Taliban using HIV bombs

Deadly ... needles become flying shrapnel

TALIBAN fighters are burying dirty needles with their bombs in a bid to infect British troops with HIV, The Sun can reveal.

Hypodermic syringes are hidden below the surface pointing upwards to prick bomb squad experts as they hunt for devices.

The heroin needles are feared to be contaminated with hepatitis and HIV. And if the bomb goes off, the needles become deadly flying shrapnel. 

The tactic, used in the Afghan badlands of Helmand, was exposed by Tory MP and ex-Army officer Patrick Mercer. 

 

Senior backbencher Mr Mercer said yesterday: "Are there no depths to which these people will stoop? This is the definition of a dirty war." 

Razor blades are also being used. All Royal Engineer and Royal Logistic Corps bomb search teams have been issued with protective Kevlar gloves. 

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STAFF Sergeant Kim Hughes, who cleared an entire minefield in 2009, will be awarded the George Cross by the Queen today.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/3005443/Taliban-using-HIV-bombs.html#ixzz0qN7OH55Y

STAFF Sergeant Kim Hughes, who cleared an entire minefield in 2009, will be awarded the George Cross by the Queen today.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/3005443/Taliban-using-HIV-bombs.html#ixzz0qN75DI1O

Homophobia and the case of Boy Abunda

REMOTE CONTROL | by: DANTON REMOTO

 

Ang Ladlad -- the national organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Filipinos -- wants to express its alarm over the quality of the debate and discourse regarding Mr. Boy Abunda and the alleged offer for him to become Secretary of the Department of Tourism.

Mr. Abunda -- who is a close friend and ally of the Philippine LGBT movement -- does not deserve the vilification being done to him in print, online and in conversations going on around town. President-apparent Benigno C. Aquino III allegedly wanted Mr. Abunda to be the DOT Secretary to help market the Philippines and its luxuriant tourism potentials to a global audience.

Obviously, some people whose eyes are dead-set on the position have begun to orchestrate a vile and malicious campaign against Mr. Abunda. They questioned his academic preparation, his training and even his job, calling him a "mere entertainer. " This, Mr. Abunda has ignored, letting them slide like water down his back. But when the attacks became personal -- that he is a "mere homosexual," "that where is the Philippines going -- from republication to democratic to pederasyon ng mga bading" -- it is time for Ang Ladlad to make a clear and strong statement.

Thus, in the month of June -- the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month -- Ang Ladlad would like to serve notice that debates and discourse on a person's qualifications for any job in government should be focused on the professional and not the personal. One's sexual orientation and sexual identity have nothing to do with one's qualifications for the job at hand. Those who stoop down to this level are obviously threatened by Mr. Abunda's appointment.

He has said he is inclined to decline the appointment, and pointedly added that those who want the job can now  sleep better. Thus, it is time for the gay-bashing to stop -- now, and in the future, if and when Boy Abunda would have changed his mind and accept an appointment as the first openly gay member of an Aquino Cabinet.

And we are certain that the incoming Aquino administration will give no space to homophobia in its governance standing on the strong legs of change and national renewal.

This statement was signed by our new Chairperson, Ms Bemz Benedito, and myself as the Chairman Emeritus.

Comments can be sent to danton_ph@yahoo.com

BLOGGERS bring down PRESIDENT

Newspapers and magazines went wild, with the president, head of the International Monetary Fund from 2000-4 and who was a year into his second term, accused by commentators of advocating "gunboat diplomacy."

Stung by the criticism and saying that he had been misunderstood, and to general surprise, the popular Koehler quit as Germany's head of state.

But the offending interview had initially been ignored by the mainstream media and would have been forgotten had a few eagle-eyed bloggers not picked up on what the 67-year-old had said.

But the bloggers, including 20-year-old student called Jonas Schaible who writes on http://beim-wort-genommen.de, and Stefan Graunke on www.unpolitik.de, did not believe for a moment that they were at the start of something big.

And they still don't.

"I have refused to give interviews because I don't see myself at the head of a movement, just part of a network," Graunke said on his blog on Wednesday.

"I didn't topple Horst Koehler ... And nor was it all the bloggers in Germany. To do something like that the blogosphere's influence is too small," Schaible said.

"A blogger with 1,000 readers per month topples a president? That sounds good, sure, but seriously, who believes it?"

But perhaps they are being too modest.

"It was Jonas Schaible who alerted us to Koehler's controversial comments by writing on his blog and twittering to the editorial staff. Thank you," said Kirsten Haake, a journalist on the website of the prestigious Die Zeit weekly.

Jan-Hinrik Schmidt, a media expert at Hamburg University, said that ultimately, it wasn't the Internet that brought down the president.

"But what is interesting is the exchange between blogs and established media, showing that a forgotten issue can come back, and that journalists' mistakes ... can be rectified," Schmidt told AFP.

"The blogosphere has become part of public opinion."

Blogs are increasing in importance, "not because they want to to challenge established media, but because classic journalism is less and less capable of achieving its mission alone," Graunke said.

