Bangladesh a showcase to world: Ban Ki-moon

UN general secretary Ban Ki Moon has arrived in Dhaka on three days official visit to Bangladesh.he is scheduled attend an international conference on climate change and visit Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training- dedicated to training of UN peacekeepers during his tour.

 Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday his organisation wants to use Bangladesh’s achievement in the field of child and maternal health as a showcase to the world.

“I am very impressed to see the remarkable achievement of Bangladesh government in reducing child and maternal mortality rates. The government is doing an excellent job,” he said.

The UN chief was speaking at a ‘courtyard meeting’ with expectant mothers at Mobarakpur, a remote village of Moulvibazar on Tuesday.

He went there to visit a community clinic serving expectant mothers and newborns.

The UN and Bangladesh will invest more on improving women and children health in the country, Ban told the expectant mothers sitting on mat at a house adjacent to the clinic at Kulaura upazila of the district.

 opposite party leader Khaleda Zia at her meeting with Ban Ki-moon

A road map to face together the causes, consequences, and collateral effects of climate change, based on the positive momentum sparked by the Copenhagen and Cancun meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Environment ministers from 11 countries and observers from 8 countries took part in the conference.

“I am very happy to be here in Mobarakpur. I am here to see how the community clinic is functioning to give services to women and children,” he said.

The UN chief, who came to Bangladesh Sunday evening on a three-day official tour.

“You are the hope and future of the world,” he told the jubilant adolescents after shaking hands with them.

When they asked him how he felt to be with them, he replied: “I am very hopeful and encouraged to be here.”

Showcase the progress and leadership of these countries in advancing women’s and children health in the context of the “every women every child” effort he initiated in 2010.

Earlier, the helicopter carrying the UN chief landed at Salna Primary School around 10:35am, reports our correspondent covering the event.

The clinic is a joint initiative by the government and United Nations Development Programmer (UNDP) to improve maternal and neonatal health.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, United Nations Population Fund, World Heath Organization and United Nations Children's Fund jointly implemented the project with the financial support of the UK Department for International Development, European Union and Canadian International Development Agency.

The clinic was established in 1999 and since July this year six women gave birth with the help of birth attendants.

In Dhaka, Ban jointly with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will address a Climate Vulnerable Forum meeting on Monday.

Bangladesh State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury received him at Shahjalal International Airport at 8 p.m. (local time), reported Xinhua.

A difficult life of Arab women

Erasing individuals or groups by stereotyping them is not a new phenomenon. It is difficult to imagine a society or a period of history completely devoid of this particularly cruel method of robbing people of their humanity; an individual who could live an entire life without being a victim or villain in the process of stereotyping. Can anyone honestly claim they have never said things like: "Arabs are devious," "Jews are stingy, " "Blondes are dumb (or have more fun)," "Redheads are hot tempered,"

 

 

Still, my own experience with stereotyping makes me hopeful. People usually have no real investment in wiping away the unique qualities of another person. When one becomes aware of an individual's special characteristics, and the full richness of the culture and environment that nurtures their growth, a stereotype begins to crumble like any facade. Unless one has a need to keep another in an inferior position, he realizes that prejudice imprisons the attacker as well as the victim, 

 

 

As a result of Western misinformation and lack of awareness, Arab women are unfortunately, victims of the stereotyping process. There is little understanding of either our status as women or the total context of our lives. Like other maligned groups, we do our best to understand these misperceptions and, in our own way, to confront them. I know of no Arab woman who underestimates the difficulty of changing Western assumptions. The stereotypes of Arab women, "imprisoned behind a veil of powerlessness," will not be eradicated in our lifetime.

 

While we are often shocked into numbness by the depth of the misunderstanding, we know that each epoch of awareness is a new beginning and a new opportunity for us and for our daughters. 

This great empire eventually declined but not before it had given hard-won knowledge like threads from the rich fabric of its culture, threads that are readily discernible in the tapestry of Western culture, politics and thought. Instead of one great empire, it was divided into countries and caliphates that became smaller and smaller as time went by. This fragmenting environment produced the right climate for the successful invasion of colonialism. For Arabs, sheer survival replaced creativity as a primary goal.

