Friday, August 19, 2005
New Zealand could be faced with tough new anti-terror laws as officials eye crackdowns in Britain and Australia. The country's top counter-terror policeman, Assistant Commissioner Jon White, said new security laws planned overseas were being monitored, with the tolerance for people who incite terror winding back since last month's London bombings. He said New Zealanders may need to debate at some stage the balance between lost personal freedoms and a more secure nation.
The Police Commissioner's Office has confirmed that smacking your child will be assault if S59 is repealed. A member of the Commissioner's staff has told Craig Smith, National Director of Family Integrity, that if section 59 is repealed in its entirety parents would not be authorised to use reasonable force by way of correction. Having said this, I am advised that parents would still be authorised to use force to prevent harm to their children. For example, if a parent stopped their child from running out onto a busy road or stopped their child from climbing over a balcony on a building. However, smacking of a child by way of corrective action would be an assault. I am advised that the Police in investigating such cases, as is the case with all assault investigations, would consider the amount of force used in the circumstances before making a decision about whether a prosecution is required in the public interest. An aggravating factor in any such decision may be the fact that a child is generally more vulnerable than an adult.
New Zealand's current skills shortage could be eased by retaining people in the labour market past retirement, says Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Judy McGregor. She said many employees aged 65 and older would stay on at work with the right encouragement, but some employers would have to change their thinking and overcome negative stereotypes about the value of mature workers.
IBM New Zealand seems to be setting a good example. It is developing an "intergenerational diversity strategy" to help retain older workers as they come up to, and pass, retirement age. The strategy is part of how the company intends to deal with the labour shortages widely predicted to be inevitable as the growth in the working-age population slows and, by 2022, begins to decline. The company believes the best way to meet the looming skills shortage is to stay connected with older workers.
Schools have been facing challenges over what should be in the library as long as there have been libraries, but recent changes in the world of children's literature and our society have focused the debates on matters of teen sexuality. A recent MSNBC story regarding adolescent reading material describes growing parental concern over the explicit nature of books aimed at young teens. Correspondent Janet Shamlian reports on some recent hot-selling teen titles: "In 'Claiming Georgia Tate,' a father has sex with his daughter. In 'Rainbow Party,' teens make plans for an oral sex party. And in 'Teach Me,' out next week and seemingly ripped from the day's headlines, there's a student-teacher affair." Perhaps the mother of all disputes over school reading material is in Fayetteville, Ark. Laurie Taylor, mother of two school-age children, recently found numerous volumes of fiction that vividly described sexual acts of all sorts. "Doing It" features teacher-pupil sex, "Rainbow Boys" describes adult-teen unprotected sex, and "Choke," uncovering the world of sexaholics, was graphic enough to have portions excerpted in Playboy. Perhaps the worst find was "Push" by author Sapphire. Filled with graphic sex, perhaps the low point is the lead character's description of sex with an infant.
Values will be taught as part of the NZ school curriculum to fill a void left by those parents not instilling them in their children at home. As part of an Education Ministry review, a comprehensive list of values to be taught in schools has been put together, the Dominion Post newspaper reported.
UK Couples could choose the sex of their children to balance their families under a radical overhaul of fertility laws being considered by the Government. Families with a number of sons or daughters may get the right to select an embryo of the opposite sex in the first review of assisted reproduction for 15 years, ministers said yesterday. The dramatic reversal by the Government has reignited controversy over sex selection. Critics fear that sons may be favoured over daughters and predict that the move will make it harder to prevent the selection of traits such as looks or intelligence, should the technology become available.
Organised religion is in near-terminal decline in Britain because parents have only a 50-50 chance of passing on belief to their offspring, a study claimed yesterday. By contrast, parents without faith are successful in producing a new generation of non-believers, it said. The generational decline is too advanced to reverse, the report suggested, as the proportion of people who believe in God is declining faster than church attendance.
