William Blake, Buddhism and Human Rights – value of praxis over ideology

• by Sajeeva Samaranayake 
• - on 09/25/2014 

[William Blake 1757-1827 demonstrated through his art and poetry how opposite views were actually relative and dependent on each other and that they were reconcilable once we overcame the mental trap of ‘abstraction’ and solidification, the act of removing something out of its context and turning it into an absolute]

William Blake, Buddhism and Human Rights – Value of Praxis Over Ideology by Thavam

Volcano in western Indonesia erupts again

Pic: AP.

By AP News Sep 25, 2014 

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A volcano in western Indonesia has sent a new, powerful burst of hot ash into the air.

National disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho says Mount Sinabung erupted for about 15 minutes Wednesday, creating an avalanche of hot clouds as far away as 2 kilometers (about a mile) from the peak.

Nugroho says the eruption of the 2,600-meter (8,530-foot) volcano in North Sumatra province didn’t cause more evacuations, and its alert status remains at the third-highest level.

More than 22,000 people were evacuated from the area after eruptions earlier this year that killed at least 16 people. Most have returned home, but about 4,700 remain in evacuation centers.

Mount Sinabung, among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, has sporadically erupted since 2010 after being dormant for 400 years.

HK Occupy Central activists issue manual for democracy sit-in

Protesters raise a placards that read “Occupy Central” at the financial Central district in Hong Kong Wednesday. Pic: AP.

By AP News Sep 25, 2014

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong democracy activists say protesters planning to blockade the city’s financial district should bring food, goggles and sleeping bags.

It’s a signal organizers are determined to go ahead with a prolonged confrontation after Beijing ruled out genuine democratic reforms.

Leaders of the Occupy Central movement did not say Thursday when the long-threatened sit-in would happen, saying timing would be announced on the weekend.

The organizers have dropped strong hints that it would take place Oct. 1, a public holiday.

They released a civil disobedience manual outlining what protesters should bring. The list included two to three days’ worth of food, goggles to protect against tear gas or pepper spray and sleeping bags.

Men should also bring plastic bottles to relieve themselves.

An Orwellian nightmare for pro-Ukrainians in rebel-held east

By Anthony Faiola September 25 at 3:30 AM

A Pro-Russian holds his rifle after the bombing of a local mine on the front line in the town of Donetsk. (Sergei Grits/AP)

DONETSK, Ukraine — Khutor and Nika move briskly on the sidewalk, but not fast enough to draw attention. They have tried to memorize the “wrong streets” — the ones where they know the pro-Russian rebels who seized this city now regularly stand guard in camouflage, AK-47s poised. But sometimes the two of them get it wrong. Like now.
An Orwellian Nightmare for Pro-Ukrainians in Rebel-held East by Thavam

North Korea calls anti-government leaflet drop 'grave provocation'

Kwon Hyo-jin for Daily NK, part of the North Korea network-Thursday 25 September 2014

Pyongyang lashed out after activists in the South launched the latest set of balloons carrying anti-regime pamphlets across the border. DailyNK reports

A defector-led group released helium balloons filled with anti-Pyongyang leaflets near the North Korean border at the weekend. Photograph: Yonhap/AFP/Getty Images

North Korea has condemned the launch of the latest batch of anti-government leaflets sent by activists across the border by balloon from South Korea, warning that it could be a reason for Pyongyang to “exit from trying to mend North-South ties”.

Uriminzokkiri, a China-based website with close links to Pyongyang,published an interview with a leading official who said that the leaflets “are considered a grave provocation” and “the evasion of responsibility South Korea has demonstrated towards this ‘anti-North balloon strategy’ is shameless to the extreme.”

If South Korea “truly wants to mend ties and improve inter-Korean relations, it must immediately halt such confrontational brotherhood tactics,” the unnamed official said.

Over the weekend the defector-led Fighters for Free North Korea group released 200,000 leaflets condemning the regime. Encased in helium-buoyed balloons, they were launched from the town of Paju, north of Seoul, with the aim of reaching citizens in the North.

In July, South Korean activists launched balloons carrying thousands ofChoco Pies across the border. The popular snack had been previously banned by Pyongyang as symbol of capitalism.

