In One-Child China, Second Children Often Live in Limbo

© Reuters A slogan on a wall in the village of Futang reads, “All citizens must observe the law, a single child is glorious.”

BEIJING — For 22 years, Li Xue has lived as a phantom, banished from mainstream life by China’s “one child” policy. And even now that the Communist Party has declared an end to that policy, she said, there appears to be no quick end to the limbo of many children born, like her, “outside the plan.”

“Li Xue is a Chinese citizen,” her mother, Bai Xiuling, said in an interview. “But nobody acknowledges her existence. Only her family does.”

The second daughter of a blue-collar family in southern Beijing, Ms. Li was born contrary to the rules that have limited most urban couples to one child. Like quite a few such “illicit household” children, she grew up, essentially, as a stateless inhabitant of her own country — without the identity documents, rights and services that usually come with citizenship. She never went to school, and has struggled to find work.

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“There’s just too much I have to deal with compared with normal people,” Ms. Li, a petite, soft-spoken woman said Friday while on break from her job as a waitress. “I shouldn’t be made responsible for this.”

Ms. Li’s story illustrates how China’s family planning rules have had repercussions far more complicated and enduring than just limiting the number of children. Without the residence permit and identity card that nearly all Chinese carry, people like Ms. Li have no access to education or health care. Good jobs and marriage licenses are out of reach as well.

Ms. Li said that she felt nothing more than muted curiosity when the television news announced on Thursday evening that the Communist Party would allow all couples to have two children.

She wondered if the relaxation would help people like her, but also said she had endured too many false hopes to expect that the latest shift would open the way to better treatment for families like hers.

“It’s been 22 years and we’ve already been through a lot,” she said. “The government has talked about legislation and policy changes, but I feel we just have to wait and watch, and hope that afterward they will implement or enforce these things.”

Births have been regulated by a tangle of rules, and families deemed in violation were often caught in a labyrinth of punishments, fines and deprivations enforced by the local police and family planning officers. Not all children have faced the dire consequences Ms. Li has, but the family planning administration has inspired intense anger among many people.

Millions of Chinese people live without the “residence permit,” or hukou, that serves as a kind of passport, allowing them to navigate the bureaucracy. This year, a government researcher, Wan Haiyuan, estimated that at least 6.5 million Chinese had no official status because they were born outside the family planning rules.

The rules say that officials cannot deny such children their official resident permits and other papers, but in practice officials deny them as a way of punishing families, or families avoid applying for the permits out of fear of being fined. In previous decades especially, local governments have been under intense pressure to meet population control targets, encouraging administrators to resort to forced abortions, home demolitions and other coercive measures to punish wayward families.

Ms. Li said her parents had never set out to violate the family planning rules, and they refused to pay the consequent fines. Her mother and her father had disabilities that should have entitled them to have a second child, she said. But officials deemed that they had not gotten the necessary approvals. Her mother even considered an abortion, but the doctors said she was too ill at the time to risk the operation, Ms. Li said.

Ms. Li grew up in the shadow of her sister, Li Bin, eight years older, who was born with official approval and had all the right papers.

The elder sister went to school; Ms. Li could not. She said she learned from her sister and from reading books on her own. Her elder sister could visit a doctor when she was ill; Ms. Li said she could not, because clinics and hospitals in Beijing usually require identification papers. And while her elder sister found work in a factory, Ms. Li struggled, because most employers demand identity papers.

Growing up, she said, has been an excruciating series of frustrations and dead ends. She got her job as a waitress through a friend, with an employer willing to overlook her lack of papers, she said. She lives with her mother and sister in a sparely furnished home; her father died last year.

“Without a residence permit, she doesn’t have any rights,” said her sister, Li Bin. “It’s already created so much harm. How will she work in the future, how will she get married? There are many problems that we can’t keep her from for the rest of her life.”

Li Xue said she has resisted even thinking about a boyfriend, because marriage appeared impossible, for now at least.

“When you get married, you can’t obtain a marriage license without a residence permit, and then you can’t have a child,” she said. “So I haven’t thought much about it, because there’s not much use in even thinking about it.”

