tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-323254862024-02-19T09:08:44.266+00:00TwIxT (multilingual)weekly <b>Audio Show</b> semanal<p>INTER:<b> -continetal, -cultural, -national, -regional<p></b>INDI:<b> -pendiente, -vidual </b><p>BE:<b> -lingual, -TwIxT</b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.comBlogger188125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-66908303417876155782011-05-11T19:47:00.000+00:002011-05-13T20:42:31.833+00:00Judge: Indiana Can Cut Planned Parenthood Funds : NPR<p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; ">I<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.45em; ">ndiana won a key victory in its fight to cut off public funding for Planned Parenthood Wednesday when a federal judge refused to block a tough new abortion law from taking effect.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.45em; font-size: 0.85em; ">U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt denied Planned Parenthood of Indiana's request for a temporary restraining order despite arguments that the law jeopardizes health care for thousands of women.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.45em; font-size: 0.85em; ">Planned Parenthood wanted to keep funds flowing while it challenges the law signed this week by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. The judge's decision allows the cuts to take effect immediately.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.45em; font-size: 0.85em; ">Pratt said the state has not had enough time to respond to Planned Parenthood's complaint and that the group did not show it would suffer irreparable harm without a temporary restraining order.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.45em; font-size: 0.85em; ">The funding cuts are part of a new law that also bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy unless there is a substantial threat to the woman's life or health.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.45em; font-size: 0.85em; ">The law could improve Daniels' image with social conservatives as he considers a 2012 run for president. Advocates are touting Indiana as the one of the most "pro-life states in the nation" and praising Daniels for signing the law.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.45em; font-size: 0.85em; ">The bill was originally intended to cut all public funding, but Planned Parenthood of Indiana spokeswoman Kate Shepard said the state conceded in court Tuesday that some family planning funds would not be affected. The total amount of funding at issue now is about $1.4 million, Shepard said.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.45em; font-size: 0.85em; ">The law also puts Indiana at risk of losing $4 million a year in separate federal family planning grants. It also bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy unless there is a substantial threat to the woman's life or health. That's four weeks less than previously allowed.</p><p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.25em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.45em; font-size: 0.85em; ">The abortion provisions would take effect July 1.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-77295699648711612192011-03-23T13:23:00.001+00:002011-03-23T13:26:13.706+00:00Exclusive video of the Japanese tsunami Aftermath Eyewitness account<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l0vAuJr9skE?fs=1" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-78803805727889345002011-03-04T21:47:00.000+00:002011-03-04T21:47:47.924+00:00Uganda’s Museveni at 25: Still fit?<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2011/02/03/ugandas-museveni-at-25-still-fit/">Uganda’s Museveni at 25: Still fit?</a>: "<p><img title="UGANDA MUSEVENI/" src="http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/files/2011/02/resizem7.jpg" alt="UGANDA MUSEVENI/" height="398" width="600" /></p><br /><p>“Look at him!” the emcee at celebrations to mark 25 years in power for Ugandan President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoweri_Museveni">Yoweri Museveni</a> shouts into a mic. “Look at him! He is very fit!”</p><br /><p>The former rebel decked out in his usual – and fairly unique – floppy hat and suit combo ambles down a grass slope and waves cheerily to his supporters.</p><br /><p>“Look!” she shouts again. “You can even see from the way he is walking!”</p><br /><p>Moments later, a pick-up truck draws alongside the 66-year-old and he slowly clambers up onto the back to continue saluting the crowds.</p><br /><p>“Oh…” she pauses for a moment before quickly gathering herself.</p><br /><p>“He is in a car now!” she booms. “That is the modern way! He needs that vantage point to see you. He is a kind-hearted man who wants to see you!”</p><br /><p>A nice bit of quick-thinking there from one of the party faithful all too aware the Ugandan opposition wants to portray the famously shrewd operator as past it.</p><br /><p>That shrewd operating was plain to see as “Sevo” was careful not to make the bash about himself — rather it was about Uganda and its progress.</p><br /><p>Reading out a list of 551 war heroes and parroting statistics about growth and exports didn’t exactly make for a great party but it got the message across: I care about the people. I rely on heroic Ugandans. I have made things better.</p><br /><p>Few Ugandans would deny that. The country Museveni took hold of in 1986 decked out in his fatigues had become something of a sorry husk after years of civil war. He quickly made it stable, got it growing convincingly and became an example for other African leaders — the oft mentioned 90s “new breed”.</p><br /><p>But, for many in the country and outside, something’s gone wrong.</p><br /><p>And it hinges on one of his most <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/idINL2207523720080722">famous quotes</a>.</p><br /><p>“The problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular is not the people but leaders who want to overstay in power,” he said when he took the helm.</p><br /><p>A quarter of a century later, he’s still there.<img title="UGANDA/" src="http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/files/2011/02/RTXVYEX_Comp-300x182.jpg" alt="UGANDA/" height="182" width="300" /></p><br /><p>As he spoke about a new road at his celebration, a Ugandan leaned to me:</p><br /><p>“120kms of road is what he’s boasting about after 25 years?! Big deal,” he said.</p><br /><p>That opinion was reflected to some extent on radio phone-in shows and on social networking site, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/">Twitter</a>, as the country tried to make sense of his tenure.</p><br /><p>A man identifying himself as Jeff called into a radio show and said: “The liberators have grown fat. And the people they liberated have grown skinny.”</p><br /><p>That perception, right or wrong, that Museveni and the ruling <a href="http://www.nrm.ug/">National Resistance Movement</a> have been feeding at the trough, is particularly damaging and anger is growing. An anger that was reflected on the radio, on the TV and in Kampala’s bars.</p><br /><p>On Twitter some were equally scathing, especially after <a href="http://twitter.com/malonebarry/status/30228819281453057">I tweeted</a> from the party that Museveni had said, “We have recovered. We are now going to take off.”</p><br /><p>“Huh!” journalist Evelyn Lirri <a href="http://twitter.com/Elirri/status/30229563250319360">replied</a>. “It’s taken 25 years to recover. We might need another 20 to take off.”</p><br /><p>Alan Kasujja, a radio host, tweeted that there was <a href="http://twitter.com/kasujja/status/30207415483895808">good</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/kasujja/status/30208507944902656">bad</a> to the legacy.</p><br /><p>There were others, though, who had nothing but praise for Museveni and were unconvinced that any of the opposition leaders could do better – an opinion seemingly shared by the U.S. as <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE6B80I720101209?sp=true">revealed in a cable</a> obtained by Wikileaks.</p><br /><p>The opposition are “fractured and politically immature,” the dispatch said. “It is by no means clear (they) would improve governance in Uganda in any way.”</p><br /><p>For some, despite the marathon stint in power, Museveni is still the country’s best bet.</p><br /><p>So what do you think? Is he still fit for power? Or is it time he took a rest?</p>"<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-4795075002808463392011-03-04T21:43:00.000+00:002011-03-04T21:43:11.469+00:00Uganda votes: oil blessing, oil curse?<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2011/02/17/uganda-votes-oil-blessing-oil-curse/">Uganda votes: oil blessing, oil curse?</a>: "<p><img title="ENERGY UGANDA" src="http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/files/2011/02/UGOILRS.jpg" alt="ENERGY UGANDA" height="441" width="600" /></p><br /><p>That old Africa oil chestnut is being discussed again: is it a blessing or a curse?</p><br /><p>When it comes to Uganda, nobody really knows which way to bet yet and its people often shrug their shoulders when asked what impact it will have.</p><br /><p>One reason for that, and a cause of concern for some, is the secrecy surrounding the deals the government has struck with the foreign firms in the country and a lack of transparency around much of the planning ahead of production next year.</p><br /><p>The Pearl of Africa <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE71F0RN20110216?sp=true">discovered oil</a> reserves, now estimated by some to be 2.5 million barrel’s worth, in its Albertine rift basin near Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006.</p><br /><p>I <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE71F0B220110216?sp=true">visited the shores of Lake Albert this week</a> and found some locals had a vague hope things would improve for them when the oil starts pumping, while others said they would hate the oil companies if their lives did not change.