Indian media criticise Irish abortion laws
The Halappanavar and Yalgi families are heartbroken after Savita, wife of Praveen Halappanavar, died at the University Hospital Galway in Ireland on October 28 because abortion is illegal in Ireland, a Catholic country.
They are not contemplating legal action against the hospital or its staff but want to make common cause with all the social activists and organisations in Ireland who have launched a massive campaign demanding justice and modification of the Irish laws on abortion.
“I am returning to Galway and will continue to keep the pressure on the Irish government with the support of social groups there to modify the law so that no other woman dies because of a religious law,” Praveen Halappanavar said here on Thursday.
The Government of India will also be pressured to prevail upon the Irish government to amend the law to legitimise termination of pregnancy if the life of the mother is at risk, he said.
The ministry of external affairs in India has expressed its concern over the death of Savita Halappanavar at Galway University Hospital last month, describing it a “terrible tragedy”.
Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for the ministry, said: “We deeply regret the tragic death of M/s Halappanavar. The death of an Indian national in such circumstances is a matter of concern.
M/s Halappanavar’s death has led news programmes, newspapers and discussion programmes across her native India, some of it including hostile references to Ireland.
Her parents, father Andanappa Yalagi and mother A Mahadevi, have been widely interviewed voicing harsh criticism of the care their only daughter and youngest child received in Ireland. M/s Mahadevi told several Indian television stations on Wednesday: “In an attempt to save a four-month-old foetus they killed my 31-year-old daughter. How is that fair, you tell me? How many more cases will there be? The rules should be changed as per the requirement of Hindus. We are Hindus, not Christians,” she said.
Ireland’s ambassador to India is meanwhile attempting to ease concerns in the country over M/s Halappanavar’s death.
Feilim McLaughlin is briefing government and opposition figures in New Delhi. Officials in diplomatic circles in Dublin said meetings were planned with politicians of all creeds in an effort to indicate the exact position on abortion in Ireland “in light of strong headlines”.
An editorial yesterday in the widely respected broadsheet Times of India said: “The debate in the western world on abortion is often portrayed as one between the “pro-life” and “pro-choice” camps.
“As this case should illustrate to those who view an anti-abortion position as pro-life, that can often be a dangerously misplaced notion.
“In this specific case, it appears clear that the yet-to-be-born child’s life was doomed whether or not an abortion had taken place. The mother’s life, on the other hand, could have been saved had the abortion been done. The ban on abortion therefore ended up taking a life that need not have been lost. How does that square with viewing the ban as pro-life?”
The Irish Embassy in New Delhi has expressed its “profound condolences” to M/s Halappanavar’s husband, Praveen, and her family.
Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) to sell John Gilligan equestrian centre
As family fails in last-ditch appeal
John Gilligan’s equestrian centre above was seized 16 years ago by the CAB.
The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) is to sell the large equestrian centre acquired by jailed drug dealer and gang leader John Gilligan after the failure of a last-ditch legal challenge to the disposal of the asset.
The Jessbrook arena, near Enfield, Co Meath, has been at the centre of a legal battle between the State and the Gilligan family since the establishment of Cab in 1997 after the 1996 murder of Veronica Guerin.
The property and surrounding lands were first frozen by the courts more than 15 years ago. It increased hugely in value during the boom and crashed again as the recession hit.
The once international standard show jumping arena was used in recent years to store E-voting machines that were acquired by the Fianna Fáil-led coalition but never used. The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Gilligan’s wife, Geraldine, and his adult children, Treacy and Darren, that sought to block the disposal of the assets.
As well as the 3,500-seat equestrian centre now for sale, Cab can also sell 90 acres of land it is set in, as well as 30 stables in two blocks at the site and an apartment.
The Supreme Court ruling also provides for the sale of a house at Weston Green in Lucan, where Darren Gilligan has resided.
€2m market value
The properties have an estimated market value of about €2 million. However, Garda sources said Gilligan has substantial sums that have been hidden beyond the reach of the State. Some sources believe he has “tens of millions” hidden, probably offshore. He is due for release next August.
Although he does not own the assets now being sold, the courts have ruled they were funded or part-funded with the proceeds of crime.
A house at the Jessbrook centre and about two acres beside it are still the subject of a legal challenge from members of the Gilligan family, and are not being sold.
Another house at Willsbrook in Lucan and a property at Corduff are also still at the centre of a legal battle and are not being disposed of.
While the period from the seizure to the disposal of any asset should take no longer than seven years under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the case involving Jessbrook and the other assets now being sold was delayed because of legal challenges.
Gilligan is now 60 and has been in prison for the past 16 years, having been in jail on remand for five years before he was eventually put on trial.
A native of Ballyfermot, Dublin, he was cleared in 2001 of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996.
He was convicted by the Special Criminal Court in March 2001 of 11 offences of unlawfully importing cannabis resin into the State on various dates between July 1st, 1994, and October 6th, 1996, and unlawful possession of cannabis resin for sale or supply on the same dates.
