From nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net Wed Apr 4 14:06:37 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Wed Apr 4 14:11:09 2007 Subject: NYMHM: Drug cartels use U.S. weapons; TSA safety net has holes Message-ID: ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * March 28, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 14 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://newsdesk.org/archives/004234.html - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ - Store: http://cafepress.com/newsdesk/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: The TSA's safety net has gaping holes, Jordan grapples with a flood of Iraqi refugees, abortion is an open secret in Mexico, Pakistan's Talibanization proceeds (but not so smoothly), U.S. weapons are favored by Mexican drug cartels, rumors of missiles fly over Iran ... and Feinstein denies a conflict of interest. QUOTED: "It's truly absurd that a person can get together 50 to 100 high- powered arms, grenade launchers, fragmentation grenades, and can transport this cargo to our country." -- Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora says violent drug cartels arm themselves with weapons made and purchased in the United States (see "Mexico,' below). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > TSA: Holes in the Safety Net? The Transportation Safety Administration's covert "Red Team" was able to sneak 90 percent of its simulated explosives and chemical weapons past security at Denver International Airport. Alarms went off, but screeners did not pat down undercover agents or check their baggage. Similar lapses turned up in 15 other U.S. airports in 2006, where screeners missed 90 percent of all fake weapons and explosives carried by government safety testers. > Iraqi Refugees Test Jordan's Limits Jordanians are struggling to accommodate an influx of 750,000 Iraqis fleeing unrelenting violence at home. Many find jobs in the black market, and work long hours for low pay to avoid deportation, officials say, driving down wages and sending home prices skyward. > In Mexico, Abortion Is An Open Secret For right price, any woman can get an abortion in Mexico, regardless of the fact that the procedure is not legal. Clinics, many of which are in middle-class neighborhoods, advertise openly and promise hygienic services. But women without the means turn to cheaper alternatives that lead to sometimes fatal complications. Sources: "Undercover agents slip bombs past DIA screeners" 9News.com (CO), March 29, 2007 http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=67166 "Iraq-Jordan: Iraqis cause black market for jobs" IRIN (U.N.), March 29, 2007 http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_53797.shtml "Clinics offer abortions in plain sight" El Universal (Mexico), March 3, 2007 http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/miami/24026.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAKISTAN ............................................................................. > Talibanization: Strides and Stumbles Fundamentalists blew up six music and video shops in the past month in northwestern Pakistan, an area bordering Afghanistan that experts say the Taliban have colonized. In Islamabad, an army of female religious students have also been attacking music and video stores, and kidnapped three women they say were running a brothel. The students also held two policemen hostage until the government released two imprisoned teachers who work at a banned seminary. A crackdown on jihad-preaching seminaries has faltered because of the religious right's influence over the Musharraf government, which hasn't even been able to prevent foreign students from illegally enrolling in the schools. In the North West Frontier Province, Afghan and Pakistani Talibs have established a parallel government with "Sharia courts, police forces, tax collectors and public offices," Al-Ahram Weekly reports. But a takeover by extremists is not a given. The Taliban has so far failed to stem fighting between Islamist militants and native Pakistanis at the Afghan border. More than 250 foreign al Qaeda fighters and their local allies have been killed by tribesmen since mid-March, the Associated Press reports. Sources: "Pakistan authorities give in to madarsa students, release teachers" Press Trust of India, March 29, 2007 http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=362827&sid=SAS "'No more music in this town'" Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt), March 29, 2007 http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/838/in2.htm "Pakistani Taliban blow up video shops" Agence France-Presse, March 30, 2007 http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070330/1/47jvy.html "Efforts to reform seminaries 'in a shambles'" Reuters, March 30, 2007 http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=140906&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23 "Clashes in Pakistan kill 60 near border" Associated Press, April 4, 2007 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/04/international/i044726D92.DTL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MEXICO ............................................................................. > Mexico Corruption, U.S. Weapons Deepen Drug War Toll President Felipe Calderon's war on drugs will fail unless the United States cracks down on arms sales to drug smugglers, Mexican officials say. Not only do drug cartels get the majority of their weapons from U.S. dealers -- they also net between $10 and $30 billion a year in sales to American