News Roundup

Cycling in to Uni this morning, I came across 6 police vehicles and lots of policemen and women with sticks. Not for hitting people (at least, I hope not) rather searching for something. Interested in what's happened (seeing as so many unusual things have happened here recently) I took a look at the website of the local police force. Although there is nothing there yet about this case, there are a number of things that have already happened this morning around here whilst most of us were tucked up in bed. Just makes you think that policing is a very busy job.

Since the spate of terrorist activities, many governments have seen fit to implement extra controls on people travelling, buying things, even asking for information. The latest case is of the US 'no-fly' lists telling airlines which people they should not allow to fly. Fine, you might think, that's the way to stop people that may want to cause harm to other people. But the creation of these lists is causing many problems, as the system takes general data and uses statistics to produce the lists (and we all know how reliable statistics are). This means that if you happen to have the same name as a suspect, belong to a different religion from the 'norm', work in an industry that might be deemed suspicious (like politics then?), or just went to the same kindergarten as one of the aforementioned, you're likely to find it difficult to travel anywhere in the US. Of course, as I've mentioned a little while ago, the EU and US are trying to form a better 'passenger data exchange' which could mean that we'll soon see the same problems over here.

Something else that has been going on for a while now, is the mysterious killing of 73 animals in the Sao Paolo zoo (Brazil). Still no clues as to who it is, but now that the toll has risen considerably, it is hard to believe that it is an 'alphabet killer' like TheRegister proposed when the killing of animals with consecutive first letters in their names started.

Now that irish smokers have been banned from lighting up in public buildings in Dublin without too much fuss, the chief medical officer of Scotland is calling for a complete ban on smoking throughout Scotland. Of course this move won't affect the many sheep inhabiting the country, but it would be interesting to see this novel country-wide approach in action, maybe causing other countries to consider the move to a more healthier environment in the near future.

Now one for those animal lovers amongst you. Barcelona has voted to ban bullfighting throughout the region. It would be the first abolishment of this traditional sport in the country, and may set a precedent for other forward-thinking regions to do the same. The only thing standing in the way now is that the regional government enacts this ban.

The next article is not for the easily squeamish amongst you. A woman in Mexico gave birth to her child by DIY caesarean. As she was so far from the nearest hospital, and had lost a previous child giving birth naturally, she got hold of a kitchen knife, drank some hard liquor, and cut herself open. Both mother and child survived. I suppose that's one situation where drinking Tequila could be forgiven.

Stay Informed