World Group at NewsCloud.com

Spanish ads compare women with genital cutting to **** toys

There is great conflict among feminist activists over how to go about decreasing the prevalence of "female genital cutting," better known to most as "female genital mutilation." One of the reasons for this conflict is the tendency of "Western" feminists to impose their own worldview onto communities where we find cutting (mostly among some ethnic groups in Africa, but also found in the Middle East and Asia). For example, the importance of sexual pleasure derived from the clitoris, and the relationship between orgasm and women's liberation, is a central tenent of post-second wave feminism in the West.

Young Spiritual Leader Arrives in New York, Ready to Teach and Be Taught

His followers regard him not only as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, who died in 1981, but also as the 17th incarnation of the first Karmapa in the 12th century, in an unbroken lineage going back 900 years. They revere him as leader of the Kagyu sect - called the black hat or black crown sect - one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Senate Moves Forward on Orwellian Bill

n the wake of Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins\\\\\\' (R-ME) alarmist report, "Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorism Threat," the Senate may be moving towards passage of the Orwellian "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" (S. 1959).

China says massive quake has killed thousands - China- msnbc.com

A massive earthquake struck central China on Monday, killing more than 7,000 people in one province alone and trapping nearly 900 students under the rubble of their school, raising fears the overall death toll could increase sharply.

Sex Work vs. Trafficking: Understanding the Difference

Even those who mean well sometimes confuse the human rights abuse of trafficking in persons with the human occupation of prostitution, or sex work. It's understandable because of the history of the two fields, but it creates rather than solves problems. Let me try to sort it out here.

Iranian Exiles Aren’t Terrorist Group, British Court Says

After a seven-year legal battle, Britain's Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that the British government was wrong to include an Iranian resistance group, the People's Mujahedeen of Iran, on its list of banned terrorist groups.

Britons fear race violence - poll

Almost two-thirds of people in Britain fear race relations are so poor tensions are likely to spill over into violence, a BBC poll has suggested.

China’s body image shifts from cultural revolution to sexual revolution

As the Olympic Games draw near, it is not ideology or collective yearning that asserts itself in the Middle Kingdom, but the physical self coming to full consciousness. The civilization known for Confucian morals, Taoist mysticism, acupuncture, tai chi, martial arts-radically different ways of looking at the self in relationship with the cosmos-has wholeheartedly embraced Western culture and mores. "Economic and educational opportunities, readily available telecommunications and the Internet have made the people of China highly mobile, and quite well informed," says Wang, but also "more individual-centered and therefore, less committed to traditional extended family and Confucian social ethics."

China's Olympic angel and demonised traitor

As the Olympic flame continues its tumultuous journey, the lives of two young Chinese women have taken centre stage in the black and white world of Chinese public opinion, which views one as an angel and the other as a traitor.

Taking The Temperature Of Global Climate Change

The daily observation from the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) clearly highlights a potential global problem. In 2008, nearly every day of each of the first four months of the year has recorded an observation of sunspot activity that is equal to zero. In fact, there have been only two days in the last four months when there has been any sunspot activity at all and each small event disappeared very quickly.....

KP.RU // Hate crimes in Russia: Citizens of former Soviet republics fear Russia's streets

VERY interesting article on Russia's xenophobia from a Russian perspective. Published in Russia's largest daily.

More Choice for Women Means More Sustainability

Robert Engelman, Vice President at the Worldwatch Institute, in his new book More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want Suggests that expanding the capacity of all women to choose when to bear children is thus the surest route to achieving an environmentally sustainable population.

Snipers in Iraq

In 2007 elite U.S. snipers executed an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in cold blood. Have the insidious tactics that led to atrocities in Vietnam reemerged in Iraq? Pressure to raise enemy death counts in an attempt to show that the U.S. is 'winning' the war, maybe causing murder of innocent Iraqis.

Google's Shareholders Vote to Continue Censorship in China

Google [has been] coming under fire for operating a version of its search engine that complies with China's censorship rules. Google argues that it's better for it to have a presence in the country and to offer people some information, rather than for it not to be active in China at all... [S]hareholders and rights groups including Amnesty International... continue to push Google to improve its policies in countries known for human rights abuses and limits on freedom of speech... Sergey Brin, cofounder and president of technology for Google, abstained from voting on either of the proposals. 'I agreed with the spirit of these proposals,' Brin said. But he said he didn't fully support them as they were written, and so did not want to vote for them.

Costa, New South Wales Labor's good cop, bad cop or true blue?

New South Wales Treasurer Michael Costa's bully-boy tactics may have hurt Labor but not the Premier or the state government plan's to sell-off its power industry.