Farangland News

Sexist sausages are causing a PC stir in Germany this week. Supposedly sexualized images on the packaging and suggestive sizes has got the genderists buzzing.

The packaging on these sexist sausages is gender-specific. The Frauen sausages are described as lean and are half the size of the Manner sausages, which are marketed as hearty and strong-spiced.

A blog post by feminist journalist Antje Schrupp criticized the brand for its marketing and pricing (the Frauen versions, for instance, are significantly more expensive).

The packaging is also under fire. The male brand features an attractive, scantily-clad woman against a flaming background, while the female brand features a topless, muscle-bound man against a cloudy background.

Schrupp quoted a letter of complaint written by fellow journalist Susanne Enz, which criticized the sausages for dull sexism. She said that the sausages' marketing implied that men eat a lot and heartily, while women mainly want to be thin... Women are there to please, while men are allowed to enjoy. I found the whole thing really quite unbearable, and I showed it to my partner, and she got really angry, Enz later recalled.

Maine beer festival organizers are calling for changes in the laws that restrict their events after a shortage of volunteers as required by the state marred an international beer event in Portland over the weekend.

Entry to the Saturday evening session of The Festival, a Shelton Brothers event that drew brewers from around the world, was reportedly delayed for at least a half hour because not enough volunteers showed up to pour beer samples. For some bizarre reason the beer companies are not allowed to serve their own beer.

Festival organizer Dan Shelton criticized the state law restricting brewers from pouring their own samples during festivals, a regulation he blamed for unnecessarily driving up his need for volunteer pourers. He said he needed to have 80-plus volunteers, one at each booth, and wasn't sure how many he was short by when organizers realized they needed to scramble to add more:

This is not just us complaining. The brewers really wanted to serve their beers to the customers, and it really bothered them. That's how they create a personal connection with people, and that's what they came here for.

He also bristled about the fact that state regulators insisted that his festival censor beer labels from a Danish brewer that included an expletive.

Shelton also argued against a Maine law capping the amount of beer festival-goers can consume over a four-hour stretch at 48 ounces (2.5 UK pints). The minute limit is monitored by banning cash sales and using a ticketing system with restrictions on ticket issuing.

Webcams should be covered when not in use because hackers could be using them to spy on people.

A BBC Radio 5 live investigation found sites where hackers exchanged pictures and videos of people captured on their own webcams without their knowledge. The team found a thriving black market where access to compromised computers was bought and sold for a few pence.

Student Rachel Hyndman, 20, from Glasgow, who has a part-time job in a computer shop, believes she was the victim of webcam hacking. She spotted the camera on her laptop had switched itself on while she was watching a DVD in the bath. She says: I was sitting in the bath, trying to relax, and suddenly someone potentially has access to me in this incredibly private moment and it's horrifying.

Hackers are able to gain access to victims' computers using a piece of malicious software (malware) spread in infected files or by tricking the victim into visiting a spiked webpage. Such victims are labelled slaves or bots.

A BBC Radio 5 live producer posing online as a computer security enthusiast made contact with several webcam hackers from the UK and around the world. At least one of them has since been arrested on suspicion of cyber-offences. The investigation uncovered websites where hackers share pictures and videos of their victims. They include pages where hackers exchange photos of ugly slaves, and others where men swap pictures of female slaves.

For some reason the programme did not discuss whether national security services have similar capabilities. It will be interesting to see if computer manufacturers are allowed to fit a lens cap.

BBC: People say that dole queues are caused by council policies suffocating local business Mayor: Yes.. but look how slim they are!

Chip shops, kebab houses and fast food chains such as McDonald's would not be allowed to serve hot items over the counter before 5pm under plans being proposed by Salford City Council.

It announced last year that it was thinking of bringing in a ban on mobile takeaway and ice cream van trucks near schools, but the new policy would extend this to permanent takeaways.

Cllr Margaret Morris, assistant mayor for health at Salford council, spewed:

Takeaways create jobs and provide a service... BUT ...these ideas are to make sure that they are opening in the right places and not having a negative impact in our city.

We don't think they should be serving hot food over the counter before 5pm near schools, as children should be encouraged to eat healthily, so we have made this clear in our proposal.

Public health and helping to reduce obesity levels are a top priority, and while planners cannot control the food that is sold, we would like every new premise to offer well promoted healthy alternatives so people can have an informed choice about the food they eat.

Residents are encouraged to come forward with any comments or suggestions so they can be taken into consideration before a decision is made on the future of planning in our city.

The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has reportedly banned women from staying in clubs, pubs and bars after 10 pm. Despite the legal age of drinking being 18 years, the Andhra Pradesh Government has also banned those under 21 years from these places at any time.

According to reports, a notification was issued by the State Government directing pubs and bars to ask women customers leave after 10 pm else their liquor license would be cancelled.

