Dozens detained at violent Moscow gay rally

MOSCOW - MOSCOW police on Saturday detained three prominent global gay rights leaders as violence broke out at an unprecedented rally that activists tried to stage near the Kremlin wall.

Dozens of protesters - waving rainbow flags and some carrying signs reading 'Russia is not Iran' - were attacked during the unsanctioned event by members of an ultra-Orthodox group who had gathered near the Kremlin in anticipation.

An AFP correspondent saw the police then move in and violently wrestle both activists and members of the religious group to the ground before leading them off in handcuffs to waiting security vans.

Those detained included the renowned US gay rights activists Dan Choi and Andy Thayer as well France's Louis-George Tin.

Britain's veteran gay rights leader Peter Tatchell said the police had tried to lead him away as well but that he had managed to wrestle free.

'We are sitting in the police car. There are five Russians, two Americans and myself. I don't know exactly where we are,' Mr Tin said. 'The handling was very rough,' he added. -- AFP

28may2011

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_673678.html

School bans high-fives, handshakes and hugs

A LONDON school has banned pupils from giving each other high-fives, handshakes - or even hugs.

Governors imposed the 'no contact' rule as they say it prevents fighting or bullying.

Dayna Chong, 15, was thrown into detention for cuddling a female pal at The Quest Academy, in Croydon, South London.

She said: 'I was just hugging my friend in the morning to say hello and I had to sit on my own and miss out on break because of it.'

A parent said, 'School is supposed to be where we start teaching our children how to be social - shaking hands, hugging, opening up. You need an embrace to comfort you when things go wrong. I've never heard of anything so crazy in my life.'

Another 15-year-old student got into trouble for giving a friend a high-five.

A spokesman for the school said: 'Physical contact between students is not allowed because it is often associated with poor behaviour or bullying and can lead to fighting.' -- THE STAR/ANN

28may2011

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_673618.html

When Money is Not the Key to Happiness

Beijing. The people of Shijiazhuang, capital of northern Hebei province and an industrial hub, have reason to cheer.

This month, the city with a population of about 11 million was named China's happiest city.

It beat more than 290 Chinese cities to the title in an annual competitiveness study by a government think-tank.

The news was greeted with both shock and envy — that this relatively poor city could grab such a coveted position and score major political points with the top leadership, whose new campaign is to make people happy.

This was the first time that the closely watched annual survey included a “happiness index,” as the Chinese Communist Party strives to maintain social stability by showing that it cares about the people's well-being.

Linyi in Shandong province and Yangzhou in Jiangsu province were placed second and third. Beijing squeezed into the top 10 at No. 9.

What the survey showed, like several other studies before it, is that becoming the world's second largest economy has not made the vast majority of China's 1.3 billion population happier.

Last month, China was ranked 92nd out of 124 countries in a Gallup poll in which people evaluated their own well-being. In March, 94 percent of 1,350 people surveyed by the state media said they were “unhappy” or felt only “so-so.”

The latest study, which came amid fresh reports of record inflation and rising housing prices, showed that the richest mainland cities were also among the unhappiest.

Shanghai, for instance, was ranked the second most competitive city after Hong Kong, but came in a dismal 205th in the “happiness index.”

The Pearl of the Orient scored high in terms of economic strength and also boasted the largest number of billionaires in China. But the city's residents railed against its air pollution, traffic and stress levels — some of the happiness indicators.

In contrast, Shijiazhuang fell five places to 46th in competitiveness terms.

But its people, whose average income level is less than half of that in Shanghai, scored high in contentment.

Not bad for a place whose most recent claim to fame was as the epicenter of the 2008 tainted milk crisis that sickened some 300,000 people.

As the headquarters of dairy giant Sanlu Group, found to have produced melamine-laced milk, the city became a hotbed of controversy regarding corrupt officials and food safety — two of the top causes of mass discontent often cited in nationwide polls.

Not surprisingly, Shijiazhuang these days is flooded with local media, officials and tourists all seeking its secret to happiness.

