MANNAM Peace News : S. Korea's Incheon city named World Book Capital for 2015

S. Korea's Incheon city named 
     World Book Capital for 2015

via Incheon's municipal internet news : http://enews.incheon.go.kr

INCHEON, July 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's western port city of Incheon has been chosen to be the World Book Capital for 2015 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), city officials said Saturday.

Incheon, just west of Seoul, assumed the title after the Selection Committee composed of experts representing the book industry and the U.N. agency met earlier this week in Paris, France.


World Book Capital is a title bestowed by UNESCO to a city in recognition of the quality of its programs to promote books and reading and the dedication of all players in the book industry.
The designation runs from UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day (April 23) of one year until April 22 of the following year.

The success of World Book and Copyright Day, launched in 1996, encouraged UNESCO to develop the concept of World Book Capital City, selecting Madrid as the Capital for 2001. This was again a success, and so UNESCO's General Conference resolved to make the designation of a World Book Capital City an annual event.

UNESCO invited the International Publishers Association, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and the International Booksellers Federation to participate in the nomination process, to ensure the three major branches of the book industry can participate in the decision.
The nomination does not include any financial prize; it rather acknowledges the best programmes dedicated to books and reading.

Yonhap News Agency
Wikipedia_my favorite!

+
Who read books nowdays since we have such brand-new high-tech electronic tools!
Isn't it way faster to collect hot news by such electronics?
Waaaaaayyyyyyy better and faster, don't you think so?

BUT I love the smell from books, turning over pages of books, making time for reading, having coffee for reading, putting some book I havent finished yet at my bedside...
More over I so like the idea I can communicate with many many writers from all over the world via reading what they wrote to understand them, the world and YOU.
Since I believe communication with better understanding each other leads world peace :)

So I am glad :)

MANNAM peace news : Run for Peace(2)

He's been running all his life, running for freedom, running for peace.


 A tour of Iran\'s leisure landscape A tour of Iran's leisure landscape
"I was much more comfortable," he said. 
"I was running and exercising every day. I also worked as a mechanic on the officers' cars once they realized I wasn't a threat."

Baluchi says running kept him sane during his imprisonment. Once released, he returned to the cycling team. Baluchi and his teammates traveled to Germany for competition.
"At that point, I never wanted to go back to Iran," Baluchi said.
He spent the next four years competing with the German cycling team. 
Baluchi was taken aback by the level of admiration and respect he received. He had little education, no income and would sleep wherever he could lay his head.
Once he was granted a German passport, he set out for other destinations. With only a backpack and his bicycle, he steered clear of transportation by car or train for fear of getting caught. 
He says he stopped frequently to help the homeless, despite his own very limited resources.

"While in Morocco I rode by this old man who had torn-up shoes tied onto his feet," Baluchi said. "I gave him my own shoes and the only $2 I had left. Anything that I had, besides my bike, I would give away."
On another African stop, Baluchi says he spent a day rebuilding the roof of a damaged school. 
He says he made friends everywhere he went, and they took care of him as well. 
A Portuguese family gave him $2,000, which he mailed to Iran for his family. And a Colombian dentist fixed his teeth for no charge.
His life on the road -- running in a security vest adorned with the American and Iranian flags -- took him from China to Panama, France and New Zealand -- 55 countries in all. 
Communicating the message of love and peace.
Eighty-five flat tires later, Baluchi arrived at the U.S. border in Monterrey, Mexico, asking for a visa to enter America.
 After waiting three months with no document, Baluchi says he got lost while riding his bike in the desert.
"I was 27 miles in Arizona and I had no idea," he said. 
"I was awakened one morning by a helicopter hovering over my tent. It was border patrol. When they told me I was actually in the U.S. I started crying."
It was a year after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, and a Middle Eastern man riding alone in the desert might raise suspicions.

"I started speaking German, hoping they wouldn't know my nationality. Once the officer searched my tent and saw one of the newspaper headlines 'Iranian Runs Around the World for Peace,' he jumped back and put his hand on his gun."
Until my heart stops beating, I'll keep running for peace"


+
What I've learnt is 'never give up'.
Since I have been into peace, I've met countless people who don't seem positive about achievement of world peace.
I know they've tried a lot(not everyone though) and a kind of failed to get what they longed for which is world peace.
But we are human being.
What does 'being' mean?
Its active, not like a spot(sometimes I love English by knowing how letters work together).

