US House votes to continue NSA's phone surveillance

The US House of Representatives has narrowly voted to continue collecting data on US phone calls, in the first legislative move on the programme.

In a 205-217 vote, lawmakers rejected an effort to restrict the National Security Agency's (NSA) ability to collect electronic information.
The NSA's chief had lobbied strongly against the proposed measure.
The vote saw an unusual coalition of conservatives and liberal Democrats join forces against the programme.

Republican Justin Amash attached the amendment to a defence spending bill

The details of the NSA dragnet were made public by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for America's electronic spying agency. He is now a fugitive, seeking asylum in Moscow.
'Fear' The rejected amendment would have blocked funding for the NSA programme which gathers details of every call made by or to a US phone, unless the records were part of a specific investigation.

It was introduced by Michigan Republican Justin Amash, who warned during Wednesday's debate that the proposal's critics would "use the same tactic every government throughout history has used to justify its violation of rights: fear.

"They'll tell you that the government must violate the rights of the American people to protect us against those who hate our freedom."
Despite the White House's lobbying against the amendment, a majority of House Democrats - 111 - voted for it. Eighty-three Democrats voted against.
Among Republicans, 94 voted for the Amash amendment and 134 against.
'We've gone overboard' Before Wednesday's vote there were fierce exchanges on the House floor during what was the first sustained legislative debate on the NSA's reach since Mr Snowden's revelations.

The National Security Agency (NSA) began collecting Americans' phone records in 2001, as part of far-reaching surveillance programmes launched by then-President George W Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
But the scope of the practice, continued under President Barack Obama, only became apparent in June when ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified US surveillance files.
It emerged that a US secret court had ordered phone company Verizon to hand over to the NSA the phone records of tens of millions of American customers.
This information, known as metadata, includes the numbers of the originating and receiving phone, the call's duration, time, date and location (for mobiles, determined by which mobile signal towers relayed the call or text).
The contents of the conversation itself, however, are not covered, US intelligence officials say. The surveillance applies to calls placed within the US, and calls between the US and abroad.

"We've really gone overboard on the security side," said Democratic Representative Peter Welch of the surveillance, which is part of a classified $30bn (£19.5bn) intelligence budget.

But others said the practice was essential in America's efforts against terrorism.
"Have 12 years gone by and our memories faded so badly that we forgot what happened on September 11?" said Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee.
Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, not usually noted for her support of President Obama, also backed the administration's stance.
"Let us not deal in false narratives," she said. "Let's deal in facts that will keep Americans safe."
But Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, one of the original authors of the Bush-era Patriot Act, said "the time has come" to stop harvesting phone records.
On the eve of the vote, in a rare statement against a legislative amendment, the White House called the Amash proposal a "blunt approach" that would hamper US anti-terrorism efforts.
NSA director Gen Keith Alexander held separate, closed-door sessions with Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday to lobby them against the bill.
Another NSA surveillance programme, Prism, allows the agency to sweep up global internet usage data through nine major US-based providers.
The programmes' supporters say such surveillance has helped thwart at least 50 terror plots in 20 countries, including up to a dozen directed at the US.
Divided opinion in the US about the snooping was highlighted by a CBS News poll on Wednesday.
The survey found that 67% of Americans opposed the government's collection of phone records, but 52% said it was necessary to counter terrorism.
source:  BBC

Read more »

Posted in: Society,USA

China charges disgraced politician Bo Xilai

Mr Bo was removed from his post in March 2012

China has charged disgraced politician Bo Xilai with bribery, corruption and abuse of power, state media say.

Bo Xilai, formerly the Communist Party chief of Chongqing, was expelled from the party after a scandal surrounding the murder of a British businessman.
His wife Gu Kailai was jailed in August for the killing of the Briton, Neil Heywood.
Mr Bo was charged by prosecutors on Thursday in Jinan in Shandong province, state media said.
The scandal was one of the biggest to rock China in years.

Source: bbc

Read more »

Posted in: China,Society

Foreign sex workers could be expelled from Vietnam

The security ministry is proposing fines of up to US$476 for clients indulging in paid sex “of an obscene nature”, starting July 1. If the prostitute is a foreigner, that person will be fined up to $47 and can be deported from Vietnam.
According to a draft decree proposed by the Ministry of Public Security on administrative punishment in social order, fire and domestic violence prevention, sex buyers will be fined from VND500,000 to VND1 million (up to $47).
The fine will be increased to VND2 million - VND5 million (up to $238) if the client has sex with many prostitutes at a time.

