E-connexion

USA: Beginning again

Construction of the World Trade Centre Memorial is finally due to begin in March. Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, said the total cost, which would include related projects such as a visitor’s centre, would be $1 billion: double the initial estimate. The memorial is planned to open on September 11th 2009.
Mr Bloomberg and Chuck Schumer, a New York senator, have publicly disputed plans for the site’s future. The mayor recently proposed the area should include more residential space. Mr Schumer, however, says the city should promote commercial building by giving the site’s developer $1.8 billion in Liberty Bonds, a tax-free financing scheme. He also proposed that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey should move into the Freedom Tower, the main new skyscraper. The rebuilding is largely controlled by George Pataki, New York's governor, and the Port Authority, which owns the site. Mr Pataki would like work to start on the tower in April 2006.

 

 

Australia:

 

When the Queen first visited Australia in 1954, her subjects were so enthusiastic about her tour that security had to be beefed up to protect the glamorous young monarch from too much colonial affection. There seemed to be no need for that 12th of march when she arrived for her 15th visit to open the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on Wednesday. Police estimated about 400 people were at Canberra's Fairbairn air base to greet the Queen. In a few weeks the Queen will turn 80 and there is speculation this will be her last visit.

 

South africa:

The Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation has selected South African photographer David Goldblatt to receive the 2006 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography. The prize will be presented at a ceremony held in Göteborg, Sweden, on November 25, 2006. A new exhibition of David Goldblatt's work, curated and organised by the Hasselblad Centre, will be opened in conjunction with the ceremony. The Foundation's had decided to award Goldblatt the award as his "is a life long observation of the social and political developments within South African society". He has been concerned to explore the relationship between individual subjects and the structures within which they live. His interest in the violent history of his country, and his awareness of the symbolic significance of architecture, form an extraordinary statement both personal and socio-political. Photography, in the words of David Goldblatt, reveals 'something of the subtlety and ambiguity of our shifting and frequently contradictory perceptions of reality'. His acute historical and political perception provides a sense of the texture of daily life, and an important piece of missing information regarding life under apartheid in South Africa."

 

 

Scotland:

 

Actor Sir Sean Connery has undergone surgery to remove a tumour from his kidney. The James Bond star had the operation a few weeks ago in a private hospital in New York and has made a full recovery. "He's very fit, he's 100% plus," said a spokesman for the 75-year-old, who played the role of Bond in the 1960s. Sir Sean is back at home in the Bahamas and will return to work shortly - his next job is to record a voiceover for the Scottish National Party. "It is true that Sean had a successful procedure carried out some weeks ago but he's now fighting fit and raring to go," said SNP leader Alex Salmond. The party political broadcast featuring Sir Sean's voice is due to be shown early next month.

Proverbs

From Malta: The world is nonsense: what looks beautiful in the morning looks ugly in the evening.

From Ireland:  If you have mistaken the hat, makes sure at least that it suits you.

From Nigeria: Going slowly does not prevent to arrive.