Laissez-Faire Social Club

MEGACITIES: HONG KONG PART 3 OF 3 A Megacity is usually defined as a recognized metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people. Some definitions also set a minimum level for population density (at least 2,000 persons/square km). A megacity can be a single metropolitan area or two or more metropolitan areas that converge upon one another. The term metacity is also sometimes used to describe cities with more than 20 million people. In 1800 only 3% of the world's population lived in cities. By the 20th century's close, 47% did so. In 1950, there were 83 cities with populations exceeding one million; but by 2007, this had risen to 468 agglomerations of more than one million. If the trend continues, the world's urban population will double every 38 years, say researchers. The UN forecasts that today's urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five people will live in cities. The increase will be most dramatic in the poorest and least-urbanised continents, Asia and Africa. Surveys and projections indicate that all urban growth over the next 25 years will be in developing countries. One billion people, one-sixth of the world's population, now live in shanty towns, which are seen as "breeding grounds" for social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, poverty and unemployment. In many poor countries overpopulated slums exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in slums. Already over 90% of the urban population of Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, three of the world's most rural countries, live in slums. In 2000, there were 18 megacities – conurbations such as Tokyo, Mexico City, Bombay, Sao Paulo and New York City – that have populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35 million, more than the entire population of Canada.

MEGACITIES: PARIS PART 3 OF 3 A Megacity is usually defined as a recognized metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people. Some definitions also set a minimum level for population density (at least 2,000 persons/square km). A megacity can be a single metropolitan area or two or more metropolitan areas that converge upon one another. The term metacity is also sometimes used to describe cities with more than 20 million people. In 1800 only 3% of the world's population lived in cities. By the 20th century's close, 47% did so. In 1950, there were 83 cities with populations exceeding one million; but by 2007, this had risen to 468 agglomerations of more than one million. If the trend continues, the world's urban population will double every 38 years, say researchers. The UN forecasts that today's urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five people will live in cities. The increase will be most dramatic in the poorest and least-urbanised continents, Asia and Africa. Surveys and projections indicate that all urban growth over the next 25 years will be in developing countries. One billion people, one-sixth of the world's population, now live in shanty towns, which are seen as "breeding grounds" for social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, poverty and unemployment. In many poor countries overpopulated slums exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in slums. Already over 90% of the urban population of Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, three of the world's most rural countries, live in slums. In 2000, there were 18 megacities – conurbations such as Tokyo, Mexico City, Bombay, Sao Paulo and New York City – that have populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35 million, more than the entire population of Canada.

MEGACITIES: PARIS PART 2 OF 3 Paris is the capital city of France. It is situated on the River Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region ("Région parisienne"). The City of Paris has an estimated population of 2,153,600 within its administrative limits. The Paris unité urbaine (similar to the North American "urban area") is an area of unbroken urban growth that extends well beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 9.93 million. A commuter belt around the same completes the Paris aire urbaine (similar to the North American "metropolitan area") that, with its population of 12 million, is one of the most populated areas of its kind in Europe. An important settlement for more than two millennia, Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centers, and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. With over 30 million foreign visitors per year, Paris is the most popular tourist destination in the world. The city hosts numerous iconic landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame cathedral, the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur, the Invalides, the Panthéon, the Grande Arche and the Opéra Garnier among its many attractions, along with world famous institutions such as the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, and popular parks like Disneyland Resort Paris.

MEGACITIES: NEW YORK PART 2 OF 3 New York or New York City (officially The City of New York) is a city in the state of New York, and is the most populous city in the United States. New York is today one of the world's leading business, financial and cultural centres and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the major global cities. As the home of the United Nations, the city is a hub for international diplomacy. New York City comprises five boroughs, each of which is coterminous with a county: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. With over 8.2 million residents within an area of 322 square miles (830 km²), New York City is the most densely populated major city in North America. The New York metropolitan area, with a population of nearly 22 million, ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. The city has many neighborhoods and landmarks known around the world. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan, has been a dominant global financial center since World War II and is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The city has been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building (standing 1,453 feet 8 9/16 inches from the base to the top of the lightning rod) and the former twin towers of the World Trade Center (collapsed september 11,2001). The city is the birthplace of many American cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, abstract expressionism (also known as the New York School) in painting, and hip hop along with the Tin Pan Alley in music. In 2005, nearly 170 languages were spoken in the city and 36 percent of its population was foreign born. Because of areas like Times Square, New York has earned the nickname "The City that Never Sleeps".