A senior police officer ludicrously claimed that the step was taken to stop incidents of drunken women quarreling with car drivers outside bars and clubs at night, say reports.

Women's organisations termed the move as male chauvinistic . The secretary of the Progressive Organisation of Women said:

Women are not drunkards. It's unjustifiable to ban their entry after 10 pm. Such discrimination is undemocratic.

Rates of murder and violent crime have fallen more rapidly in the UK in the past decade than many other countries in Western Europe, researchers say.

The UK Peace Index, from the Institute for Economics and Peace, found UK homicides per 100,000 people had fallen from 1.99 in 2003, to 1 in 2012.

The research by the international non-profit research organisation comes as a separate study by Cardiff University suggests the number of people treated in hospital in England and Wales after violent incidents fell by 14% in 2012.

Some 267,291 people required care - 40,706 fewer than in 2011 - according to a sample of 54 hospital units, its report said.

BBC home editor Mark Easton called it the riddle of peacefulness and said the fall in violence was perhaps a symptom of a new morality .

I do wonder whether the analysis is focusing on traditional social and criminal justice theories when the answer to the quite remarkable drop in violence may lie somewhere else entirely. Could it be that global communication is having a calming effect on people's behaviour?

For its inaugural index, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which defined peace as the absence of violence or fear of violence , used Home Office data on crime, such as public disorder offences and weapons crime, and police officer numbers.

It found the violent crime rate was down by about one quarter - from 1,255 per 100,000 people in 2003, to 933 in 2012. This was a more rapid fall than the average decrease across western Europe for that period.

These reductions came despite a 6% drop in the number of police officers per 100,000 people, it said.

A cartoon depiction of a busty woman has been deemed too sexy for Sweden's state run liquor store monopoly Systembolaget, forcing a brewery in Denmark to change the beer bottle's label for the Swedish stores.

The bottle features a cartoon image of a woman who is half submerged in water. Above her, the word Lust appears in capital letters. The beer is part of a Seven Deadly Sins Series, from Danish brewers Amager Bryghus, with each of the sins represented by a cartoon image on different bottles.

But Sweden's state-run liquor retailer has decided that the picture on the Lust bottle doesn't abide by Sweden's alcohol etiquette.

As a result, Systembolaget has told the brewers to remove or edit the picture if the beer is to be sold in Sweden. The brewers responded by simply blacking out the entire label so neither the woman nor the bath is visible at all.

However the Danish brewers are having the last laugh. Henrik Paps, head of communications at the brewery, told The Local:

There's been a flood of calls and emails from Swedes who think the decision is ridiculous, and they've been ordering copies of the uncensored beer from here in Denmark. We've gained a major following.

Some recent activism has left me wondering what the latest generation thinks feminism even means.

Canadian Association for Equality is a group that's been hosting events on men's rights, the idea that males aren't getting a fair shake in certain aspects of society.

One event last month featured Professor Janice Fiamengo arguing women's studies isn't real scholarship but activism.

Some may take issue with these ideas, but ultimately they're just public lectures featuring serious academics. Anyone can attend and critique!.

But instead of letting free thought prevail, feminist agitators barricaded the doors, harassed attendees, pulled fire alarms, chanted curses at speakers and more. Police had to get involved.

On a related note, the University of Toronto Student Union, funded by student levies to represent all students, held a town hall on shutting down men's rights events on campus. Some attendees reportedly wanted to expose where men's rights advocates lived and worked. Other student unions have since moved to ban the creation of men's groups and one student group called for physical confrontation.

London's Covent Garden is set to be transformed into mini Thailand for the Songkran festival on Friday and Saturday.

St Martins Courtyard will be decorated with lanterns and water features and visitors are promised a truly Thai welcome .

There'll be street food carts selling traditional Bangkok snacks and Thai beer and the Tourism Authority of Thailand will be laying on entertainment including folk dancing, fruit carving and garland making, and traditional Thai massages.

The event will take place from noon until 8pm on both days and will be free to enter.

Celebrations back in Thailand have been characterised by huge water fights, where revellers come armed with giant water pistols, buckets and hoses.

There was no mention of whether water fights would be encouraged at the London event but perhaps pack a waterproof jacket just to be on the safe side.

However given April temperatures, anyone handing out a soaking is likely to be arrested for assault, and probably for criminal damage to an iPhone too.

The Irish low budget airline Ryanair is being prosecuted by gender extremists in Spain over the production of their 2013 calendar featuring female cabin crew in bikinis.

Groups in Spain's Malaga province claim the calendar is 'offensive' and exploits female employees. They claim that the public use of these images is illegal.

The case is set to be heard before a three-judge panel on April 30.

The calendar is sold on all Ryanair flights for $12 and all proceeds go to the Polish TVN Foundation, which helps children suffering with cystic fibrosis. The company expects to raise $128,508 for the charity.