North Korea has previously lodged complaints to the South’s National Security Office and the Ministry of Unification demanding that leaflet activities be stopped. The South maintains that there is no legal basis to stop the exercises.

In the past, the North said its military considered a leaflet drop “as a war-provoking act” and that they would “mercilessly crush the source of provocation and forces behind this operation”. Pyongyang insists these are not empty threats, but activists remain unperturbed and continue to organise further drops.

The leaflets adorned with pictures of Kim Jong-un were not the first anti-DPRK materials to be floated across the border. Photograph: Yonhap/AFP/Getty Images

Responding to the Paju launch, the North rejected the South’s insistence that freedom of expression is enshrined in its National Security Law, and accused Seoul of being hypocritical: “this freedom of expression they speak of ensures that if anyone praises North Korea, they are wrongfully prosecuted for anti-state crimes and suffer indiscriminate persecution and imprisonment.”

They added that: “speaking ill of and criticising our highest leadership and system with evil bad mouthing through these consistent cross-border leaflets is the gravest act of hostility that obstructs inter-Korean relations and peace and unity in the nation”.

They also suggest that the two countries “halt all criticism and slander against each other in our first high-level inter-Korean meeting”, which was proposed by the South in August.

The North is yet to officially accept the offer. Pyongyang has said it will keep a close eye on how the South responded to it’s demands over the leaflet issue, warning that it could be a reason to “exit from trying to mend North-South ties”.

North and South Korea are still technically at war; a peace treaty was never signed to formally end the 1950 to 1953 Korean conflict andtensions remain high.

A version of this article first appeared on DailyNK

On the shores with the thousands dying to reach Europe

Turkey: caught in the horns of a Kurdish dilemma

Published on Sep 24, 2014

Turkey is struggling to deal not only with thousands of Kurdish refugees fleeing Islamic State militants in Syria, but also re-energised ambitions among Turkish Kurds for their own independent state.

THURSDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2014
More than 2,000 people, desperate to reach Europe, have died in Mediterranean waters in just the last three months. Channel 4 News meets some of the survivors as they land in Sicily.

Ahmed is one of the estimated 130,000 immigrants who have arrived in Europe since the beginning of 2014. After escaping the conflict in Gaza, he took a boat from Egypt heading towards Sicily, Italy.

Speaking to Channel 4 News Europe Editor Matt Frei as he arrived on dry land after 23 days at sea with his son, he said: "My baby and wife are dead, they were killed by the Israelis. My son Abdallah is 8 years old."

He is just one of hundreds witnessed by this programme pouring into Sicily. Most are brought to land by the Italian navy, which rescues people at sea. They are desperate to reach the relative safety of Europe, but when they reach it, their problems are far from over.

Italy in particular is struggling to cope with the influx: of the people who have arrived on European shores since the start of the year, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates an overwhelming 118,000, or 90 per cent, came to Italy. Just under 40,000 have requested political asylum there, meaning the remaining thousands have left the camps there and taken off for other countries, mostly in Northern Europe.

Already this year, more than twice as many immigrants in Europe have been registered as in the whole of 2013 - more than ever before. More than half are from Syria or Eritrea. Most get the boat from Libya to Europe, where there is an ongoing conflict - which effectively means that all are fleeing conflict.

Although they face ongoing trials in Europe, those who reach it, like Ahmed, are the lucky ones, because they survived the desperate journey.

UNHCR estimates that 2,500 people have died in Mediterranean waters since the beginning of the year - 2,200 of those in just the few months since the beginning of June.

Germany's Jewish Problem

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Germany. But is Angela Merkel doing anything about it?

German authoritiesrecorded 184 anti-Semitic incidents in June and July.

• BY BENJAMIN WEINTHAL-SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

BERLIN — With anti-Semitism on the march, Germany's politicians and opinion makers are grappling with what went wrong with the country's seven-decade-long struggle to come to terms with its past, or as they call it, Vergangenheitsbewältigung.

Germany's Jewish Problem by Thavam

VHP aim to exclude Muslims from Navratri festival

Alhewetat Issa Hamad added 4 new photos to the albumNov.,12,2012 Geneva — with Mahatma Ghandi.

