Clarke forced to apologise for rape comments (Guardian, 18 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 18 May 2011
Clarke forced to apologise for rape comments

Justice secretary set to rethink plan to cut sentences after rejecting suggestion in radio interview that 'rape is rape'

By Alan Travis and Nicholas WattKenneth Clarke, the justice secretary, is expected to announce a climbdown over his plan for sentence discounts of up to 50% for early guilty pleas after he provoked a row by appearing to suggest that some rapes are more serious than others.
A chastened Clarke apologised under pressure from David Cameron, who was furious with the veteran justice secretary after he rejected a suggestion in a live radio interview that "rape is rape".
Clarke, who had initially refused to apologise in a round of TV interviews, wrote to a victim of attempted rape who had broken down in tears when she confronted him on a Radio 5 Live show over his "disastrous" plan.

Measles Claims Many Lives in Congo as Public, Private Resources Stretched Thin (Inter Press Service, 18 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Inter Press Service (IOS)", 18 May 2011
Measles Claims Lives as Public, Private Resources Stretched Thin
By Emmanuel Chaco
KINSHASA, May 18, 2011 (IPS) - More than 3,000 cases of measles have been recorded in the past three months in two districts of Maniema Province, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Provincial statistics seen by IPS for the districts of Kibombo and Kindu, show that since mid-April, a measles epidemic has caused more than 15 deaths at health facilities, and three or four times as many have died at home, in cases where families did not take stricken children to medical centres.
"The villages further upstream along the Congo River are the worst affected by measles," says Dr Théo Katako, interim head of the Provincial Inspectorate of the Ministry of Public Health. "Meanwhile, the province was only able to organise a vaccination campaign against polio, for lack of resources to take on these two epidemics at once."

Syria: Mass grave found near Protest hub Deraa, residents say (Guardian, 17 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 17 May 2011
Syrian mass grave found near Deraa, residents say

Human rights groups report 13 bodies unearthed from field in southern city at centre of protest movement

Nidaa Hassan

Thirteen bodies have been retrieved from a mass grave in Deraa, the hub of Syria's protest movement, according to residents cited by rights organisations.
People from the southern city say hundreds are unaccounted for since a crackdown on protests began on 18 March and intensified when the army moved in on 25 April to try to quash unrest against Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.
Radwan Ziadeh, the US-based head of the Damascus Centre for Human Rights, said so far seven bodies had been identified by residents.

CDC: New regimen shortens Tuberculosis (TB) treatment to three months (Associated Press, 16 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press (AP)", 16 May 2011

CDC: New regimen drastically shortens TB treatment

By MIKE STOBBE

ATLANTA (AP) -- Health officials on Monday celebrated a faster treatment for people who have tuberculosis but aren't infectious, after investigators found a new combination of pills knocks out the disease in three months instead of nine.

That means more people are likely to finish their treatment for latent tuberculosis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said.

"New, simpler ways to prevent TB disease are urgently needed, and this breakthrough represents one of the biggest developments in TB treatment in decades," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said, in a prepared statement.

For decades, people infected with TB bacteria but not ill have been treated with a special TB pill, isoniazid, taken once a day for nine months. It's been the standard regimen despite problems getting people to take the pill every day.

North Korea's Food Shortage: 'We Cannot Leave the Children to Die' (Spiegel International, 17 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Spiegel International, Germany", 17 May 2011
North Korea's Food Shortage
'We Cannot Leave the Children to Die'
Interview with Bernd Göken
Yet another hunger crisis is taking shape in North Korea. The government in Pyongyang has asked for help and aid groups have already begun shipments. Bernd Göken, from the German group Cap Anamur, described for SPIEGEL what he saw on a recent visit to the country.

At the invitation of Pyongyang's embassy in Berlin, the head of the German relief organization Cap Anamur, Bernd Göken, 45, recently visited two provinces and four cities in North Korea, which is facing new food shortages and a dramatic hunger crisis.

"With every visit and every discussion, the enormous scale of the shortages was confirmed," said Göken. "The people are starving. They have nothing left to eat. For the rural population and orphans, the shortage of food will become a real threat during the coming weeks."

