Wildlife populations down by more than half
Over the last 40 years, wildlife populations around the world have decreased by more than 50 per cent, according to World Wilflife Fund’s Living Planet Report. The report is issued ever two years and serves to analyze the health of the planet and provide recommendations on how to improve it. This year’s report is scathing, and “not for the faint-hearted,” said WWF’s director Marco Lambertini in the document’s introduction. Species populations have declined by 52 per cent since 1970, and we currently need 1.5 Earths to meet our current demands on nature. Areas with lots of biodiversity should be developed wisely, with the future in mind, urges Lambertini. [Source: Wired]
Hong Kong protests swell
The tens of thousands of people flooding Hong Kong’s streets want a free vote for their next leader, a move Beijing has so far rejected. More people gathered Tuesday morning to join the Occupy Central movement, or, as some have been calling it, the Umbrella Revolution, referring to the umbrellas used by protesters as a tear-gas shield. Hong Kong leader CY Leung is calling for the pro-democracy protesters to stop. The occupied areas are at a standstill until they do. Streets are blocked, and businesses have been forced to shut. But Occupy wants to meet with Leung in person first. They want his resignation. And he doesn’t want to give it, claiming that such a move wouldn’t mean a free vote. The next leader would also be chosen by committee, he said. Protests began on the weekend, and have only grown since. [Source: BBC]
North Korea’s leader goes crackers for cheese
Cheese addiction is real. And North Korea’s Kim Jong Un could be its next poster boy. The dictator has been reportedly been missing for a few weeks. Rumour placed him as ill. But new “evidence” hailing from that strange neck of the woods suggests the one and only Kim Jong Un loses his shit over Swiss cheese, going especially crackers over Emmental. According to Death and Taxes, Un wanted to send a few North Koreans over to France to learn how to make his favs. His condition is escalating, according to news reports. He’s binge eating and gaining lots of weight. The Pyongyang government has been mum on the cheese, but has come out saying he’s in “uncomfortable physical condition.” [Source: Death and Taxes]
Canada to consider joining anti-ISIS campaign
Canada to consider joining anti-ISIS efforts in Iraq and the Levant, deciding whether its ailing, middle-aged CF-18 fighter jets and CP-140 surveillance planes can handle it. The international community expects Canada to join the battle, and has said as much offering to give it designated airspace in the so affected areas. Harper will hold a vote in Parliament before this happens, though. “We have been asked to do more by the Obama administration,” Baird told the House of Commons under questioning by the NDP. “I can assure the member opposite, clearly no decisions have been taken.” No word on when such a vote will take place. [Source: CBC]
Levant’s narrator apologizes for slut comments
Ezra Levant did not apologize to Justin Trudeau for calling is dad, former PM Pierrer Trudeau, a slut. And then implying Justin is one, as well. Levant was going to. But his show did, instead. The narrator for Sun Media’s The Source read an apology before the show that Levant hosts began. “It is the view of Sun News that this segment was in poor taste and should not have been aired. We understand why many viewers found both the content and language of this segment to be offensive. We apologize to Mr. Trudeau, his family and to our viewers.” After the name calling, Trudeau vowed to permanently sever contact with the network. But the Liberal Party has accepted the nameless narrator’s apology, and Trudeau has agreed to resume contact with the right-wing station. All the while Levant grows even stronger. You cut down one hot head, two more grow in its place. Maybe. [Source: National Post]
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Toban Dyck writes this, and hopes to write something else soon, as well. Follow his antics at @tobandyck
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