November 12, 2012

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Hindu devotees carrying decorated metal pitchers perform Garba, a traditional folk dance, during the celebrations to mark the Navratri festival at Surat in Gujarat October 12, 2013.

BY RUPAM JAIN NAIR-Thu Sep 25, 2014 

(Reuters) - A prominent right-wing Hindu group in India warned Muslims and Christians on Thursday not to join in a lively Hindu religious festival this month, in the latest bid by activists to step up segregation in the multi-faith country.

Emboldened by the May election victory of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hardliners in his party and affiliated Hindu groups have been stirring up sentiment against India's religious minorities in recent months.

"We are warning Muslims and Christians that they should stay away from all our festivals. The Navratri festival is for Hindus only," Surendra Jain, spokesman for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), told Reuters.

The annual, nine-night Navratri Hindu festival began on Thursday. In many parts of the country it is marked by celebrations involving prayer, music and dance among men and women.

It is famous for being high-spirited and Christians and Muslims are known to take part. They also take part in the Holi festival.

But this year, Hindu activists plan for the first time to demand identity cards to keep non-Hindus out of festival venues. Usually in India, one can tell a person's religion by their name.

"Muslims and Christians do not pray to the Hindu mother goddess so why should they dance and enjoy nightly feasts with us?" Jain said, accusing young Muslim men of taking part in the festival to tempt Hindu girls into converting to Islam.

Members of the VHP have in the past been accused of instigating communal violence, including riots in Gujarat in 2002, when Modi was its chief minister.

At least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims.

The VHP is a radical member of a cluster of right-wing Hindu groups that includes Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Modi has distanced himself from the anti-Muslim views of some of his supporters.

In an interview with the CNN news channel last week, Modi praised the patriotism of India's Muslims and said they would not be tempted by Islamist groups such as al Qaeda.

Modi, who is observing a nine-day fast to mark Navratri, departed for the United States on Thursday, his first trip there since being denied a visa in 2005 over allegations of religious intolerance stemming from the 2002 riots.

In Modi's home state of Gujarat, a Muslim cleric this week called Navratri a "festival of demons". He was arrested for his comments, and hit and pushed by a member of the public as he was detained.

Indian Muslims Need Not Be Cynical About Modi’s Positive Comment

| by N.S.Venkataraman

( September 25, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is refreshing to read Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment that Indian Muslims will live for India and die for India. While there are pledged admirers of Mr. Modi, there also appear to be pledged critics, who have already commented as to whether Mr. Modi meant what he has said.

It remains to be seen how the Indian Muslims would view Mr. Modi’s comment and whether they would respond to his observations with enthusiasm. There is no doubt that at least some Muslims in India view Mr. Modi and his party with suspicion. Perhaps, Mr. Modi wants to reassure them that there is no need for such suspicions and misgivings about the intentions of his government.

In any case, the Muslims , whether they are moderates or extremists, have nothing to gain by disputing Mr. Modi’s observations and should use this opportunity to integrate themselves with the main stream of national life even more than what they already do now.

The fact is that the Islamic extremists in Pakistan and other parts of the world are causing embarrassment for peace loving Muslims living all over the world, by resorting to violence and terrorist activities in the name of defending Islam. Unfortunately, many governments in the world these days scrutinise the activities of Muslim citizens more closely than they should , in view of the terrorist activities of a few Muslims in some part of the world.

The number of Muslim citizens of India are more than the population of entire Pakistan which is a declared Muslim country. While some clashes have taken place in India between Muslims and others in the past, it is necessary to keep in mind that majority of Muslims are not involved in such clashes, just as the fact that majority of Hindus are also not involved. What Mr. Modi has meant by his statement was that he recognised the patriotic fervour of millions of Muslims in India and wanted to distinguish between the majority Muslims and a fraction of Muslim population who believe in terrorist activities with the objective of spreading Islamic religion. Mr. Modi’s observations are also directed at non Muslim population in India , to ask them not to view the Muslims with unnecessary suspicions. By making such observations, Mr. Modi has made it clear that his vision of India has broad national focus and he has no narrow outlook. If any of Mr. Modi’s so called supporters think that Mr. Modi has any sectarian vision , he wanted to make it clear to them that they were absolutely wrong.

