De-gendered loos in University of Manchester

It’s the “battle of the bathroom” in Britain after the University of Manchester decided to “de-gender” its students’ union toilets.
Controversy erupted after signs of “ladies” were changed to “toilets”, while the “gents” were converted to “toilets with urinals”.

The changes are in response to an unspecified number of complaints from trans students who are uncomfortable using the men’s toilets, reports BBC News website.

A university newspaper criticised the move but the student union said it was needed to tackle transphobia.  more 

Frank McGarahan,of Barclays Wealth, while saving a couple from gang assault in UK

• News
• UK news
• Crime

• City banker dies after trying to save couple from gang assault
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Adam Bell
• The Guardian, 
• Tuesday September 30 2008
• Article history

A senior banking executive died of head injuries after he intervened in a street brawl.

Police said Frank McGarahan, 45, who was the chief operating officer , sustained a "fatal injury" early on Sunday morning after witnessing an assault in Norwich. Witnesses said the father-of-two intervened when a group of youths assaulted a young couple.

He was waiting with his one of his younger brothers and another relative when the incident occurred.

A member of Mr McGarahan's family told the Daily Mail: "They were at the back of the queue waiting quietly to go back to their hotel when they saw an assault taking place on a young man and his girlfriend by a mob of nine or 10 blokes in their early 20s. ....more

Yves Rossy flies over English Channel at a speed of 200km per hour

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Switzerland's Yves Rossy flying with a jet-propelled single wing over the Alps in Bex, Switzerland in May. Rossy crossed the English Channel in 13 minutes, averaging 200 kilometers (125 miles) per hour. By Anja Niedringhaus, AP Swiss man flies over English Channel on jet-propelled wing Posted 3h 19m ago | Comments3 | Recommend2 E-mail | Save | Print |
Enlarge By Michel Setboun, National Geographic Channel and Jetman Live via AP Rossy parachutes to the ground near Dover, England, after he completed his attempt to cross the English Channel. Rossy passed over a thin strip of land in front of South Foreland lighthouse, looped over onlookers and opened his parachute, his wings still strapped to his back. Yahoo! Buzz  Digg  Newsvine  Reddit  Facebook What's this? DOVER, England (AP) — He had nothing above him but four tanks of kerosene and nothing below him but the cold waters of the English Channel. But Yves Rossy leapt from a plane and into the record books on Friday, crossing the channel on a homemade jet-propelled wing. Rossy jumped from the plane about 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) over Calais, France, blasting across the narrow body of water and deploying his parachute over the South Foreland lighthouse, delighting onlookers who dotted Dover's famous white cliffs, cheering and waving as Rossy came into view. Backed by a gentle breeze, Rossy crossed the Channel in 13 minutes, averaging 200 kilometers (125 miles) per hour. In a final flourish, he did a figure eight as he came over England, although the wind blew him away from his planned landing spot next to the lighthouse. ...>  Mor

Science and Religion: Indian American Mathew L. Thakur wins 2008 Benedict Cassen Prize for Nuclear Medicine

Science and Religion: Indian American Mathew L. Thakur wins 2008 Benedict Cassen Prize for Nuclear Medicine

Ragpickers who saved Delhi

Ragpickers who saved Delhi
Sidharth Pandey
Monday, September 15, 2008, (New Delhi)

Without them Delhi's serial blasts could have been a lot worse. Two ragpickers who found two live bombs in dustbins at Children's Park at India Gate and near Regal Cinema in Connaught Place and alerted the police are getting Rs 50,000 each as a reward.

A 12-year-old baloon seller and two young rag-pickers are the capital's latest heroes while one of the boys is helping the police narrow down on the men who may have carried out one of the blasts, the other two prevented two bombs from exploding by alerting the police in time.

However, NGOs say that this is a bitter irony as the capital's 1 lakh street children are often at the receiving end of the law.

Connaught Place, the heart of Delhi, also home to thousands of street-children who are its eyes and ears but go unnoticed, unheard.

It's been a long walk for Javed and Sunil, both in their teens, from broken families one from Bareily the other from Madhya Pradesh.

A year ago, they ran away from their homes and came to Delhi looking for work. But all they managed to do is this risky business especially after live bombs were found in dustbins on Saturday.

"We are scared as we pick garbage and especially from dustbins it could be bomb and something may happen but what to do, it's about survival," said Mohammad Javed, ragpicker.

The two walk over five kilometers each day, looking for stuff that can be sold to scrap dealers, 40-50 rupees is all they earn, life on the streets is not easy.

"The problem is that people keep beating us up, especially if something like this happens," Javed added.

There are lakhs of children like Javed and Sunil who form an virtual invisible army which work on the streets of most Indian cities and for years NGOs have been asking the police not to treat them as a problem but as a solution.

"It is important that the police be sensitised and that they realise that we have to include these kids in society," said Sunil Gupta, Chief Executive, Chetna, NGO.

A day after the serial blasts, it's business as usual for Javed and Sunil walking the same stretch where two bombs exploded only hours ago.

Keeping off work would mean no food, the daily struggle for survival continues.

Anglican Church's Apology to Darwin

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Darwin to get apology from Anglican Church
The Asian Age Sept.15, 2008
By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
London

BRITISH NATURALIST Charles Darwin, who is famous for his theory of evolution by natural selection, will get an official apology from the Church of England on Monday. Darwin, who died in 1882, introduced the theory about evolution by natural selection in his groundbreaking book The Origin of Species, in 1859.

The Church will apologise directly to Darwin almost 150 years after he propounded his theory and more than 125 years after his death. The Rev

Dr Malcolm Brown, the Church’s director of mission and public affairs of the Archbishops’ Council, will write in the apology that will be posted as an article on the church website, "Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practise the old virtues of ‘faith seeking understanding’ and hope that makes some amends."

"But the struggle for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their own interests," according to the extracts from the apology, printed in the Mail on Sunday.

It further said, "People, and institutions, make mistakes and Christian people and Churches are no exception. When a big new idea emerges that changes the way people look at the world, it’s easy to feel that every old idea, every certainty, is under attack and then to do battle against the new insights. The Church made that mistake with Galileo’s astronomy and has since realised its mistake. Some Church people did it again in the 1860s with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. So it is important to think again about Darwin’s impact on religious thinking, then and now."

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