The Olympic flame was flown from its home in Athens Greece to Beijing China on Monday. There it was received by Chinese President Hu Jintao at a ceremony in Tiananmen Square, although the official handing over had taken place in Athens on Sunday between Greek and Chinese Olympic officials. The flame was then sent off on a one month world tour and is due to arrive back in China on May 3rd. It will then start a
relay
across China, bringing it to such places as the summit
of
Mount Everest, before arriving in Beijing for the game’s opening ceremonies on August 8th.
( Grammar Note )
Traveling between the USA and EU will become a little easier and possibly a little cheaper due to the new Open Skies agreement which came into effect on Monday. The deal
eases
restrictions on
transatlantic
flights. For example, any EU airline can now fly to the United States from any European city, as opposed to the past when airlines could fly only from cities in their own country. This means that British Airways, for example, can now fly to the US from cities outside Britain like Paris or Madrid. The deal also allows more US airlines to fly to London’s Heathrow airport, which is one of the most important air travel
hubs
in the world.
In addition to easing travel restrictions, Open Skies also allows American airlines to own 49% of a European
counterpart.
However the deal is not reciprocal;
a European airline can still own only 25% of an American one. This issue, as well as permission for European
carriers
to fly between American cities will be discussed in a new round of talks, which are set to begin in May.
Travelers hope that this deal will result in cheaper transatlantic flights, but with fuel costs at an all time high, a movement in ticket prices is not expected in the near future.
Other Press Articles:
BBC: European Take-Off for Open Skies
Farmers agree to suspend strike in Argentina
Farmers in Argentina have agreed to
suspend
a three week old strike that has caused food shortages across the country. They have agreed to reopen the roadblocks and go back to their farms, but their leaders will continue negotiations with the government over the recent hike in the export tax on certain
agricultural
goods. So far, Argentine president Christina Kirchner has offered the small farms some
compensation
for the tax rise, but strike leaders are
demanding
more. They have warned that if a deal is not reached in thirty days, the strike will be continued.
NATO
leaders met in the Romanian capital Bucharest this week to discuss issues ranging from the war in Afghanistan to the
deployment
of a US missile shield in Europe. However, the hottest issue of the summit was NATO’s enlargement. Two
Balkan
countries, Croatia and Albania, were formally invited to begin the process of joining the alliance, but another, Macedonia, was rejected by current member, Greece. Moreover US president George Bush tried to gain acceptance from his NATO allies for membership for Ukraine and Georgia, but was rejected by France and Germany out of fears of angering Russia, which has been sensitive to NATO’s expansion to its borders.
In other developments at the summit, France agreed to send a few hundred more troops to Afghanistan, and a US plan to install missile shield components in countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic was aproved.
Despite an election that was widely believed to be unfair,
Zimbabwean
president Robert Mugabe seems to be on the verge of losing power after 28 years. His party, the Zanu-PF, has lost its majority in the country’s Parliament to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The presidential election results had not been announced as of Friday morning, stirring suspicion that the Zanu-PF was still trying to fix the results. However, the country’s constitution requires that the result be
made known
by the end of the day on Friday. Both the MDC and an independent election monitoring group claim that the opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai won the contest, but it remains unclear if he passed the 50%
threshold
to avoid a
run-off.
In any case, it seems that Zimbabwe is heading toward political change, much needed in light of 28 years of
authoritarian
rule and 8 years of economic collapse.
The battles between Iraqi government troops and militias in the southern city of Basra last week which left hundreds dead have come to an end, but it is unclear what conclusions one can make from them. On the one hand, the Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has declared that the operation was a success. On the other hand, Maliki’s demand that the militias give up their weapons has been
ignored.
Possibly the biggest winner was Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Medhi army was the main focus of the government’s operation. The Economist argues that he had the most influence during the conflict by persuading his militia to heed to a ceasefire and by winning a the release of prisoners. A further test of Sadr’s influence will occur on April 9th, when he has called for a million people to take to the streets in order to protest the foreign military presence in Iraq.
Despite rumors that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
tied the knot
in New Orleans last weekend, the website of the
gossip
magazine People reports that a
source
close to the couple has
denied
it.
A
jury
in the Bahamas has ruled that the
late
model Anna Nicole Smith’s son, Daniel, died of an accidental drug
overdose.
The twenty year old died in September 2006, after visiting his mother and new born half sister. Although Anna Nicole’s mother believes that
foul play
was involved in her grandson’s death, this decision makes it probable that no criminal charges will ever be filed in this case.
Current James Bond actor Daniel Craig was chosen Britain’s best dressed man by GQ magazine this week. Prince Harry also made the top 50 list, but his older brother William was not so fortunate, landing a spot in the 50 worst dressed men. Football star David Beckham, however, proved how silly the lists are anyway by being named the sixth best dressed and the 9th worst.
Tennis star Andy Roddick has announced his
engagement
to model Brooklyn Decker, who he has been dating for about a year. A message on Roddick’s website states that "with their
hectic
travel schedules, Andy and Brooklyn plan to enjoy their engagement."
Mariah Carey scored her 18th number one song the American charts with the single Touch My Body. This surpasses Elvis Presley’s mark of 17, and only trails the Beatles who conquered the American charts 20 times. Madonna also made her own history this week with her song 4 Minutes by reaching the American chart’s top ten for the 37th time,
surpassing
a record set by Elvis Presley.
Naomi Campbell was arrested for
allegedly
assaulting a police officer on a British Airways flight at London’s Heathrow airport on Thursday. Eyewitness accounts claim that the supermodel was upset upon hearing that the airline had lost one of her bags. The incident occurred at the airport’s new terminal that opened last week and has already lost tens of thousands of bags.
