U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada to escape the war in Iraq won a symbolic victory in the House of Commons Tuesday when a majority of MPs voted that the deserters should be allowed to stay permanently in the country.
But the motion, put forward by the NDP, is non-binding on the minority Conservative government. Tory MPs voted against the motion but were outnumbered by the three opposition parties in a 137-110 vote.
“The Harper Conservatives must respect this and immediately implement this motion,” said Olivia Chow, the Toronto New Democrat who moved the motion. “Ordinary people want the Iraq war resisters to stay.”
The Toronto-based War Resisters Support Campaign estimates as many as 200 American soldiers escaped to Canada to avoid serving in Iraq.

The Saudi minister of planning and economy, in remarks published recently noted that the eighth five-year development plan (2005-9) aims to improve the situation of Saudi women by providing them with more job opportunities.

He expects the percentage of women in the Saudi work force to increase from a mere 5.4 per cent to 14.2 per cent by the end of the plan’s period.”

Of 200 employees at the municipal office, there are about 20 regular nappers who have reported feeling “fresher and brighter” after a midday snooze, says Surakiet Limcharoen, the top official who started the program.

In the meantime, what can employees do, who aren’t encouraged to nap?  Perhaps try healthy ways to wake up, or check for napping places in your city.

Once it’s approved people will no longer have to have sex-change surgery to proclaim what gender they are.

“If approved, the new rule would put New York at the forefront of efforts to redefine gender. A handful of states do not require surgery for such birth certificate changes, but in some of those cases patients are still not allowed to make the change without showing a physiological shift to the opposite gender.”

Thanks, mkb!

Protests are expected to continue into their second week, but perhaps will less ferver than before. The opposition party, Fidesz, claims that more than 50 percent of the vote will mean the current government will be ousted. Fidesz has not identified with the protestors after violent clashes last week. The protestors themselves are not aligned with any political group, and there is much dissent among the group, leading to criticism and an uncertainty about the outcome of the ballot. With protests more peaceful, the people of Hungary are looking forward to Sunday’s vote as a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Wikipedia

The founder of Wikipedia has “challenged other internet companies, including Google, to justify their claim that they could do more good than harm by co-operating with Beijing.”

“We’re really unclear why we would be [banned],’ Wales told The Observer. ‘We have internal rules about neutrality and deleting personal attacks and things like this. We’re far from being a haven for dissidents or a protest site. So our view is that the block is in error and should be removed, but we shall see.’”

The Global Day for Darfurwas originally conceived by a group of NGOs who were concerned about the international community’s slow response to the crisis in Darfur. It’s truly global: the day will see peaceful demonstrations, rallies, marches, exhibitions and concerts in cities around
the world including Abuja, Addis Ababa, Berlin, Cairo, Hong Kong, Khartoum,
Kigali, London, Melbourne, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Toronto, Paris and
Vancouver.

I know that this isn’t great news, but as far as I’m concerned, capitalism caring for people is hugely symbolic. I hope that this trend continues.

“The growth of CSR among major corporations has been spurred by a parallel development in social consciousness among investment firms. In April, the United Nations launched its new Principles for Responsible Investment, a series of guidelines on how to integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance issues into the financial industry. As of August 1, the diverse signatories to the Principles together controlled more than $5 trillion in assets. This enormous quantity of money, expected to grow as the initiative wins new adherents, will make SRI central to the practices of the financial investment industry.”