drug users. That cash buys more arms used to attack Mexican police and politicians, the Associated Press reports. Calderon's drug fight is also complicated by corrupt officials. Last week, an American jury convicted Ricardo Gonzalez Camacho, a Mexican police officer, of smuggling 55 pounds of cocaine into the United States. And in Veracruz, a video confession by two gunmen captured and later executed by an opposing cartel revealed a web of murder and complicity between drug syndicates and their allies in the police and Army. The gunmen also said they took money from journalists seeking "news protection," El Universal reports. Sources: "Mexico's attorney general calls on U.S. to stop guns, drug money" Associated Press, March 29, 2007 http://www.policeone.com/news/1232688/ "Mexican cop is guilty of drug smuggling" Express-News (TX), March 29, 2007 http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA033007.01B.cop_guilty.36a6e9c.html "Cartel gunmen reveal links to cops, reporters" El Universal (Mexico), March 30, 2007 http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/miami/23977.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IRAN ............................................................................. > Rumors of Missiles Fly in April Newspaper Web sites around the world are rife with rumors of new aggression in the Persian Gulf. Russia's national news agency say U.S. military exercises in there are not just a show of strength, but also a warmup for an April 6 attack on Iranian nuclear sites, and that U.S. naval forces in the Gulf match levels prior to the Iraq invasion. The Israeli Web site DEBKA quotes "Arab sources" who say that Bahrain is being used as a staging ground for Patriot anti- missile units, hotels there are filling up with U.S. military personnel, reporters are arriving in "packs," and that American businesses are being advised to leave the country. Some rumors claim that the attack will be a joint operation with Israel, and will also target Syria and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said no such plans are in the works. Sources: Google News Keyphrase Search: "Iran Attack" http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=iran+attack&btnG=Search+News "US to attack Iran by end of April: Report" The Times of India, April 4, 2007 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/Rest_of_World/US_to_attack_Iran_by_end_of_April_Report/articleshow/1856584.cms "U.S. ready to strike Iran in early April - intelligence source" RIA Novosti (Russia), March 30, 2007 http://en.rian.ru/world/20070330/62861432.html "U.S. financial sources in Bahrain report American investors in Bahrain advised to pack up business operations and leave" DEBKA (Israel), March 30, 2007 http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3990 "Israel nixes Iran attack reports" JTA.org, April 2, 2006 http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/101024.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS & PERSPECTIVE ............................................................................. > Conflict of Interest Claims Follow Feinstein Senator Dianne Feinstein has resigned as chair of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee, where she served from 2001 to 2005. California's Metroactive newspaper claims she resigned after it revealed that she awarded billions of dollars in construction projects to two defense contractors owned by her husband, Richard C. Blum. Feinstein has profited directly from large investments in the companies, the newspaper reports, and did not recuse herself from discussions of company contract bids despite being warned by a top legal adviser of possible conflicts of interest. "Feinstein Resigns" Metroactive (CA), March 21-27, 2007 http://www.metroactive.com/metro/03.21.07/dianne-feinstein-resigns-0712.html "Senator Feinstein's Iraq Conflict" Metroactive (CA), January 24-30, 2007 http://www.metroactive.com/feinstein/ "Feinstein's Office Denies Conflict of Interest Charges" CyberCast News Service, April 4, 2007 http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200704/POL20070404a.html ============================================================================= Editors: Julia Scott, Josh Wilson ............................................................................. SUPPORT PUBLIC-SERVICE MEDIA Newsdesk.org and News You Might Have Missed are commercial-free, and available at no charge. We welcome your tax-deductible contributions: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695 ............................................................................. News You Might Have Missed and Newsdesk.org are free services of Independent Arts & Media: http://artsandmedia.net/ ............................................................................. E-mail list powered by Group D Communications: http://www.groupd.com/ ............................................................................. DISCLAIMER: All external links are provided as informational resources only, consistent with the nonprofit, public-interest mission of Independent Arts & Media. Independent Arts & Media does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations and does not have a copyright on any of the content located at these sites. ============================================================================= From nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net Wed Apr 11 16:05:08 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Wed Apr 11 16:08:12 2007 Subject: NYMHM: Taking on child labor; cancer and cost-cutting for nuclear