NGO report says church fails to act effectively in tackling violence against women in Rwanda, Liberia and Congo Churches can “no longer remain silent on the issue of sexual violence”, according to a Christian NGO, which said religious institutions were failing the communities they were meant to serve by not speaking out against the assault and rape of children. Tearfund , a UK-based Christian relief and development agency, commissioned research on the current and potential role of the church to tackle sexual violence in Rwanda, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It said the results were a “shocking indictment of the widespread lack of a church-based response”. In Silent No More , a report launched at a conference on Monday at Lambeth Palace in London with the support of the archbishops of Canterbury, Burundi and DRC, Tearfund said: “The research showed there have been various responses from the church. In many cases the church has remained silent, where the church has spoken out, it has often led to increased stigma towards survivors. “The silence of the churches on this issue is often the result of fear and their inability to envisage how to engage effectively. Churches have too often failed to realise their mandate to care and stand up for people on the margins. For this reason aid agencies, donors and governments too have failed to recognise the potential of the church to respond to this need.” One community leader in Rwanda told Tearfund: “The church is the only reliable social network within poor countries. People cannot go to the cinema or a club in order to find space where they can get away from their problems. The church is all they have. Also, many people no longer have family. The church becomes their only source of ‘family’.” The report gave examples of how some churches were helping victims. The Anglican church of Congo has established an association offering practical support – helping women access preventative HIV treatment within 72 hours of an assault, raising awareness of rape laws, and assisting with social integration. But it was one of only a few instances of church-led activity. Among those attending the launch were Lyn Lusi, from Heal Africa , which helped Tearfund with its research in DRC. She told conference delegates that church leaders needed to follow the example of the anti-slavery champion William Wilberforce . She said: “It has taken 200 years for the change in relationships between blacks and whites to become reality. It has been a long road. The churches were key players, they knew what justice meant. The church is facing the same challenge – for justice between men and women.” One of the things church leaders could do was to read the whole Bible and “not just the verses that prop up their power base”, she added. Lusi and other speakers claimed that some men used scripture to justify hurting or marginalising women. Earlier this year, Anglican leaders wrote a letter acknowledging that churches were partly responsible for “perpetuating oppressive attitudes towards women” – there is divided opinion on the role of women in churches – and committed themselves to raising the profile of millennium development goal three: to promote gender equality and empower women. Religion Gender Rape Riazat Butt guardian.co.uk
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A Texas horse named Midnight is recovering after receiving a $14000 artificial leg. (March 22)
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It seems like just yesterday — okay, more like three weeks ago — we went hands-on with Asus’ latest additions to the Eee PC family, and now these Fusion-equipped netbooks are getting their very own price tags. The Eee PC 1015B and 1215B offer 10-inch and 12-inch displays starting at $289 and $379, respectively. For that price, you’ll get 250GB of storage, 1GB of memory, VGA, USB, and HDMI ports, and 1080p output. They grow up so fast — don’t they? Check out the source links to make one of these babies your own. [Thanks, Daniel] Asus Eee PC 1015B and 1215B go on sale starting at $289 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 06:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Greater London Authority officials moved on artist Ken Howard in Trafalgar Square, warning that people might trip over his easel. What other serious menaces might one encounter there? Trafalgar Square is not a safe place. It is so unsafe, in fact, that within three minutes of arriving there a pigeon hit me slap in the face. Then, as the bird beat a sluggish retreat, a gaggle of Spanish tourists began to laugh at me, adding insult to facial pigeonry. Greater London Authority officials were not on hand to help me. They were elsewhere, possibly protecting the square from an even greater menace: Royal Academy artist Ken Howard OBE, who, it was reported yesterday , had been moved on by officials insisting that someone could trip over his easel. Annoyed, Howard told reporters: “If these people had been around in previous generations, we wouldn’t have paintings by Monet, Whistler, Sisley or Boudain.” Quite how British local government officials in the late 19th century would have stopped Monet painting a pheasant is unclear, but the man does have a germ of a point. In the course of one short visit to Trafalgar Square yesterday, I counted 10 considerably more serious menaces. 1 Pigeons. See above. No-fly zones begin at home. 2 Street performer. A man juggling with knives . Police did nothing. 3 Massive ship in a bottle. Totally out of scale. This could easily confuse a stupid person into thinking they’ve become a giant, and then crushing someone. 