Some local residents interviewed cited security — Shijiazhuang is the base for military troops whose task is to defend nearby Beijing, the national capital.

Others attributed it to the rising standard of living as average local incomes rose 10 percent last year.

But one Shijiazhuang native, who moved to Beijing two years ago in search of a better life — and has yet to find it, offered another explanation.

“I don't think life is that great here. It's just that people in Shijiazhuang, despite their problems, feel less unhappy than those people in the big cities who have more to be unhappy about,” said Zhang Shangxia, 22, who works in a hair salon and sends money back to her family in Shijiazhuang.

Having seen property prices skyrocket and experienced stress at work and horrid jams in Beijing, Zhang admits she is tempted to go home where “there are fewer factors that could drive one into depression.”

However, she added: “In the coming years, when Shijiazhuang becomes a much bigger, richer industrial city, the same problems may appear too.”

Indeed, Chinese people's feelings of happiness may be based more on their expectations of a better life than their actual environment.

“Chinese people like to compare themselves with others, so those in richer cities will feel more discontent,” said psychology scholar Feng Lei.

For now, at least, Shijiazhuang can bask in the limelight of being a model city for China's future development, much like Chinese coastal cities that were lauded in the 1980s for their rapid reform and prosperity.

Not to be outdone, Chongqing and Guangdong have unveiled their own five-year economic blueprints which outline strategies to raise happiness levels.

The moves are in line with the national five-year economic master plan, which lowers the economic growth target to 7 percent and aims for more social equity.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who unveiled this plan in March, said at the time: “Everything we do is aimed at letting people live more happily and with more dignity.”

He also said provincial officials' performance should be based not just on economic results, but on how they improve welfare services such as health and education.

But many people are not holding their breath about the success of this official happiness campaign.

“This competition to be China's happiest city benefits only the officials who make up the results, not the people,” said one netizen on a popular forum, kdnet.net.

“It's good that the government advocates improving people's well-being, but it's just too difficult,” said Beijing-based hotel manager Guan Ming, 40.

“The old mindset of putting public interest first is gone. Now it's just power and money (driving things). If this does not change, society will not improve, and people's happiness will not rise.”

29may2011

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Singapore_20110528.html

Group uses social media in bid to free dolphins

ANIMAL protection group Acres has turned to social media to secure freedom for the 25 wild-caught dolphins intended for a marine park in Resorts World Sentosa (RWS).

It launched a campaign on Friday urging people to create and submit video petitions to free the dolphins, which are now being trained in Subic Bay in the Philippines to become performers.

Those who want to have a say can use their cellphones to shoot short video petitions, or take still pictures of themselves holding up placards, and upload them on Acres' campaign website atwww.saddestdolphins.com

Acres, which stands for Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, is also holding roadshows this weekend at Far East Plaza. The petitions will be sent to RWS.

Acres executive director Louis Ng said the group decided to use social media after seeing its power at work during the recent general election.

RWS chief executive Tan Hee Teck, asked on Friday to comment on the condition of the dolphins in Subic Bay, said the company was following international rules on the treatment of marine animals.

29may2011

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_673606.html

Despite price scare, a free market push on food

BIG SKY (Montana) - AS HIGH food prices push millions of people into poverty, major farming nations are resisting calls to impose trade restrictions and are committing to keep global markets open.

Apec - a 21-member Asia-Pacific bloc that encompasses more than half of the world economy and includes the United States, China, Japan and Australia - called on Friday for 'open and transparent' food markets.

In a joint statement after talks in the ski resort of Big Sky, Montana, Apec trade officials said that open markets would ensure food security by increasing reliability of supply and reducing price volatility.

The calm reaction marks a sharp contrast to just a few years ago, when another spike in prices led some 30 countries to impose restrictions on food exports including Vietnam and India, leading exporters of rice.

Thailand, while not imposing restrictions, at the time briefly floated the idea of creating a rice cartel that could influence prices much like oil-producing nations in Opec.