</p><br /><p>Elections on Feb. 18 will decide whether long-standing President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoweri_Museveni">Yoweri Museveni </a>or his bitter rival <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizza_Besigye">Kizza Besigye</a> will be the one to oversee the beginnings of a windfall that could haul the country into middle-income status. Foreign oil firms are watching closely — they have had their problems with the strong-headed Museveni but know little about Besigye.</p><br /><p>As with others in the Africa oil club, graft is the big worry.</p><br /><p>“The system of governance in this country is corruption,” Besigye told me recently. “It will be a disaster if that oil comes on to the market under the corrupt system we have today. I think it will be much better if the oil didn’t come than if it came with that kind of corruption.”</p><br /><p>Museveni, in power since 1986, said last year he would personally sign every oil deal to stop corruption, which just made some analysts worry more.</p><br /><p>It hasn’t helped confidence either that he has given his son, who <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE61R08920100228">heads an elite special forces unit</a> in the country, responsibility for oil field security.</p><br /><p>A dispute also rumbles on and on over tax owed on the sale of <a href="http://www.heritageoilplc.com/">Heritage Oil’</a>s Ugandan assets to Anglo-Irish <a href="http://www.tullowoil.com/">Tullow Oil</a>.</p><br /><p><img title="UGANDA-ELECTION/" src="http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/files/2011/02/RTXTTR7_Comp-300x225.jpg" alt="UGANDA-ELECTION/" height="225" width="300" />Wikileaks caused more jitters when one of their U.S. cables revealed the U.S. Ambassador had <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/12/10/us-wikileaks-uganda-oil-idUSTRE6B93EA20101210">proposed travel bans</a> on two Ugandan cabinet ministers after claims by Tullow that they were bribed by Italy’s Eni.</p><br /><p>Tullow now expects to start producing oil and gas some time in 2012, a significant delay on earlier plans due to the tax row – perhaps another reason for companies eyeing another round of licensing this year to hesitate.</p><br /><p>Some analysts plead patience, saying Uganda is naturally having a few growing pains but that its ministers and officials privately express a pretty fierce determination that theirs won’t be another Black Gold curse.</p><br /><p>Bad examples of how to handle an oil windfall sadly aren’t hard to come by in Africa, with Nigeria the real dark spot. The West African country’s much bigger reserves have triggered internal conflict, corruption and the paradox of plummeting living standards for millions of its people.</p><br /><p>Congo Republic and Angola have fallen prey to oil wars and rights groups say Chad spent its oil cash on weapons. In Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, the petrodollars have often fuelled the selfish extravagance of small elites.</p><br /><p>New kid on the rig, Ghana, has <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/nigeriaNews/idAFLDE6BC20E20101215">set a better pace</a>.</p><br /><p>One of Africa’s example economies, it has delayed creating a legal framework setting out how to use the proceeds from overseas sales but it has taken advice on how to manage the sector from countries like Norway and has worked hard on making the business more transparent than elsewhere.</p><br /><p>Unlike the Gulf of Guinea, that some analysts see supplying a quarter of U.S. oil by 2015, this side of the continent remains largely untapped and Uganda is something of a test case for East Africa and the Horn region. Neighbouring Kenya is stepping up exploration in the hope of finding oil.</p><br /><p>What kind of example Uganda will set for its neighbours is not yet known.</p><br /><p>Over to you. How do you think Uganda’s oil future will play out?</p>"<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-44592054771454210812010-11-16T11:50:00.000+00:002010-11-16T11:50:42.585+00:00Photos of gay service members make statement about policy<span style="font-size:85%;"><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">By <b>Chuck Conder</b>, CNN<br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><div><b>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</b><br /><br /><a href="http://cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2010/11/12/natpkg.dont.ask.cnn" target="_blank">CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VERY MOVING PHOTO GALLERY</a><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQH3ipoqHEt1awxWNJ0DSGCqw4C1T0FQ8qTfbtqzlUuS48feVmRQkrsKT5yzsN3qb3GiOzotHGmxecbRYezSK_sJ2GttovTSgZCLkRfHEMLFVzqxWYEFZkff-d8TdO2KkLIBJYWQ/s1600/Faces+of+DADT.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQH3ipoqHEt1awxWNJ0DSGCqw4C1T0FQ8qTfbtqzlUuS48feVmRQkrsKT5yzsN3qb3GiOzotHGmxecbRYezSK_sJ2GttovTSgZCLkRfHEMLFVzqxWYEFZkff-d8TdO2KkLIBJYWQ/s320/Faces+of+DADT.png" width="320" height="184" /></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYJN_19yhqLlTNkGYcHj7AiBw29DHyqLIA_b0iPPMaakemaj6ZtyzyoW5TBAreo2lX4N-EC4jsTdSvYbX_etIMruCQ_GsrNa0eWo6ux0J_zvxGuomN9ZOmqrRhA4fVyXjPQbwgg/s1600/Faces+of+DADT+2.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYJN_19yhqLlTNkGYcHj7AiBw29DHyqLIA_b0iPPMaakemaj6ZtyzyoW5TBAreo2lX4N-EC4jsTdSvYbX_etIMruCQ_GsrNa0eWo6ux0J_zvxGuomN9ZOmqrRhA4fVyXjPQbwgg/s320/Faces+of+DADT+2.png" width="320" height="224" /></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGonX87eoH514RZt6gwPKkfqTw0d1bqKZNTWrlogi523TJTKvgnBLGJnMpIDuP2STZsk6jc26F7MpP3BL6P0C8K59obXsTObRbSMexSlFgPtAtrndoKCRDR-Hv1NxczE7gRW5_JA/s1600/Faces+of+DADT+3.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGonX87eoH514RZt6gwPKkfqTw0d1bqKZNTWrlogi523TJTKvgnBLGJnMpIDuP2STZsk6jc26F7MpP3BL6P0C8K59obXsTObRbSMexSlFgPtAtrndoKCRDR-Hv1NxczE7gRW5_JA/s320/Faces+of+DADT+3.png" width="320" height="221" /></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgBkYv9gnoAQQNd5L3isUyrpbWE17AgHJ4JrFuiFJ9c5tZNes4hgbUGAQiuLOuLNgD_JVXFFczNmCv34JVj9IdmNCPUAEdMAsDLHjxclthr09hW1WTxNaa9GRMCXx3nK148UseQ/s1600/Faces+of+DADT+4.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgBkYv9gnoAQQNd5L3isUyrpbWE17AgHJ4JrFuiFJ9c5tZNes4hgbUGAQiuLOuLNgD_JVXFFczNmCv34JVj9IdmNCPUAEdMAsDLHjxclthr09hW1WTxNaa9GRMCXx3nK148UseQ/s320/Faces+of+DADT+4.png" width="320" height="217" /></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLUzXS0WxP3uV7hbbFB0BJQNMr1fWC-ghxURgySsHw6BxdDh8QGsfj0ltIemGvuYlgul6SPybenoyCNRMCOLQVqMMHY6c6BV1aPjOums77pRn3JsE8aFnXbh01SXDzmilfim2zw/s1600/Faces+of+DADT+5.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLUzXS0WxP3uV7hbbFB0BJQNMr1fWC-ghxURgySsHw6BxdDh8QGsfj0ltIemGvuYlgul6SPybenoyCNRMCOLQVqMMHY6c6BV1aPjOums77pRn3JsE8aFnXbh01SXDzmilfim2zw/s320/Faces+of+DADT+5.png" width="320" height="222" /></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVl9FPJtsRFcvFVXfU9pr3TGYVc_fLfskcS6vL9skw0Xc_bJy1oTCB9O5qvI0n3p7gNGDTZBal3o8uC-8Fv2mdGLVghNRyTwsl8XsFsfZFoihi6NANfxgUd6RihL6or134oDBL6g/s1600/Faces+of+DADT+6.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVl9FPJtsRFcvFVXfU9pr3TGYVc_fLfskcS6vL9skw0Xc_bJy1oTCB9O5qvI0n3p7gNGDTZBal3o8uC-8Fv2mdGLVghNRyTwsl8XsFsfZFoihi6NANfxgUd6RihL6or134oDBL6g/s320/Faces+of+DADT+6.png" width="320" height="214" /></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZnImi-HJSkFTTIFF1edG4A4he_GlzVRLWJYjgANGF1_YJmzQQLkdfkQQUDq3XXM6NkGevRNkMSXyQ8HXdfUAbHj59INHViI-bnGWRrNsxQKZbvrTlL13hbGG45TI6vrKL4g8qQ/s1600/Faces+of+DADT+7.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZnImi-HJSkFTTIFF1edG4A4he_GlzVRLWJYjgANGF1_YJmzQQLkdfkQQUDq3XXM6NkGevRNkMSXyQ8HXdfUAbHj59INHViI-bnGWRrNsxQKZbvrTlL13hbGG45TI6vrKL4g8qQ/s320/Faces+of+DADT+7.png" width="320" height="219" /></a></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; CLEAR: both"><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpCpSBfkzptA85V6kcyNxU-qe8KRteQkKAts35a2zRbW4FtEEtpgPXdpbRMYZeJDQ5nj7l9aQu5DS6eYhuZ564WF1EqQRS8HFdRuJiI5ZfNEhgnTUC8p-yvZ3qQ5nvnD6_-4ewA/s1600/Faces+of+DADT+8.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpCpSBfkzptA85V6kcyNxU-qe8KRteQkKAts35a2zRbW4FtEEtpgPXdpbRMYZeJDQ5nj7l9aQu5DS6eYhuZ564WF1EqQRS8HFdRuJiI5ZfNEhgnTUC8p-yvZ3qQ5nvnD6_-4ewA/s320/Faces+of+DADT+8.png" width="320" height="199" /></a></div></div><ul><li>Photographer says idea for project came from the soldiers, sailors and Marines themselves</li><li>The photo exhibit "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" conveys the stories of gay U.S. military members</li><li>Exhibit comes as controversial policy is being challenged in the courts</li></ul><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><div><b>RELATED TOPICS</b> </div><ul><li><a href="http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Don_t_Ask_Don_t_Tell" target="_blank">Don't Ask, Don't Tell</a></li><li><a href="http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Gays_in_the_Military" target="_blank">Gays in the Military</a></li><li><a href="http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Government_and_Politics" target="_blank">Government and Politics</a></li><li><a href="http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Photography" target="_blank">Photography</a></li></ul><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><b>(CNN)</b> -- A soldier and his shadow sit alone on wrinkled sheets. With his knees pressed tightly up against his chest, he wraps his arms around his legs and bows his head.<br />In another photo, a soldier stands before a mirror. His raised hand covers just enough of his reflection to protect his anonymity.<br />But it's not photographer <a href="http://www.jeffsheng.com/" target="_blank">Jeff Sheng</a> from whom these men are hiding their identities.<br />It's the military.</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />Sheng's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" exhibit, two years in the making, conveys the stories of the gay and bisexual men and women who serve in the U.S. military. And because his subjects are forced to keep their sexual orientations under wraps in order to serve, Shen's photos are portraits without faces.</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />The Los Angeles, California-based artist said many of his subjects were grateful for the opportunity to make a statement "without fully revealing themselves and losing their jobs."<br />"If this person got outed, they would lose their pension, their retirement benefits -- their 20 years of service in the military would be gone," he said.