Fidel Castro who took control of Cuba in 1959 rebuffed repeated US attempts to oust him and survived
Posted in General on 01. Sep, 2010
Fidel Castro, who took control of Cuba in 1959, rebuffed repeated US attempts to oust him and survived communism’s demise almost everywhere else, temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul last night because of surgery. Castro, less than two weeks away from his 80th birthday, did not appear on the live television broadcast in which his secretary read a letter from the Cuban leader. Burundi, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo were the world’s least happy places.The report did, however, contain some surprises. The tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan, ruled by an autocratic monarch, came eighth, while nations such as Japan and France languished at 90th and 62nd respectively.Benjamin Holst, a Danish journalist, said that Denmark’s high suicide rate – the second worst in Europe – and a recent rise in xenophobia should make people question just how content Danes were.”I’m not sure about these studies and I really wonder about the suicide rates in Denmark,” he said. “The current obsession in the West about how unhappy we are really needs a reality check,” he said. “I think one of the most destructive myths is that people in intense poverty are actually happy. Britain came 41st, 18 places behind the United States.
The study, conducted by the University of Leicester, compiled data from 178 countries and 100 global studies to map happiness across the world and found that countries with good access to healthcare and education came out on top.The report’s author, Adrian White, said the results showed that people in the West should realise how lucky they were.
Because if you believe that, why should you do anything?”Most of Africa and the former Soviet republics scored worst. He continues to reject calls for an international inquiry into the Andijan uprising.. For those who think a tropical island paradise or a Beverly Hills mansion is the ultimate key to contentment, think again; the happiest place in the world is, according to sociologists, far closer to home. In a new study aimed at charting each country’s levels of happiness, Denmark has scored top marks, followed closely by Switzerland, Austria and Iceland. The victims fell like mulberries, the children’s bloodied bodies were like tulips.”Mr Khasanov, who began his artistic career in the 1960s, was often at odds with Soviet authorities and was briefly arrested in 1976. In the early 1990s, he became one of the founders of opposition Birlik party, which has been banned by Mr Karimov’s government.Mr Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist since 1989, wiping out dissent and eliminating opposition.
One radio station, US-funded Radio Liberty, played the track every time it reported on the incident in Andijan.While the Uzbek government insists that fewer than 200 died in Andijan, Human Rights Watch says “bullets were falling like rain” and that hundreds of demonstrators were gunned down.The lyrics of “Andijan” read: “Don’t say you haven’t seen how Andijan was drowned in blood … Until that happy event, the sad boats will continue to roll up on the rich, happy beaches.. A dissident musician who recorded a pop song about the government of Uzbekistan’s failure to recognise the severity of the Andijan massacre has gone on trial for slander in the central Asian republic. Dadakhon Khasanov, who composed “Andijan” in the aftermath of the uprising which was brutally put down by Uzbek authorities, is accused of insulting President Islam Karimov, and of infringing upon the national constitution.
The trial opened at the city court in Tashkent yesterday morning, but was adjourned within minutes when defence lawyer Surat Ikramov demanded that the song’s lyrics be examined by linguists.”They want to keep my tongue tied, so I don’t write songs against this dictatorship,” Mr Khasanov said.The 66-year-old singer, who has been under house arrest since April, composed the track days after government troops opened fire on crowds of demonstrators on 13 May, 2005.It is unclear how widely the song was distributed; certainly widely enough for an off-duty police officer to initiate the proceedings after hearing it on a bus.