NYMHM: "Another Darfur" in Ethiopia; oil smuggler's paradise; the chemical legacy today

Wed Sep 19 10:31:12 PDT 2007

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 NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * September 19, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 37

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

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QUOTED: 

   "We use the same methods that we used during Saddam. Instead 
   of Baathists and generals, it is now Shia militias and their 
   cronies who are doing the business."

   -- A veteran smuggler in Iraq on the booming underground oil
   trade (see ""Petroleum Politics"," below).  

CONTENTS:

   *Top Stories*
     Taliban weapons traced to Iran and China
     Experts fear 'another Darfur' in Ethiopia
     Swiss citizenship hurdles called racist

   *Environment & Health*
     The chemical legacy today

   *Petroleum Politics* 
     Smuggler's paradise for Iraqi oil runners

   *Afghanistan*
     Canada ponders a quagmire 

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 TOP STORIES
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 > Taliban Weapons Traced to Iran and China

   A weapons cache found in Afghanistan's Herat province was 
   traced back to Iran and China, prompting U.S. and British    
   over weapons sales to the Taliban. 

   Deputy U.S. Secretary of State John Negroponte said weapons
   sold by China to Iran have been found in Taliban hands, and 
   that Iranian armor-piercing munitions are also ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004398.html

 > Experts Fear 'Another Darfur' in Ethiopia

   Fleeing refugees say that soldiers of the U.S.-backed Ethiopian 
   government are suppressing a widely supported separatist movement
   with rape, beatings and murder. 

   The government claims the Ogaden National Liberation Front 
   insurgents have ties with Eritrea and Somali Islamists, and
   that its troops are "well-trained" and wouldn't ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004399.html   

 > Swiss Citizenship Hurdles Called Racist

   An official report released by Switzerland's Federal Commission 
   on Racial Discrimination says the Swiss citizenship system is 
   racist because it allows community members, not elected 
   professionals, to vote on whether someone is fit to be Swiss. 

   The BBC reports that the system historically excludes Muslims, 
   people from the Balkans, and ... 

   GET THE WHOLE STORY:

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004400.html  

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 ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH
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 > The Chemical Legacy Today 

   A host of chemicals created for use in industrial and commercial
   processes are having unintended effects on populations. 

   The Guardian reports that a study of Inuit communities above the 
   Arctic Circle in Russia, Greenland and Canada found twice as many
   girls as boys are being born. 

   The blame was placed on DDT, PCBs, and endocrine disrupters that 
   enter a mother's bloodstream and ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004401.html

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 PETROLEUM POLITICS
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 > Smuggler's Paradise for Iraqi Oil Runners  

   After a revenue-sharing bill that would have opened Iraq's 
   oil fields to foreign investment failed in parliament, 
   Iraq's domestic oil industry has seen business as usual -- 
   theft, corruption and destruction of pipelines for 
   political gain. 

   With Basra's oil fields and ports under the control of 
   warring Shiite tribes, militias illegally export millions of 
   barrels of crude to Iran by boat under the noses of Iraq's 
   maritime forces. 

   On any given day, up to 300,000 barrels are smuggled into ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY:

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004402.html

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 AFGHANISTAN
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 > Canada Ponders an Afghan Quagmire 

   Canada faces renewed uncertainty in Afghanistan, with the death
   of more than 60 Canadian troops and new pressures on its
   humanitarian mission there. 

   Under pressure from a dispirited public to withdraw troops, Prime
   Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada would end its combat
   mission in February 2009 unless parliament votes otherwise. 

   Harper is now seeking a consensus vote to extend the mission; 
   the Canadian Press reports that ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY:

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004403.html

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Editors: Julia Scott, Will Crain, Josh Wilson
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