Sentenced reduced, Gilligan sentence was originally sentenced to 28 years in prison for the drugs offences, but this was reduced on appeal to 20 years.
He was also convicted in June 2002 of threatening to kill two prison officers in March 2001 and was given a two-year prison sentence to run consecutively after the 20-year sentence.
He was later convicted of further charges relating to the possession of mobile phones.
If he had not been convicted of the additional offences he would already be out of prison. He is due for release from Portlaoise prison next August.
Ireland’s healthy exports keep our Economy afloat
Ireland. It built an educated, affordable workforce, lowered taxes to lure investment, prospered, and in a move that inspired national pride, adopted the euro.
Then it all unravelled. Irish banks started to back one wild real estate development after another. Those ventures flopped in 2008. The loans went sour, and the Irish government had to rescue the banking industry. Ireland needed a bailout itself in 2010, requesting €67.5 billion ($85.7 billion) from the International Monetary Fund and members of the euro area. Taking the money meant accepting austerity: The government has cut expenditures by 15 percent over three years, consumer spending has dropped for six straight quarters, and young Irish by the thousands have emigrated to Australia and elsewhere.
Ireland has benefited from one development in this painful episode. The euro has weakened considerably, dropping 9 percent against the dollar and 7 percent against the British pound during the past year. Ireland’s main trading partners are Britain and the U.S., and with these countries the weaker euro makes its exports cheaper and is nudging the country out of recession. Says John Whelan, chief executive officer of the Irish Exporters Association: “There is room for the euro to weaken further, which would be a tremendous competitive boost for us.”
The exporters benefiting from the weak euro are a varied lot. There’s Glanbia (GLB), one of the biggest dairy products companies in Europe, with revenues approaching €2.7 billion. The Kilkenny-based company makes 70 percent of its sales outside Ireland. If you’ve ordered pizza in Europe, you may have eaten Glanbia’s mozzarella.
Likewise if you’ve recently had a grilled American cheese sandwich in the U.S., it may have had Irish roots. Glanbia said on Nov. 7 that the drop of the euro against the dollar will help lift earnings this year by about 18 percent. Then there’s conglomerate DCC (DCC), which has revenues of about €11 billion. It’s based in Dublin but sells fuel across the U.K. It announced on Nov. 6 that the euro’s slide against sterling will boost full-year earnings by about 5 percentage points.
The multinationals that set up European headquarters in Ireland came for the 12.5 percent corporate tax rate, one of the lowest in Europe. They have also benefited from the weak euro, which lowers wage costs for American and British companies. U.S. multinationals in Ireland, which include Google (GOOG), Pfizer (PFE), Boston Scientific (BSX), PayPal (EBAY), and Apple (AAPL), employ about 120,000 workers there, and U.S. companies exported more than €100 billion in goods and services from Ireland last year.
Irish exports to countries outside the euro region amount to 65 percent of gross domestic product, compared with 23 percent on average for the euro area, according to the Irish Business and Employers Confederation. The Irish Exporters Association just raised its forecast for exports in 2012 to 6 percent growth, from less than 3 percent, saying revenue from outside Ireland will reach a record €183 billion this year.
It will be tougher next year. On Nov. 14, Ireland’s Finance Ministry said the weaker global economy would hurt exports in 2013. But Irish exporters have already survived plenty. “The difference between Ireland and elsewhere is we have a vibrant export sector,” says Alan McQuaid, an economist at Merrion Capital in Dublin. “It’ll be tough, and there are big risks out there, but I think we’ll avoid a second bailout.”
Michelle Gildernew N.Irl MP fighting twenty years of a depression battle
Northern Ireland MP Michelle Gildernew has battled with bouts of depression for 20 years, she has revealed.
Some days the former Stormont agriculture minister fromNorthern Ireland had difficulty getting dressed and going out the door, she said.
The married mother of three from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, held down high pressure responsibilities at home and in the workplace as Sinn Fein’s Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP but broke her leg at the start of this year and was left feeling isolated.
She hit a new low after she was asked to give up her seat at the assembly, where she chaired the health committee, and said leaving was like a wake.
But her problems started two decades ago when bereavement and injury left her vulnerable.
“It took all your energy to get dressed and get out the door,” she said.
She was asked to forfeit her Stormont seat as part of Sinn Fein’s commitment to ending dual political mandates. Sinn Fein MPs do not attend Westminster debates but carry out constituency work.
She said: “You try to put your best face on you. There were times when I had to muster up the strength to go and see a constituent, go to a meeting, because that was what was expected of you.”
She added: “In the middle of it all you were dealing with other people’s problems as well as your own. There were many days I didn’t feel like going out the door.”
Mrs Gildernew, 42, broke down in tears during her interview with the Impartial Reporter newspaper.
