The World's Greatest Blog

I check the news every day on the websites of various major UK newspapers. I often see that all the headlines are the same and I get a sense that I don’t really know much more about the world as a result of reading their sites. So here are a few headlines and tit-bits from other English-language news sites around the world:

Australia

TheAge.com: Australian Fashion Week 2008: I found last year’s Aussie fashion week fairly tame compared to its European counterparts. It is, nevertheless, a distinct contribution from a sparse population of 21 million people. Hot stories this week include Mischa Barton’s arrival and Miranda Kerr – the supermodel.

Lebanon

The Lebanese Daily Star:  Egypt is acting as a mediator between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel. A Lebanese singer has been banned from performing in Bahrain as its Islamist parliament passed a motion condemning her raunchy antics as unsuitable for Bahrain. Lebanon is also raising its minimum wage.

Germany

Spiegel Online: Deutsche Bank posts its first losses in five years. The giant lost 141 million euros in the first quarter of 2008. The German working week is getting shorter – and the paper writes in stereotypically national terms about inefficiencies in the workplace.

Somalia

SomaliNet: After being distracted by the “military love links” advert at the top (match-making with soldiers, I believe),  the website went on to describe recent US troop movements along the Kenyan / Somalian border. Somali militia are also banning the consumption of Khat leaf (an amphetamine like substance) and cigarettes.

Brazil

Brazzil Mag reports that Brazil has enormous reserves of oil, but just can’t get to them because they lie 6 miles below the ocean floor “in deposits so hot they can melt the metal used to carry uranium to nuclear plants…Tapping what may be the biggest oil finds in the Western Hemisphere in three decades will require equipment that can withstand 18,000 pounds per square inch of pressure, enough to crush a pickup truck, pipes that can carry oil at temperatures above 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 Celsius) and drill bits that can penetrate layers of salt more than one mile thick.” Read the whole article here.

Indonesia

Antara: Seven Chinese hostages have been released by an armed group in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The group did not have passports and police are investigating their presence in the region.

USA

Finally, the Harlem Globetrotters are coming to Wembley. I didn’t do any in-depth research for this one – I just noticed it whilst perusing this ticket site.