Page 15 March 4, 2009

PROVINCIAL/ NATIONAL

PANTHER POST

Losing candidates appeal U of O

election results Controversy has erupted

over the hotly contested Student Federation of the University of Ottawa executive elections.

Only days after the results were released on Feb. 12, several candi- dates filed an appeal over the outcome of the under- graduate student election with the SFUO’s Student Arbitration Committee on Feb. 17.

U of W halts tobacco

company recruitment The University of Win- nipeg admitted it made a mistake when it allowed representatives from a tobacco company to take part in its recent career fair.

“We want to promote a healthy campus environ- ment,” said Colin Rus- sell, registrar at the U_ of W. “They are not the appropriate company to express that.”

Genes unlock mysteries heart

attack risk Research from Hamil- ton, Ontario’s McMaster University suggests that a simple blood test can predict the genetic risk a heart attack. .

Dr. Sonia Anand, a professor of medicine, led the Canadian and Brit- ish team of researchers responsible for the break- through.

With files from the Canadian University Press

Fewer teens bumping uglies

Stats for teenagers having sex on the drop

By Amee Nijjar - Nexus (Camosun College)

| VICTORIA (CUP) — We live

in an over-sexualized soci- ety, there’s no doubt about it. But when comparing teens of the ‘90s with teens today, the numbers of those who have knocked boots looks to have dropped.

According to a Statistics Canada study, the amount of teens aged 15-19 who have had sex at least once dropped

from 47 percent in 1996/97,

to 43 per cent in 2005.

Victoria High School se- nior Anna Macdonell was surprised to hear the num-

bers had been dropping. From what she’s seen around school, Macdonell says by senior year most girls have had sex.

“The media is telling teens that it’s cool to have sex, so kids want to try it and see what it’s like,” said Macdo- nell.

But, even with sex-saturat- ed media, Macdonell says she is waiting for a steady relationship with someone she really trusts before she decides to have sex.

“T would like to believe that girls are wanting to wait a little more and don’t feel too rushed, and that they are also scared of the consequences,”

said Macdonell.

Jennifer Gibson, who works as a professional health edu- cator in Victoria, says educa- tion at earlier ages and ac- cess to community resources is partly responsible for this decrease in sexual activity.

“The earlier we begin con- versations about — sexual health, the more comfortable our youth are with sexual health information, and the longer they have to -really consider the risks,” said Gib- son. “Youth want to learn about sexual health. It’s a topic that is current, relevant, and fascinating to them.”

The number of teens be- coming sexually active at an

early age has also declined.

Statistics from 1996/1997 show 12 per cent of teens having sex before the age of 15. In 2005, eight percent had sexual intercourse be- fore the age of 15.

The numbers are idle for males, however; their stats have remained unchanged in both cases.

Gibson believes young women are becoming more empowered and aware of their right to say yes or no to sex. In contrast, she thinks many of the young men she works with feel a huge amount of peer pressure to be sexually active.

Future of newspapers, Afghanistan grim: Globe reporter

By Omair Quadri - Ryerson Free Press (Ryerson University)

TORONTO (CUP) — Graeme Smith paced back and forth, his left hand buried in his pocket as his right hand ges- turing while he spoke. “Af-

| ghanistan’s a shithole,” he

said. “And it’s going to get worse.”

Smith, the Afghanistan cor- respondent for the Globe and Mail, was speaking at the an-

| nual general meeting of the

Ryerson Journalism Alumni Association.

Hired by the Globe and.

Mail in 2001, Smith became the Moscow Bureau Chief at 25 and, since 2004, has been stationed in Kandahar. He has spent more time in southern Afghanistan than

any other Western journalist since NATO forces arrived in the region.

During his time in Afghani- stan, Smith reported on the Afghan detainee abuse is- sue where Canadian soldiers handed prisoners over to Afghan officials, only to be abused and tortured.

He also created the break- through multimedia series “Talking to the Taliban” an “unscientific survey” of 42 Taliban foot soldiers in five districts of Kandahar who were interviewed about the poppy trade, tribal wars, and the changing view of suicide bombing within the Taliban.

Online multimedia projects such as “Talking to the Tali- ban” are the future of jour- nalism, said Smith. He calls it a “full meal deal.”

“I don’t get misty-eyed about the future of newspa- pers; they’re not going to survive,’ he said. “People want information that is free, convenient, and easily accessible. They want news around the world they can pull up on their BlackBerry while sitting on the subway. Above all, I think, they want to remove the layer of skep- ticism that exists with news- papers.”

While “Talking to the Tali- ban” was a successful en- deavour, Smith admitted he received a lot of criticism for talking to insurgents, some- thing Western governments have refused to do, and has an uneasy relationship with Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs.

But, he added, many gov-

ernment organizations and think tanks have used the in- formation he gathered.

Smith is not optimistic about Afghanistan’s short- term future.

U.S. President Barack © Obama’s plan to increase U.S. troop levels in Afghani- stan will turn it into a “fuck- ing inferno,” said Smith.

Aid agencies in the country will be more restricted, more than 10,000 people will die, and many more journalists will be kidnapped and killed,

he predicted. “But, it’s like | forecast- ing the weather,’ Smith

added scratching his scrag- gly beard, a remnant of his time in Afghanistan. “I can tell what’s going to happen in the next 10 days... after that, I don’t know.”