================================================= Expat Worlds Bi-Monthly Digest ================================================= 13 April, 2005 Vol. 7, Issue 06 .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== THE STORY =================== -=Around the World with Expat World=- ==== OTHER EZINES ================ ==== EW SPECIAL ================== -=5 Years of Expat World=- ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... == -=Trivia=- -=News Story=- -=Jokes=- ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============= -=Folder Icon Changer V2.5=- ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD == -=Table of Content=- ==== THE STORY ================================== AROUND THE WORLD with Expat World DENMARK -- Denmark was rated as the best place to do business in a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit which surveyed 60 countries based on their investment environment Canada fell to second place followed by the USA. Next came Singapore in 4th place and the highest ranking in Asia, followed by Hong Kong. Australia was in 15th place, trailed by New Zealand and Taiwan holding the 18th spot. Japan ws number 28 and Malaysia 31 with Thailand right behind at number 32, the Philippines was number 40 followed by Indonesia in the number 45 spot. Down the list to Vietnam at number 50, Pakistan at 57 and the celler dwelling Iran at number 60. THAILAND - POLICE FINALLY ADMIT TO TAKING BRIBES -- The Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) has admitted publicly for the first time EVER its officers accept bribes as the force gears up to tackle the corruption widely believed to be rife in its ranks. A study on bribe-taking conducted by a team headed by a deputy MPB commissioner found policemen would accept anything from discount coupons to monthly payoffs to bribes paid by bidders for their assistance in winning state contracts. "The officers interviewed by the team said corruption among the police does exist and is rife while every officer has hands on money and every city police station is corrupt," the study said. The Royal Thai Police Office has, in the past, always rejected studies on police graft by outside researchers and has never taken a close look at the bribe-taking problem or tried to solve it. Bribes came in many forms, according to the study. They could be small kickbacks, free meals or discounted prices for items, regular payoffs, cash offered by traffic violators and money paid to high-level officers to buy positions. Those who paid the bribes included owners of brothels, hotels, factories, gambling houses and shops selling pirated goods. The study said the bribes were "properly" shared out among all police units to avoid internal conflict but interrogators, in particular, were usually not given much of the share as they were already entitled to allowances and were paid extra for writing investigation reports. Interrogators, however, could still demand kickbacks from suspects for their help to get them bail or to settle cases. Traffic police received bribes mostly from passenger vans, motorcycle taxis, restaurants, shopping malls, trucks and traffic violators. The study called on the government to increase allowances for all police, fairly allocate financial rewards from police operations to the officers involved and require officers holding the position of superintendent and above to publicly declare assets and debts every three years. It concluded corrupt officers must be punished and that private watchdogs and the media must expose police corruption. MACEDONIA -- Macedonia Village Is Center of Europe Web in Sex Trade --Elesta village, tucked down in the southwestern corner of the country near the border with Albania, is one of the strangest places in this part of the Balkans. It has the high-walled brick homes and rutted lanes typical of villages here, but amid the hay barns there are more than a dozen neon-lit nightclubs and sex bars with names like Madonna and Paradiso. And beneath the strange combination of rural quiet and nighttime glitz, the place has a very sinister reputation. The first bar on the main street is the Expresso. A group of young men and several young women in skimpy clothes stood by their cars outside the club on a recent night. Nearby, in a black Mercedes, a thickset man with a shaved head and half a dozen gold chains around his neck sat next to his driver. It was Dilaver Leku, the richest man in Velesta. Hundreds of foreign women, mostly from former Communist bloc countries, have passed through Velesta and Mr. Leku's bar and restaurants in the last few years, according to townspeople, the police, foreign civil rights workers and some of the women themselves. A large proportion of them, these people say, are women who are tricked into the job, forced into prostitution and held against their will. The women are bought by bar owners and sold when