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India cautions workers not to fall to unscrupulous agents in Malaysia

April 7, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Apr 6 (ANI): India has cautioned workers travelling to Malaysia not to fall into the trap of unscrupulous manpower agents on both sides.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs said a large number of workers, misguided by some unscrupulous Indian as well as Malaysian recruiting agents, were going to Malaysia without proper knowledge of their employers, nature of job and employment contract.As a result, they become vulnerable to exploitation by their employers in Malaysia and often get stranded in Malaysia without work and then lodge complaints at the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also urged workers intending to seek legal employment in Malaysia to familiarise themselves with the local laws and working conditions, The Star reports.

Currently, about 150,000 Indian workers, mostly from South India, are being employed in Malaysia, largely in the service sector.

The ministry also advised workers to carry a copy of their passports, work permits and adhere to the labour laws. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: exploitation, Kuala Lumpur, manpower, passports, south India

Night shift for Madhya Pradesh women workers opposed

April 5, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Bhopal, April 5 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh’s decision to amend a law to allow women to work in factories up to 10 p.m. has been opposed by women groups alleging it will lead to their exploitation.

‘The Madhya Pradesh government has Saturday issued a notification allowing women in factories to work from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.,’ an official said Monday adding that the notification has been issued in keeping with the Factories Act, 1948.

The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) said in a statement that the notification will lead to ‘exploitation of women workers’. It has been issued under pressure from factory owners and not for the benefit of women workers as it has been made out to be, it alleged.

‘The chief Minister makes announcement without even thinking of its consequences,’ association’s state president Sandhya Shaili said, referring to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s recent announcement on the issue.

‘If women workers have to work in late evening hours, without proper protection, they would be exposed to severe risk,’ AIDWA state general secretary Neena Sharma said, announcing protests against the government’s decision.

The association claimed that as many as 91 minor girls and 225 women were raped in the state between October 2009 and January 2010. ‘Women are unsafe even in the state capital during day time, allowing them to work in evening shifts will further expose them to unsafe conditions,’ AIDWA said.

Talking about the notification that allows women to work in night shifts, an official said: ‘It has been made mandatory that in each shift at least two women workers should work together and the company should provide to and fro transportation facility between plant and residence for them.’

The notification has also directed the factory owners to provide adequate safety and security to women workers, especially during night shift.

The state government has also directed the factories to make arrangements for separate toilets for women and creche for their children inside factory premises.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: aidwa, exploitation, factories, minor girls, raped, Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Terrorism a by-product of Pak’s past mistakes: Zardari

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep. 19 (ANI): President Asif Ali Zardari has revealed that extremism was a by-product of Pakistan’s past mistakes and was deliberately created during the 1980s.

He said the employment of a liberal policy encouraged religious fanaticism and achieved of certain strategic objectives of terror perpetrators.

“What we are witnessing today is the outcome of that policy of the 80′s and even earlier.The policy of using religious extremism as an instrument of war. We in Pakistan have paid a very heavy price for this policy,” The News quoted Zardari, as saying.

Addressing a gathering at London’s International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), Zardari pointed out that militants and militancy were not created in a vacuum; they have been the product of a deliberate policy to fight the rival ideology.

The free world adopted a novel strategy that was based on the exploitation of religion to motivate Muslims around the world to wage jehad, he added.

Furthermore, Zardari pointed out that the strategy may have worked well but some serious mistakes were also made as the world abandoned Afghanistan in a hurry and no thought was given to its stability after the withdrawal of foreign forces.

“After the retreat of foreign forces, Afghanistan was abandoned and left at the mercy of the warlords and the jehadis…Pakistan has suffered more than others. For decades we had to host and continue to host millions of Afghan refugees,” he said. (ANI)

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Lap dancing, a routine part of British workplaces

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 18 (ANI): Lap dancing has become a part of British working life, a campaign group has said.

According to The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women’s rights, companies in the UK are turning a blind eye to the use of sex clubs by workers.

The group found that some firms knowingly authorise the use of staff expenses for entertaining clients in lap dancing and strip clubs, reports The Telegraph.

After studying lap dancing clubs’ websites and contacting them directly to ask about their work with corporate clients, Fawcett researchers identified more than 300 such clubs in the UK.

