Thursday, December 09, 2004

Posted here Thursday, December 09, 2004 at 7:57:26 AM     Terrible way to start the day, but best to see what is http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11645049%255E2703,00.html Half the world's children are living in poverty AFP, Reuters December 10, 2004 ONE billion children - half the world's population of children - suffer from poverty, conflict and the scourge of AIDS, the United Nations Children's Fund revealed in its annual report yesterday. The rights of children to a healthy and protected upbringing, as laid out in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, were regularly imperilled due to the failure of governments to enact human rights and economic reforms, UNICEF said. I set google to send me notices of damage in Granada. I today received the first in many weeks. The way the world news works, only spotlights fall on certain plaes. the rest go unrecorded. http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/diciembre/juev9/49hurri.html The most serious human and socioeconomic losses were concentrated in the smaller, less developed countries such as Haiti and Granada. The archipelago of the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands were also seriously affected by the double impact of more than two hurricanes. According ECLAC, the effects of Hurricane Ivan on the island of Grenada – with a population of 100,000 inhabitants – will be felt on the economy for many years given that the disaster destroyed 89% of homes as well as damaging agricultural and other activities. In Jamaica, Ivan caused approximately $575 million worth of damage, equivalent to 8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the Dominican Republic, losses caused by the hurricanes reached $320 million, equivalent to 1.7% of the GDP. According to ECLAC, evaluations of the damage caused in Haiti are still pending, although it is known that consequences for the north and northeast regions of the country were very serious, particularly in the city of Gonaives, the third largest in the country. In the Cayman Islands, the atmospheric phenomenon negatively affected the tourist industry and seriously damaged the social infrastructure of housing and communications. and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 8 BROOKFIELD, Ill. -- After Babs the gorilla died at age 30, keepers at Brookfield Zoo decided to allow surviving gorillas to mourn the most influential female in their social family. One by one Tuesday, the gorillas filed into the Tropic World building where Babs' body lay, arms outstretched. Curator Melinda Pruett Jones called it a "gorilla wake." Babs' 9-year-old daughter, Bana, was the first to approach the body, followed by Babs' mother, Alpha, 43. Bana sat down, held Babs' hand and stroked her mother's stomach. Then she sat down and laid her head on Babs' arm. "It was like they used to do in the exhibit, lying side by side on the mountain," keeper Betty Green said. "Then Bana rose up and looked at us and moved to Babs' other side, tucked her head under the other arm, and stroked Babs' stomach." Other gorillas also approached Babs and gently sniffed the body. Only the silverback male leader, Ramar, 36, stayed away. Keepers said the display wasn't surprising. "She was the dominant female of the group, the peacekeeper, the disciplinarian, the one who kept things in a harmonious state," Pruett Jones said. Koola, 9, brought her infant daughter, whom Babs had showered with attention since her birth in August. "Koola inspected Babs' mouth for a while, then held her baby close to Babs, like she loved to do the last couple months, letting Babs admire her," Green said. Babs had an incurable kidney condition and was euthanized Tuesday. Keepers had recently seen a videotape of a gorilla wake at the Columbus, Ohio, zoo and decided they would do the same for Babs. Gorillas in the wild have been known to pay respects to their dead, keepers said. "I had a headache for the rest of the day after all the tears I cried watching them," Green said. ********