Does your income rely on money sent from a family member working abroad ? Have you travelled away from home to find a job to help support your family ?
If so, you are part of a hugely important area of the world economy – remittances. Last year, an estimated 305 billion dollars of remittances were sent around the globe.
Do you love where you live? Some like their home towns spotless, with neat tree-lined streets, sophisticated restaurants and orderly traffic; others can’t bear the tedium of tidiness and crave a little madness in their lives.
A list of the best cities in the world to live in is about to be published by Monocle magazine.
I’ve seen the list, and without giving the game away — the results are to be announced on Sunday — I reckon they’re a bit tame. But then my choice in urban environments has always been a little unusual.
How often do you listen – really listen- to the sounds around you ?
Radio lovers know how important sound is to paint a rich picture and transport the listener to another place. Yet, perhaps less often we think about how sound also creates a sense of time. It has the power to evoke another age, or trigger cherished memories.
The whistle of a kettle, the ticking of a clock, the chime of my first bicycle bell, the revving of a car engine choking into life.
Each brings to life a particular time and place. But how many of these sounds will be forgotten?
And how soon will the sounds that are specific to the here and now be history: the ringtones on our mobile phones; diesel engines, dialing into a 56K modem?
Have a read of this tragic story.
An Italian woman, who arrived too late to board the ill-fated Air France flight 447, has since died in a car crash.
It’s the fastest trending story on Twitter ATOW with many people saying “when your time’s up, your time is up”.
Another says “makes you wonder about destiny”.
Madonna’s won her appeal to adopt a second child from Malawi.
This morning i was reading this piece by Jacques Peretti who tracked down the family of 3 year old Mercy James :
“When I use Madonna’s name out loud in one village, I am told to hush. Using Madonna’s name in vain could frighten her (and her cash) away forever. Given all of the above, how could anyone in the west disagree with what Madonna’s doing? ”
Continue reading ‘Madonna and (another) child’
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