Some 41 per cent of UK lap dancing clubs directly target employers through marketing on their websites, the researchers found.

Kat Banyard, the Fawcett Society researcher who wrote the report, described the sex industry as “a major threat to women’s equality at work”.

She said: “The sex industry is increasingly targeting the corporate market, with lap dancing clubs marketing themselves as ideal venues to host meetings and client entertaining. Yet lap dancing clubs are a form of commercial sexual exploitation and fuel sexist attitudes towards women. Their use in a work context discriminates against female employees and undermines women’s status at work.

She added: “For too long, employers have engaged with the sex industry without due regard for the impact on female employees, and have failed to prevent the illicit use of the sex industry by employees in a work context.” (ANI)

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PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti hurt in car mishap

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Doda (J and K), Sep.10 (ANI): Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti suffered minor facial injuries on Thursday when her car was involved in an accident.

The mishap occurred soon after she told a PDP workers’ convention that the spate of fatal road accidents in the Chenab valley region reflected the devastation, exploitation and neglect of the poorest of the poor in the state.

The PDP president said the huge loss of life caused by road accidents in Doda region could not be delinked from the fact that the condition of roads was the result of deterioration of geological and ecological conditions.

She also used the occasion to criticise the ruling National Conference-Congress coalition government in the state for not doing enough on power projects.

She urged the state government to focus on a return of control of natural resources to the state so that they are utilized for the betterment of our people.

She also touched on the subject of education, calling on the state government to take steps to usher in improvements in this sector. (ANI)

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Demi Moore threatens to sue blogger Perez Hilton over daughter’s pics

September 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 4 (ANI): Hollywood actress Demi Moore has threatened to sue celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, after she spotted a link on the latter’s site directing viewers to a set of “inappropriate” pictures of her teen daughter Tallulah.

The 15-year-old is the youngest of Demi’s three daughters with ex-husband Bruce Willis.

According to reports, the snaps Demi is angry at show the teen baring her chest in a revealing top, and wearing a tiny pair of shorts.

Moore has expressed her disgust about the pictures on her Twitter.com page, accusing the blogger of flouting child pornography laws.

“Expect another letter from my attorney, kitten,” Contactmusic quoted her as having written.

Moore goes on to rage about Hilton’s “exploitation” of teens in a series of furious posts.

She wrote: “Clearly Perez Hilton isn’t taking violating child pornography laws very seriously. He might not but there are a lot of people who do! Anyone who advertises follows or supports Perez supports violating child pornography laws!”

She further wrote: “Let me ask all of you, what is it called when someone is telling people to look and focus on a child’s ‘boobs and ass’ while providing photos? (It’s) child pornography! Or just being a general pervert/creep. Disgusting! This is not a game. Children should not be exploited. They must be protected.”

Hitting back at Morre, Hilton called her comments “libellous, defamatory, inaccurate and stupid.”

In a post on his own Twitter.com page, he writes: “Thanks for drawing MORE attention to your daughter’s behaviour and your parenting skills (or lack thereof). U r (sic) real smart! That is CLEARLY not child porn. And I didn’t even post those on my site! I would not let my 15 year old daughter dress like that under ANY context. You are delusional and slightly senile!” (ANI)

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1 in 3 teenage girls in UK has suffered sexual abuse by their boyfriends

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 1 (ANI): One in three girls in their teens has been a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a boyfriend, while one in four has suffered violence in a relationship, according to an in-depth study.

Conducted by the NSPCC and Bristol University, the survey of 1,353 teenage girls and boys questioned across the UK, found that 90 percent of girls in the age group of 13-17 had been in an intimate relationship.

A similar number of boys had also been in relationships.

The research found that 25 percent of girls had suffered physical violence in some form or the other, including being slapped, punched or beaten by their boyfriends.

For the study, the investigators questioned 91 young people at length.

Among the girls, one in six said that they had been pressured into having sex, and one in 16 claimed that they had been raped.

Other participants said that they had been pressured or forced to kiss or intimately touch their boyfriends.

A small minority of the boys – one in 17 – reported being pressured or forced into sexual activity, and almost one in five suffered physical violence in a relationship.

