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UN: Kenya in desperate need of food aid http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=59330 Written By:Claire Wanja/AP |  Posted: Wed, Aug 19, 2009 More than 1 million Kenyans affected by a prolonged drought are not getting the food aid they desperately need, the U.N.'s World Food Program has said. Gabrielle Menezes, a spokeswoman for WFP says the agency already is providing emergency food aid to some 2.5 million people but another 1.3 million still need help. "What we have here is an extremely difficult situation and people are saying it is the worst drought since 2000," said Menezes. She appealed to donors come forward to help alleviate the situation. The areas hardest hit by the drought are the semiarid southeastern regions and parts of central Kenya. Meanwhile, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka on Tuesday led a team of senior government, military and non-governmental officials to Sololo, Upper Eastern Kenya where he officially inaugurated the areas chapter of the national famine intervention exercise. Mr. Musyoka flagged off ten military trucks with foodstuff and medical supplies, participated in the de-siltation exercise of Sololo earth dam under the Kazi Kwa Vijana Programme and inaugurated the drilling of the first of eight boreholes to be drilled in Sololo and Moyale districts. He similarly set off a government-sponsored livestock buying programme aimed at saving animals from dying of famine and announced that under the programme the military will also supply the two districts with 100 water tanks each. Accompanied by minister for Gender Esther Murugi, Assistant minister Muhammud Ali, nominated MP, Shakila Abdallah, military officers led by General Sasia of the Kenya army, civil servants and officials of WFP and various NGOs, Mr. Musyoka reiterated that the government had declared total war poverty and famine. He said following the declaration of the current famine as a national disaster by President Mwai Kibaki it had become for her to mobilize all its resources to ensure that Kenyans were shielded from the effects of the drought. The Vice President said the government will initiate irrigation schemes in various parts of the country to ensure food sufficiency adding that it had become clear that rain-fed agriculture was no longer unreliable. Mr. Musyoka advised the area residents to take their children to school pointing out the World Food Programme and the government would continue to feed them even during the holidays. He thanked government partners who have complemented the government's efforts in providing food to hunger-stricken Kenyans. The Vice President urged residents of area to uphold peace and security, and maintain good relations with their neighbours in Ethiopia saying peace was crucial for development. He added that the government will hasten the construction of the road network between the area and neighboring Ethiopia to ease communication and spur trade. Minister Murugi and Shakila urged the area residents to discard outdated cultural practices like the Female genital Mutilation and accord equal education opportunities to both their male and female children. Mr. Ali lauded the government for sub-dividing Moyale district to create Sololo district saying the move will bring services closer to the people. He however urged ministries which had not sent officers to the new district to do so and enable it take off. The function was also attended by Sololo DC Mr. Joshua Nkanatha and his Moyale counterpart J.N Komora among others.

