Pacific Tribune

Archive for April, 2009

WHO Chief: Swine Flu Has “Pandemic Potential”

MEXICO CITY — A new swine flu strain that has killed as many as 68 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico has “pandemic potential,” the World Health Organization chief said Saturday, and it may be too late to contain the sudden outbreak.

The disease has already reached Texas and California, and with 24 new suspected cases reported Saturday in Mexico City alone, schools were closed and all public events suspended in the capital until further notice _ including more than 500 concerts and other gatherings in the metropolis of 20 million.

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New Guinea Tribe Sues The ‘New Yorker’ For $10 Million – Forbes.com

In an April 21, 2008, New Yorker story, “Vengeance Is Ours,” Pulitzer Prize-winning geology scholar Jared Diamond describes blood feuds that rage for decades among tribes in the Highlands of New Guinea. Diamond tells the story using a central protagonist: Daniel Wemp, member of the Handa clan, a blood-thirsty warrior bent on avenging his uncle’s death. That quest, writes Diamond, touched off six years of warfare leading to the slaughter of 47 people and the theft of 300 pigs.

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Water Crisis Rocks LA, Mexico City; Who’s Next? | CommonDreams.org
WASHINGTON — Water, water hardly anywhere. Water crises are rocking two of the world’s largest cities as Mexico City starts a 36-hour water cutoff and Los Angeles is in the midst of a water dearth.

The problem, however, is far wider than two of the most populous cities in the Western Hemisphere. Beijing, the capital of China, has a serious water shortage. The Israelis and the Palestinians are at loggerheads over control of the key aquifers west of the River Jordan that are vital to sustain both peoples. An unprecedented world population of 6.8 billion people — more than three times that of 80 years ago — and the inexorable reality of global climate change are guaranteed to make the long-term crisis worse.

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Japan Looks To Comic Books To Rescue Economy

While other countries bail out banks, slash interest rates and prop up struggling industries, Japan is pinning its hopes for economic recovery on a less likely source: manga comic books.

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