What the world is reading

Population affects the economic fortunes of nations. But security? In the 21st century,the distribution of global population,which is expected to stabilise at 9.15 billion by 2050,will significantly affect international security,writes Jack A Goldstone. How? “The relative demographic weight of the world’s developed countries will drop by nearly 25 percent,shifting economic power to the developing nations; the developed countries’ labour forces will substantially age and decline,constraining economic growth in the developed world and raising the demand for immigrant workers; most of the world’s expected population growth will increasingly be concentrated in today’s poorest,youngest,and most heavily Muslim countries,which have a dangerous lack of quality education,capital,and employment opportunities; and,for the first time in history,most of the world’s population will become urbanised,with the largest urban centres being in the world’s poorest countries,where policing,sanitation,and health care are often scarce,” Goldstone writes. “These trends will pose alarming challenges. Coping with them will require nothing less than a major reconsideration of the world’s basic global governance structures.”

GUARDIAN

Women’s right to choose wasn’t about Botox

Women’s freedom was hard-fought. But has it been well-used? Perhaps not,says Libby Brooks. The era of perfectability,as she calls these times,has seen feminist calls for autonomy distorted into a row about rights to self-mutilate the body. “We live in an era…where cosmetic procedures are marketed according to how effectively they may be executed in a lunch hour,and almost half of secondary-school girls would consider some form of surgical intervention to change the way they look,” Brooks writes.

GULF NEWS

Men behind Burj Khalifa

When Dubai unveiled the tallest building under the sky,millions gasped. But did anyone spare a thought for those who built it? No,we are not talking about Emaar or the architects and engineers. They didn’t build it,says Mishaal Al Gergawi. “…12,000-16,000 labourers were involved at one point or another in the construction of the tower,” Gergawi writes. “Every time I would read those numbers,the same visual would come to mind: the shape of the Burj constructed of men in blue overalls on top of each other; those men are the ones who built the tower. Architects design,civil engineers draw plans,site engineers supervise,foremen give orders,but it is the labourers who actually build structures”. So,Gergawi suggests,the next time you hear someone casually say,“I was involved in building the Burj”,look them in the eye and say,“exactly how”?

THE AUSTRALIAN

Haiti made a pact with the Devil

The earthquake that flattened much of Haiti wasn’t just another disaster. It was God’s punishment to Haitians for making a deal with the Devil,Pat Robertson,a former US presidential candidate,said on CBN’s The 700 Club,The Australian reported. Haitians,Robertson says,made “a pact with the Devil” to be free from French rule. “They were originally under the heel of the French. You know,Napoleon the third,or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil,” he says. They got freedom but earned God’s ire. So,ever since the French left,“the cursed Haitians have “been cursed by one thing after the other and suffered desperate poverty”.

A bit of history: Haitians revolted against French rule over two centuries ago. It was the only successful slave revolt in human history and led to the creation of the first republic ruled by blacks.