The lower house of French Parliament has passed a bill that make it illegal to pay for sex. It will become a law when upper house also approves it. A person who is caught paying for sex will have to pay a fine of 1700$. Repeat offenders will have to pay 4270$.
Finally it happened. Age old discriminatory practice of women being prohibited from entering the core area of Shani temple in Maharashtra in India ended today as activists were allowed to offer worship close to the deity.
Bhumata Brigade chief Trupti Desai offering prayer at the Shani Shingnapur temple after the gates were opened for women, in Ahmednagar on Friday, April 8, 2016. (PTI)
The other day one of my atheist friend called me. The conversation went on like this.
Friend: “Doctor, I want you to take care of my son. I am bringing him to your hospital.”
Me: “Hey wait, that may not be a good move. Your city has much better facilities than mine. What happened ?”
Friend: “My son is admitted here for last 3 days with Dengue fever. He is not getting better. I feel the doctors here do not know their job. They are asking me to pray for his recovery. Any one who has studied science should know prayers are useless.”
The World Health Organization has confirmed that the available scientific evidence is strong enough to arrive at a consensus that Zika virus infection is indeed the cause for the recent increase in number of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome and foetal microcephaly.
Guillain-Barre syndrome produces acute, usually ascending, flaccid paralysis of muscles and can be life threatening when it affects respiratory muscles, though most recover with prompt treatment.
Today, April 7, is the World health day and this year the World Health Organization is focussing on Diabetes. “Beat Diabetes” is the slogan and WHO aim is to increase the awareness on prevention and treatment of Diabetes throughout the world.
Sadly the first news that I heard on this day was that of the demise of a 25 years old man in Kattappana in Kerala, India due to this disease. Unfortunately it is the lack of awareness in how to go about treating his Diabetes that resulted in this unnecessary loss of life.
I am also scared, Sir, scared of getting killed. But what else can I do? It’s better to die rather than living by keeping my head down.
Though more and more countries are abandoning this barbaric method of punishment, it is shocking to know that in 2015 a record number of people were killed by judicial executions throughout the World.
According to Amnesty International at least 1634 persons were killed by judiciary in 2015, a figure which excludes China. It is believed that China executes maximum number of people but no data is available publicly. The sharpest rise in execution was in Pakistan were a moratorium on death penalty was lifted last year following the Islamist terror attack in a school.
You might have watched umpteen times couples sitting and chatting in a public park. You might have done it many times too. Have you, in your wildest dreams, ever thought you might be hauled up to the police station as a criminal for that, booked for it and summoned to attend court?
An epidemic of yellow fever is causing havoc in Angola. It has infected around 500 people and killed 198. There is no specific treatment for the disease. Prevention by mass vaccination is the best method to prevent mortality and morbidity. The vaccine gives almost life long immunity. It is cheap too , but there is a huge shortage of it. It seems another 1.5 million doses are required in Angola alone. There is also a fear that the disease may spread to other areas including populous regions in Asia where the vector, Aedes aegypti are abundant. Such a spread can be lethal as there will not be enough vaccines.
This documentary film shows public beheadings, floggings, mindless violence on women and clamp down on any one showing mildest dissent against the regime.
No, this is not about ISIS. Not about North Korea or Iran.