The News Caravan

Tag: Protect

  • Amala Akkineni’s message to protect dogs sparks outrage after Hyderabad incident

    Amala Akkineni’s message to protect dogs sparks outrage after Hyderabad incident

    [ad_1]

    Hyderabad: Actress Amala Akkineni, who is also a well-known animal lover and activist, recently sparked mixed reactions on social media with her comments following the tragic mauling of a 4-year-old boy Pradeep by a pack of stray dogs in Hyderabad. While many people are calling for immediate solutions and action, Amala has urged people not to view dogs as enemies, but rather to treat them with love and compassion.

    Amala says in her statement, “Please don’t let a few odd incidents turn you against dogs and make them your enemies. If we love them, they will love us back tenfold. Killing and hitting dogs is not the answer here.”

    “The relationship between humans and dogs dated back to over 50,000 years ago and due to rare incidents like this, all dogs shouldn’t be harmed,” she added.

    Amala’s point is that we must recognize the root causes of these incidents in order to respond in a civilized and compassionate manner. She emphasizes that one of the primary causes of the increase in stray dog populations is a lack of effective animal birth control measures. Instead of resorting to violence or hatred towards dogs, we must work towards long-term solutions that prioritize the safety and well-being of both humans and animals.

    While several social media users slammed Amala for her comments who questioned how anyone can call for love towards dogs who attack people, a section of netizens are urged everyone to understand Amala’s genuine and reasonable intention.

    People are saying that she has dedicated her life to promoting animal welfare as an animal lover and activist, and her message is not to excuse or justify the tragic incident, but to encourage people not to generalize dogs based on one or two incidents.

    Check out the reactions below.

    image 57
    image 58
    image 59
    image 60
    image 61
    image 62
    image 63
    image 54

    [ad_2]
    #Amala #Akkinenis #message #protect #dogs #sparks #outrage #Hyderabad #incident

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • France aims to protect kids from parents oversharing pics online

    France aims to protect kids from parents oversharing pics online

    [ad_1]

    politico

    PARIS — French parents had better think twice before posting too many pictures of their offspring on social media.

    On Tuesday, members of the National Assembly’s law committee unanimously green-lit draft legislation to protect children’s rights to their own images.

    “The message to parents is that their job is to protect their children’s privacy,” Bruno Studer, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron’s party who put the bill forward, said in an interview. “On average, children have 1,300 photos of themselves circulating on social media platforms before the age of 13, before they are even allowed to have an account,” he added.

    The French president and his wife Brigitte have made child protection online a political priority. Lawmakers are also working on age-verification requirements for social media and rules to limit kids’ screen time.

    Studer, who was first elected in 2017, has made a career out of child safety online. In the past few years, he authored two groundbreaking pieces of legislation: one requiring smartphone and tablet manufacturers to give parents the option to control their children’s internet access, and another introducing legal protections for YouTube child stars.

    So-called sharenting (combining “sharing” and “parenting,” referring to posting sensitive pictures of one’s kids online) constitutes one of the main risks to children’s privacy, according to the bill’s explanatory statement. Half of the pictures shared by child sexual abusers were initially posted by parents on social media, according to reports by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, mentioned in the text.

    The legislation adopted on Tuesday includes protecting their children’s privacy among parents’ legal duties. Both parents would be jointly responsible for their offspring’s image rights and “shall involve the child … according to his or her age and degree of maturity.”

    In case of disagreement between parents, a judge can ban one of them from posting or sharing a child’s pictures without authorization from the other. And in the most extreme cases, parents can lose their parental authority over their kids’ image rights “if the dissemination of the child’s image by both parents seriously affects the child’s dignity or moral integrity.”

    The bill still needs to go through a plenary session next week and the Senate before it would become law.



    [ad_2]
    #France #aims #protect #kids #parents #oversharing #pics #online
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

  • Ukrainian composer Heinali on preserving the sound of Kyiv: ‘I wanted to protect my city from harm’

    Ukrainian composer Heinali on preserving the sound of Kyiv: ‘I wanted to protect my city from harm’

    [ad_1]

    The latest album by Heinali is a rather beautiful piece created from field recordings made around his home city – recordings from rail stations, the sound of traffic and birdsong, the dripping of water in a tunnel, the rumbling of trains on a track, the babble of voices in a shopping mall – all sliced up, manipulated, accompanied by synthesisers and transformed into a piece of compelling ambient music. What transforms this niche arthouse project into an urgent piece of work is the fact that the city in question is Kyiv. “These are recordings of a world that has disappeared,” says Heinali, AKA Ukrainian musician Oleh Shpudeiko. “The album documents a city that has changed for ever.”

    The album, Kyiv Eternal, was completed after the Russian invasion, but the project dates back more than a decade. “I bought myself a handheld digital tape recorder in 2012 and started to record sounds around Kyiv,” says Shpudeiko. “I had hundreds of these sound sketches on my hard drive when I had to flee the city in February last year.”

