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[1] REPORT: CHINA CONTINUES PRESSURE ON CHRISTIANS BEFORE OLYMPICS Sources: BosNewsLife, Christian Solidarity Worldwide On Sunday, June 8, just two months before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, a major human rights group released a report detailing what it called a “current government crackdown on China’s unregistered Christians.” The report, “China: Persecution of Protestant Christians in the Approach to the Beijing 2008 Olympic games,” linked the apparent crackdown to concerns within the Communist Party that Chinese Christians will use the Olympics to spread Christianity. Britain-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), who released the report, said that Christians seeking to help the victims of the earthquake in Sichuan province are being arrested and fined. The Public Security Bureau has reportedly received funding from the Chinese central government to increase its campaign of eradicating house churches throughout China and preventing those engaged in “illegal” religious activities from participating or attending the games. “As we mark the two-month countdown to the Beijing Olympics, it is truly disturbing to report the deteriorating picture for China’s unregistered Christians,” said CSW Executive Director Mervyn Thomas. Chinese officials have denied human rights abuses, saying that Christians are free to worship within the government backed churches. ------------------ [2] From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@sancharnet.in Date: Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:35 pm Subject: US invests $20 mn to eliminate child labour in India Printed from <http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ US invests $20 mn to eliminate child labour in India 10 Jun, 2008, 0001 hrs IST, PTI KOLKATA: The United States has invested $20 million in India to eliminate child labour from hazardous industries in 21 districts across five states, US Consul- General Henry V Jardine said. "The US Labour Department has contributed $20 mn to the INDUS project, the largest programme ever supported by the department outside the US, which aims to ensure child labour elimination from hazardous industries in 21 districts," he said while inaugurating a seminar on "The Right Response to Child Labour" at the American Centre here. Jardine said the districts selected for the project were spread across Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and NCT Delhi. The programme works in conjunction with the Government of India's National Child Labour Project, Jardine said. India has also contributed $20 million for the project. Quoting ILO estimates, he said there were over 200 million child labour between the age of 5-14 years worldwide. "The Asia Pacific region holds the dubious distinction of having the highest number of working children in the world - over 122 million. Many of the worst forms of child labour are still important concerns for the region, including bonded forced labour, child trafficking and prostitution," he said. Stating that investing in education was a sound economic decision, Jardine said a recent ILO study found that the elimination of child labour and its replacement by universal education would yield major economic benefits in addition to social benefits. "Globally, benefits exceeded costs by a ratio of more than 6 to 1," he said. Cross posted: ICYO to End CESC Forwarded by: - Yours in Global Concern A. SANKAR ---------------- [3] From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com Date: Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:15 pm Subject: US Congressman Dennis Kucinich Makes Impeachment Move Against President Bush Congressman Dennis Kucinich Introduced 35 Articles of Impeachment Against President Bush on Monday Night The full text of the articles is available at: http://chun. afterdowningstre et.org/amomentof truth.pdf Extensive documentation to accompany each article will be posted later today. Watch the se websites: http://kucinich. us http://democrats. com http://afterdowning street.org -------------- [4] From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@sancharnet.in Date: Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:28 pm Subject: First HIV/TB Global Leaders' Forum successfully concluded Dear Partners and Friends, It is my pleasure to report to you the highly successful conclusion of the first <http://www.stoptb.org/events/hivtbleaders/home.html HIV/TB Global Leaders' Forum at UN Headquarters on Monday, 9 June. The Forum, which attracted a packed conference room of country delegations, civil society and the private sector was a landmark event. This was the first time heads of government, public health and business leaders, heads of UN agencies and activists came together to seek a common way forward on confronting HIV/TB. The Forum was convened by the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Stop TB, Dr Jorge Sampaio, and endorsed by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Forum was opened by Dr Sampaio and Mr Srgjan Kerim, President of the UN General Assembly; the UN Secretary-General; and William J. Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and former President of the United States. Other speakers included Faure Gnassingbe, President of Togo; Armando Guebuz, President of Mozambique; Nafis Sadik, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for AIDS in Asia; Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General; Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS; Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and Ambassador Mark Dybul, United States Global AIDS Coordinator. Dr Sampaio urged participants to see The <http://www.stoptb.org/events/hivtbleaders/call_for_action.html Call for Action on HIV/TB, circulated for comment in the weeks before the Forum, as a living document. In his closing remarks, he stressed the need for partnership and coordination. Partnership is needed at every level, he said, to save millions of lives. Dr Sampaio is to report on the outcome of the forum to the UN High-Level Meeting on AIDS, which begins on 10 June. As many of you are aware, the Forum was supported by UNAIDS, the World Bank, WHO, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Stop TB Partnership. The Forum's theme -- One Life -- Two Diseases -- One Response -- should serve as an inspiration to all of us. I firmly believe this Forum is a watershed event that will galvanize bold new leadership on HIV/TB. Warm regards, Dr Marcos A Espinal - Executive Secretary Picture (Metafile) Stop TB Partnership Secretariat WHO/STB/TBP 20, Avenue Appia CH-1211 Geneva 27 Switzerland Telephone: +41 22 791 2708 Fax: +41 22 791 4886 Email: espinalm@who.int News: <mailto: news-subscribe@stoptb.org news-subscribe@stoptb.org <http://www.stoptb.org www.stoptb.org Forwarded by: Yours in Global Concern A. SANKAR ---------------- [5] From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@sancharnet.in Date: Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:27 pm Subject: Global leaders gather at UN forum to tackle tuberculosis threat Global leaders gather at UN forum to tackle tuberculosis threat 9 June 2008 - On the eve of a high-level meeting on AIDS, government leaders, health and business officials, heads of United Nations agencies and activists have gathered in New York to confront tuberculosis, the leading cause of death for people living with HIV. Addressing the first HIV/TB Global Leaders' Forum, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that TB is one of the top 10 leading causes of death globally, causing more than 4,000 deaths every day. "This is shocking: no one should die of TB, a preventable and curable disease, in this prosperous and technology-rich 21st century," he said. TB accounts for an estimated quarter of a million deaths each year among those living with HIV and is the number one cause of death among people living with HIV in Africa. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that some 3 million people are now receiving life-saving anti-retroviral treatment. However, TB, especially drug-resistant forms of the disease, threatens to hinder this progress. "There is not nearly enough investment in TB control, or in research into preventing, diagnosing and treating TB in people living with HIV," Mr. Ban said. "This offers us very few options for treating drug resistance, and little chance of eliminating TB deaths." The Forum is being convened by the Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Stop TB, Jorge Sampaio, who stressed that new tools are needed to tackle the disease. "The diagnostics, the drugs and vaccines available now for TB are old. Nothing new has been produced in the past 37 years," he told reporters before the meeting. Partnership is the key, Dr. Sampaio stressed, cautioning that "if in fact there is to be no real progress on HIV/TB, we will be in very difficult circumstances in the future." According to UNAIDS, HIV and TB are so closely connected that they are often referred to as co-epidemics or dual epidemics that drive and reinforce one another. Since HIV weakens the immune system, people living with the virus are up to50 times more likely to develop TB than those who are HIV negative. Without proper treatment with anti-TB drugs, the majority of people living with HIV die within two to three months of becoming sick with TB. That is something Winstone Zulu, an HIV and TB activist from Zambia, knows all too well. Mr. Zulu and his four brothers were all HIV positive. In 1990, two of his brothers contracted TB and because they did not have TB drugs in his country, both of them died within a week of each other. In 1996, his oldest brother died as well from TB, again because there were no TB drugs in the country, as did his fourth brother in 2003. Mr. Zulu, who also had TB in 1996, is alive today because he was able to access TB drugs treatment. "TB treatment for people living with HIV often means the difference between life and death," he told journalists. "Because I accessed TB treatment I am still alive." Mr. Zulu emphasized that what today's Forum should focus on is that "while we're looking for a cure for AIDS, we cannot afford to allow people with HIV and tuberculosis to continue dying." The meeting takes place one day before the General Assembly high-level meeting to review the progress achieved to realize the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. "The timing of the two meetings was intentional because we recognise the link between the two challenges," Assembly President Srgjan Kerim told the Forum. "We cannot separate the fight against HIV/AIDS from the fight against TB. Success in one will yield success in the other; conversely the continued spread of TB among people living with AIDS undermines efforts to contain the HIV/AIDS pandemic," he said. Today's Forum, which is co-sponsored by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Stop TB Partnership, is expected to produce a Call for Action to drastically cut the number of deaths associated with HIV/TB. SOURCE: UN News Centre http://www.un. <http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp? NewsID=26942&Cr=tuberc... org/apps/news/story. asp? NewsID=26942&Cr=tuberc... Forwarded by: Yours in Global Concern A. SANKAR --------------- |
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June12, 2008 - [India Thinkers Net]Pak militants,US air strike ,Makkah conference etc >> |
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