A large number of girls said that they felt they had to put up with the abuse because they felt scared or guilty, or feared they would lose their boyfriend.

According to the NSPCC, having an older boyfriend placed young girls at a higher risk of abuse, with three-quarters of them saying they had been victims.

Even young women from a family where an adult had been violent towards them were also at greater risk.

For boys, having a violent group of friends actually made it more likely that they would become a victim, or be a perpetrator of violence, in a relationship.

“The high rate and harmful impact of violence in teenagers’ intimate relationships, especially for girls, is appalling,” the Guardian quoted Professor David Berridge, of Bristol University, one of the authors of the report, as saying.

“It was shocking to find that exploitation and violence in relationships starts so young. This is a serious issue that must be given higher priority by policymakers and professionals,” he added.

The report reminds schools of the need to raise awareness of relationships where there is harmful, controlling and abusive behaviour.It has also recommended that anti-bullying groups at school should tackle violent relationships and that child protection professionals should consider teenagers who are in intimate relationships, especially girls with older boyfriends.

Diane Sutton, head of policy and public affairs at the NSPCC suggested that parents and schools could perform a vital role in teaching children about loving and safe relationships and what to do if they are suffering from violence or abuse. (ANI)

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World’s last remaining “pristine” forest under threat

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Adelaide, August 26 (ANI): A team of international researchers has found that the world’s last remaining “pristine” forest, namely the boreal forest across large stretches of Russia, Canada and other northern countries, is under increasing threat.

The researchers were from the University of Adelaide in Australia, Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and the National University of Singapore.

They have called for the urgent preservation of existing boreal forests in order to secure biodiversity and prevent the loss of this major global carbon sink.

The boreal forest comprises about one-third of the world’s forested area and one-third of the world’s stored carbon, covering a large proportion of Russia, Canada, Alaska and Scandinavia.

To date, it has remained largely intact because of the typically sparse human populations in boreal regions.

That is now changing, according to researchers and co-authors Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw, University of Adelaide, Associate Professor Ian Warkentin, Memorial University, and Professor Navjot Sodhi, National University of Singapore.

“Much world attention has focused on the loss and degradation of tropical forests over the past three decades, but now the boreal forest is poised to become the next Amazon,” said Associate Professor Bradshaw, from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute.

“Historically, fire and insects have driven the natural dynamics of boreal ecosystems,” said Associate Professor Warkentin.

“But with rising demand for resources, human disturbances caused by logging, mining and urban development have increased in these forests during recent years, with extensive forest loss for some regions and others facing heavy fragmentation and exploitation,” he added.

According to the findings, few countries are reporting an overall change in the coverage by boreal forest, but the degree of fragmentation is increasing with only about 40 percent of the total forested area remaining “intact”.

Russian boreal forest is the most degraded and least “intact” and has suffered the greatest decline in the last few decades.

Countries with boreal forest are protecting less than 10 percent of their forests from timber exploitation, except for Sweden where the figure is about 20 percent. (ANI)

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UML says PM’s India visit a success

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kathmandu, Aug 24 (ANI): The CPN (UML) has stated that the five-day official visit of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to India was “successful and fruitful.”

The Standing Committee meeting of UML held at the party’s central office on Sunday said that the visit was successful and thanked the Prime Minister after he briefed the committee over the highlights of his visit.

Meanwhile, former Foreign Minister and Chairman of Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) Upendra Yadav, has said that Madhav Kumar Nepal’s recently concluded India visit was just a continuation and that it failed to attain any achievements.

Kantipur quoted him as, saying that Madhav Kumar Nepal’s India visit failed to accomplish tasks of national interest.

“We could not see any solid proposal that would have abated the yearly deficit of billion rupees. No talks regarding the maximum exploitation of Nepal’s water resources have been made,” he said.

He also said that Prime Minister has not raised the issue of border encroachment during discussions with his Indian counterpart.

He also said that Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala’s decision to back out of the trip at the last moment was against the spirit of diplomatic norms.

“It’s an extreme mistake in part of Foreign Minister to back out of India tour after sending in the name list of Prime Minister’s entourage” he added.

However, during the visit both India and Nepal included a new trade treaty and agreement to control unauthorized trade, particularly from a third country.