the customers tire of them. They are moved along by a network of traffickers across borders and ethnic communities, part of a web that spreads across the Balkans and into Western Europe. Across the Balkans, tens of thousands of women have been caught up by the traffickers and have suffered rape, extreme violence and slavery at the hands of criminal groups renowned for their brutality and greed. A United States government report cited all of Macedonia's neighbors, Greece, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania and Bulgaria, along with Lebanon as the countries with the worst records in the trafficking in women. There is no one group or network, but numerous traffickers in Macedonia who have links with others in Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, Mr. Stojkovski said. Ethnic differences never obstruct criminal dealings, and Albanians deal readily with Serbs and Macedonian Slavs despite the conflicts around them, he added. A false passport costs 500 German marks, about $250, Mr. Stojkovski said. Guides across Macedonia's porous hilly border with Kosovo charge about 100 marks, or $50, and the women themselves are sold for 1,000 or 2,000 marks, or $500 to $1,000. MEXICO -- According to a dispatch from Mexico City, the government nearly killed its export market for the fabled mezcal, a liquor (similar to tequila) traditionally sold with a worm floating in the bottle. Bureaucrats had recently proposed to ban the worm because of its high fat content, even though as much as 70 percent of mezcal sales are based on the worm (with alleged sexual or hallucinatory powers), but changed their minds. EUROPE -- From the French press we find this info: Thieves Who Think Big! -- Management at the Globe Hotel in Topsham, England, reported in February that a guest had dismantled and removed the entire shower unit out of his room. And Norwegian Arild Nicolaysen told reporters in February, after arriving at his mountain cabin for the weekend, that the in-ground swimming pool was missing (steel lining, plastic liner, filter, hoses and pipes). And in March, police in Lindale, Texas, arrested two men who they said had taken a house apart, brick by brick, board by board, over a three-month period and sold the materials for drugs. KENYA -- On Thika highway in Nairobi, Kenya, in February, frenzied and hungry villagers brawled for access to meat from a baby hippopotamus (about 1,700 pounds) that had been killed by a passing vehicle. Amidst the kicking and punching, two people were stabbed. NORWAY -- Recently the Norwegian tree ski-jumping championship was held in Hallingskarvet, in which the object was to ski into a tall tree and hang from it at a higher point than anyone else. ENGLAND -- In February 2005, Amanda Monti, 24, of Birkenhead, England, was sentenced to 30 months in jail for ripping off one of her ex-boyfriend's testicles with her bare hands in a rage over his refusal to have sex. According to witnesses, Monti briefly hid the testicle in her mouth, but a friend retrieved it and handed it back to the man, saying, "That's yours." USA -- Producers announced in February that they were still planning to bring the 3-year-old London stage show "Jerry Springer, The Opera" to America in early 2006, despite increasingly vituperative protests of religious groups. The show features "Jerry" mediating confessions in hell between Satan, God, Jesus, Mary, and various biblical characters, complete with a raucous audience periodically chanting "Jer-ree! Jer-ree!" Reportedly, 300 to several thousand curse words are in the script (depending on who counts), and the show's Jesus is a pudgy, diaper-wearing gay man who is apparently coprophilic (among the many alleged points of blasphemy). When the BBC televised a showing, it reported 50,000 complaints, with some physical threats directed to the station's staff and their families. SAUDI ARABIA -- At the annual Muslim "stone the devil" ritual near Mecca in January, clerics had feared a repeat of 2004, when more than 250 people were trampled to death (among the 2 million in attendance), but fatalities dropped to the average level this year (just three, according to one report) after larger targets were installed so that participants did not have to get so close to stone them. FRANCE -- In a December demonstration against the opening of a McDonald's in the Mediterranean town of Sete, France, about 500 protesters, using a homemade catapult, bombarded the restaurant with fresh catches of the area's renowned delicacy, octopus. AUSTRALIA -- A 21-year-old man was hospitalized in intensive care in Murdoch, Australia (near Perth), in December following a barroom stunt in which he put on a helmet connected to a beer jug, with a hose that ran between the jug and a pump powered by an electric drill. The idea was to facilitate drinking a large quantity of beer without the laborious tasks of lifting