Watching the World
UN Secretary’s Lament
● “I believe we are at present embarked on an exceedingly dangerous course,” said Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, secretary-general of the United Nations, in his first annual report to the General Assembly. His first year as secretary-general was marked by “an alarming succession of international crises,” which included the wars in Lebanon, the Falklands, Iran and Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and the inability of the UN to stop any of them. He pointed out that the UN is “powerless to generate the support and influence to insure that its decisions are respected, even when they are unanimous.” What is happening, according to the secretary-general, is that “debate without effective action erodes the credibility of the organization,” and the result is that “we are perilously near to a new international anarchy.”
No More Neutral Ground
● “During the Second World War it was possible for a country to be neutral simply by not aggravating its neighbours,” said Georgy Arbatov, an adviser to the late Soviet President Brezhnev, in a speech in Stockholm, Sweden. “This type of policy would not be possible in case of a nuclear war, which would probably destroy Europe entirely,” he asserted. He cautioned his audience: “It is not possible for Sweden to be neutral in a nuclear weapons era.” If that is true of Sweden, it is just as true of other countries. No wonder, as the Bible foretold, there is “on the earth anguish of nations, not knowing the way out.”—Luke 21:25.
Bishop’s War Crimes
● Valerian Trifa, archbishop and leader of the 35,000-member Rumanian Orthodox Church in the U.S., was accused of pro-Nazi war crimes during World War II. Government agents claimed they have evidence to prove that Trifa incited a riot in Bucharest in 1941, resulting in the death of 236 Christians and Jews. Then, fleeing Rumania, Trifa sought and obtained Nazi protection. He was also charged with being a member of the Iron Guard, a “violent, Fascist and anti-Semitic” organization. In 1950 Trifa entered the U.S. by concealing his pro-Nazi activities from immigration officials. In bargaining with the authorities, Trifa agreed to be deported in exchange for the government’s dropping its charges of anti-Semitic activities.
Video Games Banned
● Malaysia has followed Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines in banning importation of all arcade and pocket video games. Existing video parlors will have their licenses terminated once a grace period is up. Earlier, the Consumers Association of Penang reported to the government that “these games glorify violence, destruction, space war, killing and racing.” A researcher with the Association said that “video games are destroying our traditional games and children are no longer interested in, say, flying kites or top-spinning.” The ban came as a result of strong pressures from parents and education officials.
Condensed Bible
● Having tried its hands at condensing best-sellers and famous books for some 32 years, Reader’s Digest has finally turned to the most popular book of all, the Holy Bible. It took seven years of work to bring the 800,000-word Revised Standard Version down to 480,000 words on 767 pages. The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) were reduced by half, and about a quarter of the Greek Scriptures (New Testament) was cut. Besides eliminating entire sections, such as 68 of the 150 Psalms, 10 percent of Jesus’ words and many of the parallel accounts in the Gospels, which provided important details, were also deleted. The resulting text is set in the format of a novel, with no chapter and verse numbers or divided columns. “Now you can read the Bible cover to cover,” claims Reader’s Digest. But, is it bothered by the Bible’s own injunction against anyone’s tampering with God’s Word? Apparently not, for the verses at Deuteronomy 12:32 and Revelation 22:18, 19 were also cut.
Lure of Occultism
● Interest in the occult is reported to be on the rise in the German-speaking countries of Europe. “Already more people are attending séances on Sunday than are going to church services,” says a Swiss Protestant newsletter. The German newspaper Fellbacher Zeitung also reports that 51 percent of 2,000 people polled by a Hamburg institute say they are interested in their horoscope and read the newspaper and magazine columns regularly. Others say they consult astrologers regarding their future. And, according to a Swiss church official, “even masses for the Devil” are celebrated in two “Churches of Satan” in Munich and Düsseldorf, Germany.
“Pause Law” Cuts Weddings
● Yugoslavia’s province of Voivodina put a law through some years ago to prevent a high divorce rate. It was designed “to cool off momentary passions” and to enable couples to “reconsider their decisions.” The law requires couples intending to marry to wait one month before the wedding can take place. The effect? Officials in the northern town of Subotica report that every other couple changed their mind.
Needleless Acupuncture
● A German-trained physician, who is also the director of the Pain Control Center in New Bedford, Massachusetts, has combined the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture with the latest technological innovation, the laser. By beaming the traditional acupuncture points of the body with pulses of the laser, he claims 80- to 85-percent success rate in relieving pain due to arthritis, migraine headache and other ailments. The doctor, a licensed acupuncturist, says the laser is “safer and much easier to use than needles,” minimizes damages to blood vessels and nerves, leaves no bruises or scars and is completely painless.
