Welcome to Newslip. I'm Wesley Gerrard.Today's date is Sunday, 7th June 2009 and here are the stories making this week's news...
The twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre passed this week with no official recognition from China other than the mass deployment of security forces in Beijing where they outnumbered tourists and ensured that no protestors would gather in a country where
to even speak of Tiananmen is illegal. On June 4th 1989, angry students, who sought more political rights, were confronted by Chinese army tanks. Scores of peaceful protestors were massacred that day in an event which shocked the world and presented the ruling communist party of China in a very unfavourable light. The past twenty years have seen China truly rise to the world stage as a superpower. However, as protestors gathered to commemorate the event in international cities, the general consensus was that despite the economic leap forward, political rights in China had hardly changed at all. Today’s student generation are in general politically apathetic.
One of Britain’s Got Talent’s stars has been admitted to a mental hospital suffering from exhaustion. Susan Boyle was runner up on the TV talent contest and her dowdy and unglamorous appearance captivated the imagination of global viewers. After coming second in the contest’s final when she lost out to dance troupe, Diversity, from London, the visibly shaken unemployed church volunteer, broke down and was admitted to the Priory clinic suffering from mental exhaustion. The singer had been born with slight brain damage after suffering from lack of oxygen at birth. Despite her loss in the final of the show, Boyle is undoubtedly the show’s star. Her performances have received over 200 million Youtube downloads and she has been invited to appear on Oprah Winfrey and Larry King’s US show. It is expected that Simon Cowell is likely to cash in on her success by signing her up in a music deal. After spending less than a week in the celebrity clinic, Boyle left for home in a central London flat where it is hoped that the press will cease camping out on her doorstep and allow her to recover.
Actor David Carradine has been found dead in his Bangkok hotel room. The star of Kill Bill made his name as Caine in the cult 1970s TV series Kung Fu. The Thai Police say that he was found naked in his wardrobe with a cord tied around his neck. They have initially said that they believe the death was a suicide and cctv footage suggests that he was alone in his hotel room at the time of death. However, foul play has not been ruled out and close friends of the actor have stated that he was suffering from no form of depression. The FBI have been asked to investigate. Controversial photos of the death scene were printed in the Thai press and Carradine’s family have threatened to sue any news outlet that reprints the pictures.
Eating a curry once or twice a week can, according to American research, prevent the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The key ingredient is curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric. Curcumin appears to prevent the spread of amyloid protein plaques - thought to cause dementia - in the brain. It is known that Turmeric is a very useful anti-cancer spice. Some sceptics at the Royal College of Psychiatrists have poured scorn on the findings and the incomplete research is set to be put to the test by studying the effects of curry bingeing when they analyse the effects of people eating curries all week long. Apparently eating a curry could not counter-balance the increased risk of dementia associated with a poor diet. As curry is now the national dish of Britain, there is hope for the future.
Violent clashes between security forces and indigenous people in Peru have led to 31 deaths. In the most intense fighting since trouble began to flare in the Amazon region in April, 22 tribesmen and 9 police died. The natives are incensed by government supported attempts to exploit oil reserves in their territory. New laws that have been passed by Peru’s President, Alan Garcia, also offer up the exploitation of communal land to foreign logging companies, large-scale farming and mining. Most of the trouble occurred six hundred miles to the north of Lima near the town of Bagua. Indigenous leaders say police using helicopters opened fire on demonstrators in the latest incident though the government counter-claimed, equating the locals to criminals and by saying that they were first to open fire.
Neil and Kazumi Puttick were so overcome with grief at their loss of their son, Sam, that they drove to the cliffs in East Sussex and jumped 400ft to their deaths, holding his body in one rucksack and his toys in another. Sam who had as a toddler been paralysed in a car crash, had just died from Meningitis. It has been suggested that his loving parents made a Japanese suicide pact before ending their lives at the notorious Beachy Head blackspot. In the hours after his death they had refused visits from friends. Their devotion to their son during his life was intense and they revealed their anguish in a typewritten note before the final tragic event unfolded.
The 20-20 cricket world cup is underway in Britain with some amazing results captivating the willow world. There was a massive shock on the first day when England lost to cricketing minnows, The Netherlands. Australia also suffered a surprise defeat when they were soundly beaten by the West Indies after an impressive performance by the islanders in which batsman Chris Gayle scored six sixes, resulting in a seven wicket defeat for the world champions with four overs to spare. England managed to salvage a place in the last eight after recovering from the Dutch and beating Pakistan by 48 runs. The tournament continues for the next few weeks and the success of the shortform of cricket looks set to blossom with the exotic nature of results.