workers Message-ID: ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * April 11, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 15 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://newsdesk.org/archives/004243.html - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ - Store: http://cafepress.com/newsdesk/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: A United Nations fund for Gulf War refugees is under fire, gays in Chile face murderous bigotry, "honor" killings take their toll on Jordan's women, cost-cutting at the Labor Department hit funds for nuclear and chemical workers ... and activists use outreach and education to take on child labor worldwide. QUOTED: "I think they want him to hurry up and die because it's costing them too much money. How can a doctor in Washington, D.C., determine what kind of help my husband needs?" -- Verna Keaton's husband Addison got cancer in a government uranium plant. The Labor Department now seeks to cancel his home care and move him to a hospice (see "Labor & Health," below). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > U.N. Fund Fails Pakistani Gulf War Refugees Thousands of rural Pakistanis displaced from Kuwait by the first Gulf War never found out about a $263 million compensation fund set up by the United Nations. Now the program has closed, after 95 percent of claims were rejected as duplicates or false. Critics say a third-party foundation mismanaged the funds, and many war victims were never allowed to submit their claims. > Bigotry Stalks Gays in Chile Two transgender prostitutes were murdered in Chile in March, the latest in a spate of killings dating back five years. Activists say that many cases aren't prosecuted, and that one accused murderer never served time after paying bail of $925 and telling reporters, "turns out it's cheap to kill a faggot," the Santiago Times reports. > Honor's Deadly Jordan Toll A women's advocate says there is "no political will" to combat the killing of women and girls by their relatives for affronts to family honor. They are strangled or beaten to death for falling in love with the wrong man, teenage flirtation, hosting male guests and more, the U.N news agency reports. Those who commit "honor killings" are exempt from Jordan's death penalty, and perpetrators are often treated sympathetically by their communities. Lawmakers voted against a reform bill over fears of angering their constituents. Sources: "Pakistan: no compensation for thousands of Gulf War victims" ADNKronos (Italy), April 6, 2007 http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Trends&loid=8.0.402576674&par=0 "Honor killings still tolerated in Jordan" IRIN (U.N.), April 6, 2007 http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=20282 "Transgender murders in Chile increasing" Santiago Times (Chile), April 4, 2007 http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2740.cfm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHILD LABOR ............................................................................. > Labor Groups Tackle Child Exploitation Cheap labor from children working in slavelike conditions is booming worldwide. But in India, Africa and Turkey, activists are taking on the problem with education and outreach. An estimated 100,000 boys under 14 are sent to work in Delhi's sari mills by their impoverished and misinformed parents. A local advocacy group, which says the boys are kept in filthy conditions and live and work in the same rooms, is pressuring clothing designers to commit to child-labor-free textiles. Poverty also drives West African parents to send their children to work on Ivory Coast cocoa farms, where they suffer abuse and miss out on school. The farms supply cocoa to nearly half the world, including companies such as Cadbury and Nestle. Now, a campaign by rights activists has led one British industry group to promise to certify and monitor cocoa suppliers. In Turkey, social workers are reaching out to families of children illegally employed in the furniture, textile, automotive and agricultural industries. Their solution? Find work for the parents, and persuade them to send their children back to school. Sources: "Children robbed of childhood in zari units" Indo Asian News Service, April 8, 2007 http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20070408/46302.htm "Scandal of child slaves behind your Easter eggs" Scotsman (U.K.), April 7, 2007 http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=534532007 "Throwing a wrench in the works of child labor" Today's Zaman (Turkey), March 22, 2007 http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=106212 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- LABOR & HEALTH ............................................................................. > Cost-Cutting Hits Fund for Nuclear and Chemical Workers Two federal programs for nuclear and chemical workers with cancer and other diseases are under fire for cutting costs without regard for patient needs. In Colorado, Harold Hinton is dying of lung disease contracted while producing weapons-grade uranium, and under a Labor Department cost-cutting measure will lose the live-in nurse his doctor recommended. A government spokesman said Hinton's medical provider pressured the doctor into calling for 24/7 home care. Officials have paid $1.8 billion to 20,000 claimants, and thousands of other cases are still pending. Advocacy groups are pressuring Congress to speed up the process. Another Labor Department program for workers sickened by toxic chemicals has locked out thousands of potential claimants, and