    He relocated to Lviv while the battle of Kyiv raged in the early months of the war, and briefly returned after the Russian army’s advances were successfully repelled. “Kyiv was more alive than ever, but I wanted to protect it from harm, to console it,” he says. “This was a city where I had spent 37 years of my life. So this album became a hymn to this part of my identity.”

    Heinali: Kyiv Eternal – stream Spotify

    Shpudeiko describes the audio loops he works with as “memory loops”. He explains: “When we remember things, we only remember certain parts. We might change parts of that memory in our brain: we’ll add or remove or amplify a piece of information. It is very similar to a musical loop. A fragment performed over and over again will change slightly with each repetition.”

    Kyiv Eternal is released exactly a year after the Russian invasion, and comes not long after the release of another Heinali album, Live From a Bomb Shelter in Ukraine, which documents a performance live-streamed from a Lviv basement as Russian missiles rained down upon the nation. That album featured music from a project called Organa which he has been working on for several years, in which medieval liturgical music is reconfigured for modular synths and non-classical vocalists.

    “Early music and contemporary music have a lot in common,” says Shpudeiko. “Medieval music is less about harmonic development and more about creating a certain atmosphere and a feeling. Drone and ambient music is the same. It is designed to invoke certain religious experiences, mystical experiences.”

    Shpudeiko is now living temporarily in Germany, one of hundreds of Ukrainian artists relocated around Europe (thanks to the support of Ukraine’s ministry of culture) who aim to preserve and further Ukrainian art in exile. He would have loved to have come to the UK: his English is flawless, London is his favourite city and he has long been influenced by British electronic artists such as Coil, Psychic TV, Current 93 and Death in June. But the UK’s asylum policy made this almost impossible. “It is incredibly hard to get a UK visa – it costs a lot of money and British embassies demand your passport for the duration of the application process, which can take as long as three months.”

    Oleh Shpudeiko pictured in 2020.
    ‘Early music and contemporary music have a lot in common’ … Oleh Shpudeiko pictured in 2020. Photograph: Ksenia Popova

    Shpudeiko was brought up in a Russian-speaking family but he rejects the myth – promulgated by Putin and his “Vatnik” apologists – that Ukraine’s Russian speakers are pro-Moscow. However, the invasion has changed his attitude towards the Russian language. “I used to read a lot in Russian. Things I wanted to read – the literature, or the books about music history or sound studies – were only available in English or Russian, never translated into Ukrainian.

    “But after 24 February, I haven’t been able to read a single Russian book. I switched off that part of my brain. It was quite painful. I still speak Russian occasionally in non-official situations, like with my family, but officially I only use Ukrainian or English. I think we have all had to put Russian on pause for the duration of the war. It is extremely traumatic for any of us to deal with even the greatest Russian culture right now, knowing what they did in Bucha or Mariupol. I understand that this is not a healthy reaction, but there can be no healthy reactions to war.”

    How does he see the war panning out? “I am the worst person to ask about this,” he says. “This time last year I was arguing with my girlfriend: ‘No of course there won’t be a full-scale invasion.’ Worst-case scenario was that there would be another active phase of war in the east. The Russians trying to take Kyiv seemed insane.”

    Will he be touring Kyiv Eternal? “My live shows are much more improvised affairs. I’m not sure if I should ever perform this material outside of Ukraine. It is so closely connected with my home town. Maybe it can exist as a sound art installation, but it is too personal to think of doing this live.”

    Kyiv Eternal is released on 24 February via Injazero Records.

    [ad_2]
    #Ukrainian #composer #Heinali #preserving #sound #Kyiv #wanted #protect #city #harm
    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

  • Dem governors pledge to protect abortion as neighbors add restrictions

    Dem governors pledge to protect abortion as neighbors add restrictions

    [ad_1]

    image

    The Illinois governor on Thursday called on the federal government to not only enact a federal law legalizing abortion nationwide but also to assist people who have to travel from their home states for access to abortion.

    The prospects for such a law at the federal level appear dim. President Joe Biden has asked Congress to pass a law reestablishing abortion rights nationwide, a proposal with virtually zero chance of making any progress on Capitol Hill. The president did sign an executive order in August that directed the Department of Health and Human Services to consider ways to expand coverage for patients traveling out of state for reproductive health care.

    Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday at POLITICO’s event that he “wouldn’t back down” when it comes to reproductive freedom, as his state has similarly become a haven for abortion access in the South. Cooper has promised to block anti-abortion measures proposed by the Republican-led legislature, which has aimed to enact restrictions that go beyond the state’s current 20-week ban on abortion.

    When asked about whether he thinks a national abortion ban, a policy item pushed by some Republicans, is possible, Cooper said “we’re just not going to let that happen.”

    “We have become a critical access point in the Southeast and we need to hold the line to protect women’s health,” Cooper said. “Get politicians out of the exam room with women and their doctors.”