MEGACITIES: LONDON PART 3 OF 3 A Megacity is usually defined as a recognized metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people. Some definitions also set a minimum level for population density (at least 2,000 persons/square km). A megacity can be a single metropolitan area or two or more metropolitan areas that converge upon one another. The term metacity is also sometimes used to describe cities with more than 20 million people. In 1800 only 3% of the world's population lived in cities. By the 20th century's close, 47% did so. In 1950, there were 83 cities with populations exceeding one million; but by 2007, this had risen to 468 agglomerations of more than one million. If the trend continues, the world's urban population will double every 38 years, say researchers. The UN forecasts that today's urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five people will live in cities. The increase will be most dramatic in the poorest and least-urbanised continents, Asia and Africa. Surveys and projections indicate that all urban growth over the next 25 years will be in developing countries. One billion people, one-sixth of the world's population, now live in shanty towns, which are seen as "breeding grounds" for social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, poverty and unemployment. In many poor countries overpopulated slums exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. By 2030, over 2 billion people in the world will be living in slums. Already over 90% of the urban population of Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, three of the world's most rural countries, live in slums. In 2000, there were 18 megacities – conurbations such as Tokyo, Mexico City, Bombay, Sao Paulo and New York City – that have populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35 million, more than the entire population of Canada.

MEGACITIES: LONDON PART 2 OF 3 London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and the constituent country of England. The ancient City of London to which the name originally belonged still retains its mediaeval boundaries; but the name "London" has long applied more generally to the whole metropolis which has grown up around it. An important settlement for around two millennia, London is today one of the world's leading business, financial and cultural centres, and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the major global cities. London is the most populous city within city limits in the European Union with an official population of 7.5 million (as of mid-2006) and has a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million people. Its diverse population draws from a wide range of peoples, cultures and religions, speaking over 300 different languages. It is an international transport hub, with five international airports and a large port. It serves as the largest aviation hub in the world and its main airport, the multi-terminal Heathrow, carries more international passengers than any other airport in the world. It also has Europe's largest underground railway system when measured by route length. London is a major tourist destination, with four world heritage sites and numerous iconic landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye among its many attractions, along with famous institutions such as the British Museum and the National Gallery. Its main geographical feature is the River Thames which runs through the city from the south-west to the east.

BUDDHA BAR: NATURE PART 2 OF 3 After the ever-successful Buddha Bar CDs (the 7th was released in February 2005), it seemed logical to turn our attention to images. The result is the first Buddha Bar DVD – CD. Why did we choose the theme of nature? Quite simply, it corresponds to the “Buddha Bar spirit”, it allows us to use some exceptional images and it is one of the major concerns of the 21st century. For nearly a year, Allain Bougrain Dubourg, known for his television documentaries about nature across the world, and Arno Elias, whose talent as a composer is also widely recognised, set to work between Paris and Miami to produce 12 pieces of music that lead us on a visual journey through the wild world of nature. A marvellous spectacle of animal and plant life awaits... From dolphins dancing amidst the waves to tropical forests and an attack by a leopard, this Buddha Bar Nature DVD is bursting with emotions (500 hours of images were selected to make it!). But quite apart from this invitation to travel, the whole of the Buddha Bar team responsible for creating this first DVD hopes that the beauty of the wildlife depicted will remind us also of its fragility, and therefore of the respect that we owe it.

