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Live from Abu Dhabi Connect the World takes you on a journey across continents, investigating the stories that are changing our world.
Mexico's war on human trafficking
As we saw on Tuesday night's show, the Channel 4 investigation showed how Maria witnessed unthinkable horrors in her homeland of Mexico. Even before her 18th birthday she had already been kidnapped and enslaved by a gang of human traffickers.
During her time in captivity, Maria laid witness to some horrible things - particularly in the trade of human life.
She recalls how babies were sold to order for American customers and how young girls were drugged, forced into prostitution and murdered.
“I want to tell the story so that in the near future, other girls don’t go through the same,” Maria said.
“Women are sold, they are abducted, bought and even killed by these men and if these men are ever found, jail won’t be enough to make them pay for the way they’ve made us feel.”
What makes Maria’s story so significant is that she was one of the lucky girls that escaped.
We want to know what you think about this story.
Please leave your comments below
Wednesday's Connector of the Day – Richard Branson
From record labels, airlines, hotels, fitness clubs, mobile phones and even outer space, Sir Richard Branson has taken Virgin to some pretty lofty heights. His $17 billion empire includes more than 300 companies and his portfolio of companies is as diverse as they come.
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It’s a far cry for the Englishman who dropped out of high school at the age 16 and struggled with dyslexia in his early years.
Branson’s first venture was in the publishing world - launching a magazine called Student. Four years later, he set up a music mail-order business that proved to be a huge success, calling it “Virgin” because everyone involved in the venture was new. His chain of record stores was called Virgin Records and he later re-branded them to be known as Virgin Megastores.
After successfully competing with many of the high street stores, Branson launched his Virgin Records label and signed many controversial bands including the Sex Pistols.
During the 1980’s the Virgin brand grew and his ability to showcase the company as a brand of ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ helped attract millions of young people to buy his records and listen to his bands. In 1984 Branson founded Virgin Atlantic Airways and later he launched Virgin Mobile, Virgin trains, Virgin Blue... the list continues.
After accumulating billions, Branson continues to innovate. In 2004, Branson created a new space tourism company called Virgin Galactic to bring passengers into space for a price of $200,000. He also ventured into a number of green technologies to address the problem of global warming - investing millions in creating renewable fuels.
Although the Virgin brand is known around the world, Richard Branson is also a celebrity in his own right. Known for his extravagant product launches and sometimes cheesy promos, Branson has a name that is recognizable around the world.
If you’d like to ask Richard Branson a question, please write one below. It can be anything from how he sees the future of transport to how he got to where he is today.
Please post your questions below
World's worst traffic jams?
It's something that we've all probably been stuck in at one point or another and it is something that we most likely want to forget - the all hated traffic jam.
To make things worse, there are even traffic jams with no discernable cause!
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Many drivers may be surprised to hear that the phenomenon has a name - a jamiton - and researchers say they're becoming more common.
Photos: World's worst traffic jams
Benjamin Seibold is a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been studying “jamitons” to find out why these types of traffic jams happen out of the blue.
According to Seibold, “jamitons” only happen when traffic density reaches a certain level on roads and a small instability, such as one person tapping the brakes, causes an echo effect.
This in turn causes a back up of traffic and a nightmare for motorists.
We want to know what you think.
Have you ever been part of a "phantom traffic jam" or a "jamiton"?
What are some of the worst experiences you have had when it comes to traffic? Do you think any one city tops as the world's worst for traffic jams? London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, São Paulo?
Please leave your comment below.
