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!
Here's what's happening continent by continent this week -- Monday, Nov. 4 through Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013:
Asia/Europe: You can ride trains in a new underwater railway tunnel in Turkey for free until Nov. 12. The Marmaray Tunnel opened on Oct. 29. It’s 8.5 miles long, runs under the Bosphorus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, and connects the European and Asian parts of Istanbul. Yes, Turkey is in two continents. About 97 percent of Turkey’s area and 88 percent of its 76 million residents are in Asia. Asian Turkey is known as Anatolia or Asia Minor. European Turkey is known as East Thrace.
As the linked map shows, the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, which is also known as the Canakkale Strait, separate European and Asian Turkey. The European and Asian parts of Istanbul are connected by two road bridges and ferries, but the city has almost 15 million people and “is often snarled with traffic, with some two million residents making the crossing between continents on a daily basis,” according to CNN.com. The tunnel can handle 1.5 million travelers daily.
Istanbul is also hosting the 32nd International Istanbul Book Fair from Nov. 2 through Nov. 10. It’s in the European part of Istanbul, according to the map on the book fair’s website. NOV. 5 UPDATE: Tiger Woods today hit a golf ball from Europe to Asia, hitting a ball on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul.
Africa: Egyptian ex-president Mohamed Mursi’s trial begins in Cairo on Nov. 4. Mursi (news stories identify him as Mursi or Morsi) became Egypt’s first elected president in 2012 after the Arab Spring ended Hosni Mubarak’s 1981-2011 dictatorship. However, Mursi was overthrown by Egypt’s military in July and is being tried for inciting violence during a 2012 anti-Mursi protest. The political turmoil has caused the cancellation of many events in Cairo, including three film festivals. On the other hand, the turmoil will be the spotlight of a Nov. 5-Nov. 27 photography exhibit at Cairo’s Safar Khan Art Gallery. NOV. 4 UPDATE: Trial has been adjourned until Jan. 8; photography exhibit is still on as far as I know.
Antarctica:Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom claim part of Antarctica. The conflicts resulted in the 1959 Antarctic Treaty mandating that major decisions about the continent had to be approved by every nation that signed the treaty. Twenty-five of the treaty’s 28 signatories support creating “the world’s largest marine reserve in waters off Antarctica” -- nearly 3 million square kilometers -- for 10,000 species, including penguins, seals and whales, but the plan fell apart on Nov. 1 because China, Russia, and the Ukraine favor unlimited fishing rights on part of the land.
Australia: Previous Storeboard.com entries on Australia focused on Sydney and Melbourne, both of which have more than 4 million residents. Australia’s capital, though, is Canberra, which is only the nation’s eighth largest city with about 367,000 people and is near the southeast tip of the island. Canberra is the site of the 17th International Canberra International Film Festival from Oct. 30 through Nov. 10. Last year, approximately 17,000 people attended the festival at Dendy Cinemas Canberra and watched 60 films from 30 nations.
North America: Election Day, 2013, in the United States is on Nov. 5. Political observers seem most interested in whether Republican Chris Christie will become a 2016 presidential contender by being re-elected New Jersey’s governor in a landslide as well as the Virginia gubernatorial and New York City mayoral elections that are expected to be won by Democrats Terry McAuliffe and Bill de Blasio. I’m most interested, though, in a Colorado referendum. Secession movements are growing in the U.S. and people in 11 Colorado counties will vote on whether they want to live in Colorado or the state of North Colorado. NOV. 6 UPDATE: Six of 11 counties vote for secession; Christie, McAuliffe and de Blasio win.
South America: Argentina became the first Latin American nation to legalize gay marriage in 2010 and is now one of 15 nations where gay marriage is legal. The gay community of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital and largest city, is proud of this achievement and will celebrate it on Nov. 9 during the annual Gay Pride March in the city’s Plaza de Mayo. After the march, there will be “an even more serious party in the city's nightclubs,” according to TimeOut Buenos Aires magazine. Please note that the magazine mistakenly reports that the event is on Nov. 2, but the event’s website reports that it is on Nov. 9.
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