If the sex is “of an obscene nature”, or the client incites others to buy sex together, that person will be fined from VND5 million to VND10 million (from $238 to $476). However, the ministry does not explain or define what “obscene” activities constitute. The original Vietnamese phrase is “co tinh chat doi truy” , which can be roughly translated as “having elements of an obscene [or lewd or lecherous or debauched] nature”.
Meanwhile, the security ministry also suggests fines to sex workers but at a much lower rate. Accordingly, the act of selling sex will incur non-monetary warnings or pecuniary fines of VND100,000-VND300,000 (up to $14).
But if a prostitute has sex with many clients at a time, that sex worker will be fined VND300,000-VND500,000. If the sexual activities are “of an obscene nature”, the prostitute will be fined from VND500,000 to VND1 million (up to $47).
If the sex worker is a foreigner, that person will be fined from VND100,000 to VND1 million (up to $47) and can be deported from Vietnam. Sex procurers will be fined up to VND5 million, with repeat offenders to be fined VND10 million.
The security ministry is now gathering opinions from other ministries and agencies and the public for feedback on this draft decree before officially submitting it to a higher body for approval.

Source tuoitrenews.vn

Read more »

Posted in: Society

In the world of beer girls

More pretty girls, including students, who drink well now earn quite a lot from waiting on and sharing a table and drinks with their male customers.

The main difference between these ‘beer attendants’ and ‘bia om’ (beer hug) girls is that these ‘beer attendants’ usually don’t offer sexual services to customers. However, the difference blurs sometimes.

A Tuoi Tre undercover reporter recently disguised herself as a beer attendant to penetrate this world.

She got to know Ha, a seasoned beer attendant, who agreed to let her tend to one of her patrons after the reporter boasted that she can drink up to 10 beer bottles in one go.

“The more you can drink and the prettier and sexier you are, the more tips you receive from your clients,” Ha shared with the reporter.

As soon as they arrived, Ha quickly gave one of the male clients an intimate hug before introducing the reporter to Sau, another of her patrons.

After a while, Sau hugged the reporter and insisted that she down her drink. She had no choice but to obey amidst the clients’ laughter.

Sau quickly put a VND200,000 (US$10) note into her hand.

During the drinking session, the men kept discussing business while forcing the beer attendants to gulp beer amidst laughter, chatter and applause.

Sau then asked Ha to sing a song before complimenting her on her performance with a kiss on her cheek and a VND500,000 (US$25) note.

“You shouldn’t drink any amounts of beer that clients request, but should refuse tactfully instead. If choosy clients insist, just ask to share their glasses,” Ha advised the reporter after the drinking session ended.

Who are beer attendants?

Beer attendants in Ho Chi Minh City come in three types. The first type is professional beer attendants who work at bars as PR staff.

The second is ‘call’ beer attendants, who offer their services only after receiving phone calls from their clients or bar managers.

The last is amateur beer attendants, who are rather well-educated, pretty and serve clients who give generous tips.

A beer girl, who is a college student, and her client
 at a restaurant on Nguyen Thong street, district 3.

Bartenders and waitresses from bars and cafés also switch to this occupation for higher pay. College students and workers sometimes take this job for extra income.

The girls, who are usually aged between 15 and 30, survive solely on their clients’ tips, which typically fluctuate between VND200,000 and VND1 million (US$50), depending on their physical attractiveness, drinking, singing and communication abilities, and the clients’ ranks. Girls with good social knowledge and education usually earn more as they can converse and debate with clients on various issues.

Over four weeks of working as a beer attendant at bars in HCMC, the Tuoi Tre undercover reporter got to know several young ‘colleagues’.

Many girls who are under 16 years old are precocious and professional in the way they dress, communicate and tend to clients.

“No one looks down on us for our job. We do nothing wrong, we just earn money at the risk of doing harm to our health from overdrinking,” shared Ut Hong, 21, from southern Tien Giang province, a beer attendant at L. bar on Phan Dang Luu street in Binh Thanh district.

Hong confided that during her three years in the business, she has sent all her income to her parents back home to pay off their debt and build a house.

She plans to do this job for several more years before getting married and settling down.

Hong, who is living with her boyfriend in a rented room, said her boyfriend has learned to come to terms with her job.

Hong pointed to Phuong, 19, from Ben Tre province, saying that Phuong’s husband, whose monthly salary as  a construction worker is lower than her weekly income, now brings her to ‘work’ every day, though initially he was often green with jealousy.
 Source Tuoitrenews.vn

Read more »

Posted in: Society

Michael Jackson daughter Paris 'tries to kill herself'

Paris Jackson, the daughter of late pop legend Michael Jackson, is in hospital after attempting to kill herself, a publicist has confirmed.

Paris, 15, is physically fine, her grandmother's lawyer told the Associated Press news agency.

Paris is a prolific user of Twitter

Emergency officials said they responded to a reported overdose in the Calabasas area of Los Angeles where Paris lives, but did not identify the patient.

Local media say she left the family home at about 02:00 PST (09:00 GMT).

Earlier on Wednesday, Angel Howansky, a long-time publicist for Joe Jackson - Michael Jackson's father and the girl's grandfather - could not confirm reports of a possible drug overdose or multiple cuts on her wrist.

