The two sides of the Schiavo case

Thanks to the constant coverage of the Terri Schiavo case, all sides and all the legal nuances have been thoroughly explored. There's not much more to say except to remind ourselves the two irreconcilable positions taken by the family members... which somehow still get misrepresented in the heat of debate.

MARY SCHINDLER: My daughter is in the building behind me starving to death. We laugh together, we cry together, we smile together, we talk together. She is my life. Terri is not in the condition that they portray her... she's a happy, healthy - I mean, she's healthy. She's brain damaged, but she's healthy.

MICHAEL SCHIAVO: She doesn't feel pain. She doesn't feel hunger. (She) will drift off to a nice little sleep and eventually pass on to be with God. This is what Terri wanted. This is her wish.

What is your position on this case? Discuss in this thread.

BBC: The two sides of the Schiavo case

UN Predicts 9.1 Billion People on Earth by 2050

A new UN report predicts the world's population will soar to 9.1 billion people by the year 2050, with most of the increase occuring in the developing world.

The increase of 2.6 billion people is equivalent to adding a new India and China to our planet.

However, industrial countries like Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia are expected to see their populations decline.

Boston.com: UN Predicts 9.1 Billion People on Earth by 2050

CBC Report on GlobalTribe

CBC Radio will air a 10 minute documentary on GlobalTribe's North Shore chapter on Monday, March 21, 2005 between 9 and 930am (PT).

The story is on the North Shore chapter's 40-hour fast and will include interviews with its members.

If you want to listen to it live, click on this link at 9am (PT)...
http://www.cbc.ca/listen/streams/r1_vancouver_32.html

After the show, the story will be found on The Current's website...
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/media/200503/20050321thecurrent_sec3.ram

We hope you will tune in!!

'I'm beautiful and HIV-positive'

The African nation of Botswana held its third "Miss HIV Stigma Free" competition and crowned Cynthia Leshomo, 32, as the winner.

She will now spend the next year travelling across Africa to fight fear and prejudice against HIV/AIDS.

Botswana has one of the highest infection rates in the world but it is also the first country in Africa to provide free anti-retroviral drugs.

Video & Full Text: BBC NEWS | Africa | 'I'm beautiful and HIV-positive'

Protests Work

A new study suggests protests do work when trying to enact environmental legislation. It analyzes 406 pro-environmental bills passed by the U.S. Congress and found that protests are more effective than working within the system to effect change.

Research shows protests get action on the environment

Q&A: Sudan's Darfur conflict

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region has led to more than two million people fleeing their homes and at least 100,000 dead... with no end in sight.

The situation is more complicated than other current hotspots, which may be why you don't see as much coverage on what some are calling "genocide."

But don't be turned off by the details. They might muddy the picture but they can't obscure the fact that the international community has a real crisis at its doorstep.

Read this Q&A to get a basic understanding of what's going on.

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Q&A: Sudan's Darfur conflict

Bono's Three Wishes

U2's Bono recently spoke to attendees at the Technology Entertainment Design (TED) conference about "three wishes" that he has for the world.

Before getting to them, a little background: TED brings together some of the world's best thinkers and visionaries for a four day annual conference in Monterey, California. This year, the conference handed out its first TED Prize, which comes with $100,000 in cash. But even better, each recipient is granted three wishes and the people who attend TED will help them make those wishes come true.

Bono's three wishes?

1. Build a social movement of more than ONE MILLION American activists for Africa.
2. Tell people ONE BILLION times about The One Campaign, which asks for the U.S. to spend an additional one percent of the U.S. budget to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty.
3. Connect every hospital, health clinic, and school in Ethiopia to the internet.

If you'd like to help Bono fulfill his wishes, you can sign The One Declaration.

To learn more of what Bono said at the TED conference, read this attendee's detailed account.

Our generation is the first generation that can look poverty and disease in the eye and say, 'we do not have to stand for this.' This is the moment you were designed for, the ideas you thought about in your youth. Because of us, we can change not just the digital world, but the physical world... We're afraid to get too excited about making a change even if we realize we have the potential to, because once we acknowledge that we can, we MUST do something about it.

The other TED Prize winners? Canadian photo-artist Edward Burtynsky and medical technologies pioneer Robert Fischell.

Discuss this item.