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European cult that mixes yoga with sex sets up base in Tamil Nadu

European cult that mixes yoga with sex sets up base in Tamil Nadu

Arun Ram, TNN Jun 3, 2011, 02.02am IST

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Yoga

(A team of seven Misa teachers,…)

European cult that mixes yoga with sex sets up base in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: A European cult that mixes yoga with sex and pornography has been found to be operating out of Chennai.
Training nearly 100 youngsters in yoga and ‘tantric love' at a rented house in Chokalingam Nagar, Teynampet, for more than two years now, the Movement for Spiritual Integration in Absolute (Misa) is trying to spread across the country, investigations by TOI have revealed.
 

 

A team of seven Misa teachers, nationals of Denmark and Romania, is now in the city for a special camp, titled 'Tantra — The Path of Love'. A majority of them, including the lead couple Mihai Stoian and Adina Stoian, have starred in porn movies produced by Copenhagen-based production house Sublime Erotica, which the Misa group has close ties with. Misa operates under different names in different countries. It is Natha in Denmark, Tara in the US and Satya in India.
TOI is in possession of videos that show the yoga teachers, now in India, in explicit sexual acts. Misa's supreme guru, a Romanian called Gregorian Bivolaru, has been jailed on several charges, including pornography, and is now said to have taken political asylum in Sweden.

When asked about the videos, Mihai, the 42-year-old Romanian national who heads Misa activities in the absence of Bivolaru, said it was an experiment in spreading the group's philosophy and practice. "For many, sexuality stems from desire. We want to spread the message that it is a divine integration of masculinity and femininity to attain spirituality," he told TOI at the camp being organised at a private club in Nungambakkam.
Other Misa teachers who figure in porn videos and now in Chennai are Ulrik Lishoj (Denmark), Simona Colesniuc (Romania) and Nicole Markus (Romania).

The foreigners' regional registration office said that as these people were on visit visas, they are not allowed to teach yoga or do any such job, but the 'teachers' have an argument. "We are only volunteers. The yoga centre is registered under a trust represented by Indians," said Angela Oestergaard, a 35-year-old Danish woman who manages Chennai Satya Esoteric Integral Yoga at Teynampet.

'Tantra', as an ancient philosophy and practice, has different definitions. The blurb of MISA's controversial guru Bivolaru's unpublished book The Secret Tantric Path of Love has this to say: Have you ever dreamed of or aspired to make love intensely, profoundly and frantically with your beloved woman for even ten hours in a row? This book reveals a host of such secret methods in a clear and accessible language, if you allow yourself to be guided by the personal experience of the author.

Mihai, with a salt-pepper beard and dressed in a yellow cotton shirt and trousers, doesn't quite look a yogi. But, for his disciples — he claims there are 40,000 of them in 30 countries — he is much more than that. He is a scientist (a nuclear scientist-turned-researcher in artificial intelligence, he says), philosopher and guru who teaches sexual continence as the panacea for all relationship problems. Don't mistake this continence for abstention-Misa believes sexual continence is the ability to have orgasms at will, minus the ejaculation. "It's perfect for India." Stoian says, "You can bring down the population growth without any contraceptive!"

But that's not what he teaches at the Satya Yoga centre. It's about the coming together of the masculine and the feminine, Siva and Sakthi to attain supreme spirituality.

Do their Indian students know about their other life? Yes and no. "I don't know if they have done such videos, but what they do in their country doesn't bother me," says Rajesh Shah (45), a manager with an engineering firm in Chennai. "Two years of learning here has made me more energetic, creative and innovative in all spheres of life." Another student, Sanjai Jain (42), a jeweller, says he has heard of the videos, but not viewed them. "Every famous person faces such allegations," he says.

With such confidence in their students, Satya Yoga has ambitious plans in India. "We are blending ancient knowledge with modern science. The Indian potential is big. There is a big need for such a comprehensive approach on spirituality. In five years, there will be hundreds of thousands of our students in India," says Mihai, who will be flying out of the country next week. His team of seven teachers will accompany him abroad, while a few other foreigners would stay back to train Indian students.

Liberals pass law to ease adoption of Crown wards


Liberals pass law to ease adoption of Crown wards

 

Published On Wed Jun 1 2011Email

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Laurie MonsebraatenSocial Justice Reporter

Queen’s Park has removed legal barriers that trap most of the province’s 9,000 Crown wards in foster care with no hope of adoption.