hundreds of former Energy Department employees now dying of cancer have had claims denied because they were subcontractors or "worked in the wrong building," the Ventura County Star reports. Two members of a presidential commission to oversee claims under the programs were removed last year amid complaints that the panel was "essentially a worker advocacy organization," according to the Center for Public Integrity. In Congressional hearings held in March 2006, both Republicans and Democrats noted the administration seemed "preoccupied with payouts" rather than serving the sick. Sources: "Cold War, hellish consequences" Rocky Mountain News (CO), April 7, 2007 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5470027,00.html "Ill nuclear workers get a boost" Knoxville News Sentinel (TN), March 29, 2007 http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_5449124,00.html "Workers' claims denied" Ventura County Star (CA), March 18, 2007 http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/sv/article/0,1375,VCS_239_5426659,00.html "Radiation panel fairness questioned" Center for Public Integrity (D.C)., March 29, 2007 http://www.publicintegrity.org/shadow/report.aspx?aid=824 ============================================================================= Editors: Julia Scott, Josh Wilson ............................................................................. SUPPORT PUBLIC-SERVICE MEDIA Newsdesk.org and News You Might Have Missed are commercial-free, and available at no charge. We welcome your tax-deductible contributions: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695 ............................................................................. News You Might Have Missed and Newsdesk.org are free services of Independent Arts & Media: http://artsandmedia.net/ ............................................................................. E-mail list powered by Group D Communications: http://www.groupd.com/ ............................................................................. DISCLAIMER: All external links are provided as informational resources only, consistent with the nonprofit, public-interest mission of Independent Arts & Media. Independent Arts & Media does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations and does not have a copyright on any of the content located at these sites. ============================================================================= From nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net Thu Apr 12 13:09:31 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Thu Apr 12 13:12:39 2007 Subject: Big changes at Newsdesk.org Message-ID: Dear Readers; On January 3 we undertook a complete relaunch of News You Might Have Missed, switching from an aggregated email listing to a more flexible narrative format. And in February we debuted a lean, Web-active new site, designed and coded by a volunteer. The response has been great. Web traffic is increasing, we're getting regular comments for the first time ever, and email subscriptions are also on the rise. Now we need your feedback to help us improve and build on these changes: Newsdesk.org Reloaded -- Reader survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=363873673890 We'd be grateful if you took five minutes to look over this survey. All responses are strictly confidential. We have big plans for Newsdesk.org to resume its original reporting, and develop print and broadcast services as well. But we're taking it step by step, and greatly value your feedback as we move forward. Thanks again for your support of commercial-free news media! -- Josh, Julia, Michael, Virgil, and the Newsdesk.org staff and advisers p.s. You can browse the revamped Newsdesk.org Web site here: http://newsdesk.org/ From nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net Wed Apr 18 13:58:47 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Wed Apr 18 14:00:41 2007 Subject: NYMHM: Le Pen is gaining ground ... among Arabs Message-ID: NEWSDESK.org ... RELOADED! So far in 2007 we relaunched NYMHM as a narrative, and revamped our Web site as well. Take this short survey to tell us how we're doing! All replies are strictly confidential: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=363873673890 ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * April 18, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 16 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004248.html - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: Iraqi Sunnis find no haven among their kin, a South Dakota court hears abortion's rhetorical question, the BIA may intervene in the Cherokee "freedman" vote, the outsourcing boom tests U.S. schools and labor unions, crops are threatened as pollinating honeybees die out ... and a French extremist gains in the polls over (and among) Arab immigrants. QUOTED: "Above everything it's his family values we share. When we're eating our dinner, watching TV at night and we see two homosexual men kissing, it upsets us. As Muslims, and as decent French citizens, it shocks us." -- Fayid Smahi explains why he and other French Arabs are backing anti-immigrant candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in Sunday's presidential vote (see "Immigration," below.