Monday, November 14, 2005
Perhaps mindful of the French example, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has refused to back a multicultural Australia, saying he preferred a cohesive, integrated society. Asked if he liked the word "multiculturalism", Mr Howard said: "No, not particularly. Different people have different versions of what it means. I'm in favour of drawing people from everywhere and when they come to this country I'm in favour of them becoming Australian."
Statistics New Zealand has produced a report that contrasts New Zealand to other OECD nations in 19 areas in which there is comparable social and economic data. New Zealand in the OECD shows New Zealand with comparatively low unemployment, low population density and below average per capita purchasing power parity. It has relatively high proportion of foreign-born residents, high employment and high imprisonment rate. New Zealand has the second to lowest proportion of general government spending compared to GDP.
The 2005 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom has just been published. The report, now in its seventh edition, is prepared by the Office of International Religious Freedom of the U.S. State Department. This year's edition examines 197 countries and territories. An accompanying introduction to the report noted "significant advances" regarding respect for religious freedom. For example, legal barriers to the free practice of religious faith have been removed in many countries. And governments in countries such as Russia, France and India have intervened to counter discrimination against minority religious groups. Nevertheless, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at a press conference on the report, noted that far too many governments still fail to safeguard religious freedom. "Across the globe," she said, "people are still persecuted or killed for practicing their religion or even for just being believers." The report saw the re-designation of eight "Countries of Particular Concern" -- Burma, China, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam. The secretary of state explained that these countries' governments have engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom over the past year. John Hanford III, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in the State Department, added that some of the countries of particular concern "have not been willing to engage in any meaningful way on religious matters." Burma, Iran, Eritrea and North Korea are in this group.
A growing demand for "perfect children" is leading to the elimination of unborn babies with health problems. The Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper reported Oct. 28 that the number of children born with cystic fibrosis has fallen sharply in recent years. According to research published in the Journal of Pediatrics, currently 1 in 3,608 babies born in Canada suffer from cystic fibrosis, compared with 1 in 2,714 before a genetic test for this disease existed. "Our hypothesis," Mary Corey, a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, told the Globe and Mail, "is that pregnancies are being terminated." The article also noted that testing is set to increase notably. Officials in Ontario are planning to test for 21 metabolic conditions, compared with the two screening tests it now conducts. Genetic screening is also on the rise in Britain. The London-based Telegraph newspaper reported July 11 that a method of screening embryos for hemophilia has been developed. And on Aug. 19 the Times reported that a clinic in London had been given permission by the government to screen embryos for a gene that can give rise to retinoblastoma, a form of tumors in the eye. The article noted that the permission broke new ground, because retinoblastoma is rarely fatal. In fact, 95% of cases can normally be successfully treated. In Australia, meanwhile, controversy over the use of genetic screening to eliminate babies broke out when a bioethicist argued that parents have a moral obligation to use this technology to bear "the best child possible." The Age newspaper reported June 5 on the comments made by Melbourne-born Julian Savulescu. He is now the head of Oxford University's Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics and is also an ethicist at Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute. He also argued in favor of using screening to test for desirable character traits. "I think we've got a reason for using (tests) not just to screen out diseases, but in looking at the kind of characteristics our children are likely to have," he told the Age. He said that traits such as empathy, sympathy and fair-mindedness could create more moral people.
Statistics New Zealand has produced a report that contrasts New Zealand to other OECD nations in 19 areas in which there is comparable social and economic data. New Zealand in the OECD shows New Zealand with comparatively low unemployment, low population density and below average per capita purchasing power parity. It has relatively high proportion of foreign-born residents, high employment and high imprisonment rate. New Zealand has the second to lowest proportion of general government spending compared to GDP.
The 2005 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom has just been published. The report, now in its seventh edition, is prepared by the Office of International Religious Freedom of the U.S. State Department. This year's edition examines 197 countries and territories. An accompanying introduction to the report noted "significant advances" regarding respect for religious freedom. For example, legal barriers to the free practice of religious faith have been removed in many countries. And governments in countries such as Russia, France and India have intervened to counter discrimination against minority religious groups. Nevertheless, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at a press conference on the report, noted that far too many governments still fail to safeguard religious freedom. "Across the globe," she said, "people are still persecuted or killed for practicing their religion or even for just being believers." The report saw the re-designation of eight "Countries of Particular Concern" -- Burma, China, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam. The secretary of state explained that these countries' governments have engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom over the past year. John Hanford III, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in the State Department, added that some of the countries of particular concern "have not been willing to engage in any meaningful way on religious matters." Burma, Iran, Eritrea and North Korea are in this group.
A growing demand for "perfect children" is leading to the elimination of unborn babies with health problems. The Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper reported Oct. 28 that the number of children born with cystic fibrosis has fallen sharply in recent years. According to research published in the Journal of Pediatrics, currently 1 in 3,608 babies born in Canada suffer from cystic fibrosis, compared with 1 in 2,714 before a genetic test for this disease existed. "Our hypothesis," Mary Corey, a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, told the Globe and Mail, "is that pregnancies are being terminated." The article also noted that testing is set to increase notably. Officials in Ontario are planning to test for 21 metabolic conditions, compared with the two screening tests it now conducts. Genetic screening is also on the rise in Britain. The London-based Telegraph newspaper reported July 11 that a method of screening embryos for hemophilia has been developed. And on Aug. 19 the Times reported that a clinic in London had been given permission by the government to screen embryos for a gene that can give rise to retinoblastoma, a form of tumors in the eye. The article noted that the permission broke new ground, because retinoblastoma is rarely fatal. In fact, 95% of cases can normally be successfully treated. In Australia, meanwhile, controversy over the use of genetic screening to eliminate babies broke out when a bioethicist argued that parents have a moral obligation to use this technology to bear "the best child possible." The Age newspaper reported June 5 on the comments made by Melbourne-born Julian Savulescu. He is now the head of Oxford University's Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics and is also an ethicist at Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute. He also argued in favor of using screening to test for desirable character traits. "I think we've got a reason for using (tests) not just to screen out diseases, but in looking at the kind of characteristics our children are likely to have," he told the Age. He said that traits such as empathy, sympathy and fair-mindedness could create more moral people.
