|
In July next year Swiss foundation New Seven Wonders is going to announce the list of the seven wonders of the contemporary world. Among them may be the city of Rio de Janeiro, the Ruins of Petra, in Jordan and the Pyramids of Giza, in Egypt, the only one of the original seven wonders that still exists.
The marvels will be chosen by popular vote in a process that has the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The vote is already open and votes may be placed on the site of the New Seven Wonders foundation up to January 2007. In total, 21 sites have been chosen as finalists, also through a vote that took place last year. Apart form the Arab and Brazilian sites, other competitors include the Ruins of the Acropolis, in Greece; Alhambra, in Spain; Angkor, in Cambodia; the Basilica of Saint Sophia, Turkey; Castle Neuschwanstein Füssen, in Germany; Chichén Itzá, in Mexico; the Coliseum, in Rome and the Statue of Liberty, in the United States. The list also includes the Statues of Easter Island, in Chile; the Great Wall of China; the Kremlin, in Moscow; the Ruins of Machu Picchu, in Peru; the Sydney Opera House, in Australia; Stonehenge - Amesbury, in the United Kingdom; the Taj Mahal in India, Temple Kiyomizu-dera-Kyoto, in Japan; Timbuktu, in Mali, and the Eiffel Tower, in France. The objective of the competition is to attract world attention to preservation of historic icons. The Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur) is working on a campaign for the election of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian Tourism Portal, for example, includes a banner explaining the competition and a step-by-step guide explaining how to vote. According to a spokesperson for Embratur, the possibility of choosing Rio de Janeiro may also be an opportunity to promote tourism in the country. Rio de Janeiro, known as the Marvellous City, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Brazil, especially among foreign tourists. Apart from the famous beaches, like Ipanema and Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro has the statue of the Christ Redeemer, on top of Corcovado hill, and Tijuca National Park, the largest natural reservation in a city in the country. The city also still conserves part of the sumptuous and imposing architecture from the time when it was the Federal capital, up to 1960. Rio de Janeiro also has other attractions like cultural centers, museums, churches, famous candy shops and trams, as well as an intensive cultural agenda. The city has a population of 5.9 million inhabitants and each year promotes a samba school parade at Carnaval, which has become one of the greatest spectacles of Brazilian popular culture. The pyramids of Giza, which are also running for marvels of the contemporary world, are in the first place among the seven wonders of the ancient world. There are three pyramids, built to serve as tombs for the kings of Ancient Egypt. The largest, which is 147 meters tall, was built by king Khufu, or Cheops, in around 2,550 b.C. The other two were built by his son, Khafre, and grandson, Menkaure. The story is that it took 100,000 men and 20 years to build the Great Pyramid. The ruins of Petra, in Jordan, which are also running for election at the Swiss foundation, were the most important archaeological site in the country. Petra was controlled by the Edomites and Nabateans, before becoming a dominion of the Romans, in the year 106. Considered a site protected by the Gods, Petra was a prosperous city due to being an important route to the Mediterranean and Red seas. Petra is currently famous for its monuments that still persist sculpted in the rock, most made by the Nabateans. To vote and choose among the seven wonders of the modern world, enter site www.new7wonders.com. Anba
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.
- 600 or so favelas ?
- a dangerous and violent city with one of the highest crime rate....in the world ?
Yessssss.... !
Do you consider this as one of the seventh wonder in the world ??????
Again you hide and lie on the the sad reality !!!!!