Dubai: Two boys show no act of kindness is too small for typhoon victims
Dubai: For nine-year-old Esmail Al Ashqar, giving away his savings this month to children victims of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines was more important than buying candies or toys.
Esmail and his brother Ebrahim, 7, gave away their savings worth Dh117.50 [$31.99] from their coin bank to the benefit brunch held at the Philippine Consulate-General in Al Ghusais on Friday. The brothers, born to a Filipino mother and Jordanian father, are among the 1,500 Filipinos and non-Filipinos who trooped to the consulate to donate their time, money, goods, and effort. …
Gulf News
India, Pakistan: Google’s India-Pak reunion ad strikes emotional chord
NEW DELHI: Google has long been the default search engine for Indians, and with the company’s Android operating system, its reach has only grown. The Indian arm of the internet giant has released a new commercial on YouTube highlighting how it brings people closer.
The advertisement, which has gone viral within hours of hitting the web, shows an Indian man called Mr. Mehra reminiscing about his time with his friend Yusuf before the partition in 1947 separated them. …
Times of India
Google’s ad had nearly 3 million views as of Saturday morning
Spain: ‘Noisy’ pianist faces seven years in prison
A professional pianist from Spain is facing seven and a half years behind bars after a neighbour complained her constant practising had caused her psychological damage.
Pianist Laia M. is also facing a four-year ban from playing any kind of musical instrument and could be slapped with a fine of €10,800 ($13,400) as well.
The potential punishment comes at the end of a ten-year feud over the musician’s exacting practice regime …
Laia’s neighbour Sonia M. says the young musician played for eight hours a day, five days a week from 2003 to 2007. This disrupted her sleeping patterns and led to serious anxiety issues. …
The Local
Italy: Six Italian cities vie for European Capital of Culture slot
Rome, November 15 – Six Italian cities were selected to vie for the honor of 2019 European Capital of Culture on Friday. Cagliari, Lecce, Matera, Perugia-Assisi, Ravenna and Siena were chosen by a jury who was selected by the European Commission. The jury will reconvene in the last quarter of 2014 to choose one of the six to represent Italy, one of four countries selected to showcase a European Capital of Culture in 2019. …
ANSA
Australia: ‘Price of the dream that will never come true’
Undercover journalists publish firsthand account of asylum seeker journey to Australia
An undercover journalist has detailed how he and a photographer posed as asylum seekers and took an epic journey from Afghanistan’s shady currency markets to Jakarta and on to a flimsy, open-decked wooden boat that delivered 57 desperate people to Christmas Island. …
Sydney Morning Herald
Central America: What is killing hundreds of Central American sea turtles?
Hundreds of dead sea turtles have appeared in Central America’s Pacific this year and, for the most part, no one knows why.
The Environment and Natural Resources Ministry (MARN) in El Salvador registered 114 dead sea turtles from September to October, while Guatemala’ s National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) recorded 115 mysterious deaths for the year. Nicaraguan nongovernmental organization Paso Pacífico confirmed the deaths of at least 40 in the country’s southern Pacific and have heard unconfirmed reports of dozens more.
Among the dead species are the critically endangered leatherbacks and Eastern Pacific green sea turtles. Costa Rican turtle experts confirmed that deaths of this magnitude could severely affect the population.
Though theories abound, scientific evidence is insufficient for experts to determine the causes with certainty. …
Tico Times
Bangladesh: 20 Landless Families in Teesta Basin: Floating vegetable gardens change their fortune
Twenty landless families in the Teesta River basin area have changed livelihood by farming vegetables on floating gardens at Belka in Sundarganj upazila under the district.
Such landless people usually serving as farm labourers often became jobless, especially in the rainy season.
Two years ago, donor agency Practical Action (Bangladesh) took an initiative to rehabilitate the landless peasants by providing them technical support to raise floating vegetable gardens in water bodies.
They put on water a thick layer of water hyacinth, fixing it with the help of bamboo enclosure. After covering the platform with a layer of soil, they sowed seeds of vegetables there.
Tributaries and canals of the Teesta River are being used for making such floating gardens, each measuring 10 feet by 6 feet and the process requires some physical labour and only a little cost.
“I spent Tk 2,000 for cultivating vegetable on floating garden and earned Tk 6,000 from selling the produce,” said Rasheda Begum, now residing on Teesta flood control embankment at Belka. …
The Daily Star
*Image of Siena, Italy via Shutterstock
