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Gay laws: Britain May Remove Husband, Wife Terms

March 18, 2012 by ·

If Britain’s plan to legalise gay marriages takes shape, offices across the country will have to remove terms like “husband” and “wife” from forms and use more neutral terms like “spouse” and “partner”, an impact assessment report said.

The plan to legalise gay marriages may cost the government millions in removing the terms from computer systems, the Daily Express reported.

Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone has said the government was determined to change marriage legislation by 2015.

Under plans put out for consultation, same-sex couples will be entitled to get married in a register office or convert existing civil partnerships. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Humanities, Lifestyle, People ·

One Year Later: Syrians Remain Resolute In Fight For Freedom

March 16, 2012 by ·

One year ago, a group of schoolchildren scrawled graffiti on school walls in the small city of Daraa. Excited over the uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere known as the Arab Spring, the boys wrote, “The people want the overthrow of the regime.”

The boys, who ranged in age from 10 to 15, were whisked away by the security forces of President Bashar Assad and beaten terribly. Some even had their fingernails pulled out by their tormentors.

The people of Daraa were outraged and mobbed streets in protest, the customary way in which many in the Arab world communicate with their dictatorial leaders. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreign Policy, Government, Humanities, People ·

What Iran’s Election Means

March 3, 2012 by ·

The results of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iran, scheduled for March 2, will tell us much about Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s ambitions and concerns, but little about what the people of Iran want.

This is because in all likelihood, these elections will be anything but democratic. It will be the Iranian supreme leader who decides who the winners and losers of these elections will be, and he won’t want to leave things to chance. With U.S.-led sanctions hurting his regime and undermining his legitimacy since the fraudulent 2009 presidential election, control of the regime is now more important than ever for Khamenei. This’s why he won’t want – or allow – the results of tomorrow’s election to be decided by anyone other than himself. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreign Policy, Government, People ·

Putin: Protesters Want Violence To Mar Election

March 2, 2012 by ·

Tensions are rising in Moscow ahead of Sunday’s presidential election, as opposition protesters prepare for their biggest demonstration on the day after the vote.

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Prime Minister, has claimed that opposition forces are preparing a “provocation” to try and lure authorities into violence, while opposition activists have proclaimed the elections illegitimate.

There was a plan to hand out tents to protesters and mount a “sleep-in” protest like the one that prompted the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, when thousands of protesters set up a tent city in Kiev’s main square and refused to leave. But police prevented the tents from being distributed, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said any attempts to create camps in the city will be crushed. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreign Policy, Government, People ·

U.N. Assembly Adopts Resolution Condemning Syria

February 18, 2012 by ·

The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly ratcheted up the pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday by overwhelmingly approving a resolution that endorses an Arab League plan calling for him to step aside.

The resolution, similar to one Russia and China vetoed in the Security Council on February 4, received 137 votes in favor, 12 against and 17 abstentions, though three countries said their votes failed to register on the electronic board.

Russia and China were among those opposing the resolution, which was drafted by Saudi Arabia and submitted by Egypt on behalf of Arab states. Unlike in the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly, but its decisions lack the legal force of council resolutions. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreign Policy, Government, People ·

Russia, China Complicit In Carnage Inflicted On Syrians

February 12, 2012 by ·

By their double veto at the UN, they have chosen to back the Al Assad regime that is already wet spaghetti

The adjectives (or perhaps they were epithets) used to describe it were vociferous and blunt, rarely used in diplomatic parlance: the Syrian regime was identified as barbaric, criminal, tyrannical, savage, murderous and the rest of it, all intended to point to a whole gamut of villany committed by a government that, for the last 11 months, has slaughtered, incarcerated and tortured its own people.

Yet irrespective of the emotive language resorted to by various diplomats at the UN, it was clear from the outset that the resolution that came up for a vote at the Security Council last week, based on an Arab League plan intended to halt the bloodbath in Syria, would be still-born, blocked as had been anticipated by the double veto from Russia and China. The act soon had grotesque consequences. Bashar Al Assad’s regime took the veto as a green light to crush the protesters. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreign Policy, Government, People, Politics ·

Valentine’s Day

February 9, 2012 by ·

Every 14th day of February is a special day celebrated by almost everybody especially those people who are madly in love with. It was once thought to be the time of year when birds began to mate and a chubby little love god called Cupid aimed his bows & arrows at the hearts of young men and women. Many people today believed that their future happiness was connected with valentine festivities.

It is believed to have had its beginning in a Roman festival called the Lupercalia. The early Roman men often pinned to their sleeves, the names of the girls who were to be their partners during the Lupercalia. Even today, we say that a man wears his heart on his sleeves when he shows his interest in a young lady. Sometimes the couple exchanged presents. Ladies often received perfumed gloves or fine jewels but after the Lupercalia became a saint’s day honoring St Valentine, some of the old customs were kept. It remained an important time for anyone looking for a mate. In the 17th century, a hopeful maiden ate a hard-boiled egg and pinned five bay leaves to her pillow before going to sleep on Valentine’s Eve. She believed this would make her dream of her future husband. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gifts, Humanities, People ·