Ms. Li and her family said they had often visited government offices and appealed to courts, hoping to win official status for her. But so far that has not worked, and they have refused to pay the fines that would clear the way for that, saying they are too much and unfair. Ms. Li said the fine demanded in 1993 was about $800 (5000 renminbi), but she was unsure whether the sum had grown because of interest and extra penalties. Many families with unregistered children end up paying thousands of dollars to the government.

The police station and family planning office in Ms. Li’s neighborhood both declined to comment on her claims, despite many phone calls, citing either ignorance of the case or rules against speaking to journalists.

“According to the law, it’s illegal to deny people residence permits because of family planning violations,” said Yang Zhizhu, a law academic in Beijing who was shunted from his teaching job several years ago after he and his wife had a second child and fought the resulting fines and punishments.

“But in practice, some local governments still bundle the two things together, to make it more costly to ignore the rules and to extract fines,” Mr. Yang said. “Being the capital, Beijing has always been especially strict in population policy.”

Ms. Li said that if she ever gained her residence permit and other formal documents, and could attend university, she wanted to study law and agitate to end punishment of children born without the right permits.

“I’ve been learning about the law so I can defend myself and people in my situation,” she said. “I can’t say that I’m very optimistic, because we have to say what they do, not just what they say.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-one-child-china-second-children-often-live-in-limbo/ar-BBmFmFs?li=AA54ur

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Mombasa wife “hired” assassins for Sh1.2million to kill her tycoon husband

Posted by Jambo 

A woman accused of conspiring to kill her husband over property worth millions of shillings was on Tuesday detained by police for 10 days.

Ms Rose Adhiambo and her house help, Ms Doris Akinyi, allegedly hired hitmen to kill Mr Polycarp Okumu alias Kamili at Beach Road estate in Mombasa.

Police Constable Dominic Kiptum told a Mombasa court that the two suspects and their accomplices conspired to kill Mr Ouma on diverse dates between October 20 and 26.

PAY ASSASSINS

In a sworn affidavit, he claimed that Ms Adhiambo was found by her husband at Kenya Commercial Bank, Naivas branch in Nyali while withdrawing Sh1.2 million, which was to be used to pay the assassins.

“Sources said the woman had hired people from Kisumu, who had arrived in Mombasa for the alleged mission,” he said.

Mr Kiptum said Ms Adhiambo was arrested at the bank while trying to contact the alleged killers to pick the money.

“It is also alleged that the woman had previously tried to poison her husband, but he miraculously survived,” he said.

Mr Kiptum claimed that the attempted murder must have resulted from the suspects’ efforts to inherit her husband’s property worth millions of shillings.

“Due to the gravity of the offence, I was unable to charge the suspects with the conspiracy to murder until further investigations are done,” said Mr Kiptum.

DETAINED

Resident Magistrate Viola Yator allowed an application for the two accused to be detained at Bamburi Police Station.

The two suspects, however, did not object to the application to enable police to complete their investigations.

The magistrate ordered that Mr Adhiambo and Ms Akinyi be detained at Bamburi Police Station until November 9, when the case will be mentioned.

-NAIROBINEWS.CO.KE

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UN Agency Links Hot Dogs and Other Processed Meat to Cancer

By Mwakilishi 

Bacon, hot dogs and cold cuts are under fire: The World Health Organization threw its global weight behind years of experts' warnings and declared Monday that processed meats raise the risk of colon and stomach cancer and that red meat is probably harmful, too.

Meat producers are angry, vegetarians are feeling vindicated, and cancer experts are welcoming the most comprehensive pronouncement yet on the relation between our modern meat-eating lifestyles and cancer.

The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, analyzed decades of research and for the first time put processed meats in the same danger category as smoking or asbestos. That doesn't mean salami is as bad as cigarettes, only that there's a confirmed link to cancer. And even then, the risk is small.

The results aren't that shocking in the U.S., where many parents fret over chemicals in cured meats and the American Cancer Society has long cautioned against eating too much steak and deli.