It is true that there is lot of poverty amongst Muslims in the country and they need the active support of the government to improve their social and economic conditions. Muslims must make use of the right climate now sought to be created by Mr. Modi by responding positively and forging ahead to achieve greater heights in education, profession , arts and other aspects of life.

Questionable Kitchen Practices | Ramsay's Costa Del Nightmares | Channel 4

9pm Tue 23 Sep 2014

Gordon travels to Fuengirola, on the Costa del Sol, and Mayfair - a restaurant in a prime location on the busy seafront that should be raking it in, but is almost empty. The restaurant was set up 28 years ago by Londoner Pat and her husband Jack, but is stuck in a 70s time warp with staff practically asleep on the job and Jack reluctant to relinquish control to his son Jon.

Humanity Has More Mothers Than Fathers, DNA Reveals

Credit: razlomov | Shutterstock View full size image

Laura Geggel, Staff Writer   |   September 24, 2014

Mothers outnumbered fathers throughout much of human history, a new DNA analysis of people around the world shows.

The genetic findings offer evidence for polygyny, when one man has many wives, and other reproductive customs, as people migrated out of Africa.

"[Historically] more of the women were reproducing than the men," study researcher Mark Stoneking, a professor of biological anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, told Live Science in an email. 

"This often happens in human societies, because not all men are able to afford wives, or sometimes a few men will have many wives."

These practices resulted in females making a larger genetic contribution to the global population than males did, the researchers found. [5 Myths About Polyamory Debunked]

Stoneking and colleagues used a new method to scrutinize genetic variation within the male Y-chromosome. By looking at one part of the Y chromosome, they found all of the genetic variants, or slight differences in the order of DNA's "letters," within that region.

Previous studies had only looked at some of the variants, leading to unreliable data, because "you only find out about genetic variants that you already know about, and not about new genetic variants," Stoneking said.

He and his colleagues put their new technique to work on DNA samples of 623 males from 51 populations around the world, including Australian, European, and American populations. 

The new method allowed them to take the DNA samples from each male and compare the paternally inherited Y chromosome (NRY), which gets passed down from father to son, with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which mothers pass down to their children, Stoneking said.

Women likely traveled for marriages, leaving their hometowns and moving in with their husbands, the genetic analysis showed. So, females migrated more than males did, spreading their female mitochondrial DNA far and wide and reducing genetic variability between populations. Men, in contrast, tended to stay put, which resulted in their sons having distinct genes in each population.

"We found that genetic differences between populations are indeed bigger for the [male] NRY than for [female] mtDNA, but not as big as some studies previously found, so the methods used do have an impact on the results," Stoneking said.

On a regional scale, the DNA samples showed a detailed story. For example, people in East Asia and Europe have larger genetic differences for paternal than for maternal DNA, suggesting high levels of female migration. In contrast, populations in Africa, Oceania and the Americas have bigger differences for maternal DNA than for paternal DNA.

Perhaps fewer men than women reproduced among America's early colonists, the researchers said when they saw the high amount of mitochondrial DNA diversity.

The team also estimated what proportion of men and women in the historic population reproduced. After all, some men and women do not have surviving children who can pass down their genes.

For much of human history, a greater proportion of women in the population reproduced relative to men, they found. This means "that even though there may be equal numbers of males and females in a population, a larger proportion of the females than the males are reproducing," Stoneking said.

The new, precise technique may help researchers study other facets of human population genetics and gain further insights into the history of humanity's mothers and fathers, he said.

The study was published online today (Sept. 23) in the journalInvestigative Genetics.

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel and Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

New evidence of torture by Sri Lanka’s security forces

by Will Baxter 

- on 09/24/2014 

An ethnic Tamil survivor of alleged torture at the hands of Sri Lankan security forces poses for a photograph in London, October 2012. Photo by Will Baxter.

New evidence has emerged that Sri Lanka’s security forces have perpetrated acts of torture and sexual violence against ethnic Tamils as recently as last year, according to a UK-based rights group.