Food prices have again jumped in the past year due to factors including severe weather in key grain producers such as Russia and Australia along with higher fuel costs triggered by turbulence in the Middle East. -- AFP

22may2011

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_671435.html

Rise in organic food sales

At the Ferme des Beurreries near Feucherolles, west of the capital, Mr. Bignon employs five people overseeing 3,000 chickens on 432 acres. He also produces organic cereals for his own feed and other clients and wheat to sell to a neighboring mill.

Mr. Bignon thinks he could comfortably expand to 12,000, matching the number of chickens on the farm in 1990 before its conversion to organic operations. But he is determined to manage carefully any growth to maintain quality, keep customers satisfied and not crowd out other local farmers. He charges 2 euros ($2.82) for a half dozen eggs — about twice the cost of factory-farmed eggs at a French supermarket.

“The issue for us is retaining that success without falling into the traps of industrialized agriculture,” he said. “There’s risks in organic becoming a mass market.”

Sales of organic foods appear robust across Europe and the United States despite weak economic conditions and rising inflation. The strong sales are attracting more interest and activity from investors, who see potential in mergers through economies of scale, especially in Europe’s more fragmented market.

In December, Compagnie Biodiversité, the French owner of Léa Nature, which suppliesorganic food, health products, textiles and cosmetics through large retail channels, announced its purchase of a large stake in Ekibio, another French player. That alliance makes it France’s second-biggest organic food specialist, behind Distriborg, which is owned by the Dutch group Royal Wessanen.

Wessanen, which has been divesting assets in North America, is trying to expand in Europe, analysts say.

In Britain, Abel & Cole, which operates a home delivery service for organic products and has been owned by a private equity firm since 2007, is seen by analysts as an acquisition target, perhaps for a supermarket chain.

And Hain Celestial, based in Melville, N.Y., which makes organic food, drinks and personal care products, this year bought Danival, a French organic producer, as well as GG UniqueFiber, a Norwegian natural foods company. The investor Carl C. Icahn has been building a stake in Hain.

Many farmers and analysts expect the sector to remain strong in coming years, helped by increased public awareness of environmental and potential health benefits, better organization and production techniques, new demand from emerging markets and those periodic public scares attending events like the recent nuclear plant radiation leaks in Japan.

Another theory is that, as with the luxury industry, the core consumers, typically with high disposable incomes, are less affected by hard times.

“Over all, it’s very surprising how stable the organic markets have been even in this critical economic situation,” said Urs Niggli, director of FiBL, an independent nonprofit research institute focusing on organic agriculture in Switzerland. He predicted sales would accelerate in coming years, assuming economic growth picked up.

Organic Monitor, a market research firm and consultancy based in London, estimates that the global market for organic food and drink products in 2009 was $55 billion, 5 percent more than in 2008 and more than double the level in 2000. Significantly, the financial crisis and recession slowed the rate of growth in some countries, while the trend continued.

In the United States, sales of organic food reached $26.7 billion last year, according to theOrganic Trade Association. That was a 7.7 percent increase from 2009, which itself was 5.1 percent higher than 2008. The United States has now overtaken Europe to become the largest market.

European sales grew 3.9 percent in 2009 after double-digit growth in previous years, according to Organic Monitor. In France, a late starter, and in Sweden and Belgium, sales in 2009 expanded more than 15 percent, according to FiBL. British sales contracted in the face of weaker consumer spending and fewer product lines at large stores, while the German market, Europe’s largest, was stable after a period of strong increases.

Logically, the amount of land set aside for organic farming is also increasing. According to FiBL, land for organic use rose to 1.94 percent of all agricultural land in Europe in 2009, from 1.74 percent in 2008 and 1.25 percent in 2003.

According to the Agriculture Department, certified American organic farmland grew 127 percent from 2002 to 2007 and then by 12 percent from 2007 to 2009.

While both Europe and the United States have helped organic farmers, the methods and motivations have been different.

