Thursday, July 8, 2010

News Briefs

INDIA, July 7:  Hindustan Times: ART in India Could Lead to Child Abuse
Single men, women and even gays and lesbians could soon get the legal sanction to have children using surrogate mothers. The draft Bill legalising surrogacy in India — the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) [Regulation] Bill 2010 — has provided for single parenthood by allowing “unmarried couples” and “single persons” from India and abroad to have children using ART procedure and surrogate mothers.The Bill, with potential to rewrite the social landscape, may be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament if the Union Cabinet clears it.

“Along with the term single persons, the path is open for gays and lesbians to use ART procedure,” said senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan, who played a crucial role in drafting the Bill along with his colleagues at Public Interest Legal Support and Research Centre. “The expression ‘unmarried couples’ generally suggests heterosexual relationships. But its interpretation has been left open.”

NEW YORK, July 7: The New York Daily News: CNN fires Octavia Nasr for Twitter post
Less than 140 characters cost CNN's Octavia Nasr her job after she tweeted her "respect" for a terror-loving Hezbollah sheikh who died over the weekend.

Nasr, CNN's Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, ran into hot water after she posted on Twitter that she was "sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah... One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot."
 
HAVANA, July 7: Al Jezeera:  Cuba to Free 52 Dissidents
Cuba's Catholic church has said that the Cuban government will free 52 political prisoners in a major concession to international pressure to improve its human rights.

The church said in a statement on Wednesday that five of the prisoners would be released later during the day and allowed to go to Spain, while the remaining 47 would be freed over the next few months.

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