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > A Sunni House Divided Thousands of Iraqi Sunnis fleeing Shia militias are finding no peace in Sunni districts, where they are threatened by insurgents who seek to create "pure pro-insurgency neighborhoods" and suspect the newcomers of being spies or criminals, according to the Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Insurgents also target fellow Sunnis who question the violence, as well as people in mixed Sunni/Shia marriages, of which there are 6.5 million in Iraq today. > Abortion's Rhetorical Question A federal appellate court is hearing arguments over a 2005 South Dakota abortion law that requires doctors to tell patients they will be terminating "the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being" and that they are "ending the mother-child relationship." A judge called it "ideology," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, but proponents say the language defends the "right" to motherhood. > BIA Stalls on Cherokee "Freedman" Vote The Cherokee Nation faces a court battle, with almost $300 million in federal funding at stake, over its vote to remove 2,700 "freedmen" -- descendents of African American slaves of Cherokee Indians -- from tribal membership. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has so far refused to approve the vote to exclude the freedmen, who would lose their medical benefits. Sources: "Insurgents distrust displaced Sunni" Institute for War & Peace Reporting (U.K.), April 13, 2007 http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=334842&apc_state=henh "Appeals judges pepper lawyers with questions in South Dakota abortion case" St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 11, 2007 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/B40A311E7DBF2D45862572BB001C7C33?OpenDocument "Vote to remove freedmen not yet approved" Associated Press, April 13, 2007 http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414835 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- LABOR ............................................................................. > Unions, Schools Tackle Outsourcing Boom Enrollment is down at computer engineering schools because of a perception that IT jobs can all be outsourced to India. Schools now must "outsource-proof" their graduates by teaching them skills that cannot be replicated elsewhere, such as project management, the Tampa Tribune reports. One study suggests that up to 29 percent of all U.S. jobs will "offshoreable" by 2030. In the United Kingdom, some hospitals are outsourcing medical transcription to India and the Philippines; others say doing so costs local jobs, and increases risk of fatal medical errors. The Newspaper Guild is protesting plans by the Boston Globe and the New York Times Co. to outsource advertising and circulation employees to India. The Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and the Columbus Dispatch have all outsourced customer service and graphic design departments to India or the Philippines, the IndUS Business Journal reports. The federal government is spurring the trend by granting more than half of all H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers to reps from Indian companies who act as "ambassadors" that seek to drum up even more outsourcing contracts, the International Herald Tribune reports. Sources: "Outsourcers corner market for U.S. skilled worker visas" International Herald Tribune, April 14, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/12/business/visa.php "Outsourcing of U.K. hospital records to India opposed" Indo Asian News Service, April 13, 2007 http://www.theindiancatholic.com/newsread.asp?nid=7061 "Boston Globe outsourcing draws cries from union" IndUS Business Journal (MA), April 15, 2007 http://www.indusbusinessjournal.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=CE61D97B781F43749825E41A787EDB4D "Outsource-proofing the next crop of college grads" Tampa Tribune, April 12, 2007 http://www.technewsworld.com/story/56828.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................. > The Disappearing Honeybee A widespread honeybee die-off, known as "colony collapse disorder," has seen bees disappear from hundreds of thousands of hives around the world this winter. Experts are scrambling to explain why bees are fleeing their hives en masse and die elsewhere. Honeybees affect one-third of all food eaten in America and the United Kingdom, pollinating orchards, gardens and crops. Twenty-four U.S. states have been affected, as have Scotland, Spain, Italy, Poland, Greece and other parts of Europe. A Pennsylvania beekeeper blames a new insecticide used to treat agricultural crops, while California scientists say the culprit is cold weather and mites. One beekeeper is buying twice the normal number of bees to ensure local farm crops are pollinated and productive, according to the Simi Valley Acorn. A Reason Magazine article critiques recent claims by the Sierra Club that biotech crops are to blame. The author says the studies cited find no such link and points out that the problem has spread to hives across biotech-free Europe. Sources: "Is new pesticide less than bee-nign?" The Ellsworth American (ME), April 12, 2007 http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7503&Itemid=31 "Hives left 'like Mary Celeste' as bees mysteriously vanish" The Scotsman (U.K.), April 14, 2007 http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=572652007 "Weather, mite infestation put county's bee population at risk" Simi Valley Acorn (CA), April 13, 2007 http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2007/0413/Community/014.html "Plight of the bumblebee" Reason Magazine, April 13, 2007 http://www.reason.com/news/show/119622.