Paris, Michael Jackson's only daughter, is currently part of a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the concert promoters AEG Live, who the Jackson family says bears responsibility for her father's death from an accidental drug overdose in June 2009.

The BBC's Regan Morris in Los Angeles says Michael Jackson went to great lengths to shield his children from the public eye, shrouding them in masks and baggy clothes so they could not be recognised.

He wanted to give them the chance for a more typical childhood than he had as a child star, but after being sheltered for years, Paris Jackson has lived a very public life since his death, our reporter says.

Paris is a cheerleader at her private school and seems comfortable in the limelight - appearing poised and articulate at Michael Jackson tribute events with her grandmother and her two brothers, known as Prince and Blanket.

She is also a popular target for the paparazzi and tabloids, our reporter adds.

Paris also has a popular Twitter account where she discusses music and homework and dispenses make-up tips to her million-plus followers.

Her most recent tweet was a quote from a famous Beatles song: "yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away now it looks as though they're here to stay."

Source BBC

Read more »

Posted in: Society

Vietnam Detains Blogger Over Anti-State Criticism

HANOI — Vietnamese police have detained a former journalist who ran a blog containing anti-state views, authorities said on Monday, part of a widening crackdown on dissent in the Communist-run country.

Truong Duy Nhat, 49, was taken into custody on Sunday and police searched his house in the central city of Danang. He complied with an urgent warrant issued against him, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement on Monday. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in jail.

Online dissent has grown in the past year as Vietnam wrestles with deep economic woes that have shattered its image as one of Asia's hottest emerging markets. Some bloggers have harshly criticized Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, accusing him of cronyism and economic mismanagement - which he denies.

The ministry said Nhat violated a clause of the penal code on abusing democratic freedoms with acts against the state. It did not elaborate on his actions.

Nhat, a former journalist at state-run newspapers, including one run by the Danang police force, was moved to Hanoi for further investigation, state media said.

He quit his journalist job in 2010 and ran a blog titled "Truong Duy Nhat - a different viewpoint" that was known for criticism of top government officials including the prime minister.

He also conducted an online opinion poll just weeks before the National Assembly's first-ever confidence vote on top officials, scheduled for early June. 

Source: voanews.com

Read more »

Posted in: Society

Blogger Truong Duy Nhat arrested

Blogger Truong Duy Nhat is pictured at 3:10 pm at Da Nang Airport on May 26, 2013

Police from the Ministry of Public Security have arrested the owner and chief writer of the blog “Một góc nhìn khác” (“Another viewpoint”), for his illegal actions. 

The site’s owner, Truong Duy Nhat, 49, was arrested yesterday, May 26, on charges of “abusing rights to freedom and democracy to infringe upon State interests and the legitimate interests of organizations and/or citizens,” under Article 258 of the Penal Code, police said.

The arrest was made at about 9 am at his home in Hoa Cuong Bac Ward, Hai Chau District, in the central city of Da Nang. Police also searched his home for hours.

At 3:30 pm, police escorted Nhat to the Da Nang Airport to board a flight to Hanoi for investigation.

The arrest and house search were carried out in accordance with applicable laws, and investigators are continuing to look into Nhat’s actions and handle them according to law, the ministry said.

After graduating from the Philology Department of Hue University, Nhat worked as a journalist for Cong an Quang Nam Da Nang (Quang Nam Da Nang Police) newspaper for years before joining the Dai Doan Ket (Great Solidarity) newspaper in Da Nang.

In mid-2010, Nhat left Dai Doan Ket and opened his own blog, Mot goc nhin khac.

The blog has not been accessible after Nhat’s arrest.

Source: tuoitrenews.vn

Read more »

Posted in: Society

52% of homosexual-heterosexual marriages end in divorce

52% of marriages between homosexuals and heterosexuals in Vietnam end in divorce, the Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE) announced on May 14.

Titled “Same-sex relationships in Vietnam,” the study was carried out with the participation of 2,500 people, 23% of whom were homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender and people of unknown gender from 2012 to early 2013.

Homosexuals seen in a photo of the collection
The Pink Choice of Vietnamese photographer
Nguyen Thanh Hai, aka Maika Elan

According to the study, most homosexuals agree to marry heterosexuals due to pressure from their family, their wishes to have a marriage like other people, and to have children, or their filial duty. Half of the 52% who divorced said their marriages were unhappy, 17% said their partners did not accept that their wives/husbands are homosexuals, 21% were rejected by family members, and the rest divorced for some other reasons.

Though the homosexual couples involved in the study are young, they have had a long and stable relationship, especially between lesbian couples. 37% of lesbians in the study and 38% of homosexuals shared that their relationships have lasted from two to five years. Most of them have lived together to spiritually support each other with the hope of a long life together.

The study showed that none of the homosexual couples involved said they have asset disputes since they place a high priority on love. 28.9% of homosexual couples living together co-own valuable assets such as cars and bank accounts, 18.40% run a business together, and 7.9% have signed co-ownership agreements over their houses and properties.

