4 children forced to camp at their parents’ graves in India
NDTV reports that four children, who had been camped at the graved of their AIDS-affected parents, have finally been allotted a home in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the report, the children lived with relatives after their parents died of AIDS. Later, the relatives abandoned them, fearing the same disease.
After an earlier report by NDTV, Uttar Pradash CM Akhilesh Yadav has now promised them one lakh rupees each and a place in the state guest house.
They had been living in the graveyard for nearly two months and could eat only when someone gave them something.
Israeli store opening focuses West Bank anger
A black-and-white poster of the smiling Israeli beauty that went up last week in the West Bank city of Ramallah, became a target of Palestinian anger because of the message that accompanied her picture: “Fox: Coming Soon.”
Fox is a popular Israeli clothing chain, and the opening of an officially branded store in Ramallah seemed to cross an unspoken red line.
The advertisement launched a social media firestorm, with one person even suggesting firebombing a store that sells trendy clothes and jeans.
Korean War foes gather in North Korea to remember war
Two decorated US war veterans who survived one of the worst battles of the Korean War found themselves among former foes at a memorial ceremony as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un launched the country’s commemoration of the war’s end 60 years ago.
It is unusual for American veterans to attend official events surrounding the July 27 war anniversary in North Korea, called “Victory Day”there. The veterans are in North Korea on a mission to find the remains of a fellow aviator killed in the war, and were given little notice about the event.
Being rude to French president no longer an offense
The French parliament on Thursday agreed to amend legislation dating back to 1881 in favour of freedom of speech.
Before, any rude remark risked an automatic fine for “offending the head of state.” The president would need to have a judge prove there had been slander or defamation.
The change came after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in March that France violated a demonstrator’s right to freedom of expression when it fined him for holding a banner up to former President Nicolas Sarkozy reading: “Get lost, jerk.”
German town raises ire for scheme using asylum seekers as porters
A German town has halted a scheme offering asylum seekers 1.05 euros an hour to carry luggage at a station after rail operator Deutsche Bahn refused permission due to a public outcry and criticism that the project harked back to colonial times.
The southern German town of Schwaebisch Gmuend started the scheme on Monday for nine asylum seekers to help passengers get up a steep flight of metal steps erected at the station due to construction work.
The mayor originally said he hoped the programme would help the integration of the town’s 250 asylum seekers.
Former US president George H W Bush shaves head for boy with leukemia
The former US president George H W Bush shaved his salt and pepper comb-over locks in solidarity with a two-year-old boy who lost his hair from leukemia treatments, his office said in a statement on Wednesday.
Bush, 89, and members of his security detail, shaved their heads to support Patrick, the son of one of Bush’s security details.
Photos released by Bush’s office show 26 other security staff posing with Bush and Patrick, all of whom have only a light dust of peach fuzz atop their heads.