4 Bath full of foamy, semi-naked vegan women. They were making a point about how a single steak has the same environmental impact as 50 baths, apparently. All I know is I was distracted and could easily have fallen over. 5 Weird Olympic clock. Counts backwards and doesn’t tell the real time. Potentially fatal to people who schedule insulin injections using faulty commemorative timepieces. 6 Giant concrete steps. Whose great idea was it to put these next to the semi-naked vegans? 7 Fountains. Mum always used to warn that you can drown in 2in of water. There’s around 2ft of water in these death traps. That’s enough to drown 12 times. 8 Huge lions. Sure, they’re made of brass for now . But what happens when lightning hits? They’re also way too tall. Fall off one and your lion-riding days are over. 9 This woman. Who is she? She could literally do anything . 10 This bloke in a suit. That’s a coffee he’s holding. A scalding-hot face-melting coffee. Someone needs to get in there and pin him to the ground asap. I’m looking at you, “the police”. London Painting Art Tom Meltzer guardian.co.uk
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Frank Cottrell Boyce found writing a sequel to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang required a leap of faith, but she was ready to fly once more I can remember everything about my first trip to the cinema. We went with Aunty Pat and my cousin Tricia. We took a Tupperware bucket full of pick’n’mix and cartons of Kia-Ora. The film was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Howls of anguish shook the building when the car drove off the edge of a cliff, followed by roars of frustration when the image froze mid-plummet and the word “Intermission” blazed across the screen. The innocent part of me was swamped with pity for that lovely Edwardian family plunging to its doom. The writer in me was already thinking: “OK. This had better be good.” And of course it was good. Like a duenna snapping open her fan – the car snapped open a pair of elegant wings and soared off into Adventure. To this day, whenever there’s an unexpected but perfect twist in a tale – or in life – I think of it as a Chitty Flies Off The Cliff moment. I had one of those moments a year or so ago when the Fleming family got in touch and asked if I would consider writing the sequel. It was as if they’d offered me the loan of a 1920s Paragon Panther – yes obviously I’d love to drive it but do I really want that responsibility? Wouldn’t it be better to leave it safely parked on the gravel in a motor museum? In the event, the decision was made for me. As soon as I mentioned the notion at the dinner table it became clear that there would be no discussion about this. I was doing it. Not that I needed persuading. One of the most important choices you make as a writer is who are you doing it for? I’ve always been clear about this in my head. Reading is usually seen as a solitary pleasure but I first learned to love books when people – teachers, parents, Bernard Cribbins on Jackanory – read them out to me. My ideal reader is a grown-up sharing the story with the children in their care. I’m always looking for ways to make the story a genuine pleasure to both ages. Writing a new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang book gave me the chance to harness a
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Barry Bonds perjury trial in San Francisco began Tuesday with opening statements and a refusal by his longtime trainer Greg Anderson to testify, resulting in his being in contempt. (March 23)
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One police officer was shot and killed and another badly wounded Tuesday as they were searching for a carjacking suspect in a Georgia college town, leading to a manhunt for the shooter, authorities said. (March 22)
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[1] As you probably know by now, movie theatres across the country have begun receiving the new movie trailer for Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger, which will hit theaters this Friday (and will be online sometime before that). But you don’t have to wait until then to see some of the footage, as Entertainment Tonight has aired one of their shitty sneak previews. And don’t worry, you won’t… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : /Film Discovery Date : 23/03/2011 01:03 Number of articles : 5
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Like-for-like sales in the 10 weeks to 19 March were up 1%, against growth of 3.6% in the previous quarter Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s revealed a bigger-than-expected slowdown in sales growth today as it highlighted the squeeze on consumer spending. The UK’s third biggest supermarket chain said it had seen “customers manage their spending carefully” with same-store sales growth of 1%, including VAT but excluding fuel, in the 10 weeks to 19 March. This compared with market expectations for a figure in the region of 2% and against growth of 3.6% in the previous quarter. But chief executive Justin King said the chain still outperformed the market in the fourth quarter of its financial year after attracting 21 million customers a week – up one million on last year. Sainsbury’s surpassed its “big four” rivals in Christmas trading, but competition pressures have intensified in recent months as Tesco and Asda have launched price-cutting initiatives. Shoppers’ finances are being hammered by soaring fuel and energy bills, as well as the January VAT rise and wider government austerity cuts. Growth rates are slowing across the supermarket sector, particularly on an underlying basis when VAT and rising food price inflation are taken into account. Sainsbury’s