NYMHM: King Tobacco, Balkan crime lord; hate groups increase; Israel girls homeless

Wed Apr 16 17:09:35 PDT 2008

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   NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * April 16, 2008 * Vol. 7, No. 16

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

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QUOTED:

    "The police chief has asked us to stop so we are stopping,
    but remain peaceful, because soon we will be running this
    country."

     -- Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim, who was drummed out of
     power 10 years ago, speaking at a rally to mark his political
     return (see "Malaysia," below).

CONTENTS:

    *Top Stories*
      King Tobacco, Balkan crime lord
      Cultivating change in Lebanon
      Israel: Homelessness spikes for girls

    *Intolerance*
      Not your father's hate groups

    *Malaysia*
      A political resurrection in Malaysia

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  TOP STORIES
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  > King Tobacco, Balkan Crime Lord

    Cigarette counterfeiting and smuggling in the Balkans is one
    of the primary drivers of crime and corruption in the region,
    according to a coalition of investigative reporting projects.

    Bosnia-Herzegovina alone is estimated to lose $200 million
    each year in tax revenue from tobacco smuggling, a sum that
    could approach billions worldwide.

    The Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project, with bureaus
    and partners in Sarajevo, Albania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and else-
    where, has assembled a massive investigative package on tobacco
    smuggling, and particularly the involvement of government
    officials in ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004614.html

  > Cultivating Change in Lebanon

    Caught between warring militias and Israeli reprisal, Lebanon's
    farmers have a hardscrabble life that is only exacerbated by
    the threat of unexploded munitions littering the fields, forests
    and mountain slopes.

    Radio Netherlands reports that support for rural communities is
    "scant," and blamed a "clannish and corrupt" government of elites
    for their plight.

    Enter Rami Zurayk, a professor at the American University in Beirut,
    whose small aid group Land and People provides ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004615.html

  > Israel: Teenage Homelessness Spikes for Girls

    The percentage of homeless teenage girls in Israel jumped
    from 15 to 25 percent last year, driven by the social stresses
    of immigration and family discord, the Jerusalem Post reports.

    The problem includes not just homeless youth, but also teens
    who "loiter" on the streets, many of whom are from immigrant
    families whose parents work multiple jobs and are rarely home.

    Left in charge of their younger siblings by absent parents, the
    teens take their brothers and sisters with them ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004616.html

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  INTOLERANCE
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  > Not Your Father's Hate Groups

    A national survey has found the number of active hate groups
    in the United States has increased by 48 percent since 2000.

    But the study by Alabama's Southern Poverty Law Center doesn't
    count just the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi groups and other usual
    suspects; it also counts anti-immigration groups and the
    black nationalist Nation of Islam.

    "You might be surprised at which group in Greenville is listed
    as among the 888 hate groups in America," reads the headline
    on a story from the Delta Democrat Times in Greenville ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004617.html

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  MALAYSIA
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  > A Political Resurrection in Malaysia

    Almost 10 years after he was driven out of office by a bizarre
    series of corruption and sodomy charges, Malaysia's former
    deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim returned to politics this
    week with a big rally and big plans.

    Anwar, who like many Malaysians goes by his given name,
    celebrated the expiration of a five-year ban on political
    activity with a midnight rally in Kuala Lumpur, the
    Malaysian capital.

    According to the New Straits Times, 10,000 people showed up
    to the unauthorized rally Monday night before it was shut
    down by ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004618.html

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Editors: Will Crain, Josh Wilson
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