Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Fars News Agency (FNA), an Iranian news agency, yesterday reported an article from US satirical news website The Onion as fact. The article reports “a Gallup poll” suggesting “the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans” would prefer to vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, as opposed to US President Barack Obama. The Onion article reports “77 percent of rural Caucasian voters” saying they would prefer to drink beer with Ahmadinejad or attend a baseball game with him.

Fictional West Virginia resident Dale Swiderski is reported by the Chicago, Illinois based website saying about Ahmadinejad: “I like him better”. ‘Swiderski’ is also quoted as saying the Iranian President “takes national defense seriously, and he’d never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does.”

In Iran, homosexuality is a criminal offence which can carry a penalty of incarceration or capital punishment. Just over five years ago, when he participated in a debate at Columbia University in New York, New York, Ahmadinejad stated “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country”.

The FNA copied The Onion’s article verbatim and in its entirety, excluding part of a sentence saying Ahmadinejad was “a man who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and has had numerous political prisoners executed”. However, the Iranian news service did not attribute The Onion as its source.

The FNA’s error has made international headlines, including in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and India.

A link to the FNA article page redirects to an error message which reads: “Error For Your Request. Not Exist This Story.” ^[sic] However, The Onion included a link to a screenshot of the FNA’s page on their original article, accompanied by a message telling readers to “visit our Iranian subsidiary organization” for more information on the story.

There are no reports of the article being republished in Persian. The FNA has yet to comment on the incident. However, The Onion’s editor Will Tracy humourously remarked their website “freely shares content with Fars and commends the journalists at Iran’s Finest News Source on their superb reportage”.

This is not the first time The Onion has caused the mistaken belief of their material being accurate. In a November 2007 interview with Wikinews, The Onion’s Editorial Manager Chet Clem recounted an incident in which the Beijing Evening News reproduced a story from The Onion created in 2002, copied entirely verbatim, headlined “Congress threatens to leave DC unless new capitol is built”. When the error was highlighted to the Chinese newspaper, Clem said “their response was not to print a correction, but just to say that some newspapers in America make money by printing lies.” In a separate incident, Christians forwarded a story on the Internet from The Onion saying children were converting to Satanism as a result of reading the Harry Potter book series.

BBC News Online also reported an instance of two newspapers in Bangladesh apologising over their publication of an article disputing the validity of the moon landings, originally written by The Onion.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Parts of the Indian state of Gujarat have been under curfew since Tuesday. At least seven are reported dead, with over 100 buses and dozens of police stations burned, after protests over job quotas turned violent in several major cities including Ahmedabad, Surat, and Rajkot.

The violence is thought to have started after a brief attempt by police to arrest protest leader Hardik Patel, 22 or 21. There have been weeks of protests by members of the Patel caste, with the most recent involving an estimated half a million people.

Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state, has seen the closure of public transport, internet access, schools, and businesses. Ahmedabad is being patrolled by 400 military personnel. The national government has deployed several thousand paramilitary personnel to assist the state government.

The Patel caste, who form up to a fifth of the state population, are generally seen as being affluent businesspeople. However, they want their community to be given the status of Other Backward Class, which would result in eligibility for reserved jobs. They feel they are under-represented in higher education and are suffering in a regional economic downturn.

Amongst those calling for an end to the violence was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said “each and every issue can be resolved through talks” during a televised broadcast. He was elected last year and was previously the Chief Minister of Gujarat for more than twelve years. He was in power in Gujurat during sectarian violence in 2002 which resulted in about a thousand deaths.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

A report published today by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) finds that, in many cases, England’s home care system breaches the human rights of the elderly it is supposed to serve. The Close to home: older people and human rights in home care report is the result of a twelve-month investigation into care generally provided by local authorities.

Approximately half of those receiving home care, plus friends and family, providing evidence to the inquiry were satisfied with the quality of care provided. However, the report stresses that there are “systemic problems” arising from “a failure to apply a human rights approach to home care provision”. The report asserts that it is generally not the fault of individuals providing care, but serious problems exist as local authorities seem unaware of their obligations under the Human Rights Act and fail to commission, procure, and monitor care accordingly.

The report says articles two, three and eight of the European Convention on Human Rights are frequently being breached. These, respectively, cover an individual’s right to life, protection from inhumane and degrading treatment, and respect for dignity and personal independence. Criticisms include that care is not provided in a common-sense manner, and funding of care for the elderly is at lower levels than for younger people with similar problems and needs.

The EHRC’s investigation highlights a range of recurring complaints and attempts to identify the underlying causes; cost is repeatedly mentioned, with use of the private-sector leading to some local authorities offering a “one size fits all” service leaving many elderly feeling they are “a task to be undertaken” and have “little or no choice” as to help received, or when care workers visit. A failure to invest in care workers is noted, with significant responsibility and the wide range of skills required being rewarded with low pay and status; this, the report states, adversely impacts staff retention and, a high turnover of care workers can put the security of care recipients at-risk.

Within the wider investigation, a commissioned independent social report by The Arndale Centre conducted in-depth interviews with a cross-section of 40 elderly individuals receiving home care. As-stressed in the report, those selected were not on the basis of good, or bad, experiences with their – mainly local authority-provided – care. It highlights a widespread feeling amongst those interviewed that they are treated “like a number”, and that aspects of the care provided lead to, or fail to resolve, feelings of social isolation.

The Manchester-based Arndale Centre report concludes that, “[t]he general picture is of a wider home care system in which older people are not effectively involved: which they do not understand, and which does not often make the extra effort required to involve them in ways tailored to their state of health and other needs”.

