From nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net Wed Feb 7 15:15:58 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Wed Feb 7 15:17:13 2007 Subject: NYMHM: Monster mud volcano; India kidney scam Message-ID: ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * February 7, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 6 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://newsdesk.org/archives/003169.php - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ - Store: http://cafepress.com/newsdesk/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: Global warming goes green (as in "growth industry"), a monster mud volcano is blamed on botched gas drilling, the Mahdi Army may only gain from a surge, Australians dispute their flag's role in recent ethnic rioting, India discovers an illegal kidney trade, Zimbabwe's health care system grinds to a halt ... and gay marriage makes estranged bedfellows of clerks in Canada and California. QUOTED: "They'll wave at us during the day and shoot at us during the night ... People (in America) think it's bad, but that we control the city. That's not the way it is. They control it, and they let us drive around." -- 1st Lt. Dan Quinn, a U.S. Army platoon leader in Baghdad, says the Mahdi Army has effectively infiltrated Iraq's Army and police force (see "Top Stories"). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > Shiite Militia May Gain From Surge American soldiers in Iraq say the Mahdi Army will only be strengthened by White House plans to boost troops levels there. The soldiers told a McClatchy Newspapers reporter that Shiite militants have "heavily" infiltrated Iraq's army and police, use U.S. training and supplies to stage death squad killings, and are waiting for an American withdrawal before launching a final attack on Sunnis to consolidate their hold on Baghdad. > Humans Blamed for Indonesia Mud Volcano More than 10,000 people have been made homeless so far by the slow but devastating eruption of a huge mud volcano. Scientists blame the tide of hot mud, which may continue for years, on botched gas- drilling by a company linked to an Indonesian government minister. Efforts to control the flood have so far proven futile. > Australia's Flag: Gang Colors? The director of Australia's largest outdoor music festivals has enraged veterans and politicians by asking concertgoers to leave the national flag at home. Prompted by race riots at sporting and music events, Big Day Out producer Ken West told the Daily Telegraph that the flag was being used as "gang colors." Sources: "Mahdi Army gains strength through unwitting aid of U.S." McClatchy Newspapers, February 1, 2007 http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/16600612.htm "Indonesia trying to stop mud flow" Reuters, February 3, 2007 http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Indonesia-trying-to-stop-mud-flow/2007/02/03/1169919568655.html "Drilling for gas caused Java mud deluge, British scientists believe" The Guardian, January 25, 2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1997927,00.html "Australian anger at flag controls" BBC, January 22, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6285665.stm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIMATE CHANGE ............................................................................. > The Global Warming Growth Industry The worst weather may be a century away, but consumers and energy companies in coal-dependent Kentucky and Indiana may see early signs of climate change in their bank accounts. Officials say a push for cleaner power plants could triple energy bills there. In Texas, a predicted increase in drought conditions could cause the Colorado River and Rio Grande to dry up before they reach the coast, creating a desert in the west of the state and eliminating 40 percent of all crops. By 2050, some predict that oil tankers will be used to ship drinking water from New Zealand, Norway and Russia to thirsty parts of China, Australia, and the United States. Iceberg towing and chemical "cloud seeding" could become routine "if the money's right," one tanker owner told Reuters. The pundit circuit also sees green in climate change: The American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank funded by ExxonMobil and other companies, has offered scientists $10,000 each to dispute the findings of the latest international climate change report. Sources: "Warming puts region's coal in the cross hairs" Courier-Journal (KY), February 3, 2007 http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070203/NEWS01/702030433 "Severe heat, drought predicted for 22nd-century Texas" Houston Chronicle, February 3, 2007 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4523120.html "Tankers may ship water to parched cities of future" Reuters, February 2, 2007 http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=291925DDBC6E2D194D0C22D268E0F865 "Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study" Guardian (U.K.,) February 2, 2007 http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2004397,00.