On January 10, Health Minister Allan Rock, Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale and Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy announced a $2.5 million increase in funding over the next three years for Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program (CPNP) initiatives in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. For more information, see their press release.
The future direction of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), one of the many controversial branches of the UN, is to be determined by Canadian Michel Agnatieff, according to a report in the National Post yesterday. Mr. Agnatieff, a former union leader and former head the Quebec wing of the federal New Democratic Party, is to head a task force assigned to shape UNESCO’s vision for the 21st century.
The American organization, Morality in Media (MIM), has gained its first big success at having some of today’s women’s magazines treated in the same way as pornographic publications (or, so-called “men’s magazines”). Kroger Supermarket Company, America’s largest conventional supermarket chain, has agreed to place Cosmopolitan magazine behind “blinder” racks. “We think every reasonable adult would agree that the monthly display of ‘hot sex’ tips on the front covers of Cosmo and Glamour are not suitable reading material for children,” noted MIM president Robert Peters.
According to an article on the website of American magazine Christianity Today, some U.S. states, beginning with California, are considering legislation that will ban same-sex “marriage”. “Californians will consider a ‘limit on marriage’ initiative on March 7 that could set a precedent for laws against same-sex unions across the country,’” notes the article. “If passed, the legislation would forbid California from recognizing same-sex unions performed in other states.” Apparently, “about 60 percent of Californians support the initiative.” “Britain … said today it will lift its ban on gays in the military but will first impose a new code of conduct on all personnel, heterosexual or homosexual.” reports Associated Press. Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon was reported in the (London) Times as saying, “someone’s sexuality is a private matter. People are entitled to a private life.” The government “promised to lift the ban after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in September in favor of four gays who were dismissed from the military,” noted AP.