Clipmarks | Deepti's news collection

Proposed Legislation in Iran Would End Death by Stoning

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:15:44 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Iran's state media announced Wednesday that Iran has suspended the use of stoning as a way to carry out the death penalty. According to AFP, Iran's judiciary drafted legislation that would end stoning as a death penalty, the current Islamic punishment in Iran for adulterers

In 2002, Ayatollah Shahroudi, the head of Iran's judiciary banned the practice of stoning but did not remove the laws from the books. Execution by stoning continued, including the stoning of Jafar Kiani in 2007, which sparked international outrage

BBC News reports that eight women and one man are currently awaiting death by stoning in Iran

The majority of those sentenced to death by stoning are women. Women are not treated equally with men under the law and by courts, and they are also particularly vulnerable to unfair trials because their higher illiteracy rate makes them more likely to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit

Tags: iran, stoning, legislation, legal system, punishment

Marry or lose job, says Iran firm

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:17:57 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: In the same vein, the governor of the eastern province of North Khorasan ruled recently that only married people would be hired for official posts in the region

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Single workers at one of Iran's major state-owned companies have been told to marry by September or face being fired, Iranian newspapers have reported.

The Pars Special Economic Energy Zone Company employs thousands of people, mostly young men, on Iran's Gulf coast

Being married is a job requirement, a directive from the company is reported as saying

Correspondents say the ruling appears to be an attempt to reduce the number of prostitutes working in the area

Its directive, according to the Etemad newspaper, says that despite requests "some of our colleagues did not fulfil their commitments and are still single"

It continues: "As being married is one of the criteria of employment, we are announcing for the last time that all the female and male colleagues have until September 21 to go ahead with this important and moral religious duty."

Economic difficulties in Iran have led many people to postpone getting married, despite sexual relations being illegal outside marriage

Tags: iran, marriage, employees, job, directive

The appointment of first Arab Jewish woman ambassador awaiting US nod

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:04:57 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Huda Nonoo (right) with Dr Nada Haffadh, Bahrain's first woman minister in the upper house.

The appointment of Bahraini Huda Nonoo as the first Arab Jewish woman ambassador in Washington is still waiting for the approval of the US government, the foreign minister has said

Huda, the first Jewish woman to sit on the upper house of the bicameral parliament and the head of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society

The move was hailed by the international community as renewed recognition of Bahraini women's merits and of tolerance towards minorities in Bahrain

Huda, 43, will be the third woman ambassador from Bahrain after Shaikha Haya Bint Rashed Al Khalifa who served in France and Bibi Al Alawi, the current ambassador to China

Tags: arab, jew, ambassador, us, bahrain, woman

Hunger, water scarcity displaces thousands of Afghans

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:08:03 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Faced by violence in the past two years, the bloodiest since the Taliban's ouster in 2001, and frustration from many Afghans about perceived lack of development, the government has been seeking ways to import flour or wheat to curb rising food prices

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Many parts of Afghanistan did not receive enough rain and snow this year, increasing concern the country may face drought again, amid global soaring food prices that have already hit the mountainous and war-torn country

Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes due to food and water shortages in northern Afghanistan

The exodus of nearly 2,000 families this week from Chemtal district of Balkh province comes despite the government sending 37 tons of food and some water for distribution for the people under a food for work project days earlier, the government said

An average Afghan family usually has at least four members

Water and food shortages have forced several families to eat grass, resulting in some deaths in recent weeks in different parts of northern Afghanistan

In some areas water-fed crops have died due to lack of rain and in some others an unprecedented infestation of locusts has destroyed cultivated fields in recent weeks

Tags: afghanistan, hunger, water, government, scarcity, drought

"frogamander" fossil

Mon, 26 May 2008 12:31:46 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

The fossil Gerobatrachus hottoni or elderly frog, described in the journal Nature, may help set the record straight

Modern amphibians

have been a bit slippery about divulging their evolutionary ancestry

Gaps in the fossil record showing the transformation of one form into another have led to a lot of scientific debate

Gerobatrachus has a mixture of frog and salamander features, with fused ankle bones as seen only in salamanders, a wide, frog-like skull, and a backbone that resembles a mix of the two

The fossil suggests that modern amphibians may have come from two groups, with frogs and salamanders related to an ancient amphibian known as a temnospondyl, and worm-like caecilians more closely related to the lepospondyls, another group of ancient amphibians