Later the cycle began to change again. There was a new Arab awakening. A new independence was in the air and with it a growing evolution toward emancipation, first of men and then of women. The stirrings of this new emancipation started by the end of the 19th century in most Arab countries.

Arab and Moslem women have been a viable entity for a long time; they have struggled, realized and enjoyed emancipation in their daily lives for centuries. As for the Moslem woman, no one can take the Word of God through his Messenger from her. Her evolution is her own and she knows she can accomplish her emancipation on her own.  

The Arab woman appreciates the concern of her Western counterparts. She understands the excitement that Western women feel having so recently discovered their own freedom. The Arab woman knows however that she must go at her own pace, on her own terms and within the finite reality of her own culture in its particular historic moment.

World IFRC & WDR Report 2011- Focus on hunger and malnutrition

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has two globally recognized emblems - the Red Cross and the Red Crescent - set on a white background within a red rectangle. These are symbols of assistance in times of conflict or disaster, and have worldwide recognition in national and international law under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Source: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

World Disasters Report (WDR). 

 
“ Hunger and malnutrition are the worst enemies of humankind. They deny to children – even at birth – an opportunity for the full expression of their innate genetic potential for physical and mental development. Freedom from hunger is the first requisite for sustainable human security. This will depend upon the productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture, as this edition of the World Disasters Report points out. Therefore, if food and nutrition policies go wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right."

– M. S. Swaminathan, Member of Parliament, India; Chairman, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

The livelihoods of an estimated 12 million people are currently under threat in the Horn of Africa and nearly 4 million people in Somalia alone are in need of life-saving assistance. Although the world produces more than enough food to feed everyone, in 2011 almost 1 billion people will go hungry. This event is the UK launch of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' (IFRC) annual World Disasters Report (WDR). This year the report focuses on global issues of hunger and malnutrition.


This is not only felt in headline-making famines, but also in the alarming levels of malnutrition among the world’s poorest. The causes of hunger and malnutrition, both acute and chronic, are complex, involving global food markets, agricultural production, environmental degradation, poor infrastructure and governance, and poverty.

When responding to hunger and malnutrition, the humanitarian system has tended to focus on providing food aid to address immediate acute hunger, rather than support livelihoods in order to promote self-sufficiency and to build resilience in the longer term. The challenge is how to ensure the humanitarian system – agencies, governments and donors – can better respond to early warning signs and address food insecurity before lives and livelihoods are severely threatened. better respond to both chronic and acute food insecurity.

This year’s World Disasters Report focuses on the growing crisis of hunger and malnutrition. Smallholder farmers who produce half the world’s food are among the almost 1 billion people who go to bed hungry every night. Millions of children suffer the irreversible effects of under nutrition. Increasing food insecurity weakens people’s resilience to disasters and disease, and people everywhere are experiencing the increasing volatility of food prices.

Huge explosion rocks military base near Tehran in Iran

* Blast at ammo store causes explosion felt for miles

* Official says "incident" happened while moving munitions
* Comes as tensions with Israel high over nuclear issue.

A massive explosion at a military arms depot near the Iranian capital Tehran killed 15 servicemen on Saturday and seriously wounded several others, in what officials were treating as an accident.
A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards said the blast happened as troops were moving munitions at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar.

Fifteen Iranian servicemen were killed and several others seriously wounded in an explosion on Saturday at a military base near Tehran that happened as troops were moving munitions, a Revolutionary Guards spokesman told state TV.