The legislative change, passed by MPPs unanimously Wednesday, will make more kids in the care of Children’s Aid Societies eligible for adoption, said Children and Youth Minister Laurel Broten.

“This important legislation opens the door to a forever family for thousands of waiting kids across this province and helps more prospective adoptive parents to build the families they have always dreamed of,” she said.

The Star highlighted the plight of Ontario’s foster children in a series of articles last fall. The legal change was among the recommendations of the province’s 2009 Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption, which called on the province to double the number of adoptions of Crown wards within five years.

“We’re delighted as an expert panel to see this move and we’re hopeful that the government will act on our other recommendations around (adoption) subsidies and supports before the end of its mandate,” said Panel member William Falk.

“The Star has been a really big part of making this happen,” added Falk, who was in the Legislature Wednesday.

Until now, two-thirds of Ontario’s Crown wards were ineligible for adoption because of court orders legally preventing them from being adopted.

Under the new law, these court orders, which set out the type of contact Crown wards have with their birth family, will be terminated when children are placed for adoption. In cases where some contact would be healthy for a child, courts could make “openness” orders.

For youth who are not adopted, the new law provides more support as they move into adulthood. It will allow 16- or 17-year-olds who leave care to return to the system voluntarily and be eligible for financial support until age 21.

New regulations will also make it easier for youth receiving financial support from Children’s Aid to attend college and university by giving them access to larger student loans.

“This legislation will result in so many more children and youth having the opportunity to have a family to support them into adulthood,” said Pat Convery, of the Adoption Council of Ontario, which provides public education and advocacy on adoption in the province.

“We are especially excited about the increased support for older youth who have often been lost in the system and left without support at age 18,” she said.

Missing from the adoption reforms, however, was a provincial plan to provide subsidies to make it financially easier for parents to adopt older Crown wards who often have complex medical or social needs.

Both Tory and NDP children’s critics criticized the government on this point.

Broten said she continues to work with the province’s 53 Children’s Aid Societies on the issue.

Falk said legislation isn’t needed to make the change and that the expert panel expects the government to act before next fall’s election.


The reforms date back to the Liberals’ 2007 election promise to appoint an expert panel to review adoption, he said.


“If Dalton McGuinty is able to deliver on support and subsidies, then they can fairly check the box for having delivered on this piece,” Falk added.

 

 

Bulgaria named worst place in EU to raise children

Wednesday Jun 01, 201105:44 PM GMT
Injured Moroccan protester dies
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Bulgaria named worst place in EU to raise children
Wed Jun 1, 2011 4:25PM
Ivaylo Spasov, Press TV, Sofia
Journalists, citizens and state authorities need to practice more direct and effective control on social institutions for child care, as horrible crimes against minors are being committed there.

That's what, on the International Children's Day, Bulgaria human rights advocates demanded, launching a new campaign for immediate and full access to all social homes that are meant to take care of about 7500 Bulgarian children. 
In its recent investigations, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee has documented 238 cases of avoidable deaths - mainly of children with physical or mental disabilities. 
Human rights activists have therefore threatened the General Prosecution with an international lawsuit if it doesn't act decisively on the provided pieces of evidence. These have shown that social institutions in Bulgaria maintain practices of malnourishment, violence, physical immobilization by tying up and using dangerous drugs, and even sexual abuse. 
Kalin Kamenov from the governmental unit for child protection pointed out that with the adoption at the end of 2010 of a National Program for Child Protection and a National Strategy for deinstitutionalization of children, Bulgaria has made a significant progress toward real and effective child care. 
But is that enough? Press TV asked some parents about the biggest challenges they encounter when raising their children. 
This younger woman tells us that financial difficulties are even bigger when you have more than one child. Her husband has immigrated to earn money and has not seen his second baby in a long time. 
According to a new study called “Family Pressure Gauge”, released by the British Relationships Foundation, families in Bulgaria and Romania are facing the biggest financial and work pressures, combined with poor maternity provision and bad living environments. These, according to experts, make the two countries the worst places in Europe to raise children. Bulgaria, particularly, has the biggest share of families facing difficulties in making ends meet, as high as 63.4% of total population, the report reveals. 
Poverty, crime, domestic violence, drugs, disabilities that are not treated properly, school drop-outs, labor abuse, negligence and overall social exclusion. These are, according to experts, the main risk factors that pose certain threats to children in Bulgaria. 

