Burn Incidents Up in Iran

Translated by Atefeh
Rezvan-Nia
Edited by Mohammad
Reza M. Karimi

An average of 3,000 fatalities per year--due to burn injuries--has been recorded in the past 10 years in Iran.
Announcing this, Mohammad Reza Mobin, an expert with Burn Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University, said that although Iran has made great achievements in different medical fields and can compete with the most developed nations in this regard, many die of burns in Iran every year, IRNA reported.
“When it comes to medical sciences, Iran is considered a developed nation,” he said, adding that Iranian surgeons are among the most skilled ones in the world.
He added that the large numbers of foreign patients seek treatment in Iranian medical centers and hospitals both because of the high quality of services and low prices.
“However, in terms of burn injuries, Iranian hospitals lack behind European nations,” he said.
Mobin said annually 200,000 individuals suffering from burn injuries receive outpatient treatment in different burn clinics across the country.
“Most household burns happen in kitchens with women and children constituting the majority of victims,” he said, adding that 84 percent of burn victims at homes are children.
He noted that the elderly account for the most number of burn incidents taking place in bathrooms.
“Men mostly suffer burns at their workplaces,” he said, noting that while women account for a majority of burn victims worldwide, mostly men are involved in burn incidents in Iran.
“About 54 percent of burn incidents involve men and 46 percent involve women in Iran.”
Mobin expressed concern over the large numbers of burn incidents in Iran and said the risk of death is very high among Iranian burn patients.
“Currently, the chances of surviving a major burn injury in Iran are equal to the chances a European suffering from burn injury had about 50 years ago,” he said.
Mobin said that non-standard heaters and cooking stoves are important factors behind deep burn injuries in Iran.
The rate of burn incidents rises, as the end of the Iranian year approaches.
On the night of the last Wednesday of Iranian calendar, which coincides with March 19 this year, Iranians form small bushfires to celebrate Chaharshanbeh Souri, a traditional Iranian fire celebration.
However, the ceremony has changed in recent years, as the new generation of teenagers use dangerous fireworks that explode with an ear-shattering noise, which have nothing to do with the traditional ceremony.

NY Police Spying on Muslims Violates Rules

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) has filed paper against the New York Police Department (NYPD) accusing the force of reviving political spying of the 1960s that was banned under a landmark legal ruling.
The motion filed on February 4 in a District Court by Profeta & Eisentein and the NYCU will seek an injunction against non-intelligence based surveillance of Muslims and a new court-appointed auditor to oversee police activities, The Muslim News reported.
Named after the plaintiff Barbara Handschu, the Handschu Guidelines were created as a result of a lawsuit over similar widespread harassment of antiwar protestors in the 1960s. The case was settled with the imposition of the guidelines, which prohibited investigations of political and religious organizations unless there was “specific information” that the group was linked to past or present crime.

Intense Surveillance
Describing continuing surveillance of Muslims as “widespread and intense,” the NYCU complained that the NYPD has monitored public places where Muslims assemble and has kept records and notes about police observations despite no evidence of unlawful or terror-related activities.
The lawyers said the NYPD’s actions violate the Handschu Guidelines that a court had imposed as part of a 1985 landmark settlement with the NYPD.
“There is substantial persuasive evidence that the defendants are conducting investigations into organizations and individuals associated with the Muslim faith and the Muslim community in New York, and have been doing so for years, using intrusive methods, without a reasonable indication of unlawful activity, or a criminal predicate of any sort,” said the lawyer.
They said the NYPD’s actions were so “flagrant and persistent” that an auditor should be appointed.
“Investigations of any community that are not based upon indications of crime create fear and erode the confidence of a community in the power of a legal system to protect it,” said Paul Chevigny, professor of law at New York University and one of five attorneys on the case.
“We brought this motion because even in the face of the startling evidence in the press reports, Commissioner Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg have declared the NYPD will continue its intrusive secret surveillance program targeting completely innocent activities in Muslim communities, notwithstanding the prohibitions in the Handschu Guidelines the NYPD is obliged to follow.”
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Walter Kelly dismissed the need for an auditor insisting the current system that includes five district attorneys, a committee that investigates police corruption and the NYPD’s own internal affairs office as sufficient.

Mayor Defends Spying
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said surveillance of Muslim communities was lawful and in accordance with the Handschu Guidelines.
The NYPD’s spying tactics came to prominence following an expose by AP, which used internal NYPD documents to reveal the force’s infiltration of dozens of mosques and Muslim student groups.
The motion centers on CIA-assisted Zone Assessment Unit, which compiled information on where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed.
Police infiltrated Muslim student groups, put informants in mosques, monitored sermons and catalogued every Muslim in New York who adopted new, Americanized surnames.
Legal Director of Muslim Advocates, Glenn Katon, said, “Spying on innocent Americans because of their faith violates the most basic constitutional principles upon which our country was founded. The NYPD must stop its discriminatory practices of singling out Americans because of their faith.”