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ILLEGAL ORGAN TRADE ............................................................................. > India Kidney Scam Revealed Police are investigating 10 private hospitals in Tamil Nadu for illegally removing kidneys from tsunami victims and impoverished textile workers, then selling them to patients from Sri Lanka, East Asia and "the Gulf," according to Indian media. The practice has been going on for "about six years," police told ADN Kronos. Some donors some claim they were tricked, or drugged and subjected to nonconsensual surgery. Police say victims of the scam are paid a "pittance," and that suspected hospitals may be falsifying records. Sources: "India: 500 people sell kidneys in Tamil Nadu" ADNKronos International/Asian Age, February 1, 2007 http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Trends&loid=8.0.382130074&par= "Tamil Nadu kidney racket may be catering to foreigners" Daily News & Analysis (India), January 23, 2007 http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1076020 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GAY MARRIAGE ............................................................................. > Free Speech, Gay Marriage Clash in California and Canada A Yolo County, Calif., clerk says she will exercise her free speech rights by giving a symbolic "certificate of inequality" to gay couples seeking to marry during a Valentine's Day protest, the Sacramento Bee reports. Some critics blasted the move as inappropriate; others say it reflects the conflict between Proposition 22, California's voter-approved ballot initiative banning gay marriages, and constitutional mandates to ensure equal protection. In Saskatchewan, a 70-year-old marriage commissioner is on trial for violating human rights rules when he refused to marry a gay couple as provided by Canadian law. His lawyer says to do so would have violated his religious beliefs. Sources: "Clerk protests gay marriage ban" Sacramento Bee, February 2, 2007 http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/117532.html "Decision reserved in case of Sask. official who refused to marry gay couple" CBC Saskatchewan, February 2, 2007 http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/02/02/same-sex-case.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS & PERSPECTIVE ............................................................................. > Zimbabwe's Deadly Medical Strike With medical workers on strike over wages so low that a junior doctor's monthly salary won't cover a single tank of gas, Zimbabwe's health care system has come to a "near-total halt." An op-ed published by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting claims that the strike, underway since December 21, is killing "hundreds" of patients weekly, and was caused by government neglect of a once-admired health care system that today denies service to 90 percent of the population. The anonymous author says the international community is ignoring the problem, even while senior Zimbabwean officials fly to South Africa and elsewhere to receive health care. Source: "Zimbabwe: Health system near total collapse" Institute for War and Peace Reporting, January 30, 2007 http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=328915&apc_state=henh ============================================================================= 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 Feb 14 17:38:37 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Wed Feb 14 17:40:10 2007 Subject: NYMHM: Venezuela trade unions battle; Iraqi oil corruption Message-ID: ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * February 14, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 7 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://newsdesk.org/archives/004184.html - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ - Store: http://cafepress.com/newsdesk/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: Venezuela trade unions are locked in a mafia-style bloodletting, an Orthodox Jew sues over sex-segregated buses, oil corruption fuels Iraq's civil war, autism in New Jersey is twice the national average, a "day kidnapping" in the Philippines is linked to the police ... and Pakistan looks for suicide bombing clues at funerals without bodies. QUOTED: "Most people come to the organization, but then don't want to file a formal complaint for fear of drawing attention to themselves as homosexuals." -- Activist Jolando Jimenez says harassment of gays by Chilean police continues almost ten years after a ban on homosexuality was lifted (see "News & Commentary," below). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > Venezuela's Deadly Trade Union Battles Rival trade union leaders, already divided into competing pro- and anti- Chavez camps, are killing each other in a mafia-style vendetta to claim exorbitant hiring fees paid by laborers desperate for work in Venezuela's booming construction industry. > Jewish Women to The Back of The Bus? Orthodox Jew Naomi Ragan of New York City is suing a Jerusalem bus company after she was harassed by ultra-conservative men for refusing to move to the back of a sex-segregated bus. The company operates 30 such bus lines throughout the city as a concession to the powerful Haredi community, a Jewish sect known to splatter bleach on women and clothing they deem immodest, riot against gays, and prevent their wives and daughters from attending college. > Philippine Kidnapping Linked to Police, Armed Forces The thwarted kidnapping of the head of the Philippine Tourism Authority has led to the arrest of two police officers and a member of the military. "Day kidnappings," in which victims are released within a day after ransom is paid, are common across the country. Sources: "Trade union job-peddling leads to bloodshed" Inter Press Service, February 13, 2007 http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36548 "Women fight back against ultra-Orthodox Jews" Agence France-Presse, February 9, 2007 http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=19489 "Barbers' family escape kidnap try" Inquirer.net (Philippines), February 10, 2007 http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=48681 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTISM IN AMERICA ............................................................................. > With Autism's Spread, a Mystery and a Lawsuit A new report finds that one in every 60 boys in New Jersey has