Also according to the study, 61% of homosexuals and transgender of a marriageable age want to have children. However, the social stigma and legal impossibility are big challenges for them.

In addition, 63% of homosexuals taking part in the research shared that they have been discriminated against through vulgar language, disdain and physical abuse.

Vietnam has about 1.6 million homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender who are facing difficulties in identification, cohabitation, birth-giving and adoption, iSEE said early this month. 73% of the nation’s homosexuals live in Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces.

source tuoitrenews.vn

Read more »

Posted in: Society

Money-mad teens will do anything for money

Suggestive pictures are seen on a community page on Facebook

Imagine you are a father or mother relaxing at home believing that you are safe in the knowledge that your two teenage girls are upstairs, having harmless fun with friends on social networking sites.

But you have had a nagging doubt for a while and decide to keep an eye on them once in a while. They are impressionable young girls after all who can get themselves into trouble with amorous young males, if they are not careful.

You have managed to secretly join their friends’ list and decide to see what is going on. You log on to your smartphone and there standing before you is your worst nightmare.

Your daughter - nude. Now that is bad enough but not only is she naked but she is offering herself for sale to any bidder able to come up with VND4 million. Two hundred dollars to go in a cheap hotel room with your little angel. Two hundred dollars. You can just imagine how they would feel.

This is not just scaremongering, though, this is happening in Vietnam right now. So come back from behind the curtains parents, wake up to the reality of social networking and real life. You might think you know what your sons and daughters are doing online but you don’t know the half of it. I shudder to think how I would cope with bringing up teenagers, some even younger these days, desperately wanting mobile phones, Ipads and with them comes access to the internet and the awaiting beasts, lurking behind the personas of similar aged boys as they get ready to groom young boys and girls.

In some ways, I am actually glad I am not a parent when you see headlines like the ones that rocked a nation to its core recently when a 20-year-old Facebook madam was revealed to Vietnam.

Hanoi police arrested Do Thi Huyen who was charged with running a prostitution ring on Facebook – the first case of its kind on the social networking site in this country.

Huyen, the young madam, uploaded sexually explicit images of herself and her business associates on the site. According to Tien Phong, customers were given a price after they chose a girl they like and the only stipulation is that they take the girls to at least a three-star hotel. These girls are not that cheap.

The girls allegedly charged VND4 million (US$200) for sexual services, one million ($50) of which went to Huyen for her advertising services, not bad eh, according to police.

After watching her in action online for about four weeks, the police nabbed Huyen and an associate soliciting themselves at a hotel on Mai Hac De Street, Hai Ba Trung District last month.

However, according to a senior police source on Tien Phong, prostitutes only get administrative fines
for advertising or selling themselves. In this particular case, they were fined only VND100,000 ($5) to VND300,000 ($15).

Hardly a deterrent when they can make that kind of money in seconds.

I had a discussion the other day with a group of friends, when one piped up to claim that any photograph that you post online on Facebook, the company automatically owns fifty per cent of the copyright.

So what happens if one of these social networking firms has the ‘copyright’ to a nude picture of an underage girl? They are supposed to be monitoring these pages after all.

Pornography, sexual images and nudity is now rampant on Facebook in Vietnam, with most of the account users young people, including teenagers. They post nude images of themselves or with girlfriends or boyfriends to attract ‘likes’ from the online community. The likes obsession is not as weird as it sounds, as the more likes you have on your page, then you can maybe start to make money from advertising.

Some even promise that they will keep posting sex clips if they receive 30,000 ‘likes’. In another case last week a young man named Manh Tran posted pictures of himself and his girlfriend wrapped in a bath towel with the caption, “If we get 30k ‘likes’ we will post our clip, OK darling?”
After a couple of days, the image had received over 30,000 ‘likes’.

These pages are not hard to find as if you type in nguoi lon (adult) orlau xanh (brothel), hundreds of
community pages appear, with numerous sexual pictures and stories.

On a locally-based site a female user named Yen Nhi posted a linkClip nong sinh vien vao hotel (Hot clip of students in hotel). Nhi’s page has 4.5 million members.

Similar groups and communities have mushroomed on social networks, where a user only needs a few minutes to set up their own page.

This shock news again brought it home to parents whose worst fears are being realized on a daily basis. They cannot control what goes on online. They just have to hope and pray that they have brought up their children well enough to make the right decisions for themselves.

In Vietnam, though, it seems to some that money is everything and it doesn’t matter what some young people have to do, they will literally do anything for money.

TUOITRENEWS.VN

Read more »

Posted in: Society

Taxi driver sacked for fleecing Irish couple

A Hanoi taxi firm has fined and sacked a cabbie who has been found guilty of overcharging an Irish couple, said its inspector.