The treaty is aimed at widening the bilateral economic engagements.

The new agreement will replace the existing arrangements since 1991, which was extended from time to time.

The trade treaty, which has been under negotiation for the last two years, aims at enlarging the scope of the existing institutional framework. As per the treaty India gives duty-free access to its market to goods manufactured in Nepal. (ANI)

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Australia’s crackdown on rogue colleges could affect thousands of Indian students

August 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Aug.20 (ANI): The Australian Government proposed crackdown on vocational colleges and universities could leave thousands of international students, especially those from India, looking for somewhere else to study or needing refunds as rogue operators are shut down.

In a move to root out unscrupulous operators in the visa-driven sector, Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday introduced legislative changes forcing all 1300 registered colleges and universities to re-register under tighter guidelines.

A rash of shutdowns by colleges that fail to meet the new standards will leave the industry having to find new places for students or footing the bill for refunds.

The move is likely to be greeted with caution by the states.

Victoria last night expressed concern the proposed changes could complicate its own “rapid audits” of the sector.

To re-register under the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students, providers will have to demonstrate a commitment to education and standards. They must re-register by the end of next year.

Gillard told parliament: “The message to providers is: if you are not providing your students with a quality education in a safe environment, clean up your act or risk being shut down.”

The country’s elite universities this week called on the government’s new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to take over the lead from the states in cleaning up the system.

In its submission to a Senate inquiry, the Group of Eight universities accused the states of showing a “lack of interest” in enforcing the commonwealth’s Education Services for Overseas Students Act that Gillard is amending.

The Australian Council for Private Education and Training said a clear plan, and possibly additional support, would be needed to protect students if there were a significant number of shutdowns.

This year a spate of assaults on Indian students and widespread reporting of student exploitation have damaged the reputation of the 15 billion dollar industry, Australia’s third-largest export earner. (ANI)

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Reform of Education system on anvil

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, July 13 (ANI): In a bid to check the drop out rate in higher education, the Centre would launch Madhyam Shiksha Abhiyan programme as part of the proposed education reforms.

“We want to take Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan forward as Madhyam Shiksha Abhiyan as the drop out rate increases in higher education,” Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said during Question Hour in the parliament.

Sibal also said that the government has no policy to introduce “uniform syllabus” in all the universities.

“Let there be creativity. Let there be competition among universities. So this is not government’s policy to introduce uniform syllabus in universities,” he said.

There may be a university focussing on bio-science and another on humanities, he said adding that let the student choose the university based on his or her preference.

He, however, said there should be a CBSE (class 10th or 12th) degree for skilled education as children want jobs immediately after completing school rather than pursuing professional courses.

On the issue of complaints regarding diversion of funds by states under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Sibal said there were lakhs of schools across the country, it was not possible to carry out audit of each and every school and the CAG takes a sample audit.

Furthermore, he informed the parliament that the Government is in favour of bringing about a regulatory body to monitor the functioning of foreign universities as it is determined to prevent the exploitation of Indian students.

“We will not allow our students to be exploited by any one. We have our eyes firmly on setting up several world-class educational institutions which could make our children compete with others anywhere,” Sibal said. (ANI)

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Media tends to paint doomsday-like scenario when addressing environmental issues

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 9 (ANI): A new study has determined that the media tends to paint a doomsday-like scenario when addressing environmental issues.

This study, undertaken by researchers from the University of the Basque Country (UBC), analyses the role played by the media in creating and spreading a stance regarding the protection of the environment, sustainable development and natural heritage.

It proposes and performs an analysis of the dialectic strategies used by the daily press to treat environmental information.

The research team studied the information published in connection with the environmental summit held in Bali in 2007.

Apart from this analysis, the researchers complemented this information with a survey carried out in Urdaibai, the Basque Country.

According to Jose Ignacio Lorente, a lecturer at the UBC, the conclusions of this study suggest that “the media make an active contribution to tackling the complexity of the sustainability crisis of the current model of development, by confining their interpretation to environmental problems, but also fail to consider the social, economic and cultural aspects of a production system based on growth and the massive exploitation of natural resources”.

