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What the World is Reading

October 24, 2008 9:01 AM

By CLARK BENTSON, ABC News Rome

Some Familiar and Not-so-familiar Stories From the World’s Newspapers

Open any newspaper or log on to any news Web site and you will find on the front page and home page articles about the global financial crisis. It obviously affects everyone no matter what country or what kind of economy; although the effect on commodity prices for Africans may not have been felt as sharply and suddenly as the collapse of banks or those losing their jobs in Iceland and the United States.

For others the presidential election results in the United States could be just as important and it too is front-page material around the world. From Australia to Brazil, the U.S. elections and the trials and tribulations from the campaign train are reported as top stories.

Radio listeners around the world heard on the BBC’s “World Service” that Barack Obama is going to be in Hawaii visiting the grandmother who raised him. The New Zealand Herald has covered the ups and downs of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, including an article today, “Republicans spend $253,000 (NZ$) on Palin’s wardrobe.” The Milan, Italy-based Correire della Serra headline offers “Dictionary: The (US) elections A to Z.” 

But maybe more surprising is that in some places there is no news on the election. Though I tried, I could not find any articles in the Mongolian press or anything more recent than July in the Vietnam papers.

These stories have mostly overshadowed much of the rest of the news that is made day to day, pushing it to the back pages. The crucial Status of Forces agreement for Iraq was not on the front pages of many of the world press sites in English that I surfed through this week -- except of course some excellent reporting from ABC's Baghdad bureau and Kirit Radia -- and there was not much top-of-the-fold on sending more NATO troops into Afghanistan. We know that the headlines will obviously pay particular attention to local news. Sometimes that local news can have an international connection to the United States but often it is just an interesting story that offers a snapshot on how others live and what others prioritize in their lives. Occasionally, ABC News likes to bring you a few of those articles.

Bosnia: Threat of War?

It has been 13 years since the Dayton Peace Accords were signed bringing an end to the deadly Bosnian Civil War. Federal elections held earlier this month, including for the tripartite presidency, were peaceful. However, due to Bosnian law the official results will only be known around the same time Americans find out who their new president is. But this week the EU Observer reports that European leaders are expressing “serious concern” about the lack of reform in the country and two experts on the situation, including Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the architect of the Dayton accords, warned the country is on the “verge of collapse.” Holbrooke and Lord Paddy Ashdown, once the international administrator of the country, urged that the international community needs to “pay attention” and that the United States needs to engage itself to put things back on track. On the same day that the Holbrooke-Ashdown statement was made public, Holbrooke was one of the participants in a briefing for Barack Obama on national security issues.

U.S. and Russian Generals Meeting: Oh So Secret!

Relations with Russia, badly damaged after Moscow ordered troops to battle with Georgian soldiers in the disputed South Ossetia and Abkhazia provinces in August, have been on the national security agenda this week during secret meetings between Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Michael Mullen and his Russian counterpart Gen. Nikolai Makarov. Details of the meeting continue to come out, with  Kosovo, Iran, Georgia and the Baltics among the topics discussed. The United States reiterated to Russia that as NATO members the Baltics would be defended. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stated that the break of the Soviet Union was a folly. Former Soviet states, like the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the Ukraine have felt more vulnerable since the Georgian war. Finland played host to the meetings, repeating a role it had many times during the height of the Cold War. This time the planning for the meetings was so close-lipped that even the prime minister of Finland didn’t know they were taking place until he heard about it on the news, says the Helsinki paper Helsingen Sanomat.

U.S. Welcomes More Visitors Visa Free, but Only if Pre-Approved

President Bush has announced that beginning Nov. 13, seven new countries --- including the Baltics --- will be allowed to participate in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Citizens from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and South Korea will no longer need to apply for visas before arriving. The Korean Herald proclaimed that Korea’s participation in the program would save the country $80 million a year as well as increase bilateral trade.

The Travel Industry Association of the United States praised the initiative. In a statement from its president it said, the “expansion of the Visa Waiver Program is a momentous leap forward for the American economy and proof that we can simultaneously strengthen America's security and welcome additional visitors." But as the Prague Post points outs all citizens included in the program will need to have biometric passports and will have to register online for pre-approval to travel with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security before they travel starting Jan. 12.

This Is the Way We Wash Our Hands, Your Majesty

In Bhutan this week the newspapers were focused on more pressing issues – the coronation of their king and celebration of Global Handwashing Day. “By washing hands with soap, families and communities can help reduce child morbidity rates from diarrhoeal diseases by almost 50 percent,” said a press release from UNICEF, and 19 percent of deaths of children younger than the age of 5 in Bhutan are related to diarrhea.

While America is preparing to celebrate the election of its new president, the Bhutan papers are already filled with details of the weeklong celebration the country is preparing for the coronation. The prime minister will also address the tens of thousands expected to gather; the Kuensel newspaper reports that “his message to the people of Bhutan was that everyone can contribute to the generation of positive energy, emotions and goodwill, that will strengthen the harmony among the people and unity in country as an expression of love, respect, devotion to His Majesty the King and the institution of Monarchy.” 

October 24, 2008 in Clark Bentson | Permalink | User Comments (4)

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