World News

Religious

A 17-year-old girl in Somalia who converted to Christianity from Islam was shot to death in an apparent “honor killing,” area sources said. Nurta Mohamed Farah, who had fled her village of Bardher, Gedo Region to Galgadud Region to live with relatives after her parents tortured her for leaving Islam, died on Nov. 25.

—Compass News, 12/3/2010

About 50 Church of England priests have expressed interest in joining five of their bishops in converting to Roman Catholicism, a senior Catholic leader said. The Anglican defectors say they cannot accept the women as bishops, a step the Church of England is slowly approaching.

—Associated Press, 11/19/2010

In the last ten years, the Christian population in the Middle East has decreased by 1.5 million people (from 15 million in 2000 to 13.5 million today). The Christian population of Bethlehem, which only three decades ago was in the majority, is now a fraction of the population as Christians flee from persecution and marginalization in the predominantly Muslim area. In Iraq, barely a half a million Christians remain from a population of 1.3 million a few years ago. Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Christians living among the Muslim population have been subjected to increasing economic and social pressures. Many Christians prefer to leave and look for other countries willing to accept them.

—Bridges for Peace, 12/3/2010

A Pakistani Christian was arrested after an argument with some of her colleagues in which she defended her religion. The other women were pushing her to renounce Christianity and embrace Islam. Asia Bibi replied by speaking about how Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind, and asked other women what Muhammad had done for them. The women then beat her and her daughters and egged on by the local imam and a group of men they accused her of blasphemy. After more than a year in prison she has been sentenced to death.

—Asia News, 11/11/2010

Social

A blood test so sensitive that it can spot a single cancer cell lurking among a billion healthy ones is being brought to market by Johnson & Johnson. Ultimately, the test may offer a way to screen for cancer besides the mammograms, colonoscopies and other less-than-ideal methods used now.

—Associated Press, 1/3/2011

A deadly polio epidemic is sweeping the Congo Republic. The government has declared a state of emergency and launched an effort to vaccinate the entire population with the help of international aid organizations. Health officials say this epidemic, centered on the port city Pointe Noire, is more deadly than outbreaks in the past. The disease usually affects young boys and girls at equal rates, with 20 percent of those paralyzed dying. But this epidemic has struck older, predominantly male victims and is killing them at a much higher rate.

—New York Times, 11/10/2010

A new wave of flooding is expected to bear down on Brisbane, Australia, likely bringing further destruction to an area already slammed with perpetual rains in the past month. The Brisbane River is expected to top the high-water mark from the devastating 1974 flood, overwhelming the dam built to prevent a repeat of such flooding. Authorities are urging residents to remain calm as they deal with the worst flood disaster for Australia in recent memory. There have been 30 deaths and 78 people missing since the flooding began.

—Christian Science Monitor, 1/11/2011

Air bags and the economic recession have contributed to the biggest drop in U.S. road deaths since World War II. From 2005 to 2009, U.S. road fatalities dropped by 22%. A reduction of such magnitude over such a short time has not occurred since road safety statistics were first kept (starting in 1913), except for the reductions during World War II.

—Los Angeles Times, 1/5/2011

There are 308,745,538 people living in the United States, the Census Bureau reported. The data includes all U.S. residents—regardless of their legal status—and reflects the slowest growth rate since the Great Depression. (Over the past decade, population only increased by 9.7 percent—a 3.5 percent decrease from the 1990s.)

—Wall Street Journal, 12/21/2010

What looks to be the coldest December on record is causing misery for travelers in the United Kingdom and across Europe. Thousands were forced to sleep at Heathrow and Gatwick airports after hotels filled up when most airplanes were grounded due to the ice and snow. Highways across Britain were such a disaster that many drivers simply abandoned their cars after being stuck in traffic for hours on end.

—CNN, 12/19/2010

A cholera outbreak in Haiti that has sickened more than 91,000 people and killed more than 2,000 has spread to the entire Caribbean nation. In some cases, the deaths are occurring as rapidly as two hours after people fall ill. Haiti has not seen cholera in at least a century, leaving the population without immunity to the disease.

—Los Angeles Times, 12/9/2010

Americans are now spending as much time using the Internet as they are watching television, and the amount of time people spend on the Internet has increased 121 percent over the last five years, according to a survey published Monday by Forrester Research. Forrester’s survey shows that this is the first year that people in older age groups are also doing so.

—New York Times, 12/13/2010

Mice exhibiting age-related degeneration such as brain disease, loss of smell, and fertility decline have been returned to youthful states of health by genetic manipulation. “These mice were equivalent to 80-year-old humans and were about to pass away,” says Ronald DePinho, co-author of the paper and a scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. After the experiment, “they were the physiological equivalent of young adults.” The aging mechanism in question has to do with DNA units called telomeres that stop chromosomes and genes from deteriorating. Researchers caution that the findings are not yet directly applicable to humans.