</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />Sheng asked many of those he photographed why they continue to serve despite the inequality.</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />"I asked, 'Why do you still serve with this policy in place? Why would you do it?' " Sheng said. "And they all looked at me and said, 'Because it's serving the country. It's the most honorable thing that I can think of doing right now in my life.' "<br />Sheng is also the creator of "Fearless," photographs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered high school and college athletes who are public about their sexual identities. He is working on a project focusing on undocumented Americans.<br />The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" photos were exhibited last week in Washington at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters, and Sheng said he hopes to bring them next to Chicago, Illinois.<br />The exhibit couldn't have been unveiled at a more relevant time.</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to suspend enforcement temporarily of "don't ask, don't tell." Though a lower court has deemed the law unconstitutional, the controversial policy will remain in effect until the appeals process is complete.<br />President Obama is on record favoring abolition of the policy but has said he wants the issue to be decided by Congress, not in the courts.</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />The new commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, opposes repeal of the policy. "There is a risk involved," Amos told reporters in San Diego, California. "I'm tring to determine how to measure that risk. This is not a social thing. This is combat effectiveness."</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />Ryan Vincent Downing, a former Air Force captain and one of the 60 service members Sheng photographed, said he has confidence "that people in the military can handle change." He is no longer in the service and said hiding his sexuality took a toll.<br />"I found myself making up lies, and then making up more lies to cover the lies I had told before," Downing said.</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />Sheng said he hopes his photographs open eyes to the way the "don't ask, don't tell" policy affects closeted service members who are fighting and dying for their country.<br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">"This idea that they're hiding, in many ways ... they can't reveal who they are," Sheng said. "[It] has a really profound effect on the way that people see these images and think about the issue."</div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-51468073722593768292010-11-10T14:07:00.001+00:002010-11-10T14:15:07.485+00:00Obama Visits a Nation That Knew Him as Barry<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""></span><br />
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<div class="credit">Sinartus Sosrodjojo for The New York Times</div><div class="caption"><em>President Obama attended Santo Fransiskus Asisi, a Roman Catholic school, as a child. He will visit Jakarta on Tuesday. </em></div></div><script type="text/javascript">
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<h6 class="byline">By <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/norimitsu_onishi/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by Norimitsu Onishi">NORIMITSU ONISHI</a></h6><div class="articleBody"><nyt_text><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">JAKARTA, Indonesia — The two houses where he spent part of his boyhood stand pretty much the way they did when he went back to Hawaii four decades ago. The two schools he attended have grown larger but, in spirit, remain unchanged. Some of his old friends can still be found around the neighborhood. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Near one of his homes here, the same family still runs a wooden stall selling gado-gado, an Indonesian salad covered in peanut sauce. Agus Salam, who took over the business from his mother years ago, played soccer with the American boy everybody here called Barry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“His house — all the houses around here — haven’t changed,” said Mr. Salam, 56. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">When </span><a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama."><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">President Obama</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> visits Jakarta on Tuesday, he will find a city that, in some ways, has changed beyond recognition. A city of one luxury hotel and one shopping mall when Mr. Obama lived here between 1967 and 1971, Jakarta is now the overextended and overcrowded capital of the </span><a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html" title="Information on Indonesia from the C.I.A. World Factbook"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">world’s fourth most populous nation</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">. But Jakarta’s neighborhoods, including the two where Mr. Obama lived, retain enough of their former selves that the president would quickly find his bearings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Jakarta regards Mr. Obama as a local boy made good, and he remains extremely popular throughout </span><a class="meta-loc" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/indonesia/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Indonesia."><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Indonesia</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">. But his last-minute postponements of three previously planned visits here have clearly sapped the enthusiasm surrounding his homecoming, even among his most ardent supporters. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“He’s not as popular here as he was before,” Mr. Salam said. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In 1967, Indonesia was still reeling from the aftershocks of an attempted Communist coup that led to the killing of at least 500,000 people. </span><a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/_suharto/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Suharto."><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Suharto</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/world/asia/28suharto.html" title="Times obituary"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">the general who would rule Indonesia through the late 1990s</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">, was about to assume power and launch an authoritarian era called the New Order. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mr. Obama, his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and his Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, moved into a one-story house in a district called Menteng-Dalam. At the time, it was a new neighborhood where natives of Jakarta, known as Betawis, lived with an increasing number of newcomers from different corners of Java and Sumatra, the main islands in Indonesia. The area was connected to the electric grid only a couple of years before Mr. Obama moved in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“It was a very poor area when the family came here,” said Coenraad Satjakoesoemah, 79, a retired airline manager and a neighborhood leader. “There were still dirt roads, only a few houses and lots of large trees.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In Mr. Satjakoesoemah’s living room, Mr. Obama’s mother taught English to the neighborhood women, including his wife, Djumiati. While the residents regarded Mr. Obama’s mother as a “free spirit,” Barry, who was chubby, was referred to as the “boy who runs like a duck,” said Mrs. Satjakoesoemah, 69. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mr. Obama, the couple said, attended school with children who could not afford to buy shoes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The school — Santo Fransiskus Asisi, a Roman Catholic school that had been founded just in 1967 — is still located a couple of blocks away. When the 6-year-old Barry entered the school, there were only three grades with a total of 150 students. Now, about 1,300 students from kindergarten through high school study there, said the principal, Yustina Amirah. Mr. Obama has spoken about growing up here and hearing the Muslim call to prayer, but Ms. Amirah said that since the school’s founding, everyone had hewed to the institution’s official religion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Barry followed church services like everybody else,” Ms. Amirah said. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sometime in the third grade, after his family moved to a different part of the city, Mr. Obama transferred to Elementary School Menteng 1, possibly the most famous primary school in Indonesia. Founded as a Dutch colonial school in 1934, it has long drawn the children of the country’s ruling class because of its location in Menteng, traditionally the wealthiest residential neighborhood in Jakarta. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Nowadays, though many wealthy Indonesians send their children to international schools here, the Menteng public school still draws the children of the elite, so much so that the principal, Hasimah, said she could “count on one hand” the students, out of a total of 400, who are not driven to school every day by their parents or drivers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A mosque was built on the school grounds in 2002, a sign of the growing influence of Islam in Indonesia’s public life. But the school four decades ago did not even have a prayer room, in keeping with the state’s secularism at the time, Ms. Hasimah and students from the era said. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">During the presidential campaign of 2008, right-wing American groups spread rumors that Mr. Obama had attended a radical madrasa while living here. Though most of the Menteng school’s students have always been Muslim, Rully Dasaad, 49, a former classmate, chuckled at the idea that of all schools in the country, Menteng was equated with a madrasa. