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In two years, the Syrian conflict has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 people! The once beautiful cities of Damascus and Aleppo are becoming piles of ash and rubble, while world leaders cannot agree on a solution to this terrible war. “So far, a consensus has prevailed in the European Union that an arms embargo is a good way to keep the conflict in Syria...
Wednesday evening, 115 sequestered Catholic cardinals voted in a new pope (New York Times, March 13, 2013). The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, hails from Argentina and is the first non-European pope in 1,200 years. He represents the Latin American church and also the Catholic church south of the equator—its fastest-growing...
Once a British delicacy, prawns are now cheap and commonplace. Although this high demand is good for Thai farmers, techniques for obtaining “prawn food” to feed the growing mollusks are ravaging the environment (Sunday Times, February 24, 2013).
Hugo Chávez died of cancer this week in a military hospital in Venezuela (International Herald Tribune, March 5, 2013). After 14 years of “revolution” and fomenting opposition against the U.S., the charismatic national figure leaves behind a nation in turmoil and a mourning family. Venezuela has been in political crisis as its leader suffered with cancer. Now,...
The United States and China have drafted strong sanctions against North Korea as a reaction to a recent nuclear test by the North Koreans (CBS News, March 7, 2013). In retaliation, North Korea has threatened a “pre-emptive nuclear strike” against the U.S. Although China is North Korea’s strongest ally in the region, the U.S. is blamed for the resolution.
The world is coming to realize the drug war is failing because of an ever-resilient enemy: the consumer who fuels the drug business. Where there is a demand, there will be a supply. “In 2010, about 200 million people took illegal drugs… 40,000 tons of marijuana, 800 tons of cocaine, and 500 tons of heroin” (Der Spiegel, February 22, 2013).
A recent sobering headline reads: “Young minds are being conditioned by the violent sex they easily access online. Parents have ignored the peril for too long and must act fast” (The Sunday Times, February 24, 2013). Recent research suggests that the average age of first exposure to pornographic images is now age six! In fact, “…the largest consumers of internet...
Last Friday a meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere and broke up, “raining fireballs” over central Russia. About 1,200 people were injured, most by shards of glass from windows shattered by the shockwaves. It created a flash of light described as making the night sky look “as bright as if it were day” (Reuters, February 15, 2013).
Muslim imam Anjem Choudary was secretly filmed in the UK mocking non-Muslims and calling on Muslims to wage a state-funded jihad against the non-believers (Telegraph, February 17, 2013). He personally receives more than £25,000 ($38,000) in benefits from the UK government—£8,000 more than the average British soldier fighting in Afghanistan (ibid.).
Vatican watchers are questioning how a newly elected pope might function while a living “past Pope” resides within the Vatican. Some warn that “Benedict XVI may be too frail to continue as Pope, but even in retirement he will be able to keep an iron grip on the church... Benedict XVI has embarked on an unprecedented and potentially perilous endgame.