Let's be being!:)

+
I am totally lost at this article in BBC news website.
Can anybody find this article's address to share such this cool story with many people?
That would be so great(at the same time that would prove how I can be silly .......only sometimes..).

MANNAM peace news : Run for Peace(1)

He's been running all his life, running for freedom, running for peace.

It started when he ran away from home at the age of eight. 
Later he ran away from his homeland, Iran, and spent seven years on a bicycle, pedaling 49,700 miles across 55 countries.

In 2002, he reached America. 
He now lives in a tent in Death Valley.
It's been nearly 10 years since Reza Baluchi escaped from Iran. 
He has run across the United States twice and around its perimeter once. 
He sets out on every journey with the same mission: to spread a message of world peace.

Baluchi plans to begin his next extended run in Israel and finish atop the highest peak on earth -- Mount Everest. 
His route will take him through the Middle East, including Iran. 
He'd be going home for the first time since escaping on his bike.

"I got tired of having no freedom," he said. 
"I would wear a t-shirt and they would stop me. I'd grow out my hair and they'd make me cut it. I traveled out of the country with the cycling team and never came back."

Baluchi grew up in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, the youngest of eight children including a brother permanently traumatized by his service in the Iran-Iraq war. 
His family barely made a living from their rice farm. 
He would run seven miles to school, and back home, every day.

Baluchi ran away from home after upsetting his mother and getting a beating. He fled on foot, running more than 300 miles to Isfahan where he stayed with his aunt and uncle and continued his schooling. 
Despite his young age, Baluchi helped support that family by working as a mechanic, running another 14 miles to work after class each day.

His athletic abilities didn't go unnoticed; he was recruited to join the national cycling team at 14. 
Baluchi cycled and won numerous competitions through his teen years.

He also fell away from Islam, the state-sponsored religion of Iran. 
He says he was a peaceful activist -- and got in trouble for associating with dissidents. 
At 19, he was arrested by a government militia known as the Basij for eating during Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims are expected to fast. 
Baluchi was wearing a Michael Jackson t-shirt and carrying "banned pre-revolutionary videotape" -- a romantic movie.

He says he spent the next 45 days imprisoned in a torture cell.
"Every day they tortured me," Baluchi said. 
"They broke my shoulder; I cried. 
They would hit me with a baton and burn me with skewers."

He says he was frequently beaten unconscious and, on some occasions, hung from a tree by his wrists.
"My hands had turned completely black from the dead blood; I thought I would have to cut them off. Every day I prayed that I die. Every day I would cry. I thought it would be better if they just killed me so I wouldn't have to suffer."
After questioning his family and investigating his intentions, Baluchi says the Basij deemed him essentially harmless. 
He was removed from the torture cell, and spent the next 18 months jailed under less threatening conditions.

MANNAM peace news : Mandela’s progress ‘remarkable’ as world celebrates his 95th birthday

South Africa: Mandela’s progress ‘remarkable’ as world celebrates his 95th birthday

Outside the hospital in Pretoria where the former president is being treated, 

well-wishers reached for balloons bearing his image.

via BBC news

The health of former president Nelson Mandela is “steadily improving”, while Barack Obama sends his family’s wishes for Madiba’s 95th birthday.
“Madiba remains in hospital in Pretoria, but his doctors have confirmed that his health is steadily improving,” spokesperson Mac Maharaj said in a statement.

Mandela was admitted into a Pretoria hospital on June 8 with a recurrent lung infection.
Until now, his condition has been described as critical but stable.

Zuma said: “On behalf of government and all the people of South Africa, we wish Madiba a joyous 95th birthday … We are proud to call this international icon our own as South Africans and wish him good health.”
Zindzi Mandela said her father was making “remarkable” progress in hospital.
“He responds very well …  with his eyes, and he nods and sometimes he lifts his hand like to shake your hand,” she told Britain’s Sky News on Wednesday.
‘He continues to amaze us’ “There was a time that we were all extremely anxious and worried, and we were prepared for the worst,” said Zindzi. “But he continues to amaze us every day.”
“We thank all our people for supporting Madiba throughout the hospitalisation with undying love and compassion,” said President Jacob Zuma on Thursday.
“We also thank all for responding to the call to give Madiba the biggest birthday celebration ever this year.”