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“I was brought to school in a Cadillac,” Mr. Dasaad said. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But Mr. Obama’s family did not live in the exclusive Menteng district. The family stayed instead in a far humbler neighborhood called Matraman-Dalam, on a short block of single-story, detached houses, a stone’s throw from a traditional Indonesian neighborhood of narrow, winding streets. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Though he lived in that neighborhood for only two years, Mr. Obama left a lasting impression because of his outgoing and sometimes rowdy personality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Barry was so naughty that my father even scolded him one time,” said Sonni Gondokusumo, 49, a former neighbor and classmate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mr. Obama’s family rented the guest house inside a compound belonging to a prominent physician. There, according to the neighborhood’s longtime residents, the young Obama, who had already experienced differences in class and religion in his short stay in Indonesia, was exposed to another aspect of Jakarta’s diversity. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong>His nanny was an openly gay man who, in keeping with Indonesia’s relaxed attitudes toward homosexuality, carried on an affair with a local butcher, longtime residents said. The nanny later joined a group of transvestites called <span style="color: orange;">Fantastic Dolls</span>, who, like the many transvestites who remain fixtures of Jakarta’s streetscape, entertained people by dancing and playing volleyball. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In the compound, Mr. Obama often played with the two sons of the physician’s driver. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">One time, recalled the elder son, Slamet Januadi, now 52, Mr. Obama asked a group of boys whether they wanted to grow up to be president, a soldier or a businessman. A president would own nothing while a soldier would possess weapons and a businessmen would have money, the young Obama explained. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mr. Januadi and his younger brother, both of whom later joined the Indonesian military, said they wanted to become soldiers. Another boy, a future banker, said he would become a businessman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Then Barry said he would become president and order the soldier to guard him and the businessman to use his money to build him something,” Mr. Januadi said. “We told him, ‘You cheated. You didn’t give us those details.’ ” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“But we all became what we said we would,” he said. </span><br />
<nyt_correction_bottom></nyt_correction_bottom><br />
<div class="articleCorrection"></div></nyt_text><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></div><div class="columnGroup "><div class="articleFooter"><div class="articleMeta"><div class="opposingFloatControl wrap"><div class="element1"><h6 class="metaFootnote">A version of this article appeared in print on November 9, 2010, on page A14 of the New York edition.</h6></div></div></div></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-1013516415184377342010-11-03T12:08:00.000+00:002010-11-03T12:08:44.084+00:00"I Dont Want The World To See Me" - In Honor Of The Recent Suicides.<object style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/Ayx6Gq2eIxw/hqdefault.jpg)" width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ayx6Gq2eIxw?fs=1&hl=de_DE"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ayx6Gq2eIxw?fs=1&hl=de_DE" width="480" height="295" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-92023326858733442922010-10-14T14:35:00.000+00:002010-10-14T14:35:13.691+00:00Anti-gay crime trend rocks city<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><div style="FLOAT: right"><center></center><br clear="all"></div><h4></h4><h5>By CYRIL JOSH BARKER<!--[include_if_component:movie-file:1:incs/story/movie.inc]--></h5><div id="storytext"><span>Shock is still being felt across the city as the saga of a heinous anti-gay crime in the Bronx continues to unfold.<br /><br />On Tuesday, a 10th man was arrested in connection with the alleged attack against four men in the Bronx. The suspect, Jose Dominguez, 22, turned himself in.</span><br /><br /><div id="instory"><script type="text/javascript"><!-- aCampaigns = new Array(); aCampaigns[1425] = 100; aAds = new Array(); nAdsysTime = new Date().getTime()/1000; document.usePlayer = 1; if ((nAdsysTime >= 1286859600) && (nAdsysTime <= 1289627999)) { aAd = new Array('news+instory', '239141-1286938441', 'jpg'); aAd[3] = 'http://www.buildinghealthycommunities2010.com'; aAd[4] = '1'; aAd[6] = '1'; aAd[7] = 10; aAd[8] = 0; aAd[9] = 1425; aAd[10] = 0; aAd[11] = 0; aAds[aAds.length] = aAd; } adsys_displayAd('http://adsys.townnews.com', 'amsterdamnews.com', aAds, aCampaigns); // --></script></div><span>Dominguez is just one of several men arrested and accused of being involved in an attack on the gay men in the Morrisania section of the Bronx on Sunday. Police say the attackers were members of the Latin King Goonies gang and discovered that a gang initiate was gay.<br /><br />The alleged incident took place in an abandoned house where the suspects allegedly sodomized and beat the 17-year-old recruit. The suspects also beat and sodomized another 17-year-old boy because he was gay as well as a 30-year-old gay man. The suspects beat the 30-year-old victim, then stole money and a television from his brother’s apartment.<br /><br />Details of the alleged torturing are even more startling due to the fact that a small bat and plunger handle were used to sodomize the victims. Reports indicate that one of the younger victims was forced to burn the 30-year-old man with a cigarette.<br /><br />News of the attack sent shockwaves across the city because of a recent surge in anti-gay-related incidents. Last week, a gay man was beaten at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar famed for being the location where the gay rights movement started.<br /><br />Additionally, two gay men were recently attacked on Ninth Avenue and 25th Street after they were seen kissing.<br /><br />The incidents have even bled over into the political realm. New York gubernatorial candidate and Republican and Tea Party darling Carl Paladino made offensive comments about homosexuals during a meeting with members of the Hasidic Jewish community. He called the gay lifestyle unacceptable but later apologized for his remarks.</span><br /><br /><span>“Let me be clear, these incidents are completely unacceptable,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this week. “They’re intolerable in a city in which tolerance is what defines us. They’re unacceptable in a city in which embracing our differences is what makes us strong.”<br /><br />Openly gay City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has made repeated statements about the anti-gay crimes, which appear to be a trend in the city. She has also noted the recent suicides among gay youth across the nation due to bullying.<br /><br />“The recent deaths across the country that have happened as a result of anti-LGBT bullying are truly heartbreaking,” said Quinn. “As the loss of these innocent young lives reminds us, we must remain diligent in our efforts to combat bullying and promote tolerance. Just as children can learn bigotry and intolerance, so too can they learn to value diversity and acceptance.”</span></div></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-58992941837975642342010-10-10T12:54:00.000+00:002010-10-10T12:54:01.679+00:00NYC leaders condemn ‘vicious’ attack on 3 gays<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: small;" verdana;?="">NEW YORK — <strong>Outraged city leaders said Saturday that the city wouldn’t tolerate the “vicious” hatred that had apparently caused a street gang’s alleged beating and torture of three men because they were gay as an eighth suspect in the beatings was arrested.</strong>Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that several of the suspects had made statements implicating themselves in the crime, which occurred in a neighborhood where residents said homosexuality is both common and tolerated.<br />
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Asked if the men had expressed any remorse for what they had done, Kelly said “I wouldn’t call it remorse.”<br />
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was “sickened” by the violence, that police said included sodomizing one of the men with a plunger handle and hourslong torture of others. The attack came amid heightened attention to anti-gay bullying following a string of teen suicides attributed to it last month around the country.<br />
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“Like many New Yorkers, I was sickened by the brutal nature of these crimes and saddened by the anti-gay bias that contributed to them,” the mayor said. “The heartless men who committed these crimes should know that their fellow New Yorkers will not tolerate their vicious acts, or the hatred that fuels them.”<br />
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The suspects arrested Thursday and Friday were identified as Ildefonzo Mendez, 23; David Rivera, 21; four 17-year-olds, Steven Caraballo, Denis Peitars, Nelson Falu and Bryan Almonte; and Brian Cepeda, 16. All face charges including robbery, assault and unlawful imprisonment as hate crimes; Mendez, Rivera and Falu were additionally charged with committing a criminal sex act.<br />
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The eighth suspect, Elmer Confresi, 23, of the Bronx, turned himself in on Saturday. Kelly said that a lawyer representing the ninth suspect had arranged for his client to turn himself in, but never showed.<br />
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The suspects were awaiting possible arraignment Saturday, the Bronx District Attorney’s office said.<br />
