NYMHM: Obama donations, London bicycles, radiation on the reservation, and more

Wed Feb 27 14:46:38 PST 2008

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  NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * February 27, 2008 * Vol. 7, No. 9

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

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QUOTED:

    "This is the first time we have caught a human trafficking
    syndicate in a case where the baby was still in the womb."

    -- A Vietnamese police officer on recent arrests in a
    adults baby-smuggling ring (see "Adoption," below).

CONTENTS:

    *Top Stories*
      A 'complicated truth' about Obama donations
      London shifts gears to favor bicycles
      Beijing Olympics: It's the water

    *Environment & Health*
      Radiation on the reservation

    *Adoption*
      Infants and international incidents

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  TOP STORIES
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  > A "Complicated Truth" About Obama Donations

    Although Barack Obama has publicly disavowed campaign
    donations from lobbyists, the candidate, along with his
    rival Hillary Clinton, has received millions of dollars in
    donations from special-interest groups linked to the legal,
    pharmaceutical and health-care industries.

    The Columbia Journalism Review notes that the Obama campaign
    did indeed take far less money from registered lobbyists --
    just $86,000 -- through the end of December 2007 than either
    Clinton ($800,000) or Republican candidate John McCain ($400,000).

    However, money from special interests can follow other routes
    into campaign coffers besides registered lobbyists ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004567.html

  > London Shifts Gears to Favor Bicycles

    Armed with a proposal to develop 12 major "superhighways" for
    bicyclists throughout the city, along with a daily "congestion
    charge" of almost $50 for polluting vehicles, England's capital
    city is gearing up to become the world's newest bicycle utopia.

    London's mayor hopes the programs will result in a 400 percent
    increase in the number of cyclists in the city by ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004569.html

  > Beijing Olympics: It's the Water

    A senior Chinese official has sharply criticized a multi-
    billion-dollar government plan to divert water from the Hubei
    and Shaanxi provinces north to Beijing, the BBC reports.

    An Qiyuan, a former Community Party leader from Shaanxi province,
    said that the plan would endanger the livelihood of millions
    of residents, and that compensation is necessary to prevent
    what the BBC described as "social upheaval and ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004570.html

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  ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH
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  > Radiation on the Reservation

    As the market booms for uranium mining in the American West,
    a Seattle newspaper took a new look at what can happen when
    industry ignores the potential risks of the practice.

    The Seattle Times reported on the toxic mess left behind by
    uranium mines on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington:
    toxic pools, radioactive homes and very high rates of cancer.

    Former workers say the mines had very lax safety controls when
    they were in operation, and left behind ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004571.html

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  ADOPTION
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  > Infants and International Incidents

    Faced with tightening regulations in China, Vietnam is shaping up
    to be the new location of choice for Western couples seeking
    overseas adoptions.

    But the trend is creating new complications, including illegal
    baby smuggling and diplomatic struggles between governments.

    Vietnamese police said last week they had busted a baby-smuggling
    gang who were taking two infants -- a one-month-old and a
    one-week-old -- to sell in China.

    Also detained was a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy who
    told police she had agreed to sell her unborn child to the group
    for the equivalent of ...

    GET THE WHOLE STORY:

    http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004572.html

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Editors: Josh Wilson, Will Crain
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