Dispatches

Politicians are the least trusted people and they are more dishonest, more unethical and more incompetent than business leaders, a recent global survey commissioned by the World Economic Forum (WEF), showed.

The survey, called “Voice of the People TM”, showed that, globally, people have the least trust in politicians. Only 8 percent of the 61, 600 respondents from 60 countries, including the Philippines, said they trust their political leaders.

The survey, conducted by Gallup International from October to December 2007, represent the views of 1.5 billion global citizens. The results were released in time for next week’s WEF Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Teachers and religious leaders receive the highest score. More than one third of the global population (34%) trusted the teachers while 27 percent said they trust their religious leaders.

The WEF survey also showed that business leaders are rated more positively than politicians. Six out of ten people believe politicians are dishonest as compared to 43 percent who considered their business leaders as dishonest.

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By Jesus Llanto
Researcher

MANILA–The police will file criminal charges against 14 people—three fire safety inspectors and 11 private sector officials— for the October 19 blast at the Glorietta 2 mall in Makati City that killed 11 people and injured at least a hundred.

Chief Supt. Luizo Ticman, Southern Police District police chief and head of the multi-agency task force that investigated the blast, told a press briefing that the three fire inspectors also face civil charges along with another colleague, who was spared a criminal case.

The National Police top brass finally presented their report today that took barely three months to finish. It said that the blast was caused by two explosions: a methane explosion triggered by a spark caused by either automatic switches or other sources of ignition and a diesel explosion. Methane was produced because the sewerage system was not working properly, according to the report.

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Related Stories from Newsbreak:

• RDX not in Cosmetics and Deodorants
• What Industrial Disaster is All About
• Glorietta Blast: Blaming the Basement

Here are some of the quotes from last week events:

“I am past the age when I can claim the noun kid … but tonight we sure showed them what a comeback looks like.” –United States Senator JOHN MCCAIN in his speech after winning the Republican primary in New Hampshire. (CNN)

“I believe that the problem is that dictatorships feed extremism, and once the United States stops supporting dictators, we can successfully tackle the extremist problem as well.” — 19 year old BILAWAL BHUTTO ZARDARI, son of assassinated Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, on his first press conference in London. Bhutto slammed America’s support for Pervez Musharraf.(AP)

“He is not an intellectual, but he has the ability to select able economists and administrators to be his ministers.”–former Singaporean prime minister LEE KUAN YEW describing Suharto in his autobiography. Lee visited the Indonesia’s ailing former president Suharto in the hospital. (Reuters)

“Europe is not a question of left or right, but a question of the future or the past, of strength or weakness.”–former British Prime Minister TONY BLAIR in a conference in France. His speech, observers said, sparked speculations that he is interested for the European Union presidency. (Reuters)

It was a come-from-behind victory for both the Republican and the Democratic parties at the New Hampshire primaries. Hillary Clinton made a surprise victory gaining 39 percent of the votes from Democrats while Barack Obama, last week winner at the Iowa caucus got 36 percent. Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, trounced his Republican rivals and took 37 percent of the votes.

Reports said Clinton received huge support from women voters. An AP report said Clinton won 46 percent of the women’s vote in New Hampshire compared to Obama’s 34 percent. Analysts said that her emotional moment on Portsmouth–when she explained why she’s running for president–attracted last minute support. Here’s the video:

Meanwhile McCain’s got 37 percent of the Republican vote while Mitt Romney had 32 percent. His victory, says Associated Press writer Libby Quaid, resurrects his bid.Plus 14 years

Drink moderately. Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Exercise. Quit smoking. These are the things people should do, a British team of researcher wrote in PloS journal if they want to prolong their life for 14 years. The researchers said they interviewed 20,000 British men and women about their lifestyle from 1993-1997.

United States: Young Iowans went for ObamaBarack Obama’s efforts to woo young voters through the use of new technology in campaigning paved off on last week’s Iowa caucuses. Post-caucus reports revealed that 57 percent of Democratic caucus participants under 30 supported the Illinois senator. Young caucus participants, party officials said, comprised about 20 percent of the 239,000 participants. Participants under 30 years old account for 23 percent of the Democratic participants and 12 percent of the Republicans.

Obama acknowledged last Friday that the young Iowans were behind his success. Obama, as well as other presidential contenders, have used new technology—text messages, social networking sites like Facebook, e-mail, and campaign websites—to entice young Americans. He also has 175 student chapters.

France: Smoking Ban

France became the newest European country to impose a partial smoking ban. The law, which took effect on January 1, imposes a fine of 68 euros for people caught smoking in public places likes airports, hospitals, schools and offices. Meanwhile, smoking in private companies will be allowed only if sealed rooms have been set up for smokers. Firms who violate the ban face a fine 135 euros. A BBC report said 70 percent of the people in France and 50 percent of smokers favor the ban. Aside from France, Italy, Ireland, Sweden and Malta also implements partial or complete smoking ban.

Credits: Obama (http://www.obama.senate.gov/) No smoking (http://www.fotosearch.com/), Fruits and vegetables (http://www.flickr.com), Hillary’s video (http://www.youtube.com/)

Here are some of the quotes from last weeks events.

“People are already crying suffering and crying, we don’t need to make them cry more in a dramatic movie.”–former Philippine president JOSEPH ESTRADA as he announced his intention to make a movie comeback and to star in a comedy film. Estrada, a former actor, also said he does not have money anymore because he was in jail for six years. (Source: AFP)

I might say that as a country that had suffered from sanctions, we will be in a very difficult position when we speak about imposing sactions against another country.”– Libyan ambassador to the United Nations GIADALLA ETTALHI as Libya assumed the UN Security Council presidency last Thursday.(Source: AP)

“I am so ready for the rest of the campaign and I am so ready to lead.”–former US first lady HILLARY CLINTON after losing the Democratic nomination at the Iowa caucuses to Barack Obama. (AP)