Vaclav Havel: A Life in Truth | BusinessWorld Online Edition

NEW YORK -- The world’s greatest shortage is not of oil, clean water, or food, but of moral leadership.

With a commitment to truth -- scientific, ethical, and personal -- a society can overcome the many crises of poverty, disease, hunger, and instability that confront us.

Yet power abhors truth, and battles it relentlessly. So let us pause to express gratitude to Vaclav Havel, who died this month, for enabling a generation to gain the chance to live in truth.

Havel was a pivotal leader of the revolutionary movements that culminated in freedom in Eastern Europe and the end, 20 years ago this month, of the Soviet Union. Havel’s plays, essays, and letters described the moral struggle of living honestly under Eastern Europe’s Communist dictatorships.

He risked everything to live in truth, as he called it -- honest to himself and heroically honest to the authoritarian power that repressed his society and crushed the freedoms of hundreds of millions. Read the of Jeffrey Sach's commentary here:

Vaclav Havel: A life in truth | BusinessWorld Online Edition:

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Ombudsman Sues Arroyo, Abalos Over NBN Deal | Inquirer News

The Office of the Ombudsman on Dec. 28 filed a graft case at the Sandiganbayan against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in connection with the scuttled National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China, Philippine Daily Inquirer sources said. Read the rest here:

Ombudsman sues Arroyo, Abalos over NBN deal | Inquirer News:

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gulfnews : Chop, Kick and Jump: Karate Maids

DUBAI: How do you free yourself when someone grabs you by the hair? You just go with the flow and throw your attacker off-balance.

That's one of the techniques Filipina housemaids in Dubai have picked up at free self-defence classes organised by non-government organisation SAMPII, a group of Filipino self-defence enthusiasts. "If you don't do this, you will end up getting hurt more," Ebrahim Robel Beltran, an aikido expert, tells his wards during a training session at Zabeel Park.

Read the rest here:
gulfnews : Chop, kick and jump: Karate maids:

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Filipina Maids in Great Demand in Bahrain

Gulf countries have become the second option for maids who prefer to work in other states on account of getting better perks and facilities.

The Minister of Labour, Jameel Humaidan, said in a written answer to a parliamentary question that maids prefer other countries far from the region because of privileges they are receiving there. He said that there are 93 licensed recruitment agencies in Bahrain and fees they are charging on clients depend on paperwork and procedures they have to complete.

Because of the high cost of recruitment agencies, families in Bahrain opt for illegal means to hire maids. After complete and partial ban of domestic workers by certain countries during unrest in March, recruitment agencies hiked their fees to around BD700 for maids from subcontinent states and around BD1,000 from Filipino and Indonesian maids. Most families couldn’t afford such hike and are either seeking unofficial recruitment agencies run mostly by expatriates or ask maids in the neighbourhoods to bring their relatives to Bahrain.

The official recruitment agencies defended the hike as the only option to protect their businesses. The profit from supplying each maid is much less than before as most of the amount goes for finalising paperwork in Bahrain and home country of the maid, medical checkup and air ticket.

Bahrain has high demand for maids. According to the Ministry of Labour, 16,203 visa applications for domestic workers were submitted from April to June, of which 13,709 were approved. Of total approved applications, 10,596 were submitted to hire maids while the ministry received 10,197 applications from January to March this year.

Photo grabbed from: http://www.visualphotos.com/image/1x8276333/bahrain_financial_harbour_buildings_at_dusk_manama

Read more at:
Maids in great demand in Bahrain

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10 Most Profitable Sexual Enhancers | Business Pundit

This is dedicated to the staunch defenders of Christian purity, those against the passage of a reproductive health (RH) bill in the Philippines.

It's a list of the top sexual enhancers in the market, from the ubiquitous Viagra, to something quite interesting, called The Butterfly.

To the Catholic bishops: enjoy!

Find the list here:

10 Most Profitable Sexual Enhancers | Business Pundit

Read the full text of the RH bill here:

http://www.likhaan.org/content/15th-congress-house-bill-4244-full-text-final-consolidated-rh-bill-hb-4244

Take a look at the bishops' crappy website here:

http://cbcpforlife.com/?p=1006

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