James Murtagh and his wife

Tran Duc Tri, inspector of Thanh Nga taxi firm, Saturday confirmed with Tuoi Tre that Pham Van Linh, 38, the accused cabbie, has been fined VND5 million ($250) and sacked.

Linh has also been summoned to local police station for further investigations, Tri added.

As previously reported, James Murtagh and his wife from Ireland were asked to pay VND480,000 ($23) for a distance of two kilometers from a hotel on Hang Bong street to a restaurant on Ma May street. The maximum fee should have been VND40,000 ($1.9).

According to Murtagh, he handed the driver a 500,000 banknote but the driver gave back only VND20,000 to him. Upon being asked why, the driver replied he received just VND50,000.

Murtagh then took a photo of the taxi’s number plate as evidence and reported this case to the Hanoi Taxi Association through its hotline. 

The association later apologized to the couple for the overcharging and required Thanh Nga to identify the driver concerned and to return the overcharged money to them as soon as possible.

Taxi scams have gone rampant in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, causing headache to local authorities.

On Apr 12, a taxi driver in the southern hub charged a Japanese passenger VND650,000 (US$31.1), ten times higher than the actual fee, and even punched the foreigner in the face when the latter refused to pay.

More recent, on Apr 28, a cabbie of Hanoi-based Trung Viet taxi firm charged two Australian tourists VND980,000 (roughly US$43), 10 times higher than the normal fare, for a distance of just 7 km, from the Military History Museum to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.

In an effort to promote a “safe Hanoi” to international travelers, Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, deputy chairman of Hanoi’s People Committee, has pledged to impose heavy punishments on cheating taxis.

Meanwhile, Cao Bich Lan, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee of Hoan Kiem District, admitted that taxi scams have a bad influence on promotional tourism campaigns to attract more international tourists to the capital. She called on all tourism authorities to work together to deal with taxi scams.

Source tuoitrenews.vn

Read more »

Posted in: Society

WWI prisoner of war postcard found

The postcard was sent from Limburg an der Lahn in Germany on April 30 1918

A postcard sent home by a captured WWI soldier has come to light 95 years after it was sent from a German prisoner of war camp.

Charles Jeffries sent the card from Limburg an der Lahn on April 30 1918 to let his family in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, know he had been taken prisoner.
His granddaughter, Pat Nicholls, 78, of Shepreth, Cambridgeshire, had the card in a file of family memorabilia.
She is trying to find out more about the role he played in the conflict.
The card gives Mr Jeffries' regiment as the Royal Naval Division but does not indicate whether he was wounded.
It has been stamped in German and Mr Jeffries - born in 1890 - wrote his personal details and home address in pencil.
The card, which Mrs Nicholls has handed over to historians in Shepreth, is printed in a mixture of German and English and headed "I am a prisoner of war in Germany."
'Not talked about' Mrs Nicholls said she was a teenager when Mr Jeffries died of lung cancer in 1953.
"I remember him well. I wish I'd asked him about the war. But people didn't talk about it," she said.
"He was a waterworks inspector and worked for the Southend Waterworks Company.
"I know that when he was taken prisoner the shock paralysed by grandmother, Mabel.
"I've checked the handwriting on the card. It's definitely his."

Source BBC

Read more »

Posted in: Entertainment,Society,war

Biden Calls Boston Bombing Suspects 'Cowardly'

Source VOA

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is criticizing the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects as perverted and cowardly.

 

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a memorial service for slain
 MIT campus officer, Sean Collier, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Apr. 24, 2013.

Biden spoke Wednesday in Boston at a memorial service for a university police officer who authorities say was gunned down by suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, three days after the bombings.

 

The vice president questioned why anyone acts to terrorize innocent people.

"Why, whether it’s al-Qaida central ... or two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knock-off jihadists here in Boston.  Why do they do what they do?," he asked. 

 

Several thousand mourners gathered at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology to remember the slain policeman, Sean Collier.  Biden said the United States must keep its values in the face of threats from terrorists.

 

"The only way they can gain ground is to instill fear that causes us to jettison our values, our way of life, for us to change," he said. "The moment we change, the moment we look inward, the moment we get into a crouch in a defensive, that’s the moment when they win."

 

Meanwhile, U.S. investigators have questioned the parents of the two suspects in the Russian republic of Dagestan, as they try to determine what might have influenced the sons in the months before the attack.

 

U.S. authorities, working with Russian security forces, interviewed the parents Tuesday night and called back the mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, for more questioning on Wednesday.

 

The investigators are particularly interested in any contacts the elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, might have had with Islamic extremists during a six-month visit to Dagestan and Chechnya last year.  

 

U.S. lawmakers discussed the same trip Tuesday as they raised concerns about the sharing of intelligence among federal law enforcement agencies. Senator Lindsey Graham said the FBI told him it was not aware at the time of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia.

 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was 26, died after a shootout with police last Thursday, while his younger brother Dzhokhar was captured a day later. The 19-year-old Dzhokhar has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.  He is in federal custody in a Boston hospital.

