Public Health

Australia to Dry up?

By |

An anti-binge-drinking ad campaign directed toward Australian youth begins this month, part of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s national strategy to reduce reckless inebriation. The Sydney Morning Herald reports the multi-million-dollar campaign will utilize scare tactics to show excessive drinking can lead to “pub brawls, brain damage, mental illness, serious injuries in car accidents and even death.” Media experts say the timing of the ads will be crucial; evening or late morning ads could catch the demographic before going out, or after waking up with hangovers. The campaign will focus on underage drinkers and 18 to 25-year-olds. One content advisor for the campaign said scare tactics are not enough, recommending additional alcohol-advertising restrictions, the promotion of less potent drinks, and a new taxation system.

Democracy & Civics

The Czech Republic's Meth Crackdown

By |

Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, is cracking down on the sale of medicines made with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in order to control production of homemade methamphetamine, one of the country’s most common drugs. The Prague Post said the two chemicals are key ingredients of pervitine — “a more refined form” of crystal methamphetamine, or speed — and are commonly found in cold medicines. The National Drug Squad will restrict sales to one package per week and will coordinate pharmacy databases to monitor purchases. Most of the European Union’s methamphetamines originate in the Czech Republic, where it is made in homemade laboratories and smuggled across borders. The use of speed, which was given to Nazi soldiers during World War II to stimulate alertness and fight fatigue, became widespread during the former Czechoslovakia’s communist era.

Democracy & Civics

Violence Claims Mexican Journalist

By |

Armando Rodriguez, a veteran Mexican crime reporter, was recently shot to death outside his home in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, according to news site Frontera NorteSur. Rodriguez, a reporter for the newspaper El Diario, covered crime for more than a decade in Juarez, and was one of the first to report on the infamous rapes and murders of scores of women in Juarez. Police say they have no motive or suspects yet, but Rodriguez had received at least one threat and, according to the article, “his killing occurred exactly one week after a severed human head was discovered at a monument to journalists in Ciudad Juarez.” Mexico has become increasingly dangerous for journalists, who are being targeted by drug gangs to reveal sources and as revenge for incriminating stories. Rodriguez is the sixth journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year.

Democracy & Civics

Prison in Greenland? It's Casual.

By |

The small island of Greenland is home to one of the most lax prison systems in the world, where most convicts are free to leave during the day and are only locked up overnight. Radio Netherlands said Greenland’s convicts spend the first tenth of their sentence in lock-down, but if their conduct is good enough, they can progress to the open prison system, in which prison doors are locked only from 9:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.
Peter Kristensen, director of Greenland’s prison system, told RN the open-prison system emphasizes prisoner rehabilitation rather than punishment, adding that “we only have 56,000 people in Greenland, and we can’t afford to lose any of them.” Prisoners are allowed to work regular jobs, study, visit family and friends, and enjoy amenities like movie and music facilities inside the detention centers. Prisoners are even allowed to carry guns on weekend hunting trips — the only time they are accompanied by armed prison guards. The more serious offenders do not qualify for this regime, and instead have been sent to a conventional prison in Denmark.

World

Vatican Says Screenings Will Prevent Gays in Priesthood

By |

The Vatican has issued new guidelines recommending psychological screening for men interested in joining the Catholic priesthood. Catholic seminaries have been urged to screen the candidates for certain psychological traits — including “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” — that could later compromise their roles, the Irish Times reports. The Congregation for Catholic Education, the supervising body for Catholic seminaries worldwide, published the guidelines. Sex-abuse cases have scandalized the Catholic Church in recent years, costing them hundreds of million dollars in settlements. Psychological testing will not be obligatory, but could be helpful when church officials are suspicious about candidate that may possess “homosexual tendencies, unclear sexual identity, difficulty with the celibate life, excessive rigidity of character and lack of freedom in relations.”

Democracy & Civics

Dalai Lama Admits Tibet Policy 'Failure'

By |

The Dalai Lama has acknowledged that his drive for genuine autonomy in Tibet has failed. Agence France-Presse reports that even though representatives for the Tibetan government are in China for the eighth round of Chinese-Tibetan dialogue, the Dalai Lama said his “faith and trust in the Chinese government is thinning” and the situation in Tibet is worsening. The Dalai Lama has advocated a “Middle Way” approach of compromise and dialogue with the communist Chinese since their occupation of Tibet began in 1949. “I have to accept failure,” he said. He described the situation in Tibet as one of martial law and said Tibetan culture and the people “are being handed down a death sentence.”

World

Afghanistan's Wanderers Say Promises Unfulfilled

By |

The Kuchi nomads of Afghanistan split their time between the eastern lowlands and the central highlands, and are finding life increasingly difficult under the current regime. The BBC reports that the six million Kuchis are some of the most destitute of Afghanistan’s 25 million people. Kuchi nomads say that despite their support for President Karzai during the 2005 elections, the administration has failed to follow through on promises to help with basic necessities like electricity and health care. “We all voted for Karzai but he never honored his promises,” one Kuchi elder said. Afghanistan’s many wars have taken their toll on a people dependent on livestock and lacking adequate shelter from the fighting.

Public Health

Children Left Behind

By |

News media have paid a lot of attention to the growing obesity epidemic among children all over the developed world, but recent studies point to a number of other somber health trends. Perhaps most serious was a report that the United States has stalled in its efforts to reduce infant mortality. The report, released last week by the National Center for Health Statistics, analyzed about 95 percent of birth records in the nation and found the United States has about seven infant deaths per 1,000 live births — roughly the same number it had in 2000. The report found Japan, Sweden, Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Australia and more than a dozen other countries all had infant mortality rates of fewer than five deaths per 1,000 births, according to Bloomberg News. Although the report found a small drop in the number of infant deaths in 2005 and 2006, the United States now ranks 29th in the list of nations with the lowest infant mortality rates — tied with Poland and Slovakia.

World

Britain Considers New Limits on Primate Pets

By |

A member of the British Parliament is calling for the ban of breeding, selling and keeping primates as pets in response to a loophole in current animal welfare legislation. According to the BBC, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals supports the ban and estimates that 3,000 primates are kept as pets in the United Kingdom. The RSPCA noted that primates have special needs a domestic household cannot provide. Primates are susceptible to bone disease and vitamin D3 deficiency when kept in cramped cages and out of the sun. “The demand for so-called exotic pets is growing and the problem is getting worse rather than diminishing,” Mark Pritchard, a Conservative MP, told BBC News.

World

Breakaway Abkhazia Ponders Russian Neighbor

By |

The contested region of Abkhazia is struggling to balance its hopes for independence from Georgia with its links to Russia, reports the Christian Science Monitor. A secessionist movement led by ethnic Abkhazians declared independence from Georgia in 1994, leading to war and more than a decade of unrest. Abkhazia sided with Russia when it invaded Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia in August, and in September signed a treaty strengthening economic and military ties with the former communist superpower. Russia’s new military presence offers Abkhazians security, but may come with the price tag of economic dependency. Russians are buying up property abandoned during the secessionist strife, raising concerns about inflated home prices.