At least 15 people were killed and many more injured after two huge successive explosions hit a military base southwest of the Iranian capital of Tehran on Saturday, local media reported.
The blasts took place in an ammunition depot belonging to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the village of Bidganeh in the vicinity of Malard in the Northern Alborz province close to Tehran.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported that some members of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission had confirmed the blasts at the IRGC base, while the state TV quoted an IRGC official as saying that "some of those injured are in critical condition.
"My dear colleagues in the Revolutionary Guards were moving munitions in one of the arsenals at that base when, due to an incident, an explosion happened," Ramezan Sharif told news channel IRINN.
He  continue added  "Some of the casualties are reported to be in a critical condition,"
The blast was so big it was felt in western suburbs of Tehran, 45 km away, witnesses told Reuters. Many assumed there had been a low-level earthquake. Some media reports said the initial blast was followed by a second explosion.
There were no reports linking the blast to any air strike or other attack. Tension has risen in recent weeks between Iran and its enemies Israel and the United States, which have not ruled out striking nuclear facilities they believe are working towards making atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
On Oct. 12 last year a similar blast at a Revolutionary Guards munitions store killed and wounded several servicemen in Khoramabad, western Iran. Authorities said that explosion was an accident.

Turkey again Earthquake many Kills-injury, including Japanese aid worker

Rescue workers have pulled 23 survivors from the rubble in eastern Turkey after a 5.7-magnitude quake killed least seven people and left dozens of others trapped.

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said Wednesday's quake toppled 25 buildings in the city of Van but only three of them were occupied since the others have been evacuated after suffering damages in last month's powerful tremor.

The quake, which struck at 9:23 p.m. (1923 GMT, 2:23 p.m. EST) Wednesday, knocked down 25 buildings in Van, but only two buildings, both hotels, were occupied because others were evacuated after the first quake, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said.
“We focused on these two wreckage sites and are working with all our force” to find survivors, he said.
Atalay said on Thursday that the rescue work was concentrating at the site of two collapsed hotels and one apartment building. The disaster management authority said 23 survivors were pulled out along with the bodies of seven people.
One of the collapsed buildings was the Bayram Hotel, Van's best-known hotel. It was at least 40 years old, and had been renovated last year.
Turkey's Dogan news agency said two of its reporters were missing.
Some foreign rescue workers who scrambled to help the survivors of the previous quake were also staying at the same hotel.

Rescue workers with pickaxes and earth-movers searched on Thursday for survivors of an earthquake that leveled a downtown hotel in the same Turkish province that was hit by a deadly temblor last month. At least eight people, including a Japanese aid worker, were killed in the new quake.
Some 26 people were rescued in overnight digging in the provincial capital of Van in eastern Turkey. Some of those trapped in the rubble were foreign aid workers and Turkish journalists working in the aftermath of the powerful quake on Oct. 23 that killed about 600 people.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 5.7 and that its epicenter was 16 kilometers (9 miles) south of Van.

About 1,400 aftershocks have rocked the region since the massive earthquake on Oct. 23. Many residents had been living in tents, despite the cold, too afraid to return to their homes.
Mr Gur said many people are now leaving Van in search of a safer place.

Turkey is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it sits on major geological fault lines.

Two earthquakes in 1999 with a magnitude of more than 7 killed almost 20,000 people in densely populated parts of the north-west of the country.

MISSING WASHINGTON BOY'S PARENTS HAVE ISSUES.

MISSING WASHINGTON BOY'S PARENTS HAVE ISSUES.

