Rio de Janeiro rarely needs an excuse for a party. A national holiday in Brazil on Wednesday to celebrate children coincided with the 80th birthday of the 130 ft statue which famously towers over the beautiful city. Rio’s Christ is now an octogenarian! Citizens and tourists alike climbed the 2,330ft Corcovado Mountain in the Tijuca Forest in their thousands to pay their respects to the venerable landmark which towers over their city and welcomes all with outstretched arms.
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Driving a car is still a crime in Saudi Arabia. This has been the subject of a civil disobedience campaign but one woman, Shaima Jastaina, has been sentenced to ten lashes for her crime of driving. A matter of days after King Abdullah announced that women would get the vote in the 2015 elections, he almost immediately personally intervened to overturn the punishment.
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The Dead Sea Scrolls have gone online. The 2,000 year old collection of Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic scriptures which are the world’s oldest known biblical documents, are now available to be searched and read online thanks to a partnership between Google and the Israel Museum. Simply scrolling over phrases brings up an instant English translation.
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The causes of the riots that swept through England last month have been the subject of much conjecture, bringing out some classic left / right viewpoints. Now the Pope has added his voice to the events – a somewhat unfashionable voice in British political circles no doubt, but one which does deserve to be heard. Pope Benedict XVI firmly laid the blame on a loss of awareness of what is right and wrong, and a lack of values.
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