L.J
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Time Magazine have printed their top 10 lists of everything for 2008
here's some of the lists
Top 10 Under-reported News Stories
1. The Pentagon's latest nuclear snafu
Those helicopter batteries the Pentagon thought it had shipped to Taiwan back in 2006? In March, seven months after the Air Force lost track of six nuclear warheads that were inadvertently flown over the U.S., the Defense Department was informed that the batteries it meant to deliver to Taiwan had actually been fuses used to trigger nuclear warheads. Whoops. Though the shipments contained no nuclear material, this was still a potentially explosive mistake since China considers Taiwan part of its territory, making U.S. arms sales to Taiwan among the most sensitive points in U.S.-China relations. Amazingly, the fuses' absence managed to escape notice in at least six and possibly up to eight quarterly inventory checks. The U.S. only learned about the mix-up when the Taiwanese found themselves a few helicopter batteries short, dusted off the 2006 shipment and told the Pentagon what was inside.
2. Civil war displaces a million Congolese
Despite the January peace agreement between rebel and government forces, fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has grown steadily worse this year, and in August the cease-fire officially crumbled. By late October, about a million people had been forced to flee their homes. Roughly a quarter of them have ended up in refugee camps, where the threat of disease may be almost as dangerous as the violence they were trying to escape. Health authorities fear crowding and a shortage of safe drinking water could cause a cholera epidemic. Already, since the beginning of October, a thousand people have contracted the life-threatening disease, adding urgency to the ceasefire talks scheduled to begin in December.
3. Sri Lankan conflict deadlier this year than Afghanistan
In January the Sri Lankan government pulled out of its shaky 2002 cease-fire agreement with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in an official nod to the fact that the country is once again engaged in civil war. Deadlier this year than the fighting in Afghanistan, the combat has raged largely under the radar because the government has banned from the war zone foreign journalists as well as most aid groups, which is bad news for the 300,000 Sri Lankans who have been forced out of their homes.
4. A victory for mental-health advocates
Buried in October's financial bailout package was a landmark provision, 12 years in the making, that for the first time requires insurance companies to provide equal coverage for mental and physical health. Bipartisan advocates say the new law could improve care — and reduce stigma — for the 80 million Americans suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. Many insurers largely favor the requirement, in part because research suggests a strong link between conditions such as untreated depression and physical ailments.
5. Genetically modified meat: coming to a grocer near you
In September the FDA released draft guidelines on how to regulate genetically engineered animals for food-production purposes. But critics say the new guidance is weighted too heavily in favor of food companies' bottom lines, without giving adequate consideration to the effect herds of so-called Frankenstein animals — such as fast-growing salmon, pigs chock full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and goats with protein-laden milk — could have on unmodified species or the ecosystems they inhabit. Another big area of concern is that the guidelines don't call for labeling meat and milk products derived from genetically modified animals. In October, a Consumer Reports survey of more than 1,000 people nationwide found that some 95% of respondents agreed food products made from genetically engineered animals should be labeled as such.
6. Southern Baptists decide against pedophilia database
Facing calls to curb child sex abuse within its churches, in June the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest U.S. religious body after the Catholic Church — urged local hiring committees to conduct federal background checks but rejected a proposal to create a central database of staff and clergy who have been either convicted of or indicted on charges of molesting minors. The SBC decided against such a database in part because its principle of local autonomy means it cannot compel individual churches to report any information. And while the headlines regarding churches and pedophilia remain largely focused on Catholic parishes, the lack of hierarchical structure and systematized record-keeping in most Protestant churches makes it harder not only for church leaders to impose standards, but for interested parties to track allegations of abuse.
7. More Mexican immigrants move home
Amid all the talk this election season about tightening security along the U.S.-Mexico border, legions of Mexican immigrants have been exiting the U.S. because of the economic crisis. For instance, municipal officials in Mexico City predict that 20,000 to 30,000 of the city's former residents will move back this Christmas alone. That may be due in part to rising unemployment among Mexican immigrants, which, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, is now higher than the jobless rate for the general workforce in the U.S. Mexicans also sent home 12% less cash in August than they did in the same month last year, the biggest decline in over a decade. All of which is bad news for Mexico, since remittances are its second-largest source of foreign income after oil exports.
