Watching the World
Gambling More Than Money
According to the Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald, with the opening of new casinos, the authorities are facing an unexpected problem: “parents who abandon their children to gamble.” Several children have been found locked in cars while their parents spent hours at the gambling tables. One notorious case was that of a five-year-old boy and his 18-month-old sister who were locked in a car for five hours until they were freed by police at seven o’clock in the morning. Prominent signs in several languages have now been placed outside one casino warning parents that they face a $5,000 fine and possible jailing for abandoning their children in this way. According to The Herald, a social worker noted that gambling addictions have also led to “marriage break-ups, crime, job losses and suicides.”
Tampering With the Bible
Oxford University Press has prepared a new version of the Bible with unprecedented changes. In an attempt to be “politically correct,” the version avoids statements that could allegedly be interpreted as sexist, racist, or tainted with anti-Semitism. For example, the new version refers to God as “Father-Mother.” Jesus will be not the “Son of man” but, rather, the “Human One.” The version has no reference to the Jews’ having killed Jesus Christ. Even alleged bias against left-handed persons will be eliminated when God’s “right hand” becomes his “mighty hand,” says The Sunday Times.
Fishing Imperiled
As the fishing fleets of different nations wrangle over territory and fishing rights, a report by the Worldwatch Institute warns that the world’s fish harvest has reached its upper limits and is now actually in decline in most parts of the earth. While acknowledging that environmental pollution has been a factor in global depletion of marine life, the report says that overfishing by the commercial fishing industry is the primary cause for the diminishing number of fish taken in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Black and Mediterranean seas. The Agence France-Presse news service says that according to the Worldwatch report, the catch has fallen off by as much as 30 percent in some regions and that if the present mismanagement of the oceans’ resources continues, literally millions of fishermen will soon be unemployed.
The Rising Cost of Bird’s-Nest Soup
In the restaurants of Hong Kong and other Asian cities, a favorite dish is an edible bird’s nest, which is often made into a soup. According to the International Herald Tribune, many Chinese view the cooked nests not only as a delicacy but also as a health tonic. Conservation groups estimate that Hong Kong alone absorbed about 17 million swiftlet nests in 1992. Overharvesting, however, has pushed the wholesale cost of nests to a record $230 per pound [$500 per kg], and premium-grade nests can fetch over eight times that much. The cost to the swiftlets that produce the nests is far higher. The destruction of eggs and chicks when the nests are harvested has resulted in the decline of some populations of swiftlets and the extinction of others.
Police Crack Down on Heavy Schoolbags
“The weight of schoolbags cannot exceed 15 percent of [the pupil’s] body weight,” says the mayor of Cantù, a town in the province of Como, northern Italy. The mayor is worried about the risk of scoliosis. The parents of children who break the rule can face a 400,000 lire [$250, U.S.] fine and up to six months’ imprisonment. To demonstrate that he was serious, the mayor sent the city police, armed with a weighing scale, to mount checkpoints outside of schools, reports Corriere della Sera. Only two students stopped during the first checks were within the limit. In fact, one boy weighing 75 pounds [34 kg] was carrying a bag weighing 26 pounds [12 kg]. His schoolmates rallied to his defense, complaining that the anthology and math books alone weighed 11 pounds [5 kg], and they needed to carry books for a minimum of four subjects each day. The mayor placed the blame on the publishing houses, whose interest is “in selling heavier and more expensive books.” He suggested that they publish the textbooks in parts.
Commendation Counters Stress
Each year heart attacks take the lives of 200,000 persons in Germany. What is the main cause? “Stress,” reports the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, since working in Germany demands “total commitment, constant stress.” Stress at work results in a high rate of absenteeism through illness and can lead to burnout. Every second nurse suffers from symptoms of stress, and 1 teacher in 3 takes early retirement, many because of “nervous strain.” Health insurance companies are studying how to diminish stress at work. One study, carried out among several hundred medium-sized firms, pinpoints what appears to be a contributing factor: Of the workers surveyed, 44 percent never received any commendation at work.
Runaway Children
Each year 98,000 children in Britain run away from home, notes the newspaper The Independent. Many leave to escape violence in the family. More than 10,000 flee at least ten times before they are 16 years old. Too young to receive welfare benefits, many of these runaways turn to crime and prostitution. Ignore the problem, warns Ian Sparks, chief executive of the Children’s Society, and these youngsters will grow up to become “homeless adults detached from society.” If “society as a whole” placed more emphasis on supporting and helping the parents, he noted, then “a lot of problems would not happen in the first place.”
Staggering Water Shortage
“South Africa is facing a water crisis of staggering proportions,” reports the newspaper The Star. Unless alternative sources are exploited, current water sources will be depleted “within the next 15 years.” One factor is the rapidly increasing population. Low rainfall, about half the world average, is another cause. An unusually high rate of evaporation exacerbates the problem. The largest water-storage dam in the country loses on average 130,000,000 gallons [500,000 kl] annually through evaporation. The quality of the existing water is also declining as a result of pollution. The Star states: “There are now 12 million people without access to clean drinking water and over 20 million without adequate (water-borne) sanitation.”
Noise Pollution
At least 10 percent of the world’s population suffers some degree of hearing deficiency. Brazilian magazine Globo Ciência explains that “the human ear was not made to tolerate the noises made by civilization.” Daily exposure to unhealthy noise levels may also contribute to poor concentration, low productivity, aggression, and accidents on the job.
Prison Rates Increasing
As crime increases worldwide, so does the rate of imprisonment. Russia now has an imprisonment rate of 558 for every 100,000 people, followed by the United States with 519 per 100,000. Next comes South Africa with 368, Singapore with 229, and Canada with 116. Since the breakup of the former Soviet Union, murders and other crimes have greatly increased in Russia, and the incarceration rate there soared past the United States, the former leader. Why do many European nations imprison people at rates that are one sixth that of the United States? “One explanation is that while overall crime rates differ little across borders, violence is more prevalent in the United States, Russia and South Africa,” says U.S.News & World Report. “Whatever the reasons, the imprisonment gap is likely to grow.”
Children Who Read and Write Better
“Reading to youngsters enhances writing skills,” reports the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail. According to results of recent tests conducted by the Ministry of Education of Ontario, Canada, students who said they often had stories read to them when they were growing up performed at a higher level than those who rarely or never had books read to them. The Globe added that “students who performed well in reading also fared well in writing” and that “students who read out of school performed better both in reading and writing.” According to the president of the Ontario Teachers Federation, the test results revealed that “students who don’t read or aren’t in the practice of being read to by age 14 won’t after that.”