The results of the study indicate that the news agenda that the media developed regarding the Summit in Bali focused on scientific evidence of the global dimensions of climate change, the fact that its potentially devastating effects could be immediate and its anthropogenic nature.

However, according to the researchers, this agenda “avoided addressing the real reasons behind the political argument in detail, by means of a narrative strategy in which dramatising conflicts, threats and delays regarding CO2 quotas prevailed,” becoming the top priority for the Bali Summit.

However, Lorente added, “the emphasis the media placed on scientific evidence regarding the human nature of the causes for climate change was not linked to citizens’ sphere of activity, despite fact that their everyday decisions and behaviour – transport, energy saving, recycling – account for 20 percent of the problem”.

According to the research by the UBC, alarmist and catastrophist news focusing on the risk of natural disasters and the urgency of political and economic action “places the emphasis on the heroic efforts of abstract and distant individuals whose motives are not always clear”.

This approach, they said, appears to lack references to or be based on citizen’s everyday life. (ANI)

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Dalits in India find sponsors in Pakistan Radio

May 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Abohar, May 29 (ANI): In its latest Punjabi Durbar programme the commentators have come up with the argument that Dalit leaders in India have been accepting the directives given to them from Brahmin leaders.

The programme has been attacking the integrity of Dalit leaders, who have been accused of forgetting the welfare of people of their community.

Radio Pakistan has alleged that Dalit leaders who have won elections in the past forgot to work for their community and accepting the diktats of ‘Brahmin’ leaders. Apparently the reference is directed to Mayawati, Chief Minister of U.P., who has an upper caste Advisor.

Villagers, living in the border areas, are amused.

Inderjit Singh Baserke, a Congress leader from Dalit community, however rubbishes such allegations. He points out that Dalits had reserved seats during the elections for Legislative Assembly and the Parliament. They have become MLAs and MPs. The children of Dalits have also got reservation in educational institutions and later in government jobs at all levels.

“I am proud of our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru provided reservation to the children of Dalits and today they proudly hold posts of IAS officer, IPS, and PCS, oficers.

Many leaders of the Punjab state Congress party are Dalits. People of Dalit society are never ill-treated in Punjab. This is the land of our Gurus. Today, the Dalits enjoy an equal status with higher castes,” said Dalit leader Inderjit Singh Baserke, the general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress, Punjab.

“Radio Pakistan wants to provoke the Dalits in India. We have to be careful,” Baserke added.

The Constitution of India offers to its all citizens six fundamental rights– Right to equality, right to freedom of speech and expression, right against exploitation, right to freedom of religion, cultural and educational rights and right to constitutional remedies.

The rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India are fundamental rights and are enforceable in a court of law.

But who can enlighten the broadcasters of the Punjabi Durbar programme of Pakistan radio, who are presently finding it difficult cover items relating to the activities of the Taliban in their programmes. They seem to think that talking about Dalits in India is the answer. (ANI)

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Oil hunters started decimating whale populations as early as 1800

May 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 25 (ANI): One of several astonishing reconstructions of ocean life in olden days suggests that about the ocean around New Zealand teemed with about 27,000 southern right whales, about 30 times as many as today, before oil hunters started to whaling in the early 1800s.

The researchers set to make a presentation on the reconstruction at a Census of Marine Life conference, which runs from May 26 to 28, say that at about the same time, large pods of blue whales and orcas, blue sharks and thresher sharks darkened the waters off Cornwall, England, herds of harbour porpoise pursued fish upriver, and dolphins regularly played in waters inshore.

Census researchers are using such diverse sources as old ship logs, literary texts, tax accounts, newly translated legal documents and even mounted trophies to piece together images of fish of such sizes, abundance and distribution in ages past that they stagger modern imaginations.

They are also documenting the timelines over which those giant marine life populations declined.

Researchers James Barrett and Jen Harland of Cambridge University, Cluny Johnstone of York University, and Mike Richards of Germany-based Max Planck Institute reckon that a shift from eating locally-caught freshwater to marine fish species occurred around 1000 AD.

Their surmise is said to be consistent with analyses of scientifically-dated fish remains and historical data from England and northwestern Europe showing smaller freshwater fish and fewer species availability in early medieval times, likely caused by increased exploitation and pollution.