a glass and swallowing, but the flow was so powerful that he had to be rushed to the hospital with a 10-centimeter tear in his stomach. ==== OTHER EZINES & BOOKS ======================== ASIAN TIMES ONLINE Asia most trusted source for news, business,commentary and analysis from throughout Asia and our world. (www.atimes.com). ----- SURVIVAL BOOKS Go to and check it out! ----- japan-guide.com Extensive, up to date online guide on Japan living and travel related information. http://www.japan-guide.com/ ==== EW SPECIAL ================================= 5 YEARS OF EXPAT WORLD You can get the last 5 year's back issues of EXPAT WORLD newsletter on a CD formatted for both Mac and PC computers. For readers of the Expat World Digest this is your chance to get the real skinny on international events rather than just the crumbs we send you each week free in the EW Digest to peak your interest into becoming regular subscribers, either electronically or the hard copy version, to the REAL Thing, the EXPAT WORLD newsletter. So much has changed in the amount of freedom, personal and financial privacy, international loopholes and just the operation of the world community in the last 5 years that you need this CD to pretty much get you up to speed. But besides this instant education our newsletter is a cheeky, funny, and spot-on newsletter that leaves you waiting anxiously for the next issue. Don't miss out on this 5 year collection. It's available for only US $75. You can go to www.expatworld.net and "pay-on-line " with our secure server or send cash, check or money order payable to Expat World VIA REGISTERED AIRMAIL to: Max Bushby c/o Expat World, Box 1341 Raffles City, Singapore 911745. Get them while we still have this CD available. Order today! ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... ================ NEWS STORIES Attila's Huns May Win Minority Status BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The self-proclaimed descendants of Attila the Hun, known in the fifth century as "the scourge of God," may be granted legal recognition as an ethnic minority in Hungary after collecting enough signatures in a petition. To win such recognition in the eastern European country, groups must prove they have lived in Hungary for more than 100 years and collect 1,000 valid signatures. The parliament's human rights committee will discuss the issue on Tuesday after the National Elections Committee said on its Web site the number of valid signatures had exceeded 1,000. The committee will make a recommendation to parliament which will decide the issue. Some commentators have suggested that the backers of the petition are motivated by financial grants given to minorities. Hungary's modern-day Huns say they are far-removed from the ancient image of rape and pillage acquired when they swept across parts of Europe. "Today's Huns are peaceful and gentle ... we have nothing to do with bloodshed or bows and arrows," said Gyorgy Kisfaludy who describes himself as the high priest of the Huns. Kisfaludy said there were as many as 100,000 Huns in Hungary and beyond its borders. The name Hungary was given to the country by foreigners who associated the steppe tribes who arrived with Arpad, the nation's founder, in 896 with the Huns of four centuries earlier, even though there is no connection between the two. The Magyars acquired a bloodthirsty reputation in their own right from raids into western Europe in the 10th century, with monks praying: "From the arrows of the Huns defend us O Lord." Hungary has a Hun theme park in which the owner says Attila's burial mound is located and the noble Esterhazy family traced its roots to the Hun. Attila is still a popular boy's name in Hungary. --- Man's brain wired to computer DOCTORS have wired the brain of a quadriplegic man to a computer, enabling him to turn his television on and off and play the video game Pong. Matthew Nagle, 25, has been a quadriplegic since a knife attack four years ago in the US state of Rhode Island. He is the first patient to control external devices by means of electrodes implanted in his brain. The system helping Mr Nagle is called BrainGate and comprises about 100 hair-thin electrodes implanted a millimetre deep into part of the motor cortex of Nagle's brain that controls movement. These lead to a computer which translates them into movements of a cursor. --- Cannabis cookies granny spared jail A BRITISH grandmother who baked cannabis-laced cookies as a treat for friends and neighbours in her rural village was spared jail after a judge said he did not want to make her "a martyr". Patricia Tabram, 66, prided herself on her cannabis snacks as well as casseroles and soups containing the banned drug, Newcastle Crown Court, in northeast England, had been told. The grandmother cooked up the treats for neighbours and friends in her village, East Lea, after being introduced to the