Martin World News- little places edition

So today I thought that I might revisit an old favorite with a new twist.  We're going to take a news look at the places in each area of the earth with the smallest populations!  And believe it or not, Antarctica is not the smallest on the list!  Here we go!

Pacific- Pitcairn Island
Population 50

This is essentially a big rock the size of Central Park, halfway between Chile and Tahiti.  Which means it's hard to get to.  The reporter whose story I am using here had to wait a year to get a seat on a 9-person boat that only comes every three months to finally get there, and I kinda doubt whether it was worth it for her.  The people were not very friendly to strangers- " In one case, it took (Rhiannon, the reporter) Adam six weeks of delivering freshly-caught fish every day — gutted and scaled herself — to an elderly woman’s door, before she reluctantly exchanged words with her. 

And being the only available and desirable woman on the island was fairly telling as well.  One young gentleman (or what passes for one there) tried to talk her into the Pitcairn version of a 'drive in movie', offering her choices of 'a rock-crusher, a bulldozer, or a tractor.'  And yet, even with its history of sexual abuse and cover-up, I found that Pitcairn is 'a highly sought after destination', and one cruise line of local import is having a ship built to start regular cruises by 2022.

Thanks to British Photographic Journal.


Antarctica
Population 200 (winter)

Of course the population here is mainly polar researchers, and other that digging deep holes to find out what percent of the atmosphere was argon gas 2 million years ago, they also are trying to figure out what's up with the accelerated melting of the Thwaites Glacier.  But what struck me curious was the way they were going about it.  No, not that they were going to send down a robot submarine called the Icefin to explore a cavern roughly the size of Manhattan- but how they were getting it down there...

The MELT project scientists flew out to the Thwaites Glacier a few weeks ago and are now camped out on its eastern ice tongue. They have melted and drilled out a 20-inch-wide (50 centimeters) access hole through the ice near its grounding line, Cutler told Live Science in an email. 

Because if I wanted to know why a big hunk of ice was melting, I'd melt a hole through it too.

Thanks to LiveScience.


Atlantic- Tristan da Cunha
Population (just released today!) 247

Tristan da Cunha is a group of islands in the center of a line drawn from Uruguay to the cape of Good Hope.  Their big news of late was the daring- and apparently futile- attempt to save a killer whale that beached itself after a fight with sharks, by a pair of 13- and- 12 year old boys.

They ended up getting it back in the drink by tying it to a boat, but soon it was right back.  The next day, it had disappeared.  The Tristan da Cunha News says they will post updates as available.



Indian Ocean- Cocos (Keeling) Island
Population 538

So here we have an island group owned by Australia, but due south of Sumatra, with a mainly Malay and mostly Muslim population.  It is marketed as "Australia's last unspoiled paradise" on one site... you can find it on Google, right below the site that tells the story of a 'trash survey' that found some of the islands littered with millions of pieces of plastic and assorted junk, including "a million shoes and 373,000 toothbrushes". 

Just pull up a chair- surely there's one somewhere around here...

Europe- Vatican City
Population 799

Well, the interesting thing I found here was the 'Vatican Insider' magazine publishing their top ten people of 2019 list.  This list included the man who grabbed the pagan Earth Mother idols being used in some 'indigenous worship' deal apparently approved by the current Pope and threw them into the Tiber;  a priest who ran into the burning Cathedral of Notre Dame and saved what Catholics believe to be relics of Christ's Crown Of Thorns; a 15-year old Polish boy who stood against an LGBT crowd trying to profane an image of Mary with just a crucifix he held aloft...

Oh, and Victor Orban, the right wing leader of Hungary who opposes George Soros and wants to shut Angela Merkel's  spigot of Muslim refugees off.  And, somehow, Kanye West.





Australia area- Norfolk Island
Population 1,756

Norfolk sits between Australia and New Zealand, and is known for its Norfolk Island pine trees.  It has also been known for a surprising way to get rid of its trash...

For decades, the remote island's official policy was to burn used cars and push them off a steep cliff into marine park waters, and unlike most mainland communities there is no household bin collection service.

Well, now local government has stopped (most) of this practice, shipping junk cars back to Australia.  But, that causes the next problem...

...cars are piling up, waiting on that trip to Australia, and some residents are a bit fed of it...

As a descendent of the original Bounty mutineers, Jim Taverner is passionate about his tiny rock in the Pacific.

"Put the cars back out in the ocean, let them break down and make a reef for the fish at a lot cheaper cost," Mr Taverner said.

Thanks ABC.net.

South America- Falklands
Population 3,198

Bad news here is on Sea Lion Island, an endangered penguin rookery, lost 180 out of 214 chicks during a January storm.  The remainder, not mature but old enough that the parents aren't looking after them anymore, are 'not doing so great'.

Thanks MercoPress.

Caribbean- Montserrat 
Population 4,989


This British territory didn't have much to give me, despite an active newspapaer online.  Whether you hit local, regional, or national, you get the same three stories- the Saturday earthquake in Puerto Rico, an alliance of Caribbean nations called CARICOM being mad that some of them were invited to a meeting with VP Mike Pence and others weren't; and that House vote that restricted Trump's war powers.  Methinks these terms don't mean the same to y'all...


Arctic- Faroe Islands
Population 52,122

Think, "What can I stick in that blank spot between Iceland, Scotland, and Norway", and you have the Faroes.  They have the big green news- their first Solar panel park.

From Climates To Travel:  "On the Faroe Islands, there is not much sun. Cloudy skies are the norm, however, the sun is relatively more frequent from April to July.  Yep, yer tax dollars, er, krones, at work...

Asia- South Ossetia
Population 53,532

Those of us old enough to remember the war between Russia and Georgia (the one by the Caspian Sea, not the one surrounding Atlanta) might recall that that war was over this little chunk of nothing wanting to break away from Georgia and join with their fellow terrorists Ossetians in Russia (who wanted to break away from Russia).  So apparently the latest is that Georgia erected a wooden observation tower to look into SO, which caused SO to declare a travel ban into the rest of Georgia (backed up by the Russian occupiers who are still there out of the kindness of their hearts), which has led Amnesty International to stick their noses in and demand the ban be dropped.  Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin belches and rubs his tummy.


Africa- Sao Tome and Principe
Population 201,784

This nation is a couple of islands and assorted rocks just under the Atlantic armpit of Africa.  And the latest news from there involves a dust-up between what passes for a government and one  Dr Isabel de Santiago from Lisbon University.  The government has filed a complaint against her for "lying."  Her lie?  Her  report - which has not been published yet - says some children are drinking alcohol because they don't have access to milk or portable water.  It criticizes the government for imposing taxes on milk imports, while promoting the purchase of alcoholic drinks like wine from overseas.

And finally...

North America- Belize
Population 408,487

So what's up in this little slice of Central America with a population about what the other places we hit are combined? Well, the first two local stories start with, "Another suspected drug plane found", and "Another weekend murder".  Welcome to another weekend in Ft Wayne, sounds like...