"It's just that with more eyes, we see better."AFP

Tabatsoy Arnold Clavio berates Smoking Noynoy

June 3, 2010 Abante Issue, Arnold A. Clavio write: Simple lang, Noy!

“Kung ayaw mo! Huwag mo!! Yan naman ang dapat ipukol pabalik sa nagmamaktol na susunod na pangulo ng bansa na si Sen. Noynoy Aquino 111 kaugnay ng isyu ng pagtigil niya sa paninigarilyo. Hayaan na natin siyang mamaho habang kausap nya ang ilang foreign dignitaries.

Pabayaan na nating dumumi ang kanyang ngipin o ang malala ay dapuan siya ng kanser sa lalamunan, sa dila, sa ngalangala, sa gilagid, sa baga at kung saan pa. Kung hinde nya mahal ang 13mil na mahigit na Pilipinong bumoto sa knya, bahala ka na! Kung hinde nya mahal ang 90 mil populasyon n mga kababayan niya, bahala na rin sya! Ngayon mag-isip siya bilang pangulo. nangungunang dahilan ng kamatayan ng bawat Pilipino ang painigarilyo at mga kumplikasyong dulot nto. Kung wala kang pakialam doon, nasan ang iyong pagkalinga?

Maging sa mga taong nakapaligid sa iyo na hinde naninigarilyo pero kailangan tiisin na malanghap ang usok na ibnubuga mo, Konsensya mo at pananagutan anumang sakit ang kumapit sa kanya!  Hindi naman sinabing agad agad ay tumigil ka! Hinde naman kami tanga para ipilit iyon. Ayon sa batas, bawat government office ay smoke free. Mahirap bang maunawaan na sa loob ng palasyo ng Malakanyang bawal ang manigarilyo?                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Simpleng bagay lang katulad ng BISYO ng paninigarilyo, sumusuko na agad? Papaano pa ang mas malalim na mga usapain tulad ng lupain sa Luisita? Isang iritableng pangulo din ang haharap sa atin.

Natatandaan ko ng mangako si dating Pres. Joseph Estrada na titigil na sya sa pag inom. alam ng marami na mahirap tuparin yun. Pero gumawa sya ng paraan para maging disente sa mata ng publiko dahil isa n syang pangulo. Ang kanyang GINAWA? sa isang tasa ng kape niya nilalagay ang paborito nyang brandy!

Tsk! Tsk! tsk! Kung wala kang pagpapahalaga sa sarili mong kalusugan, papaano mo mapapangalagaan ang kalusugan ng iba?

Lord kayo na po ang bahala…”

MY TAKE: Si Arnold Clavio ng GMA 7, pinoproblema niya ang health ni Noynoy, para ba namang di siya overweight at kailangan din niyang mag ingat. Bakit si Ramos dati, di naman siya nagmaktol? Para ba naman siyang bulag at nagka amnesia na si Erap ay lasenggo during his presidency. Di na lang natin problemahin yan, ang importante mabibigyan niya ng hustisya ang pagiging bachelor president. Huling hirit na iyan Clavio ha?

HIV among gay, bisexual men at alarming highs in Asia

HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men has hit alarming levels in Asia and most of them do not have access to services and care due to punitive laws which drive them underground, a U.N.-backed report said on Monday.

The situation may worsen if countries fail to reverse laws that criminalise sex between adult males and cross-dressing, and selectively prosecute gay and bisexual men using public order and prostitution offences, it added.

"Nineteen of 48 countries in the Asia Pacific region criminalise male-to-male sex, and these laws often take on the force of vigilantism, often leading to abuse and human rights violations," according to the report.

"Even where there are no specific offences for male-to-male sex, MSM (men who have sex with men) and transgender people are subject to police abuses and are targeted by police for other offences relating to public order, vagrancy, prostitution and obscenity."

Put together by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCPM) and the University of Hong Kong's Center for Comparative and Public Law, the report said HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men has been rising in many Asian countries.

For example, HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men in Bangkok was now 30.8 percent compared to 1.4 percent in the adult population in Thailand. In Yangon, the figure was 29.3 percent versus 0.7 percent in Myanmar; while in Mumbai, it was 17 percent versus 0.36 percent in all of India.

Over 90 percent of gay and bisexual men in Asia do not have access to HIV prevention and care services, the report said. It cited examples of repressive laws or lack of anti-discrimination laws preventing these men from getting the help they needed.

These include HIV prevention services being interrupted by police harassment of outreach workers, many of whom are MSM or transgender peer educators. Condoms and lubricants are also confiscated by police as evidence of sex work or of illegal male-to-male sex.

The report urged for the repeal of laws that criminalise sex between men and the enactment of anti-discrimination laws.

"The effectiveness of the HIV response will depend not just on the sustained scale up of HIV prevention, treatment and care, but on whether the legal and social environment support or hinder programmes for those who are most vulnerable" said Mandeep Dhaliwal, UNDP Cluster Leader on Human Rights, Gender & Sexual Diversity. 

Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn, Reuters