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Bryan Almonte’s stepmother, Carmen, told The New York Times that the teen was hospitalized Friday night after going into diabetic shock during his arrest. She said his father died three months ago.<br />
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“Bryan is not a bad kid,” she told the newspaper. “If he was there, he didn’t do anything.”<br />
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Cepeda was interested in becoming a police officer, said his mother, Ada Cepeda.<br />
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“He’s not rude; he’s quite intelligent,” Cepeda told the Times. “I’m a realist. It’s not that my son is a saint. But I doubt he would do that.”<br />
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Police said the nine members of a gang that called itself the Latin King Goonies went berserk after hearing a rumor that one of their new recruits, a 17-year-old, was gay, and trapped and brutalized the men on Oct. 3-4.<br />
<br />
Investigators say the teen was stripped, beaten and sodomized with a plunger handle until he confessed to having had sex with a 30-year-old man who lives a few blocks away.<br />
<br />
Then, the group grabbed a second teen they suspected was gay and tortured him, too, police said. Finally, they invited the 30-year-old to the house, telling him they were having a party. When he arrived, they burned, beat and tortured him for hours. The attack included sodomizing him with a miniature baseball bat, police said.<br />
<br />
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is gay, and other elected officials went to the empty brick townhouse where the attacks took place Saturday and passed out leaflets imploring residents to turn in the remaining suspects.<br />
<br />
“People were very, very clear that they wanted it to be known that the acts of these individulas do not represent their neighborhood,” said Quinn. “They were as stunned as anyone that something so violent, so premeditated ... could happen here.”<br />
<br />
Gay men and women lived openly in the neighborhood, and while residents were disturbed by some past violent behavior by the suspects, some said they hadn’t previously targeted homosexuals.<br />
<br />
“I was friends with all of them,” said Natty Martinez, a gay 16-year-old who lives in the neighborhood.<br />
<br />
“They were chill. There was no beef,” she said Saturday. “I had no idea they had no heart.”<br />
<br />
Sitting on the steps of the home where the attacks took place, Martinez and three teenage friends said the accused men had frequently partied in an empty apartment on the block.<br />
<br />
The girls said the young men were “the nicest ever.” Some even went to church, they said. But they added that when the group drank heavily, they did bad things and sometimes beat up people.<br />
<br />
Word of the assaults apparently reached residents long before police had pieced together what happened.<br />
<br />
Jaymarie Mendez, 16, said she heard about the attack, “the next day,” but said that, like other young people in the area, “We don’t talk to cops. We don’t like them.”<br />
<br />
The victims, authorities said, didn’t call the police either.<br />
<br />
“How can people do something like that?” asked Keith Handsford, 35, an air conditioning repairman who lives next to the building where the assaults took place.<br />
<br />
He said he had two teenage nieces who were gay, and lived in the neighborhood, who have had no problems with serious harassment.<br />
<br />
abandoned home that served as a clubhouse — and allegedly a torture chamber — for a street gang accused of trapping and brutalizing three gay men sits in a neighborhood where homosexuality is both common and tolerated, residents said.<br />
<br />
Gay men and women lived openly, and while neighbors were disturbed by some past violent behavior by the group of young men alleged to have been involved in the attacks, some said they hadn’t previously targeted homosexuals.<br />
<br />
“I was friends with all of them,” said Natty Martinez, a gay 16-year-old who lives in the Bronx neighborhood.<br />
<br />
“They were chill. There was no beef,” she said. “I had no idea they had no heart.”<br />
<br />
New York City leaders continued to express outrage Saturday over the attacks, which police say took place over several hours on two nights. Seven suspects were arrested on Thursday and Friday. One was arrested Saturday and one is still at large.<br />
<br />
Police said the nine members of a gang that called itself the Latin King Goonies went berserk after hearing a rumor that one of their new recruits, a 17-year-old, was gay.<br />
<br />
Investigators say the teen was stripped, beaten and sodomized with a plunger handle until he confessed to having had sex with a 30-year-old man who lives a few blocks away.<br />
<br />
Then, the group grabbed a second teen they suspected was gay and tortured him, too. Finally, they invited the 30-year-old to the house, telling him they were having a party. When he arrived, they burned, beat and tortured him for hours. The attack included sodomizing him with a miniature baseball bat, police said.<br />
<br />
Five City Council members and other elected officials visited the block Saturday and stood outside the empty brick townhouse where the attacks had taken place.<br />
<br />
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is gay, passed out leaflets imploring residents to turn in the two suspects still being sought. She and her colleagues were joined by area ministers, civic leaders and residents, who marched in solidarity with the victims.<br />
<br />
“People were very, very clear that they wanted it to be known that the acts of these individuals do not represent their neighborhood,” said Quinn. “They were as stunned as anyone that something so violent, so premeditated ... could happen here.”<br />
<br />
The first of the attacks happened in the early morning hours of Oct. 3. The next two began the next night, and lasted into the early hours of Oct. 4.<br />
<br />
Sitting on the steps of the home where the attacks took place Saturday, Martinez and three teenage friends said the accused men had frequently partied in an empty apartment on the block.<br />
<br />
The girls said the young men, who ranged in age from 16 to 23, were “the nicest ever.” Some even went to church, they said. But they added that when the group drank heavily, they did bad things and sometimes beat up people.<br />
<br />
Word of the assaults apparently reached residents long before police had pieced together what happened. Jaymarie Mendez, 16, said she heard about the attack “the next day,” but said that, like other young people in the area, “We don’t talk to cops. We don’t like them.”<br />
<br />
The victims, authorities said, didn’t call the police either.<br />
<br />
Residents on the block said they were shocked by the violence.<br />
<br />
“How can people do something like that?” asked Keith Handsford, 35, an air-conditioning repairman who lives next to the building where the assaults took place.<br />
<br />
He said he had two teenage nieces who were gay, and lived in the neighborhood, who have had no problems with serious harassment.<br />
<br />
A spokesman for the Bronx sistrict attorney said the seven suspects in custody were awaiting arraignment Saturday on charges that would include abduction and sodomy as a hate crime.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-24927086777596155222010-10-10T12:44:00.000+00:002010-10-10T12:44:17.476+00:002 arrested in anti-gay beating at famed NY gay bar - Boston.comA patron at the Stonewall Inn, a powerful symbol of the gay rights movement since protests over a 1969 police raid there, was tackled to the floor and beaten in an anti-gay bias attack over the weekend, authorities said.<br /><br /> Two men were arrested in the early Sunday beating, which came little more than a day after a group of male friends bidding an affectionate good night to each other were attacked in another anti-gay assault elsewhere in Manhattan, prosecutors said.<br /><br />The attacks came amid heightened attention to anti-gay bullying following a string of suicides attributed to it last month, including a New Jersey college student's Sept. 22 plunge off the George Washington Bridge after his sexual encounter with a man in his dorm room was secretly streamed online.<br /><br />But the attack prosecutors described at the Stonewall Inn especially galled and saddened gay rights advocates, some of whom wondered whether a place known for a defining moment in the history of gay rights might spur a new push for tolerance.<br /><br />For the Stonewall's owners, the episode was a sharp and upsetting contrast to its legacy.<br /><br />"We at the Stonewall Inn are exceedingly troubled that hate crimes like this can and do still occur in this day and age. Obviously the impact of these men's violent actions is even deeper given that it occurred on the premises of the Stonewall Inn," an owner, Bill Morgan, wrote in an e-mail.<br /><br />The victim was using a restroom at the Greenwich Village bar around 2 a.m. Sunday when a man at the next urinal, Matthew Francis, asked what kind of an establishment it was, prosecutors said. On being told it was a gay bar, Francis used an anti-gay slur and told the victim to get away from him, assistant district attorney Kiran Singh said.<br /><br />"I don't like gay people. Don't pee next to me," Francis added, according to the prosecutor.<br /><br />Francis, 21, then demanded money, punched the victim in the face and continued beating him after a co-defendant blocked the door, tackled the victim and held him down, Singh said. The victim was treated at a hospital and was released, she said.<br /><br />Francis said nothing at his arraignment Monday. A defense lawyer said Francis wasn't the aggressor and that the episode wasn't motivated by bias.<br /><br />"Mr. Francis is not a violent person. Nor did he try to rob anyone," said the attorney, Angel Soto. "There may have been a fight, but it certainly wasn't a hate crime."<br /><br />Francis was held on $10,000 bond. His co-defendant was awaiting arraignment.