India Gandhi book ban 'shameful'

The book has been widely reviewed but is yet to be released in India

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The author of a book on Mahatma Gandhi has said it is "shameful" that it has been banned in India's western state of Gujarat.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Joseph Lelyveld said the book was banned on the basis of newspaper reviews.

He said the reviews had sensationalised his account of Gandhi's friendship with a German man, who may have been homosexual.

Although legal, homosexuality still carries a stigma in India.

Gujarat's state assembly voted unanimously on Wednesday immediately to ban Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India - even though it has not yet been released in India and few people will have read it.

"In a country (India) that calls itself a democracy, it is shameful to ban a book that no one has read, including the people who are doing the banning," Mr Lelyveld was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.

"They should at least make an effort to see the pages that they think offend them before they take such an extreme step. I find it very discouraging to think that India would so limit discussion," he said.

Indian writers and relatives of Mahatma Gandhi have protested against the ban.

Gandhi's great grandson Tushar Gandhi said he was against banning of books, and that it did not matter "if the Mahatma was straight, gay or bisexual".

"Every time he would still be the man who led India to freedom".

Writer Namita Gokhale said she was saddened by the ban.

"Every time a book is banned, it saddens me because you simply cannot ban ideas, you cannot ban thoughts." she said.

"In India a democratic space for ideas is a gift and I think banning a book is the most pointless exercise."

Mr Lelyveld has denied writing that Gandhi was a bisexual, saying his work had been taken out of context.

"I do not allege that Gandhi is a racist or bisexual in Great Soul," he told the Times of India.

"The word 'bisexual' nowhere appears in the book."

However reviews of the book give detailed comment on its coverage of his alleged affair with Hermann Kallenbach - a German architect, who emigrated to South Africa, where he met Gandhi in 1904.

"How completely you have taken possession of my body," reads one widely quoted letter from Gandhi to Mr Kallenbach in the book. "This is slavery with a vengeance."

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that contents of the book were "perverse and defamed the icon of non-violence".

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-south-asia-12930427

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VIDEO: One-minute World News

Watch the latest news summary from BBC World News. International news updated 24 hours a day.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/10462520

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Midwife shortage 'costs 1m lives'

Many women's lives could be saved by access to basic maternal healthcare

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Nearly 48 million women, or one in three, around the world give birth each year without expert help, a report from UK charity Save the Children estimates.

If the global shortage of 350,000 midwives was met, more than 1m babies could be saved every year, it said.

It said 1,000 women and 2,000 babies were dying every day from easily preventable birth complications.

The charity urged world leaders to show the political will to improve access to midwives and healthcare globally.

Save the Children, which is launching a campaign for more midwives, said more babies in poorer countries died from lack of oxygen at birth than from malaria.

It said women in the poorest countries were the least likely to have a skilled attendant present at delivery, were much more likely to lose their child, and were the most likely to die during childbirth.

Case study

Rogul, 35, from Afghanistan's Kabul province, said she'd had eight premature deliveries, losing all the babies, reports the BBC's Paul Wood.

The only help she had had was from an illiterate woman who said the bleeding would stop if she shook seven metal chains in a glass of water.

A ninth baby, which went to full term, also died a day after delivery. Rogul had not been given a simple tetanus vaccine. "After I delivered him, his legs and arms turned green and he passed away," she said.

Rogul has since trained as a midwife, teaching pregnant women in three villages about hygiene, diet, prompt breast feeding after birth and other simple practices which she says, has saved many lives. She has gone on to have three daughters and a son of her own.

In Ethiopia, 94% of women give birth without trained help, while in the UK the figure is only 1%, the charity said.

In the UK - where there are 749,000 births a year - there are 26,825 working midwives, while in Rwanda - where 400,000 babies are born a year - there are only 46.

Afghanistan has one of the highest infant mortality rates, with 52 in every 1,000 births ending in death.

The report said Afghan women faced a one in 11 risk of dying from complications during pregnancy and childbirth. One in five children dies before the age of five.

Many babies in Afghanistan die because of traditional practices, such as placing them on the floor to ward off evil spirits, which can cause infection, it said.

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said no mother should face giving birth without help.

"It doesn't have to be complicated: someone who knows how to dry a baby properly and rub its back to help it breathe can make the difference between life and death. No child is born to die."

