The Black Informant

80,000

That is the number of casualties that are being estimated in Burma due to Cyclone Nargis hitting that country over the weekend. With all the election stuff going on, I want to make sure that I keep some perspective on the goings on around the world. 80, 000 people dying is pretty major.

Burma death toll ‘likely to hit 80,000′
By ABC correspondent Peter Lloyd and wires

An aid official in Burma says the death toll from Cyclone Nargis may be 80,000 or more.

Kyi Minn is health adviser for World Vision in Burma and he says that on top of the 22,000 the military regime has admitted have died, there are another 60,000 missing - presumed dead.

ABC correspondent Peter Lloyd reports there are also indications that the massive aid effort is being hampered by a lack of organisation and infrastructure in Burma to distribute the urgently needed supplies. (more…)

The World Beyond Your Little ATM Card

Three Chinese banks in world’s top four: study
AFP

Three Chinese institutions were among the world’s top four banks at the end of 2007 at a time when the market capitalisation of Western banks was suffering from a global financial crisis, a study showed Wednesday.

The number one spot in the rankings, compiled by the Boston Consulting Group, was occupied by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, with market capitalisation of nearly 340 billion dollars (218 billion euros).

In second place was China Construction Bank, followed by HSBC of Britain, Bank of China, Bank of America and Citigroup of the United States.

The study found that banks in North America and Western Europe had suffered a loss of 695 billion dollars in market capitalisation at the end of 2007 while their counterparts in emerging market countries Brazil, Russia, China and India had seen their market capitalisation increase by 753 billion dollars. (more…)

One of the funniest things you may read today

Mexican senators lighten penalties on illegal migrants
chron.com

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Senate has voted unanimously to remove criminal penalties for undocumented migrants.

Some officials acknowledge that harsh immigration laws here have weakened Mexico’s argument for better treatment of its own migrants in the United States.

Monday’s measure must still be approved by the lower house, which passed a different version earlier.

Current law establishes punishments of one-and-a-half to six years in prison, but such penalties are seldom applied. Undocumented migrants are simply deported. (more…)

Attack Of The Doll People

Iran urged to fight Barbie doll invasion

TEHRAN: Iran’s toy market is being inundated by models of Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter and the young must be protected from their harmful cultural effects, the prosecutor general was quoted as saying on Sunday.

“Promoting figures like Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter and the uncontrolled import of CDs of video games and films should alarm all the country’s officials,” Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi was quoted as saying by the student ISNA news agency. “We need to find substitutes to ward off this onslaught, which aims at children and young people whose personality is in the process of being formed,” he added.

Dori Najafabadi’s comments came in a letter to an Iranian vice president, urging measures to protect “Islamic culture and revolutionary values”. While officials regularly lambast Western culture for polluting the minds of the public, Western toys have become a regular and popular feature on the shelves of toy shops in Iran in recent years. Affluent Iranian parents are known for indulging their children and the purchase of such toys has become for many an obligatory treat.

But Dori Najafabadi said: “These toys, which do not respect the required norms, present dangers for the health of children and affect the survival of toy factories in this country.” afp (source…)