<br /><br />Just before midnight Friday, several male friends hugging and kissing each other good night in Manhattan's gay friendly Chelsea neighborhood were confronted by a group of more than five people who used an anti-gay epithet and told them to go home because "this is our neighborhood," according to a court document filed by prosecutors. Two other men lashed out with fists as Andrew Jackson hurled a metal garbage can into one victim's head, prosecutors said.<br /><br />Jackson, 20, was arraigned over the weekend on hate crime assault and other charges. His lawyer, Anne Costanzo, declined to comment Monday.<br /><br />The Stonewall Inn became a rallying point for gay rights in June 1969, when a police raid sparked an uprising in an era when gay men and women were often in the shadows. Stonewall patrons fought with officers, and several days of demonstrations followed, in an outpouring that became a formative moment in the gay rights movement.<br /><br />"The riots at Stonewall gave way to protests, and protests gave way to a movement, and the movement gave way to a transformation that continues to this day," President Barack Obama said at a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month reception at the White House in June 2009.<br /><br />The Stonewall riots' influence also is reflected in the names of some gay resource organizations, including student groups at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.<br /><br />For the New York City Anti-Violence Project, which works to combat attacks on gays and others, assaults like this weekend's remain all too common problems. But the attack at the Stonewall Inn reverberates with a particularly disturbing resonance, executive director Sharon Stapel said.<br /><br />"Even in a bar like the Stonewall Inn, which started a huge part of the gay rights movement -- even the Stonewall Inn is not immune to this sort of violence, despite all of the work that they do to create a safe and tolerant atmosphere," Stapel said. "It's incredibly sad."<br /><br />But she said she hoped the incident and the atmosphere of concern about anti-gay harassment would spark new conversations about how to respond.<br /><br />The Stonewall Inn has raised money for the Anti-Violence Project and other groups, and managers strive to make the bar inclusive, Morgan said.<br /><br />"We do our best to run a nice, welcoming establishment where anyone can and should feel safe," he said.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-59235165254882918982010-10-10T12:31:00.000+00:002010-10-10T12:31:40.367+00:00NYC leaders condemn ‘vicious’ attack on 3 gays- The New Haven Register - Serving New Haven, ConnecticutNEW YORK — Outraged city leaders said Saturday that the city wouldn’t tolerate the “vicious” hatred that had apparently caused a street gang’s alleged beating and torture of three men because they were gay as an eighth suspect in the beatings was arrested.<br /><br />Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that several of the suspects had made statements implicating themselves in the crime, which occurred in a neighborhood where residents said homosexuality is both common and tolerated.<br /><br />Asked if the men had expressed any remorse for what they had done, Kelly said “I wouldn’t call it remorse.”<br /><br />Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was “sickened” by the violence, that police said included sodomizing one of the men with a plunger handle and hourslong torture of others. The attack came amid heightened attention to anti-gay bullying following a string of teen suicides attributed to it last month around the country.<br /><br />“Like many New Yorkers, I was sickened by the brutal nature of these crimes and saddened by the anti-gay bias that contributed to them,” the mayor said. “The heartless men who committed these crimes should know that their fellow New Yorkers will not tolerate their vicious acts, or the hatred that fuels them.”<br /><br />The suspects arrested Thursday and Friday were identified as Ildefonzo Mendez, 23; David Rivera, 21; four 17-year-olds, Steven Caraballo, Denis Peitars, Nelson Falu and Bryan Almonte; and Brian Cepeda, 16. All face charges including robbery, assault and unlawful imprisonment as hate crimes; Mendez, Rivera and Falu were additionally charged with committing a criminal sex act.<br /><br />The eighth suspect, Elmer Confresi, 23, of the Bronx, turned himself in on Saturday. Kelly said that a lawyer representing the ninth suspect had arranged for his client to turn himself in, but never showed.<br /><br />The suspects were awaiting possible arraignment Saturday, the Bronx District Attorney’s office said.<br /><br />Bryan Almonte’s stepmother, Carmen, told The New York Times that the teen was hospitalized Friday night after going into diabetic shock during his arrest. She said his father died three months ago.<br /><br />“Bryan is not a bad kid,” she told the newspaper. “If he was there, he didn’t do anything.”<br /><br />Cepeda was interested in becoming a police officer, said his mother, Ada Cepeda.<br /><br />“He’s not rude; he’s quite intelligent,” Cepeda told the Times. “I’m a realist. It’s not that my son is a saint. But I doubt he would do that.”<br /><br />Police said the nine members of a gang that called itself the Latin King Goonies went berserk after hearing a rumor that one of their new recruits, a 17-year-old, was gay, and trapped and brutalized the men on Oct. 3-4.<br /><br />Investigators say the teen was stripped, beaten and sodomized with a plunger handle until he confessed to having had sex with a 30-year-old man who lives a few blocks away.<br /><br />Then, the group grabbed a second teen they suspected was gay and tortured him, too, police said. Finally, they invited the 30-year-old to the house, telling him they were having a party. When he arrived, they burned, beat and tortured him for hours. The attack included sodomizing him with a miniature baseball bat, police said.<br /><br />City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is gay, and other elected officials went to the empty brick townhouse where the attacks took place Saturday and passed out leaflets imploring residents to turn in the remaining suspects.<br /><br />“People were very, very clear that they wanted it to be known that the acts of these individulas do not represent their neighborhood,” said Quinn. “They were as stunned as anyone that something so violent, so premeditated ... could happen here.”<br /><br />Gay men and women lived openly in the neighborhood, and while residents were disturbed by some past violent behavior by the suspects, some said they hadn’t previously targeted homosexuals.<br /><br />“I was friends with all of them,” said Natty Martinez, a gay 16-year-old who lives in the neighborhood.<br /><br />“They were chill. There was no beef,” she said Saturday. “I had no idea they had no heart.”<br /><br />Sitting on the steps of the home where the attacks took place, Martinez and three teenage friends said the accused men had frequently partied in an empty apartment on the block.<br /><br />The girls said the young men were “the nicest ever.” Some even went to church, they said. But they added that when the group drank heavily, they did bad things and sometimes beat up people.<br /><br />Word of the assaults apparently reached residents long before police had pieced together what happened.<br /><br />Jaymarie Mendez, 16, said she heard about the attack, “the next day,” but said that, like other young people in the area, “We don’t talk to cops. We don’t like them.”<br /><br />The victims, authorities said, didn’t call the police either.<br /><br />“How can people do something like that?” asked Keith Handsford, 35, an air conditioning repairman who lives next to the building where the assaults took place.<br /><br />He said he had two teenage nieces who were gay, and lived in the neighborhood, who have had no problems with serious harassment.<br /><br />abandoned home that served as a clubhouse — and allegedly a torture chamber — for a street gang accused of trapping and brutalizing three gay men sits in a neighborhood where homosexuality is both common and tolerated, residents said.<br /><br />Gay men and women lived openly, and while neighbors were disturbed by some past violent behavior by the group of young men alleged to have been involved in the attacks, some said they hadn’t previously targeted homosexuals.<br /><br />“I was friends with all of them,” said Natty Martinez, a gay 16-year-old who lives in the Bronx neighborhood.<br /><br />“They were chill. There was no beef,” she said. “I had no idea they had no heart.”<br /><br />New York City leaders continued to express outrage Saturday over the attacks, which police say took place over several hours on two nights. Seven suspects were arrested on Thursday and Friday. One was arrested Saturday and one is still at large.<br /><br />Police said the nine members of a gang that called itself the Latin King Goonies went berserk after hearing a rumor that one of their new recruits, a 17-year-old, was gay.<br /><br />Investigators say the teen was stripped, beaten and sodomized with a plunger handle until he confessed to having had sex with a 30-year-old man who lives a few blocks away.<br /><br />Then, the group grabbed a second teen they suspected was gay and tortured him, too. Finally, they invited the 30-year-old to the house, telling him they were having a party. When he arrived, they burned, beat and tortured him for hours. The attack included sodomizing him with a miniature baseball bat, police said.<br /><br />Five City Council members and other elected officials visited the block Saturday and stood outside the empty brick townhouse where the attacks had taken place.<br /><br />City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is gay, passed out leaflets imploring residents to turn in the two suspects still being sought. She and her colleagues were joined by area ministers, civic leaders and residents, who marched in solidarity with the victims.<br /><br />“People were very, very clear that they wanted it to be known that the acts of these individuals do not represent their neighborhood,” said Quinn. “They were as stunned as anyone that something so violent, so premeditated ... could happen here.”<br /><br />The first of the attacks happened in the early morning hours of Oct. 3. The next two began the next night, and lasted into the early hours of Oct. 4.