Watching the World
MIRACLE WATER?
“The pope and the bishop of Lourdes have different opinions on the value and significance of the water of Lourdes, and they expressed them the same day,” observed the Italian newspaper La Stampa recently. During a Mass held in honor of the Madonna of Lourdes, France, the pope declared that water issuing from the spring is “a genuine instrument of the marvelous, most copious and supernatural action that Mary performs,” adding, “The water of the spring of Lourdes, with its miraculous power,” compares to that of the pool of Siloam that Jesus once used when he healed a man. Yet, that same day, the bishop of Lourdes, apparently concerned about commercial trafficking in the water, stated: “It is not magic water. In fact, calling it ‘miracle water’ is misleading.” Italy’s Panorama magazine notes that the water “is not bacteriologically pure, and in fact the stratum from which it springs runs a grave risk of contamination.” But for the traffickers of Lourdes, the water “is like oil for Texas or Iran. It’s the main resource,” says Panorama.
A GAME OF DEATH
Israeli youths have conceived “a bizarre variant of Russian roulette,” reports The New York Times, in which 11- and 12-year-old boys take turns running in front of speeding cars. In the game’s original version, children lay in the path of an oncoming vehicle. The last one to jump out of danger wins. Variations include leaping in front of trains and racing out to pick up a briefcase or other object left in a vehicle’s path. The reason? “To demonstrate their bravery,” cited one youth, while another said it was a way “to tempt death.” According to the Times, some authorities believe that “the volatile nature of life here, the constant threat of war or terrorist attack,” has produced a nation of frustrated youths who are finding a release in this game of death. By early April, at least one 11-year-old had been killed and another injured.
BIBLE PRINTING
The number of languages in which at least part of the Bible has been printed increased last year by 23, bringing the total to 1,907. Complete Bibles can now be found in 310 languages, 7 more than previously. Included among the new languages are Karo Batak, ekeGusii, Cuzco Quechua, Malawi chi’Tonga, otjiHerero, ruKwangali, and Tigre.
While Bibles are printed in many lands, Korea has become the world’s largest Bible exporter—shipping 4.3 million volumes in 119 languages to 91 other countries last year, asserts the Korea Times. The nation’s Bible exports have grown annually by 20 percent, and the Bible distribution rate within Korea is the highest in the world. Korea expects to catch up with the United States within two years as to total number of Bibles manufactured in a single country.
WORTH QUITTING
According to a report published in Cancer Research, the risk of lung cancer for women who smoke jumps by more than 1,000 percent! However, research shows that women lower the risk dramatically simply by quitting the smoking habit. How much? The report indicates that within a relatively short time, the risk drops nearly to the level of those who have not smoked in 10 to 15 years.
ITALY’S JUVENILE VIOLENCE
Rome has become a city where “violence is now a spine-chilling habit,” laments the Rome daily La Repubblica. “The city, as the researchers seem to say, has grown accustomed to living with violence and is no longer able to express its revulsion at violent ways.” The newspaper also notes that a recent survey on juvenile violence in Italy provides a glimpse into the makeup of today’s young delinquent. It revealed him to be someone with “an exaggerated concern for his own image and honor, little consideration for handicapped persons, and a marked aversion toward institutions and those who represent them.”
BAD DIVORCE
Over two years ago, a 15-year-old Australian youth “divorced” his parents on the grounds of “irreconcilable differences.” (See Awake!, March 22, 1987.) Now, at the age of 17, according to Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph, Damien admits that “he was just a kid abusing the system and his parents to get his own way.” He said: “I was feeling sorry for myself and wanted some attention.” But the Telegraph says that his mother blames state community services and social workers for “putting before Damien rights that he shouldn’t have had.” After returning home, the youth admitted concerning his leaving: “It was an unwise thing to do . . . Now it’s hard to believe what I did.”
INFANT HOMICIDE
A research team at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., recently published a report revealing that ‘murder has become the leading cause of death among infants in the United States.’ The number of babies murdered is higher than the number of infants killed in car accidents. The report states that 1,250 babies under one year of age were killed from 1980 to 1985. They were victims of all kinds of mistreatment, from strangulation to drowning, as well as death from the use of firearms. The same report showed that older children in the United States face another danger—self-destruction. The suicide rate for children between the ages of 10 and 14 doubled between 1980 and 1985.
A BALANCED MEDIA DIET
A steady diet of television may adversely affect a child’s imagination, says a recent study published by two California psychologists. They argue that as a result of too much television, children “may use their imagination less and may have fewer occasions that stimulate their verbal precision and active mental processing.” Similarly, the author of a Canadian study reported that “television also interfered with the acquisition of fluent reading skills among children in early grades” and that adult television viewers solve problems more slowly and lack perseverance when compared with those who do not watch television. According to Canada’s Equinox magazine, psychologists advise parents to “encourage their children to read more, . . . discuss television programmes with their children,” and strive for a “balanced media diet.”
MIDEAST WATER SHORTAGE
“Water has always run scarce in the sere [withered] lands of the Bible,” notes U.S.News & World Report. “Now, the flow is growing dangerously thin, adding to tensions in a region that is already unstable.” The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies predicts that “by the year 2000, water, not oil, will be the dominant resource issue of the Middle East.” Factors contributing to the water shortage are: the economic boom in Persian Gulf nations, the decade of drought in East Africa, and Egypt’s population explosion. While dam construction may increase water supplies to one country, it decreases the supply to nations farther downstream. A number of solutions are now under discussion, but they depend upon cooperation between Turks, Arabs, and Jews in the nations involved. “That remains the essential requirement rare at every level in the Middle East,” says U.S.News & World Report, “scarcer than money, scarcer even than water.”
THE WEAPONS BUSINESS
In the Federal Republic of Germany, officially licensed exports of guns, submarines, ammunition, and military electronics amount to 30,000 million DM per year, or 5 percent of the country’s total exports. However, Germany is only the fifth-largest exporter of military items, preceded by the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain. Where does the equipment go? According to the Institute of Politics and Security in Hamburg, 60 percent of all armaments exported by Germany between 1973 and 1980 went to countries involved in wars or internal revolts. “Employing some 300,000 people, no other industry is so shrouded from the public gaze as is the armaments industry,” comments German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
SHANGHAI SURPRISE
Residents of Shanghai, China’s largest city, are now required by law to donate blood or be subject to a fine. The law stipulates that males between the ages of 20 and 55 and females between 20 and 50 who are in good health must donate blood at least once within a 5-year period. Shanghai military staff and university students must also comply. According to the New China News Agency, the Shanghai government instituted such measures to ensure that its hospitals maintain a sufficient supply of blood. Most of the blood supplied to local hospitals last year was imported from foreign countries.