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMMIGRATION ............................................................................. > French Extremist Gains Ground Over (And Among) Arabs Polls suggest that far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen could do even better in the first round of presidential voting this Sunday than in the 2002 election, when he came in second. Le Pen's views that North African immigrants cause crime and should be deported even resonate with French Muslims, who say he represents "wholesome values" and will deal with extremists, the BBC reports. In Marseille, children of North African immigrants don't know who to vote for but agree with Le Pen that immigration has caused mass unemployment that could cost them their jobs. Sources: "In Marseille, North Africans want brakes on immigration" Agence France-Presse, April 16, 2007 http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=20390 "Le Pen urges halt to immigration" BBC (U.K.), April 17, 2007 http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/17/2007&Cat=2&Num=002 ============================================================================= Editors: Julia Scott, Josh Wilson ............................................................................. SUPPORT PUBLIC-SERVICE MEDIA Newsdesk.org and News You Might Have Missed are commercial-free, and available at no charge. We welcome your tax-deductible contributions: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695 ............................................................................. News You Might Have Missed and Newsdesk.org are free services of Independent Arts & Media: http://artsandmedia.net/ ............................................................................. E-mail list powered by Group D Communications: http://www.groupd.com/ ............................................................................. DISCLAIMER: All external links are provided as informational resources only, consistent with the nonprofit, public-interest mission of Independent Arts & Media. Independent Arts & Media does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations and does not have a copyright on any of the content located at these sites. ============================================================================= From nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net Wed Apr 25 16:57:02 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Wed Apr 25 16:58:31 2007 Subject: NYMHM: Iran's crimes of fashion, DDT, dissent and more Message-ID: We welcome your feedback the new NYMHM: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=363873673890 ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * March 28, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 17 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004248.html - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: Iran faces a pushback over crimes of fashion, DDT has allies in Uganda, U.S. insurers are unprepared for climate change, chlorine attacks and prisoner abuse test our war-crimes conscience, farmland and water supplies suffer from Asian pollution ... and free speech is a slippery slope for punks, dissidents and activists worldwide. QUOTED: "I would rather die so I can save the government the money they are spending on spying on me." -- Gao Yaoijie, a 79-year-old AIDS activist, on China's crackdown on environment and health activists (see "Dissent," below). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > Iran: Crimes of Fashion With hotter weather comes the urge to shed layers, leading to the latest crackdown by Iranian police on immodest dress. More than 100 women were arrested in Tehran on the first day of the crackdown, and about 2,000 young men protested new rules forbidding sleeveless t-shirts, even in same-sex dorms. One judge warned the campaign may backfire, and a lawmaker said the police would be better off fighting drug abuse and poverty, the BBC reports. > Malaria Fears Rise on DDT Shortfall Uganda is short $400 million needed for a DDT spraying campaign scheduled for July. Health officials say malaria is a leading cause of poverty there, where 320 people are killed by the disease every day. The chemical hasn't been used there since the 1970s due to ecological concerns, but some public health advocates, including the World health Organization, now say it is cost-effective and has minimal health impacts if used carefully. > Climate Change: An Insurance Nightmare Federal and private insurers paid $320 billion in weather-related claims over the last 25 years, but a new report finds they are unprepared for billions more in property and crop losses caused by increases in flooding, drought and hurricanes due to climate change. The Government Accountability Office report was commissioned by senators Joseph Leiberman of Connecticut, and Maine Republican Susan Collins. Sources: "Anger at Iran dress restrictions" BBC, April 23, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6584789.stm "Uganda: No Money for DDT Spraying" The Monitor (Uganda), April24, 2007 http://allafrica.com/stories/200704231520.html "U.S. Government Insurers Ill Prepared for Climate Perils" Environment News Service, April 20, 2007 http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2007/2007-04-20-03.asp ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISSENT ............................................................................. > Critics Quickly Jailed in Cuba, China, Turkey A renowned Chinese clean-water campaigner in the industrialized Shanghai watershed was taken from his home last week by undercover police officers on charges of blackmail. Although pollution there is bad enough to have brought visits by top Communist Party officials, Wu