<br /><br />Sitting on the steps of the home where the attacks took place Saturday, Martinez and three teenage friends said the accused men had frequently partied in an empty apartment on the block.<br /><br />The girls said the young men, who ranged in age from 16 to 23, were “the nicest ever.” Some even went to church, they said. But they added that when the group drank heavily, they did bad things and sometimes beat up people.<br /><br />Word of the assaults apparently reached residents long before police had pieced together what happened. Jaymarie Mendez, 16, said she heard about the attack “the next day,” but said that, like other young people in the area, “We don’t talk to cops. We don’t like them.”<br /><br />The victims, authorities said, didn’t call the police either.<br /><br />Residents on the block said they were shocked by the violence.<br /><br />“How can people do something like that?” asked Keith Handsford, 35, an air-conditioning repairman who lives next to the building where the assaults took place.<br /><br />He said he had two teenage nieces who were gay, and lived in the neighborhood, who have had no problems with serious harassment.<br /><br />A spokesman for the Bronx sistrict attorney said the seven suspects in custody were awaiting arraignment Saturday on charges that would include abduction and sodomy as a hate crime.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-28283625937116602582010-10-06T15:28:00.001+00:002010-10-06T15:28:29.133+00:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;" "font-family: verdana;"> </span> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-20531550319919053542010-10-06T15:24:00.000+00:002010-10-06T15:24:40.185+00:00Israeli Police Given Protection for Killing<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="marron">By Mel Frykberg</span></span><span class="texto1"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>SHUAFAT, Occupied East Jerusalem, Oct 6, 2010 (IPS) - A peaceful morning is interrupted by the sounds of an Israeli helicopter circling overhead -- often a sign of trouble on the ground. Later Sunday the news broke -- a Palestinian man was shot dead in the village of Issawiya by Israeli paramilitary border police as he tried to enter Israel in search of work.</b><br />
<br />
Father of five, 38-year-old Ezzidine Al-Kawazba from Hebron became the latest Palestinian casualty to die at the hands of the Israeli security forces in disputed circumstances. The policeman who shot Al-Kawazba alleged that his weapon went off "accidentally" and that he "didn't mean to kill the labourer." <br />
<br />
Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli-Arab Minister of the Israeli Knesset, condemned the shooting. "Once again Israel's police officers and border police shoot and kill an Arab in cold blood. This time it was a father to many children who was trying to enter Jerusalem to find work for his livelihood. <br />
<br />
"Again the automatic false claim was made that a Palestinian tried to take a Border Policeman's weapon. Will the police force, once again, rally behind this murdering officer? Will he, too, gain the status of a hero that killed another Arab?" <br />
<br />
Earlier, IPS attended the funeral of Sameh Sarhan from East Jerusalem after he was shot dead by an Israeli security guard, who claimed self-defence, outside the illegal Israeli settlement of King David in occupied East Jerusalem. Video evidence taken at the scene contradicted the security guard's version of events. Sarhan's killing sparked a week of riots. <br />
<br />
The latest killing in Issawiya came as two Israeli soldiers were convicted by an Israeli military court of using Palestinians as human shields during Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza December 2008-January 2009, which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, most of them civilian. <br />
<br />
The soldiers were convicted of offences including inappropriate behaviour and overstepping authority for ordering an 11-year-old Palestinian boy to search bags suspected to have been booby-trapped. <br />
<br />
The Israeli police have said they are investigating the two latest shootings. However, a lack of confidence in the integrity of police investigations when security force members are involved in the killing of unarmed Palestinians has been backed by several Israeli rights groups. <br />
<br />
The Israel Democracy Institute is due to release a report accusing the Israeli police of "bias in analysing evidence" in relation to three Israeli-Arabs shot dead by police during the October 2000 riots (the beginning of the second Palestinian Intifadah, or uprising) in northern Israel. Thirteen Palestinians were shot dead and hundreds were injured. <br />
<br />
The study investigates the circumstances which prompted then Israeli attorney general Menachem Mazuz to follow the state prosecutor's recommendation to close the inquiries into the deaths of three men on the basis of lack of evidence. <br />
<br />
Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer and former Haifa district attorney Lina Saba, who conducted the study, examined files containing dozens of pieces of accumulated evidence. <br />
<br />
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that according to the investigators, "the study shows that closing these three cases was unjustified and the Department for Investigating Policemen, and the prosecution, did not complete the investigation. The examination also showed the prosecution took a biased approach in analysing the evidence." <br />
<br />
Several months ago Israeli policeman Shahar Mizrahi, who shot dead an unarmed Palestinian motorist who he claimed was a car thief, was sentenced to an original 15 months imprisonment. This was later doubled to 30 months on appeal when an Israeli court found the killing unnecessary as the officer's life was not in danger as he had claimed. <br />
<br />
Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Israel's internal security minister, and Dudi Cohen, the police commissioner said they would immediately seek a presidential pardon for Mizrahi. "I won't merely support a pardon bid, I'll lead it," added Aharonovitch. <br />
<br />
Israeli police gave Mizrahi more than 42,500 dollars for legal expenses in the initial criminal case, and a further 50,000 dollars for his appeal to the Supreme Court. <br />
<br />
Israeli rights group Yesh Din reported earlier in the year that only "six percent of investigations yielded indictments against Israeli soldiers who harmed Palestinians." <br />
<br />
Another Israeli human rights organisation B'tselem released a report last month 'Void of Responsibility: Israel Military Policy not to investigate Killings of Palestinians by Soldiers'. <br />
<br />
In the report B'tselem stated that "at the beginning of the second Intifadah, the Judge Advocate General's Office announced that it was defining the situation in the Occupied Territories as an 'armed conflict', and that investigations would be opened only in exceptional cases, in which there was a suspicion that a criminal offence had been committed. <br />
<br />
"This policy, which led to a significant drop in Military Police investigations of homicide cases, ignored the varying character of the army's actions in the Occupied Territories, and treated every act carried out by soldiers as a combat action, even in cases when these acts bear the clear hallmarks of a policing action." Meanwhile, another Palestinian mosque near Bethlehem was torched and vandalised on Sunday night by Israeli settlers. A number of copies of the Koran were reported destroyed. Clashes then broke out between Palestinians and the settlers. Israeli soldiers subsequently arrived and forced the settlers to retreat, but none were arrested. <br />
<br />
Several West Bank mosques have been subjected to settler vandalism and arson attacks since last year. Others have had anti-Arab and anti-Muslim graffiti scrawled on their walls. The Israeli authorities have not charged anyone.</span></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-89569038679663604602010-10-06T15:23:00.001+00:002010-10-06T15:23:11.891+00:00Israeli Police Given Protection for Killing<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="marron">By Mel Frykberg</span></span><span class="texto1"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>SHUAFAT, Occupied East Jerusalem, Oct 6, 2010 (IPS) - A peaceful morning is interrupted by the sounds of an Israeli helicopter circling overhead -- often a sign of trouble on the ground. Later Sunday the news broke -- a Palestinian man was shot dead in the village of Issawiya by Israeli paramilitary border police as he tried to enter Israel in search of work.</b><br />
<br />
Father of five, 38-year-old Ezzidine Al-Kawazba from Hebron became the latest Palestinian casualty to die at the hands of the Israeli security forces in disputed circumstances. The policeman who shot Al-Kawazba alleged that his weapon went off "accidentally" and that he "didn't mean to kill the labourer." <br />
<br />
Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli-Arab Minister of the Israeli Knesset, condemned the shooting. "Once again Israel's police officers and border police shoot and kill an Arab in cold blood. This time it was a father to many children who was trying to enter Jerusalem to find work for his livelihood. <br />
<br />
"Again the automatic false claim was made that a Palestinian tried to take a Border Policeman's weapon. Will the police force, once again, rally behind this murdering officer? Will he, too, gain the status of a hero that killed another Arab?" <br />
<br />
Earlier, IPS attended the funeral of Sameh Sarhan from East Jerusalem after he was shot dead by an Israeli security guard, who claimed self-defence, outside the illegal Israeli settlement of King David in occupied East Jerusalem. Video evidence taken at the scene contradicted the security guard's version of events. Sarhan's killing sparked a week of riots. <br />
<br />
The latest killing in Issawiya came as two Israeli soldiers were convicted by an Israeli military court of using Palestinians as human shields during Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza December 2008-January 2009, which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, most of them civilian. <br />