Gerobatrachus hottoni was discovered in Texas in 1995 by a group from the Smithsonian Institution that included the late Nicholas Hotton, for whom the fossil is named

Tags: fossil, frog, salamander, amphibian, debate

China makes one-child policy exception for quake families

Mon, 26 May 2008 12:24:41 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

China announced on Monday it's making exceptions to its one-child policy for some families affected by the devastating earthquake two weeks ago

The Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee in the capital of hard-hit Sichuan province announced that families whose child was killed, severely injured or disabled in the quake could get a certificate allowing them to have another child

It addresses the common problem of couples illegally having more than one child

If a child born illegally was killed in the quake, the parents will no longer have to pay fines for that child - but the previously paid fines won't be refunded, the committee said

If a couple's legally born child was killed and the couple is left with an illegally born child under the age of 18, that child can be registered as the legal child

there are no limits on the number of earthquake orphans a family can adopt

A couple that adopts won't be penalized if they later have their own biological child

Tags: china, earthquake, victims, children, parents, policy, change, orphans

Canada to formally apologise to Indians for 1914 brutality

Wed, 14 May 2008 10:06:27 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Canada will formally apologise to the Indians here for the Komagata Maru tragedy of 1914 and acknowledge the hurt caused to the community

The Komagata Maru ship brought 376 Indians to Canada in 1914 in violation of the racist immigration laws of that time. But it was not allowed to anchor here and forcibly sent back to India after two months. On return to India, many passengers were shot dead by British Indian police in Calcutta, now Kolkata

Making this commitment to the Indo-Canadian community at a gathering in Surrey near here on Saturday, Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, said the government would soon tender a formal apology on the issue in the nation's parliament

He also hinted that his government will work with provincial (state) governments to have a Komagata chapter in school textbooks

The current Tory government set in motion the apology process soon after taking over in 2006

Tags: canada, india, history, apology, government

Los Angeles man wins right to use wife's last name

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:47:11 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: A subsequent lawsuit led to a new California state law guaranteeing the rights of both married couples and registered domestic partners to choose whichever last name they prefer on their marriage and driving licenses

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

All Michael Buday wanted to do was take the last name of his wife, Diana Bijon, when they married

But it took two years, a lawsuit alleging sex discrimination and a change in California law before he picked up his new drivers license in the name of Michael Bijon on Monday

He discovered it would take a $350 fee, court appearances, a public announcement and mounds of paperwork to make a change on his driving license that is routine for women who marry

After months of frustration, the Los Angeles computer programmer and his ER nurse wife Diana, 29, took their problem to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California

A double barrel name would have been no problem, nor would Diana and Michael deciding to each keep their birth names. But California and some 40 other U.S. states provided no place on the marriage license application, and driving license, for the groom to choose the bride's surname

"I am really, really proud of him. Not many men would do this," she said

Tags: husband, wife, surname, california

Malaysia travel-restriction plan for women sparks anger

Sun, 04 May 2008 13:00:37 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

A government proposal to restrict women in Malaysia from traveling overseas on their own sparked outrage among Malaysian women’s groups on Sunday

If the proposal is approved, women in Malaysia will have to get a written consent from families or employers before they can travel alone

The foreign and home ministries defended the idea, saying it is a response to a string of cases where women traveling alone were used by syndicates to smuggle drugs across borders

Tags: malaysia, women, travel, restriction, proposal

Global consortium to hunt for cancer genes

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:48:33 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Scientists from around the world are joining forces to hunt for key genetic mutations involved in cancer

The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), launched on Tuesday, will look at up to 50 different types of cancer and researchers hope it will eventually lead to better diagnosis, treatment and prevention

Other members of the consortium include the U.S. National Institutes of Health, as well as cancer and genetic research groups from Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Japan and Singapore

Tags: cancer, genes, consortium, world

Maldives wants emissions cuts but not from tourism

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:21:30 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: in.reuters.com

The Maldives, worried about rising seas from climate change, wants steeper cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions but is unwilling to curb its tourism industry, which is reliant on polluting international flights

Tourist arrivals grew 12 percent last year to a record in the Maldives, a chain of Indian Ocean islands known for luxury resorts, expensive honeymoons and world-class scuba diving

Tourism contributes about 5 percent to global emissions of greenhouse gases, but this is expected to rise as more people take international flights

The economy, which Gayoom said would grow between 6 and 7 percent in 2008, derives about 30 percent of revenues from tourism

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

said cutting back on tourism was not the answer even though the country's survival was more important than development

Tags: maldives, global warming, tourism, economy

Cambodian 'Killing Fields' journalist dies

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:57:59 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Schanberg described Dith's ordeal and salvation in a 1980 magazine article titled "The Death and Life of Dith Pran". Schanberg's reporting from Phnom Penh had earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.

