Results tagged “world”

Yay, another massive cruise ship to fill our oceans with sewage and sludge so that bored pensioners can distract themselves from their impending deaths is being built in Finland, and this one's going to be the biggest one yet! Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas has a 1,200-foot-long hull that rises 213 feet above the waterline and displaces 220,000 gross register tons. That's 42 percent grosser than the Independence of the Seas, which was the largest when it was christened two years ago, and five times the displacement of the Titanic, according to the Post.

One can understand losing out to San Francisco, but being out-gayed by Sydney, Australia, where homosexuality was illegal until 1984? Sydney placed second in the Independent's hierargay, apparently solely on the strength of their fabulous three-week long Mardis Gras, which is the biggest dance party in the country. The UK paper, despite heralding New York as "the gay capital of the world," deems us only worthy of the bronze. Whatever. At least we bested the Greeks—no small feat—and their gaytopia island of Mykonos, which comes in fourth. For contrast, the Independent also shouts out the five worst places to be gay, which include Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is punishable by death or whipping, and Nigeria, where even writing or talking about support for gay people can land you in prison. [Via Joe. My. God. Photo Cred.]

As reports come in about Zimbabwean voters being threatened "into voting for Robert Mugabe's" party today, the NY Times' Clyde Haberman remembers when the controversial leader was welcomed at City Hall back in 2002. City Councilman Charles Barron, who hosted Mugabe, doesn't regret the invite and tells Haberman, "Does he do things that I disagree with? Yes," but then adds, "You didn’t care about black Africans when whites were killing them in Rhodesia." [Here's the Human Rights on Zimbabwe.]