Catholic Schools In Greater Toronto Areas Get “A” Ratings http://www.northpeel.com/printArticle/74756 Thursday August 20 2009 | Torstar News Service He calls it the Catholic effect; that when you screen out the family differences that can give some schools an edge – which parents have more education, how long they have lived in Canada etc. – Ontario’s Catholic schools still come out on top. Economics professor David Johnson, whose fancy demographic formula compares the test scores of Ontario schools in a more socially sensitive way than just ranking raw results, says his latest report spotlights this odd Catholic advantage. “Of 11 schools in Ontario that performed better than all others in both Grade 3 and Grade 6 in their socio-economic range, 10 of them are Catholic – yet it’s a much smaller school system,” marvelled Johnson, a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and author of the latest C.D. Howe report called “Ontario’s Best Public Schools.” None of the top 11 schools were from the Dufferin-Peel or Peel District systems. “It may be these (top) schools are more motivated because of their spiritual focus, or it could be that Catholic families have a choice as to whether to send their kids to a separate or public school, so that puts pressure on Catholic schools to do better.” In three GTA regions Johnson studied after he finished his survey – York, Toronto and Peel – the Catholic school boards had a higher portion of schools outscoring their demographic peers province-wide. Of the five top performing Catholic schools for grade 3 students in Dufferin-Peel, four of them are in Mississauga. St. Helen in Park Royal scored the highest, at the 97th percentile compared to all other schools ranked in the review. The other local schools are St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Churchill Meadows (96), St. Elizabeth Seton in Meadowvale (95) and St. Matthew on Kingsbridge Garden Circle. St. Mary in Brampton, on Main Street just south of Queen Street, ranked highest there at 95. At the other end of the spectrum in the four percentile ranking are Brampton‘s Father Michael J. McGivney, in the Sandalwood Drive and Dixie Road area, and Mother Mary Ward, slated for closure in the Dixie Road and Williams Park area. Two of the highest-ranked schools for Grade 3 test results for the public board were also in Mississauga, Brookmede in Erin Mills (99) and Forest Ave. in Port Credit (98). One of the lowest was Brampton’s Madoc Drive Public School. The Kennedy Road and Queen Street area school was in the four percentile category. Forest Ave., a smaller, older school also scored in the 98th percentile in the Grade 6 results and was the top school for the public board in that category. Vista Heights in Streetsville scored 93 while Helen Wilson, in Brampton’s Kennedy Road and Steeles Avenue area, had 94. Royal Orchard Middle School, near Hwy. 10 and Bovaird Drive in Brampton, was one of the lowest ranked with a two percentile ranking. The three top Dufferin-Peel schools for Grade 6 were Cardinal Newman, near Queen Street and Torbram Road in Brampton, (98), St. Rose of Lima in Roseborough (Eglinton and Creditview) at 96 and St. Dominic in Lakeview (91). Brampton’s Pauline Vanier Catholic school fell on the bottom rung of the rankings. The McLaughlin Road and Steeles Avenue area school had a five percentile score. Johnson made headlines last year with a deliberate comparison of Catholic and public schools that concluded Catholic schools do better. This latest report, released Tuesday, has a broader focus. By crunching 11 demographic factors to paint a social snapshot of every school, he compared the province-wide test scores of schools with similar social profiles, apples to apples – and still found a staggering range of marks. “About half the difference in test scores between schools comes from the social and economic differences between students – but the other half comes from the school itself, and that’s what we’re measuring,” said Johnson. “If someone says their school doesn’t do as well on tests because it has more immigrants, our survey has already controlled for that.” Tiny Mary St. School, in one of Oshawa’s more needy neighbourhoods, outshone every other school in its income bracket on Ontario’s Grade 6 tests, landing a “100 percentile” ranking in the report. Beate Planche, York Region school board’s superintendent of curriculum, warns against ranking schools. “Good schools, to parents, are those where their kids are doing well, feel safe and belong, and if the school is accessible to them. Rankings are one slice, and schools are far more complex than one slice.” — Torstar News Service, with files from John Stewart

Discrimination in rental housing key focus of Ont. Human Rights Commission report http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article By Diana Mehta (CP) TORONTO — Subtle discrimination in Ontario's rental housing sector over race, age or social standing will be among the problem areas targeted in a new housing policy this fall from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the chief commissioner said Wednesday. In its first annual report released since widening its mandate to focus on broader societal issues rather than just individual complaints, the commission found that the "issue of discrimination in housing kept coming up," said Barbara Hall. It was the first time anyone has focused on the human rights component of rental housing, Hall said, adding the problems were province wide. One the one hand, healthy seniors complained they found it hard to secure accommodation because their landlords feared they would require additional assistance. At the other end of the spectrum students griped about the tough time they had snagging decent accommodations because of landlords reluctant to disrupt the ambience of a mature community. The commission plans to release a new housing policy in early October which can be used to guide landlords and tenants alike. "There may be some tools for people who face discrimination in housing to get rid of barriers using the human rights process," said Hall. Housing discrimination amid a tough economy is an issue of increasing concern for many. "The report is showing the pain is not being shared equally. Some groups are bearing a bigger burden," said Michael Shapcott, director of affordable housing at the Wellesley Institute, an independent policy think tank. Shapcott said seniors, people of colour and those with physical and mental health issues are among those who find it hardest to secure a decent place to live. "It's a real wake up call for people in Ontario," said Shapcott. "Housing is absolutely a necessity in terms of human health, it's difficult if not impossible to hold a job if you don't have a home."

