The National Free Press - World Edition

30 Years on, Obama Administration, Senate Leaders Should Press for Action - The United States' long delay in ratifying the global women's rights treaty undermines fulfillment of the US commitment to women's rights at home and abroad, Human Rights Watch said today.

Former President Jimmy Carter signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on July 17, 1980, but the treaty has never been brought before the full Senate for a vote. The Obama administration has expressed support for ratification, but has yet to take the actions needed to secure ratification, Human Rights Watch said.

"Women's rights - the right to be free from domestic and sexual violence, the right to equal treatment in education, employment, and access to health care - are not back-burner issues," said Meghan Rhoad, women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "But for 30 years the major international treaty on women's rights has been treated like one."

As Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers prepare to hold their first substantive talks since the Mumbai attacks, Kashmiri-Canadian Council (KCC) welcomes resumption of dialogue between the nuclear-armed rivals – as result-oriented negotiations are the only way to bridge the divide between India and Pakistan. KCC hopes both New Delhi and Islamabad understand what is at stake – without a settlement of the Kashmir issue, peace between two long-time adversaries or for the entire region is a pipedream.

The Kashmir issue has dominated the geopolitics of South Asia for nearly 63 years because of continuing rivalry between India and Pakistan. The rivals have fought three major wars since their independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir. The unresolved issue of Kashmir is the root of the nuclear arms race between New Delhi and Islamabad, which has resulted in the diversion of resources from human development to militarization. Unfortunately, the people of Kashmir are caught in the middle of this deadly tug-of-war.

Group of Ministers GOM will soon proclaim its decisive verdict on inclusion of caste in the census. At present census is being conducted in the country. Succumbing to the stiff pressure of many of its allies in the ruling coalition Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced in the upper house of parliament that cabinet will soon take positive decision on the issue. Now, it seems that government is trying to find ways and means to tackle the problems likely to arise after the caste census as it will inevitably lead to chain reactions. Setting-up of GoM is first step in the direction.

Caste has historically been a potent tool to serve the ulterior motives of all those who believed in the philosophy of ‘Divide and rule’. After the revolt of 1857 India was in the grip of wave of nationalism. Britishers used the tool of caste census to sow the seeds of division in the society. Caste was included during census of 1871 to 1931. This had stark impact on the society and it can be explicitly inferred that Britishers were quite successful in their vicious agenda. Many caste based organisations created chaos in the society and i sowed the seeds of conflict.

International organisations are complicit in China's efforts to hush up the milk contamination scandal during the Olympics.

Pretend it didn't happen. That's apparently the strategy of the Chinese government, the World Health Organisation, and the International Olympic Committee toward China's melamine milk contamination scandal during the Beijing Olympics.

An official ban on reporting of "all food safety issues" during the games stifled domestic media coverage of revelations that at least 20 dairy firms were spiking milk products with the chemical melamine. That cover-up contributed to the deaths of six children and illness among 300,000 others.

But there's not a whisper of melamine - or of the reporting ban - in a May 2010 book jointly issued by the Chinese government, the WHO and IOC, The Health Legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games: Successes and Recommendations.

Looking for a different “farming game”? Something with a major challenge to it? Ever wonder what it might be like to deal with living in a Third World country and have a farm and a family to maintain?

The Free Press Community has recently added a thought-provoking farming game that will keep you wondering how some people in the world survive.

The Third World Farmer Game let’s you plant crops, look after livestock and build buildings while you maintain your families health and send your children to school. But it gets challenging when your livestock is wiped out because of a natural disaster.

Or your crops yield nothing because the market fell. Or the crop fails completely. Maybe the Guerrillas came and burnt down your buildings and stole your farm equipment. Or you had to deal with corrupt officials.