NYMHM: Guns or butter for Turks, Kurds; Calif's undocumented economy

Wed Jan 31 16:27:08 PST 2007

=============================================================================
 NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * January 31, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 5

 Important but overlooked news from around the world.
 NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 - Online this week: http://newsdesk.org/archives/001148.php
 - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml
 - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/
 - Merch: http://cafepress.com/newsdesk/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIS WEEK: 

   Florida gun licensing goes astray of the mark, Turks and Kurds
   ponder butter or bullets, California's undocumented economy runs
   deep, birth control battlefronts open in Chile and North Dakota, 
   populations and poverty swell African cities, Philippine domestic 
   labor laws backfire ... and Saudis deepen a sectarian divide.  

QUOTED: 

   "When it rains our homes are often flooded because garbage 
   blocks the canal, making it difficult for the water to flow. 
   And we have to sweep up plastic bags and other trash that 
   washes into our rooms."

   -- Lagos, Nigeria, resident Iyabo Aduni, who lives with her 
   three children in a shack near one of the city's many illegal
   garbage dumps (see "World," below).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP STORIES
.............................................................................

 > Florida Gun Licensing: Off Target?

   Carry a gun into a courthouse or airport in Florida, and you'll 
   get off with a misdemeanor if you have concealed-weapon permit. 
   The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that such loose regulations 
   and a four-person licensing office for over 410,000 gun owners have
   enabled hundreds of convicted criminals to retain their gun permits. 

 > Guns or Butter for Turkey, Kurds

   A secret meeting by the Turkish parliament has sparked fears of
   possible border-crossing military action against Kurdish rebels 
   based in Northern Iraq. But experts say it's election-season 
   bluster at a time when trade between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey is 
   reaching highs of $3 billion annually, Al Jazeera reports. 

 > Pakistan Party Seeks U.S. Troops Disclosure 

   Pakistan denies that there are U.S. troops on its bases, but says
   "select" air bases have been opened for anti-terrorist operations. 
   A parliamentary committee wants access to revenue and financial 
   records from the operations, including undisclosed real estate
   projects around bases by developers using military names.  

"Errors, weak laws keep concealed weapons in questionable hands around Florida"
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, January 29, 2007
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-gunmain29jan29,0,2778683.story

"Turkey mulls 'invading' Iraq"
Al Jazeera, January 26, 2007
http://www.aina.org/news/20070126083321.htm

"Pakistani lawmakers demand details of U.S. military presence"
Indo Asian News Service, January 29, 2007
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/108308.php/Pakistani-lawmakers-demand-details-of-US-military-presence

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMMIGRANT LABOR
.............................................................................

 > California's Undocumented Economy

   The coast side town of Pescadero worries that new immigrant 
   restrictions will stifle the economy, and cost its schools as 
   much as 60 percent of their students. 

   Family farmers there are already losing workers to the higher-
   paying construction industry, the San Mateo County Times reports, 
   and fear the new rules will put them out of business. 

   In San Diego, competition is stiff for a pool of up to 400,000 
   undocumented workers in restaurants, construction, agriculture
   and childcare. The underground economy produces affordable 
   services and housing, KPBS TV reports, driving a regional 
   biotech and telecom boom.  

   And at nearby Pitzer College, protestors say the arrest of 761 
   immigrants under "Operation Return to Sender" unjustly targets 
   "good people" who contribute to the community, according to the
   San Bernardino County Sun. 

   Activists say the raid is counterproductive as President Bush
   calls for a new U.S. guest-worker policy. 

"Farmers fear workers won't return"
San Mateo County Times (CA), January 20, 2007
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_5052047

"Undocumented workers have large impact on local economy"
KPBS (CA), January 25, 2007
http://www.kpbs.org/tv/programs/full_focus?id=5802 

"Marchers will protest sweeps of immigrants"
San Bernardino County Sun (CA), January 25, 2007
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_5082330

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTRACEPTION & ABORTION
.............................................................................

 > A Morning After for Chile, North Dakota 

   Chile's President Michelle Bachelet has issued an executive 
   order legalizing free "morning after" contraception to teens 
   without parental consent. 

   The issue has split the ruling party in a socially conservative 
   nation where divorce was only legalized in 2004. Supporters say 
   the new rules will provide equal access to contraception for 
   low-income Chilean women, according to the Santiago Times. 

   In North Dakota, the legislature overwhelmingly passed a "trigger
   ban" on abortion that would take effect the instant Roe v. Wade 
   were overturned. A second bill, which was defeated, would have 
   banned abortion immediately and prosecuted women for seeking the
   procedure, the Bismarck Tribune reports. 

"Chile's governing coalition divides on morning after pill"
Santiago Times (Chile), January 22, 2006
http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=12780&topic_id=1

"Chile to Resume Contraception Handout"
Associated Press, January 30, 2006
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/30/international/i122523S80.DTL

"North Dakota abortion ban hinges on Roe v. Wade"
Bismarck Tribune, January 26, 2007
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/01/26/news/update/doc45ba79cef0cd6440845752.txt

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORLD
.............................................................................

 > Africa's Urbanization Struggle

   In Lagos, Nigeria, waste produced by 13 million residents fills 
   up canals and spreads disease and contaminants into the soil and 
   waterways. Despite a $20 million World Bank loan, the city's 
   poorest residents live in shacks next to illegal dumps and burn 
   garbage to make room for more housing.

 > A Maid's World

   A program to make Filipino domestic workers more competitive has
   backfired, advocates say, by mandating costly training programs
   even for veteran maids. Delays caused by the new regulations are
   prompting clients to hire Indonesians instead, a blow to 
   Philippine workers that pay huge job placement fees. 

 > Saudi Sectarian Crackdown

   A human rights group has accused Saudi Arabia of a "grave violation"
   of religious freedom by arresting and/or deporting dozens of Ahmadi 
   Muslims. A religious minority predominant in India and Pakistan, 
   Ahmadis follow a different spiritual leader and are considered 
   heretics by the ultraconservative Saudi regime. 

 > Iraq's Once and Future Army

   "Hundreds of thousands" of officers in the former Iraqi army are
   divided by loyalty and resentment. Iraq's Azzaman newspaper reports 
   that many are behind anti-U.S. insurgent groups, and threaten or 
   kill others seeking work with the new regime, even as government 
   factions provoke abuse and violence at recruiting centers.    

"Lagos pays the price of population surge"
Integrated Regional Information Networks (U.N.), January 26, 2007
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/258b51db585a94ac0f1f6b2e397c442d.htm

"HK maids to hold protest rally over new restrictions"
Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 29, 2007
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=45961

"Saudi Arabia accused of harassing South Asian sect"
Agence France-Presse, January 26, 2007
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070126-040301-4118r

"Militiamen kidnap and kill 10 former army officers"
Azzaman (Iraq), January 25, 2007
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-01-25\kurd.htm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIEWPOINT
.............................................................................

 > D'Souza Book Shifts 9/11 Blame

   A libertarian editorialist accuses conservative pundit Dinesh 
   D'Souza of "demagoguery" and a lack of academic credentials for 
   claiming that the September 11 attacks were motivated by Arab 
   outrage at a Western culture of contraception, abortion, 
   atheism and homosexuality. 

"Demagoguery posing as scholarship" 
The Independent Institute, January 29,2007
http://independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1899

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