Straight British couple fight for civil partnership

A straight British couple who reject marriage but want to seal their love with a civil partnership were told Tuesday they could not because they are not gay.

Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle, both 25-year-old civil servants, were turned away from Islington Registry Office in north London because the law says civil partnerships -- brought in here in 2005 -- are only for same-sex couples.

Undeterred, the couple said they will take their fight for equality to court.

"We want to secure official status for our relationship in a way that supports the call for complete equality and is free of the negative connotations of marriage," Freeman said.

"If we cannot have a civil partnership, we will not get married."

A spokesman for Islington Council said: "The law dictates that a civil partnership is only for couples of the same sex. The council must follow the law."

There are a small number of differences between a marriage and a civil partnership, including that a marriage can be conducted in a church, while a civil partnership cannot. (AFP)

French artist sells work in 'game' with the devil

A French artist has struck an unusual deal to sell his latest work: instead of paying up front, the buyer will hand over a regular fee until the artist dies.

Christian Boltanski said his deal with Australian professional gambler David Walsh was a "game" with the devil -- but not a pact.

The work involves four video cameras filming Boltanski's studio in suburban Paris, day and night, from January until his death, with images relayed live to a cave in Tasmania, Australia.

"This man (Walsh) thinks he can beat the odds and he says he never loses," Boltanski, 65, told AFP in an interview at the studio in Malakoff, in the southwest Paris suburbs.

"Anyone who never loses or thinks he never loses must be the devil."

Rather than handing over the price of the work in one lump sum, Walsh will make regular payments -- monthly or annual, the artist did not say -- until Boltanski's death.

The longer Boltanski lives, the more Walsh has to pay.

Walsh, a professional gambler who made his fortune in casinos, worked out that he would make money from the deal if Boltanski dies within the next eight years.

"If I die in three years, he wins. If I die in 10 years, he loses," Boltanski said.

"He has assured me I will die before the eight years is up because he never loses. He's probably right. I don't look after myself very well.

"But I'm going to try to survive. You can always fight against the devil."

It was Boltanski -- a doctor's son with a lifelong fascination with death -- who came up with the unusual payment scheme and he seems unfazed by the prospect of being on camera so much of the time.

"It's not my bedroom, it's just my studio," he said, and in any case the pictures are going to Tasmania, where "no-one ever goes".

The images will be stored on DVD, but as long as the artist is still alive, there are restrictions on what Walsh can do with them.

Walsh has a passion for the macabre, the Boltanski said, and collects Egyptian mummies.

"He wanted to buy my ashes, but I refused. I don't want to end up in Tasmania. There's a little temple in Japan that will suit me just fine," he said. (AFP)

Rio does away with coconuts on beaches

One of the enduring images of Rio's beaches -- coconuts opened to yield their sweet water -- is about to be a thing of the past under a new clean-up campaign by authorities.

The environment secretariat of the host city of the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games has decreed that the big green fruit beloved by thirsty residents and tourists alike is an unhygienic eye-sore and its sale by vendors will be banned from December 1.

"Go on Ipanema beach at the end of the day and you'll see a mountain of coconuts that people have left on the sand. What attracts rats most to the beach are coconut husks," the official in charge of the beaches, Jovanildo Savastano, told AFP.

Up to 30 tons of empty coconuts are recovered every day, he said.

Some environmentalists argue however that the fruit is biodegradable and presents no negative ecological impact. Its liquid is also excellent for health, they say.

Beachgoers with a craving for coconut juice will still be able to slake their thirst, but only by buying it in receptacles like bottles -- or industrially made, in cans.

"This ban favors companies more than the people," environmentalist Gerhard Sardo said, stressing that empty drink cans are already a problem.

Rio de Janeiro's mayor, Eduardo Paes, has offered to rethink the ban -- but only if the thousands of people hitting the city's beaches pick up after themselves.

Besides cleaning up Rio beaches, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vowed last month to ensure The Marvelous City is also free from violence during its hosting of the 2016 Olympic Games. (AFP)

Italians reject proposal to abolish lunch breaks: media

Italians have vehemently rejected a cabinet minister's proposal that lunch breaks be scrapped to increase productivity, media reported Tuesday.

Gianfranco Rotondi, minister for programme implementation, made the suggestion on Monday, saying, "The lunch break impairs work. It is a ritual which brings the whole country to a halt."

His statement provoked an outcry. "But has Rotondi ever worked?" Communist Party official Gianni Pagliarini asked ironically in La Stampa newspaper.

Italians questioned by television stations and newspapers were also against by the proposal.

"An enemy attack on the rights of workers," is how it was described in the Repubblica daily by Michele Gentile, a leader in Italy's largest labour union, CGIL, which has five million members.

"If it is behind the obscure wish to try to lengthen work hours or to increase productivity, then we are against it. The lunch break has been a right for a long time," he said.

"While we are at it, why don't we do away with the annoying ritual of sleep," added Gentile's colleague Carlo Podda in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Nutritionists pointed to potential danger to health and productivity.