BUDDHA BAR: NATURE PART 1 OF 3 Buddha-Bar is known for producing down-tempo electronic music culled from sources all over the world. Esteemed nature documentarian Allain Bourgrain Dubourg teamed up with composer Arno Elias to produce this stunning sensory journey through nature. Buddha-Bar's intelligent, relaxing electronica combines with natural imagery taken from around the world in a perfect blend of sight and sound. Breathtaking footage of dolphins frolicking, tropical forests, and even a leopard attack accompanies 12 musical pieces of striking variety, beauty, and innovation. The makers of this audiovisual delight are hopeful that their work will raise our awareness of nature's fragility, and our determination to preserve its beauty.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN IRAN: PILGRIMAGE TO KARBALA PART 4 of 4 Karbala is a city in Iraq, located about 100 km southwest of Baghdad at 32.61°N, 44.08°E. In the time of Husayn ibn Alī's life, the place was also known as al-Ghadiriyah, Naynawa & Shathi'ul-Furaat. The estimated population in 2003 was 572,300 people. It is the capital of Karbala Province. Shi'a Muslims consider Karbala to be one of their holiest cities after Makkah, Madinah, Jerusalem and Najaf. The city is best known as the location of the Battle of Karbala. The city is one of Iraq's wealthiest, profiting both from religious visitors and agricultural produce, especially dates. It is made up of two districts, "Old Karbala," the religious centre, and "New Karbala," the residential district containing Islamic schools and government buildings. At the centre of the old city is the Masjid Al-Husayn, the tomb of Husayn ibn ˤAlī, grandson of the Prophet Muħammad by his daughter Fatimah az-Zahra and Alī ibn Abu-Taalib. Husayn's tomb is a place of pilgrimage for many Shīa Muslims, especially on the anniversary of the battle, the Day of Āshūrā. Many elderly pilgrims travel there to await death, as they believe the tomb to be one of the gates to paradise. On April 14, 2007, a car bomb exploded about 200 yards from the shrine, killing 47 and wounding over 150. Another focal point of the Shīˤa pilgrimage to Karbala is al-Makhayam, traditionally believed to be the location of Hussayn's camp, where the martyrdom of Hussayn and his followers is publicly commemorated.On April 28th a bomb exploded killing 55 people from which three of them were Mumineen Men. The city's association with Shīa Islām have made it a centre of religious instruction as well as worship; it has more than 100 mosques and 23 religious schools, of which possibly the most famous is that of Ibn Fahid, constructed some 440 years ago.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN IRAN: PILGRIMAGE TO KARBALA PART 2 of 4 -Reviews- "An extraordinary road movie. Beautifully filmed and essential viewing" The Times "Intelligent, articulate, passionate, this was an extraordinary humane portrait" The Daily Telegraph "An insight into an intriguing culture" The Guardian "…learn more about Shia-Sunni fratricide than any of our newspapers have told us." NYMAG "It's a proper film, photographed with grace and style, edited for the thoughtful viewer, with beautiful, haunting background music rooted in the musical traditions of Persia and Iran." The Calgary Herald Nominated - Grierson Awards 2007, Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue

ONCE UPON A TIME IN IRAN: PILGRIMAGE TO KARBALA PART 1 of 4 In 680 AD at Karbala, in deserts of Iraq, Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Husayn was killed – butchered alongside almost all of his family. Their heads were put on stakes and delivered to the evil tyrant, Yazid. Today many Iranians believe there is a new Yazid in the world. His name is George Bush. Two hundred years later, at Samarra, also in modern-day Iraq, a six year old boy attends the funeral of his father, and goes into hiding. Shi’a Muslims believe that he is still in hiding, waiting to return at the end of the world. They call him the Hidden Imam. In the summer of 2006, on the eve of the birthday of the Hidden Imam, a bus full of pilgrims left Tehran in Iran on the dangerous journey to Karbala in Iraq. Once Upon a Time in Iran follows this breath-taking journey – a spiritual and emotional roller-coaster - to reveal how these two ancient crimes - a massacre and the disappearance of a little boy – became the founding legends of Shi’a Islam and still shape the dangerous world of the Middle – East today. Once Upon a Time in Iran is a film about the power of stories. Behind the headlines that read ‘The Axis of Evil’ and ‘The New Hitler’, the pilgrims reveal the real story of the Iranian Nuclear Crisis: another text that reads Husayn and the Hidden Imam. And a more forbidding truth, that in Karbala, Iranians believe they already have a secret weapon far more powerful than the Atom Bomb. Producer: Rebecca Dobbs Director: Kevin Sim