But the U.N. agency's findings could shake up public health attitudes elsewhere, such as European countries where sausages are savored and smoked ham is a national delicacy.

And they could hurt the American meat industry, which is arguing vigorously against linking their products with cancer, contending that the disease involves a number of lifestyle and environmental factors.

While U.S. rates of colon cancer have been declining, it is the No. 2 cancer for women worldwide and No. 3 for men, according to the WHO.

A group of 22 scientists from the IARC evaluated more than 800 studies from several continents about meat and cancer. The studies looked at more than a dozen types of cancer in populations with diverse diets over the past 20 years.

Based on that analysis, the IARC classified processed meat as "carcinogenic to humans," noting links in particular to colon cancer. It said red meat contains some important nutrients, but still labeled it "probably carcinogenic," with links to colon, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

The agency made no specific dietary recommendations and said it did not have enough data to define how much processed meat is too dangerous. But it said the risk rises with the amount consumed.

An analysis of 10 of the studies suggested that a 50-gram portion of processed meat daily — or about 1.75 ounces — increases the risk of colorectal cancer over a lifetime by about 18 percent.

An ounce and three-quarters is roughly equivalent to a hot dog or a few slices of bologna, though it depends on how thinly it is sliced.

Overall, the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer in the U.S. is about 1 in 20, or 5 percent, according to the cancer society. By the WHO's calculations, having a cold-cut sandwich every day would only raise that to around 6 percent.

Experts have long warned of the dangers of certain chemicals used to cure meat, such as nitrites and nitrates, which the body converts into cancer-causing compounds. It is also known that grilling or smoking meat can create suspected carcinogens.

"For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed," Dr. Kurt Straif of the IARC said in a statement. "In view of the large number of people who consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is of public health importance."

The cancer agency noted research by the Global Burden of Disease Project suggesting that 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide are linked to diets heavy in processed meat. That compared with 1 million deaths a year linked to smoking, 600,000 a year to alcohol consumption and 200,000 a year to air pollution.

Doctors in rich countries especially have long counseled against eating lots of red or processed meat — and not just because of the cancer danger but because of the heart risks from the saturated fat and sodium.

The WHO researchers defined processed meat as anything transformed to improve its flavor or preserve it, including sausages, beef jerky and anything smoked. They defined red meat to include beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse and goat.

The report said grilling, pan-frying or other high-temperature methods of cooking red meat produce the highest amounts of chemicals suspected of causing cancer.

"This is an important step in helping individuals make healthier dietary choices to reduce their risk of colorectal cancer in particular," said Susan Gapstur of the American Cancer Society, which has recommended limiting red and processed meat intake since 2002, and suggests choosing fish or poultry or cooking red meat at low temperatures.

The North American Meat Institute argued in a statement that "cancer is a complex disease not caused by single foods."

Independent experts stressed that the WHO findings should be kept in perspective.

"Three cigarettes per day increases the risk of lung cancer sixfold," or 500 percent, compared with the 18 percent from eating a couple slices of bologna a day, said Gunter Kuhnle, a food nutrition scientist at the University of Reading.

"This is still very relevant from a public health point of view, as there are more than 30,000 new cases per year" of colon cancer, he said. "But it should not be used for scaremongering."

- Associated Press

In Tanzania, sharing a husband may lead to greater wealth and health, study says

Posted by Jambo 

Children can thrive in polygamous families and are often better off than those from monogamous households in poor communities, researchers said on Monday, calling for greater cultural sensitivity among campaigners seeking to ban polygamy.

In Tanzania, polygamous families owned more cattle and farmed more land than monogamous ones in the same villages, according to a study involving 3,500 households in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

There was no evidence that children whose fathers had more than one wife were less healthy or hungrier than those in monogamous households.

“Children in polygamous households either do better or just as well as children in monogamous households within the same village,” the lead researcher, David Lawson of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

First wives, who tend to live with their husbands, had significantly better nutrition and less stunting among their children than monogamous families.