After a daylong passionate debate, the national assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America narrowly rejected a proposal to allow homosexual men and lesbians in committed relationships to be ordained as members of the clergy. In an indication of the deep split over homosexuality in the church, which with five million members is the nation's largest Lutheran denomination, the vote on homosexual clergy members at the church's assembly in Orlando, Fla., divided almost evenly, with 49 percent in favor to 51 percent opposed. To pass, the measure required a two-thirds majority.
Tang Chunfeng, the former commercial counselor for the Chinese Embassy in Japan, has warned that a war could break out between China and Japan this year. The remark followed on the heels of Chinese General Zhu Chenghu’s speech on the use of nuclear weapons against the United States. Former Beijing University professor Yuan Hongbing said that Tang’s speech proves again that the CCP’s turn toward fascism presents the most urgent danger for humankind. The danger is no less than before World War II. Earlier this year, there were large-scale anti-Japanese parades in many places throughout China.
There have to be some benefits to living in Iraq. The International Monetary Fund says Iraqi drivers currently pay an average of 5 cents a gallon for gasoline. The low cost is due in large part to generous pre-war government subsidies on petrolium products that remain in place today.
Two studies into whether playing video games breeds violence have come out with totally different conclusions. The first study, released last week by a speech-communication professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said "robust exposure to a highly violent video game" did not prompt players to project violent tendencies into real life. The other, published Wednesday by the American Psychological Association, comes to the opposite conclusion. "Research indicates exposure to violence in video games increases aggressive thoughts, aggressive behavior and angry feelings among youth, the association said in a statement issued Wednesday. In addition, the APA statement said, this exposure reduces helpful behavior and increases physiological arousal in children and adolescents. ... 'Showing violent acts without consequences teaches youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict. Whereas, seeing pain and suffering as a consequence can inhibit aggressive behavior,' psychologist Elizabeth Carll, co-chair of the APA Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media, said in a statement."
A nasty new Internet worm is taking advantage of a five-day-old flaw in most recent versions of Windows. This is the same flaw Security Fix warned readers to hurry up and patch using an update Microsoft released on Tuesday. The worm, dubbed Zotob, is based on the well-documented Mytob family of worms, most of which were designed to turn infected computers into "zombies" that attackers can use to send spam, install spyware, attack others online and harvest the victim's personal information.
The Police Commissioner's Office has confirmed that smacking your child will be assault if S59 is repealed. A member of the Commissioner's staff has told Craig Smith, National Director of Family Integrity, that if section 59 is repealed in its entirety parents would not be authorised to use reasonable force by way of correction. Having said this, I am advised that parents would still be authorised to use force to prevent harm to their children. For example, if a parent stopped their child from running out onto a busy road or stopped their child from climbing over a balcony on a building. However, smacking of a child by way of corrective action would be an assault. I am advised that the Police in investigating such cases, as is the case with all assault investigations, would consider the amount of force used in the circumstances before making a decision about whether a prosecution is required in the public interest. An aggravating factor in any such decision may be the fact that a child is generally more vulnerable than an adult.
New Zealand's current skills shortage could be eased by retaining people in the labour market past retirement, says Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Judy McGregor. She said many employees aged 65 and older would stay on at work with the right encouragement, but some employers would have to change their thinking and overcome negative stereotypes about the value of mature workers.
IBM New Zealand seems to be setting a good example. It is developing an "intergenerational diversity strategy" to help retain older workers as they come up to, and pass, retirement age. The strategy is part of how the company intends to deal with the labour shortages widely predicted to be inevitable as the growth in the working-age population slows and, by 2022, begins to decline. The company believes the best way to meet the looming skills shortage is to stay connected with older workers.