autism -- nearly twice the national rate. Youth in the study were affected regardless of race, and the trend is spread equally throughout the state. Efforts to find suspected clusters of autism there have failed, and calls for more research are matched by a growing demand for new funding and services for children with the disorder. In Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that babies born via Caesarean sections or in breech position do appear to have a slightly higher rate of autism. But a chemical culprit has been harder to identify, leading to a class-action lawsuit by thousands of parents convinced that their children developed autism after receiving vaccinations containing a mercury-based preservative. In an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer, researcher Arthur Caplan notes that mercury is no longer used in most vaccines, and that research has failed to correlate the chemical with a spike in autism nationwide over the last 20 years. Sources: "New Jersey has highest rate ever documented in U.S." The Record (NJ), February 9, 2007 http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MDczNzMy "Study: Low birth weight, C-section risk factors in autism" Salt Lake Tribune, February 8, 2007 http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5184585 "A mother's battle against mercury" Hernando Today (FL), February 3, 2007 http://www.hernandotoday.com/MGBE2H8MQXE.html "Fact: No link of vaccine, autism" Philadelphia Inquirer, February 6, 2007 http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/16630652.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAKISTAN ............................................................................. > As Bombings Surge, Pakistan Tracks Funerals Without Bodies A series of suicide attacks have killed or injured dozens of Pakistani police officers and civilians since September 2006. Residents avoid mosques, markets and public outings with their children, and say the state has "failed" to protect them, the Daily Times reports. Looking for a break, undercover investigators are attending the funerals of young men whose bodies are absent. Their hope is to identify not just the culprits, but the groups behind the attacks. One militant said groups opposed to President Pervez Musharraf are now joined in the goal of targeting Pakistani officials who represent "the American agenda in the Islamic world," according to The News-International. Sources: "Peshawaris 'shell shocked', feel insecure, unprotected" Daily Times (Pakistan), February 10, 2007 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007/02/10/story_10-2-2007_pg7_45 "Funerals being monitored to identify bombers" Daily Times (Pakistan), February 9, 2007 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C02%5C09%5Cstory_9-2-2007_pg7_8 "Suicide hits 'response to Musharraf's policies'" The News-International (Pakistan), February 4, 2007 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=5644 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IRAQ ............................................................................. > Militants Target Infrastructure to Exploit Oil Attacks on Iraq's electrical grid are causing blackouts around the country and affecting oil production, forcing the country to import fuel even as militants freely siphon petroleum from state-owned pipelines. U.S. officials are well aware that between $20 and $30 million of crude oil is stolen every day, but seem powerless to stop it. Mikel Morris, a Houston oil engineer who worked in Baghdad for the State Department, says corruption in the Iraqi Oil Ministry is rampant, and the source of most attacks on reconstruction projects and reformist Iraqi oil officials. Morris said that one pipeline company in Southern Iraq is controlled by Shiites, and according to CBS 11 in Texas, "refused to divulge its export contracts, records of sales, or even the names of buyers" Sources: "Baghdad in dark as electric grid hit again" United Press International, February 9, 2007 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/29038.html "CBS 11 investigates Iraqi crude oil theft" CBS 11 (TX), February 8, 2007 http://cbs11tv.com/seenon/local_story_039132640.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS & COMMENTARY ............................................................................. > No Longer Illegal, Gays Are Still a Target in Chile Although homosexuality was legalized in 1998, gays in Chile still suffer public harassment and, in one case, beatings and attempted rape -- all by the country's own police force. Activists there have called for mandatory human rights training for police officers, or Carabineros, but the Santiago Times reports that officials have not welcomed the idea. Source: "Police abuse of gays continues in Chile" Santiago Times, February 7, 2007 http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=12944&topic_id=1 ============================================================================= 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 Feb 21 14:40:39 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Wed Feb 21 14:42:22 2007 Subject: NYMHM: Dow Chemical fined; Europe hate-speech debate Message-ID: ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * February 21, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 8 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://newsdesk.org/archives/004191.html - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ - Store: http://cafepress.com/newsdesk/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: Europe is fraught by old crimes and a new economic slump, a Dow Chemical fine stirs up Bhopal ghosts, inflation and dissent converge in Zimbabwe, Baghdad's broken homes are up for grabs, Shia rivalry wags the dog, race and pollution are linked in California, Southeast Asians risk a European sea voyage with low returns ... and a brownfield grows in Queens, New York. QUOTED: "It is a great misunderstanding to consider anti-Semitism as racism. The Jews of Poland are racially indistinguishable from the Poles. However, the fact that they stick to their own community, their own civilization, their own separateness, results in biological differences developing." -- Maciej Giertyc, a Polish member of the European Parliament, writing in a booklet critics say was published with E.U. funding (see "Hate Speech," below). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > Dow Fine Stirs Bhopal Ghosts Survivors of the Bhopal chemical disaster called for a police investigation after U.S. regulators fined Dow Chemical for paying $200,000 to Indian bureaucrats to legalize a pesticide banned in the United States in 2000. India's Agriculture Ministry said it was "surprised" by the fines, and that it follows "strict norms" for pesticide regulation, the Financial Express reports. But activists told the Indo-Asian News Service that the bribery incident is only the "tip of the iceberg." > Poverty, Unemployment on the Rise in Europe Pressure is building for economic and labor reform in Europe, where one out of six citizens, especially children, are living below the poverty line, and four in ten young people are unemployed -- particularly those without higher education. Some critics say making it easier to hire and fire young people will help bring them into the job market, but just such a measure sparked huge protests in France last year, causing reformists to back down. > A Risky New Sea Route, With Low Returns Growing numbers of Southeast Asian migrants are spending thousands of dollars flying to Addis Ababa or Dubai, and trekking across Africa to risk their lives on boats headed for the Canary Islands. Many destroy their passports to avoid being repatriated, a practice that usually sends them into the stateless limbo of refugee camps. Sources: "Bhopal gas survivors demand action against U.S. firm" Indo-Asian News Service, February 16, 2007 http://www.teluguportal.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=32334 "Dow chem's kick-back issue rocks agriculture ministry" The Financial Express (India), February 17, 2007 http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=155106 "One in six Europeans living below the poverty line" The E.U. Observer (Belgium), February 20, 2007 http://euobserver.com/9/23532 "Jobless youth fuel Europe's heated debate about reform" The Financial Times (U.K.), February 17, 2007 http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=FT&Date=20070219&ID=6501840 "Immigrants open a new path to Europe" International Herald Tribune, February 16, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/16/news/immigrants.php ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZIMBABWE ............................................................................. > Inflation, Dissent Converge With inflation at 1,600 percent, Zimbabwe is removing subsidies on flour, maize and fuel, causing prices to as much as quintuple for staple foods and transportation. Officials say inflation is caused by businesses that illegally increase prices set by the state, and to prevent corruption have doubled the salaries of youth militia charged with enforcing the new rules. The new militia salaries are about 10 times the amount paid to teachers and state doctors, a sore point in a nation where leaders of the national teachers' union were recently arrested for calling for strikes over low wages. Robert Mugabe's government routinely smothers dissent, last week detaining student leaders who protested a 2,000 percent fee hike, and banning an election rally by the opposition party. Sources: "Zimbabwe: Police deny permission for Tsvangirai rally" Business Day (South Africa), February 16, 2007 http://allafrica.com/stories/200702160171.html "Zimbabwe: Massive price hikes loom" Zimbabwe Independent, February 16, 2007 http://allafrica.com/stories/200702160351.html "Zim militia squads pay doubles" South African Press Association, February 13, 2007 http://business.iafrica.com/news/627989.htm Learn more about Zimbabwe on Newsdesk.org: http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004183.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IRAQ ............................................................................. > "Soldiers of Heaven": Wagging the Dog? When the governor of Najaf called on U.S. air support for an Iraqi Army attack on a heavily fortified compound, the target was originally described as an al Qaeda-affiliated Sunni group -- and then later a Shia doomsday cult -- that sought to massacre Shia imams and pilgrims during a religious festival. But the Institute for War & Peace Reporting now cites "security officials" who claim no attack on imams and pilgrims was planned, and quotes Najaf's deputy governor as stating that regional Shia leaders simply wanted to eliminate a rival militant Shia sect. > The Broken Homes of Baghdad Observers say Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's plan to return every Baghdad home to their original owner within 15 days, or have displaced families prove they have permission to be there, will drive another wave of refugees. One man interviewed by the U.N. news service says his family was placed by Sunni politicians in a new home after being "purged" from his old neighborhood by the Mahdi Army. "Shia rivalry sparked battle of Zarqa" Institute for War & Peace Reporting, February 15, 2007 http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=333280&apc_state=henh "Rebel Muslims longed for doomsday / 'Heaven's Army' battled near Najaf with high-tech arms" Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2007 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/30/MNG5ENR9PH1.DTL "New security plan could make more Iraqis homeless" Integrated Regional Information Networks (UN), February 15, 2007 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/221131adf059f9fc96c997d621e8097e.