—Wall Street Journal, 11/29/2010

Galileo was the first to observe Saturn’s rings, in 1610. Four hundred years later, scientists think they may have finally figured out how they formed. Scientists believe that the rings formed when Saturn’s hydrogen gas blanket sucked giant moons toward its surface, stripping them of their ice layer, which formed the rings. The findings, published in the journal Nature, suggest this process occurred 10,000 years ago. Now, Saturn has shed its hydrogen gas cloak, and the rings have partly coalesced into new, tiny ice moons.

—Associated Press, 12/13/2010

Rebuilding from floods and mudslides in Brazil that killed 647 people will cost at least 2 billion reais ($1.2 billion), according to estimates by the three hardest-hit areas in Rio de Janeiro state. Cities in the mountainous area about 65 kilometers north of Rio, will need to rebuild roads, bridges, homes and businesses after the heaviest rain in 44 years sent earth and rocks rolling down hillside communities, and flash floods swept away entire neighborhoods. The floods in Rio are the world’s fourth-deadliest disaster involving floods and landslides over the past 12 months, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, a Brussels-based research institute.

—Reuter’s, 1/19/2011

The U.S. imprisons more people than any other country. More than 1 in 100 adults are behind bars, which cost the country $52 billion in 2008.

—TIME, 12/6/2010

A small town in northern India has banned all the single ladies from carrying telephones, because they keep using them in the service of illicit ends, like marriage. At least 23 couples in the state of Uttar Pradesh have run away and married someone outside their caste after connecting—and then coordinating the logistics of their forbidden nuptials—on their cell phones.

—AFP, 11/24/2010

Political

Dilma Rousseff was sworn in as Brazil’s first female president ever in that country. In the early 1970s, the 63-year-old was a political prisoner in Brazil where she was allegedly tortured for 22 days by punching and electric shock.

—Associated Press, 1/3/2011

After four weeks of steadily escalating riots across Tunisia, President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali lost his grip on power. The country's prime minister announced that he was taking over to organize early elections and usher in a new government. It appears that Ali’s 23 years as Tunisia's ruler were over, submerged by a wave of unrest set off by economic deprivation, official corruption and political frustration in the mostly Sunni Muslim country. The spectacle of the iron-fisted leader being swept from office was certain to resonate elsewhere in the Arab world. Smaller protests have erupted in Egypt,  Jordan and Algeria in recent weeks as the region’s many autocratic governments, often in power without the underpinning of democratic elections, have come under increasing pressure from similarly frustrated young people.

—Washington Post, 1/15/2011

Some of the nation’s most frequent fliers are refusing to subject themselves to TSA’s new full-body scanners. Two of the country’s largest pilots unions have advised their members to opt for pat-downs rather than the scanners.

—USA Today, 11/11/2010

The Guatemalan government declared a state of siege in a province it said has become overrun by a Mexican drug-trafficking group, the latest sign that Mexico’s powerful cartels have extended their reach into foreign lands.

—Wall Street Journal, 12/20/2010

Portugal is poised to pass an austerity budget in the hopes of avoiding a bailout similar to the one extended to Ireland. Meanwhile, all eyes are turned to Spain, where borrowing costs have soared to above 5 percent. Analysts say the EU can cope with the collapse of smaller economies like Ireland, Portugal, and Greece but may struggle if a country like Spain, which makes up about 12 percent of euro zone GDP, falls.

—The Guardian, 11/26/2010

President Obama signed a $4.5 billion bill that will make more free meals available to poor children, and give the government greater oversight over the goodies available in vending machines and at fundraisers. The Agriculture Department would revamp nutrition standards, transforming childhood favorites like pizza and hamburgers into healthier options by using whole wheat and leaner meat. High-calorie soda and candy may become increasingly scarce in school vending machines, while the sale of sugar-laden goodies at school-sponsored fundraisers will be curtailed.

—Associated Press, 12/13/2010

Ghana began production from one of the largest recent oil discoveries in West Africa, transforming it into a significant oil producer. Revenue has been estimated at as much as one billion dollars per year. [While Ghana] has been counting its blessings because of the riches the oil will bring, it need only look to nearby Nigeria to understand the potential dangers. In Nigeria and other countries, major oil production and the money that flows with it have been accompanied by widespread corruption and the neglect of other industries.

—AFP, 12/15/2010

Financial

Facebook will probably bring in about $2 billion in revenue this year. That’s more than twice what Facebook made in 2009. According to ComScore, Facebook is behind only Google and Microsoft in terms of worldwide users.

—Bloomberg, 12/16/2010

More than 30 private college presidents now draw more than $1 million in salary, an unheard of phenomenon just six years ago in 2004. Columbia president Lee Bollinger was the highest paid of the Ivy League set, receiving $1.75 million in compensation in 2008. Trinity University’s John Brazil made $2.78 million before retiring in 2009.

—Boston Globe, 11/15/2010

Soon, Los Angeles school children may be scampering across playfields branded by major corporations. The L.A. Unified Board of Education voted to look to corporate sponsors for money to plug gaping budget deficits. Under the plan, sponsors could sign agreements up to $500,000 for the chance to brand auditoriums, athletic fields, and even marching band drums. School board members hope that the plan—which includes the possibility of placing branded food samples and corporate logos in cafeterias—could drum up as much as $18 million for schools.