Meanwhile, Maria Lucia De Nicolo of the University of Bologna has established that new fishing boats and equipment invented in the 1500s made it possible to venture from coastal to deep sea fishing.

She says that the real revolution in marine fishing happened in the mid-1600s when pairs of boats began dragging a net.

Andy Rosenberg of the University of New Hampshire, a leader of the Census’ History of Marine Animal Population (HMAP) project and chair of the conference, says that new insights allowed by centuries of information are upending modern notions of “natural” marine life sizes, abundance, habitats and vulnerability, and causing authorities to revisit marine baselines.

The researchers believe that these insights may turn out to be useful for policy makers, who plan to use the results as a realistic baseline against which the current and future status of the marine ecosystem can be gauged.

Ian Poiner, Chair of the Census Scientific Steering Committee, says: “The insights emerging from this research of the past provide a new context for contemporary ocean management. nderstanding the magnitude and drivers of change long ago is essential to accurately interpret today’s trends and to make future projections.” (ANI)

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Miss Nude South Africa dismisses claims Sexpo event exploited women

May 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Johannesburg, May 16 (ANI): After a handful of Christians protested outside Cape Town’s Sexpo, Miss Nude South Africa has rejected claims that the event exploited women.

Bella Anderson, who is conducting lap dancing workshops at Sexpo, hoped that visitors to the event would leave more comfortable with who they were, instead of worrying about what other people said.

“We are all here by our own choice: no one’s been forced to be here,” 24.com quoted a topless Anderson as saying at her stall in the expo.

“I mean, I love sitting here… I enjoy this. It’s not like I’m a prostitute or anything.

“I’m just enjoying the fact that I’m a woman first of all, and second of all I’m using my womanly side and my femininity… to have fun with people.

“It’s not like I’m sleeping with anyone or doing bad things,” she added.

Outside the Cape Town Convention Centre, where Sexpo is being held, about 15 Christian conservatives held a placard protest and handed out pamphlets.

Spokesperson for the Christian Action Network Taryn Hodgson said that Christians believed that sex was a gift from God and should be expressed only within the confines of marriage.

“We shouldn’t take something that’s private and personal and make it public,” Hodgson said.

She also said it was outrageous that an industry that promoted the “objectification and exploitation” of women should be given space at a premier tourist destination in the heart of the city.

The protesters handed out a statement expressing concern that Sexpo would lure members of the public into experimenting with porn and attending strip clubs, which were hubs for criminal activity including prostitution.

Making a statement in reaction to the protest that the event was a “health, sexuality and lifestyle” show, Sexpo organiser Silas Howarth said: “We are quite happy there are people in the democracy who are… exercising their freedom of speech, but we also believe they should respect the fact that we have a massive expo, with massive, massive following.”

He said that attendances of some 100 000 over the past year in various centres showed that most South Africans were comfortable with the event.

“At the end of the day all we’re doing is saying ‘this is what’s out there, this is what is happening in the adult industry, this is what it feels like to be comfortable with your sexuality and sensuality and to have fun,’” he said.

“When it’s between two consenting people – or more than two consenting people – at the end of the day, if people are willing, if they’re wanting to do it, if they’re doing it safely, where’s the harm in that?” he added. (ANI)

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Octomom faces lawsuit for exploiting her kids

May 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, May 5 (ANI): Nadya Suleman, the mother of octuplets, has been slapped with a lawsuit for exploiting her eight babies.

Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred filed a petition in Orange County, California, alleging the history-making mum was taking advantage of the newborns and raking in money without proper consideration of their interests.

Allred argued the babies should have a court-appointed guardian and a separate theatrical agent to ensure they receive their share of any money earned by their fame.

“Rather than choosing to provide her children with a normal life,” The New York Daily News quoted Allred as saying.

“Nadya Suleman, has chosen instead to commercially exploit them, and it appears she plans to continue commercial exploitation of them in the future as well.

“Since she has chosen this path, we believe that the babies are entitled to remuneration,” Allred added.

Allred, who sued the 33-year-old on behalf of former child actor and child labor advocate Paul Petersen, further said that media filming the infants with paid contracts could violate child labor laws.

Peter Scheer, a lawyer and executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, nodded to the possibility.

