NYMHM: The poppies of Afghanistan; asylum judges; carbon trading

Wed Jun 6 11:56:16 PDT 2007

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NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * June 6, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 23

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

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QUOTED: 

   "It's a fledgling industry with high demand and yet there are 
   no standards for the carbon credits themselves. There is no 
   regulation in the business."

   -- EasyJet spokesman Toby Nicol, on rampant fraud among carbon-
   emissions trading schemes (see "Climate Change," below). 

CONTENTS:

   *Top Stories*
     Government, Taliban Let Afghan Poppies Blossom
     "Intemperate" Asylum Judges Under Fire
     Iran's Eyes on the Nose

   *IMMIGRATION*
     Migrants Face Dangerous Waters and a Cold Shoulder 

   *EGYPT*
     When is an Islamist Not an Islamist? 

   *ENVIRONMENT*
     Carbon Trading, Beset by Fraud and Doubt

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TOP STORIES
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 > Government, Taliban Let Afghan Poppies Blossom

   Shopkeepers selling poppy paste at bazaars in Helmand pay 
   "protection" at a price openly negotiated with police, who in
   return warn of impending NATO raids. Police officials deny any 
   complicity. The government estimates that Helmand produced about 
   90,000 hectares of poppies, only 7,000 of which were destroyed 
   in eradication campaigns.   

   According to the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, both the 
   government and the Taliban benefit from the trade, and even 
   suspended their fighting in the spring to accommodate farmers. 

 > "Intemperate" Asylum Judges Under Fire

   Lawyers say bias and an overwhelming caseload cause some immigration 
   judges to deny appeals for asylum at much higher rates than others. 
   One in Dallas denied an asylum seeker from Cameroon before the lawyer
   even finished making his case, the Dallas Morning News reports.

   Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged the "intemperate" 
   and "abusive" conduct of some judges, and pledged reforms for a 
   system that saw caseloads jump 39 percent between 2000 and 2005. 

 > Iran's Eyes on the Nose

   An unprecedented number of young Iranians are getting nose jobs since
   the imposition of fundamentalist dress code, which prohibits exposing 
   any body part except the face and even bans heavy makeup. 

   "The beauty of Iranian women can only be seen in their faces," one
   patient told Reuters. 

SOURCES:

"Everyone's a winner at Helmand's opium bazaars"
Institute for War & Peace Reporting, June 1, 2007
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=336012&apc_state=henh 

"Asylum-seekers at mercy of inconsistent courts"
Dallas Morning News, June 1, 2007
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/060107dnintasylum.3ba274d.html

"In Iran, the rich and trendy queue up for nose jobs"
Reuters, June 6, 2007
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10129317.html

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IMMIGRATION
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 > Migrants Face Dangerous Waters and a Cold Shoulder 

   If they survive the voyage, Africans fleeing to Europe on 
   wooden boats do not always get a warm welcome. Malta took 25
   shipwrecked Somalis ashore last week, but only after coming 
   under fire in late May when a Maltese fishing boat refused to 
   rescue a another group of ... 

   GET THE WHOLE STORY:

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004294.html

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EGYPT
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 > When is an Islamist Not an Islamist? 

   Neither the United States nor Egypt are square on how to treat
   the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic group with terrorist origins
   that also happens to be Egypt's most powerful opposition party.   
   The government of Hosni Mubarak arrested 87 party members in 
   May and detained ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY:

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004295.html

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CLIMATE CHANGE
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 > Carbon Trading Beset by Fraud and Doubt

   A new report finds the most common system for trading carbon 
   emissions, which allows rich European countries to  continue 
   polluting while also investing in environmental projects in 
   developing countries, has major flaws. The report finds that 
   as many as a third of the "green" projects approved in 
   India are actually ... 

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004296.html

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Editors: Julia Scott, Josh Wilson
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