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Aboutlastnight Mon 03-Dec-12 12:40:47 |
No one remember this? Kofi Annan's resignation? May have been in a couple of newspapers? |
"International disarray over the bloody crisis in Syria has been starkly underlined when the UN envoy Kofi Annan announced that he was resigning because of the failure of what he said had become a "mission impossible". |
The former UN secretary general said it had been a "sacred duty" to take up the position five months ago to try to find a solution to the conflict. But growing militarisation and a lack of unity among world powers had changed the circumstances. |
"At a time when we need – when the Syrian people desperately need action – there continues to be finger-pointing and name-calling in the security council," Annan said on Thursday in a sometimes bitter and frustrated statement he made at the UN's Geneva headquarters. |
Annan's six-point plan for peace in Syria was already moribund but his dramatic resignation will serve as its death certificate. It leaves the international community without an effective grip on the most violent chapter of the Arab spring, now morphing into a civil war that has already cost an estimated 20,000 lives. |
Sluggish and ineffective diplomacy has been outpaced by a fast-moving and increasingly dangerous situation with the current focus on fighting for Aleppo, the country's second city. |
Ban ki-Moon, the current UN chief, said he would appoint another envoy when Annan leaves at the end of August. The White House said his resignation showed the failure of Russia and China to act at the UN security council. "President Assad, despite his promise to abide by the Kofi Annan plan, continues to brutally murder his own people," spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One. |
Saski Mon 03-Dec-12 12:35:25 |
Syria is a bloody nightmare. The civillians are pawns. How incredibly sad. |
EldritchCleavage Fri 23-Nov-12 13:12:01 |
What should the West be doing though? |
Do we want e.g. to stop Syrian civilian casualties enough to send in ground troops (whose?) and risk war with Iran, the sponsor of the Assad regime? |
CogitoErgoSometimes Fri 23-Nov-12 13:08:47 |
Because it's been going on for a long time whereas the bombardment of Gaza and Israel is far more recent. That said, the Israel/Gaza aggressive situation is always rumbling along in the background which means something drastic/visual has to take place for us to notice. Now there's a cease-fire it'll be off the front pages and something else will take its place... an atrocity in Afghanistan or Pakistan, for example. I'm sure there are plenty of individuals, organisations and even the FO working away on the Syrian problem but it's not necessarily 'news' unless it's some drastic change. |
MrsMicawber Fri 23-Nov-12 12:02:22 |
Why is it any less emotive than the Gaza/Israel conflict of last week? |
CogitoErgoSometimes Fri 23-Nov-12 08:58:20 |
It's not being 'allowed to continue' but stopping the slaughter is not a simple matter. A full-scale Iraq-style invasion is off the cards for obvious reasons. The Arab League doesn't seem to be involved. There is Western backing for the opposition as happened in Libya but certain islamist groups of rebels have rejected it. Reporting is regular.... recent article here Like all foreign wars, it's difficult for a public with no direct connection to maintain a sense of outrage. |
MrsMicawber Thu 22-Nov-12 18:16:52 |
Because no one in the west is doing anything about it. |
noddyholder Thu 22-Nov-12 17:45:54 |
I haven't seen this on news today and it sounds huge???????? |
MrsMicawber Thu 22-Nov-12 17:40:51 |
Exactly - I put this in chat precisely because no one really takes notice of how many people are dying |
RichardSimmonsTankTop Thu 22-Nov-12 17:06:57 |
I don't understand why this can't stay in chat, either. We need wider awareness of these issues - people in news naturally know and care more about what's going on in the world. |
Kind of ironic that an Op asking why nothing is being done is ignored in the busiest area of the site - and then relegated to 'In the News' - because if it's in the news we don't need to stress about right? hmm |
Op - the answer to your question is lots of Syrians will die. Lots and lots. Just like in Gaza or Sudan or Iraq or any many other places across the globe. It's bloody depressing. |
NewKateMumsnet (MNHQ) Thu 22-Nov-12 15:26:00 |
Hey everyone, |
We're just going to move this to In The News, as we think that's the best place for it. |
RichardSimmonsTankTop Thu 22-Nov-12 15:10:38 |
Devastating. I think people are bored about hearing about it. News fatigue or whatever. But there are people - civilians, children dying. We can't get complacent. |
SoleSource Thu 22-Nov-12 15:03:05 |
My GM worked in a hospital that was bombed and infront of her. |
MrsMicawber Thu 22-Nov-12 14:46:21 |
I feel like people are bored of hearing about what is happening there. |
SoleSource Thu 22-Nov-12 11:10:19 |
sadsadsad ooh no words right now sadsadsadsadsad |
MrsMicawber Thu 22-Nov-12 10:39:44 |
in Syria |
How is this allowed to continue? How many people need to die? |
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Dear Soaps, |
I'm a little confused about how the character of Carly Corinthos was introduced on General Hospital. Can you refresh my memory? — Jackie S. |
Dear Jackie, |
If you thought you had troubles with your mama, think again. When Carly first came to Port Charles in 1996, she secretly wanted to punish Bobbie Spencer, who had given Carly up at birth. Carly maneuvered herself into the good nurse's life, and promptly proceeded to steal Bobbie's then-husband, Tony Jones. Things got even more out of control when Carly got pregnant and Tony, who had been led to believe that little Michael was his son, kidnapped the baby. Fortunately, this serious standoff finally brought Carly and Bobbie together. |
Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment |
Metro 2033 review on PC: inching towards sunlight |
Metro 2033 presents a bleak world of the future, with a supernatural twist. … |
When you pull a gas mask over your head in Metro 2033, you adjust a dial on your watch to let you know how many minutes of breathable air you have left before you asphyxiate. Your flashlight has a charger that you have to manually pump to make sure you can see where you're going. Every bullet you find can be used as currency, but you're also operating in an incredibly hostile environment. Every round you fire limits your ability to buy what you need. |
In other words, you are going to have to try very hard to survive, and the game reminds you constantly of how brutal and desperate your existence is. The game takes place in Moscow, after the bombs drop. You live in a small pocket of civilization underground, but the attacks from mutants have been growing in frequency. If that wasn't enough, there is something worse in the tunnels. Something that sings beautiful songs, and then steals your mind. This is not your average first-person shooter. |
Title Metro 2033 |
Developer 4A Games |
Publisher THQ |
Price $49.99 Shop.ars |
Platform PC (reviewed), Xbox 360 |
No Russian |
We played the game with the voice acting in Russian, and English subtitles. This is the way to play, as it makes the world seem even more alien and harsh, at least to English-speaking ears. When you take a look at your clipboard to see where you to go next, your character actually holds up a binder with a compass attached. If you're in the dark, you'll have to flick your lighter to read the text. You'll be checking your watch to see how much air you have left. There is a pneumatic weapon that you have to pump to use, and there is a meter on the back that shows air pressure. Things look, and feel, like they are designed to be used in this environment. They may be ugly and nearly broken, but they'll keep your ass alive. |
Always watch your surroundings, as death comes easily, although not cheaply. There are holes in the ground you can fall into, so pay attention to where you're walking. In one scene horrid mutants sniff around your character, and may not attack. Do you kill them, or save your ammo? Trip lines are waiting in doorways, but if you see them in time and follow the cable you can disarm them by taking out the shotgun shell that would have gone into your head. Instead of dying, you just got a little richer. Glass scattered around the floor can give your position away, as will cans hanging from strings. |
You'll have to juggle all of these things when getting into gunfights with other survivors, or the mutants that live in the tunnels. Your health will recharge, but it seems to take longer than most games, and hiding while you get your strength back is a good idea if you take a few bullets. Make noise though, and your enemies will know where you are. If you're easily frustrated, this is not the game for you; as death comes often and easy. There is also no quick-save function. Checkpoints aren't terribly far apart, but playing the same section over and over can become maddening. |
The trouble is in the gun play |
Metro 2033 creates a world. It's not a pretty one, and it's certainly not attractive, but it's a world. Where the game falls apart are the guns. It's not their design, as the mixture of real firearms and hobbled together weapons fits the setting perfectly, but in how inadequate they often feel. The game's fiction explains the bullets with lower than normal gunpowder, but even with normal bullets headshots don't mean much. It can often take as many as six shots to take a character down. |
There were multiple times it seemed as if bullets had no effect, and that often happened during the animations were enemies were staggering or trying to hide. It seems as if your human opponents are able to kill you much easier than you can kill them. That's part of the charm of the game, sure, but it often feels cheap and unbalanced. |
Combine this with the lack of quick saves and checkpoints that often happen after multiple large firefights, and you may find yourself ready to quit on more than one instance. When a review plays a game, we tend to go for longer sessions than people do for pleasure, which makes problems like this more pronounced. Walking away, going to sleep, and beginning again fresh may make these issues seem less important. When you're on deadline and you continue to crash across a scene like waves on rocks? Mice may be thrown. |
The odd, but cute girl at the bookstore |
This game has its share of flaws, but if the idea of exploring a bleak version of a future Moscow appeals to you.. and you found STALKER to be just a bit much, this is worth your time. After fighting a series of hulking beasts I barely survived, only to find one of them had smashed my gas mask. While gasping for air, I began frantically searching for a replacement mask. The search was fruitless, and I had to restart from an earlier checkpoint. |
It felt great. You can't just win your firefights, you have to ensure your continued survival. There is a supernatural aspect to the game that's intensely unsettling, especially in the opening scenes. One character notes that there are new rules in this new world, and no one seems to understand what they're seeing. There is a striking sequence with a young child, and a man that seemed to have an uncanny grasp of the roads between this world and the next. The story, in other words, is much better than you may expect. |