Scheer explained: “If a media organization has bought and paid for special access to these children in a way that legitimately can be construed as compensation to them for their services, then it may be that labor laws come into play.”

It was previously revealed that Nadya, the single, unemployed mum-of-14, was living at home with her parents and used in-vitro fertilization to conceive the octuplets and her previous six kids, ages 2 to 7.

The case will be heard on June 22. (ANI)

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Russia plans to build five floating Arctic nuke stations

May 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Tromso (Norway), May 3 (ANI): Russia is planning to build a fleet of floating and submersible nuclear power stations to exploit Arctic oil and gas reserves.

This is causing widespread alarm among environmentalists, reports The Guardian. prototype floating nuclear power station being constructed at the SevMash shipyard in Severodvinsk is due to be completed next year.

An agreement to build a further four was reached between the Russian state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, and the northern Siberian republic of Yakutiya in February.

The 70-megawatt plants, each of which would consist of two reactors on board giant steel platforms, would provide power to Gazprom, Russia’s largest oil firm.

The building of the nuclear power stations would allow Gazprom to power drills needed to exploit some of the remotest oil and gas fields in the world in the Barents and Kara seas.

The self-propelled vessels would store their own waste and fuel and would need to be serviced only once every 12 to 14 years.

In addition, designers are known to have developed submarine nuclear-powered drilling rigs that could allow eight wells to be drilled at a time.

Bellona, a leading Scandinavian environmental watchdog group, yesterday condemned the idea of using nuclear power to open the Arctic to oil, gas and mineral production, terming it as a highly risky proposition.

Environmentalists also fear that if additional radioactive waste is produced, it will be dumped into the sea.

Russia has a long record of polluting the Arctic with radioactive waste.

Countries including Britain have had to offer Russia billions of dollars to decommission more than 160 nuclear submarines, but at least 12 nuclear reactors have been dumped, along with more than 5,000 containers of solid and liquid nuclear waste, on the northern coast and on the island of Novaya Zemlya.

The US Geological Survey believes the Arctic holds up to 25 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves, leading some experts to call the region the next Saudi Arabia.

The technological exploitation of the region is next to impossible due to sea ice, strong winds and temperatures that can dip to below -50C.

Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the US have all claimed large areas of the Arctic in the past five years. But many countries bordering the Arctic see climate change as the chance to exploit areas that were once inaccessible and to open trade routes between the Pacific and Atlantic. (ANI)

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NHRIs of South Asian nations pass resolution to promote national capacity building

April 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Apr.17 (ANI): The National Human Rights Institutions of South Asian countries today passed a Resolution after a two day conference in New Delhi and agreed to work towards National Capacity Building through sharing of experience, information and best practices on human rights.

They also agreed to take steps to promote human rights awareness by holding conferences of NHRIs atleast once in two years in addition to exchanges of visits, training programmes and bilateral or regional cooperation between these Institutions.

The Conference on ‘Human Rights Awareness and National Capacity Building’ was organized by the National Human Rights Commission of India and attended by Chairpersons, Members and representatives of six National Human Rights Institutions from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India.

The Conference agreed that respective Governments will be appealed to support and provide necessary wherewithal to NHRIs to ensure that they become fully compliant with ‘Paris Principles’ which includes administrative and financial autonomy.

During the two days of deliberations spread in four sessions, the issues of legal framework for promotion and protection of human rights, institutional arrangements and measures undertaken for promotion and protection of human rights, building human rights awareness and international cooperation were discussed.

Earlier, inaugurating the conference on 16th April, 2009, the Chief Justice of India, Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said, public expectations from NHRIs have increased with awareness about Constitutional Rights.

He said, promotion of human rights faces considerable challenges in the South Asian Region given the frequent terrorist attacks, communal violence and pervasive exploitation on account of caste and gender differences.

Justice Balakrishnan said, despite most of the South Asian countries having established human rights institutions, there are persistent criticisms about their lack of independence, initiatives and effective powers.

He said, in real sense the realization of civil and political rights is impossible without enjoyment of economic and social rights. He said, there is a special responsibility upon human right bodies to actively confront social evils such as immoral trafficking and forced prostitution.

