Town Takes up a Santa Cause/Germany--New WMW--all happy news

[Gloria]

Excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR DECEMBER 24, 2003

1//The Toronto Star, Canada--MARS ‘BULL’S-EYE’ FOR BEAGLE 2 (Beagle 2 is now streaking toward an even more precise Mars landing on Christmas Eve…The bargain-basement lander will be the first mission to search for direct signs of life on Mars since 1976 when twin U.S. Viking spacecraft came up with inconclusive results from simple chemical analysis of a single soil sample apiece.)



2//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--TOWN TAKES UP A SANTA CAUSE (A small German town is demanding that its most famous son be recognised as the creator of Father Christmas, rather than the Coca-Cola company.)



3//Pravda, Russia—CHRISTMAS (St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia, of sailors and of children, the happy soul who brings the presents on 6th December, 25th December or 6th January, depending on the country or religion. However, St. Nicholas lived in flesh and blood. Born in 217 AD, in Mira, Asia Minor, the city of which he was later to become Bishop, he became connected to the giving of presents through two stories: that he saved the three daughters of a poor man from prostitution, offering each one a bag of gold and that he saved three navy officers from the death penalty.)



4//The Independent, UK--EUROPEAN BUG FINDS A FESTIVE BRITISH HOME (A small, sap-sucking bug from Europe has been found living on mistletoe in Britain for the first time, the National Trust disclosed yesterday…Known as Hypseloecus visci, the mistletoe bug measures less than a quarter of an inch (3-4mm) long and sucks sap from the leaves and stems of the plant. The find raises the number of British insects dependent on mistletoe to six: one moth, one weevil and four bugs.)



5//The Japan Times, Japan--ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MORI LIVING (In Mori Living-serviced apartments at Roppongi Hills, every molecule has been meticulously planned. In these luxury apartments, designed by Conran & Partners, a two-bedroom apartment is 87.85 sq. meters and the biggest five-bedroom apartment is 420 sq. meters. When you consider Japan has 3,000 people per square kilometer, compared to America's 353, living in an apartment this large in Tokyo is equal to living in a space the size of a football field in the U.S…. So, Santa, I've been an especially good girl this year. I know getting Mori Living for Christmas would take a miracle, but I believe in miracles. Remember "Miracle on 32nd Street?" It's time for a remake: "Miracle on the 32nd Floor.")