HUMNEWS: Closing the Geographic Gap™ in Media - *Vanuatu

Top

FEATURED PHOTOS AND STORIES

January 13, 2020

Two new flags will be flying high at the Olympic Games in Rio.

For the first time, South Sudan and Kosovo have been recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Kosovo, which was a province of the former Yugoslavia, will have 8 athletes competing; and a good shot for a medal in women's judo: Majlinda Kelmendi is considered a favorite. She's ranked first in the world in her weight class.

(South Sudan's James Chiengjiek, Yiech Biel & coach Joe Domongole, © AFP) South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, will have three runners competing in the country's first Olympic Games.

When Will Chile's Post Office's Re-open?

(PHOTO: Workers set up camp at Santiago's Rio Mapocho/Mason Bryan, The Santiago Times)Chile nears 1 month without mail service as postal worker protests continue. This week local branches of the 5 unions representing Correos de Chile voted on whether to continue their strike into a 2nd month, rejecting the union's offer. For a week the workers have set up camp on the banks of Santiago's Río Mapocho displaying banners outlining their demands; framing the issue as a division of the rich & the poor. The strike’s main slogan? “Si tocan a uno, nos tocan a todos,” it reads - if it affects 1 of us, it affects all of us. (Read more at The Santiago Times)

WHO convenes emergency talks on MERS virus

(PHOTO: Saudi men walk to the King Fahad hospital in the city of Hofuf, east of the capital Riyadh on June 16, 2013/Fayez Nureldine)The World Health Organization announced Friday it had convened emergency talks on the enigmatic, deadly MERS virus, which is striking hardest in Saudi Arabia. The move comes amid concern about the potential impact of October's Islamic hajj pilgrimage, when millions of people from around the globe will head to & from Saudi Arabia. WHO health security chief Keiji Fukuda said the MERS meeting would take place Tuesday as a telephone conference & he told reporters it was a "proactive move". The meeting could decide whether to label MERS an international health emergency, he added. The first recorded MERS death was in June 2012 in Saudi Arabia & the number of infections has ticked up, with almost 20 per month in April, May & June taking it to 79. (Read more at Xinhua)

LINKS TO OTHER STORIES

Dreams and nightmares - Chinese leaders have come to realize the country should become a great paladin of the free market & democracy & embrace them strongly, just as the West is rejecting them because it's realizing they're backfiring. This is the "Chinese Dream" - working better than the American dream. Or is it just too fanciful? By Francesco Sisci

Baby step towards democracy in Myanmar - While the sweeping wins Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy has projected in Sunday's by-elections haven't been confirmed, it is certain that the surging grassroots support on display has put Myanmar's military-backed ruling party on notice. By Brian McCartan

The South: Busy at the polls - South Korea's parliamentary polls will indicate how potent a national backlash is against President Lee Myung-bak's conservatism, perceived cronyism & pro-conglomerate policies, while offering insight into December's presidential vote. Desire for change in the macho milieu of politics in Seoul can be seen in a proliferation of female candidates. By Aidan Foster-Carter

Pakistan climbs 'wind' league - Pakistan is turning to wind power to help ease its desperate shortage of energy,& the country could soon be among the world's top 20 producers. Workers & farmers, their land taken for the turbine towers, may be the last to benefit. By Zofeen Ebrahim

Turkey cuts Iran oil imports - Turkey is to slash its Iranian oil imports as it seeks exemptions from United States penalties linked to sanctions against Tehran. Less noticed, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Iranian capital last week, signed deals aimed at doubling trade between the two countries. By Robert M. Cutler

HUM HUMOR

COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES

WORLD CLOCKS

"THE GIRL EFFECT" - VIDEO

HUMMUSIC

HUM PHOTOS

SPOTLIGHT! ON THE MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

SOCIAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVES

HUM REPORTS

Advertisement

HUM SEARCH

@HUMNEWS ON TWITTER

MY HUMPLANET

THE HUM - OUR DAILY EMAIL OF WORLD HEADLINES

TRANSLATE HUMNEWS

Advertisement

HUM BOOKS: Focus on FRIENDSHIP

Friendship in an Age of Economics: Resisting the Forces of Neoliberalism

by Todd May
Friends to the End: The True Value of Friendship

by Bradley Trevor Greive
Friendship as a Way of Life: Foucault, AIDS, and the Politics of Shared Estrangement

by Tom Roach

THE HUM

HUM SOCIAL GOOD

HUMNEWS SOCIAL MEDIA

HUM TWITTER FEEDS

VANUATU

Capital | Port VilaFLAG DESCRIIPTION: two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and green with a black isosceles triangle (based on the hoist side) all separated by a black-edged yellow stripe in the shape of a horizontal Y (the two points of the Y face the hoist side and enclose the triangle); centered in the triangle is a boar's tusk encircling two crossed namele fern fronds, all in yellow; red represents the blood of boars and men, green the richness of the islands, and black the ni-Vanuatu people; the yellow Y-shape - which reflects the pattern of the islands in the Pacific Ocean - symbolizes the light of the Gospel spreading through the islands; the boar's tusk is a symbol of prosperity frequently worn as a pendant on the islands; the fern fronds represent peace

Population | 221,552 (July 2010 est.)

Area | 12,200 SQ KM

Official Language | Bislama, English, French

Holidays | Independence Day, 30 July (1980 – from France and the UK)

Currency | vatu (VUV)

Time Zone | UTC +11

Best Time to Visit | April to October (the southern winter)

Connecting with the Culture | Watching out for dugongs (sea cows) while snorkeling. Witnessing a very old extreme sport as the islanders on Pentecost land-dive to guarantee their yam harvest. Find the beach of your dreams only to find that there is an even better one on the next island (there are 83 islands in all). Joining in local volleyball games.

Read | Jeremy McClancy’s To Kill a Bird With Two Stones – an exceptional history of Vanuatu up to its independence in 1980.

Listen | to the tamtam or slit-drums – still crafted from traditional designs, they were once used to send coded messages between communities.

Eat | a banana as long as your arm, baked sweet in the oven and sliced like a steak on your plate.

Drink | aelan bia (island beer), otherwise known as kava

In a Word | Tank yu tumas (thank you very much in Bislama)

Characteristics | jungle; local dances; atmospheric drumming; wild boars; carvings and spears; aqua blue water; snorkeling and scuba diving; big bananas; wild cyclones.

Surprises | This laidback place is uptight about magic; the cuisine is well regarded throughout the Pacific

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. HUMNEWS: CLOSING THE GEOGRAPHIC GAP IN MEDIA. Human Media, 2017. All original material on HUMNEWS.COM is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. This means you are welcome to use, distribute and share our original material but we ask that you give us credit for it, don't try to make money off of it, or alter the originally-published work. Please note: Some images and video used on HUMNEWS.COM are sourced from other individuals and organizations. In this case, you will need permission to republish them from their creators, as they may have different copyright terms. HUMNEWS Website Header Photo Credit: NASA Visible Earth http://visibleearth.nasa.gov