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLLUTION ............................................................................. > Scotland's Routine Radiation Leaks A Scottish nuclear plant operator was fined $273,000 last week for dumping solid nuclear waste in a public landfill, and for discharging contaminated water into effluent pipes that washed up on local beaches for more than 20 years. Less than five hours after the fine was handed down, another suspected radioactive particle was found on a nearby beach, the BBC reports. > Pollution, Race Linked in SF Bay Area A new report finds that most people living within a mile of power plants, refineries and other pollution sources in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area are ethnic minorities with higher rates of asthma and cancer, and less access to health care. Neighborhood activists say children need to use inhalers, and told KCBS that they're perpetually washing "black gook" and "black soot" off their windows and houses. > A Brownfield Grows in Queens Neighbors of an old lot targeted for a $50 million low-income housing and commercial complex were never told of the site's 70-year history of "excessive" contamination by a dry-cleaning business, the Queens Chronicle in New York reports. Studies show that pollution could have spread as much as a quarter-mile underground, within reach of a municipal well. The developer, an influential local church, downplays the risk of toxic vapor leaks and runoff, but has applied for "brownfield" status that would both cover cleanup expenses and limit liability. Sources: "Nuclear site operator fined 140k" BBC (U.K.), February 15, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6364351.stm "Low-income, minority areas bear brunt of Bay Area pollution" ANG Newspapers, February 18, 2007 http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_5254289 "Study claims environmental racism in Bay Area" CBS5/KCBS (San Francisco), February 20, 2007 http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_051211155.html "Toxic site eyed for housing" Queens Chronicle (NY), February 15, 2007 http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17856455&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574908&rfi=6 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HATE SPEECH ............................................................................. > Talkin' Crimes of Old Europe Germany's push for new hate-crime laws across Europe is creating fissures in the growing European Union. Some former Soviet bloc nations want to include a provision that makes denial of Nazi and Communist war crimes equivalent. But the measure, advanced by Estonia, Poland and Slovenia, has been criticized by a Slovakian minister who says it's impossible to equate fascism and communism. The E.U. Observer reports that Poles are also lobbying to ban the phrase "Polish death camps," because, say advocates, such camps were built and operated by occupying Nazi forces. Meanwhile, a prominent Polish politician has drawn charges of anti-semitism after claiming in a booklet that there are "biological differences" between Jews and gentiles, TheParliament.com reports. The booklet was written by Polish E.U. minister Maciej Giertych, father of Poland's deputy prime minister. Critics say E.U. funds were used to publish the book, and want the money returned. Sources: "E.U. anti-hate law sparks debate on Nazi and Soviet crimes" EUObserver (Belgium), February 16, 2007 http://euobserver.com/9/23515 "E.U. parliament in row over antisemitic book" TheParliament.com (Belgium), February 16, 2007 http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200702/56f8440a-6f89-4dac-a260-b70c26a3308f.htm ============================================================================= 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 Feb 28 11:46:12 2007 From: nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net (nymhm@lists.artsandmedia.net) Date: Wed Feb 28 11:48:58 2007 Subject: NYMHM: China's sandstorm "season"; Hussein's Ghost Message-ID: ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * February 28, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 9 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://newsdesk.org/archives/004201.html - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ - Store: http://cafepress.com/newsdesk/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: China's sandstorm "season" plagues Asia, California prisons get a failing grade on drug treatment, a meningitis outbreak tests vaccine supplies, Hussein's ghost haunts the Afghan Parliament, Uganda's rebels are on the run and crossing borders ... and poverty worldwide drives a booming slave trade. QUOTED: "Parliament has changed to a safe haven for war criminals and human rights violators. These people are vipers in our bosom." -- Malalai Joya, an Afghan legislator, on an amnesty bill for militants and mujahedeen, some of whom are now government officials (see "Afghan War Crimes," below). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > China Blamed for Sandstorm "Season" Born in the widening Gobi Desert, driven by overgrazing and deforestation, and soaking up the carcinogens and pollutants of China's industrial districts, the toxic sandstorms of China have grown from a bothersome four days annually in the 1980s to a 17-day "season" that kills hundreds and sickens millions in Japan and the Koreas each year. Faced with bad press and anger from its neighbors, China has promised a "sandstorm-free" Olympics in 2008, and according to the Scotsman is replanting eroded areas. > California Prison Drug Program Condemned California's Inspector General Matt Cate aid the state's prison drug treatment programs are a "total failure," the Los Angeles Times reports, costing taxpayers $1 billion since 1989, and even increasing recidivism. Cate said treatment programs were frequently disrupted by lockdowns and lack of counseling. He also said prison officials spent more than $8 million on progress reports they ignored, and that California's Legislature twice expanded the programs without verifying their effectiveness. > Vaccine Shortage Spurs Meningitis Fears Schools, dance halls and churches have been closed as a rare meningitis strain spreads through Uganda's West Nile region, killing 110 people and affecting 2,923 others. Outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan have spurred fears of an epidemic; vaccine supplies are limited to 300,000 doses, with no additional stocks currently in production worldwide. Sources: "12-day toxic sandstorm the price of Chinese growth for South Korea" The Scotsman (U.K.), February 23, 2007 http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=288102007 "California prison drug treatment called waste of money" Los Angeles Times, February 22, 2007 http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-prisons22feb22,1,6038876.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california "Meningitis kills 110" The New Vision (Uganda), February 23, 2007 http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/550820 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFGHAN WAR CRIMES ............................................................................. > Hussein's Ghost Haunts Afghan Parliament A bill that would grant amnesty to warlords and militants, including government officials accused by human rights groups of war crimes, is advancing through Afghanistan's legislature. The Telegraph reports that 25,000 former militants came to Kabul for a peaceful demonstration in support of the amnesty call, which the newspaper says was "triggered" by the execution of Saddam Hussein. But more than two decades of invasion, jihad and civil war have taken their toll. According to the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, some members of Parliament walked out to protest the vote, and citizens on the street are in a similar mood. "Parliament is a shelter for criminals," a Kabul shopkeeper told the IWPR. "They are granting forgiveness for themselves." Sources: "Afghans in no mood to forgive killers" Institute for War & Peace Reporting, February 20, 2007 http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=333408&apc_state=henh "Warlords rally to demand Afghan amnesty" Telegraph (U.K.), February 25, 2007 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/24/wafg24.xml ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NO PEACE FOR UGANDA ............................................................................. > A Rebellion on the Run, Crossing Borders Decades of conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army have taken thousands of lives in Uganda. More than two million people have been pushed from their homes, and peace talks have stalled on rebel fears that mediators are biased. Now, after being flushed out of bases in southern Sudan, the remaining LRA militants have broken the terms of a cease-fire, and are crossing the border to join forces with the Central African Republic's local rebel militia, the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy. Sources: "As peace talks stall, displaced Ugandans yearn for home" Deutsche Presse-Agentur, February 23, 2007 http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_15757-As-Peace-Talks-Stall-Displaced-Ugandans-Yearn-For-Home.html "'Ugandan rebels flee to CAR'" South African Press Association, February 20, 2007 http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2072133,00.html "Uganda: 'A war against children" Newsdesk.org news analysis, April 1, 2005 http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/003317.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HUMAN TRAFFICKING ............................................................................. > On Poverty's Coattails, Slavery Thrives Impoverished girls from Eastern Europe and Africa are prime targets for pimps and smugglers. As many as 5,000 youth have been sold into prostitution and literal domestic slavery in the United Kingdom, according to a new study. In India, participants in the Global March Against Child Labor decried what they say is a $32 billion worldwide industry that mostly preys upon women and children. And Reuters reports that Myanmar, a police state that formerly branded emigrant laborers "traitors," has established new rules protecting them after 66 Myanmar citizens were rescued from a Thai factory where some were imprisoned for seven years. Sources: "'Human trafficking is a $32 bn worldwide business'" Indo-Asian News Service, February 24, 2007 http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20070224/40784.htm "Sex traffic: Danielle was 15 when she was sold into slavery in the U.K." Independent (U.K), February 25, 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2303020.ece "5,000 child sex slaves in U.K." Independent (U.K), February 25, 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2303019.ece "Myanmar admits migrants abused" Reuters, February 22, 2007 http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/1001345 ============================================================================= 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. =============================================================================