Police searching a 2-year-old Washington state boy focused their efforts Monday around the home of his mother, who reportedly told investigators she last saw him in her stalled car on a city street as she walked away for an hour to get gas.
The first time Sky Metalwala had been left alone in a car. When he was just 3 months old, court records revealed, and his parents left him in their sport utility vehicle in a Target parking lot for 55 minutes on a 27-degree day. They only came out of the store to get him after police arrived and asked for the vehicle's owner to be paged.
The FBI has joined the search for a 2-year-old Washington state boy who was last seen by his mother inside a parked car.
Sky Metalwala was reported missing Sunday morning after his mother discovered him missing from her car in Bellevue, Wash.
The child's mother, Julia Biryukova, told police that she had run out of gas and left the boy buckled into his car seat while she and her 4-year-old daughter walked to a Chevron gas station, about a mile away.
When the pair returned to the silver Acura approximately an hour later, the 2-year-old boy was gone, Fox affiliate KCPQ-TV reports.
The woman reportedly told police that the car was not locked. 
Last week, at a mandatory mediation session, a tentative agreement was hammered out that would allow Metalwala to have some visitation with Sky and his older sister, his lawyer said.
Biryukova reported that her car ran out of gas in Bellevue on Sunday morning, police said. She said she left Sky in the unlocked vehicle and walked with her daughter, who is 4, about a mile to a gas station. When she returned to the car, Sky wasn't there, she said.
Investigators searched a 20-block area and even went door to door but found no sign of him. There was no gas can at the car, police said.
The Bellevue Police Department said both parents were cooperating, and Biryukova had consented to have her vehicle and home in nearby Redmond searched. The older child has been placed in protective custody.
"We're looking at it from all angles, at this point," said Bellevue Police Maj. Mike Johnson. "Missing person, abduction, foul play has not been ruled out."
Biryukova did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Her younger brother, Stanley Biryukov, said Julia was crying frantically when she called him Sunday afternoon and explained what had happened.
"I'm hoping they'll find the child," he said.
"The most, most recent have been his threats to kill me if I say anything against him or if in any way I proceed with action of seeking custody of our two small children," Biryukova added. "I live in constant fear for my life and my children's life. Please investigate and help me!"
He responded that she had mental health problems and was involuntarily committed to a mental clinic in 2010.
"The accusations against him were totally false," his lawyer said.
Earlier this year a social worker with state Child Protective Services reported that a doctor found her to be in good mental health and an appropriate caregiver for the children.

Police probe over mortuary mix-up. Family appalled at the blunder.

A council has called in the police after the body of a former soldier who died in police custody turned up in a mortuary more than a decade after he was believed to have been buried.

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of ex-para Christopher Alder - who died in controversial circumstances in police custody - in November 2000.
But staff who went to collect the body of a woman for a funeral last Friday were stunned when they discovered Christopher's body in her place.

 Nigerian Grace Kamara died in 1999 but she had no relatives in this country and her funeral was delayed.
It was finally arranged for last week but when the staff went to collect her they discovered the body of 37-year-old Christopher.
His family were appalled at the blunder.
Sister Janet said: ""I'm in shock - this is an absolutely disgusting situation.
Christopher Alder, 37, choked to death while handcuffed and lying on the floor of a police station in Hull, in the early hours of April 1 1998.
It now appears a Hull pensioner called Grace Kamara was buried in his place in 2000.
Mrs Kamara is understood to have died from natural causes in 1999 but her burial was delayed and finally scheduled for Friday.
It appears the blunder was only discovered because her friends and family asked to see the body and Mr Alder's remains were found in its place in the mortuary.
On Sunday Nicola Yates, chief executive of Hull City Council, apologised and launched an investigation.
Now she says the police are being brought in.
She said: "As chair of the multi-agency group dealing with the tragic circumstances around Grace Kamara and Christopher Alder, I have requested that the police undertake a criminal investigation into this extremely distressing case.
"As I said last night, I am appalled and distraught at what we have learned and my first priority has been to make sure the families involved are kept informed and given the necessary support.
"It is vital that the families and the public get a clear view of the facts and understand what happened. A thorough police investigation will make sure this happens. Now that the police are carrying out a formal investigation it would be inappropriate for me to comment further."
"Hull City Council is both appalled and distraught at what it has learnt and in conjunction with Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, is undertaking a full and thorough investigation.
"At the present time our main priority is to inform and support the families of those affected. We expect further information to be available later."

