Stray dog saves boy in Siberia

For many, Russia’s homeless dogs are a sharp-toothed menace, but one mother believes her son owes his life to a local stray.

When Andrei Pavlov, 4, fell through the ice while feeding ducks near his Krasnoyarsk home, it was Naida who raised the alarm.

The stray saw the accident and her barking alerted a woman who has been feeding dogs in the neighbourhood — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Mobile number portability flops in India

Mobile number portability has not taken off in India, with only about 1.7 million users applying for change of operator in the 15 days since the program was introduced, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

India had about 730 million mobile connections at the end of November last year, and it was expected that a large number of subscribers would rush to take advantage of the option that allows them to change operators while retaining their mobile numbers — via redwolf.newsvine.com

India pulls the plug on yoga as business

India is all set to give hot yoga a cold shoulder.

In order to stop self-styled yoga gurus from claiming copyright to ancient asanas, like Bikram Choudhury’s Hot Yoga — a set of 26 sequences practised in a heated room — India has completed documenting 1,300 asanas which will soon be uploaded on the country’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), making them public knowledge — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hottest night on record, but relief only hours away

The southerly buster bringing a cool change to Sydney has finally arrived, dropping temperatures by 10 degrees in an hour to end a record week-long heatwave.

Since about 2pm, the temperature in the city has fallen to about 26 degrees – lower than the overnight minimum of 27.6 degrees which was the hottest night ever recorded in Sydney. — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Africa shows signs of winning war against female genital mutilation

In Africa, if you play music in an open space, any music, then people will generally come. It is the way to reach people, to bring them together. So says Sister Fa, a Senegalese urban soul and hip-hop star who has been lending her voice to a remarkable new drive against female circumcision in 12 of the countries worst affected by the practice across the continent.

The first report into a United Nations project that began in 2008 has shown remarkable success rates with more than 6,000 villages and communities in six countries already abandoning the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) – also known as cutting or female circumcision – with the numbers growing every month — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Appeals Court: free Internet porn isn’t unfair competition to pay sites

Whatever you think about Internet porn, if you have any sympathy for online commerce you will be glad to know that this lawsuit failed. A California Appeals court has dismissed the case as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit—an action designed to censor free speech.

The publication of a video on the Internet, whether it depicts teenagers playing football or adult entertainment qualifies as ‘conduct in furtherance of… free speech, the court ruled last week. …All of Cammarata’s causes of action arise from Bright’s conduct of placing speech on the Internet where it can be viewed for free by the public. This is the ‘predatory pricing’ that Cammarata complains of.

The judges also took a look at the Redtube business model, and after a fascinating review of the history of broadcasting and the Internet, rejected the plaintiffs unfair competition claims — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Conroy not fooling anyone on an open internet

Amongst all of this our own government’s response has been tepid, confused and contradictory. The response to Clinton’s speech, as we have noted before, was cringeworthy in its brazen twisting of her words to support a pro-censorship agenda. The reaction to the Wikileaks developments should have been a principled stand on free speech and the rights of an Australian citizen, but turned into a posturing witch-hunt.

And today, Senator Conroy has was asked about the crisis in Egypt, where a desperate government cut internet access in order to hinder protestors. The minister in response declared his undying love for an Internet free of government control and assured us that such a thing could never happen in Australia — via redwolf.newsvine.com

A True Story Of Daily Mail Lies

In a departure from this blog’s usual jokey fisking, what follows is a guest post from fellow Manchester-dweller and fellow cool person Juliet Shaw. It’s the story of how she agreed to be the subject of what turned out to be a deeply misleading Mail article, and her subsequent fight against it. — via redwolf.newsvine.com

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange awarded Sydney peace medal

In the estimation of the Sydney Peace Foundation, Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stands alongside the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela.

As he outrages and embarrasses world leaders by leaking secret US diplomatic cables – and continues to face down allegations of sex offences – Mr Assange has been chosen by the foundation to receive a rare gold medal for peace with justice.

The honour, previously given only to the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Japanese lay Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda in the foundation’s 14-year history, has been bestowed for Mr Assange’s exceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights.

Foundation director Stuart Rees said today the Australian’s work had challenged the old order of power in politics and journalism.

Peace from our point of view is really about justice, fairness and the attainment of human rights, Professor Rees told AAP — via richardfarner.newsvine.com