It's Thursday October 8th.

Sweden is marking the 30th anniversary of its ban on spanking

Currently ... David Letterman is on day three.

This is The Current.

Spanking - Nordic Committee for Human Rights

For a private members bill that hasn't even seen the floor of the House of Commons yet, Bill S-209 is getting people awfully riled up. It was introduced by Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette. And it calls for a ban on spanking children.

Kelly Block, a Conservative MP from Saskatchewan who opposes the bill says it's a "terrible idea" that would criminalize normal parental discipline. But supporters say it's about time for Canada to catch up with the two dozen countries that have already banned corporal punishment.

As mentioned in the bills Sweden led the way on the spanking or smacking ban three decades on. And some Swedes are having second thoughts. Ruby Harrold-Claesson is a Swedish human rights activist and a lawyer. She's also the chair of the Nordic Committee for Human Rights. She was in Gothenberg, Sweden.

Spanking - Children's Advocate

For his part, Marvin Bernstein thinks Sweden got it right by banning spanking and that Canada should do the same. He is Saskatchewan's Children's Advocate, a non-political appointee with a mandate to promote the rights of children. He was in Saskatoon.

And when this story first came up here at The Current, it kick-started a lot of discussion about our own personal experiences with discipline growing up. And some of The Current's producers decided to share their stories.

Listen to Part One:

Intern Culture

You know the job market is getting tight when people will work for free. You know it's getting really bad when people will line up to pay someone to let them work for free.

University of Dreams is a California-based company that caters to ambitious university students. For a fee -- sometimes thousands of dollars -- it will line up a choice internship at a well-known company. And starting this year, it will do the same for Canadian students who want to intern somewhere in Toronto.
We heard from Eric Normington, the company's Chief Marketing Officer.

Internships have been around for a very long time. Some are paid. Some aren't. They can be a requirement for school or something students solicit. They can offer a wide range of experiences. And generations of young people have used them as stepping stones to perfectly rewarding careers. But to some, the idea of paying to work for free suggests that the world of interns is getting really competitive ... and maybe just a bit exploitative.

So as part of our season-long series, Work In Progress, we wanted to look inside that world. And we'll get things started with Anya Kamenetz. She's a staff writer for Fast Company magazine. She's also the author of Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young. And her upcoming book is called, DIYU. She was in our New York studio.

Intern Culture - Panel

Our next three guests have all had their share of experiences as interns.
Chris Bowman and Caroline Fernandez were in Toronto. And Elisabetta Lombardo is living in Berlin.

And we should admit at this point that we also work with interns here at The Current. So we thought we'd give the final thought on this subject to Shannon Higgins. She's a journalism student at Ryerson University in Toronto and an intern with The Current.

Listen to Part Two:

Letters

It's Thursday. That's mail day. And Anna Maria was joined by Amanda Lang. She's the Senior Business Reporter with CBC News. She's also the co-anchor of The Lang and O'Leary Exchange on CBC Newsworld. And tomorrow, she'll be the Friday Host of The Current.

Shane Earle: Twenty years ago, Shane Earle was the first victim to speak publicly about sexual abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland. Mr. Earle says he also told police and officials with the Hughes inquiry that he had discovered pornography at the home of Raymond Lahey. Raymond Lahey was then a priest in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. And last week, Bishop Lahey was arrested and charged with possessing and importing child pornography. Tuesday on the program, we heard from Shane Earle and how this is affecting him.

Honduras: It was June 28th when Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted from government by the army. But three months' later, he snuck back into the country. He has taken refuge in the Brazilian Embassy which is surrounded by soldiers loyal to the country's de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti. Tuesday on The Current, we spoke with President Zelaya through a translator.

For the latest on Canada's position on the political crisis in Honduras, we were joined by Peter Kent. He is the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs for the Americas. And he was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Cultural Competence: Suaad Hagi Mohamud is a Canadian citizen who was stranded in Kenya for almost three months, accused of identity fraud. Canadian officials asked her a series of questions to verify her identity. Friday on the program, we asked whether most people would be able to answer these kind of questions under intensive scrutiny.

Frans de Wall: We take for granted that people are empathetic beings -- although some humans are better at it than others. But primatologist Frans de Waal says that this quality is not unique to humans. Frans de Waal is the author of The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society. Last Friday on The Current, he outlined some of the characteristics that indicate a species is empathetic.

Catherine Douglas has an interesting take on empathy. She and a colleague at Newcastle University's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development studied the effect that human kindness can have on a cow's milk production. It can start with something as simple as giving the animal a name rather than just a number. Dr. Douglas is traveling today. She was on the phone between Newcastle and Leeds in England.

Request Count: Yes, it is that time again, the weekly tally of The Current's interview requests for federal cabinet ministers. This week, we tried for Treasury Board President Vic Toews, John Baird ... the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and as you heard, Peter Kent, the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs for the Americas.

And we should also mention that we had Ted Menzies, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, on the program though he's not actually a cabinet minister. After five weeks, The Current's Request Count tally is up to 13 requests for cabinet ministers, and three interviews. That's three for 13.

Hugging: Yesterday on The Current, we examined the hug as a social greeting when it's appropriate, when it's not and why several U.S. schools are banning hugs between students. The discussion generated a lot of mail.

There is one woman who has vowed to never turn away anyone who is in need of a hug. She is known commonly as "Amma", which means Mother. She is from the southern Indian state of Kerala. And since 1987 she has traveled the world giving out hugs. It is estimated that she has embraced more than 27 million people, a feat that has earned her the title "The Hugging Saint." Dayamrita Chaitanya is Amma's senior disciple in North America. He was in Toronto over the weekend. We heard from him.

Listen to Part Three:

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