Indian Secularuism; Religion and the Public Sphere in India (Inter Press Service, 16 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Inter Press Service (IOS)", 16 May 2011
Religion and the Public Sphere in India
By Christophe Jaffrelot*
PARIS, May 16, 2011 (IPS) - In contrast to most South Asian countries, modern India has always been officially "secular", a word the country inscribed in its Constitution in 1976.
Secularism, here, is not synonymous with the French "laïcité", which demands strong separation of religion and the state. India's secularism does not require exclusion of religion from the public sphere. On the contrary, it implies recognition of all religions by the state.
This philosophy of inclusivity finds expression in one article of the Constitution by which all religious communities may set up schools that are eligible for state subsidies.
India's secularism, therefore, has more affinities with multiculturalism than with "laïcité". Its emphasis on pluralism parallels the robust parliamentary democracy and federalism that India has been cultivating for 64 years.

Holocaust guity, John Demjanjuk: The Deeper Meaning of the Verdict (Spiegel International, 16 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Spiegel International, Germany", 16 May 2011
'It Was Clear What Happened': The Deeper Meaning of the Demjanjuk Verdict

By Gisela Friedrichsen

Some were critical that Holocaust helper John Demjanjuk was sentenced to just five years and then released. But the verdict came as a profound relief to victims' families. It also demonstrates that the German justice system has changed -- for the better.

The purpose of a criminal trial can also be that it takes place in the first place and ends with a convincing verdict. Were this the 1960s and 70s, John (Ivan) Demjanjuk would have either never been put in the dock, despite the more conclusive evidence that could have been presented at the time, or the proceedings would have been discontinued with the stereotypical remarks that the defendant was merely a cog in the Nazis' killing machine -- or that he never dared to refuse orders or flee out of fear for his life.

Swiss voters reject ban on assisted suicide for foreigners (Guardian)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 15 May 2011
Swiss voters reject ban on assisted suicide for foreigners

Early projections in Zurich referendums show 80% are against proposals to outlaw 'suicide tourism'

Agencies in Zurich

Voters in Zurich have rejected proposed bans on assisted suicide and "suicide tourism" in which foreigners travel to Switzerland to receive help in ending their lives.
Out of more than 278,000 ballots cast in the referendum, the initiative to ban assisted suicide was rejected by 85% of voters and the initiative to outlaw it for foreigners was turned down by 78%, according to Zurich authorities. About 200 assisted suicides are carried out each year in premises in Zurich rented by the assisted death group Dignitas.
Assisted suicide has been allowed in Switzerland since 1941 if performed by a non-physician who has no vested interest in the death. Euthanasia, or "mercy killing", is legal only in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and the US state of Oregon.

China: Detained artist Ai Weiwei in 'good physical health but mentally conflicted' (Guardian, 16 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 16 May 2011
Ai Weiwei in 'good physical health but mentally conflicted'

Chinese authorities allow wife, Lu Qing, to visit artist and activist who had not been seen since arrest at Beijing airport on 3 April

By Tania Branigan in Beijing and agencies Detained artist Ai Weiwei seems to be in good physical health but mentally conflicted and tense, his wife has said after seeing him for the first time in six weeks.
Lu Qing said she was taken to see her husband for about 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon, the first contact friends and relatives have had with the 53-year-old Chinese artist and activist since officials stopped him at Beijing airport on 3 April.
It is not clear where he is being held and the people who arranged the visit did not show her identification, she added.

The budget and food security: Pakistan's scenario - By Dr. Akmal Hussain (Express Tribune, 16 May 2011)

Courtesy: Daily "Express Tribune, Pakistan", 16 May 2011 
The budget and food security
By Dr Akmal Hussain
If the budget is to have any relevance for the people of Pakistan, it must address the twin problems of deep recession and high inflation which, together, are causing acute distress to a large proportion of the population. A consequence of per capita GDP growth becoming negative has been a rapid rise in poverty and unemployment. At the same time, the 25 per cent food inflation rate is placing large chunks of the population into a very desperate situation. As much as 74 per cent of Pakistanis are food insecure. The challenge in the short run is that under tight budgetary constraints, fiscal space must be found to provide at least atta to the poor at an affordable price. The challenge in the medium term is to revive the economy and place it on a new growth path that is both equitable and sustainable. Let us see how the short term objective can be achieved in the next fiscal year.

