h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My local TV station lead with the fact that two lapwings on some coastal marshland mean that the site can be designated a site of Special Scientific Interest and as a result developers cannot build a new container port.

(Yes, funnily enough I live nowhere near New York.)

"TERROR!"

SC

I live under the flight pattern for the Glendale/Burbank/Pasadena (CA) airport -- I always hear planes. It's so eerie to have it so silent, with all airposts shut down.

No headlines today, just photographs.
A picture is worth a thousand words.

there was only one word of headline in this morning's Baltimore Sun: DEVASTATION printed larder than the words "THE SUN" on the top of the paper.

The terrible news from the US dominates of course. Ansett, Australias major domestic air-line has stopped all air-operations after being placed in receivership. This means chaos for the tourism and mining industries and anyone else who must cross this huge and mostly empty continent. What this means to the region I live in(the Kimberly)is that some 10000 out of 25000 tourists in Broome can't leave. No air-frieght No daily newspapers. It is 2-3 days drive to Perth or Darwin. The most isolated area of Australia just became more so.
Rocket
physically isolated but the electrons still know their way

Ummm.... so this thread has been dormant for almost a year


Well, Germany:

- is just recovering from a disastrous flood in the federal states of -- in order of severity-- Sachsen (Saxonia), Sachsen-Anhalt (er.. ?), Lower Saxony and Bavaria. A fifth of all railway tracks is gone, damage estimates are in 10s of kilo-Mega-€ and some 40000 people had been (or still are) evacuated from their homes.

- is looking forward to having elections. Chancellor Schröder (left) and Bavarian leader Stoiber (right) appear to have similar chances of winning, with slight advantages depending on whom you ask. Stoiber gained some points in public opinion from a live TV duel (which was the first in German history) whereas Schröder benefits from being in charge of managing damage control (see above) and directing money into the affected areas. There's another duel due for next Sunday...

The big news in the Netherlands is an investigation on fraud and price agreements in the construction business. It is a special type of investigation, I don't know if any other countries use it. It is conducted by members of parliament (they do the questioning), and the interviews can be seen on tv daily and in full. It is a very powerfull tool for the parliament. It seems the goverment (local and national) has been paying milions of € too much for projects, because of price agreements between builders.

Scotland:

Main story is about Blair, unexpectedly entirely agreeing with President Bush. I feel proud to be part of a country with such a strong sense of self-esteem whose leadership will unflinchingly speak it's mind, even amongst powerful allies.



In Scottish News:

Deputy First Minister of Scotland Jim Wallace has attacked Labour's "dirty tricks" apparently.

Netherlands:
One of the headlines today (and yesterday) is the capture of a leader of a terrorist movement on the national airport of Schiphol. The Americans are obviously interrested, especialy since the terrorist movement may be a link between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.
I was wondering how big this news is in America.