Eggs Over Easy

(Picture courtesy of  mhaithaca at flickr.com.)

The Thursday custom continuing of Southern Dragon’s bringing us news from sources outside the U.S. has come today on the anniversary of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.  This seems awfully appropriate, and we hail these wonderful ancient tales that offer their whimsical view of ourselves, usually thought to be for children.   All of us could gain from simply enjoying the tales.  They were altered to suit children, or adults’ views of them, better before publication.

 They removed sexual references—such as Rapunzel‘s innocently asking why her dress was getting tight around her belly, and thus naïvely revealing her pregnancy and the prince’s visits to her stepmother—but, in many respects, violence, particularly when punishing villains, was increased.[2]

A touch of Grimm humor there.

Sadly the fear of western influence has caused really awful killings in Pakistan, of workers giving polio shots in the country.  Pakistan is one of three countries that have not yet eradicated the disease.  Because of the murders, immunizations have been suspended.

Senior police officer Shahid Hayat blamed “militants who issued a fatwa against polio vaccination in the past” for the killings.

In June, the Taliban banned immunisations in the tribal region of Waziristan, condemning the polio campaign.

South Korea elected a female president for the first time, a descendant of former dictator Park Chung-Hee. Park is a conservative and narrowly defeated opponents .

In her first policy address since her historic victory on Wednesday that saw her elected the country’s first woman president, Park Geun-Hye said the North Korea’s recent rocket launch was a reminder of the threat posed by the communist neighbour.

During her campaign, Park Geun-Hye had distanced herself from the hardline policy of outgoing President Lee Myung-Bak who suspended humanitarian aid to North Korea.

The recent launching of a satellite which still shows signs of tumbling, by neighboring N.Korea, is suspected to have had an effect on the voting.

The potential suicidal effects of the Mayan predictions that have the world ending tomorrow have concerned Argentine officials as invitations on social sites to attend a mass suicide, causing the closing of its highest mountains to avoid an actual apocalypse.

It addressed invitees as “believers and fighters of the Light” and implored them to participate in “a spiritual mass suicide on Uritorco”.

If I were writing this post for the 22nd, I might wait until the morning to do it, but then, I always do as news can be late breaking.  A tourism boost has been reported to Mayan sites.

Indian protests attracted large crowds as the country reacted to a gang rape of a young woman traveling by bus.

Meanwhile, the government has announced a series of measures to make the capital safer for women.

There has been outrage in India after the student and her male friend were attacked on a bus.

The woman remains in a critical condition, doctors say.

These are encouraging developments in a country still showing marked favoritism toward boys, particularly in family planning practices.

As our late host would tell us:

Never.give.up.