Prince William and Kate Middleton announce first public engagement

Prince William and Kate Middleton announce first public engagement

Prince William and the former Kate Middleton, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will be guests of honor at the dinner of charity Absolute Return for Kids on June 9.

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, following their wedding at Westminster Abbey in London in this April 29 photo.

John Stillwell/Reuters/File

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By Associated Press / June 1, 2011

LONDON

Prince William and his new wife have chosen to attend a charity gala dinner as their first public engagement together as a married couple.

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William and the former Kate Middleton, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will be guests of honor at the dinner of charity Absolute Return for Kids on June 9.

William will deliver a speech to hundreds of guests — his first in public since his wedding on April 29.

About 900 guests will attend the charity event, which costs 10,000 pounds ($16,500) a head.

Absolute Return for Kids helps to improve educational and health care access for children fromEurope to Africa and Asia.

Bulgaria: Changing Orphans' Lives

Bulgaria: Changing Orphans' Lives

Posted: 06/ 1/11 02:00 PM ET

Journal from the field #3, May 31, 2011

Dr. Aronson in Bulgaria, May 28-June 2, 2011

I arrived from Ethiopia in Sofia on May 28. Mark Beukema, Worldwide Orphans Foundation's (WWO) director of programs, and I have been traveling through the beautiful Bulgarian countryside to hold incredibly productive meetings with agencies and professionals involved in transforming the lives of orphans here.

Samoa's stolen children, woman speaks out

The former operators of an adoption agency found to have fraudulently convinced Samoan parents to give up their children are asking a federal judge to reduce their monthly restitution payments.

The money is designated for a trust fund to ensure birth and adoptive families stay in touch. It's unclear how much money has been paid into the fund so far, but one parent said the money is being used in creative ways to benefit parents and children alike.

Scott and Karen Banks, who operated Focus on Children, were ordered to pay $85,000 into the Samoan Adoptees Restitution Fund to help some 80 children —including 66 placed with U.S. families — maintain contact with their birth parents.

freestar

The Banks, who now live near Reno, Nev., say in court documents that their financial circumstances have changed since July 2009, when U.S. District Court Judge David Sam ordered them and other defendants to make the fund contributions. The couple are barred from engaging in adoption services, and Scott Banks now works in construction.

First of approved adoption agencies to open

First of approved adoption agencies to open

The Irish Times - Monday, May 30, 2011
CAROL COULTER

MINISTER FOR Children Frances Fitzgerald will today launch Ireland’s first accredited adoption mediation agency.

Arc Adoption will provide assistance to prospective parents seeking to adopt children abroad. Its chief executive is Shane Downer, former head of the International Adoption Association.

Since the passing of the Adoption Act last year, regulating inter-country adoptions, children can only be adopted from countries which have signed up to the Hague Convention or with whom Ireland has a bilateral agreement.

The convention seeks to ensure children are only adopted outside their country of origin when domestic adoption is not available and that the process is fully consensual and free from financial inducement.

The Adoption Act also provided for the establishment of an adoption authority.

“Arc Adoption is committed to building child-centred and fully transparent adoption services so that children in need of permanent, loving and secure homes can find them in Ireland,” Mr Downer said.

He said Arc had been approved to work with Bulgaria and to try to develop a special needs programme with China. “In addition, Arc has expressed a strong interest in seeking to work with Vietnam, as soon as Vietnam ratifies the Hague Convention,” he said.

Adoptions from Vietnam were suspended following grave concerns expressed by the UN’s International Social Service. Earlier this month the chairman and chief executive of the Adoption Authority Geoffrey Shannon and Elizabeth Canavan visited the country and said significant improvements had taken place since concerns emerged in November 2008.

No charges two years after Ryan report into child abuse

The Irish Times - Monday, May 30, 2011

No charges two years after Ryan report into child abuse

JAMIE SMYTH, Social Affairs Correspondent

NO ONE has been prosecuted over the discoveries made by the Ryan report into child abuse in residential institutions, which was published two years ago, the Government has revealed.

In a written submission to the United Nations Committee on Torture, the Government says 11 files have been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to prosecutions on the basis of evidence provided by the Ryan report.

The DPP has directed no prosecution in eight of these abuse cases and decisions are still pending on the remaining three case files.

The report found “sex abuse” was endemic in State-run children’s institutions over a period of five decades. It was published on May 20th, 2009, following a 10-year inquiry.