Mr Forsyth called on governments around the world to put health workers at the heart of their plans.

"World leaders pledged to do just that last year, but now they need to deliver the funds and political will to support this pledge. Without it, mums and babies will continue to die needlessly every day," he said.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-12929907

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VIDEO: Maasai cricket - it's Odd Box

A runaway raccoon, Maasai cricket, and the boy with a drum kit in his jeans. It's the week's weird and wonderful video stories in Newsbeat's Odd Box with Dominic Byrne.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/newsbeat/12929566

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SA rugby star 'in axe rampage'

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Former South African rugby star Joseph Ntshongwana has appeared in court for allegedly hacking three men to death with an axe.

The killings are said to have been to avenge the gang-rape and HIV-infection of his daughter, local reports say.

Mr Ntshongwana, who appeared in a packed Durban court, was not asked to plead to three charges of murder, one of attempted murder and one of assault.

He is a former flanker for 2010 national champions Blue Bulls.

At least one of the bodies was decapitated and the head found in a dustbin almost 2km (1 mile) away.

Another victim's head was left hanging "by a nerve", police said.

Details of the third man killed have not been released.

"As the axe came down towards my head, I ducked and it scratched my stomach," said survivor, Khangelani Mdluli, 27, reports Cape Argus newspaper.

Police have alleged that Mr Ntshongwana stalked his victims over several days in and around townships near Durban before killing them.

The police cannot confirm that his daughter was raped, saying that may be investigated later on.

Mr Ntshongwana has been remanded in police custody and is due back in court on 7 April for a bail hearing.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-12920189

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VIDEO: Actress Lyudmila Gurchenko mourned

Actress Lyudmila Gurchenko, described as ''Russia's Elizabeth Taylor'', has died at the age of 75.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/entertainment-arts-12929573

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Midwife shortage 'costs 1m lives'

Many women's lives could be saved by access to basic maternal healthcare

Related Stories

Nearly 48 million women, or one in three, around the world give birth each year without expert help, a report from UK charity Save the Children estimates.

If the global shortage of 350,000 midwives was met, more than 1m babies could be saved every year, it said.

It said 1,000 women and 2,000 babies were dying every day from easily preventable birth complications.

The charity urged world leaders to show the political will to improve access to midwives and healthcare globally.

Save the Children, which is launching a campaign for more midwives, said more babies in poorer countries died from lack of oxygen at birth than from malaria.

It said women in the poorest countries were the least likely to have a skilled attendant present at delivery, were much more likely to lose their child, and were the most likely to die during childbirth.

Case study

Rogul, 35, from Afghanistan's Kabul province, said she'd had eight premature deliveries, losing all the babies, reports the BBC's Paul Wood.

The only help she had had was from an illiterate woman who said the bleeding would stop if she shook seven metal chains in a glass of water.

A ninth baby, which went to full term, also died a day after delivery. Rogul had not been given a simple tetanus vaccine. "After I delivered him, his legs and arms turned green and he passed away," she said.

Rogul has since trained as a midwife, teaching pregnant women in three villages about hygiene, diet, prompt breast feeding after birth and other simple practices which she says, has saved many lives. She has gone on to have three daughters and a son of her own.

In Ethiopia, 94% of women give birth without trained help, while in the UK the figure is only 1%, the charity said.

In the UK - where there are 749,000 births a year - there are 26,825 working midwives, while in Rwanda - where 400,000 babies are born a year - there are only 46.

Afghanistan has one of the highest infant mortality rates, with 52 in every 1,000 births ending in death.

The report said Afghan women faced a one in 11 risk of dying from complications during pregnancy and childbirth. One in five children dies before the age of five.

Many babies in Afghanistan die because of traditional practices, such as placing them on the floor to ward off evil spirits, which can cause infection, it said.

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said no mother should face giving birth without help.

"It doesn't have to be complicated: someone who knows how to dry a baby properly and rub its back to help it breathe can make the difference between life and death. No child is born to die."

Mr Forsyth called on governments around the world to put health workers at the heart of their plans.

"World leaders pledged to do just that last year, but now they need to deliver the funds and political will to support this pledge. Without it, mums and babies will continue to die needlessly every day," he said.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-12929907

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