Last week, former president Thabo Mbeki also suggested Mandela might be discharged from hospital soon.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama paid warm tribute to Mandela for his birthday.

Obama’s message came as admirers around the world prepared to honour the former South African president’s legacy with a wave of charitable acts.
Obama, who visited South Africa last month but was unable to see Mandela because of his illness, was fulsome in his praise of the former statesman.
“Our family was deeply moved by our visit to Madiba’s former cell on Robben Island during our recent trip to South Africa, and we will forever draw strength and inspiration from his extraordinary example of moral courage, kindness, and humility,” Obama said in a statement.

Mandela Day In 2009, July 18 was declared as Mandela Day to honour the former statesman, with people encouraged to dedicate 67 minutes of their time to nation-building and charity in recognition of his service towards securing democracy and restoring human dignity.
Obama called on people to honour the elderly leader by taking part in Nelson Mandela Day on Thursday, when admirers around the world will uphold his legacy with charitable acts.
Biker gangs will clean the streets, volunteers will paint schools and politicians will spend 67 minutes on worthy projects – all to mark Mandela’s 67 years of public service.

In Danville, Pretoria, Zuma himself will try to channel Mandela’s cross-community appeal by delivering government housing to poor whites.
Children in schools around the country will kick off the day by singing “Happy Birthday” to the former prisoner, who also marks 15th anniversary of his marriage to third wife Graça Machel.
The government will also host a ceremony for the symbolic handing over of Mandela’s new high-tech ID card, which will be received by Zindzi.
The event is laden with symbolism in a country where apartheid was enforced by pass books, which black citizens were forced to carry and which limited movement to certain areas at certain times.

‘Make the world a better place’ Global luminaries, pop stars and ordinary people around the world have joined South Africans in pledging support for Mandela on his birthday.
“I will also be giving my 67 minutes to make the world a better place, one small step at a time,” UK business magnate Richard Branson vowed in a recorded message.

In Manila, capital of the Philippines, 50 abandoned street children will get a television studio tour and see performances by local artists.
On Saturday, the Australian city of Melbourne will hold a concert featuring local and African artists, while a music festival later this year in Norway will promote equality in schools.

Negotiating the end to apartheid Born on July 18,1918, Mandela fought against minority rule in South Africa as a young lawyer and was convicted of treason in 1964.

He spent the next 27 years in jail.
It was in part through his willingness to forgive his white jailers that Mandela made his indelible mark on history.
After negotiating an end to apartheid, he became South Africa’s first black president, drawing a line under centuries of colonial and racist suppression.
He then led reconciliation in the deeply divided country.

Mandela’s peace-making spirit has won him worldwide respect.
“Never before in history was one human being so universally acknowledged in his lifetime as the embodiment of magnanimity and reconciliation as Nelson Mandela,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, himself a Nobel Peace laureate.
But the sunset of Mandela’s life has been somewhat eclipsed by bitter infighting among his relatives.

A row over his final resting place has seen three of his children’s graves dug up and their remains moved amid public brawling and legal action among his children and grandchildren. – Sapa, Reuters

Children waved South African flags at the Milton Mbekela school in the village of Qunu, Mr Mandela's boyhood home.

via BBC news

via:http://www.muslimnews.co.uk

+
The news was written in Muslimnews,
Photos taken are full of African people,
Korean girl is posting this to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 95 birthday.
How powerful a peace maker is?
How credible a peace leader can change the world?
How important to have a peace activist in the world?
Africa and more of Africa need him to have peace.
Then who can be the next candidate who can reach out the whole world with inner and outer PEACE?
The sole divided country, South Korea has a right to tell PEACE.
And this such country has the answer.

MANNAM : Word has peace and touches people's heart : Thich Nhat Hanh and peace advocate, Man Hee Lee

Everyday we do things, we are things that have to do with peace.
If we are aware of our life, our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh
via http://records.photodharma.net/

Thích Nhất Hạnh(born October 11, 1926) is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist. 
He lives in the Plum Village Monastery in the Dordogne region in the South of France, travelling internationally to give retreats and talks. 
He coined the term Engaged Buddhism in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. 
A long-term exile, he was given permission to make his first return trip to Vietnam in 2005.