Barack Obama made a tour of the Middle East in which he gave speeches reaching out to the Muslim world. He stated that the "cycle of suspicion and discord" between the US and Muslims must end. He gave a keynote speech in Cairo, calling for a ‘new beginning’. In his speech he made key references to the Koran. His father is a Muslim and Obama spent part of his early life growing up in the Muslim country of Indonesia. He spoke of hopes for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and also emphasized that Islam had a been a major part of US history and had an important role to play within the USA’s borders. He tried to convey the feeling that he didn’t associate the Islamic militants and their violence with the entire Islamic community. He equated the plight of the Palestinians with that of slaves in America. His addresses were condemned for their inconsistencies by Hamas and the Ayatollah in Iran made a prior speech stating that America was still very much hated in the region.
Voters across Europe went to the polls this week and turned up some surprises in the European elections. On the whole, socialist parties lost out and right-wing parties came out on top. In Britiain the ruling Labour party suffered catastrophic defeat, with many calling for Gordon Brown to resign. Conservatives made good of the voters’ disillusionment with Labour but there were also shock elections to the European parliament for the controversial BNP with them gaining two seats in Brussels due to the proportional representation aspect to the vote. Although the British government felt the worst effects of defeat in Europe, Germany’s ruling Social Democrats and France’s Socialist Party were also heading for historic defeats. Some British Labour MPs stated that they were not concerned too much as they had previously done badly in European polls yet gone on to win in general elections.
And this week's top story...
An Air France plane travelling from Rio Di Janeiro to Paris went missing over the Atlantic and initial attempts at locating the plane were unsuccessful. There were 216 passengers aboard flight 447. Relatives fears for the worst looked substantiated when body parts and plane debris were located in the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. There has however been no confirmation of a crash and location of flight recorders hasn’t succeeded. Experts are baffled as to what may have caused a plane in perfectly good condition to plunge from the sky on a routine flight. 17 bodies have been recovered in total. Among the lost passengers were three Irish doctors of a mainly French and Brazilian populace. It is the second serious plane tragedy in Brazil in the last two years after a major crash in Sao Paolo in 2007 when199 people perished.
That's all for Newslip this week. Thanks for tuning in. See you again soon. Goodbye.
The twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre passed this week with no official recognition from China other than the mass deployment of security forces in Beijing where they outnumbered tourists and ensured that no protestors would gather in a country where
to even speak of Tiananmen is illegal. On June 4th 1989, angry students, who sought more political rights, were confronted by Chinese army tanks. Scores of peaceful protestors were massacred that day in an event which shocked the world and presented the ruling communist party of China in a very unfavourable light. The past twenty years have seen China truly rise to the world stage as a superpower. However, as protestors gathered to commemorate the event in international cities, the general consensus was that despite the economic leap forward, political rights in China had hardly changed at all. Today’s student generation are in general politically apathetic.One of Britain’s Got Talent’s stars has been admitted to a mental hospital suffering from exhaustion. Susan Boyle was runner up on the TV talent contest and her dowdy and unglamorous appearance captivated the imagination of global viewers. After coming second in the contest’s final when she lost out to dance troupe, Diversity, from London, the visibly shaken unemployed church volunteer, broke down and was admitted to the Priory clinic suffering from mental exhaustion. The singer had been born with slight brain damage after suffering from lack of oxygen at birth. Despite her loss in the final of the show, Boyle is undoubtedly the show’s star. Her performances have received over 200 million Youtube downloads and she has been invited to appear on Oprah Winfrey and Larry King’s US show. It is expected that Simon Cowell is likely to cash in on her success by signing her up in a music deal. After spending less than a week in the celebrity clinic, Boyle left for home in a central London flat where it is hoped that the press will cease camping out on her doorstep and allow her to recover.
Actor David Carradine has been found dead in his Bangkok hotel room. The star of Kill Bill made his name as Caine in the cult 1970s TV series Kung Fu. The Thai Police say that he was found naked in his wardrobe with a cord tied around his neck. They have initially said that they believe the death was a suicide and cctv footage suggests that he was alone in his hotel room at the time of death. However, foul play has not been ruled out and close friends of the actor have stated that he was suffering from no form of depression. The FBI have been asked to investigate. Controversial photos of the death scene were printed in the Thai press and Carradine’s family have threatened to sue any news outlet that reprints the pictures.