—Los Angeles Times, 12/16/2010

GM raised $18.1 billion in the biggest initial stock offering in American history. The government halved its stake in the company through the sale, reducing its holdings from 61 percent to 26 percent. The profits from the sale will help repay the bailout of the floundering company in 2009, though it remains to be seen whether the government will make back the full $49.5 billion invested by taxpayers.

—Wall Street Journal, 11/18/2010

American companies just had their best quarter ever. In the third quarter of 2010, American businesses earned profits at an annual rate of $1.66 trillion, the highest figure recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago. Corporate profits have been going gangbusters for a while, thanks to strong productivity growth and the fact that some of the profits of American companies come from abroad, where markets are growing.

—New York Times, 11/23/2010

The financially troubled U.S. Postal Service reported an $8.5 billion loss in the fiscal year that ended in September and said it will run out of money in 2011 if economic conditions don’t improve and Congress doesn’t act. The historic losses occurred despite more than $9 billion in cost cuts in the past two years, including the elimination of about 105,000 full-time jobs, “more than any other organization, anywhere,” USPS Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett said Friday.

—The Washington Post, 11/13/2010

Israel

The Israeli reaction to President Obama’s comments on Israeli construction in East Jerusalem was swift and strong. “Jerusalem is not a settlement: Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. President Obama criticized Israeli plans to build 1,300 homes in a contested part of East Jerusalem, and an additional 800 homes in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

—New York Times, 11/9/2010

A deepening rift exists between the world’s two biggest Jewish communities—the American and Israeli. Religious life in Israel is dominated by the strict ultra-Orthodox establishment while more liberal movements predominate among American Jews. The two communities are at odds over everything from religious rituals to gender roles. According to a recent survey conducted for Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, 63 percent of Israelis believe those converted by non-Orthodox rabbis should be regarded as Jews.

—Associated Press, 10/31/2010

Two-thirds of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust have now been identified, thanks in large part to efforts set up by the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Israel. A press release from Yad Vashem said that, in particular, the last five years have seen increases in the number of names identified in Eastern European nations and Greece.

—Bridges for Peace, 12/21/2010

The number of Israeli citizens reached 7,695,000 in December, 2010, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported. According to the data, 75.4% of Israeli citizens are Jewish, 20.4% are Arab, and [the rest] are defined as other—non-Arab Christians and those with an unspecified religion.

—Ynet News, 12/31/2010

Mass evacuations continued across northern Israel as dry easterly winds fanned a massive brushfire towards the city of Haifa. Over 15,000 residents were evacuated as the blaze raged out of control, devastating hundreds of acres of pine forest before sweeping down the slopes of the Carmel plateau towards Israel’s third largest city. The blaze broke out shortly before lunchtime and spread rapidly across the tinder-dry Carmel countryside, left parched after the hottest November in Israel in 60 years.

—Haaretz.com, 12/3/2010

Israel passed the 3 million-tourist-mark for this year breaking their own record for incoming tourists in a year according to a press statement from the Tourism Ministry. Estimates by the Tourism Ministry predict a total of 3.4 million tourists for 2010, which would eclipse the previous all-time high for a year, set in 2008, by 400,000 tourists.

—The Media Line, 11/25/2010

Winter’s belated arrival in Israel brought with it the biggest storm in two decades, wreaking havoc. Ships sank; billboards and power lines fell. Coastal regions were pummeled by huge waves lifted by 100-kilometer-an-hour winds. The storms also caused severe damage to archeological and antiquities sites up and down the country’s Mediterranean coast, most seriously at the Herodian port city of Caesarea. In many cases, the losses are irretrievable. “It was the most severe storm we have seen in the last 25 years since we began measuring the waves along the coast of the Mediterranean,” said Matti Weiss of the Israel Meteorological Service.

—The Media Line, 12/15/2010

An article written by the Palestinian deputy information minister that denies any Jewish connection to the Western Wall in Jerusalem is being cited by Israelis as proof that the Palestinians are not prepared to make peace. Mutawakel Taha’s article, which was published on the ministry’s Web site, argues that, “The Al-Buraq Wall is the western wall of Al-Aqsa, which the Zionist occupation falsely claims ownership of and calls the Wailing Wall or Kotel.” Mark Regev, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s spokesman, told reporters that, “To deny the Jewish connection to the Western Wall is something that we wouldn’t expect from a partner in peace.”

—The Media Line, 11/25/2010

A gigantic natural gas field that could yield millions of barrels of oil was recently discovered on the maritime border between Israel, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Cyprus, and Northern Cyprus. While it is one of the world’s richest natural gas reserves, the Levant Basin Province is located between countries with endless amounts of mutual hatred. The largest section discovered so far, the Leviathan gas field, is believed to possibly contain, along with natural gas, 4.2 billion barrels of oil. Leviathan is estimated to have 16 trillion cubic feet of gas. Gas production will begin in 2017 and could make Israel totally independent.