 

The brothers allegedly set off two bombs alongside the Boston Marathon course, killing three people and injuring 264. At least 14 of the wounded lost legs in the blasts. 

 

Boston authorities on Wednesday reopened Boylston Street to the public.  It is the city thoroughfare where the explosions occurred.

Read more »

Posted in: Society,USA,violence

Same-sex marriage: French parliament approves new law

France has become the 14th country to approve a law allowing gay marriage.

Supporters of gay marriage gathered outside
 parliament as lawmakers were voting

The bill, which also legalises adoption by same-sex couples, was passed by 321 votes to 225 in the French parliament.

The decision follows a divisive public debate with some of the biggest protests seen in France in recent years.

Hundreds of opponents of the measure rallied outside the National Assembly building in central Paris as the result was announced.

The leader of the most high-profile group opposing same-sex marriage vowed to continue the fight.

Frigide Barjot, a comedian who uses her stage name, told her supporters: "We are going to show them that this is not over. I solemnly ask the president to hold a referendum on the subject."

Inside the National Assembly chamber, two opponents tried to unfurl a banner before being ejected.

Thousands of police armed with water cannon were deployed near parliament to deal with any repeat of the violence seen on the fringes of previous demonstrations.

Although rallies opposing the change have been overwhelmingly peaceful, there have been some clashes, blamed on far-right elements.

Flagship reform

Several hundred opponents of the new law were
 out in force, led by Frigide Barjot (centre)

Opinion polls suggest a small majority of French people favour gay marriage, but surveys indicate fewer support adoption by same-sex couples.

Socialist President Francois Hollande made the law his flagship social reform.

He is expected to add his signature to the bill once it has cleared any challenge in the constitutional council.

Opponents of the measure, including the opposition UMP party, will try to convince the council that marriage is a constitutional issue.

However, analysts say that the council is unlikely to block the new law.

'Breeze of joy'

The first weddings could take place in June, according to Justice Minister Christiane Taubira.

"We believe that the first weddings will be beautiful and that they'll bring a breeze of joy, and that those who are opposed to them today will surely be confounded when they are overcome with the happiness of the newlyweds and the families," she told the National Assembly.

Some argue this is the most important social reform in France since the death penalty was banned in 1981, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris.

France is now the 14th country to legalise gay marriage after New Zealand last week.

The BBC's Christian Fraser says that
 the bill has provoked strong emotions

It is also the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage after legalisation in the traditionally liberal Netherlands and Scandinavia, but also in strongly Catholic Portugal and Spain. Legislation is also moving through the UK Parliament.

But the measure has aroused stronger than expected opposition in France - a country where the Catholic Church was thought to have lost much of its influence over the public.

In January, a protest in Paris against the bill attracted some 340,000 people according to police - one of the biggest public demonstrations in France in decades. Organisers put the figure at 800,000.

Since then both sides have held regular street protests.

The opponents, backed by the Catholic Church and conservative opposition, say France already has civil partnerships for homosexual couples, and extending rights to marriage undermines an essential building block of society.

Source BBC

Read more »

Posted in: Experimental Society,France,Society

Three Die in South Sudan Hospital Hit by Strike

Health care workers in Bor agree to return to work after
 three people die at the hospital they work in.

BOR, SOUTH SUDAN — Hospital staff at Bor State Hospital ended a days'-old strike over unpaid bonuses Monday after three patients died at the weekend.

More than 250 hospital employees, including nurses, went on strike Friday, leaving only eight doctors and a few junior staff members to care for more than 60 patients.

John Logine, one of the patients, said they received almost no treatment since the strike started.

“Doctors did not come until a while ago when a white man came and helped us. We slept yesterday without medication," Logine said.

Hospital Ddirector Bior Kuer Bior said that although the deaths were not a direct result of the strike, the work stoppage had slowed patient care.

“We can confirm that we had three deaths in the hospital after the strike. When you are ill, you could die at any time. I don’t want to give an impression that they died because of the strike," he said.

Bior urged government health officials to pay the bonuses owed to the strikers or come up with another way to address the grievances of the staff.

More than 250 workers at the main hospital in Bor, capital of Jonglei state, walked off the job on Friday after a petition they submitted to the state ministry of health, demanding their bonuses of around 500 South Sudanese pounds (130 U.S. dollars) a month be restored, was ignored.

The striking workers say they are owed five months of bonuses and their salaries alone, which are between 300 and 700 South Sudanese pounds a month, are not enough to live on.

The per capita income in South Sudan is around U.S. $1,300 a year, thanks in large part to revenues from oil.

Hospital officials say the bonuses were suspended after austerity measures were introduced in the state following Juba's shutdown of oil production last year.

