CAROLINA NATURALLY: As The World Turns

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

As The World Turns

As The World Turns

Burma opposition to boycott elections

The junta forced the issue by banning the opposition party from running in the elections as long as Aung San Suu Kyi remained in the organization. They refused to expel her and instead, voted to boycott the elections. They already won years ago by a large majority but were not allowed to govern so the elections have been proven to be all about show for the regime.

Loud cheering broke out at a meeting of the leaders of Burma's main opposition party after they voted unanimously to boycott an upcoming election that has been widely condemned as unfair and undemocratic.

The decision will further undermine the credibility of the poll. All 113 delegates at yesterday's gathering of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) agreed not to register the party with the election commission, effectively preventing it from participation in the polls that are expected to be held in October

Australia criticized for proposed internet filter

What are they thinking? This plan sounds like it's going down a very bad path for Australia.

"Our primary concern is that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide," Google wrote in its submission to the Australian government, suggesting that the filter – which would be mandatory and state-controlled – would slow browsing speeds.

The company said it already had its own filter to block child pornography.

"Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available and we agree," Google said. "But moving to a mandatory ISP-level filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond such material is heavy-handed and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information."

Lucinda Barlow of Google Australia told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the proposal raised the possibility of banning politically and socially controversial material and went beyond filters used in Germany, Canada and Italy. Other critics say the filtering would put Australia in the same censorship league as China.

10 People, Ages 8-21, Shot Dead in Mexico

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Children, youths and young adults between the ages of 8 and 21 were gunned down, presumably by drug traffickers, in the northern Mexican state of Durango.

Bodies of 21 Babies Found in China River

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The bodies of 21 babies, believed dumped by hospitals, have washed ashore a riverbank in eastern China, state media reported Tuesday.

Now something less harsh ...

Fools own all hotels in Indian town

It may sound like a foolish business but tourism chiefs in a remote Indian town are no dummies after renaming all the local hotels after idiots. Until a few years ago the town of Giridih in India's eastern Jharkhand state had little to recommend it on the tourism map - but now hotels such as "The Idiot's Hotel" and "The World's Biggest Idiot's Hotel" are often packed as people turn up to stay at the business run by fools.

"We love to call ourselves fools. It's a great way to attract business," says Ashok Singh, the owner of the Bewkoof Hotel that translates into Fool's Hotel. He added: "My father named the hotel as a joke and suddenly loads of people started coming by to stay the night, now all the hotels in the town are using the same name. It's kind of a nice name, funny and quirky. It works for us," said Singh.

Michael Topno, who owns Maha Bewkoof Hotel that translates into Bigger Fool's Hotel, said: "This city has had these hotels for some time now and I think there is no need to change the name. It works for me, it works for those who come here. I like the surprise element in the name." The tradition is now so popular that even restaurants are cashing in with the "Idiots Bar" and "Idiot's Restaurant" among the most popular.

Avdesh Singh, 65, a local tailor said: "The first hotel ended up with all the customers and so everybody else joined in and then the trend caught on. To be honest, everyone makes their money out of it so no one minds being called a fool here."