THE WORLD
From Issue #15
...and beyond
House Party
Teen POWER is alive and well as nearly 11,000 high school and college STUDENTS from Canada, the United States and Japan used their spring break to volunteer with “Habitat for Humanity.” Students helped to build 450 houses across the United States and Mexico, to replace rundown shacks with affordable, DECENT HOMES in rural and inner-city areas. “The FUTURE of the Habitat movement lies with young people,” says Millard Fuller, founder and president of Habitat for Humanity International.
Source: Habitat News
Confucius Say: "No Brain, No Tattoo"
A British teen got the shock of his life when he realized that the tattoo he had been showing off did not say WHAT HE THOUGHT it did. Lee Becks, 18, had asked for the words “Love, Honour and Obey,” to be tattooed onto his arm in Chinese. He later found out that it said, “At the end of the day, this is an ugly boy.” Lee plans to spend $1,500 to have the tattoo REMOVED.
Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Off to MARS
A 16-YEAR-OLD from Kingston, Ontario now living in Colorado is off to California to analyze MARTIAN data at NASA’s control centre for the MARS SPIRIT ROVER mission. Kristyn Rodzinyak is the lucky winner of an ESSAY-WRITING CONTEST where she now gets to study, observe and work with scientists and do some out-of-this-world research. “ WORKING side by side with scientists working on the Mars mission will give me an idea if it’s something I want to do,” says Kristyn. She looks forward to this opportunity to observe Mars first hand.
Source: Canadian Press
Afghani Teens Make Radio Waves
Teen reporters Qais, Shagufa and Ilyas work on GOOD MORNING AFGHANISTAN, which goes out to over 12 million people in the country. They choose topics that interest YOUNG LISTENERS, and present their work three days a week on Learning with Youth. They are paid about $77 a month, a generous adult’s salary for many Afghanis. RADIO AND TELEVISION were previously banned under the Taliban.
Source: BBC
Dangerous Liasons
The BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION says soaring levels of OBESITY, binge drinking and PROMISCUITY have turned the country's teens into a potential public health time BOMB. Not only were thousands of teens likely to die before their parents, but many more were condemning themselves to years of poor health, psychiatric disorders and fertility problems because of LIFESTYLE TRENDS. ONE in 10 sexually-active teen girls were found to have chlamydia—a sexually-transmitted disease which can destroy fertility if left untreated. One in four 15- and 16-year-olds smoked, while almost a third have tried cannabis.
Source: The Sun Herald, London
A Depressing Discovery
In a SURVEY of 506 physicians in California, only 46% of the doctors were confident in detecting depression in teen patients. But doctors don't necessarily deserve BLAME for their shortcomings, says a teen health expert whose university helped produce the survey. Many physicians don't have the proper training to diagnose mental illness and are too rushed during check-ups, says Daniel Romer, research director of the University of Pennsylvania's Adolescent Risk Communication Institute.
Source: HealthDay.com