A recurring theme in the responses of those interviewed is the social isolation that their home care is not adequately addressing. One male interviewee in his seventies who previously used a scooter to get about said in his interview, “I haven’t been out of the house now for about four weeks. I daren’t. The last time I went out on the scooter I hit the kerb and it frightened the living daylights out of me.” Another, an 85-year-old woman who lives alone, expressed sadness at her inability to do normal things, “I would love to go to town to do some shopping. I haven’t been to town for about two years… Wander round the town and have a cup of tea… I’d love that.”

The social isolation many elderly experience was summed up neatly by another woman in her eighties in her interview: “When you go now, I will maybe not talk to anybody till tomorrow; maybe the whole of tomorrow nobody to talk [to]… face to face. Nobody will knock on that door, that is it, a life of isolation.”

The EHRC, having commissioned this report in the face of funding changes and reform of the care system, intends to press for legislative changes to ensure those receiving care at home are given the same protections under the Human Rights Act as those in residential care. In the conclusions of their report they offer to work with, and support, local authorities in understanding and delivering care that respects peoples’ rights and dignity; and, recommend better guidance as to the choices available to the elderly, and their families, be made available.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Frank Walker, the chief minister of Jersey, a United Kingdom Crown dependency off the coast of Normandy, France, denies that there was a cover up after a child’s remains were found.

The allegations of a cover-up stem from statements by Stuart Syvret. Syvret, the former Minister for Health and Social Services for Jersey, said that “It’s a continuum that we see. It’s a culture of cover-up and concealment and tragically the recent evidence is just the latest manifestation of that.”

It has come to light that Edward Paisnel, a notorious pedophile, used to visit the Haut de la Garenne children’s home dressed as Father Christmas. Paisnel in 1971, was given a sentence of 30 years for 13 counts of assault, rape and sodomy.

Syvret says he was dismissed from his ministerial position after highlighting the “torture” of 11 to 16-year-olds in the island’s care homes. He claimed he was “sacked for whistleblowing”.

Police are currently investigating twenty-seven cases of child abuse on the island and recently discovered the body of one child at a care home Haut de la Garenne in St. Martin, and with a potential six sites in the area where more bodies may be located. The home was closed in 1986 and since 2003 it has served as a youth hostel.

Jersey’s deputy police chief, Lenny Harper said “Part of the inquiry will be the fact that a lot of the victims tried to report their assaults but for some reason or another they were not dealt with as they should be.”

Harper added that “no evidence of a cover-up of any Jersey government” has been found. “We are looking at allegations that a number of agencies didn’t deal with things as perhaps they should.”

Syvret has encouraged the government of the United Kingdom to assign independent judges to oversee any cases that result from the investigations.

Builders originally uncovered a body at the care home in 2003 but it was only since an operation investigate child abuse started in 2006 that progress has been made. An ex-minister of the States of Jersey, the parliament of the island, has criticised the handling of the case, stating that abuse cases were mishandled.

Walker told senators that all necessary resources would be use to find the abusers. “None of us imagined that children in Jersey could be abused and mistreated in the way that is being suggested,” the BBC have quoted him as saying. “I express my shock and horror that these things have apparently happened within our island.”

Specialist police from the United Kingdom have been investigating after an enquiry turned up 140 sources verifying the claims of abuse.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Eric Bogosian is one of America’s great multi-dimensional talents. “There’s sort of three different careers, and any one of them could exist by itself, on its own two feet. There was that solo stuff, and then I started writing plays in the late seventies.” Although his work has spanned genres, most readers will recognize Bogosian for his acting, which has included a memorable performance in Woody Allen‘s Deconstructing Harry to co-writing and starring in the Oliver Stone movie Talk Radio (based upon his Pulitzer Prize-nominated play) to playing the bad guy in Under Siege 2 to his current role in Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Captain Danny Ross. They may not know, however, that he had collaborated with Frank Zappa on a album, worked with Sonic Youth, and was a voice on Mike Judge‘s Beavis & Butthead Do America. He started one of New York City’s largest dance companies, The Kitchen, which is still in existence. He starred alongside Val Kilmer in Wonderland and his play Talk Radio was recently revived on Broadway with Liev Schreiber in the role Bogosian wrote and made famous.

Currently at work on his third novel, tentatively titled The Artist, Bogosian spoke with David Shankbone about the craft of writing and his life as a creative.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Five civilian contractors have been injured after an explosion and fire onboard the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf at 9:25 a.m. today.

A large explosion erupted from the ship’s berthing area where welding work was being conducted during a stop in Norfolk, Virginia. A fire broke out two decks below main deck, but was quickly extinguished. The injured were taken to Norfolk General Hospital for treatment to injuries not believed to be life-threatening, according to John Kowalczyk, a spokesman for BAE Systems Ship Repair, who were conducting the work.

He added that the fire appeared to be an isolated incident. The ship has been laid up for repairs and modernizing since May.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Calgary city council voted 10 to 3 on Wednesday to stop fluoridating their water supply. This overturns a previous plebiscite from 1989 to add the fluoride in an attempt to reduce tooth decay.

Opponents of water fluoridation claim that there could be unknown health effects of fluoride, and question its effectiveness in preventing tooth decay. They also claim that individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether or not to use fluoride. However, Alberta Health Services maintains that current evidence shows that fluoride is both safe, and beneficial to dental health.

It is estimated that no longer fluoridating the water supply could save Calgary’s city council C$750 thousand (€550 thousand) annually, as well as cutting a C$6 million (€4.3 million) upgrade to the fluoridation system.