Europeans nurtured the sector because of perceived environmental and social benefits, while the United States supported standards, certification, research and education, treating the sector “primarily as an expanding market opportunity,” according to paper written several years ago by Carolyn Dimitri and Lydia Oberholtzer, experts at the Agriculture Department.

In Europe, subsidies for organic farming are drawn from European Union funds and disbursed to farmers by national governments, as well as in less direct ways, like marketing and procurement programs.

Organic farms receive on average higher subsidies in absolute terms and per hectare (almost 2.5 acres) than conventional farms, according to the Europe’s Farm Accountancy Data Network. In Western Europe generally, the subsidy amounted to 438 euros ($614) a hectare against 355 euros in 2007.

Yet Christian Eichert, managing director in the German state of Baden-Württemberg for Bioland, that country’s largest organic farmers’ association, said Europe lacked a coherent policy toward the sector. Some countries like Spain and Italy focus on exports, while German support is state-driven and often hostage to local political changes, he said.

Recently, there have been some signs that austerity pressures across Europe are eating into state support.

The French government announced at the start of this year that it was halving a tax break for small farmers converting land to organic production. In Germany last year, the state of Schleswig-Holstein sought to remove organic subsidies but backed down after public pressure.

There is a “general uncertainty” surrounding future support, Mr. Eichert said. And forthcoming changes to the Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 have led farmers to expect more cuts.

23may2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/business/global/24organic.html?ref=health

India wealth literacy rise, more sex-selective

NEW DELHI — India’s increasing wealth and improving literacy are apparently contributing to a national crisis of “missing girls,” with the number of sex-selective abortions up sharply among more affluent, educated families during the past two decades, according to a new study.

The study found the problem of sex-selective abortions of girls has spread steadily across India after once being confined largely to a handful of conservative northern states. Researchers also found that women from higher-income, better-educated families were far more likely than poorer women to abort a girl, especially during a secondpregnancy if the firstborn was a girl.

“This has deep implications,” Shailaja Chandra, one of the study’s authors and the former director of the National Population Stabilization Fund, said Tuesday during a panel discussion after the release of the findings. “The scale is very large and requires intervention beyond what has been done so far.”

The study, being published in the British medical journal The Lancet, is the latest evidence of India’s worsening imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls. The 2011 Indian census found 914 girls for every 1,000 boys among children 6 six or younger, the lowest ratio of girls since the country gained independence in 1947. The new study estimated that 4 million to 12 million selective abortions of girls have occurred in India in the past three decades.

The government has enacted legislation intended to prevent parents from usingultrasound screenings or other technologies to decide whether to abort a girl. Yet despite such laws, the situation has not improved. Few medical practitioners who violated the law have been prosecuted, while regulation of private health care providers is very limited.

India is similar to many Asian countries in that many families prefer boys. In Hindu funeral rituals, only males, preferably a son of the deceased, may perform last rites; sons also usually inherit property (while daughters are married into other families) and carry on the family name. A cultural preference for sons is also common among many Indian Muslims.

Dr. Prabhat Jha, a lead author of the study, noted that the use of sex-selective abortions expanded throughout the country as the use of ultrasound equipment became more widespread. Typically, women from wealthier, better-educated families are more likely to undergo an ultrasound, Mr. Jha said, and researchers found that these families are far more likely to abort a girl if the firstborn is a daughter.

“This is really a phenomenon of the educated and the wealthy that we are seeing in India,” said Mr. Jha, director of the Center for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto.

Census data has already confirmed that the problem has accelerated since 2001. The 2011 census found about 7.1 million fewer girls than boys under the age of 6, compared with a gap of roughly 6 million girls a decade earlier.

The Lancet study was conducted by researchers from several partner institutions, with the United States National Institutes of Health providing some of the financing. About 250,000 births from 1990 to 2005 were examined, using data from surveys conducted by India’s National Family Health Survey, as well as census data from 1991 to 2011.

24may2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/world/asia/25india.html?_r=1&ref=health