Free Mink
● Hundreds of mink were freed from captivity in two counties in Great Britain by members of the Animal Liberation Front. According to the Daily Telegraph of England, after donning masks, the group raided two mink-breeding farms in Essex, England, and Perthshire, Scotland, and pledged more liberation raids for these soft-furred creatures. The Animal Liberation Front feel that fur-breeding centers are guilty of cruelty to animals. A spokesman says: “Millions of animals are imprisoned, tortured and killed in order to satisfy the whims of human vanity. Up to 90 mink have to die to make one mink coat.”
‘Virgin Saint’ Pregnant
● The 2,000 folks of Nueva Jerusalem, a town 140 miles (225 km) west of Mexico City, burst into an uproar when it was made known that the town’s ‘virgin saint’ became pregnant. According to Florida’s The Orlando Sentinel, 16-year-old Maria de Jesus, known as the hermit of Nueva Jerusalem, was venerated as a ‘virgin saint’ by the local priest for supposedly having had a vision of the Virgin of the Rosary, the town’s patron “saint.” When she was charged with the sin of fornication resulting in her pregnancy, the local folks rose in riot. State police had to be called in to quell the disturbance in which at least 10 people were seriously injured.
Nature’s Air Filter
● Scientists are learning that, in addition to removing carbon dioxide from the air and replenishing it with oxygen, trees are capable of clearing the air of other pollutants. Each leaf is equipped with hundreds of thousands of hairs and pores, which act as antipollution devices. Gases are absorbed through the pores. Soot and other particles in the air are trapped by the hairs to be washed away by the next rainstorm. Larger trees, like beech or elm, can remove over 20 tons of pollutants per acre per year. And they are far more pleasing to the eye than smokestacks. Environmentalists feel that a combination of ‘green belts’ and parks and industrial devices would be the most effective way to control urban air quality.
Missed the “Beep”
● In spite of its sophisticated equipment, the Royal Swedish Navy was frustrated in its hunt for a “spy” submarine that had been spotted in Horsfjärden Bay, Sweden’s most important military base. What went wrong? “The hearing of many of our young men has been damaged by loud disco music,” said Commander Sven Carlsson, chief naval spokesman. He explained that because of impaired hearing, those manning the sonars were probably unable to hear the beeps of the devices correctly. In fact, the commander admitted that it is increasingly difficult to find young recruits with keen enough hearing to operate the sonars.
Speedy Way to Age Wine?
● Chinese technicians are said to be able to transform new wine into a vintage of several years within a few minutes’ time. According to the English-language daily newspaper China Daily, the process was perfected in a Qiqihar radio factory in the northeastern province of Heilungkiang. It involves the use of high-frequency radio waves, ultrasound and ultraviolet rays. In 10 minutes these are said to impart to new wine the same bouquet it would have after a year’s aging. Twenty companies are reported to be using this method.
Weekend Crime Spree
● Five Brooklyn youths, ranging from age 18 to 22, were arrested for an unbelievable total of 822 counts of crime committed over two weekends on Long Island, New York. Armed with shotguns and pistols, they raided two restaurants and a home—where a party was in progress—robbed, raped, sodomized, assaulted and terrorized over 100 victims. Prison terms for all the counts would amount to 4,000 years, according to the prosecutor, but state limit on prison terms for such crimes would reduce it to no more than 30 years each, and the criminals could be paroled in 15 years. When first brought to court, “they were laughing and kidding around then and thought it was a big joke,” said the prosecutor.
Ocean’s Food Chain Expanded
● A new link in the ocean’s food chain, a small organism called picoplankton, was discovered by an Indian marine biologist in Nova Scotia, Canada. Less than a thousandth of a millimeter (0.00004 in.) in size, and only one fifth the size of the smallest known ocean organism, picoplanktons are so numerous that their discovery virtually doubles the total biomass in the ocean, according to the biologist. In the tropics, one liter (1.06 qt) of seawater may contain 2,200 million of them, but because they are so small they have escaped detection thus far. “The discovery of such a huge biomass—which will serve as food for the fishes—has revised several times upwards the biological productivity and hence the fish potential in the oceans,” says The Hindu of India, which reported on the discovery.