8. Gap in genetic nondiscrimination law
Passed in August, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act forbids U.S. health insurers and employers from discriminating against people on the basis of DNA tests. Advocates say it should assuage fears about discrimination that in the past may have kept some people from getting medically indicated genetic tests. However, life insurance companies will still be allowed to consider genetic data when setting individual premiums — just as these insurers can factor in such details as a person's age, weight or smoking habits. Critics of the new law also note that it does not cover long-term care insurance, even though people at high risk for genetic diseases such as Alzheimer's, one study suggests, may be more likely to seek such insurance in the first place.
9. U.S ships sand from Kuwait to Idaho
In May, an unusual shipment made its way from Kuwait to Idaho: 6,700 tons of radioactive sand. The cargo, contaminated by traces of depleted uranium from military vehicles and munitions that caught on fire during the first Gulf War, was extracted from a U.S. army base and dumped at a hazardous waste disposal site 70 miles southeast of Boise. And this isn't the first shipment, either: in years past, the dump operator, American Ecology Corp., has ferried hazardous materials from U.S. military bases overseas to sites in Idaho, Nevada, and Texas. "As you can imagine," a company spokesman explained to the Associated Press, apparently without irony, "the host countries of those bases don't want the waste in their country."
10. Venezuela's potty-mouth President
In an expletive-laden speech in September, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez — irate over U.S. officials' charges that cocaine trafficking through his country has surged in recent years — accused Washington of backing an alleged plot to overthrow him and ordered the U.S. ambassador to leave the country. "Go to hell a hundred times, f***ing Yankees," he said at a rally, according to a translation by the London Guardian. In a considerably less colorful riposte, the State Department promptly declared the Venezuelan ambassador "persona non grata." And the tiff, combined with Chavez's threats to cut off oil shipments to the U.S., brought diplomatic relations between the countries to a new low. Chávez has indicated the situation could improve under an Obama administration, which means the President-elect has some tricky diplomacy to look forward to.
and more ---> http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10?iid=redirect-toptens
here's some of the lists
Top 10 Under-reported News Stories
1. The Pentagon's latest nuclear snafu
Those helicopter batteries the Pentagon thought it had shipped to Taiwan back in 2006? In March, seven months after the Air Force lost track of six nuclear warheads that were inadvertently flown over the U.S., the Defense Department was informed that the batteries it meant to deliver to Taiwan had actually been fuses used to trigger nuclear warheads. Whoops. Though the shipments contained no nuclear material, this was still a potentially explosive mistake since China considers Taiwan part of its territory, making U.S. arms sales to Taiwan among the most sensitive points in U.S.-China relations. Amazingly, the fuses' absence managed to escape notice in at least six and possibly up to eight quarterly inventory checks. The U.S. only learned about the mix-up when the Taiwanese found themselves a few helicopter batteries short, dusted off the 2006 shipment and told the Pentagon what was inside.
2. Civil war displaces a million Congolese
Despite the January peace agreement between rebel and government forces, fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has grown steadily worse this year, and in August the cease-fire officially crumbled. By late October, about a million people had been forced to flee their homes. Roughly a quarter of them have ended up in refugee camps, where the threat of disease may be almost as dangerous as the violence they were trying to escape. Health authorities fear crowding and a shortage of safe drinking water could cause a cholera epidemic. Already, since the beginning of October, a thousand people have contracted the life-threatening disease, adding urgency to the ceasefire talks scheduled to begin in December.
3. Sri Lankan conflict deadlier this year than Afghanistan
In January the Sri Lankan government pulled out of its shaky 2002 cease-fire agreement with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in an official nod to the fact that the country is once again engaged in civil war. Deadlier this year than the fighting in Afghanistan, the combat has raged largely under the radar because the government has banned from the war zone foreign journalists as well as most aid groups, which is bad news for the 300,000 Sri Lankans who have been forced out of their homes.
