| Education of the future
Over 1,000 Indian students are spread across various universities and colleges in Ireland, mostly enrolled into various courses in Bio-Sciences, Business Administration, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering among others. Studies reveal that Ireland, though having entered the field of education as a major player much after biggies such as US, UK etc, has been seeing a consistent increase of foreign students at 10 per cent per annum. Owing to its student-friendly atmosphere and courses that were carved out for future needs, Ireland housed nearly 25,000 international students in 2006. .
Hurricane-plagued business expands with portable building
The Santa Rosa County Commission recently gave the go-ahead for the owners of Juana's Pagoda and Sailor's Grille to expand their operation, adding a portable building for a souvenir/art shop."It's more space to market the merchandise we're already marketing," said owner Ken Rudzki. "Right now, it's scattered hither and yon. The idea was to consolidate and expand."The new facility will add 300 square feet of retail space to the eatery/bar.The portable building is a way to combat hurricanes, he said."If we're in harm's way with Mother Nature, all of these goodies have to be evacuated with us," Rudzki said. "We spend days packing this stuff up. With this portable building, we'll pick it up, put it on a flatbed truck and take it with us."The complex, which started as a boat rental service 18 years ago, sustained damage from Hurricanes Opal, Ivan and Dennis.Rudzki said the new building will be camouflaged to fit in with the island look of what's already there."We wouldn't want anything that didn't seem like it was part of the establishment," he said.
The other prostitution scandal
It squanders police resources that could be used to fight real crime, while clogging jails and courts with offenders who will soon be back plying their trade.
Supporters of the status quo say the sex industry is filled with victims of human trafficking -- foreigners forced to work in servitude. Whether such modern-day slaves amount to more than a tiny fraction of hookers, however, has never been proved.
Similar claims have been made about migrant farm laborers and domestic workers -- which is not taken as grounds to ban fruit picking or home cleaning.
Someone whose job is illegal, in fact, is an ideal candidate for such exploitation, since she is unlikely to go to the cops.
But all this is secondary to the priority of human freedom.
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