IPOD TOUCH iPod is a brand of portable media player designed and marketed by Apple and launched in October 2001. The line-up currently consists of the original style hard drive-based flagship iPod classic, the premium iPhone-like iPod touch, the mid-level video-capable iPod nano, and the low-end screenless iPod shuffle. Former products include the compact iPod mini (replaced by the iPod nano) and the high-end spin-off iPod photo (re-integrated into the main iPod classic line). The current iPod classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other current models use flash memory to enable their smaller size. Like many digital music players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices. Apple's iTunes software is used to transfer music to the devices. As a jukebox application, iTunes stores a music library on the user's computer and can play, burn, and rip music from a CD. It also transfers photos, videos, games, and calendars to those iPod models that support them. Apple focused its development on the iPod's unique user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability. As of April 2007, the iPod had sold over 100 million units worldwide, making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history.

AFGHANISTAN: WAR WITHOUT END PART 3 OF 3 -Al-Qaida- Al-Qaida is an international alliance of militant Sunni jihadist organizations. Its roots can be traced back to Osama bin Laden and others around the time of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. Al-Qaeda's objectives include the end of foreign influence in Muslim countries and the creation of a new Islamic caliphate. Al-Qaeda has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United Nations Security Council,the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland. Its affiliates have executed attacks against targets in various countries, the most prominent being the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Northern Virginia. Following the September 11 attacks, the United States government launched a broad military and intelligence campaign known as the War on Terrorism, with the stated aim of dismantling al-Qaeda and killing or capturing its operatives. Due to its structure of semi-autonomous cells, al-Qaeda's size and degree of responsibility for particular attacks are difficult to establish. However, this may also be because its size and degree are exaggerated. Although the governments opposed to al-Qaeda claim that it has worldwide reach, other analysts have suggested that those governments, as well as Osama bin Laden himself, exaggerate al-Qaeda's significance in Islamist terrorism. The neologism "al-Qaedaism" is applied to the wider context of those who independently conduct similar acts through political sympathy to al-Qaeda ideology or methods or the copycat effect.

AFGHANISTAN: WAR WITHOUT END PART 2 OF 3 -Taliban- The Taliban are an extremist and ethnic fundamentalist Sunni Muslim Pashtun movement that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1995 until 2001, when their leaders were removed from power by a cooperative military effort between the United States, Great Britain and the Northern Alliance. Committed fundamentalist insurgents, often described as "Taliban" in the media, originating in the Frontier Tribal Areas of Pakistan, are currently engaged in a protracted guerrilla war and terrorist campaign against the current government of Afghanistan and allied NATO forces. The movement was headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar. Beneath him were "a mixture of former small-unit military commanders, Madrasah teachers, and a small group of snivelling worm-toungues" and then a rank and file most of whom had studied in Islamic religious schools in Pakistan. The overwhelming majority of Taliban movement were Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, along with a small number of volunteers from Eurasia to China. The Taliban received valuable training, supplies and arms from the Pakistani government, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and many recruits from Madrasahs for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, primarily ones established by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam JUI. Although in control of Afghanistan's capital (Kabul) and much or most of the country for five years, the Taliban regime, or "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Human rights abuses denied it United Nations recognition and most world's states, including Iran, India, Turkey, Russia, USA and most Central Asian republics opposed the Taliban and aided its rival (Afghan Northern Alliance).

AFGHANISTAN: WAR WITHOUT END PART 1 OF 3 Veteran broadcaster Sandy Gall recounts the history of Afghanistan from the time of Alexander the Great to the Taliban. A long and turbulent journey of invasion and resistance. It is probable that there were well-developed civilizations in S Afghanistan in prehistoric times, but the archaeological record is not clear. Certainly cultures had flourished in the north and east before the Persian king Darius I (c.500 BC;) conquered these areas. Later, Alexander the Great conquered (329-327 BC;) them on his way to India. After Alexander's death (323 BC;) the region at first was part of the Seleucid empire. In the north, Bactria became independent, and the south was acquired by the Maurya dynasty. Bactria expanded southward but fell (mid-2d cent. BC;) to the Parthians and rebellious tribes (notably the Saka). Buddhism was introduced from the east by the Yüechi, who founded the Kushan dynasty (early 2d cent. BC;). Their capital was Peshawar. The Kushans declined (3d cent. AD;) and were supplanted by the Sassanids, the Ephthalites, and the Turkish Tu-Kuie.