NYMHM: China's sandstorm "season"; Hussein's Ghost

Wed Feb 28 11:46:12 PST 2007

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 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.

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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). 

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TOP STORIES
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 > 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

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AFGHAN WAR CRIMES
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 > 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

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NO PEACE FOR UGANDA
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 > 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

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING
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 > 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

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Editors: Julia Scott, Josh Wilson
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