Uribe will be staying alive.
With powerful drug lords
and armed rebel groups
controlling large parts
of the country, Colombia
is a dangerous place for
politicians, judges or
journalists who try to stir
things up. President Uribe,
who was educated at
Harvard, is definitely
looking to stir things up.
He promises to bring law
and order back to this
South American country.
Uribe has a score to settle:
rebels murdered his father
in 1983 and have tried
to kill Uribe several times
over the years.
FRANCE
With schoolyard bullying
suddenly on the rise,
French insurance companies
are now offering bullying
insurance. They will
reimburse victims for
everything from shattered
eyeglasses to ripped
clothes to broken bones.
The coverage is now part
of the mandatory student
insurance that costs about
$7 for the year. After
years of relative safety,
compared to the problems
reported in America,
school violence has
become a serious issue
in France, especially in
tougher neighbourhoods.
Last year, parent
protests shut down
several schools.
AFRICA
The plague of AIDS
continues to devastate
the economies of many
African nations. As a
sexually transmitted
disease it is most common
among young and middleaged
adults: the backbone
of the workforce. At least
ten countries have more
than 20% of their adult
population infected.
Over 28 million Africans
have HIV/AIDS. Most
are expected to die over
the next decade or so
unless a cure is found.
As workers grow sick,
businesses go under.
The huge cost of health
care leads to even less
money available for these
poor nations to grow.
KASHMIR
Things still remain tense
here after a summer of
minor military conflict
between nuclear
neighbours Pakistan
and India. Both countries
claim the mountainous
territory of Kashmir as
their own, while informal
polls suggest Kashmiri
residents would prefer
their own independence.
India has always refused
to allow the people of
Kashmir to decide for
themselves. International
efforts have been made
to calm the conflict that
has been simmering for
the fifty years since
British-run India was
split into Hindu India
and Muslim Pakistan.
TASMANIA
Australian scientists are
trying to bring the extinct
Tasmanian tiger back into
existence. They have
been successful in
copying small fragments
of the creature’s DNA
from pickled tiger pups.
They admit that they are
still a long way off from
the real goal of cloning
an entire animal. The
carnivorous marsupial
“tiger” (also known as
a thylacine) was hunted
to extinction by European
settlers. The last known
animal died in 1936.
Globally, there are
several teams trying
to recreate various
endangered or extinct
animal species.