    Cooper said he believes the majority of people in his state support abortion rights. He added that the Supreme Court’s reversal of the right to abortion access previously guaranteed in Roe v. Wade sets a new precedent.

    “This court has already stripped a right that has been in place for five decades. My real concern is what’s going to happen in the Supreme Court for other kinds of constitutional rights that we have,” Cooper said. “They obviously left the door open here.”

    [ad_2]
    #Dem #governors #pledge #protect #abortion #neighbors #add #restrictions
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • US ‘will act’ to protect if China threatens its sovereignty, warns Biden

    US ‘will act’ to protect if China threatens its sovereignty, warns Biden

    [ad_1]

    Washington: Amidst growing US-China tension over a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, President Joe Biden has asserted that America “will act” to protect if Beijing threatens its sovereignty.

    The US military downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina last week, drawing a strong reaction from China which on Sunday warned of repercussions over America’s use of force against its civilian unmanned airship.

    “I am committed to work with China where it can advance American interests and benefit the world. But make no mistake: as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did,” Biden said in his second State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

    The US has accused China of violating American sovereignty and international law by sending the surveillance balloon over the country and sensitive installations.

    “Let’s be clear: winning the competition with China should unite all of us. We face serious challenges across the world. But in the past two years, democracies have become stronger, not weaker,” he said in his second State of the Union Address before a Joint Session of the US Congress.

    President Biden mentioned China and his counterpart, Xi Jinping, at least seven times in his 72-minute address, focusing mainly on how the US was prepared to compete with an assertive Beijing while also seeking to avoid conflict.

    Reacting to Biden’s remarks, China on Wednesday said it does not fear competing with the US but is “opposed to defining the entire China-US relationship in terms of competition.”

    “It is not the practice of a responsible country to smear a country or restrict the country’s legitimate development rights under the excuse of competition, even at the expense of disrupting the global industrial and supply chain,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing in Beijing.

    China will defend its interests and the US should work with Beijing to “promote the return of bilateral relations to a track of sound and stable development,” she said in response to questions.

    In his primetime speech, which revolved around the theme of unity, Biden said two years into his administration, autocracies have grown weaker, not stronger.

    “America is rallying the world again to meet those challenges, from climate and global health, to food insecurity, to terrorism and territorial aggression,” he said in his address three months after Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.

    “Allies are stepping up, spending more and doing more. And bridges are forming between partners in the Pacific and those in the Atlantic. And those who bet against America are learning just how wrong they are. It’s never a good bet to bet against America,” Biden said.

    Biden said before he came to office, the story was about how China was increasing its power and America was falling in the world.

    “Not anymore. I’ve made clear with President Xi that we seek competition, not conflict,” Biden said, amidst applause.

    “I will make no apologies that we are investing to make America strong. Investing in American innovation, in industries that will define the future, and that China’s government is intent on dominating. Investing in our alliances and working with our allies to protect our advanced technologies so they’re not used against us,” he said.

    “Modernising our military to safeguard stability and deter aggression. Today, we’re in the strongest position in decades to compete with China or anyone else in the world,” he said.

    [ad_2]
    #act #protect #China #threatens #sovereignty #warns #Biden

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Biden pledges to protect America after Chinese balloon incident

    Biden pledges to protect America after Chinese balloon incident

    [ad_1]

    state of the union 39691

    The balloon traversed U.S. and Canadian airspace last week before it was shot down off the coast of the Carolinas on Saturday, just days before Biden addressed Congress.

    China has claimed it was a weather balloon that went off course and has lashed out at the U.S. over shooting it down. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a trip to Beijing over the incident.

    The flap triggered bipartisan uproar at China on Capitol Hill — where confronting Beijing has garnered support from both parties — and calls for more information over the balloon and the administration’s handling of it.

    Biden said last week he ordered the military to shoot down the balloon before Saturday, but top brass recommended waiting until it was over water so it would minimize risk to people on the ground. The military is now working to retrieve the debris.

    Administration officials are set to brief lawmakers on the balloon this week, and a Senate panel is scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday on it.

    Biden added Tuesday night that his administration has put the U.S. in “the strongest position in decades to compete” with Beijing. The U.S., he said, would cooperate where possible.

    He added that he makes “no apologies that we are investing to make America strong” and competing with China. He touted efforts to modernize the military “to safeguard stability and deter aggression.”

    Biden also highlighted the administration’s efforts to aid Ukraine to repel Russia’s invasion, a message that comes as some Republican factions question the need to continue to aid Kyiv.

    As the war nears its one-year mark, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion was “a test for the ages” for the U.S. and its allies in Europe.

    “One year later, we know the answer,” he said.

    Biden called out Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, who sat in the House gallery for the speech.

    “We are united in our support for your country,” Biden pledged. “We’re going to stand with you as long as it takes.”

    [ad_2]
    #Biden #pledges #protect #America #Chinese #balloon #incident
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )