Culture of Using Technologies Underlined

Translated by Leila Imani
Edited by Mohammad Reza
M. Karimi

The improper use of Internet and computers among the youth has increased social disorders, including upheaval in relationships and violence.
Farhad Akhtar, director general of State Welfare Organization (SWO) for prevention of social disorders, said a number of social disorders witnessed in other countries since a long time ago have increased in Iran in recent years.
“For example, the number of people addicted to amphetamine has risen significantly in the past few years, which phenomenon can be considered a new social dilemma for the country,” Akhtar was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Akhtar said South Korea has the highest number of Internet users in the world, pointing out that Iran ranks first in the Middle East in this regard.
The official went on to say that based on the available data, 15 to 35 percent of the youth are addicted to the Internet in the world, adding that the first hospital for Internet addicted persons have been established in China.
Akhtar noted that the culture of using new technologies should be promoted before their introduction to the society, stressing that such a measure has not been taken in Iran and each new technology may bring some disorders.
“Our definition of crime has changed in recent years,” he said, noting that having a video player once was considered a crime in the country but now the use of satellite dishes is illegal.
The official stated that people should be educated on how to use new technologies in the best possible manner.
“Appropriate policies should be adopted to confront the Persian-language satellite networks broadcasting films and series that threaten the cultural values of Iranians,” he said.
Akhtar pointed out that films and series produced in the country should be in accordance with the religious beliefs and cultural standards of the Iranian nation.
“All organizations, involved in cultural activities--including the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and universities, should help devise a new plan for the next 10 years,” he concluded.

Iraq Refuses to Accept Deported Nationals

The Iraqi Parliament has banned the forced return from Europe of tens of thousands of failed asylum seekers and threatened to fine airlines that take part in deportation programs.
The unilateral declaration has already resulted in deportees being turned back at the border, according to the London-based refugee support organization that has lobbied for the policy change, Guardian reported.
For the past year, the United Kingdom has been unable to remove Iraqis, even after they have lost the right to remain in Britain, owing to legal disputes over their reception at Baghdad airport and the state of security within Iraq.
Across Europe, tens of thousands of Iraqis are in legal limbo, waiting to have asylum claims processed or under threat of return to the Middle East if their applications have been rejected.
Physical mistreatment of Iraqi Kurds at Baghdad airport, sectarian violence and Al-Qaida bombings at one stage led the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to intervene, blocking deportations on the grounds that many areas remained too dangerous.
The UK has failed to return any rejected Iraqi asylum seekers since last spring. The regional parliament in Iraqi Kurdistan blocked forced returns from European airports several years ago. Last month, the Iraqi Parliament, known as the Council of Representatives, voted to extend the ban nationally.
The four-part motion ordered the Iraqi government to refuse to accept forcibly returned Iraqi refugees, to review a memorandum of understanding between Sweden and Iraq regarding the repatriation of Iraqi refugees, to fine companies that returned forcibly deported refugees, and to hold a conference on the issue of Iraqi refugees abroad.
Millions of Iraqis fled the country after the British and US invasion in 2003 that overthrew Saddam Hussein. Most went to neighboring Arab countries but large numbers sought sanctuary in Europe.
The ban on forced returns was promoted by the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), based in London, which has been campaigning against deportations in Iraq and Kurdistan.
Dashty Jamal, of the IFIR, said, “This is a great victory for Iraqi refugees, who are the victims of war and oppression. Norway and Denmark have been sending refugees back by force recently. They will now have to stop.
“I understand some people have already been turned back at the border since the weekend.
“We know that there are at least 1,300 Iraqi refugees in the Netherlands alone who have been threatened with being sent back. Sweden has said that it has received 20,000 asylum applications from Iraqis since 2003.”
The Home Office was unable to say how many failed Iraqi asylum seekers remained in the UK.
The IFIR believes relatively few Iraqis are in UK immigration detention centers; people are not normally detained unless there is an immediate prospect of their removal.
A British government spokesman said it was aware of the vote but questioned whether it was binding. A Home Office spokesman added, “We continue to make returns to Iraq on a case by case basis.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said, “I am not aware of any other countries that refuse to accept deportees. The UK courts have confirmed, however, that we are able to return people to Iraq, and that return of Kurds via Baghdad is permitted.”

Condition of Indian Nurses Deteriorating

Nurses in India are up in arms against the deterioration of the nursing profession in the country, including unfair wages and the policies of private hospital managements.
Many exploited female nurses are leaving the country in droves, migrating to countries that offer better employment prospects and working conditions, IPS reported.
Those that remain are taking to the streets, demanding decent pay and the enforcement of labor regulations.
For two years now, thousands of nurses working in corporate hospitals across the country have been participating in demonstrations and strikes, protesting the fact that hospital managements--often alleged to have illegal connections with politicians and bureaucrats--blatantly flout the country’s labor laws.
Nurses’ unions say that the strikes in various private hospitals are a result of longstanding grievances like poor working conditions and mistreatment of nurses in the workplace.
Jasmin Shaw, president of United Nurses Association, told IPS that threats of dismissal, disconnecting power and water connections in hostels, threats of eviction from hospital dormitories and violation of labor norms were some of the most frequent complaints to be heard as the strike spread across the country a few months ago, fanning outwards from Mumbai and New Delhi into other parts of the country.
Studies point out that working conditions, though better in government hospitals, are by no means favorable to nurses, who describe their duties as ‘back-breaking’.
The most basic amenities--such as rooms in which nurses can rest and change their clothes--are missing in most hospitals.

S. Africa Gripped by FOMO

Two-thirds of South African teens and adults suffer from a “fear of missing out” (FOMO) on more interesting activities than what they’re doing, a study by a pharmaceutical firm showed on Monday.
Over 62 percent of some 3,000 respondents between 15 and 50 years said in a nationwide survey that they live in “constant fear” of missing out on something more exciting that what they are doing, AFP reported.
The symptoms of the epidemic, known by its acronym FOMO, include the inability to put away one’s mobile phone, excessive phone texting even while driving, tweeting on the toilet and showing up at events uninvited.
“The survey confirmed that over 62 percent of South Africans admitted that they live in constant fear of missing out,” Pharma Dynamics Spokeswoman Mariska Fouche said, adding FOMO elevates stress levels.
“People who suffer from FOMO constantly push themselves to the limit and even when we are sick, we try not to miss out on social events; we still go to work and we can’t say no and this puts a lot of additional strain on our immune system that in turn heightens our risk of more serious illness,” she told AFP.
The firm stumbled on the finding while studying what drove a rising demand for immune-boosting supplements.
More than a third of people surveyed said they often interrupt one call to take another and check online social sites like their Twitter stream or Facebook page while on a date, for fear that something more interesting might just be happening.

Spanking Boosts Risk of Mental Illness

People who were hit or spanked as children face higher odds of mental ailments as adults, including mood and anxiety disorders and problems with drug abuse, researchers said on Monday.
The study, led by Canadian researchers, is the first to examine the link between psychological problems and spanking, while excluding more severe physical or sexual abuse in order to better gauge the effect of corporal punishment alone, Theaustralian.com reported.
Those who were spanked or hit as kids were between 2 and 7 percent more likely to encounter mental issues later, said the research in the US journal Pediatrics, based on a retrospective survey of more than 600 US adults.
That figure may seem low, particularly since about half of the US population recalls being spanked in childhood, but nevertheless shows that physical punishment can raise the risk of problems later on, experts said.
“The study is valuable because it opens the conversation about parenting,” said Victor Fornari, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New York.
The rate “is not dramatically higher, but it is higher, just to suggest that physical punishment is a risk factor for developing more mental disturbances as an adult,” said Fornari, who was not involved in the study.

Russia Unveils World’s Longest Cable Bridge

Russia on Monday unveiled the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge as it put the finishing touches on a troubled multibillion investment aimed at revitalizing the country’s distant Far East.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev opened the 1,104-meter (3,622-foot) link from Vladivostok to Russky Island during a personal spot-check of preparations for hosting September’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Bangkok Post reported.
“Everything that we have been doing here in recent years is obviously linked to the summit,” Medvedev said in televised remarks from the Far East.
“But we are not doing it for the summit. We are doing it for you --for those who live here.”
Russia is spending $20 billion (€16 billion) in pursuit of its Soviet-era dream of turning the port into a Russian version of San Francisco to attract massive investment and rival China’s growing dominance.
Politicians have long voiced fears that a dwindling population and a minimal production base will see Russia one day forced to give up the Far East territory.
Preparations for the event, however, have been beset by problems and huge cost overruns that only seemed to underscore the bureaucracy and waste stunting Russia’s economic growth.
The gleaming span over the Eastern Bosphorus--dubbed “the bridge to nowhere” by critical local media--was hit by a serious fire during its final construction phase this winter.

Say Nuts to Stress

Eating a handful of pistachio nuts a day can help reduce the damage done to the body by acute stress, scientists say.
The nuts help lower blood pressure and heart rate in difficult situations, claim experts at Pennsylvania State University.
The scientists gave participants in a study a variety of healthy diets, some containing pistachios, some without. They then measured their subjects’ cardiovascular responses, first as they took a challenging mental arithmetic test and again as they immersed their feet in cold water, The Daily Express reported.
The largest drop in blood pressure was associated with eating about 1.5 oz of nuts a day.
Sheila West, lead author of the study published online in the journal Hypertension, said, “Daily events, such as a tight deadline or public speaking can increase blood pressure.
“These results are significant because they show that physiological responses to stress are affected by the foods we eat.”

German Births Fall to Record Low

The number of babies born in Germany sank to a record low in 2011, official statistics showed on Monday, but a surge in immigration to Europe’s top economy led its population to grow.
Last year, around 663,000 children were born in Germany, down 2.2 percent from 2010, according to preliminary data released by the federal statistics office Destatis, France24 reported.
It was the lowest number recorded in Germany since 1946 and around half as many babies as were born in West and East Germany in 1964, at the height of the postwar baby boom.
In 2011 around 852,000 people died in Germany, 0.7 percent fewer than the previous year.
“As in all years since 1972, more people died than children were born,” Destatis said in a statement. “In 2011, the difference reached about 190,000 in 2010 and 181,000 in 2010.”
However, Destatis expert, Reinhold Zahn, told DPA that the number of people in Germany nevertheless rose last year, as about 279,000 more people moved to the country as left it--the highest number in a decade.

Massive Vaccination

Philippine President Benigno Aquino said the government would vaccinate 700,000 babies this year to protect them from a virus that causes diarrhea, a killer disease ravaging poor communities.