Newsworthy

5 Sept 06

Travelling overseas inevitably means I loose touch with the world at large. Gigi’s continuing reluctance to connect the antenna for our television is not helping me stay up to date with world affairs. However the magic of the internet helps fill the gap.

To that extent three news items have particularly struck me today.

Did you know that nearly 90% of the heroin supply in the world comes from the country of Afghanistan? A new UN report says opium cultivation has jumped almost 60% despite anti drug efforts. The report blames the rise in production on the growing resurgence of the Taliban militia. The violence from the Taliban has destabilised provinces throughout Afghanistan.

This caught my attention because northern Thailand also engaged in opium production and I remember visiting the poppy fields near the Golden Triangle as a teenager. The King of Thailand was largely involved in steering the local village agricultural focus away from the illegal production of opium to vegetable crops with introduction of better irrigation and agricultural practices.

It was nine years ago this week that Princess Diana was killed in car accident in Paris. It certainly doesn’t feel like almost a decade since the world dealt with the shocking news of her sudden death.

Andre Agassi has retired from professional tennis. He lost at the US open this week, and announced the end of his career. Having started his professional career in 1986, he’s been on the circuit for 20 years and will be a sorely missed sportsman and personality.

PS 8 Sept 06 Addition

Online tonight checking emails and current affairs only to find out that a second Ausie icon has died this week, Peter Brock.

What's with only the good guys dying young and tragically?