Gaza children stressed, desperate and in danger

PARIS — Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip has left the isolated Palestinian territory’s children stressed, desperate and in poverty, forcing some to do dangerous and deadly work, UNICEF said Tuesday.

While there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel’s blockade means there is extensive poverty, endemic unemployment and that 80 percent of Gazans are dependent on aid handouts, said UNICEF spokeswoman Catherine Weibel.

Children under 18, around half the estimated 1.5 million population of the territory controlled by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, are the most affected, the United Nations children’s agency spokeswoman told journalists.

While 90 percent of Gazan children are educated, largely thanks to UNICEF and UN Relief and Works Agency schools, poverty still obliges many to work.

They work often in “danger zones” such as smuggling tunnels running under the border from Egypt aimed at defying the Israeli blockade.

To keep working in the tunnels, which could collapse, be bombed or gassed, many youths take Tramadol painkillers, Weibel said.

Children also work as scrap collectors, scavenging for metal or other materials among the ruins in the buffer zone near the Israeli border where “Israel shoots systematically at anything that moves,” Weibel said.

“Children are wounded or killed every week,” she said, stressing the despair of adolescents who “don’t know what they will become and have the feeling that they’re cut off from the rest of the world.”

“There has been an explosion in the number of children killed on both sides of the border” since the start of the year, she said.

In 2010, 11 Palestinian children were killed and 360 wounded in the Gaza Strip and Israeli-occupied West Bank. Three Palestinian children were killed and 64 wounded in January and February.

On March 22, two Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli strike as they played football in front of their home in Gaza City.

On Sunday, an Israeli teenager who was seriously wounded in an April 7 rocket attack from Gaza died.

Pregnant mothers’ diet linked to child obesity

WELLINGTON - An expectant mother’s diet during pregnancy can alter her baby’s DNA in the womb, increasing its risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in later life, an international study has found.

Researchers said the study provided the first scientific evidence linking pregnant women’s diet to childhood obesity, with major implications for public health.

‘This a a major breakthrough because for the first time it gives us the potential to work out the optimal diet a mother should eat,’ Professor Peter Gluckman from Auckland University’s Liggins Institute told AFP.

‘That’s likely to vary slightly from mother to mother, but it could be a major tool in addressing the obesity epidemic.’

The study, conducted by scientists in Britain, New Zealand and Singapore, showed that what a mother ate during pregnancy could change the function of her child’s DNA through a process called epigenetic change.

Children with a high degree of epigenetic change were more likely to develop a metabolism that ‘lays down more fat’ and become obese, researchers found.

Such children were around three kilograms (6.6 pounds) heavier than their peers by the time they were aged six to nine, Gluckman said.

‘That’s a hell of a lot of extra weight at that age,’ he said, adding that the extra fat was likely to be carried into adulthood, raising the chances of developing diabetes and heart disease.

The researchers used umbilical cord tissue to measure the rate of epigenetic change in 300 babies, then examined whether it was linked to the children’s weight when they were aged six to nine.

‘The correlation was very strong, we didn’t believe it at first, so we replicated it again and again,’ Gluckman said.

The study found the effect was not linked to either the mother or the baby’s weight at birth, meaning a slim woman could deliver a small baby which still went on to became obese because of changes triggered by diet in the womb.

Gluckman said the rate of epigenetic change was possibly linked to a low carbohydrate diet in the first three months of pregnancy but it was too early to draw a definitive conclusion and further studies were needed.

He said one theory was that an embryo fed a diet containing few carbohydrates — which provide the body with energy — assumed it would be born into a carbohydrate-poor environment and altered its metabolism accordingly.

This meant it stored more fat, which could be used as fuel when food was scarce.

Gluckman said the study, which will be published in the journal Diabetes next week, confirmed long-held suspicions that poor prenatal nutrition could have a major impact on adult heath.

This meant health officials battling soaring obesity rates should look at policies designed to improve the health of expectant mothers, rather than simply focusing on trying to help overweight adults, he said.

‘It provides the most compelling argument yet to give greater weight to improving maternal and infant health as a means of reducing the burden of chronic disease.’

US helped Israel contain UN Gaza war probes

The United States worked behind the scenes to help Israel contain UN probes into possible war crimes committed during the 2008-2009 Gaza war, Foreign Policy reported Tuesday.

The online foreign affairs magazine cited exclusive WikiLeaks cables detailing moves by the US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice to prevent a more thorough UN investigation of alleged abuses during the conflict.

Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the three-week-long Israeli offensive in December 2008 and January 2009, which was aimed at halting Palestinian rocket attacks.

According to one cable, Rice spoke with UN chief Ban Ki-moon three times on May 4, 2009 to urge him to remove recommendations for a wider investigation from a board of inquiry report into attacks on UN sites in Gaza.

Rice ‘underscored the importance of having a strong cover letter that made clear that no further action was needed and would close out this issue,’ the US diplomatic cable said.

Ban said his staff was working with the Israeli delegation and ‘called her after the letter had been finalized to report that he believed they had arrived at a satisfactory cover letter.’

Later that year Israel and the United States pushed back against a similar effort to investigate the war by the UN Human Rights Council, which appointed a team led by the South African jurist Richard Goldstone.

The release of the Goldstone probe coincided with US efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and in another cable Rice links the two during a meeting with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.