Later a book, the magazine article became the basis for The Killing Fields, the highly successful 1984 British film starring Sam Waterston as the Times correspondent and Haing S. Ngor, another Cambodian escapee from the Khmer Rouge, as Dith Pran.

The film won three Oscars, including the best supporting actor award to Ngor. Ngor, a physician, was shot to death in 1996 during a robbery outside his Los Angeles home

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country's murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film The Killing Fields died on Sunday, colleague Sydney Schanberg said

Dith, 65, died at a New Jersey hospital on Sunday morning of pancreatic cancer

Schanberg helped Dith's family get out but was forced to leave his friend behind after the capital fell; they were not reunited until Dith escaped four and a half years later

It was Dith himself who coined the term "killing fields" for the horrifying clusters of corpses and skeletal remains of victims he encountered on his desperate journey to freedom

he became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project, dedicated to educating people on the history of the Khmer Rouge regime

Tags: cambodia, journalist, killing, fields, cancer, death, pol pot

Gorilla project unites Uganda, Rwanda and Congo

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:49:15 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.enn.com

Uganda, Rwanda and Congo launched a joint effort on Wednesday to protect endangered mountain gorillas that roam the three nations' jungle borders

Fewer than 720 of the primates -- famous for the shimmering silver hair on the backs of males -- are believed to exist in the wild, spread across the remote Virunga hills where Democratic Republic of Congo meets Uganda and Rwanda

They are a lucrative source of income from tourists, many of whom are high-end visitors paying $500 a day for tracking permits

According to the

Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA)

the number of gorillas in southwest Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a stand-alone enclave for the primates, is 340 -- making it the single largest population

Another 250 are thought to roam on the Rwandan side of the border. A smaller number are in Congo, where wildlife officials say at least 10 were killed last year

But renewed conservation efforts, coupled with the primates' growing value as tourist attractions, has seen numbers recover

Tags: uganda, rwanda, congo, africa, gorillas, wildlife, conservation, population

Indian being held in Pakistan jail since 1973

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:07:34 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

A 73-year-old Indian national has been found languishing in a Pakistan prison for the past 35 years on spying charges

Pakistan's Federal Minister for Human Rights Ansar Burney said yesterday that he had traced an Indian national waiting for his death sentence to be carried out in a prison cell in Lahore

During a visit to Lahore Central Jail as part of his plans for prison reforms, Burney visited the various death cells and came across Kashmir Singh - now a weak, old and mentally disabled man

At the time of his arrest, he was a husband and a father of three young children - two boys and a girl. He has not seen any of them ever since then

"When I checked the jail records, I found out that Kashmir Singh, son of Sansar Singh, was arrested in 1973 on espionage charges in Pakistan and sentenced to death under the Official Secrets Act 1923 by the military court in Lahore 35 years ago. He has been languishing in a Pakistani death cell ever since," he added

Tags: india, pakistan, jail, 1973, espionage, human rights

You can't even shave while driving anymore?

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:16:17 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Motorists in northern Mexico who are caught dabbing on lipstick, shaving or carrying a pet at the wheel will now face hefty fines as authorities try to cut down on traffic accidents

Putting on make-up or shaving with an electric razor will land drivers fines of up to 346 pesos ($32) in the northern Mexican city of Torreon from this month, Mexican media reported on Saturday

Along with a slew of higher fines for common traffic offenses such as driving while intoxicated, speeding, and talking on a telephone without a headset, Torreon city hall said new misdemeanors included throwing trash out of a car window, and driving with another person or an animal on a motorist's lap

City halls across Mexico are stiffening traffic laws as motorists in Mexico regularly ignore stop lights, drive drunk or with children in the front seat, and carry passengers in the back of pick-up trucks. Fatal accidents are common

Tags: about, damn, time