Ban on Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz?
After making an undeniable impression on the world at the 2010 FIFA World Cup of soccer, the infamous vuvuzela could soon be banned in South Africa. The announcement came from a Premier Soccer League official after a recent game in the nation during which two vuvuzelas were launched on to the field. The official said that “Should vuvuzelas continue to be used as missiles they could be banned,” a comment which has some soccer fans in the nation threatening boycotts of Premier games. A cabbage was also thrown on the field in the same incident, and fans at games have reportedly been eating them in front of TV cameras to symbolize eating their opponents, but no potential ban on cabbage has been announced thus far.
NPR fires host after comment on Muslims
Ten-year National Public Radio commentator Juan Williams got fired last week for comments he made about Muslims while speaking on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. Williams, a well-reputed analyst and U.S. civil rights movement expert, was having a discussion about Muslims and 9/11 while on the program when he said “When I get on [a] plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.” NPR acted fairly quickly in ending his contract and releasing a statement that said Williams’ comments were inconsistent with their editorial standards and undermined his own credibility. Fox News has reportedly already offered Williams a multimillion dollar contract.
20-year-old student becomes Mexican police chief
After the police chief of Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero, an area of Mexico caught in a drug war between rival cartels, was gunned down in July 2009, that position remained vacant for over a year with nobody willing to risk their life in facing down the gangs. That all changed in unexpected fashion last week when Marisol Valles Garcia, a 20-year-old student and mother of one, was invited by the mayor to become the new chief and accepted. In the last three years 6,000 killings have occurred in the border city, which sits on a known trafficking route. Garcia only has a 19-person force, one patrol car and four weapons, but has said that she will attempt to institute community policing and build trust with citizens.
UK TV star apologizes for trying to buy baby
James Caan, entrepreneur and star of the UK version of Dragons’ Den, apologized this week after film was released showing him offering to purchase a baby girl from a family in a flood-affected town in Pakistan. Caan was in the region being filmed by a news network for a story on his charity work when he was handed a baby. Claiming he was overcome by emotion, Caan quickly offered 100,000 rupees, or just over $1,000, to buy the baby for his brother who lived nearby. The TV star, who at the time said he was “100 per cent serious,” has since come to his senses, saying in a radio interview on the BBC that he was not acting rationally and regretted his actions.