Nhất Hạnh has published more than 100 books, including more than 40 in English. 
Nhat Hanh is active in the peace movement, promoting non-violent solutions to conflict.

Man Hee Lee
via Stevens Lee's blog

Lee was born into a farming family in Gyeongbuk Cheongdo, on September 15, 1931, and claims to be the descendant of royalty from the Joseon Dynasty. His name was given to him by his grandfather, who had supposedly dreamt of a light emerging from the heavens before Lee was born. Lee was thus named "Man Hee (Hanja: 萬熙)", which means a complete and perfect light.


+
peace activist...
Peace leader..
Peace maker..
Peace advocate..

In the present age, who is the true PEACE ADVOCATE?

MANNAM peace news : Peace has been happening in DMZ, South Korea.

: Benchmarking German Berlin Mauerpark

via Donga News

South Korea government led by the president, Gun-Hye Park is in the process of benchmarking Berlin Mauerpark in Germany to build DMZ world peace park 
South Korea government officials referred "South Korea DMZ world peace park will be benchmarked by Berlin Mauerpark in Germany".
Berlin Mauerpark is the biggest peace park in Berlin is built in 300m from the Berlin Wall.

Mauerpark
via http://www.wasistlandschaft.de

Gi-ung Son, the president of South Korea DMZ society said Morokulien Peace Park is the first world peace park built in 1914 at the border between Norway and Sweden after the war between Norway and Sweden in 1910.

Morokulien peace park
via change on borders

Gun-hye Park has a special interest in Germany since this such country has faithful relationship with North Korea and she considers Angela Dorothea Merke, German Prime Minister as the closest international political personage.


+Some people might say "The day of absolute peace seems to be latter Lammas in the Korean Peninsula".
But well figure out what's going on here :)
I will post the 10th Cheorwon DMZ International Peace marathon in 8th, Sept in South Korea this year.
I will gladly join this marathon competition with full of heart for PEACE ;)
You can simply join me! 

MANNAM peace : Pray For Syria

Syria Conflict Kills Over 5,000 Children
              'Pray For Syria,' Says Girl Survivor

By Justin Sarachik 

The lives of more than 5,000 children may have been lost to the civil war in Syria, according to recent reports, and now Open Doors USA has brought to international attention the testimonies of two young girls living in fear in the country where violence and killings have become almost a part of daily life for the nation's most innocent victims.

"It's scary. We hear a lot of bad stories about what is happening around us. On the streets there are soldiers everywhere. We see smoke from fighting and hear bombings all the time," said 13-year-old Youmna, a Christian girl who lives in Damascus, Syria with her sister, 10-year-old Nashita, according to Open Doors USA.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that around 100,000 people have been killed in the civil war between government forces and rebels, and among those numbers are 5,000 children under the age of 16.

"One day I was going to school by bus when we heard a shooting nearby," said Youmna. "So we all dived down, hiding under our seats, waiting until the shooting was over. Another day when we were at school there was an airplane very close by, threatening to bomb our school. We all had to go into the basement and stay away from the glass."

"My classmates and I were all very scared. Kids around me were crying and shouting at the teachers because they were so afraid. Some called their fathers crying to them that they wanted to go home," Nashita added.
The United Nations office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict can verify the reports of children being killed. To make matters worse, the children are sometimes being used as props of the war, and often 10-year-old boys are being used as combatants or porters.

Syria

Since March 2011, Syria has been embroiled in civil war in the wake of uprisings (considered an extension of the Arab Spring, the mass movement of revolutions and protests in the Arab world) against Assad and the neo-Ba'athist government. An alternative government was formed by the opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition, in March 2012. Representatives of this government were subsequently invited to take up Syria's seat at the Arab League. The opposition coalition has been recognised as the "sole representative of the Syrian people" by several nations including the United States, United Kingdom and France


+One day I was thinking about becoming an adult.
There might be some people who want to grow up quickly to become an adult, but it's not my case.
Sometimes I believe I would like to be in unmature level(you need to figure out what I am saying deeply though).
Somehow the word of adult gives me an image of greed, desperate, desert, rejection, isolation and all the kinds of things..How terrible!
It's not right to say a kid is perfect(Because it's not! obviously!).
But sometimes we need to think like how kids do as we are already adults(Some are probably not).

+What do you reckon? :)