PENANG, Malaysia, Jul 26, 2010 (IPS) - It is a paradox, all right. Women make up more than half of those who take part in protests and other activities organised by her political party on issues affecting low-income workers, says Rani Rasiah of the Socialist Party of Malaysia. But when it comes to holding official positions at the party's local branches, more than half of the officials happen to be men, she observes. "Maybe the womenfolk feel they have responsibilities at home and are unable to attend regular party meetings and the demands that come with them," reasons the party's deputy secretary general. ''There is also a certain degree of control at home about women going out at night or leaving the household to attend regular meetings," she continues. ''Maybe the women themselves lack self esteem and self-confidence to play a leadership role.''
VIENNA, Jul 26, 2010 (IPS) - The global conference on AIDS in Vienna last week will be remembered for "Broken Promises Kill", a slogan echoed by a coalition of activists who had gathered from around the world.Throughout the week-long conference, demonstrators clamoured for attention to the funding crisis severely impacting the global fight against AIDS. "It is important to bring the urgency faced by the AIDS crisis to as many people as possible," Dr. Nafis Sadik, United Nations special envoy to AIDS in the Asia and Pacific region told IPS as she sidled past a crowd of demonstrators. "This noise is to force people to recognise the crisis. It is not a party. It is a meet to confront AIDS, health and the failure of governments to live up to their responsibility," a protester from the crowd said amid the din of sloganeering.
AFP - Angry survivors demanded answers from organisers Sunday after 19 people were killed in a stampede at Germany's Love Parade and prosecutors launched an inquiry into how the tragedy unfolded. At a heated press conference in the western German city of Duisburg, officials said 18 of the dead had been identified, including six foreigners, from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, China and two from Spain. By Jessica SALTZ Berlin, Germany Eyewitnesses recall a tsunami wave of people pushing forward - Jessica Saltz, 25/07/10Deputy police chief Detlef von Schmeling said the victims, aged between 20 and 40, died as they scrambled to escape from a crush in a narrow, overcrowded tunnel that served as the only entrance to the festival grounds.
AFP - Angry survivors demanded answers from organisers Sunday after 19 people were killed in a stampede at Germany's Love Parade and prosecutors launched an inquiry into how the tragedy unfolded.
At a heated press conference in the western German city of Duisburg, officials said 18 of the dead had been identified, including six foreigners, from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, China and two from Spain.
German prosecutors have seized documents relating to the planning of the Love Parade in Duisburg, where 19 people died and hundreds of others were injured on Saturday in a stampede near a tunnel leading to the festival grounds. Rolf Haferkamp, spokesman for the Duisburg state prosecutors' office, said he could not speak about the content of the numerous documents that were seized, but that the investigation was ongoing and that only afterward could it be determined who was responsible. Meanwhile Duisburg Mayor Adolf Sauerland received scathing criticism from several media outlets, and told public broadcaster WDR that he would consider calls for his resignation.
German prosecutors have seized documents relating to the planning of the Love Parade in Duisburg, where 19 people died and hundreds of others were injured on Saturday in a stampede near a tunnel leading to the festival grounds.
Rolf Haferkamp, spokesman for the Duisburg state prosecutors' office, said he could not speak about the content of the numerous documents that were seized, but that the investigation was ongoing and that only afterward could it be determined who was responsible.
Meanwhile Duisburg Mayor Adolf Sauerland received scathing criticism from several media outlets, and told public broadcaster WDR that he would consider calls for his resignation.
The bloody oppression of the Mennonite Free Church in the 16th century is one of the darkest chapters in European history. This past week, Lutherans issued an official apology for the cruel persecution of the Anabaptists - and both parties celebrated their reconciliation in a very moving ceremony. "We still remember being a prosecuted minority," said Larry Miller, secretary general of the Mennonite World Conference. The Mennonite Free Church is the main branch of the descendants of the Christian Baptist movement. Mennonites are known as Anabaptists because they only baptise adults and not underage children.
The bloody oppression of the Mennonite Free Church in the 16th century is one of the darkest chapters in European history. This past week, Lutherans issued an official apology for the cruel persecution of the Anabaptists - and both parties celebrated their reconciliation in a very moving ceremony.
"We still remember being a prosecuted minority," said Larry Miller, secretary general of the Mennonite World Conference.
The Mennonite Free Church is the main branch of the descendants of the Christian Baptist movement. Mennonites are known as Anabaptists because they only baptise adults and not underage children.
Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?...To find out, my colleague Alice Gaby and I traveled to Australia and gave Pormpuraawans sets of pictures that showed temporal progressions (for example, pictures of a man at different ages, or a crocodile growing, or a banana being eaten). Their job was to arrange the shuffled photos on the ground to show the correct temporal order. We tested each person in two separate sittings, each time facing in a different cardinal direction. When asked to do this, English speakers arrange time from left to right. Hebrew speakers do it from right to left (because Hebrew is written from right to left). Pormpuraawans, we found, arranged time from east to west. That is, seated facing south, time went left to right. When facing north, right to left. When facing east, toward the body, and so on. Of course, we never told any of our participants which direction they faced. The Pormpuraawans not only knew that already, but they also spontaneously used this spatial orientation to construct their representations of time....All this new research shows us that the languages we speak not only reflect or express our thoughts, but also shape the very thoughts we wish to express. The structures that exist in our languages profoundly shape how we construct reality, and help make us as smart and sophisticated as we are.
Pormpuraawans, we found, arranged time from east to west. That is, seated facing south, time went left to right. When facing north, right to left. When facing east, toward the body, and so on. Of course, we never told any of our participants which direction they faced. The Pormpuraawans not only knew that already, but they also spontaneously used this spatial orientation to construct their representations of time....All this new research shows us that the languages we speak not only reflect or express our thoughts, but also shape the very thoughts we wish to express. The structures that exist in our languages profoundly shape how we construct reality, and help make us as smart and sophisticated as we are.
WASHINGTON -- Owners of the iPhone will be able to break electronic locks on their devices in order to download applications that have not been approved by Apple. The government is making that legal under new rules announced Monday. The decision to allow the practice commonly known as "jailbreaking" is one of a handful of new exemptions from a federal law that prohibits the circumvention of technical measures that control access to copyrighted works. Every three years, the Library of Congress authorizes such exemptions to ensure that existing law does not prevent non-infringing use of copyrighted material.
WASHINGTON -- Owners of the iPhone will be able to break electronic locks on their devices in order to download applications that have not been approved by Apple. The government is making that legal under new rules announced Monday.
The decision to allow the practice commonly known as "jailbreaking" is one of a handful of new exemptions from a federal law that prohibits the circumvention of technical measures that control access to copyrighted works. Every three years, the Library of Congress authorizes such exemptions to ensure that existing law does not prevent non-infringing use of copyrighted material.