Nobel Economist Says Asia's Economies in 'Remarkable' Recovery http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-08-21-voa18.cfm By Ron Corben Bangkok, 21 August 2009 Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says Asia's economies are on the way to recovery after the most severe downturn in a decade. But he sees the need for greater regulation and monitoring of global financial markets. Joseph Stiglitz says Asia's economies are in a good position to reduce their dependence on exporting goods to the United States and Europe. Speaking at a conference in Bangkok Friday, Stiglitz said he was upbeat over the economic outlook for the region. After slumping along with most other economies, Asian markets are rallying and some economies are expanding again, aided by government stimulus efforts. He said they should look more to the regional and domestic markets to boost growth. "Asia's recovery has been remarkable. People are talking about a 'V' shaped recovery," he said. "The big issue that it raises is can Asia decouple from the West - the U.S. and Europe? You have a robust large economy here in Asia and so you have the basis of developing a regional economy." Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2001, said that to protect economies, there needs to be global cooperation in regulating markets. He criticized the management of the U.S. financial system and the deregulation of markets, which he said "brought instability and risk without return." "The crisis is a failure of capitalism, American style. And it shows that the presumptions on which that kind of capitalism was based have not worked," he said. "In my mind it highlights the need for a balanced role of the state - a balance between the market, the state, and NGOs [non-government organizations] and other actors in society." He also criticized the U.S. government's multibillion dollar rescue of the leading banks. Stiglitz says the rescue packages benefited companies and stock holders, but did little to help average Americans. Stiglitz advocated shifting away from using the dollar as the dominant global reserve currency. He says the dollar is "not a good store of value" given the high public debt and uncertain economic outlook in the U.S. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also addressed the conference, calling for the creation of an international institution to regulate global financial markets. He said that emerging economies should have a greater voice in multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank. The Thai economy is facing a contraction of three to four percent this year. But Mr. Abhisit says the outlook will improve later in the year.

Behaviour profiling' at Canadian airports http://www.southasianobserver.com/south_asian_canadian_news.php?mid=1&cid=1683 (Aug 14 2009) Toronto, Aug 14: Canada will deploy 'behaviour detection officers' at its airports soon to spot terrorists and criminals. These officers in plainclothes will watch air passengers for physiological or bodily hints of any hostile intent in their behaviour as they pass through concourses and departure lounges. The officers will be trained to study air passengers' facial expression, nervous foot-tapping and body movement to spot any hints of their intentions. The Canadian Air Transport Authority is starting a pilot project this year to put this plan into action from next year. The 'behaviour pattern recognition' scheme will first be implemented at a major airport and then extended to other airports, according to the airport authority. The Canadian scheme will be on the lines of similar programmes in place at airports in the US, Britain and Israel. The scheme follows the 2007 report of a panel of aviation and security experts which recommended behavioural profiling at Canadian airports. The panel had also recommended that profiling must be done in such a way that it is least offensive to the passengers. A spokesperson for the airport security authority said the scheme will offer an additional layer of security and help detect "malicious intentions". Captain Craig Hall, Canadian director of the national security committee of Air Line Pilots' Association International which has been seeking tougher security measures, told Canwest news agency, "We are very, very pleased." There are over 2,000 behaviour detection officers at US airports to screen passengers by "observation techniques". Since 9/11, Canada has toughened its anti-terror laws and spent billions of dollars to beef up border and airport security. (IANS)