Month: July 2010

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina. PHOTO/BAH

After the approval of the same-sex marriage bill, many voices have been raised to praise and condemn the decision, some of them as unexpected as a priest from Córdoba coming out in defense of homosexual couples and a justice of peace in La Pampa that said she will not marry them “because she must follow the Bible.”

Father Nicolás Alessio, who was banned from carrying on with his clerical duties by an archbishop after he publicly came out in support of the same-sex marriage bill, ratified he was intent on carrying on with mass ceremonies and he was even willing to marry homosexual couples.

Buenos Aires Herald for more

by SONIA SHAH

“A 3-year-old girl plays under an insecticide-treated mosquito net in Nairobi, Kenya.” PHOTO/European Press Agency/The Wall Street Journal

It was the emperor Caracalla’s physician, Serenus Sammonicus, who in the second century came up with Rome’s first antimalaria quick-fix, one that later became literally synonymous with magical solutions everywhere. An amulet should be worn, Sammonicus advised, inscribed with a powerful incantation: “Abracadabra.”

It didn’t work, needless to say. Thanks to deforestation and flooding that extended mosquito habitat, malaria worsened near the end of the Roman empire, contributing to its decline. It took a lot more than Abracadabras for the malaria parasite, Plasmodium, to unclench its tentacles: a state-run quinine distribution program in the early 1900s, the ruthless swampland reclamation programs of Mussolini a few decades later, a blitz of DDT around midcentury, and the general economic transformation of the lot of the Italian peasant all had to run their long and arduous course before malaria departed from Italy, centuries after Rome fell.

The Wall Street Journal for more

by OMAR HUDA

As it is, large swaths of land in the south of Bangladesh are poised to go under due to sea level rise. I saw it happening first hand in Paikgacha, Khulna, place of my grandparents. Sea water that came in during the cyclone last year, has not receded. Most of the shrimp farms are now part of Bay of Bengal! By 2050, they say, as many as 60 million will become landless refugees. Where will they go? India now has electronic fences all around Bangladesh border (thanks to Israeli contribution!).

Many parts of North Bengal literally becomes desert in winter due to Farakka Dam that West Bengal constructed in the 1960s to flush Hoogley port during dry winter months. Little came out of decades of bi-lateral negotiations between India and Bangladesh. India will not accept international mediation either. And now this? I sincerely hope India will not be that heartless – nor will she simply brush off International laws governing shared water.

I have a suggestion: The US Congress should allow immigration of 2-3 million people per year from Bangladesh! Ya, right!

Or perhaps India should settle the displaced Bangladeshis in India. Ya, right! Her own people displaced due to Narmada Dam are yet to be resettled! Ask Arundhati Roy!

A Nazrul song comes to mind:

“Ganges, Sindh, Narmada, Kaberi, Jamuna —
Still flow as they did for millennium
But where are all the good people who lived along their banks?”

Well, to answer poet Nazrul Islam , if these rivers were not to flow any more like they have for millennium – if this dream project is implemented – the “good people” he asks about would be irrelevant!

by JOHN VIDAL

Indian plans to divert vast quantities of water from major rivers, including the Ganges and Brahmaputra, threaten the livelihoods of more than 100 million people downstream in Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi government fears. Ministers are so concerned that they are considering appealing to the United Nations to redraft international law on water sharing.

News from Bangladesh for more

(Submitted by Omar Huda)

by AMAR JALEEL

Link

via Indus Asia Online Journal

ANHAD

More than 30 organisations met in Delhi on July 14 to discuss the strategy to pressurise the UPA to place and pass the Women Reservation Bill in the monsoon session of the Parliament.

It was decided that a demonstration will be organised at the parliament street on July 29, 2010 from 11am to 2pm. People will gather at 10.30am at Jantar Mantar, march to Parliament Street where from 12 noon to 2pm a public meeting will be organised.

There would a three hour programme comprising of speeches and cultural programme in support of the Women Reservation Bill. A memorandum will be submitted to the President, PM and UPA chairperson.

I am writing to you with the request to :
1. Endorse the campaign by sending the name of your organisation/ or individually if you do not belong to any civil society organisation.

2. Participate in the programme and mobilise others from Delhi.

3. If you are from outside Delhi sponsor ateleast two people from your organisation to participate in the rally. For adjoining states please come in large numbers and not only two each.

4. Delhi arrangements for the programme are being made by the local core group. Expenditure incurred on travel and stay by outstation participants has to be borne by their respective organisations.

5. We are designing umbrellas which will have names of endorsees from different cities. These will be carried at the demonstration by participants . so please send us names of participant from your organisation and also send us 10 names to be printed on the umbrella from your city who have endorsed the Bill . We will reserve the umbrellas for participants whose names are confirmed by July 26th.

The programme is being organised under the banner of Alliance for 33%. The following organizations who have participated in the preliminary three meeting held in Delhi have endorsed the programme.

AIDWA,AIPWA,Ajmer Adult Education Association,Anhad,Anhad Media,BGVS,Burmese Women Delhi,Centre for Advocacy & Research,Centre for Social Research,CFAR,Delhi forum,HRLN,IGSSS,Jagori,Joint Women’s Programme,Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti,NFIW,Nistha,PUCL,PWESCR,Right to Food,SADED,Sangat,SANLAAP,Stree Adhikar Sangathan,Women Feature Services,Women Power Connect,YWCA,Hunger Project

We are trying to raise funds (though there is no guarantee as yet) for partially supporting the travel only for those who are not associated with any organizations and cannot afford their travel.

Shabnam Hashmi (ANHAD)

MARKET WIRE

“A close-up of Hellas Stamps featuring the 2010 Goddess Artemis Award recipient.” PHOTO/Market Wire

ATHENS, GREECE–(Marketwire – July 12, 2010) – The Government of Greece in association with the Hellenic Post Office Authority of Greece and Ms. Loula Loi Alafoyiannis, Founder and Executive Global President, EAWC, has honored Almas Jiwani, President of UNIFEM Canada, with a commemorative stamp in recognition of her lifelong commitment and contribution to advocating for women’s equality rights around the world.

Market Wire for more

(Submitted by reader)

by RASNA WARAH

The sight of ordinary Greeks and Spaniards being attacked by riot police in their respective countries is baffling to many Africans, who are not used to seeing such images emanating from European countries.

But these scenes are going to become more frequent in the coming months, not just in Greece and Spain, but in other parts of Europe, particularly the “weaker” and more heavily indebted European nations.

Economists are already predicting that Portugal, Italy, and Ireland will experience similar riots in the near future, and that the euro will lose credibility as a viable currency.

The Citizen for more

THE ONION

WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy ceased to function this week after unexpected existential remarks by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke shocked Americans into realizing that money is, in fact, just a meaningless and intangible social construct.

What began as a routine report before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday ended with Bernanke passionately disavowing the entire concept of currency, and negating in an instant the very foundation of the world’s largest economy.

The Onion for more

(Submitted by Asad Zaidi)

by DELLA BRADSHAW

At Johns Hopkins it will be compulsory for MBA students to work with the department of medicine and public health. For example, business students will have to work with their scientific counterparts to write a business plan and bring a product to market “connecting invention with innovation”, as Prof Gupta puts it. “If I am going to pull this together, I’ve got to have a synergystic school,” he says.

Students must spend time in developing countries, such as India, Rwanda, Kenya or Peru, and work in teams on economic development projects, such as introducing a drug delivery system for people with Aids.

Financial Times for more

(Submitted by reader)