News of Sri Sri Ravishankar begins his yatra in UP

As the Congress-led UPA tries to cobble together an acceptable response to Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal demands, comes yet another yatra that is expected to take on the issue of corruption. This time it’s battleground Uttar Pradesh as spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar embarks on a series of Satsangs in the poll-bound state starting from Jaunpur.
Amidst charges that Sri Sri Ravishankar is the part of a larger plan by Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) to target the Congress, the spiritual guru would launch a yatra from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh later on Monday.
Ravishankar, who is part C of the RSS plan according to Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, would be visiting several districts in the poll-bound state, including several known Congress strongholds. Rahul Gandhi's constituency Amethi is also part of his itinerary.
Ravishankar, however, said that his yatra would purely be a religious one.
Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar on Sunday gave clean chit to anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare and his Team from the charges of corruption,impropriety and having hidden agenda leveled against them by a section of politicians and media. He said that both Anna and his team members have dedicated theselves to the service of country and have today emerged as role models for the youth.
Renowned spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar embarked on a three-day anti-corruption yatra from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.
He alleged that an effort was being made to give a political colour to his 'yatra' and said it was not at all justified.
On Lokpal he said, "On the issue of Lokpal Bill, my complete support is with Team Anna. Whosoever launches a campaign to root out corruption, I am with him."
"I will speak against corruption and wherever I will go in the state, I will ask people to take a resolve neither to give nor accept bribe," he added.
The spiritual guru said that today politics and governance was being considered as a business.
On deteriorating morals in the political class, Ravishankar’s take was, “Politicians are not respected today as much as they used to be.”
Not to be left behind, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Akhilesh Yadav is also on a state-wide yatra to highlight what his party terms as the misrule of Mayawati.
BJP’s veteran LK Advani’s anti-corruption ‘Jan Chetna’ yatra had also crossed through Uttar Pradesh; it is currently in Gujarat. 

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sri-sri-ravishankar-up-yatra-rss-congress/1/159038.htmlThe BJP had also slammed Digvijay Singh for attacking Sri Sri, saying he was suffering from "foot-in-mouth syndrome"
Although it would be the first time that the Bangalore-based guru would be personally starting a movement against corruption, he had lent support to the movements initiated by Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare.
Ravishankar said that his satsangs are not against corruption alone but also against alcoholism, female foeticide and all the ills prevailing in the society. He said that though he feels that there should be a strong Lokpal at the Centre and equally strong Lokayuktas in the states, he is also of the view that corruption will end only when we all will change.
"I will continue to fight against corruption, whether it's the UPA government or the NDA government. All parties and governments are same for me and my fight is only against corruption, which I will continue to do," he said.

The Sacrificial act Qurbani is Celebrations in Muslims World.

Muslims have two major annual celebrations called Eid, which means ‘recurring happiness’: Eid-ul-Fitr that means Eid of Fast-Breaking and Eid-ul-Adha that means Eid of Sacrifice.

Eid-ul-Adha, which occurs approximately seventy days after Eid-ul-Fitr, commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) for Allah.
 

My brother: A Yemeni soldier greets a fellow Muslim after attending

prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha prayers in Sana'a on Sunday.

Muslims worldwide are celebrating Eid al-Adha, with many in

the midst of violence due to deadly attacks.

Eid ul-Adha celebrations continue for three days, starting on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar. This is the day after the pilgrims in Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon (Khutba). Men, women, and children are expected to dress in their finest clothing.

The world's Muslims on Sunday marked the Eid al-Adha feast which caps the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, overshadowed by the Arab Spring and deadly attacks in Africa and Central Asia.
This year the feast coincides with the turmoil of the democracy protests that swept the Arab world and led to the ouster of the autocratic leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, honours Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael on the order of God, who according to Islamic tradition provided a lamb in the boy's place.
And the security forces shot dead at least another 10 civilians, most of them in the restive central city of Homs, according to human rights activists.
The latest bloodshed came as Syrian state radio reported al-Assad himself attended Al-Nur mosque in the northern town of Raqqa for morning prayers to mark the Muslim holy day.
Thousands gathered for prayers to mark the feast at an open ground in Damaturu patrolled by dozens of armed police following Friday's gun and bomb attacks, among the deadliest ever carried out by the Boko Haram Islamist sect.
"It's a season of mourning and celebration at the same time," said Damaturu resident Aisami Bundi.
"People are struggling to strike a balance between the merriment of the season and the losses the city has incurred from the attacks, especially the large number of people that have been killed," he said.
Repentance In Islam:As At Tawaab - The Acceptor to Repentance - God receives the repentance of those who repent for wrong doings and mistakes committed. God is Oft Returning.
At-Tawwabba as one of the ninety-nine names of God comes from the root word Taba which means “to repent; turn one’s self in a repentant manner, turn with mercy.” (Omar)
Tawwab itself means “Oft –Returning with mercy and compassion.” It implies that God will turn back towards the repentant believer who has done wrong against his/her own soul.
The Eid is starting on Monday in some parts of the Muslim world including Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where at least eight people died in railway accidents as tens of millions poured out of cities for a five-day holiday.
This sacrificial act and the meat are called “Udhiya” or “Qurbani”.

