NYMHM: Girls and mining; water pollution made easy; dissent in Indonesia, Iran

Wed Oct 17 15:52:14 PDT 2007

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 NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * October 17, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 42

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

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QUOTED: 

   "This permit is indecipherable. They tell me I'm going to get 
   some answers, but I'm still waiting."

   -- Indiana physician John Crayton, on a plan to limit regulation
   of steel mill pollution in Lake Michigan (see "Environment," below).  

CONTENTS:

   *Top Stories*
     Families a casualty of Kashmir split
     New testimony in Indonesia activist death
     AIDS bias targets 11-year-old boy

   *Mining*
     Girls, pollution, poverty: The other mining disasters

   *Environment* 
     U.S. water pollution laws routinely flouted: report

   *Iran*
     Dissent crackdown deepens

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 TOP STORIES
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 > Families a Casualty of Kashmir Split

   As many as 50,000 Indian-Pakistani families have been divided 
   by the disputed Kashmir province since 1989. Among them are 
   several hundred women who have not seen their husbands in 
   decades, and are subject to harassment and worse. 

   According to Women's E News, Hanifa Aktar has lived alone for
   years on the Indian-controlled side of the border, separated 
   from her husband and daughter in nearby Pakistani territory. 

   Although the official peace process has allowed some 2,000 
   people to reunite in Kashmir, Aktar's petitions to cross 
   have been 

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004429.html

 > New Testimony in Indonesia Activist Death 

   A "massive" dose of arsenic in an airline meal took the life 
   of a prominent critic of the Indonesian government, and now 
   may send a former airline executive to jail for decades. 

   The Times of London reports that an off-duty Garuda Air pilot
   was initially convicted of the "agonizing" mid-flight death of 
   Munir Said Thalib in 2004, who was en route to Amsterdam to 
   present a report on military abuses in Indonesia's Aceh and
   Papua provinces. 

   The pilot made more than 40 phone calls to a director of 
   Indonesia's spy agency immediately prior to Thalib's death, 
   but was later acquitted by the Supreme Court for ... 

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004430.html

 > AIDS Bias Targets 11-Year-Old Boy

   An 11-year-old who received "regular blood transfusions" for 
   years was diagnosed as HIV-positive, and later kicked out of 
   a school in West Bengal 20 days after being admitted. 

   School authorities were reluctant to enroll him, and kept him 
   on a separate bench from the other students ... 

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004431.html

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 MINING
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 > Girls, Pollution, Poverty: The Other Mining Disasters

   Recent stories about workers trapped in mines often overlook 
   an array of related labor, ecological and human rights issues. 

   Most articles never mention the biggest growing mining sector
   workforce: young girls. 

   A recent report by the International Labor Organization singles 
   out Ghana, Niger, Peru and Tanzania as places where girls are
   increasingly doing dangerous small-scale mining work. 

   Underground, they are exposed to toxic dust and metals and are 
   forced to work long hours without proper safety gear, according 
   to the report.

   Pollution is also rampant ... 

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004432.html

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 ENVIRONMENT
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 > U.S. Water Pollution Laws Routinely Flouted: Report

   For years, U.S. municipal governments, corporations, and even
   the EPA have circumvented Clean Water Act safeguards against
   industrial pollution. 

   More than half of all city wastewater treatment plants and 
   industrial facilities in the United States exceeded pollution
   limits, according to a national report released last week by 
   the activist group U.S. PIRG. 

   Fifty-seven percent of the 3,600 major facilities violated 
   the Clean Water Act by ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004433.html

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 IRAN
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 > Dissent Crackdown Deepens

   Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government is in the 
   midst of an unprecedented crackdown on civilians, criminals 
   and dissenters. 

   Experts suggest that the government is afraid a recent economic 
   downturn will breed unrest across the country, and has resolved
   to "govern by fear."

   At least 60 criminals convicted of murder, rape, drug 
   trafficking or abduction have been convicted and hung since 
   May, including 21 people on one day alone. 

   International human rights campaigners believe the trials are
   rigged, while the executions are carefully filmed and uploaded 
   to the Web for all Iranians to see -- some suggest as cautionary
   tales engineered by ... 

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004434.html   

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Editors: Julia Scott, Josh Wilson
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