What's in the News

Yeah...the kids named the teddy bear "Mohammed" after one of their classmates!!




I wonder just how popular that poor kiddie-wink will be now?!? 




And just how her students feel about the whole deal....?!?......Talk about a Guilt Trip!!

Thousands of Belgian parents camped in cold, wet weather Thursday to enroll their children in French-speaking schools under a new first-come, first-served registration system.

Families set up impromptu camp sites outside school gates, with police in attendance to keep the peace ahead of the start of registration for next year's school term Friday.

"I am doing this for my daughter," said Thierry Colin, a navy officer drinking soup at the end of a queue of tents and improvised shacks in front of the prestigious St. Michel secondary school in Brussels.

The new system is designed to promote transparency and social diversity but has angered many parents. Previously, schools could decide which children to take based on criteria such as academic achievement.

Colin started queuing Thursday morning and did not know whether his night in the cold would pay off.

Four women near the head of the queue had been there since Wednesday and were more upbeat on their chances of success, although they were unhappy with the new system.

"Some students are offering to spend the night here for 500 euros ($740)," said Sandrine Konen, a mother trying to register her 11 year-old child.

"In the end, there are only people here who have the means not to work or who can take days off, or pay someone. The social diversity target has not been not reached."

The Socialist-led government of Belgium's French-speaking community said the new system gave all children an equal chance to go to the best schools.

"I would rather -- and I'm not saying I'm happy about it -- have queues for everyone than a system which is not transparent at all," Marie Arena, president of the French-speaking community, told Belgian radio.

Dalai Lama may forgo death before reincarnation
Jeremy Page, Amritsar, India | November 29, 2007

FACED with Chinese plans to seize control of his reincarnation, the Dalai Lama has come up with two revolutionary proposals - either to forgo rebirth, or to be reborn while still alive.

The exiled Tan Buddhist leader has proposed to hold a referendum among his 13-14 million followers around the world - before his death - on whether he should be reincarnated.

If the majority vote against it he said he would simply not be reborn, ending a lineage that tradition dictates dates back to the late 14th century, when a Lyoung shepherd was appointed the first Dalai Lama. If the vote was in favour he said he might appoint a reincarnation while he was still alive, breaking the 600-year-old tradition of being reborn as a small boy after his death.

His proposals not only raise some mind-bending metaphysical questions: they put China's atheist communist leaders in the unusual position of claiming to be the protectors of Tan Buddhist tradition.

The 1989 Nobel peace laureate, 72, said he was in good physical condition, that detailed discussions on his succession had yet to begin, and that several options were being considered. But he admitted his proposals were designed to thwart China's plans to select the next Dalai Lama and thus tighten its grip on the Himalayan region it has controlled since 1950.

"Yes, a referendum. Yes, it's possible," the Dalai Lama said at an interfaith conference in the north Indian city of Amritsar. "When my physical (condition) becomes weak and serious preparation for death (has started), then that should happen. According to my regular medical check-up it seems another few decades, I think, are there, so no hurry."

The Dalai Lama has traditionally been chosen by senior monks who interpret signals from the last reincarnation, scour the region for promising young candidates and set a number of tests.

The current Dalai Lama, the 14th, was born into a farming family and identified at the age of two after passing tests, including spotting his predecessor's rosary from among several others. He fled T in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule and has lived in India ever since, heading a 200,000-strong Tan exile community from the northern town of Dharamsala.

He campaigns for greater autonomy within China, but Chinese leaders accuse him of still seeking independence for T, which they see as an integral part of their territory. They have tried to cultivate friendly lamas, but the 10th Panchen Lama, the second-most senior Tan Buddhist figure, turned on them in a speech in 1989, soon after which he died.

The young Karmapa Lama, the third-highest ranking, escaped to India in 1999.

In August, China's Government claimed exclusive rights to approve all Tan lamas' reincarnations in one of its strongest moves to control the region's clergy.

Yesterday it condemned the Dalai Lama's proposals.

"The reincarnation of the living Buddha is a unique way of succession of Tan Buddhism and follows relatively complete religious rituals and historical conventions," the Foreign Ministry statement said. "The Dalai Lama's statement is in blatant violation of religious practice and historical procedure."

The Dalai Lama said there was a historical precedent for a lama being reincarnated while still alive, giving the example of one of his teachers who died last year.

He did not explain how the referendum would be conducted, but said it should include all those who have traditionally followed Tan Buddhism.

The Times

Just goes to show being pretty isn't every thing...

Are you dumber than an American Idol contestant?

It appears that Miss Teen South Carolina's crown for being America's biggest ditz has been stolen by an American Idol contestant whose ill-fated quiz show appearance is sweeping the internet.

Kellie Pickler, who made the final six of the 2005 Idol series, had the audience of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader in a state of disbelief and hilarity when she declared that Europe is a country where people speak French.

Three months after Miss South Carolina famously butchered a question regarding geography in the Miss Teen pageant, Pickler was asked: Budapest is the capital of what European country?