Lihong's family says his work upset local officials who profit from factory taxes. Critics say Chinese harassment and detention of activists is commonplace. In Cuba, journalist Oscar Sanchez Madan was arrested, tried and jailed all on the same day; a week later, human rights advocate Rolando Jimenez Posada was given a 12-year sentence after being held without charges for four years. Both trials were held in secret, and neither had defense lawyers present. The Miami Herald reports that secret trials are common in Cuba, but are only recently coming to light. Turkish punk rocker Cengiz Sari, 24, says a snotty lyric he wrote at age 17 about college entrance exams was simply teenage rebellion. But years later the tune became an You Tube sensation, and the chief of the Turkish exam board got wind of it. Now bandmembers and their agent face 18 months in jail for insulting "Turkishness," the Washington Times reports. Sources: "Secret trials in Cuba are criticized" Miami Herald, April 24, 2007 http://www.miamiherald.com/581/story/84395.html "Punk rockers face jail time over tune 'insulting' Turkey" The Washington Times, April 24, 2007 http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070423-095315-8864r.htm "Once-acclaimed activist jailed by Chinese authorities" http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2007/04/24/2003357969 "China arrests environment activist Wu" http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/international/2007424/107915.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- WAR CRIMES ............................................................................. > Conscience is the Question at a Time of War Writing in the Guardian, columnist Henry Porter says Western forces may have triggered the violence in Iraq, but that "the great majority of casualties are caused by Arabs killing Arabs." In particular, he condemned "the Muslim world" for silence over Islamist use of chlorine gas in civilian attacks, which turns to acid when contacting the skin, lungs, eyes, throat and nose. Accountability is topic No. 1 in Canada as well, where critics called for the resignation of Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor after reports blamed Canadian troops for the torture of more than 30 Afghan prisoners. O'Connor says he will investigate, but his detractors say that government awareness and acceptance of torture is equivalent to complicity in "war crimes," the Canadian Broadcast Corporation reports. At present there is no universally accepted court for trying war crimes. In the European Union, home to the International Criminal Court, the Czech Republic is starting to feel the heat as the only member nation that hasn't ratified the ICC charter. In 2001, a Czech vote to back the ICC was soundly defeated, in part due to fears over eroding national sovereignty. Advocates counter that the ICC only acts against war criminals when local courts don't. Sources: "International court for war crimes gets snubbed by Czechs" The Prague Post, April 18, 2007 http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2007/04/18/international-court-for-war-crimes-gets-snubbed-by-czechs.php "Latest Afghan abuse claims spark cries for O'Connor to resign" Canadian Broadcast Service, April 23, 2007 http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/04/23/afghan-torture.html?ref=rss "When will Islam damn the chlorine bombers?" The Observer (U.K.), April 22, 2007 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2062844,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=15 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLLUTION ............................................................................. > Mines, Factories and the Cost of Asian Growth Investors breathed a sigh of relief when Indonesia dismissed charges against Newmont Mining, a U.S. firm accused of dumping mercury and arsenic into Buyat Bay that locals say causes skin rashes and tumors. But numerous tests found pollution within "normal" levels there, the BBC reports. In Vietnam, rivers are "choking" on industrial waste, Edie News Center reports. Pollution from rapid growth is creating "dead" areas with no plants or animals, where water supplies are "not at all suitable" for domestic use or agriculture. China admitted that pollution is a "severe threat" to its food supply as well. The BBC reports that as much as 10 percent of Chinese farmland is now unusable due to heavy metals, fertilizer overuse and solid waste. A new report also blames Chinese industry for almost 50 percent of the mercury contamination in Korea, and from 20 to 30 percent of the mercury found in U.S. rivers and soil. Sources: "U.S. mine firm cleared of pollution" BBC, April 24, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6586519.stm "Pollution 'hits China's farmland'" BBC, April 23, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6582571.stm "China Blamed for Half of Korea's Mercury Pollution" The Chosun ILbo (Korea), April 23, 2007 http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200704/200704230024.html "Vietnam's industrial pollution 'choking rivers'" Edie News Center (U.K.), April 24, 2007 http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=12939&channel=0 ============================================================================= Editors: Josh Wilson, Scott Domini Elhert ............................................................................. SUPPORT PUBLIC-SERVICE MEDIA Newsdesk.org and News You Might Have Missed are commercial-free, and available at no charge. 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