How’s this for sporadic? Its been three months since i last published Around the World. Well, i never claimed that it would be consistent. I’ve given up on my failed wittiness, so these won’t go in any particular order.

In the US, single mothers (the majority of welfare recipients) are once again about to receive another smack in the face with the ongoing “welfare reform”. The new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) regulations will limit their time for education, time with children, or even domestic-violence counseling. Research with female non-humyn animals is showing an increase in spontaneous abortions, smaller ovaries, and the poisoning of young through breast milk. All of which is linked to the cocktail of chemicals that is now found in virtually every component of our world. Researches state that there is no reason to believe that the toxins won’t continue to move up the food chain and greatly impact the reproductive capabilities of wimmin. Meanwhile, corporations rarely even receive so much as a slap on the wrist when they leave behind 50-foot high toxic gob piles that leak into the water systems. And in move that i’m sure will make us all feel a little safer, the USDA filled its Organics Board with the likes of Campbell’s and General Mills (both of which use genetically-modified organisms).

Jumping over to England for a moment, in news on the other end of the reproductivity scale, Flora the Komodo dragon just became the first recorded virgin mother dragon. Yeah, that’s right. She is carrying seven baby dragons without the help of any father. In fact, being born and raised in captivity, she has never even had contact with a male dragon. Just goes to show that its not Apocalypto but Eragon this is the true tale of Armageddon.

Navajo Nation members and Burnham, New Mexico residents erected barricades across access roads to a new power plant construction site after they discovered that construction had begun on Navajo land without their knowledge or consent.

Many of the family members of the more than 1,000 undocumented migrant workers who were arrested in a sweep at the Swift and Co meat processing plants in several cities (a sweep which was provoked by the workers complaining about not receiving the money they were promised) are still trying to figure out where their family members where taken. Imagine the nightmare of trying to find your mother, father, sibling, etc but knowing that the search could also result in your own disappearance and deportation. In other immigrant worker news, a company that was hired to help build the new Berlin Wall, i mean the US-Mexico border wall, has been fined $5 million for hiring undocumented workers. When will we realize the ridiculousness of this war on immigrants. Also along the border, corruption among US military personnel seems to be on the rise as more border soldiers are being convicted of abetting the drug trade. Surprise!

I’m not the biggest Beatles fan and i don’t really care about John Lennon’s dining habits, but the excuse that the FBI gave for not releasing their surveillance files on Lennon are enough to draw my curiousity when it was announced that they are finally releasing the last of those files. FYI, the FBI withheld the records from a historian’s FOIA request because releasing them could cause “military retaliation against the United States.” I don’t know about you, but i ain’t trustin’ them brits. The fact is, however, that its not military retaliation they feared, but being laughed into non-existence. However, their surveillance is insightful considering the new age of government surveillance on US citizens.

Yet another study, this one from the UN, shows that the Standard American Diet adds significantly to pollution, water scarcity, land degradation and climate change. Again, surprise!

In Eritrea, government officials unsure about how to stop the growing number of military deserters have begun arresting the relatives of the AWOL. Over 500 relatives, mostly parents, have been arrested. Even though they have not been charged with any crime, they have been told that they can either pay 50,000 NAFTA (about US$1,200) or be forced to serve six months in military service.

In Denmark, supporters and occupants of the 14-year-old Youth House squat marched through the streets to stop their eviction. The march turned violent when police tried to halt the demonstration. The Youth House was given permission to stay by the City Council but in 2000 they were ordered to evict after the city decided to sell the building to a Christian organization. As you may have guessed, they haven’t had much luck with the eviction.

I’m sure you’ve heard that one of the devil’s spawns and former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet finally died. And of course, Chileans took to the streets in celebration (which the cops didn’t like).

Germany seems bent on proving that its industrialist connotation is quickly aging. Using a former military base, 2,000 new homes have been built in a new sustainable urban community. The community houses 4,700 people and provides residents with incentives (such as free tramway passes) and deterrents (like $23,000 parking spaces) to live car-free. Another nice feature is that many of the houses produce more energy than they use. The community, called Vaubaun, is only a 10-minute bike ride from downtown Freiburg, a city of 216,000 people.

I feel like i’m missing a piece of the story, but apparently the Burmese military has been planting landmines in civilian areas to deter farmers from harvesting crops. Apparently the soldiers also force civilians to serve as humyn minesweeps, making the civilians walk before the military forces.

Toronto, Canada marks a sad day as they commemorate the 500th death related to a lack of housing.

Abductions of movement leaders continues in Oaxaca, Mexico. Three more men were kidnapped, beaten, tortured and then dumped behind a store.

Scientists in Spain have found that bears have just stopped hibernating. That’s climate change: 946, sandal wearing hippies: 0.

In a widening class divide, the world’s wealthiest two percent now own fifty percent of the world’s wealth. The report shows that free trade is playing a big role in the broadening divide.

More than 89,000 activists in 70 countries have joined together to demand that Starbucks recognize the rights of its Ethiopian coffee farmers.

That’s it for this issue. I’ll try not to go so long before publishing the next one.