UAE: Saudi wife wraps SUV for husband on wedding anniversary
Bloggers praise gesture in country where public expressions of love are rare. In a heart-warming gesture, a Saudi wife gifted her husband a Tahoe Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
The gesture by the wife, from Qurayyat, a city in Al Jawf Province in northern Saudi Arabia, was greatly appreciated by relatives and friends of the couple who saw it a great indication of their love. … (Read more)
Gulf News
Germany: Digital Dairy: Robotic Milk Production Takes Over
Smaller dairy farms in Germany are rapidly disappearing, and with EU quotas on milk production set to expire next year, the process is likely to accelerate. The only way to survive is to turn cows into machines and keep them away from the meadow.
Jens Nielsen is the last dairy farmer on the North Sea island of Sylt. He works all the time, on Christmas Eve, on the day of his daughter’s wedding, even on days when funerals are held for people he once knew. On such occasions, he gets up from the banquet table before everyone else and heads for the stalls. He works 365 days a year. ... (Read more)
Spiegel
South Korea: Facebook uses Korea as test bed
Who says Facebook Korea is on the verge of demise?
Those who obviously have no access to the social networking service grapevine.
“Korea is a unique market where over 90 percent of users access Facebook through smartphones,” said Benjamin Joe, head of Facebook Korea, in an interview with The Korea Herald. ... (Read more)
Korea Herald
Cote d'Ivoire: Ivorian Cocoa’s Got 99 Problems, but the Kids Ain’t One
The idea that vast swathes children are being enslaved and forced to work 16-hour days in Ivorian cocoa fields makes for dramatic story. Except that it’s not true.
In March 2012, the European Parliament renewed the International Cocoa Agreement and approved a resolution aimed at, amongst other things, eradicating forced child labour in cocoa production. This is no doubt a noble cause - forced labour is a dire violation of human rights and dignity - but when it comes to the Ivory Coast, it’s also a very easy one: forced child labour in Ivorian cocoa fields is virtually non-existent. ... (Read more)
All Africa
Poland: More victims of Stalinist terror confirmed in Warsaw dig
Scientists using DNA samples have identified the remains of several more victims of communist repressions from 1948-1956.
The names of the victims will be revealed on Friday, the day of the so-called ‘Cursed Soldiers’ who refused to lay down their arms when a communist regime was installed in Poland after World War II.
Since 2012, some 200 skeletons have been exhumed from mass graves in the military section of Warsaw’s Powazki Cemetery. ... (Read more)
The News
Japan: Canopy of ‘last kamikaze’ WWII fighter found in Kumamoto
An unused aircraft canopy discovered in Kumamoto Prefecture has been confirmed to be that of a Ryusei “Shooting Star” torpedo-dive bomber, used in kamikaze attacks, making it the only known part of the World War II aircraft to exist in Japan. ... (Read more)
Asahi Shimbun
Russia: Welcome to the magnificent real life Swan Lake in the heart of Siberia
There are only two places in Russia where Whooper Swans come for winter. Most of the swans fly much further south in search of a less harsh climate, but as the pictures show, February finds this stunning spot teeming with activity.
Its real name Svetloe Lake but to many locals it is known, not surprisingly, as Swan Lake. The nearby village is called Urozhainoe, which means ‘Prolific’.
The only other place in Russia where the swans come for winter is in the Anadyr district of Chukotka, which is the extreme east of Russia. …(Read more)
Siberian Times
*Image of swan lake via Shutterstock
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