NYMHM: Agent Orange persists (in court); anti-gay protests fail; Burma junta digs in

Wed Jun 20 14:32:00 PDT 2007

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 NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * June 20, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 25

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

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QUOTED: 

   "Fishing here is finished. We have boats, but we don't really 
   use them anymore."

   -- Turkish fisherman Adem Vay, on the effects of the Baku-
   Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which terminates near his
   Mediterranean fishing village (see "Resource Battles," below.)

CONTENTS:

   *Top Stories*
     Anti-gay protests "fall flat" in Jerusalem
     Agent Orange persists -- in court
     Adam and Eve photos bring calls for death

   *Resource Battles*
     Natural resources spur pollution, indigenous rights disputes

   *Sudan*
     The promises and pitfalls of Darfur's salvation

   *Burma/Myanmar*
     Trade bolsters Myanmar junta

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TOP STORIES
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 > Anti-Gay Protests "Fall Flat" in Jerusalem

   Fundamentalist, ultra-conservative -- the Haredi Jews of Israel
   may be all that, but their message of intolerance towards gays
   and lesbians has so far failed to bring out the Orthodox masses. 

   Their protest last weekend against the upcoming Jerusalem gay 
   pride parade fell far short of the hoped-for "100,000 strong"
   crowd, and Israel's Haaretz newspaper said their campaign to 
   cancel the parade has failed. Even the most Orthodox non-Haredi 
   Jews skipped the affair, primarily because they didn't want to 
   expose their children to a lifestyle they disapprove of. 

 > Agent Orange Persists -- in Court

   On the eve of Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet's trip 
   to the United States -- the first such visit since the 1970s --
   a federal court in New York City is hearing an appeal of a 
   ruling that exonerated producers of the toxic Agent Orange 
   herbicide for birth defects and disabilities among more than 
   3 million Vietnamese. 

   The chemical, which was used to defoliate jungle cover used by
   guerrillas during the Vietnam War, was produced by 37 American 
   companies, including Monsanto and Dow. A 2005 ruling found no
   evidence that Agent Orange causes birth defects, and its
   producers say they acted under wartime presidential orders. 

 > Adam and Eve Photos Bring Calls for Death 

   The publisher and editor of Octane, an Islamabad fashion 
   magazine, have been condemned to death by a local cleric for 
   publishing a suggestive image of the proverbial first family,
   Adam and Eve. 

   The magazine's editor says the image was an advertisement that
   has run previously, and is willing to apologize. But another
   religious leader has called for an additional charge of 
   blasphemy be added to the obscenity complaint. 

Sources: 

"Ultra-Orthodox protests against gay pride parade fall flat"
Haaretz (Israel), June 19, 2007
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=872677&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

"Agent Orange appeal in U.S. court"
BBC, June 19, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6766139.stm

"Pakistan bans sale of magazine"
The Times of India, June 17, 2007
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pakistan_bans_sale_of_magazine/rssarticleshow/2129565.cms

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RESOURCE BATTLES
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 > Natural Resources Spur Pollution, Indigenous Rights Disputes  

   From fossil fuels to "blue gold," from uranium to offshore
   biodiversity, natural resources around the world promise 
   riches but often deepen social and economic disputes. 

   In Turkey, the massive new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is 
   expected to bring $1 billion into the national economy. But 
   residents of the fishing vilage of ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY:

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004306.html

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SUDAN
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 > The Promises and Pitfalls of Darfur's Salvation 

   An international charity is pulling out even as Sudan grudgingly
   accepts a bolstered peacekeeping force in the Darfur region, 
   home to mounting ethic violence and fears of genocide. But the 
   new peacekeeping force comes too late for Oxfam, which has 
   decided to permanently close its ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY:

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004307.html

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BURMA/MYANMAR
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 > Trade Bolsters Myanmar Junta

   Another birthday of imprisoned dissident Daw Aung Sung Suu Kyi 
   has come and gone, and the plight of Burma slips again to the 
   back burners of the highest-profile international press. But 
   dig into local and regional media, and you'll find a wealth of
   coverage of the repressive junta that took control ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY:

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004308.html

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Editor: Josh Wilson
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