"It is meals that synchronise our rhythms. It would be a mistake to disrupt this mechanism with a long fast," said Giuseppe Fatati, president of the Italian Association for Clinical Dietetics and Nutrition, in Il Messaggero daily.

"We cannot let the brain starve. To maintain concentration and productivity, it needs 'fuel'," he said, adding that the absence of meal breaks could also lead to weight gain. (AFP)

White House veggies for Obama's big night

With arugula straight from his garden and entertainment by two Oscar winners, President Barack Obama took a fresh take on the state dinner in Washington's top social event since his inauguration.

For a youthful president who often draws comparisons to John F. Kennedy, Obama reserved the glamour of his first White House state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, in a bid to show his commitment to the world's largest democracy.

More than 300 guests including film director Steven Spielberg dined under the stars and drizzle in a warm tent on the South Lawn. Each table was decked with candles and flowers in a festive feel Obama likened to India's gala outdoor parties.

"It's been said that the most beautiful things in the universe are the starry heavens above us and the feeling of duty within us," Obama said in a toast to Singh, quoting an Indian proverb.

The appetizer came from just a few feet away -- arugula grown in the White House garden, set up by First Lady Michelle Obama in her drive to encourage healthier eating.

It may also have been one of the more daring choices of the evening. While campaigning for president in Iowa in 2007, critics hoping to portray Obama as elitist attacked the then senator for speaking to farmers about arugula.

In a nod to Singh, who like many Indians prefers not to eat meat, the menu was all vegetarian save for an option of green curry prawns with smoked collard greens.

The guests' other choice, which also pays tribute to both Indian and African-American cuisine, was roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney, chickpeas and okra.

Brought in as the guest chef is Marcus Samuellson, who was born in Ethiopia, raised in Sweden and lives in New York where his Aquavit restaurant has won acclaim for transcending cultural boundaries.

Michelle Obama described Samuellson as "one of the finest chefs in the country" and said the meal featured "the freshest ingredients from area farmers and purveyors."

"It's going to showcase the best of American cooking," she said.

The first lady sported a gold and cream strapless dress by Naeem Khan, an Indian-born US designer who has also made outfits for musical sensations Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce.

The guests also had a more direct look at musical celebrity with performances by Oscar winners Jennifer Hudson and A.R. Rahman, along with the National Symphony Orchestra and jazz vocalist Kurt Elling.

Hudson, raised in a poor neighborhood in Obama's hometown of Chicago, shot to stardom on the reality show "American Idol" and went on to win an Academy Award for her performance in the movie "Dreamgirls."

Rahman is one of the top composers and musicians in India's prolific Bollywood film industry. He won two Oscars for his song "Jai Ho," which was the theme to the rags-to-riches blockbuster "Slumdog Millionaire."

With invitations to the dinner a hot commodity, some guests made their own fashion statements.

Semonti Stephens, a top aide to Michelle Obama, showed up in a red and golden sari from Kolkata which she wore to her own wedding.

Congressman Jim McDermott, a strong supporter of India, sported a black Nehru jacket he bought in India and his wife came in a sari.

Other guests included most of the top US leadership, entertainment moguls Spielberg and David Geffen, novelist Jhumpa Lahiri and spiritual guru Deepak Chopra.

In a nod to bipartisanship, Obama invited several members of the rival Republican Party including Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who is of Indian descent.

While much of the glitz may appear to be for domestic consumption, Vice President Joe Biden assured the self-effacing Singh that it was meant to show a commitment to India.

"You are the hottest ticket in town," Biden told him. (AFP)

Action on climate change 'also averts health crisis'

Climate change will imperil health through malaria, cholera, heatwaves and hunger, but many problems can be eased or avoided if countries make wise policy choices, doctors said on Wednesday.

In a series of papers issued ahead of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, experts challenged governments to factor in public health when conceiving a battle plan for global warming.

"In view of the trillions of dollars likely to be spent on greenhouse-gas mitigation in the coming decades, the relatively small resources needed to guide investments along paths bringing the world closer to its health and climate goals would be money well spent," they said.

The reports were published by the British medical revue The Lancet in the runup to the December 7-18 showdown, which aims at building a planet-wide pact on climate change from 2013.

"Policymakers have been slow to recognise that the real bottom line of climate change is its risk to human health and quality of life," World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan said in a commentary.

"Malnutrition, and its devastating effects on child health, will increase.

"Worsening floods, droughts and storms will cause more deaths and injuries. Heatwaves will cause more deaths, largely among people who are elderly.

"Finally, climate change could alter the geographical distribution of disease vectors, including the insects that spread malaria and dengue."

The Lancet file said policymakers could boost both the environment and public health through "careful selection" of actions to curb carbon.

It offered these examples:

-- HOUSEHOLD ENERGY: Switching to lower-carbon energy in poorer countries would avert millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from biomass stoves and save people at risk from pneumonia, lung disease and lung cancer from particles and fumes.

The report gave the example of India, which suffers an estimated 400,000 premature deaths from biomass burning each year.

