Source: Times online, Google images North Korean official Pak Nam Gi, the former finance director of the ruling workers, was shot by a firing squad due to messing up the economy. Wow Gordon Brown the way that people are blaming you for the recession you better be glad that we are not in North Korea!!
Today a South Korean navy ship sank, with many missing and several reported dead after a 'supposed' explosion. Seoul, the largest city of the republic of Korea denounced allegations that the ship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo. The government are currently investigating.
Pyongyang the capital of North Korea have yet to reply, however if they are discovered to be involved in this attack, this will cause serious hostility with the South. Furthermore it will cause tension between the US and South.
Sitting in my seminar for the international system opened my mind to what Bush was really doing when he declared a war on terrorism. If this present case is proven to be true then it is an example of terrorism happening outside Iraq. Bush, was trying to make one state or one area (the Middle East) solely responsible for terrorism when frankly terrorism happens everywhere, it is beyond the state.How foolish people where to believe him and how even more foolish people where to allow the US to look for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; when currently the US are signing a new treaty on nuclear arms control with Russia, tut tut.
As you know I featured Jourdan Dunn as one of my boss girlies a couple of weeks ago.Well last month her boyfriend Jordan cummings, who she had a child with in December, was arrested for possesion of two ounces of cocain with intent to supply and has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail. Regardless of the adversity that faces her she ripped the runway at a charity show in London, this was her second fashionshow since she's been pregnant and the first since her boyfriends arrest. Thats what makes her a boss girlie!!!
We all thought that Obama's corner stone healthcare bill had been passed in order to FINALLY provide healthcare insurance to 32 million people in America.This would bring down healthcare costs and allow American citizens to have greater power in regard to their health. Unfortunately the bill has to be returned to the US House of Representatives for a new vote over procedural measures, due to Republicans endeavours to sabotage the bill. The changes to legislation will be about the student loan program and technical budget procedures.
Luckily Democrats managed to contest against any ammendments made by the Republicans which would seriously weaken the health care legislation.
Despite these issues the fact that this bill has been passed shows that you can achieve anything no matter how ambitious it is.
We are so lucky to have a free healthcare system in England.If you don't appreciate this you need to watch the movie John Q starring Denzel washington conveying the harsh realities of the US health care system.
President Obama in a broadcast on the Internet today stated that he Will provide sufficient entry to the Internet for Iranians without censorship. Despite difficulties with the Iranian government he promised to provide a better future for the Iranians future. However the state claimed that this message was intended to cause tension between the Iranian people.Well as they say Rome wasn't built in a day,it will be interesting to see if Obama's claims at the inauguration to 'extend a hand' to opposing states will enable them to 'unclench their fists.'
You cannot deny that christianity has been largely undermined by its own people who 'claim' to be christians. Pope Benedict XVI made an apology to children who were the subjects of sexual exploitation by Catholic priests in Ireland.This was done through a pastoral letter, which was the first of its kind in the Pope's jurisdiction, despite allegations of pedophilia in Catholic churches for many years. The pope acknowledged that there had been a 'serious mistake.'(Well that is one way to describe it). Catholic priests have been reported abusing children in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria and the US.
Some groups are not satisfied with the Pope's letter of apology, which stated that not enough attention was given to the cover up of child abuse by the Pope's jurisdiction. This was noted by BBC Religious Affairs correspondent Robert Pigott and also Maeve Lewis, executive director of One in Four.
There has been an outburst of relationship books in the black celebrity world, in the past year.
The ones which particularly caught my attention was Steve Harvey's (an American actor, comedian, entertainer, and radio personality) book 'Act Like a Lady Think Like A Man'. This book guides women on how to have a successful relationship, notably talking about the 90 day rule before having sex. To come to this figure Steve Harvey gave the analogy of working at Ford in which you have to wait 90 days in order to receive benefits. He did note that waiting till you were married would be better but he had not seen anyone that could yet do that.(ahem). He also claimed in order for women to attract men they had to look' shiny', not fake shiny, to all the ladies that are running out to get the biggest pair of bling earrings or false nails. I did find his particular view to be implicitly sexist as he suggested that a women always has to keep herself together to hold attraction. (Personally I would like a guy who would find me shiny in my pyjamas and head gear yup, yup.)
Next in line is Tv relationship expert Dr Michelle Callahan, she stopped by 106 n Park last month. Promoting her new book 'Ms typed' which guides a women on how to get a man. This book teaches women to get a man by taking a what's your type quiz, inspirational stories from other women and a 'Ms typed makeover'. On 106 n Park she expressed the importance of both sexes dating several people, to find out their type.
Another book, is Karrine Steffans ' The Vixen Manual : How to find, Seduce & Keep the Man you want.' Karrine Steffans book contains graphic diagrams, which were contested by the american program CW, in one of the many altercations Karrine has had with radio and TV personalities. Karrine notes that she has found the secret to keeping a man, through her own challenges as a woman and listening to elderly women around her.This book guides a women through being single into marriage and notes that in order to get a good man, the women also has to bring something to the table. She further claims that a man will treat a women how she allows him to treat her and also noted the preference of courtship. This is slightly undermined however by her recent split with her boyfriend/husband who knows?? Actor Darius McCrary.
