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WEEKLY UPDATE
Highest number of children out of school in Asia
PARIS: Asia accounts for the biggest number of children in the world not receiving a school education, despite steady increases in enrolment in the 1990s, says a statistical report released by UNESCO Tuesday.
The report, based on official 2000 and 2001 education figures for 22 countries in South and East Asia, said that “an estimated 46 million primary school-age children are out of school, and more girls (28 million) than boys (18 million) are excluded from primary education.”
With an estimated 104 million children out of school, Asia accounted for 45 percent of the worldwide total, the report said.
Although school enrolments rose “substantially” between 1990 and 2000, the statistics showed that several countries had a high number of primary school dropouts.
As schooling progresses, the gender gap widens, the reports’ authors found. Often negligible at primary level, the disparity in Asia between the number of male versus female
students reached 61 per cent to 39 per cent at university.
“East Asian countries accounted for approximately two-thirds of total enrolment, in large measure due to China, where the total tertiary enrolment exceeds that of all the countries of South and West Asia combined (12.1 and 11.3 million students, respectively),” the report noted.
The preferred fields of study among university students in the region slanted towards social sciences, business and law. The exception was Brunei, where 49 per cent opted for education studies. — AFP
Cricket is cancerous
ISLAMABAD: The most likable sport in Australia is taking a heavy toll on health, with more than half of cricketers developing skin cancer.
According to a report in Herald Sun, a study by researcher Janelle Noble-Jerks, of Southern Cross University at Lismore in NSW, found long hours under the summer sun led to a range of problems.
“Playing cricket in the heat can produce temporary blindness, sunstroke and heat stress, as well as increase the potential for long-term effects such as skin cancer,” said Ms Noble-Jerks.
The study, first of its kind in the world, found 56 per cent of cricketers aged 45-55 had developed at least one skin cancer, often on the face. — APP
Who is killing the animals at Sao Paulo zoo?
SAO PAULO: The zoo in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo is facing a murder mystery worthy of an Agatha Christie novel.
Since late January, the zoo, one of the most modern in Latin America, has lost 10 animals, including an elephant — fatally poisoned by what police are calling a “serial animal killer”.
So far, laboratory tests have shown the animals were killed with sodium fluoroacetate, a banned rat poison.
According to the Sao Paulo State University, where autopsies were performed, the poison caused the animals to stop breathing and led to cardiac arrest. What troubles investigators is that tests on the animals’ food and water could find no trace of the poison.
“We are deeply saddened by these events. Many of the workers have been with the zoo for several years and spend more time with the animals than with their own families,” said Fatima Valente Roberti, a biologist at the zoo.
“We cannot fathom what could possibly lead a person to commit such aggression.”
Police have not ruled out any possibility, including visitors who come to the park at unusual hours. The Sao Paulo zoo has recently opened at night for the public to observe the animals’ nocturnal habits.
Management has increased security measures, including hourly visits to each of the zoo’s 3,200 animals. —Reuters
Record swing for charity
SYDNEY: An Australian policeman strolled to the clubhouse sporting swollen hands on Tuesday after swinging his golf club 10,080 times, setting a world record and raising money to help a local boy with a spinal injury.
Sergeant Troy Grant, known as “Rusty Gate” to his mates in the country town of Tenterfield in northern New South Wales state, played 1,800 holes over the past seven days, traversing the course 100 times on a golf cart.
He hopes the money will help get Roberts home from the northern city of Brisbane where he is being treated and make his homelife more comfortable. — AFP
Mourning dead whale
HANOI: Several thousand mourners have paid their respects to a dead whale that washed up on a beach in southern Vietnam, where the giant mammal is revered and considered a deity, police said on Tuesday.
The corpse of the 13-metre whale was discovered on Friday last week by locals in Ben Tre province. Since then as many as 700 people have turned up each day to burn incense sticks and pray.
“People want to donate money to build a shrine for it because they believe whales are sacred and can protect them from danger,” an official from the Thanh Hai commune said. —AFP
Woman to head Cairo’s Museum
CAIRO: For the first time a woman has been named to head the prestigious Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt’s Sup-reme Council of Anti-quities announced on Monday.
Wafaa Seddiq will “supervise new projects to expand the museum, which include the establishment of a library and a visitors’ centre,” the council’s secretary general Zahi Hawwas said.
Seddiq said she planned to “organize theme exhibitions in order to attract tourists”.
The museum is home to more than 160,000 pieces, dating from prehistoric times to the Greco-Roman period, including the famed treasures of King Tutankhamen. — AFP
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