Ulan Bator, Mongolia: Vast shantytown now home to quarter of country's population (Guardian, 15 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 14 May 2011
Vast Mongolian shantytown now home to quarter of country's population

More than 700,000 people, many of them ex-herders and their families, now crowd the gers sprawling north of Ulan Bator

Kit Gillet in Ulan Bator 

It is a supreme irony in a country once known as the land without fences. Stretching north from the capital, Ulan Bator, an endless succession of dilapidated boundary markers criss-cross away into the distance.
They demarcate a vast shantytown that sprawls for miles and is now estimated to be home to a quarter of the entire population of Mongolia.
More than 700,000 people have crowded into the area in the past two decades. Many are ex-herders and their families whose livelihoods have been destroyed by bitter winters that can last more than half the year; many more are victims of desertification caused by global warming and overgrazing; the United Nations Development Programme estimates that up to 90% of the country is now fragile dryland.

David Cameron in danger of breaking green pledge, warn green groups (Guardian, 14 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 14 May 2011
David Cameron in danger of breaking green pledge, warn green groups

Prime minister's commitment to 'greenest government ever' is questioned in open letter from environmental coalition

David Batty and agencies

The prime minister is in danger of breaking his pledge to lead the "greenest government ever", a coalition of environmental charities and aid agencies has warned.
In an open letter to David Cameron on the first anniversary of the speech in which he made the promise, the chief executives of 15 campaign groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Christian Aid, Oxfam and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said he must set out the case that a green economy was central to UK prosperity and not "a cost to be endlessly debated and watered down".

Acid blinding sentence postponed by Iran after international outcry (Guardian, 14 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Guardian, UK", 14 May 2011
Acid blinding sentence postponed by Iran after international outcry

Eye-for-an-eye punishment of Majid Movahedi put on hold despite calls by his disfigured victim, Ameneh Bahrami, for retribution

By Saeed Kamali Dehghan

Iran has postponed blinding a man with acid following an international outcry over the retributive punishment imposed after he was found guilty of doing the same to a woman who refused to marry him.
In a literal application of the sharia law of an eye for an eye, Majid Movahedi was scheduled to be rendered unconscious in Tehran's judiciary hospital today while his victim, Ameneh Bahrami, dropped acid in both his eyes.
But Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency reported that officials had postponed the sentence on Friday night and not indicated when the punishment might be carried out in future.
Bahrami, who had asked for an eye-for-an-eye retribution in a criminal court in Tehran, was not informed of the postponement.

Experts debate destroying last smallpox viruses stored in US and Russia (Associated Press, 13 May 2011)

Courtesy: “Associated Press (AP)”, 13 May 2011

Experts debate destroying last smallpox viruses

By MARIA CHENG

LONDON (AP) -- Smallpox, one of the world's deadliest diseases, eradicated three decades ago, is kept alive under tight security today in just two places - the United States and Russia.

Many other countries say the world would be safer if those stockpiles of the virus were destroyed.

Now for the fifth time, at a World Health Organization meeting next week, they will push again for the virus' destruction. And again it seems likely their efforts will be futile.

U.S. and Russian government officials say it is essential they keep some smallpox alive in case a future biological threat demands more tests with the virus. They also say the virus samples are still needed to develop experimental vaccines and drugs.

It was in 1996 that WHO's member countries first agreed smallpox should be destroyed. But they have repeatedly delayed a demand for destruction so that scientists could develop safer smallpox vaccines and drugs. That's now been done: There are two vaccines, a third in the works, and there are drugs for treating it, but not curing it.

Earlier HIV therapy protects against virus spread (Associated Press, 12 My 2011)

Courtesy: “Associated Press (AP)”, 12 May 2011

Earlier HIV therapy protects against virus spread

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treating HIV right away, before patients are too sick, dramatically lowers their chances of spreading the AIDS virus to a sexual partner, says a major international study that may convince more doctors to offer medication sooner.

The nine-nation study offers convincing evidence of what scientists have long believed - that HIV medicines don't just benefit the patient, but may act as a preventive by making those people less infectious. Earlier treatment in the study meant patients were 96 percent less likely to spread the virus to their uninfected partners, according to preliminary results announced Thursday by the National Institutes of Health, which oversaw the research.