She urges him to ‘help us help them with progress on the peace process, saying that the report can be more easily managed if there is progress.’

The Goldstone report said there was evidence that both Israel and Palestinian militant groups had committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, urging independent probes on both sides.

Two weeks ago, Goldstone stepped back from the report, saying new information about Israel’s military actions led him to believe he had erred in concluding that Israel targeted civilians during the 22-day conflict. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------विचार, व्यक्ति के व्यक्तित्व की अभिव्यक्ति होते हैं. इन्हीं से पहचान होती है. आइये! समग्र विचार मंच से जुड़कर इसका मर्म जानिए, अपने विचारों को साझा कीजिये. सदस्य बनिए और अपने विचार-प्रधान-लेखों का ई-लेखन के माध्यम से पाठकों तक पहुँचने का प्रयास कीजिये. यह मंच आपका स्वागत करता है. -प्रबंध संपादक

‘WEAR SCARF OR WE KILL YOU’, MUSLIMS TOLD WOMAN

 ISLAMIC extremists bent on imposing Sharia law have threatened women and told them to cover up their heads, it has been claimed. By Anil Dawar

                                                           
                                                          One woman was told she faced death if sh   
e failed to don the hijab, or headscarf, in east London’s Tower Hamlets.

Signs warning the area is a “gay-free zone” have also been seen while posters at bus shelters featuring models and a Bollywood film have been defaced with black paint. Incidents involving posters have also happened in Birmingham.

An Asian Whitechapel shopkeeper, who is not a practising Muslim and who dresses in western clothes, said she was told to cover up last month or face a boycott of her pharmacy. When she went to the press a man came to the shop, she said, telling her, “If you keep doing these things we will kill you”. She spoke to police last week.

The news comes after Iraqi Mohamed Al Hakim, 30, was spared jail for threatening to kill his cousin if she didn’t cover her head. He claimed Alya Al Safar, 21, had branded her family as “bitches and whores”. But firebrand Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary insisted the Muslims were only giving “advice”.

One woman claimed she was told she faced death if she failed to don the hijab

He said: “It’s ridiculous. I think the idea of threats being made has been fabricated.”

Paul Rickett, Borough Commander of Tower Hamlets, said the issue was being investigated and anyone making threats would be prosecuted.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------विचार, व्यक्ति के व्यक्तित्व की अभिव्यक्ति होते हैं. इन्हीं से पहचान होती है. आइये! समग्र विचार मंच से जुड़कर इसका मर्म जानिए, अपने विचारों को साझा कीजिये. सदस्य बनिए और अपने विचार-प्रधान-लेखों का ई-लेखन के माध्यम से पाठकों तक पहुँचने का प्रयास कीजिये. यह मंच आपका स्वागत करता है. -प्रबंध संपादक

Ramdev is a bundle of lies/Baba Hutyogi

(The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad was the first which came up with a public statement over Ramdev. An interview with National Spokesperson of the Akhara Parishad, baba Hathyogi as conducted by Dr. Manish Kumar, Ed. Co-ordination)
After all what had Ramdev done that all of you have become his sworn enemies?
No there is nothing like this. We are not his enemies. The point is that if the saints and divines get into the business of exploitation, opening industries and conducting paid meets in the name of Yoga, then what will the people think of us. Our duty has been to guide the people spiritually and not evasion of taxes. In his camps, the seats are auctioned and people are given seats in accordance with the money they dole out to Ramdev. After all this he avails of all that the government has to offer but evades taxes and then tries to project himself as clean and clear calling upon the people to get the Black money stashed in foreign banks back. After all why does he not admit that he too is the legatee of this Black Money racket?

Over a news channel I heard him saying that he used to give money to the Akhara Parishad also?
I challenge him to prove that. If he loses his claim then he will have to relinquish all his property otherwise I will do the same. This is a white lie. He is a bundle of lies. Alas, the one who made him, his guru, he did not even try to find out what happened to him. Today he is sitting on billions but where is his guru. He threw Karnveer who was the real spirit behind the establishment of the Ashram. He murdered Swami yoganand, in whose name he has acquired the pharmacy license and runs such a big business, and framed his nephew instead. How did Rajeev Dixit, who was the head of Swabhiman Trusts and an ardent yogi himself, die of a heart attack at the young age of 40?
Baba Ramdev alleged that you have nothing to do with the Akhara Parishad?
How can he even say that? I am the official spokesperson of the Parishad.
Is this infighting within all of you is based in some mutual falling out?
I do not accept money from anyone. You can go around and ask people. Ramdev is saying all this in desperation. The Reality of Ramdev is waiting to see the light of the day and that day he will cry for mercy. He will cry in the same measure as he is defrauding the unsuspicious masses in the name of Yoga and Ayurveda. Initially he did a lot to popularize Yoga and Ayurveda, but now he has become exploitative, he does not even pay his employees.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------विचार, व्यक्ति के व्यक्तित्व की अभिव्यक्ति होते हैं. इन्हीं से पहचान होती है. आइये! समग्र विचार मंच से जुड़कर इसका मर्म जानिए, अपने विचारों को साझा कीजिये. सदस्य बनिए और अपने विचार-प्रधान-लेखों का ई-लेखन के माध्यम से पाठकों तक पहुँचने का प्रयास कीजिये. यह मंच आपका स्वागत करता है. -प्रबंध संपादक