In the wake of the report’s publication, the then government and President Mary McAleese said the report could be used to bring perpetrators of child abuse to justice.

One in Four, the campaign group which works with victims of abuse, said yesterday it was very disappointed at the lack of prosecutions arising from the report.

“It is very disappointing and distressing for the survivors of abuse who have been waiting a long time for justice. One of the main reasons some of the survivors gave evidence to the Ryan commission was in the hope that it would result in successful prosecutions of abusers,” said Maeve Lewis, executive director of One in Four.

Ms Lewis said the lapse in time since the abuse took place, a lack of witnesses and a lack of evidence probably hampered the ability of the State to take prosecutions.

No information is provided in the Government’s submission to the UN on why no prosecutions have so far been sought in relation to the files sent to the DPP. But the submission says a further five files will shortly be forwarded by the gardaí to the DPP.

A Department of Justice spokesman said it had “nothing to add at this juncture” about the lack of prosecutions.

Speaking in May 2009, Mrs McAleese said: “Insofar as the Ryan report catalogues acts of criminal neglect or violence that were perpetrated by people who are still alive, then I think we have to say, absolutely, without any fear of contradiction that they remain amenable for those crimes”.

Then minister for justice Dermot Ahern urged people with evidence of abuse to come forward to help secure convictions.

New evidence has also emerged about delays to the State’s multimillion-euro plan to respond to the Ryan report and “a lack of clarity” on spending on measures by the HSE.

The Department of Health has strongly criticised the HSE for mis-reporting the amount of money it spent in 2010 on the State’s plan to respond to the Ryan report.

In late 2010 the HSE told the department it had spent €14.27 million of its €15 million allocation for responding to the report. In 2011 it told the department it spent €4.68 million on Ryan report measures.

“It is important that we have clarity and consistency as to the position with regard to the application of development funding for this specific purpose,” wrote Michael Scanlan, secretary general of the Department of Health, in a letter to HSE chief executive Cathal Magee in March.

The misreporting of spending occurred because the executive initially included money spent on recruiting social work staff on an agency basis. This occurred due to delays in the recruitment of 200 additional full-time social workers, as promised under the Ryan implementation plan in 2010.

The plan also promised to provide funding for counselling services for victims of abuse. But One in Four said yesterday it had to wait until January 2011 – 1½ years after the Ryan report was published – for the promised funds.

The Children’s Rights Alliance, a coalition of more than 90 NGOs advocating on behalf of children, said it was “extremely concerned” about the misreporting and “disappointed” with the Government’s fulfilment of the Ryan report implementation plan.

Adoptions from Vietnam look likely to resume

Adoptions from Vietnam look likely to resume

 

Monday May 30 2011

Hopes have been raised that Irish couples will be able to adopt children again from Vietnambut no timescale has yet emerged.

The optimism follows a visit to Vietnam by a delegation from the Irish Adoption Authority who found a significant improvement in standards governing adoption there.

Adoption Authority chairman Geoffrey Shannon said: "It is clear from our discussions on the ground that the Vietnamese government has introduced a significant programme of reform.

"These include new laws on adoption in line with the Hague Convention on inter-country adoption as well as reforms to develop its wider child protection system."

He said, however, that the earliest date for the Convention to come into force in Vietnam was October. He added he would be meeting Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald in two to three weeks' time for further discussions on the matter.

Ireland became part of the Hague Convention, which safeguards standards governing the adoption process, last November.

Adoptions by Irish people can now only take place with other countries that have also ratified it, or with countries with whom we have a bilateral agreement on adoption.

Many couples were devastated after the government halted adoptions from Vietnam in January 2010 after a report raised serious concerns about its internal system of the checks and balances to safeguard children.

The UNICEF report warned that the availability of children who were adoptable in Vietnam appeared to be driven more by demands from foreign adopters than the actual needs of "abandoned" and orphaned children.

"As a result, the overwhelming majority of adopted children are under one year of age, the age group most sought after by prospective adopters," the report said.

It also revealed how the circumstances under which babies become "adoptable" are unclear and disturbing.

Ms Fitzgerald said she would consider the report of the delegation on its Vietnam visit and would be discussing it with her colleagues and the Adoption Authority in the coming weeks.

Some of the main foreign adoptions registered in Ireland for 2009-2010: Russia -- 100 (2009), 80 (2010); Ethiopia -- 21 (2009), 75 (2010); Vietnam -- 136 (2009); 10 (2010).

Originally published in