She first experienced bouts of depression 20 years ago after breaking her ankle playing football and when her beloved grandmother died. She added the injury had cost her independence.
She said: “One day you could jump in the car and go wherever you wanted and the next day you are relying on someone else to take you.”
She recalled being tearful, emotional, and irritable & also very tired.
“Every day was a struggle, every day. You didn’t know if you had the energy to get through the day,” she added.
She said her family forced her to get out of bed.
It was only when she spoke to a friend who also suffered from depression that she realised she needed medical help.
Her mental health problems resurfaced recently and she was left feeling really low.
She said: “I needed to be needed. Sometimes you just need to say ‘I am going to stay at home and make buns with my children’ and that is what I did.”
She broke her leg in January this year and left the assembly last summer.
“Our last day was really tough, it was like a wake; people were calling in from other parties, my own staff members. You could not take two steps without someone saying ‘We will be sorry to see you go’. It definitely was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster,” she added.
She said she would miss the routine of Stormont, which had been part of her life for 14 years.
Mrs Gildernew said the community needed to help end the stigma of mental health problems.
“If we continue to brush it under the carpet then that could become one in three (people affected) or one in two,” she warned.
“I am OK, I will be OK, but a lot of people out there are not and they need to speak to someone.”
Walking and cycling may ease cancer-related fatigue condition: says UK study
People who have been treated for cancer often have lingering fatigue, but regular walking or cycling might help boost their energy, according to a UK study that looked at more than two thousand people.
The long-lasting tiredness of cancer patients has been blamed both on the cancer itself, including cancer-related pain, and on the effects of treatments such as chemotherapy. Prior studies point to talk therapy, nutrition counseling and acupuncture as possible remedies.
But light-to-moderate exercise has the advantage of being something people can do on their own time, for little or no cost, said the researchers, whose findings appeared in The Cochrane Library.
“We’re not expecting people to go out and be running a mile the next day,” said Fiona Cramp, who worked on the analysis at the University of the West of England in Bristol.
“Some people will be well enough that they’re able to go for a jog or go for a bike ride, and if they can, that’s great. But we would encourage people to start with a low level.”
Cramp and her colleague James Byron-Daniel pooled findings from 38 studies that directly compared more than 2,600 people with cancer-related fatigue who did or didn’t go through an exercise program.
The majority of that research looked at women with breast cancer and the type of exercise program varied, from walking or biking to weight training or yoga. More than half of the studies included multiple exercises or allowed participants to choose their own type of physical activity.
The amount of prescribed exercise ranged from two times per week to daily workouts, lasting anywhere from ten minutes to two hours, depending on the study.
When they combined the results, the researchers found physical activity both during and after cancer treatment was tied to improved energy. In particular, aerobic exercise such as walking and cycling tended to reduce fatigue more than resistance training.
“What we do know is there will be an appreciable difference; the average patient will get a benefit from physical activity,” Cramp said, though the actual benefit will vary.
For example, there were exercise-related benefits for people with breast cancer and prostate cancer, although not for those with leukemia and lymphoma.
“Some of the hematologic patients may not have the reserves to always tolerate the aerobic exercise,” said Carol Enderlin, who has studied fatigue and cancer at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.
“They do not always have the oxygen carrying capacity, for instance,” because the disease and treatment affect blood cell counts. For those people, non-aerobic exercise or exercise at a lower does may be a better option, added Enderlin, who was not part of the research team.
Mink animals ‘react same to boredom like humans’
Mink react to boredom in much the same way as humans – by eating too many snacks and idling away their time, scientists say.
Researchers believe the findings show captive animals can suffer psychologically from a lack of things to do.
The scientists compared mink living in small, bare cages with those housed in large enclosures containing passageways, water pools, climbing towers and chewable toys.
Those in the bare cages actively sought stimulation, even if it meant approaching normally frightening objects. They also ate more treats between meals than mink in the enriched environments.
When not being tested, the mink in the bare cages spent much of their waking time lying down and idle. Those that spent the most time awake but motionless were also the ones showing the keenest interest in boredom-breaking stimulation. The findings are reported in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.
“We don’t know whether mink or other animals truly feel bored in the same way that humans do,” said researcher Dr Rebecca Meagher, from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
“We can’t measure that type of subjective experience. But we can see that, when they have little to do, then just like many bored humans, they may look listless, and, if given the chance, eagerly seek any form of stimulation.”
She added: “Many people believe that farm and zoo animals in empty enclosures get bored, but since animals can’t tell us how they feel, we can only judge this from seeing how motivated they are for stimulation.”
Psychologist Professor Mark Fenske, also from the University of Guelph, pointed out that surprisingly little is known about boredom, despite its association with poor health and lack of well-being.
“Being able to now study boredom in non-human animals is an important step in our efforts to understand its causes and effects and find ways to alleviate boredom-related problems across species,
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