The 21-year-old immediately threw her hands in the air as she stared blankly at the board.

"This might be a stupid question … but I thought Europe was a country," she said to host Jeff Foxworthy.

As the studio audience started to giggle, her fifth-grade partner Nathan laughed in disbelief and rolled his eyes.

"I know they speak French there, don't they?" a mystified Pickler continued.

"Is France a country?

"I don't know what I'm doing."

The blonde country singer, who also hails from South Carolina, wisely chose to copy her schoolboy partner's answer instead of entering her own.

"I don't think France is a country, but I would have said that," she told a bemused Foxworthy.

When told the answer was Hungary, a look of disbelief came over Pickler's face.

"Hungry?" the puzzled singer asked.

"That's a country?

"I've heard of Turkey, but Hungry?

"I've never heard of it."

It would not surprise many that Pickler was once dubbed 'The next Jessica Simpson', after the pop starlet who was once stumped by a slogan stating 'tuna is the chicken of the sea'.

In August, Miss South Carolina became a worldwide celebrity when footage of her answering a pageant question swept the internet.

When asked 'why can’t so many Americans identify the United States on a map?', she responded with nonsensical ramblings about Iraq, South Africa and the bizarre observation that "some people in our nation don't have maps".

Does this imply that Buddhists can have more than one identity? Born again before you're actually reincarnated sounds like a very busy schedule and one that in some parts of the world may have the born again force fed anti-pychotic medication. But then we're all one, right? And if we're all one ....

... then there's only one of us. And I'm talking to myself. myselves. I think it's easier to be Catholic in 1970's Belfast.

"The reincarnation of the living Buddha is a unique way of succession of Tan Buddhism and follows relatively complete religious rituals and historical conventions," the Foreign Ministry statement said. "The Dalai Lama's statement is in blatant violation of religious practice and historical procedure."

Superchina, to the defense of religion! 

Wrap that rascal, kids!  


Up to 50 million Chinese at risk from AIDS: UN
Fri Nov 30, 6:00 AM ET
 
BEIJING (AFP) - Up to 50 million Chinese people are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, United Nations officials warned Friday, a day after the government said the spread of the disease has slowed.

Chinese health minister Chen Zhu said Thursday there were an estimated 50,000 new HIV infections in 2007 and China has about 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases.

This compares with the estimated figure of 650,000 announced nearly two years ago based on work carried out by the Chinese government, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.

But a day ahead of the World AIDS day, UN officials warned against complacency and cautioned that between 30 and 50 million people in China remained at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

"Thirty to 50 million are exposed to substantial risk of HIV infection today. It shows you the potential and magnitude of the issue for the future," said Bernhard Schwartlander, China coordinator of UNAIDS.

The fact that heterosexual contact was the top cause of new infections in 2007, accounting for 44.7 percent, should also raise an alarm.

"It is remarkable and important to recognise that, because that shows the potential of that spread is quite significant," he said.

Schwartlander said although the current overall number of HIV/AIDS cases seemed relatively low for China's 1.3 billion population, infections were rising in more and more areas.

The rapid increase in male homosexual activities, expanding sex industry and more widespread drug use in China in recent years have also contributed to the potential for further spread of the disease.

"We may be seeing fewer infections than we have seen in earlier years, but that can change rapidly again," he warned.

Independent AIDS activists have long warned that the official estimates underestimated the rampant spread of the disease and the real number of people suffering from the disease could be 10 times higher.

But Khalid Malik, UN resident coordinator disagreed.

"The (official) numbers are estimates first of all, they (the real figures) could be a little lower, a little higher, but definitely not in the multiples."

Expanding sex industry?  It's already huge.  Except for Amsterdam and Bangkok, I had never seen so many brothels til I came to China...

A man in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu has died of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, the official Xinhua news agency said, in the first case in the country since June.

China has now recorded 26 human cases of bird flu and 17 deaths.

The man, surnamed Lu, was hospitalised on November 27 with a fever and died on Sunday, Xinhua added.

The man had had no contact with dead poultry and there had been no reported poultry outbreak in the province, it said.

"The local government has adopted relative prevention and control measures. All of the 69 people who had close contact with Lu have been put under strict medical observation. So far, they have shown no signs of symptoms," the report added.

With the world's biggest poultry population and millions of backyard birds roaming free, China is at the centre of the fight against bird flu.

Scientists fear the bird flu virus could mutate into a form that could pass easily from person to person, sparking a global pandemic.

A Symbolic gesture or a step in the right direction??

Australia has ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in his first act after being sworn in on Monday morning.

The ratification will come into force in 90 days.

"This is the first official act of the new Australian government, demonstrating my government's commitment to tackling climate change," Mr Rudd said in a statement.

Mr Rudd said the ratification was considered and approved by the first executive council meeting of the government on Monday morning.

"The governor-general has granted his approval for Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol at my request," he said.

Under United Nations guidelines, ratification comes into force 90 days after the instrument of ratification is received by the UN, making Australia a full member of the Kyoto Protocol by the end of March 2008.