In a report released Wednesday, Freedom From Torture (FFT) said that its doctors have documented 40 new cases of post-war torture and sexual abuse. Victims included both men and women.

“The overwhelming majority of these cases are ethnic Tamils, and the key factor that led to their detention and torture appears to be a real, or perceived, connection to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),” the report said.

“Our doctors are seeing first-hand that targeted torture continues in Sri Lanka,” Dr Juliet Cohen, FFT’s head of doctors, said in a press release. “We are treating individuals displaying physical and psychological consequences of torture techniques that regularly include suffocation and sexual torture … [and] ‘branding’ with hot metal rods — a technique that ensures an individual can be easily identified by the authorities in the future.”

Abhi, whose name has been changed to protect her anonymity, was detained for just over a week in February 2013. She was picked up by Sri Lanka’s notorious Criminal Investigation Department and held in a “darkened room where she was stripped naked, interrogated and beaten” according to her medical report, on file with FFT. “Over the next six days she was beaten with wires, sexually assaulted, raped, asphyxiated with petrol-covered cloth and threatened with death.”

Speaking Tuesday through an FFT interpreter, Abhi talked briefly about the abuse she suffered.

“I have many scars on my body. There are cigarette burns all over my back and some on my front too,” she said. “All the time in Sri Lanka Tamil women are raped, people disappear and are murdered. It is very wrong.”

Abhi is now in the UK where she is awaiting the outcome of her asylum claim.

“In one sense it’s good that I’m here … because in Sri Lanka my life is in danger. But I’m not yet secure, and I find it very difficult to relax,” she said.

In February 2012, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a damning report containing detailed accounts of 75 cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse of Tamil men and women perpetrated by members of Sri Lanka’s army, police and pro-government paramilitary groups.

Communicating via email, HRW’s South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly said that “rapes in custody remain a serious concern” in Sri Lanka.

The tiny South Asian nation has repeatedly rejected calls for an international investigation into war crimes allegedly committed during the finals phase of its civil war. In March, the UN’s Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to carry out an inquiry into offenses committed by both the Sri Lankan government and LTTE, however President Mahinda Rajapaksa has stated that the government will not allow UN investigators to enter the country.

Susan Munroe, Chief Executive of FFT, said that the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) should “include a focus on ongoing torture” in its investigation if it is allowed to proceed.

“The forensic reports our doctors produce indicate strongly that torture is still very much part of the Sri Lankan’s government’s repression machinery almost five years after the end of conflict. This cannot be ignored,” Munroe said.

However, Sri Lanka’s cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella rejected the allegations of torture and abuse.

“This report is totally biased and [FFT] have their own agendas. They have anti-Sri Lankan elements and continue undue pressure on Sri Lanka by leveling baseless allegations,” he told ucanews.com.

Rambukwella also claimed that the “Sri Lankan government is very closely working with [the] UN” despite its refusal to allow outside investigators to enter the country.

Ganguly said that Sri Lanka’s government had “not only failed to comply” with an investigation, but had also “engaged in the intimidation of human rights activists” who were providing evidence to the OHCHR.

“Some were detained and questioned, others threatened,” she said. “This can have a chilling impact on those that wish to share their testimonies.”

“Surely, if the government has nothing to hide, it should welcome an independent investigation which will corroborate its claims?” she added.

A.E.G., a Tamil activist working in the former conflict zone who asked for his full name to be concealed, said there are “many complaints” of torture and sexual misconduct by the security forces in the Northern Province.

“The hundreds of ex-combatants live with fear after undergoing rehabilitation,” he said. “We all know we won’t get any justice from the government. But we have faith and hope in an international investigation.”

Since 2009, FFT has medically documented a total of 160 cases of individuals tortured since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended. Almost a quarter of all referrals to the organization are Sri Lankan nationals.

Of the new cases, 13 date from 2013, 10 from 2012, seven from 2011, two from 2010 and eight go back as far as 2009.

Additional reporting by ucanews.com reporter in Colombo. This story originally appeared on ucanews.com and appears on Groundviews as part of a content sharing agreement.