Swiss Justice Minister Rethinks Assisted-Suicide Bill
Sunday, 08 August 2010 13:49
Written by SwissInfo <http://www.eurasiareview.com/swissinfo.html>
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Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf says she wants the government to
rethink its proposal to tighten legislation on assisted suicide.
Widmer-Schlumpf, in a SonntagsZeitung newspaper interview, said assisted
suicide should not only be limited to the terminally ill who are close to
death.
In October last year, the justice minister presented two draft bills, one of
which foresees an outright ban on right-to-die organisations such as Exit or
Dignitas.
The other bill would introduce severe restrictions, including the need for
two doctor's certificates to prove that a patient is suffering from an
incurable and probably fatal illness and that patients are making an
informed decision to end their lives.
The aim of the regulations is to limit so called "death tourism".
However, the proposals have been widely criticised, and not only by the
right-to-die organisations.
All parties represented in government, with the exception of the
centre-right Christian Democrats, have said the existing laws allowing
assisted suicide and passive euthanasia ("mercy killing") are sufficient.
And the National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics (NEK) said the
chronically ill should have access to assisted suicide.
Assisted suicide has been allowed in Switzerland since the 1940s if
performed by someone who has no vested interest in the death. About 400
people committed assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2007 - a third of them
came from Germany and Britain.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/201008086658/swiss-justice-minister-rethinks-assisted-suicide-bill.html
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Massachusetts governor signs bill dropping R-word from state
language<http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/2010/08/massachusetts-governor-signs-bill.html>
>From *The
>AP<http://news.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20100804mass_bans_use_of_word_retardation_in_state_laws/>
*:
Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a bill banning the use of the word
"retardation" in Massachusetts laws.
The new law signed by Patrick Aug. 5 replaces the words "mental retardation"
with "intellectual disabilities or disability" wherever they appear
throughout the Massachusetts General Laws.
Patrick said the change is designed to help promote dignity for one of the
state’s most vulnerable populations.
Advocates for the developmentally disabled had pushed for the switch.
The new law comes on the heels last year’s renaming of the Department of
Developmental Services, which had previously been called the Department of
Mental Retardation
http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/2010/08/massachusetts-governor-signs-bill.html
Haia set to issue guidelines for practice of faith healing
By *MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS*
*Published:* Aug 7, 2010 23:50 *Updated:* Aug 7, 2010 23:50
*JEDDAH: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of
Vice (Haia) is currently preparing regulations and guidelines governing the
practice of ruqya (the process in which verses of the Holy Qur’an are
recited to treat diseases) in an effort to stop the unlawful forms of the
treatment often used by sorcerers.*
“Some people earn money by practicing unlawful incantations besides
resorting to immoral acts such as stripping women patients. Such sorcerers
have given the ruqya a bad reputation. Regulations have been put in place to
permit only lawful forms of ruqya,” said Adil Al-Muqbil, supervisor of the
Haia’s department that is in charge of tackling sorcery, in a speech on
Saturday at a weeklong seminar on the subject in Hail.
Al-Muqbil underscored the Haia’s stance, which distinguishes between
charlatans and sorcerers.
“Sorcerers slaughter animals without invoking the name of Allah and utter
unintelligible words besides claiming knowledge of the future. They use
fingernails, hair and inner clothes for their black arts,” he said.
He added that charlatans, on the other hand, do not perform black magic but
rather engage in confidence rackets to fool their subjects into thinking
they have special powers.
The seminar — entitled “The Best People” — will also stage several cultural
and religious events, contests and an exhibition in which government
departments and private agencies will participate, said Mutlaq Al-Thabit,
spokesman for the Haia in the Hail province.
Eminent religious scholars will deliver lectures during the seminar after
Maghreb prayer ever day, he added.
Lectures given during the seminar include topics such as "The ills of drug
addiction" by Muhammad Al-Eidi and "Family upbringing as taught by the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)" by Prince Naif bin Mamduh.
Hail Gov. Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsen will attend the final function of the
seminar on Thursday.
Haia chief Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Humain is also expected to participate.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article97294.ece
<http://www.eurasiareview.com/swissinfo.html>
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