4. A victory for mental-health advocates
Buried in October's financial bailout package was a landmark provision, 12 years in the making, that for the first time requires insurance companies to provide equal coverage for mental and physical health. Bipartisan advocates say the new law could improve care — and reduce stigma — for the 80 million Americans suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. Many insurers largely favor the requirement, in part because research suggests a strong link between conditions such as untreated depression and physical ailments.
5. Genetically modified meat: coming to a grocer near you
In September the FDA released draft guidelines on how to regulate genetically engineered animals for food-production purposes. But critics say the new guidance is weighted too heavily in favor of food companies' bottom lines, without giving adequate consideration to the effect herds of so-called Frankenstein animals — such as fast-growing salmon, pigs chock full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and goats with protein-laden milk — could have on unmodified species or the ecosystems they inhabit. Another big area of concern is that the guidelines don't call for labeling meat and milk products derived from genetically modified animals. In October, a Consumer Reports survey of more than 1,000 people nationwide found that some 95% of respondents agreed food products made from genetically engineered animals should be labeled as such.
6. Southern Baptists decide against pedophilia database
Facing calls to curb child sex abuse within its churches, in June the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest U.S. religious body after the Catholic Church — urged local hiring committees to conduct federal background checks but rejected a proposal to create a central database of staff and clergy who have been either convicted of or indicted on charges of molesting minors. The SBC decided against such a database in part because its principle of local autonomy means it cannot compel individual churches to report any information. And while the headlines regarding churches and pedophilia remain largely focused on Catholic parishes, the lack of hierarchical structure and systematized record-keeping in most Protestant churches makes it harder not only for church leaders to impose standards, but for interested parties to track allegations of abuse.
7. More Mexican immigrants move home
Amid all the talk this election season about tightening security along the U.S.-Mexico border, legions of Mexican immigrants have been exiting the U.S. because of the economic crisis. For instance, municipal officials in Mexico City predict that 20,000 to 30,000 of the city's former residents will move back this Christmas alone. That may be due in part to rising unemployment among Mexican immigrants, which, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, is now higher than the jobless rate for the general workforce in the U.S. Mexicans also sent home 12% less cash in August than they did in the same month last year, the biggest decline in over a decade. All of which is bad news for Mexico, since remittances are its second-largest source of foreign income after oil exports.
8. Gap in genetic nondiscrimination law
Passed in August, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act forbids U.S. health insurers and employers from discriminating against people on the basis of DNA tests. Advocates say it should assuage fears about discrimination that in the past may have kept some people from getting medically indicated genetic tests. However, life insurance companies will still be allowed to consider genetic data when setting individual premiums — just as these insurers can factor in such details as a person's age, weight or smoking habits. Critics of the new law also note that it does not cover long-term care insurance, even though people at high risk for genetic diseases such as Alzheimer's, one study suggests, may be more likely to seek such insurance in the first place.
9. U.S ships sand from Kuwait to Idaho
In May, an unusual shipment made its way from Kuwait to Idaho: 6,700 tons of radioactive sand. The cargo, contaminated by traces of depleted uranium from military vehicles and munitions that caught on fire during the first Gulf War, was extracted from a U.S. army base and dumped at a hazardous waste disposal site 70 miles southeast of Boise. And this isn't the first shipment, either: in years past, the dump operator, American Ecology Corp., has ferried hazardous materials from U.S. military bases overseas to sites in Idaho, Nevada, and Texas. "As you can imagine," a company spokesman explained to the Associated Press, apparently without irony, "the host countries of those bases don't want the waste in their country."
10. Venezuela's potty-mouth President
In an expletive-laden speech in September, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez — irate over U.S. officials' charges that cocaine trafficking through his country has surged in recent years — accused Washington of backing an alleged plot to overthrow him and ordered the U.S. ambassador to leave the country. "Go to hell a hundred times, f***ing Yankees," he said at a rally, according to a translation by the London Guardian. In a considerably less colorful riposte, the State Department promptly declared the Venezuelan ambassador "persona non grata." And the tiff, combined with Chavez's threats to cut off oil shipments to the U.S., brought diplomatic relations between the countries to a new low. Chávez has indicated the situation could improve under an Obama administration, which means the President-elect has some tricky diplomacy to look forward to.
and more ---> http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10?iid=redirect-toptens