Schools have been facing challenges over what should be in the library as long as there have been libraries, but recent changes in the world of children's literature and our society have focused the debates on matters of teen sexuality. A recent MSNBC story regarding adolescent reading material describes growing parental concern over the explicit nature of books aimed at young teens. Correspondent Janet Shamlian reports on some recent hot-selling teen titles: "In 'Claiming Georgia Tate,' a father has sex with his daughter. In 'Rainbow Party,' teens make plans for an oral sex party. And in 'Teach Me,' out next week and seemingly ripped from the day's headlines, there's a student-teacher affair." Perhaps the mother of all disputes over school reading material is in Fayetteville, Ark. Laurie Taylor, mother of two school-age children, recently found numerous volumes of fiction that vividly described sexual acts of all sorts. "Doing It" features teacher-pupil sex, "Rainbow Boys" describes adult-teen unprotected sex, and "Choke," uncovering the world of sexaholics, was graphic enough to have portions excerpted in Playboy. Perhaps the worst find was "Push" by author Sapphire. Filled with graphic sex, perhaps the low point is the lead character's description of sex with an infant.
Values will be taught as part of the NZ school curriculum to fill a void left by those parents not instilling them in their children at home. As part of an Education Ministry review, a comprehensive list of values to be taught in schools has been put together, the Dominion Post newspaper reported.
UK Couples could choose the sex of their children to balance their families under a radical overhaul of fertility laws being considered by the Government. Families with a number of sons or daughters may get the right to select an embryo of the opposite sex in the first review of assisted reproduction for 15 years, ministers said yesterday. The dramatic reversal by the Government has reignited controversy over sex selection. Critics fear that sons may be favoured over daughters and predict that the move will make it harder to prevent the selection of traits such as looks or intelligence, should the technology become available.
Organised religion is in near-terminal decline in Britain because parents have only a 50-50 chance of passing on belief to their offspring, a study claimed yesterday. By contrast, parents without faith are successful in producing a new generation of non-believers, it said. The generational decline is too advanced to reverse, the report suggested, as the proportion of people who believe in God is declining faster than church attendance.
After a daylong passionate debate, the national assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America narrowly rejected a proposal to allow homosexual men and lesbians in committed relationships to be ordained as members of the clergy. In an indication of the deep split over homosexuality in the church, which with five million members is the nation's largest Lutheran denomination, the vote on homosexual clergy members at the church's assembly in Orlando, Fla., divided almost evenly, with 49 percent in favor to 51 percent opposed. To pass, the measure required a two-thirds majority.
Tang Chunfeng, the former commercial counselor for the Chinese Embassy in Japan, has warned that a war could break out between China and Japan this year. The remark followed on the heels of Chinese General Zhu Chenghu’s speech on the use of nuclear weapons against the United States. Former Beijing University professor Yuan Hongbing said that Tang’s speech proves again that the CCP’s turn toward fascism presents the most urgent danger for humankind. The danger is no less than before World War II. Earlier this year, there were large-scale anti-Japanese parades in many places throughout China.
There have to be some benefits to living in Iraq. The International Monetary Fund says Iraqi drivers currently pay an average of 5 cents a gallon for gasoline. The low cost is due in large part to generous pre-war government subsidies on petrolium products that remain in place today.
Two studies into whether playing video games breeds violence have come out with totally different conclusions. The first study, released last week by a speech-communication professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said "robust exposure to a highly violent video game" did not prompt players to project violent tendencies into real life. The other, published Wednesday by the American Psychological Association, comes to the opposite conclusion. "Research indicates exposure to violence in video games increases aggressive thoughts, aggressive behavior and angry feelings among youth, the association said in a statement issued Wednesday. In addition, the APA statement said, this exposure reduces helpful behavior and increases physiological arousal in children and adolescents. ... 'Showing violent acts without consequences teaches youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict. Whereas, seeing pain and suffering as a consequence can inhibit aggressive behavior,' psychologist Elizabeth Carll, co-chair of the APA Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media, said in a statement."
A nasty new Internet worm is taking advantage of a five-day-old flaw in most recent versions of Windows. This is the same flaw Security Fix warned readers to hurry up and patch using an update Microsoft released on Tuesday. The worm, dubbed Zotob, is based on the well-documented Mytob family of worms, most of which were designed to turn infected computers into "zombies" that attackers can use to send spam, install spyware, attack others online and harvest the victim's personal information.