The children of later wives, who usually live in separate homes adjacent to the first wife, were as healthy as monogamous families, although their food security was slightly lower.

“It’s an important finding because we have this very strong language used by the United Nations and others that polygyny is universally harmful,” Lawson said.

“Most of the policy speak on this topic is not actually very evidence based… What we are arguing for is cultural sensitivity.”

Polygyny refers to marriage systems where men can have multiple wives, while polygamy means marrying more than one wife or husband at the same time.

Polygamous marriages should be discouraged and outlawed because they are unequal and have negative emotional and financial impacts on women and children, says the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

“Of course we want to improve the status of women,” Lawson said. “But if you just change marriage laws without addressing the underlying position of women within society, you may restrict their options, so it could be detrimental.”

One in four married women in rural Tanzania have at least one co-wife, government data shows.

Maasai women often enter polygamous marriages with wealthier men in the community, unlike the Meru, who live on fertile mountain slopes near the city of Arusha and tend to be better educated and monogamous.

“Polygyny can be potentially protective within cultural settings where women lack direct control over resources,” said Lawson.

For example, under the custom of widow inheritance, women whose husbands die are re-married to the brother of the deceased, often as a second or later wife.

He is expected to provide for the widow who loses her marital home when her husband dies because women traditionally cannot inherit land.

“In contexts where women are unable to own resources, it can be within their strategic interests, within those confines, to share a husband,” said Lawson.

– the-star.co.ke

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Lufthansa Resumes Direct Passenger Flights to Nairobi

By Mwakilishi 

German airline Lufthansa Sunday resumed direct passenger flight service to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, ending 18 years of absence.

The airline, which is Germany’s biggest, is making a comeback to the Kenyan airspace for the second time with direct flights to Frankfurt.

Lufthansa’s return brings to a close its reliance on code-shared flights with its partners, the Swiss and Brussels Airlines, to connect passengers to Nairobi.

The German carrier, which has been operating four weekly cargo flights to Nairobi, is deploying an AirbusA340-300 for the passenger service and will be handled by Africa Flight Services, the company associated with billionaire businessman Peter Muthoka.

Kenya’s ambassador to Germany Joseph Magut said Lufthansa’s return to Nairobi was an endorsement of the milestones the country has realised in dealing with the security challenges.

“It is a show of confidence in our economy and deepens Nairobi’s status and East Africa’s aviation hub,” Mr Magut said, adding that the direct flights should keep the flow of German tourists to Kenya steady. Germany remains one of Kenya’s most steady tourism source markets that accounts for nearly 70,000 visitors every year.

Lufthansa said its three weekly flights will leave Nairobi every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until April when it will formally introduce the Boeing 737-700 aircraft it had planned to use on the route.

The airline said on its website that it plans to use the larger Boeing 737-700 aircraft for 12 flights between December 15 and January 16 to cater for the “exceptionally high bookings” during the period when many people are expected to escape Europe’s winter for warm tropical weather in places like Kenya.

Bettina Volkens, Lufthansa Member of the Executive Board and top Kenya government officials are expected to hold a news conference on the airline’s re-entry to the Nairobi route Monday morning.

Tourism minister Phyllis Kandie is expected to attend the briefing alongside Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) officials.

KTB is banking on resumption of direct flights to Germany to boost tourism numbers that have plummeted in the past couple of years as the country grappled with security challenges that saw a number of western governments issue travel advisories asking their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Kenya.

Brussels Airlines, which has been partnering with the German carrier, has wound up its services in Kenya after 13 years leaving Lufthansa and Swiss in line to take over its business.

SWISS airline has over the years relied on the absence of Lufthansa to connect Germany-bound passengers through Zurich.

Africa Flight Services’ (AFS) winning of the contract to handle the passenger airline firms its grip on Lufthansa’s Kenya operations.

The company has been handling the German airline’s cargo freighters and taking over the passenger business takes the battle to the doorsteps of Swissport, the ground handling firm that has been doing the business with SWISS and Brussels airlines.

- Business Daily