Eating a curry once or twice a week can, according to American research, prevent the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The key ingredient is curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric. Curcumin appears to prevent the spread of amyloid protein plaques - thought to cause dementia - in the brain. It is known that Turmeric is a very useful anti-cancer spice. Some sceptics at the Royal College of Psychiatrists have poured scorn on the findings and the incomplete research is set to be put to the test by studying the effects of curry bingeing when they analyse the effects of people eating curries all week long. Apparently eating a curry could not counter-balance the increased risk of dementia associated with a poor diet. As curry is now the national dish of Britain, there is hope for the future.
Violent clashes between security forces and indigenous people in Peru have led to 31 deaths. In the most intense fighting since trouble began to flare in the Amazon region in April, 22 tribesmen and 9 police died. The natives are incensed by government supported attempts to exploit oil reserves in their territory. New laws that have been passed by Peru’s President, Alan Garcia, also offer up the exploitation of communal land to foreign logging companies, large-scale farming and mining. Most of the trouble occurred six hundred miles to the north of Lima near the town of Bagua. Indigenous leaders say police using helicopters opened fire on demonstrators in the latest incident though the government counter-claimed, equating the locals to criminals and by saying that they were first to open fire.
Neil and Kazumi Puttick were so overcome with grief at their loss of their son, Sam, that they drove to the cliffs in East Sussex and jumped 400ft to their deaths, holding his body in one rucksack and his toys in another. Sam who had as a toddler been paralysed in a car crash, had just died from Meningitis. It has been suggested that his loving parents made a Japanese suicide pact before ending their lives at the notorious Beachy Head blackspot. In the hours after his death they had refused visits from friends. Their devotion to their son during his life was intense and they revealed their anguish in a typewritten note before the final tragic event unfolded.
The 20-20 cricket world cup is underway in Britain with some amazing results captivating the willow world. There was a massive shock on the first day when England lost to cricketing minnows, The Netherlands. Australia also suffered a surprise defeat when they were soundly beaten by the West Indies after an impressive performance by the islanders in which batsman Chris Gayle scored six sixes, resulting in a seven wicket defeat for the world champions with four overs to spare. England managed to salvage a place in the last eight after recovering from the Dutch and beating Pakistan by 48 runs. The tournament continues for the next few weeks and the success of the shortform of cricket looks set to blossom with the exotic nature of results.
Barack Obama made a tour of the Middle East in which he gave speeches reaching out to the Muslim world. He stated that the "cycle of suspicion and discord" between the US and Muslims must end. He gave a keynote speech in Cairo, calling for a ‘new beginning’. In his speech he made key references to the Koran. His father is a Muslim and Obama spent part of his early life growing up in the Muslim country of Indonesia. He spoke of hopes for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and also emphasized that Islam had a been a major part of US history and had an important role to play within the USA’s borders. He tried to convey the feeling that he didn’t associate the Islamic militants and their violence with the entire Islamic community. He equated the plight of the Palestinians with that of slaves in America. His addresses were condemned for their inconsistencies by Hamas and the Ayatollah in Iran made a prior speech stating that America was still very much hated in the region.
Voters across Europe went to the polls this week and turned up some surprises in the European elections. On the whole, socialist parties lost out and right-wing parties came out on top. In Britiain the ruling Labour party suffered catastrophic defeat, with many calling for Gordon Brown to resign. Conservatives made good of the voters’ disillusionment with Labour but there were also shock elections to the European parliament for the controversial BNP with them gaining two seats in Brussels due to the proportional representation aspect to the vote. Although the British government felt the worst effects of defeat in Europe, Germany’s ruling Social Democrats and France’s Socialist Party were also heading for historic defeats. Some British Labour MPs stated that they were not concerned too much as they had previously done badly in European polls yet gone on to win in general elections.
And this week's top story...
An Air France plane travelling from Rio Di Janeiro to Paris went missing over the Atlantic and initial attempts at locating the plane were unsuccessful. There were 216 passengers aboard flight 447. Relatives fears for the worst looked substantiated when body parts and plane debris were located in the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. There has however been no confirmation of a crash and location of flight recorders hasn’t succeeded. Experts are baffled as to what may have caused a plane in perfectly good condition to plunge from the sky on a routine flight. 17 bodies have been recovered in total. Among the lost passengers were three Irish doctors of a mainly French and Brazilian populace. It is the second serious plane tragedy in Brazil in the last two years after a major crash in Sao Paolo in 2007 when199 people perished.
That's all for Newslip this week. Thanks for tuning in. See you again soon. Goodbye.
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