Austria … Julie Andrews, “The Sound of Music.”

That was before. Now, what comes to mind more easily when one thinks of Austria is Josef Fritzl, the Grandfather of Incest.

This devil of a man raped his own daughter for 24 years beginning when she was just 11 years old, kept her prisoner in a windowless cellar for the same duration of years, and sired her six surviving children, according to Austrian authorities.

Fritzl confessed to imprisoning his daughter Elisabeth in the cellar beneath their two-storey house in Amstetten, Austria, and DNA tests showed that indeed the 73-year-old devil had done the unthinkable.

Fritzl also admitted to burning the body of his seventh child when it died soon after birth.

Elisabeth, who is now 42 years old, said her father enticed to go to the cellar of their home in 1984 and drugged and handcuffed her before imprisoning her.

Three of her children, aged 19, 18 and 5, had been locked in the cellar with her since birth and had never seen sunlight. The younger two were boys, the eldest a girl.

Three other children — two girls and one boy — were adopted and brought up by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie.

The despicable monstrosity of Fritzl (whose body deserves to be broken into several pieces like a stick of pretzel) only surfaced when his 19-year-old daughter who is also his grand-daughter (this is getting to be confusing) became ill and was taken to hospital.

A million questions begged to be answered on how this could have happened. Why? How did he do it? Is he insane? Is he the devil incarnate?

The Austrian police remained clueless as of Tuesday, April 29, just like the millions of people in the world glued to their TV sets following up this extraordinary crime story.

If this was an isolated incident, we could simply dismiss it as an aberration in human civilization. But lately, other similar monstrosities have occurred in various places in the world, including the one involving a polygamist camp in Texas and the father-daughter incestuous couple from Australia who were even proudly proclaiming on television their bizarre relationship.

Is this another sign that our world is on its death throes? Just like the sign of global warming? The global food crisis and famine?

Where’s morality heading to? Where are the spiritual leaders of the world in these trying times?

Photo caption:
This photo made available by the Austrian police shows the aisle to a sleeping room in the basement of a house where Elisabeth Fritzl was held imprisoned for 24 years by her own father in the Austrian village of Amstetten. (Reuter)

After more than 10 years, Princess Diana may now rest in peace. Or would she?

Last Monday, April 7, 2008, a British inquest jury delivered a verdict of unlawful killing in the deaths of the Princess and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed in the August 31, 1997 Paris car crash, blaming the driving of their chauffeur Henri Paul, who was also killed, and chasing paparazzi photographers.

Later, Dodi’s father, the billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed declared that enough is enough as he announced that he was abandoning his decade-long legal battle over Princess Diana’s fatal car crash, and accepting an inquest verdict into her death, but “with reservations.”

The owner of London’s up-scale Harrods department store told a British broadcaster that he was “tired” but maintained that Diana and Dodi were murdered as part of a British government plot.

Fayed was quoted as saying he did not want to cause any further pain to Diana’s sons. “I’m leaving the rest for God to get my revenge,” he said.

Fayed has argued that the 1997 crash in Paris that killed his son, Dodi, and the princess was engineered by British intelligence agents working for the royal family.

But a French investigation and the British coroner’s inquest blamed the crash on the driver and photographers pursuing Diana.

Last April 7, nine of the 11 jurors rendered a verdict of “unlawful killing.” There was no indication why there were two dissenters.

All 11 agreed that the car slamming head-on into a concrete pillar rather than striking the wall on the other side was a key factor in the deaths of Diana and Dodi. The jury also faulted the two for not buckling their seat belts.

But jurors laid the heaviest blame on the couple’s driver, Henri Paul, who had been drinking shortly before the high-speed crash that killed all three in a Paris underpass, and on the paparazzi following them.

Diana’s sons, Princes William and Harry, issued a statement expressing support for the verdict and thanking the jurors for their long work.

