Instablogs Global report 13-August-2008
The announcement by Pakistan’s major political parties, the PPP and the PML-N that they will move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, has led to a wave of rumors and statements flying this way and that. But all eyes remain solely focused on the numbers of the Lower and Upper House.
This week, the government will issue a charge sheet of allegations against the President, and start impeachment proceedings. But the question remains, will the parties be able to muster up the numbers required? Claims that they already have the majority of seats to pull off this unique feat have already been circling.
There are other rumors that President Musharraf may soon be resigning. Amidst this drama, the Pakistani people are facing rising fuel and food prices.
But regardless of the outcome, President Musharraf’s legacy will be forever marred by this new drama that is being enacted in Pakistan.
Containers filled with old and often broken computers, monitors and TVs — of famous electronic brands – arrive in Ghana from the United States, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands under the label of second-hand goods.
Exporting e-waste from Europe and America is illegal but exporting unwanted and broken electrical goods under the tag of old electronics for ‘reuse’ allows unscrupulous traders to profit from dumping e-waste in Ghana.
These obsolete electronics are often laden with toxic chemicals like lead, mercury and brominates flame retardants. In the yards, unprotected workers, many of them children, dismantle computers and TVs with little more than stones in search of metals that can be sold.
The remaining plastic, cables and casing is either burnt or simply dumped on waste grounds and these cause heavy air, soil and water pollution.
Many of the chemicals released are highly toxic and affect children’s developing reproductive systems, brain development and the human nervous system.
As a solution, prominent electronic companies around the world should phase out toxic chemicals and introduce global recycling methods. Some companies are already making progress towards taking responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their electronic products.
Governments of developing countries should regulate this electronic trade with commercial parties more strictly to prevent hazardous situations like the one in Ghana.
The world of entertainment has seen arrival of multiplexes. In their struggle for survival, Standalones have no option but go for a makeover or else give up the halls for some shopping malls. This also implies that poor working man can no longer afford to take his family for a weekend show.
Cinema has been opium for migrant and daily wage earners, something greater than mere song and dance and entertainment. These dream merchants have now turned their backs on their poor fans.
Standalone man was the target audience for film makers like Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Now we have big production houses which pump in huge money, man-power and technology to make a perfect flick. But alas! To meet the production costs they target multiplex audience — middle class, upper middle class and rich urban people leaving the migrant laborer behind. Only in South India film makers are still making films for people who have no other means of entertainment. Super hero Rajnikanth still struggles and rises from the ashes to take single-handedly on the world. In the profit driven world, poor man doesn’t figure anywhere, neither in the content nor as an audience for modern day film makers and dream merchants.
No team represented the United Kingdom when the Olympic men’s soccer tournament kicked off in Beijing on Thursday.
The problem is not a lack of talent — David Beckham and Michael Owen are “footballers” recognized the world over — but local politics rooted in centuries of history. And unless Olympic organizers can pull off a last-minute save, Londoners won’t have a team to cheer for even when their city hosts the next Summer Games in 2012. Many feel “The Olympics might attract more excitement if there was a British team.”
Long-standing rivalries among England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have led each region comprising the United Kingdom to field its own soccer team.
At the World Cup and other international soccer competitions, the four teams compete separately. But because the International Olympic Committee recognizes only one country from the region, Great Britain, there has been no single U.K. team since 1964.
Nationalist feelings have ebbed and flowed for years. “A lot of Scots don’t recognize the Union Jack as their flag just as many Britons oppose the idea of soccer team from Great Britain. As a result, it may be hard for British Olympic ociation to realize the dream of a united UK team. If Great Britain is to have a team for the London, it may have to be players only from England.
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