Institutions in South Asia need to be proactive in responding to instances of exploitation by private parties also. He highlighted the importance of educational institutions and non-governmental organizations in promotion of human rights.

Addressing the gathering, the NHRC of India Chairperson, Mr. Justice S. Rajendra Babu said, it is important for a State committed to human rights to establish a national infrastructure including relevant institutions which can promote and protect human rights.

He also advocated the need for an effective mechanism to keep a check on the activities of the existing human rights institutions to ensure their accountability.

Justice Rajendra Babu said, NHRIs have now evolved as a significant player on both the national and international fronts instead of just acting as liaison points for the United Nations. e said, the Paris conference Principles require that the National Human Rights Institutions be given a broad mandate to enforce human rights and enjoy absolute independence from overnments. (ANI)

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Iran detains 121 Afghans, foils human trafficking bid

April 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Tehran, April 12 (IANS) Iranian officials have foiled a major human trafficking attempt by detaining 121 Afghan nationals who had illegally entered the country, IRNA reported Sunday, quoting authorities.

Six people have also been arrested for trafficking the Afghans, who were detained from Mehriz, a border city in Iran’s Yazd province, provincial authorities said.

The officials also seized four vehicles used to transport the Afghans to Iran, a major transit point for human smuggling from Afghanistan to Europe.

According to officials, the traffickers pick poor Afghans on the pretext of better jobs and livelihood, and smuggle them to European countries through Iran.

Earlier this month, about 50 people were found dead inside a container near Quetta, the capital city of Pakistan’s Balochistan province. These people were reportedly being transported from Afghanistan to Iran via Pakistan.

With the standard of living deteriorating in Afghanistan, which is plagued by growing insurgency, people in the war-torn country are trying to flee to other countries in search of a better living.

But, most of them fall prey in the hands of human traffickers who smuggle the poor Afghans to European countries for purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour.

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Peta under fire over ‘putting down animals’ claims

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, April 5 (ANI): People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the animal rights group famous for its ‘I’d rather go naked than wear fur’ campaigns, has come under fire for killing animals at its US headquarters.

The group’s stunts have made it one of the most formidable global lobbyists against the exploitation of animals.

However, now the high-profile charity has come under fire over its own treatment of animals after it emerged that the organisation put down 96 per cent of the animals handed into its American headquarters.

Of 2,216 animals taken to its premises in Norfolk, Virginia, last year, 2,124 were put to sleep – almost six per day. Homes were found for just seven.
In last ten years, PETA has euthanised more than 20,000 pets, according to figures it has supplied to Virginia state officials.

The group insists that homes could not be found for the dogs and cats, usually because they were in such poor health or because they were ‘unsocialised’ and aggressive, usually because of bad treatment by their owners.

However, the organisation, which does not run its own animal adoption programme and does not accept animals into its care elsewhere, admitted that some treatable and adoptable animals were also among those killed by lethal injection.

“We are doing the dirty work that others won’t. We are proud to be a shelter of last resort that takes in old broken animals and gives them a humane end,” the Telegraph quoted Daphna Nachminovitch, vice-president for cruelty investigations, as saying.

“America is facing an epidemic of overpopulation. Six to eight million unwanted pets are turned in to shelters each year and half of them have to be euthanised. Our euthanasia programme is no secret.

“It’s a societal problem. We’re not going to turn our backs on these animals just so that our figures look good. We’re not saying that all the animals we euthanise are suffering from incurable conditions. But overpopulation is a crisis. It’s a matter of actually finding a good home,” Nachminovitch added.

However, the group has been accused of being more interested in using its 32 million dollars annual budget to fund its campaigns against the fur and meat industries than helping the cats and dogs in its backyard.

David Martosko, director of research at the US-based Centre for Consumer Freedom (CCF), said: “Many people who contribute to Peta’s funds will be very disturbed to learn that their money is going towards killing animals.”

“It’s inconceivable that Peta is taking in only the least, last and lost of the animal kingdom. The odds that Peta is only receiving unadoptable animals are about the same as me winning the lottery and being struck by lightning on the same day. The reality is that Peta has no interest in trying to find homes for unwanted animals as they want to use their money to fund their political campaigns,” he added. (ANI)

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