In Italy, many people shake hands with their neighbours at church as a sign of peace. However, the outburst of swine flu in Italy has prompted many churches to abolish this peaceful gesture in order to avoid hand-to-hand contact. It’s interesting to see how creative we get in these kinds of situations. A guy in Northern Italy, for example, has invented a very successful “safe holy water dispenser” – the machine lets a few drops of water fall into your hands so you don’t have to dip your fingers into the holy water bowl, which can be a breeding ground for germs.
Paola from Torino, Italy
Italy, religion, Swine flu
The German elections are less than two months away, and in times like these, with a global economic crisis, increasing unemployment and swine flu, the public are really looking to politicians for answers. Until recently, however, people have been pretty unimpressed with what the potential candidates have had to say and have been rapidly losing interest. That is, until one man showed up and changed it all.
Horst Schlaemmer is a small town journalist who decided to run for election. He wants to become Bundeskanzler (head of the German federal government). Horst Schlaemmer is the alter ego of German comedian (yes, they do exist!) Hape Kerkeling who appeared successfully in an award-winning campaign for VW. His first press conference was broadcasted live on all major news channels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWD_gf3wkkE
And it looks like his campaign is unstoppable. According to latest polls, 18 per cent of the people think it’s actually for real and want to vote for him. Surely this should make the other candidates question their own approach …
Daniel from Hamburg, Germany
Bundeskanzler, candidates, German elections, Germany, global economic crisis, Horst Schlaemmer, Swine flu, unemployment