Bhutto killing: Pakistan court indicts two police and five Taliban militants.

Pakistani anti-terror court Saturday indicted two police officers and five alleged Taliban militants over the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a prosecutor said.

 “Seven accused including two police officers have been indicted,” public prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told media.

  
Benazir Bhutto, who served two terms as Pakistan’s prime minister,

had returned from exile two months before she was killed in December 2007.

The police officers were Saud Aziz, who was the Rawalpindi police chief at the time of the killing, and Khurram Shahzad, another senior policeman.
Nobody has been jailed yet for Bhutto’s assassination.
Nobody has been convicted or jailed for Bhutto's assassination on December 27, 2007, in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad, in a gun and suicide attack after she addressed an election rally.
The death of the charismatic, Oxford-educated Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim nation, threw the country into chaos, sparking violence and months of political turmoil.
Police say that three other suspects in the high-profile case have been killed -- including the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud -- and two remain at large.
Her assassination on December 27, 2007, came just weeks after she returned to the country.
The five alleged militants are accused of "criminal conspiracy" for bringing the suicide bomber from the tribal belt in the northwest and keeping him at a house in Rawalpindi.  

All the accused denied the charges and demanded for trial," Azhar said, adding that the police officers were accused of a security breach and for their "failure" to protect Bhutto.
Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack in August 2009, one of the most high-profile casualties of the covert American campaign targeting al-Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border.
Bhutto, who served two terms as prime minister, had returned from exile two months before she was killed to stand for election.
Her widower Asif Ali Zardari led her Pakistan People's Party to election victory in February 2008 and is now president.
Police were arrested a year ago while the suspected militants have been in custody for nearly four years.
The seven were indicted at the court in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad where Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election campaign rally.
Her assassination on December 27, 2007, came just weeks after she returned to the country.

Herman Cain accuser got $35,000 year's salary in settlement

The National Restaurant Association gave $35,000, A year’s salary in severance pay to a female staff member in the late 1990s after an encounter with Herman Cain. 

 

 

Chief executive at the time, made her uncomfortable working there, three people with direct knowledge of the payment said on Tuesday.
Krauthammer pressed Cain further on the race issue in order to get a more definitive response. Cain responded that the left side of the political spectrum might be more racially driven than the right.
Relative to the left, I believe that race is a bigger driving factor that’s Video of Cain's answer can be viewed at the top of this story.

 

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain fielded questions during multiple Fox News interviews on Tuesday night, appearing on Report with Bret Baier as well as "The O'Reilly Factor."    
The woman was one of two whose accusations of sexual harassment by Mr. Cain, now a Republican candidate for president, led to paid severance agreements during his 1996-99 tenure at the association. Disclosure of the scale of the severance further challenged his initial description of the matter as a ‘witch hunt, as did new descriptions from the woman’s friends and colleagues of her level of discomfort at work.
The lawyer for one of two women who reportedly accused Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment in the 1990s said Tuesday he had asked their former employer to waive an agreement and allow her to talk openly about her allegations.

 

The newspaper cited three sources as saying that the woman, then an employee at the National Restaurant Association, was given the amount – a full year's salary – after saying the encounter with Cain had made her uncomfortable.

Mr Cain, a former pizza company CEO who has led recent polls, was chief executive of the association at that time. 
The candidate has denied any wrongdoing but admitted on Tuesday that a woman who accused him of sexual harassment received a paid settlement in the 1990s.
Mr. Cain also kept a dinner appointment with a small group of Republican senators at a Washington steakhouse near the White House. He arrived through a parking garage and entered a private room in the basement of Bobby Van’s, which allowed him to bypass a cluster of reporters who gathered outside.
Politico said it had started asking Cain's campaign about the allegations on Oct. 20 — 10 days before the story was published late Sunday.