reported total sales growth excluding fuel and including VAT of 3.5%, a slowdown from 6% seen in the third quarter. The supermarket said it had seen significant growth in fuel sales – despite fuel price inflation of around 16% – as it offers competitive prices at the petrol pumps. To combat the tough consumer environment, King said the supermarket had introduced initiatives such as its meal planner tip cards, which help shoppers find up to five family meals for around £20. The group’s focus on non-food sales, which includes clothing, DVDs and electrical items, is still paying off, with the sector growing at three times the rate of food. The supermarket unveiled a partnership with celebrity fashion expert Gok Wan in the quarter to promote a range of womenswear. The chain continued to roll out its expansion strategy – opening 193,000 sq ft of space, comprising three new supermarkets, one extension and 21 convenience stores. King said: “We expect the consumer environment to remain tough, with our customers facing fuel price inflation, uncertain employment prospects and government spending cuts.” But the chief executive added that the firm was well-positioned for further growth in 2011/12. Recent supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel have shown that discounters are enjoying a boost as hard-hit consumers look to cut their weekly outgoings. In the 12 weeks to 20 February, Kantar said Sainsbury’s was the fastest-growing of the top four with growth of 4.5%. Lidl and Aldi notched up impressive hikes of 13.6% and 13.4% respectively. J Sainsbury Supermarkets Retail industry Consumer spending Economics Petrol prices guardian.co.uk
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Libyan leader calls coalition ‘fascists’ during speech at Tripoli compound as Hillary Clinton claims aides are considering exile Muammar Gaddafi has made his first public appearance since air strikes on his forces began, pledging that he will not surrender and calling the international coalition against him a “bunch of fascists”. The speech came after Barack Obama warned the Libyan leader may try to hang on to power despite the military intervention. But the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said she understood people close to Gaddafi were in touch with other countries asking for advice on exile options. Clashes continued on Tuesday morning along the front line between rebels and Gaddafi forces north of Ajdabiya. Those forces, which appeared to be well dug-in, fired barrages of mortar and tank shells at the opposition fighters, whose advance on the city appears to have stalled. Gaddafi appeared outside his Tripoli compound early on Wednesday morning to speak to supporters who have formed a human shield to protect him. “We will not surrender,” he said. “We will defeat them by any means … We are ready for the fight, whether it will be a short or a long one … We will be victorious in the end,” he said in comments carried live by state television. “This assault … is by a bunch of fascists who will end up in the dustbin of history,” he added, to the approving roar of the crowd. The early morning address was his first public appearance in a week, and there was nothing in it to suggest any lessening of his determination to sit out what he calls the “colonialist-crusader” attacks on Libya. Gaddafi seemed aware of growing rumours about his whereabouts after two strikes on his Bab al-Aziziya compound – with one opposition source reporting him at a hideout deep in the Sahara. “I am here, in my modest tent,” Gaddafi told them. “I am here.” Clinton told ABC News she understood people close to the Libyan leader were in touch with other states about the situation. “We’ve heard about other people close to him reaching out to people that they know around the world, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, beyond, saying what do we do?” she said. “How do we get out of this? What happens next? “I’m not aware that he personally has reached out, but I do know that people allegedly on his behalf have been reaching out.” Speaking to CNN during his trip to South America Obama said he hoped the military intervention would help the Libyan opposition start organising for change. He said it might not be “military might” but a belief among the Libyan people that it is time for a change that ends with “ultimately sweeping Gaddafi out of power”. “I think – our hope is – that the first thing that can happen once we’ve cleared the space is that the rebels are able to start discussing how they organise themselves, how they articulate their aspirations for the Libyan people and create a legitimate government,” Obama said. He added that the immediate goal of the mission that began Saturday was to prevent Gaddafi’s military from conducting an onslaught on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. “Because the international community rallied, his troops have now pulled back from Benghazi,” Obama said. While Washington and its coalition partners, including Nato allies and Arab states, are establishing a no-fly zone over Libya and attacking the Libyan leader’s forces, the US president warned that Gaddafi was unlikely to back down soon. “Gaddafi may try to hunker down and wait it out even in the face of the no-fly zone, even though his forces have been degraded,” Obama said. Yesterday, Britain, France and the US agreed that Nato should play an important role in enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya . Muammar Gaddafi United States France Europe Nato Hillary Clinton Ian Black Chris McGreal Adam Gabbatt Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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