The strikers' agreement to end their walkout was only temporary, they said: they have threatened to go back on strike on Monday if their bonses are not paid.
The State Minister of Health Jehan Mechak Deng refused to comment today, but told VOA last week that she was working with state authorities to resolve the strike as quickly as possible. (DID SHE SAY HOW SHE WAS WORKING TO RESOLVE IT?

Source VOA

Read more »

Posted in: Afica,Health,Society

The sex manual for ultra-Orthodox Jews

By Daniel Estrin PRI's The World, Jerusalem 

Sex is a touchy subject - not least among Israel's highly conservative ultra-Orthodox Jews. But a therapist in Jerusalem has written a sex guide aimed specifically at this community.

There used to be a sex shop on the way to Dr David Ribner's office in central Jerusalem.
The sign is still there - with big red letters spelling out "Sex Shop, Sex, Love" - but you can barely read it because it's been scratched out.
The shop went out of business. Now there's just one sex shop left in Jerusalem. No surprise for a city brimming with the pious.
Things are quite different in Ribner's discreet office. Here, there is a row of boxes packed with lubricants, vibrators and massage oils, and an unusual collection of books on the wall - The Joy of Sex and The Guide to Getting It On sit side-by-side with volumes of Jewish religious texts.
I tell Ribner I've never seen a bookshelf quite like it. "There probably aren't any," he says.
Ribner was born in the US. In New York, he received both rabbinic ordination and a doctorate in social work. Then he moved to Israel, where he has been counselling devout Jewish patients for the last 30 years. He also founded a sex therapy training programme at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv.
He says publication of a sex manual for Orthodox Jews was long overdue.

Ultra-Orthodox boys and girls are educated separately, and have little interaction with the opposite sex until their marriage night, when they are expected to consummate their union.

Physical touch with the opposite sex - even something like a handshake - is only permitted with one's spouse and close family members. Access to films and the internet is often restricted.
"We wanted there to be a place where people could say, 'I know nothing and I want to know something,'" says Ribner.
The Newlywed's Guide to Physical Intimacy, which Ribner co-wrote with Orthodox researcher Jennie Rosenfeld, starts with the very basics - explaining, for example, how the body shape of men and women differs.
Ribner says Judaism regards sex as something positive, but it has become taboo to discuss it openly.
"Sex is only appropriate within a marital context," he says. "Beyond that it's not talked about. Because of that, it's become very difficult for people to have any kind of dialogue about it."
So this book enters uncharted territory.
Flip through it, and you see no illustrations.

But there is a sealed envelope on the back flap. It warns readers there are sexual diagrams inside. If you don't want to look at them, you can rip off the envelope and throw it away.

Ribner opens it up to show me what's inside.
There are three diagrams of basic sexual positions.
"We wanted to give people of a sense of, not only where to put their sexual organs, but where to put their arms and legs," Ribner says. "If you have never seen a movie, never read a book, how are you supposed to know what you do?"
The sketches are simple: outlined figures with no faces.
"We wanted this to be acceptable to the widest possible population with the least risk of it being offensive," he says.
"We did consult many other sex manuals, to see what kind of illustrations they use, and we felt they were just too graphic to be comfortable for people who had really had no contact with this aspect of their lives."

Jerusalem-based sexologist Nachshon David Carmi has begun to keep copies of the book in his office and has recommended it to some of his patients.

"It's a very useful book for people who were raised religious and have never received any form of sexuality education," he says.
"What's unique about this book is that it speaks to the Jewish religious audience openly about sexuality."
Sex is a fundamental part of a marital relationship for Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews - and having a lot of children is desirable.
But most ultra-Orthodox children are educated at special religious schools, where they receive little or no sex education.
This "silence" creates a "barrier of shame" over issues to do with sex, says Carmi - and those who seek to educate themselves on the subject can be seen as "subversive and rebellious".
Ribner's book was released last year in English, and is about to be published in Hebrew - which will make it much more accessible to an Israeli audience.
It took a while to find an open-minded translator of Orthodox Jewish background who could translate the book using language that would appeal to a devout reader, says Ribner.
The book is direct in its language and touches on subjects that may be uncomfortable for some, including oral sex and masturbation.
When the Hebrew edition is released in a few weeks' time, it could create quite a storm, says Menachem Friedman, a professor and sociologist who has written numerous books on Israel's ultra-Orthodox community.

"I suspect it will meet tremendous negative reaction - at least within the most extreme elements of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community," he says.

But he agrees that such a book is sorely needed, and foresees brisk behind-the-counter sales .
For a newly-married couple, it can be very traumatic, he says, to go from a lifetime of near-separation from the opposite sex to a full sexual relationship in just one night.
To test out reaction, I take a copy of the book to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish study centre, where I meet a 22-year-old man in signature black hat and beard. We enter a side room and I show him a copy of Dr Ribner's book.
"I don't know any books like this out there. But I think there is a need to explain this topic and to understand it, and to do it in the right way," he says.
He takes me upstairs, where no-one else is around, to take a look at the illustrations.
Just as he starts removing the diagrams from the envelope in the back flap, he changes his mind and stuffs them back into the envelope.
"I'm not married yet," he says. "I'll wait until it's my time."
Source: BBC

Read more »

Posted in: Religion,Society

'Raped' Delhi five-year-old in a critical condition

A five-year-old girl is battling for her life after being allegedly kidnapped and repeatedly raped by a neighbour in the Indian capital, Delhi.