Many may be annoyed at the shortcomings, but the same number are going to fall in love. This is a startlingly original and high-quality title with impressive graphics and sometimes subtle mood. Depending on your pace, this could easily take over ten hours to beat, and a second playthrough is not out of the question. |
If nothing else. Metro 2033 makes the mine cart level exciting again. This is a game that can leave you out of breath, encased in dread, and completely entranced. |
Verdict: Buy |
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The role of men in contraception |
Published: May 28, 2011 |
The only way to move forward in terms of family planning is to engage men in it. |
In a constitutionally Islamic country riddled with contrasts, far away from the welfare model, perpetually confused on nearly all critical issues ranging from foreign policy to population planning, infamous for low status of women and girls and their social exclusion, and characterised by the dramatic capture of power elites in politics and development fields both, one wonders — what does the male role or involvement in family planning mean to Pakistan? |
I tried to come up with a plausible definition of male involvement in family planning in 1999 after noticing its absence in the literature. It reads: |
Male involvement in Family Planning (FP) includes, an interest of men in FP issues (indicated by their knowledge about it), a positive attitude towards it (indicated by their acceptance or approval), willingness to share responsibility for it (indicated by their actual adoption) and a willingness to share the power of decision making (indicated by them being prepared to discuss it with their spouses). |
Contrary to the popular assumption, men are interested in matters of contraception. Worldwide scientific research has demonstrated that the following four reasons are most often given for involving men in reproductive health including FP: |
1) Expanding the range of contraceptive options. |
2) Supporting women’s contraceptive use. |
3) Preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections. |
4) Use the forum of reproductive health programmes to promote gender equality and the transformation of men’s and women’s social roles. |
One can argue with the effectiveness and/or legitimacy of the reasons as a justification for including men, but it remains a fact that the implications of male involvement are broader than are often noted. |
In developed countries, the efforts to involve men began as early as the late 1970s, with attempts to make women-oriented family planning clinics more inviting to men. |
In developing countries, the tendency has been to exclude men from reproductive health especially FP work, other than vasectomy or condom distribution. Ironically, condoms are mostly distributed to women in South Asia rather than to men who still find it the hard to shop for them. |
Pakistan, which is a signatory to nearly 12,000 international conventions and treaties, is also officially fully committed to the landmark International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) Goals and Targets 1994, that called for an understanding of men’s and women’s joint responsibilities, so that they could become equal partners in public and private life, and to encourage and enable men to take responsibility for their sexual and reproductive behaviour. |
Health stays in the red |
Pakistan’s Maternal and Child Health indicators remain extremely poor as 25,000 to 30,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and child birth every year. Millions more suffer ill health and disability. One million children die before the age of five while 16,000 die in the first month after birth. |
The health policy of 2009 by the Ministry of Health has clearly acknowledged that, in spite of some improvement since 1990, the health of the people of Pakistan lags far behind the rest of South Asia and the improvements have not kept up with the increasing GDP. |
The magnitude of fissures in our social development sectors makes Pakistan a model case for economic growth without development, with an under-performing health care delivery system too. Further, the socio-cultural determinants of health, such as illiteracy, unemployment, gender inequality, social exclusion, food insecurity, rapid urbanisation, environmental degradation, natural disasters and lack of access to safe water and sanitation, aggravate Pakistan’s poor health status. |
Though these problems are recognised by the public officials in health and population sectors, they are yet to be addressed through realistic budgetary allocations and people-centred policies. |
The performance indicators of the population programme, especially those in terms of strengthening family planning programmes to achieve its coverage and effectiveness and others relating to changing approach to delivering family planning services and improving the overall status of women and girls (irrespective of the lack of sharp focus on this particular dimension and adhocisms of such projects ) are dismal. |
Increasing male involvement |
Since ICPD 1994 till date, a number of public, private and voluntary sector initiatives have addressed the issue of male involvement in family planning and reproductive health in Pakistan, the sixth most populous country, and that too within the patriarchal society and bureaucratic apparatus that undoubtedly fosters gender biases at institutional level and consciously or unconsciously adheres to the theory and practice of social closures. |
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