Ever wonder what's happening around the world? This weekly column for Storeboard.com will give you a global perspective of interesting, entertaining, and newsworthy happenings around the planet Earth!
The columns focus on what's happening on planet Earth continent by continent during the coming week and also include important events from the previous week. This is the fifth weekly column.
Here's what's happening from Monday, Nov. 18 through Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013:
Africa: Last week, we discussed East African art. This week, we discuss West African politics. There will be three elections in western African nations this coming week. The most important is in Guinea-Bissau, which will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Nov. 24. Guinea-Bissau, which has about 1.65 million people (148th in the world) declared independence from Portugal in 1973 and has a history of the military overthrowing elected presidents. Mali and Mauritania also have a history of military rule, but they will have parliamentary elections on Nov. 24 and Nov. 23 respectively.
Antarctica: A 700 million-square-foot iceberg began drifting toward international shipping lanes last week, The Australian newspaper reported (I don’t think The Antarctica newspaper exists). The iceberg broke away from the continent’s largest glacier, the Pine Island Glacier, in July, but barely moved because of the cold weather. Last week, though, it was roughly one mile away from the glacier. How large is a 700-million-square-foot iceberg? Larger than Chicago and about 25 percent of the size of Rhode Island (why is the state called an island when it isn’t?), according to The Australian article.
Asia: The most important news this coming week will be international efforts to help the people of the Philippines, which was devastated by a typhoon that has killed at least 3,600 people as of Nov. 15 and has destroyed the city of Tacloban (population 221,000). By the way, do you know what the nation’s most populous city is? Wrong!! It’s Quezon City, not Manila. Anyway, people who are interested in helping the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan rebuild their lives can contact the U.S. Agency for International Development or the American National Red Cross. Relief organizations are looking mostly for cash donations.
Australia: “It really is time for me to zip” doesn’t have the same ring as “you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore,” but the Australian Broadcasting Corporation chose that quote as the highlight of Kevin Rudd’s Nov. 13 retirement from politics speech. Rudd was Australia’s prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013 before his Labor Party lost an election to the Liberal Party’s Tony Abbott. Rudd, 56, was still in Parliament after the election, but will leave this week. He has heart problems, but he’s young enough to make his speech as relevant as Richard Nixon’s 1962 retirement speech.
Europe: Trying to confirm its stereotype, Amsterdam hosts its 26th Cannabis Cup from Nov. 24 to Nov. 28. It’s a “celebration of international cannabis products,” the event’s website says. I’ve never lit a match so I don’t know what that means, but here’s the schedule. For people interested in all of the Netherlands, “windmills, tulips, wooden shoes, cheese, Delftware pottery, and cannabis are among the items associated with the Netherlands by tourists,” reports Wikipedia. In 2014, Los Angeles and Seattle will hold their third Cannabis Cup, the Mile High City (Denver) its fourth, and San Francisco its fifth.
North America: Storeboard.com pledges to report on children’s activities when it can although Time Out magazine’s only magazine for kids is for New York City’s kids. This week, the magazine highlights holiday train shows at the Grand Central Terminal and the New York Botanical Garden. The show at the train station features miniature Lionel trains traveling around a miniature New York City. You can point out the city‘s landmarks to your kids. It’s open until Feb. 23 and is free. The show at the garden includes a miniature Statue of Liberty and 149 other landmarks. It’s open until Jan. 12. Prices vary.
South America: Venezuela might host a few beauty pageants this week because it hosts “thousands” of pageants annually while “a whole industry of grooming schools, plastic surgeons and beauty salons” prepares women for the pageants, according to MSN News. On Nov. 9, Maria Gabriela Isler became the third Venezuelan to become Miss Universe in the past six years. “Venezuela has won more international beauty contests than any other nation,” including seven Miss Universe contests, according to MSN. The other finalists in the Nov. 9 contest in Moscow were from Brazil, Ecuador, the Philippines, and Spain.
The Animal World: Last week, our special bonus was news about the solar system. This week, our special bonus is news about the animal world. While the oldest human beings live roughly 113 years, scientists discovered an animal who lived for 507 years -- and they killed it accidentally in 2006 while trying to figure out how many rings it had (rings determine age). The animal was a clam named Ming who was born in 1499, the scientists concluded. Ming was living in Iceland, which is in Europe. It hasn’t been discovered whether Ming spent time on other continents.
Here are the previous four columns in chronological order. The first one covered Oct. 21 through Oct. 27.
http://newyork.storeboard.com/blogs/news/whats-happening-around-the-world/222550
http://newyork.storeboard.com/blogs/news/whats-happening-around-the-world--oct-28-nov-3/233783
http://newyork.storeboard.com/blogs/news/whats-happening-around-the-world--nov-4-nov-10/236105
http://newyork.storeboard.com/blogs/news/whats-happening-around-the-world--nov-11-through-nov-17/237804
Storeboard.com is a social media site that combines social, marketplace, directory, classified, and image sharing all into one incredible site. Use Storeboard.com to share media and promote whatever you do! It's free and it makes meeting friends, sharing media, and promoting things easier!
|