In China, Being Green Can Kill Your Career

China’s leaders love to talk about their commitment to cleaning up pollution. When China’s new leader Xi Jinping sketched out his version of the “Chinese dream” in November, he made sure to include “a better environment”.
So why are air and water quality in China so lousy?
A big reason, says one group of economists, is that local officials who spend heavily to reduce pollution instead end up reducing their chances for promotion. Those, on the other hand, who spend big on highways and other transportation infrastructure, which may damage the environment but boost GDP, are more likely to get ahead, WSJ reported.
“A city government’s spending on environmental improvements is actually significantly negatively related to the odds of its (Communist Party) secretary and mayor being promoted,” write Jing Wu of Tsinghua University, Randall Morck of the University of Alberta, Jun Huang of Shanghai University of Finance & Economics and Yongheng Deng and Bernard Yeung of the National University of Singapore. For a Chinese politician, it’s lonely being green.
The economists compared the political outcomes of spending on the environment and spending on transportation infrastructure between 2000 and 2009. Higher transportation infrastructure turned into higher GDP--and higher GDP growth brings promotions, they say.
Higher environmental investment did not lead to the necessary jump in GDP. Career-wise, that’s a loser.
The political outcome also probably reflects a reticence to spend more on green projects. Investment in environmental improvements, as a percentage of total urban infrastructure investment, dropped from 25.4 percent in 2000 to a low of 19.1 percent in 2006, before increasing to 21.3 percent in 2009.
Meanwhile, investment in urban transportation infrastructure, including roads and bridges, jumped from 60.2 percent of total urban infrastructure investment in 2000 to 72.7 percent in 2009.
Still, there is a minimum level of environmental spending that’s necessary for career advancement, the authors argue, because such spending is seen as necessary to preserve “social stability”.

Britain Aging Rapidly

Startling details about Britain’s rapidly aging population and its potential impact on social services have emerged in evidence to a parliamentary inquiry, prompting warnings that no proper plan is in place to cope with the dramatic increase in people over 65 years.
Next month, a Lords committee will reveal the results of its investigation into the growth of the section of society above retirement age, Guardian reported.
Its chair, Lord Filkin, warned that the NHS, social care, public spending and the rest of society face dramatic change as a result. The committee has been told:
• Half of those born after 2007 can expect to live to over 100.
• Between 2010 and 2030, the number of people over 65 years will increase by 51 percent.
• The number of people over 85 years will double during the same period.
Filkin, 68, said the prospect of living longer was a ‘gift’, and added that studies suggest people’s happiness peaks after retirement. But six months of evidence gathering revealed the huge impact such changes would have on almost every aspect of public life.
There had to be an agreement on the values and vision of the government, he said.
“Is it trying to support people to live independently and well, and if so what does that imply?” he asked.
“If you have big changes coming and/or those changes require you to make significant changes in services and systems over time, you have to have some kind of plan.”
The most dramatic warnings to the Lords committee, which focused on 2020-30, were for the NHS.

Library Book Returned 55 Years Late!

A long overdue book has finally been returned to the New York Public Library--55 years late.
The Daily News says the biography of a 16th-century priest, “Fire of Francis Xavier”, was borrowed from the library’s Fort Washington branch April 10, 1958.
Library manager Jennifer Zarr told the newspaper that the book reached them on Monday wrapped in a plain brown envelope. There was a cheque for $100 to cover the dues.
Shanghai Daily quoted the librarian as saying that library records do not go back to 1958 and there’s no way to trace who borrowed the book.

Denmark Finds Horsemeat in Pizzas

Denmark’s food authorities confirmed on Sunday that they found a slaughterhouse on Peninsula Jutland illegally mix both horsemeat and pork in pizzas labeled as pure beef.
The slaughterhouse, by the name of Haarby, was located in the city of Skanderborg in west Denmark, said the food authorities, Xinhua reported.
“We have reported the slaughterhouse to the police, because they have misled their customers,” Michael RosenMark with the Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries told reporters.
The slaughterhouse has previously claimed that the restaurants, which are customers of the slaughterhouse, were informed the pizza mix contains both meat from horses and cattle. However, it turns out to be a lie.
The inspection report from the samples taken in Haarby Slaughterhouse on Feb. 13 stated that “private and business customers have ordered beef and received products consisting of mixed species, including ground beef mixed with horsemeat and pork.”
The Danish Food Standard Administration has kept a particular focus on mixed meat following the revealed scandal of horsemeat in beef lasagna and several other foods, which have involved popular European and Danish supermarkets.

Russia to Ban Smoking in Public

Smoking in public places will be banned in Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed a tough new bill into law.
Under the new legislation, smoking in restaurants, long-distance trains and housing block entrance halls will be illegal, BBC reported.
The government has made reducing smoking one of the cornerstones of its bid to improve public health.
Russia has one of the highest smoking rates in the world, with more than four in 10 Russians considered smokers.
Parliament passed the bill earlier in February, with only one deputy in the State Duma voting against the legislation.
The law “On protecting the health of citizens from the danger of passive smoking and the consequences of the use of tobacco” will come into force on June 1.
On that date, smoking will be banned within 15 meters of entrances to stations, airports, metro stations and ports; in workplaces; near entrances to apartment blocks; and in children’s playgrounds and on beaches.
Exactly one year later, smoking will be banned on long-distance trains and ships; in hotels; in restaurants, cafes, shops and markets; and on suburban rail platforms.
Under the bill, a minimum retail price will be set for tobacco and its sale and advertising will be restricted.

Turk Suicides Exceed Fatality

A total of 965 soldiers in the Turkish military committed suicide and 601 were killed in clashes with terrorists in the past ten years, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yılmaz said on Saturday.