The world was a busy place this week and at last report, it hasn't stopped.

(Elections in Sudan - at least they could listen to music)

From the BBC Africa Service, reports on the elections in Sudan and the growing oppression in Somalia on the parts of Muslim extremists. This week imposing a ban on all music played over the radio.

(China - a disaster made worse by inaccessibility)

By Mid-week, reports of the earthquake near the Tibetan border grew more grim by the minute. First reported hundreds dead, then 600 dead and, at last count over 800 dead. Rescue work is being hampered by the altitude and thin air but miracles are still happening. Also, from this Global News Report from April 14th, updates on the aftermath of the tragedy in Poland, news on land reform in Zimbabwe and the upcoming British elections.

(Helena Guergis and Rahid Jaffer - gives a whole new spin on the phrase "hot chicks with douchebags")

From the CBC World News At Six on April 15th, the continuing scandal and resignation of Canadian MP and Cabinet member Helena Guergis and allegations of "improprieties" on behalf of her husband, former MP Rahim Jaffer. Nice to know we aren't the only ones who get mired in sex and drug scandals. Also reports of torture of Afghan prisoners by troops in 2006 as reported by a member of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

(The first time the UK held televised debates . . what hath God wrought?)

From the BBC Politics site on April 16th, a capsule version of the previous nights first-ever live televised Debate between candidates for Prime Minister. Now it's the UK's chance to drown in spin, pundits and polls. Various news outlets are reporting the Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg won hands down. Let the beauty contest begin.

(The vice-President in Israel reacting to the sound of wingnuts exploding)

If you ever thought the shrill shriek of wingnut radio was the exclusive property of the U.S., that we somehow were the only country on the planet bombarded by noise and extremism, I'm here to tell you it just ain't so. Big relief, right? Well, in Israel they have this prevalent radio network called Israel National Radio and, even by their own admission are probably one of the most hard-line right wing propaganda outlets in the middle-east. In comparison, Fox seems almost moderate by comparison. Take for example an excerpt from this April 16th broadcast of A Light Unto The Nation which features interviews with Daniel Pipes and Dr. Mike Cohen. They despise Joe Biden and pretty much hate Obama. Sounds familiar, no? They don't however, say anything about being "fair and balanced" - that's a relief.

And so went the world this week, continuing its inevitable spin. We survived so far.

In my never-ending search for the day where nothing happened, I had hopes for this one. But no, not even in 1998 where a devastating earthquake shook parts of China, Indonesia was smack in the middle of financial chaos, Islamic terrorists were rampaging around Algiers, a massive blackout from a winter storm hit Eastern Canada putting millions of people in the dark, can I actually say nothing happened in the world on January 10th.

And beyond all that, the Romany population in the Czech Republic were going through massive discrimination and threats of deportation (sounds like France a few weeks ago), the Northern Ireland Peace Process was continuing and looking hopeful and if you were the parent of a teenage boy living in Dubai and were wondering why your phone bill suddenly shot up, blame the sexy Asian babe on your TV - phone sex hits the United Arab Emirates.

All on this day in 1998. Here is an episode of the BBC World Service's Newshour from January 10, 1998 and you can hear for yourself. Next to today, this day thirteen years ago seems downright docile by comparison.

(Earthquake in China - a rather jumpy few weeks in the world)

In case you were curious, there were other things going on in the world today. China is the latest in what seems to be a swarm of earthquakes larger than 5.0 going on throughout the world. The consensus of opinion is evenly divided as to whether this is normal or the harbinger of things to come. Either way, the world is still shaking. The elections in Sudan have been going on. The British election season is heating up and the Poles are still in mourning over the loss of Lech Kaczynski and 95 others over the weekend. A state funeral is expected to take place on Sunday with President Obama and most of the world's dignitaries in attendance.

So here are two capsules of the days news. Above is from Newshour at 1300 GMT from BBC World Service and below is the External Service (English) of Radio Poland.

(at last count, the wait was nine hours)

A busy day. And the rest of the world could care less about Sarah Palin's speaking demands.