Current Events #13
40 Days and 40 Nights…Not
Malaysia and Indonesia have
banned the biblical epic
"Noah," joining other Muslim
nations that forbid the
Hollywood movie for its visual
depiction of the prophet.
Film censors in both countries
said Monday that the portrayal
of the ark-building prophet by
Russell Crowe was against
Islamic laws. Depictions of any
prophet are shunned in Islam to
avoid worship of a person
rather than God.
"The film 'Noah' is not allowed
to be screened in this country
to protect the sensitivity and
harmony in Malaysia's
multiracial and multireligious
community,” Abdul Halim Abdul
Hamid said in a statement.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/noahbanned-malaysia_n_5104025.html
No Ping Happening
The batteries of what is
suspected to be the black box
of the missing Malaysia Airlines
Boeing 777 jet appears to have
died after a month the aircraft
disappeared mysteriously.
Reports said that search
vessels in the southern Indian
Ocean had received no pings.
This has led to a postponement
of deploying a submarine to
look for the valuable black box,
but Australia said that despite
this development as well as the
high cost of the search, it would
continue scouring the ocean for
debris or any clues that could
lead to finding the ill-fated Flight
370 that had 239 people on
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/547171/20140408/malaysi
board.
an-airlines-flight-370-bill-search-missing.htm
A Lot of Brave People
That an estimated 60 percent of 12 million
eligible voters in Afghanistan faced down
Taliban threats and cast ballots in
Saturday’s presidential election is good
news, suggesting civic resilience, a certain
faith in democratic processes and a
maturing political system in a war-torn
country. It is a further sign that the time has
come to end America’s combat role there
after 13 years of conflict.
For months, the Taliban threatened to
disrupt the election, and, in recent weeks, it
looked as if they would succeed. Ahead of
the voting, there were a number of
despicable high-profile attacks, including
on a voter registration center, the election
commission headquarters and Kabul’s only
luxury hotel. But limited violence on
Election Day and high voter turnout (if
unofficial returns prove accurate), suggest
the Taliban’s anti-Western, fundamentalist
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/opinion/afg
appeal is seriously waning.
s-vote.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0
Women Can Vote
It was only a few short years ago -- in
2001, prior to the U.S. invasion -- that
Afghanistan's women were all but entirely
marginalized.
With strict Taliban laws in place, half the
country's populace was barred from
practically every aspect of public life, from
education to voting and most occupations.
Afghan women, under the Taliban, weren't
even allowed to leave their homes without
a male escort, and the mandatory burqua
became a visual symbol of the regime's allencompassing oppression.
The country still has a long way to go, but
giant strides have been made since the
Taliban was scattered and broken under
the might of the U.S. and allied military.
Women's rights were guaranteed under the
new, post-Taliban constitution, but there
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/07/world/asia/a
remains a gulf in terms of what is written
fghanistan-election-women-influence/
and what is practiced.
And Take That…
A barrage of artillery fire between North
and South Korea across disputed
maritime borders on Monday marked an
annual show of force by North Korea
intent on sending a message to the U.S.
as it conducts military exercises nearby.
North Korea's missile launches into the
Yellow (West) Sea followed by a threat
of live-fire drills along the border "was
really aimed at our policymakers,
Republic of Korea policymakers and
Japan," said Bruce Bechtol, a Korea
specialist and professor of political
science at Angelo State University in
Texas.
"North Korea is saying, 'You can do all
the exercises you want and we have the
ability to hit you at a moment's notice,'"
Bechtol said.
http://www.militarytimes.com/article/201404
01/NEWS08/304010036/North-Koreasending-message-U-S-missile-barrage
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
Picture a colossal empire of little
houses stacked on top of each
other. Visualize them connected
by staircases snaking under
dangling wires, through corridors
so dark even police were rumored
to be afraid of them.
Now picture 33,000 people living
there, within the space of one city
block. That was Kowloon Walled
City, once considered the densest
settlement on earth.
"A huge monstrosity of buildings"
Before it was demolished twenty
years ago, photographer Greg
Girard spent years with
collaborator Ian Lambot
documenting this unique Hong
Kong phenomenon, and
remembers being amazed when he
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/31/travel/kowloon-walled-city/
first saw it.
A Lot of Scratch for a Cup
It measures only 8
centimeters, or about 3
inches, in diameter and
couldn't even hold a cup
of morning coffee. And
yet it is worth $36 million.
Or at least someone was
willing to pay that much. A
15th century porcelain
cup from China sold at a
Sotheby's auction in Hong
Kong on Monday for $36
million. The item -- which
is being called a "chicken
cup" for its depiction of a
rooster and other fowl on
its side -- was purchased
by mainland China
billionaire and collector
Liu Yiqian, according to
reports.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/c
ulture/la-et-cm-chinese-chicken-cup-auction20140408,0,4013458.story#axzz2ybks9Wna
Taliban Negotiations?
A bomb ripped through a
fruit and vegetable market
on the outskirts of the
Pakistani capital of
Islamabad on Wednesday
morning, killing at least 21
people and leaving dozens
more wounded, officials
said.
