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Category: World Touch
Climate Change

Warmest Year on Record

Despite the cold winter in the Northern hemisphere, the global temperature this year reached its warmest on record. This is based on a twelve-month-rolling average, according to Dr. James Hansen, the top American climate scientist who works at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In an article published on the NASA website in June 2010, Hansen and his three co-authors claim that the mean surface temperature in the year through April 2010 was 0.65 degrees Celsius warmer than the period between 1951 and 1980. NASA scientists came to this conclusion after reviewing data from 6,300 monitoring stations around the world. Hansen is adamant that this data demonstrates that climate change is taking place.

Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC
World Touch

The Plague of Human Trafficking

The fervor of millions of fans around the world, glued to their television screens as they followed the World Cup was matched by a concern that the event would propitiate an increase in human trafficking. Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, the Archbishop of Durban in South Africa, said that there were signs that organized crime rings were smuggling people to provide sexual services during the event.

Father John Flynn, L.C.
World Touch

Soccer was Invented by Paraguayan Indians

Amidst the enthusiasm over the World Cup Soccer tournament, L’Osservatore Romano published an article this week arguing that the Guarani Indians of Paraguay were the inventors of the game.

www.catholicnews.com
World Touch

The Dark Side of Modern Sport

The 2010 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup got underway in South Africa in June. This is the 19th time since the tournament has been held. It is the premier soccer tournament and it is safe to say that it now rivals the Summer Olympics in terms of the number of people who watch the games. Tens of millions of people watched individual games.

Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC

Asia Most at Risk from Natural Disasters

Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan top a new ranking of countries at “extreme risk” of experiencing natural disasters compiled by a global risk assessment company. The Natural Disaster Risk Index (NDRI), released by Maplecroft, ranks 229 countries according to the human impact of natural disasters in terms of deaths per annum and per million of population, plus the frequency of events as well as the likelihood of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, storms, flooding, droughts, landslides, extreme temperatures and epidemics. Asia accounts for most of the disaster-related deaths since 1980. Ranking countries most vulnerable to natural disasters over the past 30 years could enable businesses and investors to identify risks to international assets while supporting humanitarian efforts to push governments into investing in disaster risk reduction initiatives.

Irin News
World Touch

The Authority to Evangelize Comes from the Holy Spirit

Since humanity is suffering from a lack of reflection and deep thought, evangelization has become an even more immense mission, underlined Benedict XVI. The Pope made this assertion when he received participants in the ordinary assembly of the Supreme Committee of the Pontifical Missionary Societies.

www.zenit.org
World Touch

“Greening” Fisheries Could Calm Troubled Waters

Fishing is a critical means of providing food, livelihood, trade, and economic growth in many developing countries – as well as in the United States. In many small island developing nations and coastal countries – such as Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, and Ghana – fish provide at least 50% of the population’s total animal protein intake. And approximately 43.5 million people’s year-round income depends on fish production while the income of another 4 million depends on seasonal jobs as fishers and fish product workers.

Stephanie Pappa
World Touch

Child Labor Shows Disturbing Trends

Though there is a declining number of children being forced to work, the trend over the last decade shows the rate of that decline is getting slow. According to the latest report from the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are still today more than 215 million children working, often in agriculture. More than half of them – 115 million – are employed in activities that the ILO describes as dangerous, although not reaching forms of slavery, per se.

www.zenit.org
World Touch

Ricci Brought the Gospel to China

Fr. Matteo Ricci was primarily a missionary who went to China to bring the Gospel.” And in doing so, he formed an important “dialogue between cultures, between China and the West.” This is what Benedict XVI said at the Paul VI Hall packed with thousands of pilgrims from Macerata, birthplace of Matteo Ricci, and Marche, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the death of the great Jesuit missionary. Welcoming the bishops and the faithful, the Pope also greeted the Chinese with a resounding “Nimen hao?” (How are you?)

www.asianews.it
World Touch

Losses of $200-400 Billion a Year in Capital Flight

The African continent loses between US$200 billion and US$400 billion annually in capital flight by firms (mainly foreign). This fact has emerged from the 20th World Economic Forum on Africa, held in the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam.

www.fides.org
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