NYMHM: Monster mud volcano; India kidney scam

Wed Feb 7 15:15:58 PST 2007

=============================================================================
 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.
=============================================================================