drug last year, which she said helped ease depression and neck and back pain. Local police were tipped off about the smells coming from Tabram's remote bungalow and twice raided her house in May and June last year. During one visit they seized 31 cannabis plants growing in her attic, as well as another one from a hallway table, which officers had missed until Tabram pointed it out. Tabram - who also bought pre-prepared cannabis for friends who pooled their money - admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply the drug. Judge David Hodson imposed a jail sentence of six months, but suspended it for two years, meaning Tabram will not be imprisoned unless she commits further offences during that time. Hodson said he did not want to create more publicity for the grandmother, who has stated her intention to publish a book, Grandma Eats Cannabis. "People in this part of the world cannot fail to have noticed that you have been caught up in a media circus," the judge said. "It might be that you have been trying to tempt the courts into making a martyr of you. I am not going to do this. "I consider that this offence merits imprisonment which I fix at six months. However, I am persuaded that there are exceptional circumstances which justifies a suspension of the sentence for a period of two years." ----- Fend Off Dementia with Sex, Crosswords and a Run CANBERRA (Reuters) - Sex, cryptic crosswords and a good run could help ward off dementia and other degenerative conditions by stimulating new brain cells, an Australian researcher said Thursday. Perry Bartlett, a professor at the University of Queensland's Brain Institute, said mental and physical exercise helped create and nurture new nerve cells in the brain, keeping it functional and warding off diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. "Perhaps one should run a long distance and do the cryptic crossword, " Bartlett told Australian radio. He said a chemical called prolactin appeared to promote new cells in the brain and could be found in high levels in pregnant women. "Prolactin levels also go up during sex as well. So one could think of a number of more entertaining activities than running in order to regulate the production of nerve cells," Bartlett said. ----- Oxymoron: boxing ring ----- Britain is the only country in the world where the food is more dangerous than the sex. -- Jackie Mason ----- "Television: A medium. So called because it's neither rare nor well done." -- Ernie Kovacs ----- "I went to watch Pavarotti once. He doesn't like it when you join in." -- Mick Miller ----- As a sergeant in a parachute regiment I took part in serveral night time excersises. Once, I was seated next to a Lieutenant fresh from Jump School. He was quiet sad looked a bit pale so I struck up a conversation. "Scared, Lieutenant?", I asked. He replied, "No, just a bit apperhensive." I asked, "What's the diffrence??" He replied, "That means I'm scared with a university education." ----- A beautiful young woman marries this seventy year old bloke for his money. On their wedding night she joyfully jumps into bed and he holds up five fingers. "Oh darling!" she squeals with delight, Does that mean five times?" "No", says the old fellow, "it means that you can pick one out." ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============================ Folder Icon Changer V2.5 Folder Icon Changer is a software that search and replace the standard icon of a folder on any other icon. It has a pretty and friendly interface. ( The interface is the style of WindowsXP. ) It is a powerful software and easy to use. You can change icons of folders quickly and freely just by clicking several buttons. So,using Folder Icon Changer can save you lots of time. The most important is that it can make your folders lively and I think others will envy your beautiful folders! Get it at ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD =============== EXPAT WORLD NEWSLETTER (VOL.17 ISSUE 04) Table of Content: - QUALITY OF LIFE - THE WORLD IS RATED - AROUND THE WORLD WITH EXPAT WORLD - LETTER FROM AMERICA - INSIDE THE ABC NEWS UFO DOCUMENTARY HOAX - -- THE KNOWLEDGE BOX -- - "FOR EXPATRIATE LIVING" - INTERNATIONAL SNIPS AND CLIPS - TOP NOTCH UNI'S WORLDWIDE - THE TOP THIRTY UNIVERSITIES - CRAPPER RAPPER - TOILET PAPER USED TO BE REALLY CRAPPY YOU MISSING SO MUCH Each week the EXPAT WORLD DIGEST gives you just a smattering of what you can find in the EXPAT WORLD newsletter that we produce once a month. Why not get the whole story and subscribe now to our electronic version for just US $30 per year. Go to our website: www.expatworld.net to sign up. ********************************************************************* EXPAT WORLD - the newsletter of international living URL - http://www.expatworld.net Email - office@expatworld.net ---------- End of Expat World Digest --------------------------------