A 10-year programme to introduce 150 million lower-emission cookers in India, either as cleaner fossil fuels or advanced biomass stoves, would cost less than 50 dollars per household to start with, an investment that would have to be renewed after five years.

Over the decade, this initiative would save 1.8 million adult lives and 240,000 children aged under five -- an equivalent achievement to nearly halving the national burden from cancer.

It would slash India's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by up to 200,000 tonnes per million population per year. In addition, levels of "black carbon" particles, methane and other dangerous compounds would fall by as much as a billion tonnes over the 10 years.

-- AGRICULTURE: Food and agriculture contribute between 10 and 12 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, while deforestation and changes in land use add another six to 17 percent.

By 2030, surging demand for meat, especially in fast-growing Asia, is expected to drive up livestock production by 85 percent compared to 2000 levels, which in turn will drive up emissions of methane and other heat-trapping gases.

But a 30-percent reduction in production in large livestock-rearing economies, coupled to technological improvements, would help meet carbon emissions targets and also pare the toll from heart disease inflicted by saturated animal fats. In Britain, 18,000 deaths could be averted in one year, according to their estimate.

-- TRANSPORT: Designing cities so that people can walk or cycle would benefit health more than introducing low-emission vehicles.

Modelling of London and Delhi, in scenarios that saw less motor traffic and more "active transport" in both cities, showed a fall in carbon emissions and in heart attacks, strokes and dementia.

In London, the switch would lead to an increase of 19-39 percent in road injuries, but Delhi would see a fall of 27-69 percent.

Also on Wednesday, senior clinicians announced they had set up a worldwide network, the International Climate and Health Council, to mobilise professionals' awareness of the link between ill-health and climate change.

In September, the heads of 18 doctors' associations urged world leaders to be decisive in Copenhagen, warning a weak response could have "catastrophic" consequences for international health. (AFP)

UN AIDS chief in China to push for stronger civil society

The UN AIDS chief said 50 million people are at risk from the disease in China and the government must do more to reach out to civil society and work with vulnerable groups such as homosexuals.

China has 319,877 confirmed HIV cases but 740,000 are estimated to be infected, Michel Sidibe told AFP in an interview late Tuesday, citing figures compiled by UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation and China's health ministry.

But up to 50 million others are in high-risk groups such as sex workers, migrant labourers and drug users, he added.

The UNAIDS executive director said he chose China as the place to launch the UN 2009 AIDS epidemic update on Tuesday, partly to push Chinese leaders to work with non-government groups, who often must operate unofficially in China.

"I wanted to come here to push a few agendas ... I'm pushing them for a civil society ... they don't have mechanisms to register them and monitor how they are doing," Sidibe said.

With sexual transmission between gay males accounting for 32 percent of new infections in China last year, Sidibe said more must also be done to engage the homosexual community, which struggles for acceptance in China.

Sidibe travels to Beijing on Wednesday for talks with Chinese leaders and to launch a new public awareness campaign featuring NBA star Yao Ming on Friday.

He said the involvement of such a popular and high-profile star as Yao was a positive signal that Chinese society was getting more comfortable discussing AIDS.

Health Minister Chen Zhu joined Sidibe at the UNAIDS report's release in Shanghai and acknowledged China faced "a long march" in AIDS prevention and control.

Calling AIDS "an engine for social change", Sidibe said it was forcing Beijing to openly discuss controversial issues.

"When you talk about AIDS, you talk about sex, you talk about human rights," he said.

Chen has agreed to hold an AIDS human rights forum early next year to discuss issues including patient care, women's role in society, sex workers, and the homosexual community, Sidibe said.

He said the forum would help carve out space for civil society in China's AIDS dialogue.

"Like most former Communist countries, you have a nascent civil society," he said.

"It has never been well-organised, it has been characterised by the position of individuals, vocal activists who were able to voice their position a little. I'm seeing major progress."

Sidibe said the government is adopting a more open approach due to the evolution of the epidemic in China, which has shifted from mostly intravenous drug use to sexual transmission.

Sexual transmission accounted for more than 72 percent of new cases last year.

"They have today 30 to 50 million people at risk in China because of their behaviour," Sidibe said.

He based those numbers largely on China's huge floating population of migrant workers, traditionally a high-risk group as it includes prostitutes and migrants who pay them for sex.

"Multiply that by the number of spouses, by the number of children and family members who could be affected -- it's a major risk they want to manage," he said.

"(China is) dealing with it with energy and pragmatism -- which is important to say to the rest of the world. That doesn't mean there aren't issues."

Sidibe's words of support for civil society were welcomed by Wan Yanhai, the Beijing-based founder of the AIDS Action Project and one of China's most prominent AIDS activists.

But he said China's control-conscious government was still far from openly embracing civil society groups in a manner sufficient to meet the epidemic.

"Every year we see UN people coming to China. They do many good things for the publicity, but the work they are doing is not helping civil society."

Wan said the government was starting to selectively work with non-governmental groups.

"They select NGOs who defend the government, not those that defend people's lives," Han said. (AFP)