Those findings were striking enough that the NIH said it was stopping the study four years ahead of schedule to get the word out.

India: Delhi's Waste to Energy Project Not So Green (Inter Press Service)

Courtesy: "Inter Press Service", 11 May 2011
Waste to Energy Project Not So Green 
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, May 11, 2011 (IPS) - A waste-to-energy (WtE) project in the heart of the Indian capital and run by a powerful industrial family is testing the enforceability of the country’s environmental and zoning laws.
The WtE project, being promoted by Jindal Ecopolis—owned by the Jindal family that is close to the ruling Congress party—will, when fully operational, burn 4,000 tonnes a day of refuse derived fuel (RDF) made from municipal waste, to produce 20 megawatts of electricity.
Like many dirty industries rapidly coming up across the Indian landscape, Jindal’s WtE project may have gone unremarked, except that it is located in the Okhla area of South Delhi, reckoned as among the most affluent of India’s 604 districts and populated by people acutely aware of their rights.
Environmentalists say the plant has violated zoning regulations, the Delhi Master Plan, rulings by the Supreme Court and rules laid down by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a statutory body.

United Nations to Host World Summit on Nuclear Safety (Inter Press Service)

Courtesy: "Inter Press Service", 11 May 2011
U.N. to Host World Summit on Nuclear Safety
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, May 11, 2011 (IPS) - The severity of the recent nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan has prompted U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon to convene a high-level meeting of world leaders on a politically-sensitive issue: nuclear security.
"We have to reevaluate nuclear risks and nuclear safety in response to the disaster in Japan," he told reporters Wednesday.
The meeting, scheduled to take place during the upcoming session of the General Assembly on Sep. 22, is expected to focus on strengthening the global nuclear safety regime and ensuring maximum nuclear safety standards.
"This requires in-depth analysis on design, construction, training, quality assurance systems and stringent regulatory mechanisms," the secretary-general said.

Obama seeks immigration reform (Aljazeera English, 11 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Aljazeera English", 11 May 2011

Obama seeks immigration reform

US president says providing illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship will benefit US economy.

President Barack Obama has issued an impassioned call for immigration reform in a speech at the US-Mexican border, sending a message to Hispanics whose votes he needs to win re-election next year.
Obama, whose 2012 chances depend largely on the health of the US economy, made the case that immigration reform would have economic benefits for the middle class and for businesses, while also improving national security.
Speaking on Tuesday, he said he wanted to provide illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship - which he said would benefit the US economy.

Middle class appetites drive China food inflation (Associated Press, 11 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press", 11 May 2011

Middle class appetites drive China food inflation

By ALEXA OLESEN

BEIJING (AP) -- Hunger was such a constant companion in Yao Qizhong's childhood that even now, at age 40, he'll stoop down to salvage a single clove of garlic that falls from his table at the Beijing market where he hawks fresh produce.

Life is less harsh these days, but China's fast-rising food prices have hit his family hard, making it increasingly difficult to save for his three kids' education - Yao's main goal.

Across town, Zhong Sheng rinses a still-twitching Mandarin fish and picks the stems from a handful of greens as he expounds on his philosophy of grocery shopping. Health and safety are his top concerns, ever since the architect became a father five years ago. Cost is a secondary consideration.

India court urges death penalty for honor killings (Associated Press, 10 May 2011)

Courtesy: "Associated Press", 10 May 2011 

India court urges death penalty for honor killings

By NIRMALA GEORGE

NEW DELHI (AP) -- India's top court recommended the death penalty for perpetrators of "honor killings," calling the practice barbaric and feudal in a ruling cheered Tuesday by activists who hope it will inspire opposition to a crime seen as anathema to a democratic nation.

Most victims were young adults who fell in love or married against their families' wishes. In some cases, village councils ordered couples killed who married inside their clan or outside their caste. While there are no official figures, an independent study found around 900 people were killed each year in India for defying their elders.

The Supreme Court on Monday affirmed a life sentence imposed for a man convicted of killing his daughter but added a warning: "People planning to perpetrate honor killings should know that the gallows await them."