The death of Diana and Dodi came six weeks after romance bloomed while Diana and her two sons were guests of Mohamed Al Fayed in southern France.

In the following weeks, Diana and Dodi Fayed shared sea cruises, dinners in Paris, even a helicopter trip in England to visit a medium trusted by Diana. Fayed showered Diana with lavish gifts, including a ring that may or may not have been intended to seal an engagement, reports said.

When the couple flew to Paris on Aug. 30, 1997, they were pursued from the airport by paparazzi, who then swarmed outside the Ritz Hotel — owned by Mohamed Al Fayed.

Hoping to shake off the paparazzi, Dodi Fayed agreed to a plan to sneak out the back way in a single car. At least three photographers weren’t fooled, and the chase was on.

Reports said Dodi died instantly when the Mercedes, traveling more than 60 mph, slammed into a concrete pillar in the Alma underpass at 12:22 a.m. Medics initially thought Diana would survive her severe injuries, but she died at Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital around 4 a.m. Only Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees, lived.

French police announced a day after the crash that tests on Paul’s blood showed his blood-alcohol level was three times over the national drunk-driving standard.

The cover of the book on this British tragedy may have been closed, perhaps even sealed, with the jury verdict. But just like the John F. Kennedy assassination and other high-profile whodunit cases, the Diana controversy will linger on.

There will always be unanswered questions. Or answers that raise more questions. Conspiracy theories will not be silenced by a verdict.

But just like what the Good Book says, there’s a time for everything. A time to weep, a time to rejoice, a time to doubt, a time to feel assured, a time to raise one’s voice in protest, a time to keep silent.

I guess, the time to accept the fate of Diana and Dodi has come. May they now rest in majestic peace.

Photo caption:
Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed in Paris in 1997, one of the last pictures taken of the two ill-fated couple.

If you’re shelling out more money for food these days, don’t be too surprised – You’re not the only one whose pockets are bleeding from high food prices.

From Albania to Zimbabwe – and all countries in between in alphabetical order – consumers are complaining about rising food prices.

In the Philippines, for instance, rice has doubled in prices since last January and threatens to triple in the days ahead. The price tag of practically every edible item is skyrocketing – pork, beef, chicken, vegetables, fish.

The same is true with fuel prices of course. The only thing not rising in the Philippines is perhaps the height of its people, who remain literally stunted by poverty, government mismanagement and corruption.

Analysts are calling the dire global phenomenon a “perfect storm.” They point to freak weather worldwide, dramatic changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demands in China and India.

In Egypt, clashes over bread last week killed at least two people. Similar food riots broke out in Burkina Faso and Cameroon this month.

Food protests have spread even to Europe. The price of spaghetti has doubled in Haiti while the cost of miso has taken a major leap in Japan.

Consumers face at least 10 years of more expensive food, according to preliminary projections by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. And that’s their most optimistic estimate.

Among the causes of skyrocketing food prices are oil prices, which increase the cost of everything from fertilizers to transport to food processing. Rising demand for meat and dairy in rapidly developing countries such as China and India is also sending up the cost of grain, used for cattle feed, as is the demand for raw materials to make biofuels, authorities said.

What’s quite unusual is that the price increases are hitting all major foods in most countries at once. Food prices rose 4 percent in the U.S. last year, the highest rise since 1990, and are expected to climb as much again this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

As of December, 37 countries faced food crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of food-price controls, authorities said.

More and more people are seeing a looming world food disaster. The U.N.’s World Food Program says it’s facing a $500 million shortfall in funding this year to feed 89 million needy people.

Food costs worldwide spiked 23 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the FAO. Grains went up 42 percent, oils 50 percent and dairy 80 percent.

What I could not understand is, despite the scarcity and skyrocketing prices of food worldwide, many people are still maniacally stuffing their mouths and stomachs with food, food and more food even if their bodies are ballooning like crazy.

How can the fatsos be so cruel to themselves, and to their fellow Earthlings?