The massive blast was the
latest attack to shake
Pakistan even as
government negotiations
with the Taliban pick up pace
in an attempt by the
authorities to resolve years
of deadly fighting that has
killed tens of thousands of
people in the northwest.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/09/b
omb-pakistan-capital/7496921/
It Answers the Age-Old Question
It began when the family fled the
fighting in the country's southern
Helmand Province. Taj Mohammad
moved his wife and nine children to a
refugee camp on the outskirts of
Kabul thinking this would be a better
life. But unable to make a living, the
family suffered, especially when the
brutal winter arrived. His wife had to
be hospitalized when she fell ill and
then his three-year-old son froze to
death.
Taj Mohammad borrowed $2,500 to
pay for his wife's medical bills and
other family expenses. But when he
couldn't repay the debt he decided
the only solution was to marry off
Naghma, then only six, to the money
lender's 19-year-old son.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/08/world/asia/af
n-child-bride/index.html?c=asia
One of China's controversial "baby
hatches" has been forced to shut down,
at least temporarily. The facility in the
southern city of Guangzhou opened in
January but has been overwhelmed
with abandoned infants, forcing a
suspension of services.
What…No Slide?
The first of the facilities opened in 2011
and increased to around 25 hatches
countrywide. More of the special rooms,
which are equipped with a cradle,
incubator and delayed alarm to allow
mothers to drop off unwanted babies
anonymously, are planned. While
abandoning infants in China is illegal,
the practice is relatively widespread,
especially in poorer areas.
The Guangzhou "baby safety island," as
they are known in Chinese, has
received 262 babies since it began
operation in late January, according to
Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/18/world/asia/china-baby-hatch-closes/
The Pencil is Mightier
No one ever expected the humble pencil to
kickstart a revolution. But, by peeling apart
pencil graphite into atom-thick layers using
regular adhesive tape, two Russian-born
scientists, Andre Geim and Konstantin
Novoselov, earned a Nobel Prize in 2010.
With it, they sparked the beginnings of a
material that could change the world.
It is no exaggeration to say that graphene,
the substance that the two scientists -along with others -- discovered in 2004, is
a miracle material. Now a Korean research
lab may have made the leap from
theoretical to practical with the
development of a new way to synthesize it,
potentially on a commercial scale.
The substance, "the perfect atomic lattice,"
boasts a number of hugely attractive
properties, meaning it has the potential to
be used in myriad industries, and for a
huge range of purposes.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/10/world/asia/graphenesamsung-breakthrough/
Could They Have Used Cars?
South Korea has displayed for the first
time all three DIY drones that have
landed on its soil in recent weeks,
adding that tests suggest they are
highly likely to have been built and sent
by North Korea.
Wreckage from each of the crude and
decidedly low-tech drones was
displayed during a press conference by
South Korea's Agency for Defense
Development in the city of Daejeon this
morning.
Last week South Korean experts said
that although the drones were fitted
with simple Nikon and Canon cameras
that are available to purchase on the
internet for just a few hundred dollars,
they underscore a new threat from
North Korea that must be taken
seriously.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2602484/Pictured-time-SouthKorea-displays-three-DIY-drones-basic-cameras-strapped-camestraight-Kim-Jongun.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
Expensive Trash
Hong Kong police are
investigating the
disappearance of a painting
worth $3.7m (£2.2m) from a
hotel, amid reports it may have
been accidentally thrown away.
The painting is believed to be a
Chinese ink work by artist Cui
Ruzhuo entitled Snowy
Mountain.
It was reported missing by
auctioneers Poly Auction on
Tuesday, having been
successfully sold on Monday.
Several local media reports
suggest cleaners at the Grand
Hyatt could have thrown the
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26950692
painting out as rubbish.
Abandon Ship?
Almost 300 people remain
unaccounted for after a ferry
carrying 459 people capsized
and sank off South Korea.
The ferry, carrying mainly
school students, was travelling
from the port of Incheon, in the
north-west, to the southern
resort island of Jeju.
Emergency teams are using
floodlights and flares to search
the stricken vessel through the
night. Those rescued have been
taken to a nearby island.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27045512
The Ukrainian military landed airborne troops at
an airport about 25 miles south of here on
Tuesday, raising tensions with Russia in the
opening phase of what the government in Kiev
called a wider military operation to confront proRussian militants in the eastern part of the
country.
Later in the day, a column of armored personnel
carriers flying Ukrainian flags approached
Slovyansk from the north, parking for a time
beside a highway and setting up a checkpoint.
Of all the cities in the east, Slovyansk seemed
to have fallen most completely under the control
of pro-Russian separatists, who have erected
massive defensive barricades outside the
buildings they occupy.
The Ukrainian authorities said the movements
were the first in a campaign to drive separatists
from government buildings in as many as 10
cities in eastern Ukraine. The initial steps
suggested that the government in Kiev, which
had been hesitant to do anything to play into
Moscow’s narrative that Russian-language
speakers are in need of protection, was now
willing to use the military to try to restore order
in some places.
Play Nice
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/world/europe/ukr
e-russia.html?hpw&rref=world&_r=0