Category: Current Events
One of the world’s oldest institutions has finally entered the 21st century. The Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, infamously known for being decidedly archaic in some of its thoughts and teachings, has set up a YouTube channel. That’s right, a YouTube channel. Now you can subscribe (with a Google or YouTube account) to get messages from the Pope on a daily basis. Talk about service!
This is without question a conscious attempt by the Vatican to find new ways of appealing to a younger generation that has become increasingly disconnected from the millenia-old institution. At first glance, there is something fundamentally humorous about the Pope sharing YouTube with idiotswith too much time on their hands like this guy. When you think about it a bit more though, there is something to be said about using different forms of media to approach people and spread the news you want people to hear. Even the Church would benefit from a little marketing every once in a while.
A child holding up a newly converted 100 trillion dollar bill
Zimbabwe’s central bank will introduce a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar banknote, worth about $33 on the black market, to try to ease desperate cash shortages, state-run media said on Friday. Prices are doubling every day and food and fuel are in short supply. A cholera epidemic has killed more than 2,000 people and a deadlock between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition has put hopes of ending the crisis on hold. Hyper-inflation has forced the central bank to continue to release new banknotes which quickly become almost worthless. There is an official exchange rate, but most Zimbabweans resort to the informal market for currency transactions.
In addition to the Z$100 trillion dollar note, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe plans to launch Z$10 trillion, Z$20 trillion and Z$50 trillion notes, the Herald newspaper reported. “In a move meant to ensure that the public has access to their money from banks, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has introduced a new family of banknotes which will gradually come into circulation, starting with the Z$10 trillion,” the Herald said, citing a statement from the central bank.
Previous issues of new banknotes have done little to curb the cash crunch faced by Zimbabweans, who often line up for hours outside banks to withdraw barely enough to buy a loaf of bread. Critics blame the economic meltdown on mismanagement by Mugabe’s government, including the seizure and redistribution of thousands of white-owned farms. The once-thriving agricultural sector has fallen into ruin. The veteran Zimbabwean leader, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, says Western sanctions are the main cause of the economic crisis and worsening humanitarian picture.
Political analysts say the establishment of a unity government between Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is the best hope of reversing the economic slide and worsening humanitarian crisis. But power-sharing talks are deadlocked over the control of important government ministries. Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of trying to assign the MDC a junior role and has demanded the release of detained opposition members before a deal is implemented. The presidents of regional powers South Africa and Mozambique will meet political parties in Zimbabwe on Monday in a new regional push to break the impasse, South Africa’s government said on Thursday.
Barack Obama is the new face of America, and his likeness will be represented in force during this year’s bawdy Carnival bacchanalia. Plastic replicas of the U.S. president-elect’s face are the top-selling masks this year, said Olga Gibert Valles, owner of one of Rio’s oldest Carnival costume producers. That means come Feb. 22, when Carnival begins, thousands of half-naked ‘Obamas’ will take to the streets during the countless freewheeling parades throughout the city. About half of Brazil’s 190 million people are black and many were elated by Obama’s election. The incoming U.S. president is so beloved, at least eight Brazilian politicians changed their names to ‘Barack Obama’ on the ballot of local elections in October.