All I've got to say is what happened to just being yourself??? And why are there many guides for women, what about the men????Some of the advice given in these books can be of value. However never forget the importance of being yourself, who wants to date another cardboard cut out? Respect is essential and before you go into any relationship make sure you have respect for yourself and the partner has respect for you. Im going to talk more about this in the future as it gets on my nerves. For now I have to sleep so I'll bless you with interviews from these three, enjoy:).
The Government are not planning to move the age range for criminal liability up to 12 years old any time soon, at least that is one thing the labour government can gain points for in their looming election.
Despite the England children's commissioner, Maggie Atkinson stating that children under the age of 12 did not know what they were doing which I strongly beg to differ. She further noted that it was wrong for Jon Venables when he was 10 to be tried in an adult court instead of a youth court. Although I do believe that a 10 year old being tried in the same court as a 20 year old has its problems, namely the obvious fact that a 10 year old and 20 year olds' mentality are worlds apart.
However from personal experience I do feel that a 10 year old knows exactly what they are doing, dare I say even younger. Obviously children do know the difference between right and wrong otherwise we would have many kids running around as axe murderers.Maybe if the issue is on a 10 year old stealing sweets I can sympathise with Dr Atkinson's point but murder is a different story all together. We were all kids before remember? Never underestimate a child's mentality. I just feel sorry for European countries that have their age range for criminal liability between 14-16.
Another event that took place, was Ghanian Independence day on the 6th March. Ghana was the first African country in 1957 to achieve independence. The prime minister at the time Dr Kwame Nkrumah announced the famous words "Ghana, your beloved country is free forever."Love you Ghana.
Earlier this week on the 8th March was International women's day. This is a day that praises women's social, political and economic accomplishments around the world. The first one took place in 1911 and is recognised in some countries as a holiday. Many campaigns used this day as an opportunity to raise awareness for pregnant women dieing in developing countries. The UN further noted that there was little improvement in pregnant women's mortality rates in countries such as Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia.
I really enjoyed watching first time voters question time, hosted by Dermot O Leary on BBC 3 and believe it did a good job of engaging young people into politics. I think this is something that is needed and should be a regular feature on BBC 3. One thing I really noticed about the politicians that were present on the panel was that they're focus was more on scoring cheap points against each other and promoting their particular parties rather than directly answering the question. This is something I also noticed on the regular question time too and in some ways to me felt very reminiscent of childish school antics. Someone that really spoke to me was Tim campbell, the winner of apprentice, he was very direct, straight to the point and honest and he is sure to get many more fans out of this I know I am already one.
If you haven't already seen it catch it on BBC I-player.
Recently in the media there has been a lot of backlash about the film Precious giving the black community an unsavoury image.Monique, who plays the tyrannical yet pitiful mother in the film rightfully claimed that the situations portrayed in this were devoid of colour. This is evident in a recently appalling case where a white father from sheffield raped his two daughters over a 1000 times, which resulted in them becoming pregnant 18 times over the space of 30 years. He is quickly being dubbed the British Fritz closely resembling Josef Fritzl,an Austrian father who kept his daughter in a basement and raped her regularly, he too also happened to be white.Instead of wasting time stigmatising a particular race we need to realise that incestuous rape is a serious issue in our society. Precious raised that awareness which was a good thing.
Condolences go out to all the people who suffered in the Chile earthquake that struck on Saturday of an 8.8-magnitude, currently over 700 people are expected dead and this is predicted to rise.One of the questions that comes to mind is why there is only a small death toll in comparison to that of Haiti's when Chile's earthquake was more powerful?(500 times to be exact). One of the reasons is that Chile is a more wealthy country in comparison, which meant that their buildings were more strong standing than those in Haiti. Furthermore the force of an earthquake is reduced the further away you are from the epicenter. In Chile this was 21 miles (34km) underground, off-shore and 70 miles (115km) from the closest large city Concepcion. Whereas in Haiti it was 8 miles (13km) underground and right next to Port-au-Prince.Global warming seems to be hitting hard and its daunting that there may be more serious natural disasters to come in the near future.
A mother in Birmingham withdrew her child from school,deliberately kept food from her and five other children until 5 year old Khyra Ishaq, her daughter died of severe mal-nutrition.Two other children were also seriously starved. The mother was cleared of murder but due to her psychological problems has a new plea of man-slaughter. All I have to say is where were the social workers if she had mental health issues? It is amazing what you can get away with when you have psychological problems. Although leniency is needed at times, it is a dangerous loop hole in our justice system. Well at least she'll serve something smh.
Africa's my motherland so you know I have to write about what's going on over there. President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan declared that the war was over and released 57 prisoners from a renowned Darfur rebel group called Jem. This is preceding a cease fire which happened between the Sudanese president and the Jem leaders. Hopefully this will be the beginning of peace in this war torn country. I feel the only way the country can move forward and progress, is if the people come together instead of tearing their country apart and draining its resources over what I believe to be a minor issue of heritage(the war began as black Africans felt oppressed in comparison to Arabs). It is amazing how many wars start because of the external attributes of people. The oppression needs to stop.