"Australia's official declaration today that we will become a member of the Kyoto Protocol is a significant step forward in our country's efforts to fight climate change domestically - and with the international community," Mr Rudd said.

He said the federal government would do everything in its power to help Australia meet its Kyoto obligations, including setting a target to reduce emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050.

It also would establish a national emissions trading scheme by 2010 and set a 20 per cent target for renewable energy by 2020.

"I will also lead the Australian delegation at the opening of the high level segment of the United Nations conference on climate change in Bali next week," Mr Rudd said.

The Bali conference, which opened on Monday, will set out a road map for the next round of action against climate change, starting when the current Kyoto targets expire in 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol was crafted in December 1997 and has been ratified by 175 countries.

Australia initially agreed to the protocol but later refused to ratify it, despite being on track to meet its target of limiting growth in emissions.

The new Labor government has now completed the first four of six steps necessary for ratification.

Mr Rudd signed an executive council minute recommending that Governor-General Michael Jeffery approve ratification on Monday.

The executive council - Mr Rudd, Major-General Jeffery and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard - then met to consider the minute and its associated explanatory memorandum.

Maj-Gen Jeffery approved the ratification and Mr Rudd signed the instrument of ratification.

The remaining two steps are lodging the instrument with the UN and waiting 90 days for the ratification to enter into force.

Now if only the Canadian PM would do the same

It is the beginning of us becoming nice people again.  Symbols can be powerful.

KHARTOUM, Sudan - Sudan's president on Monday agreed to pardon a British teacher jailed after letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad, and officials said she would be released and would fly back to England later in the day.

Sudan's ambassador in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, said he was "overjoyed" by the news.

"She is a teacher who went to teach our children English and she has helped a great deal and I am very grateful," al-Mubarak said. "What has happened was a cultural misunderstanding, a minor one, and I hope she, her family and the British people won't be affected by what has happened."

They were forbidden for 54 years – frowned upon for their bourgeois decadence. But three years after Beijing lifted a ban on beauty pageants, China is celebrating the capture of the Miss World crown for the first time.

The coronation – on home soil – of Zhang Zilin, a 23-year-old secretary who is 6ft tall and has a degree in business administration, was greeted with widespread public delight in a country whose people have taken to such competitions with abandon. Miss Zhang’s blog received well over a million hits yesterday as congratulations poured in from cyberspace.

The response was more muted from the Communist Party media. The triumph of Miss Zhang, her face wreathed in smiles and her slim form clad in a figure-hugging, ruffled evening dress, failed to push a meeting of senior politicians in grey suits from the front pages of most official websites and newspapers.

The result, though, will reinforce the importance of beauty as a powerful currency in modern China. One Chinese airline, China Southern, ran its annual recruitment drive over six months on a reality television show that required applicants to be aged 24 or under, be above average height and to have slender legs. Thousands lined up for 180 vacancies.

Beauty contests have rapidly gained popularity in China. There was the Miss Artificial Beauty contest, won by 22-year-old Feng Qian, who was able to produce four certificates confirming her plastic surgery, designed to create a more heartshaped face and double eyelids. Then there has been the “Grey Headed Group” – a pageant open only to those aged over 55.

Such is the rivalry over looks that internet portals regularly host contests where young beauties are invited to submit their photographs for votes. Websites provide prizes such as holidays to Italy or the US for winners.

One admirer’s message on Miss Zhang’s blog stated: “You’ve brought honour to our country. We’re all happy for you! We’re proud for China.”

The 57th Miss World pageant was held at Sanya, a seaside resort on the southern tropical island of Hainan, the third consecutive Miss World to be hosted by China.

Miss Zhang hails from Shijiazhaung, a gritty industrial city in the northern Hebei province, and says that her favourite foods are chocolate and ice cream. She is now certain to become a role model for a generation of Chinese women.

ASTROLOGY may usually be dismissed as harmless superstition, but scientists are discovering that the date we are born can affect our later lives.

Research has revealed the time of year a person is born can influence his or her personality, health and even whether they are male or female. But rather than being written in the stars, studies are showing that it is the season of birth that predisposes individuals to different traits.

In the northern hemisphere, women born in May will display more impulsive behaviour while those whose birthday falls in November will be more reflective. Men born in the spring will show greater persistence than those born in winter.

Other research has shown that people born in the autumn will tend to be physically active and excel in football while those born in the spring will be more cerebral and may be better suited to chess.

Those born between September and December are more prone to panic attacks while there is growing evidence that schizophrenia is higher among those born in the late winter and early spring.

"It is exactly what you would expect if it were temperature related," said Richard Wiseman, a professor of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, who has examined the link between luck and the season of birth. "Many of the effects reverse in the two hemispheres."

Professor John Eagle, a psychiatrist at Aberdeen University who has studied the relationships between season of birth and mental health, added: "The two main culprits are diet and the seasonal fluctuations in nutrition, and the increase in infections during the winter."

Astrologers have seized on the findings as evidence that the stars influence personality. But scientists insist there are biological reasons behind the effects.

Telegraph, London