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WEEKLY UPDATE: British MPs decline to ban smacking children
LONDON: British members of parliament on Tuesday voted down a move to totally ban the smacking of children.
The lower house of parliament, or House of Commons, voted down by 424 votes to 75 an amendment to a bill which would impose a total ban on corporal punishment.
A group of rebel deputies from the ruling Labour Party, pushed by some 350 children’s rights groups, wanted to abolish a provision introduced in the 19th century under which “reasonable chastisement” of children is allowed.
Under the bill, “light smacking” would continue to be allowed, but any kind of punishment bringing about physical injury would be banned.
“This archaic law has no place in modern society. We need a law that says it is just as wrong to hit a child as it is to hit an adult,” said Mary Marsh, the leader of the national society for the prevention of cruelty to children.
“We do not condone in any way abuse of children, but equally we believe that reasonable chastisement is what parents are allowed to do,” a government spokesman said. —AFP
Little boy rescued from a well after 13 hours
FRISCO CITY: After nearly 13 tense hours, rescuers using a powerful drill and working under bright lights yesterday saved a toddler trapped at the bottom of an abandoned well.
Twenty-two-month-old Da’jour McMillan, who was playing with his elder brother and sister near his grandparents’ house when he disappeared down the 4.2-metre-deep well that was overgrown with grass and unknown to neighbours and firefighters.
Firefighter Jimmy Brown said when Frisco City firefighters and police arrived, they realized they needed help and called for a rescue team from Mobile with special training. An Alabama Power Co. drill was used to dig a shaft next to the one where the little boy was trapped. Rescue workers then tunneled over to the well to reach the child about 5:45am.
A camera was dropped down the well to keep an eye on the boy during the rescue. The warm night helped ward off hypothermia. The main worry was that the child might not be able to breathe in the narrow hole. —APP
Dutch cycling legend dies
THE HAGUE: The Netherlands 1978 world cycling road race champion Gerrie Knetemann died of a heart attack on Tuesday aged 53, the Dutch Cycling Federation (KNWU) announced.
According to the federation he died while out riding a bike with three friends at his birthplace of Bergen in the northwest of the Netherlands.
Knetemann’s career spanned 15 years (1974-89) which saw him win 10 stages in the Tour de France and he was regarded as one of the finest classic riders in the world, winning the Amstel Gold Race twice and the Paris Nice once.
Knetemann, who leaves a wife and two children, recorded 130 victories in all and after his retirement became the selector for the Dutch cycling team, a post he still held. —AFP
Escape from the jaws of crocodile
DARWIN: A teenager in Australia’s Northern Territory has escaped from the jaws of a crocodile that dragged him underwater, police said on Monday.
Lachlan McGregor, 17, was out hunting magpie geese at a remote waterhole on Saturday when he was taken by the leg and pulled under the water.
“When we were walking back I basically stood on its head,” McGregor said.
“It just latched onto my leg and pulled me back. My whole body was in the water. It let go of me after three or four seconds.
“I didn’t know it bit me at first. When it let go of me I just ran until I couldn’t run any further.”
The boy sustained four puncture wounds to his shin, thigh and calf and was flown to a local health centre for treatment. —AFP
Penguin colony in Australian city
SYDNEY: In the midst of Australia’s largest city, a rare colony of fairy penguins is being replenished by birds bred in the local zoo after coming under threat from cats, dogs and jetski-riding hooligans.
Taronga Zoo senior curator Erna Walraven said she was amazed the community of fairy penguins in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Manly had survived more than 200 years of western settlement in a city with a population now approaching four million people.
“I don’t think any other city has a penguin colony right in the middle of it.” —AFP
Pink dolphins under threat
HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s famous pink dolphins are among nature’s great survivors: for decades they have managed to scratch out an existence in some of the filthiest waters in Asia.
Experts fear, however, that years of abuse of their habitat, a narrow stretch of waters off Hong Kong’s western shores, may finally be taking their toll.
Urban and industrial development have poisoned the water and increasing sea traffic serving the city’s booming port has not only made life tough for the dolphins, it also appears to have made the act of procreation near impossible.
Environmentalists characterize the fate of Hong Kong’s dolphins as typical of the wider disregard for the once beautiful island territory.
There is little agreement on how many dolphins are left. Estimates range between 100 to 1,000 depending on which academic is asked. Most agree, however, that their numbers are falling. —AFP
UAE President Sheikh Zayed dies
ABU DHABI: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nayahan, president of the United Arab Emirates, died on Tuesday.
Sheikh Zayed, who led the UAE since its formation in 1971, was in his early 90s and was in poor health for a long time.
Under the constitution, Vice-President and Prime Minister Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, will act as president until the federal council which groups rulers of the seven emirates meets within 30 days to elect a president.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the eldest son of Sheikh Zayed, will automatically take over as ruler of the capital Abu Dhabi. Official sources expect the council to elect Sheikh Khalifa president with power remaining in Abu Dhabi where 93 percent of the oil wealth is concentrated.
Sheikh Zayed, who received a kidney transplant in 2000, used oil income to transform seven mostly poor and feuding sheikhdoms into modern cities with a strong economies. The country of 4.04 million people has one of the world’s highest per capita incomes and expatriates make up over 85 percent of the population. —Reuters
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