The girl was taken hostage on Monday and attacked in a locked room for over 48 hours, police said.

Reports say she was rescued by a passer-by who heard her cries on Wednesday. No arrests have been made.

The issue of sexual violence against women and
girls has been under intense scrutiny in India

The gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus in December sparked protests across India.

In a separate development, police in Delhi say they are also looking for a group of men who allegedly gang-raped a 19-year-old woman on Wednesday night.

Reports say the woman, who works as a domestic helper, was offered a lift in a vehicle by the men and then allegedly sedated and raped.

'Traumatised'

The five-year-old girl has been admitted to a city hospital in a critical condition.

"The girl was traumatised when she was brought to us. There were injuries to her lips, cheeks and chest wall. There were bruises on her neck," RN Bansal, chief of Swami Dayanand hospital, told the NDTV news channel.

Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told the AFP news agency that police had launched a probe into the rape and "attempted murder" of the girl.

There have been protests outside the hospital where the girl is being treated.

Mr Bhagat said a case of rape had been registered in connection with the attack on the 19-year-old girl, who was found semi-naked by pedestrians on a road early on Thursday.

Doctors at the city's Safdarjung Hospital said she that although she was suffering from trauma, there were no signs of external injuries.

Reports said the woman, who is married and comes from from Nepal, was on the way to her brother's house from her employer's residence in the up-market Defence Colony neighbourhood when a car carrying the men stopped to ask her for directions and offered to drop her near her home.

The issue of sexual violence against women and girls has been under intense scrutiny in India after the rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus in December led to widespread protests.

Six people have been charged over the case which shocked the nation.

Five of them are on trial in a specially convened fast-track court and face the death penalty.

The sixth accused, a minor, is being tried in a juvenile court.

All six accused have pleaded not guilty.

Last month India passed a new bill containing harsher punishments, including the death penalty, for rapists.

Source BBC

Read more »

Posted in: Society

Rumor of ‘ninja robbers/rapists’ worries residents

V.T.N, a local in a residential quarter in Long Hai Town, had to have 11 stitches on the wounds on her right hand after being sexually attacked by a man on April 11

Locals in a district in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province are worried about a rumor that a robbery gang can break into houses from the roof to rob residents and rape women.

The information has been provided to Tuoi Tre by residents of Long Hai town in Long Dien district, who said they and other locals were very anxious about their safety, although police rejected the rumor.

On April 17, Tuoi Tre reporters arrived in Long Hai and Duong Van Chia, a local, said many families were very anxious about the risk of being attacked by a robbery gang.

“The rumor says these robbers are so tactical that they can ‘make themselves invisible' when they move from one rooftop to another without being detected,” Chia said.

Since April 10, locals have set up watch teams to guard and detect any suspicious strangers trying to enter their residential quarters.

Hoang Thi Dung, head of a residential quarter, said that on the night of April 13, watchmen saw some people moving on the rooftops but could not track them down.

Tran Van Vinh, a local, said he heard loud noises coming from his roof and the roof, tiled with metal roofing sheets, later sank a bit.

Two days later, local guards found a stranger entering their residential area and seized him. The man, who said he is a native of Quang Binh province and homeless, was handed over to police, who later sent the man to a social center.

There have been no robbers or thieves arrested so far.

Rape?

It seems that the rumor is based on real cases that have recently occurred to two local women, many residents said.

The first case is of V.T.N., a woman who reported she had attacked by a robber at 2 am on April 11.

N. said that a man used a knife to threaten her when she found him breaking into her house. The men used a pair of scissors to cut her net-mosquito and said, “Keep silent or I will kill you!”

The man then asked where she kept her money and after she said she had no money, he covered her face with a blanket and searched the house for money.

After failing to find money, he forced N. to use her hands to stimulate his penis. N. then managed to grasp the pair of scissors and tried to get away from the man while shouting loudly for help.

The man ran away with the scissors, while N. suffered many cuts on her hands. She later had to have 11 stitches on the wounds.

The second case happened to C.T.N., who lost a mobile phone and VND60,000 (US$2.8) to a robber who threatened and launched a sexual attack on her before she managed to escape from him early on the morning of April 9.

Local authorities have calmed down residents and advised them not to be excessively worried by rumors while awaiting investigation and conclusions by police, said Nguyen Van Son, chairman of the town People’s Committee.

Police will boost their patrols in many areas in the town, Son added.
source tuoitrenews.vn

Read more »

Posted in: Society,Vietnam