<br />
The soldiers were convicted of offences including inappropriate behaviour and overstepping authority for ordering an 11-year-old Palestinian boy to search bags suspected to have been booby-trapped. <br />
<br />
The Israeli police have said they are investigating the two latest shootings. However, a lack of confidence in the integrity of police investigations when security force members are involved in the killing of unarmed Palestinians has been backed by several Israeli rights groups. <br />
<br />
The Israel Democracy Institute is due to release a report accusing the Israeli police of "bias in analysing evidence" in relation to three Israeli-Arabs shot dead by police during the October 2000 riots (the beginning of the second Palestinian Intifadah, or uprising) in northern Israel. Thirteen Palestinians were shot dead and hundreds were injured. <br />
<br />
The study investigates the circumstances which prompted then Israeli attorney general Menachem Mazuz to follow the state prosecutor's recommendation to close the inquiries into the deaths of three men on the basis of lack of evidence. <br />
<br />
Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer and former Haifa district attorney Lina Saba, who conducted the study, examined files containing dozens of pieces of accumulated evidence. <br />
<br />
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that according to the investigators, "the study shows that closing these three cases was unjustified and the Department for Investigating Policemen, and the prosecution, did not complete the investigation. The examination also showed the prosecution took a biased approach in analysing the evidence." <br />
<br />
Several months ago Israeli policeman Shahar Mizrahi, who shot dead an unarmed Palestinian motorist who he claimed was a car thief, was sentenced to an original 15 months imprisonment. This was later doubled to 30 months on appeal when an Israeli court found the killing unnecessary as the officer's life was not in danger as he had claimed. <br />
<br />
Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Israel's internal security minister, and Dudi Cohen, the police commissioner said they would immediately seek a presidential pardon for Mizrahi. "I won't merely support a pardon bid, I'll lead it," added Aharonovitch. <br />
<br />
Israeli police gave Mizrahi more than 42,500 dollars for legal expenses in the initial criminal case, and a further 50,000 dollars for his appeal to the Supreme Court. <br />
<br />
Israeli rights group Yesh Din reported earlier in the year that only "six percent of investigations yielded indictments against Israeli soldiers who harmed Palestinians." <br />
<br />
Another Israeli human rights organisation B'tselem released a report last month 'Void of Responsibility: Israel Military Policy not to investigate Killings of Palestinians by Soldiers'. <br />
<br />
In the report B'tselem stated that "at the beginning of the second Intifadah, the Judge Advocate General's Office announced that it was defining the situation in the Occupied Territories as an 'armed conflict', and that investigations would be opened only in exceptional cases, in which there was a suspicion that a criminal offence had been committed. <br />
<br />
"This policy, which led to a significant drop in Military Police investigations of homicide cases, ignored the varying character of the army's actions in the Occupied Territories, and treated every act carried out by soldiers as a combat action, even in cases when these acts bear the clear hallmarks of a policing action." Meanwhile, another Palestinian mosque near Bethlehem was torched and vandalised on Sunday night by Israeli settlers. A number of copies of the Koran were reported destroyed. Clashes then broke out between Palestinians and the settlers. Israeli soldiers subsequently arrived and forced the settlers to retreat, but none were arrested. <br />
<br />
Several West Bank mosques have been subjected to settler vandalism and arson attacks since last year. Others have had anti-Arab and anti-Muslim graffiti scrawled on their walls. The Israeli authorities have not charged anyone.</span></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-41536737913539346932010-08-14T12:38:00.000+00:002010-08-14T12:38:03.935+00:00Congo: LRA Conducts Massive Abduction Campaign<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""><div class="header"><h6 class="node-title"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">New Regional Strategy Needed to Protect Civilians and Rescue Children</span></h6></div><div class="info"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-300x/media/images/photographs/2010_CAR_LRA_03b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="2010_CAR_LRA_03b.jpg" border="0" src="http://www.hrw.org/en/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-300x/media/images/photographs/2010_CAR_LRA_03b.jpg" /></a></div><div class="meta date" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This ten-year-old boy was abducted by the LRA in Bamudanga, northern Democratic Republic of Congo, on May 27, 2010. Some weeks later he managed to escape.</span></div><div class="meta date" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> </div><div class="meta date" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/20/dr-congo-new-round-lra-killing-campaign"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>DR Congo: New Round of LRA Killing Campaign</em></strong></span></a></div><div class="meta date" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></em> </div><div class="meta date" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2010/03/29/trail-death-0"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>Trail of Death</em></strong></span></a></div><div class="meta date" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/02/16/christmas-massacres-0"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em>The Christmas Massacres</em></strong></span></a></div></div><div class="content clear-block filter-text"><div class="node-sidebar"><br />
<dl><dd><div class="pullquote"><div class="clear-block field field-type-text field-field-news-pullquote"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The LRA continues its horrific campaign to replenish its ranks by brutally tearing children from their villages and forcing them to fight. The evidence points to Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, as the author of this atrocious campaign.</span></div></div></div><div class="clear-block field field-type-text field-field-news-pullquote-author"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher </span></div></div></div></div></dd></dl></div><div class="node-body"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">(Washington, DC) - The Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted more than 697 adults and children in a largely unreported campaign in the Central African Republic and the neighboring Bas Uele district of northern Democratic Republic of Congo over the past 18 months, Human Rights Watch said today. Nearly one-third of those abducted have been children, many of whom are being forced to serve as soldiers or are being used for sex by the group's fighters. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">During the abduction campaign, the LRA has brutally killed adults and children who tried to escape, walked too slowly, or were unable to bear the heavy loads they were forced to carry, Human Rights Watch found in its investigations in the region. The LRA has killed at least 255 adults and children, often by crushing their skulls with clubs. In dozens of cases, the LRA forced captive children to kill other children and adults.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">"The LRA continues its horrific campaign to replenish its ranks by brutally tearing children from their villages and forcing them to fight," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The evidence points to Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, as the author of this atrocious campaign."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Human Rights Watch called on the affected governments and their allies to strengthen their protection of civilians and to put greater emphasis on efforts to rescue the abducted children and others.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A month-long Human Rights Watch research mission to the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Bas Uele district of northern Congo from July 12 to August 11, 2010, in which over 520 civilians were interviewed, including 90 former abductees, in individual and focus group interviews, found that the LRA's abduction campaign was similar in both countries and is having a devastating impact on affected communities.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In southeastern CAR, the LRA began large-scale abductions on July 21, 2009, and to date has abducted 304 people, including many children. The LRA first attacked the villages surrounding Obo, before moving west toward Rafai, Guérékindo, Gouyanga, Kitessa and Mboki, along the Congolese border, and north toward Djema, Baroua, and Derbissaka. Most recently, on June 12 and 13, 2010, the LRA abducted 16 people in farms surrounding the town of Rafai, including a mother and her 2-year-old daughter, both of whom the rebels later killed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A similar LRA abduction campaign is under way in the remote Bas Uele district of Congo. On March 15, 2009, the LRA attacked the town of Banda, abducting some 80 people. In the months that followed, the LRA progressed westward, conducting raids on the towns and villages of Dakwa, Bayule, Disolo, Esse, and further north in Digba, Sukadi, and Gwane, among others.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">On May 27, 2010, the LRA attacked numerous villages near Ango, the territorial capital, abducting 23 people, including 16 children. Some abductees who later escaped told Human Rigths Watch that the LRA questioned them about the location of schools in Ango, indicating the rebels may have been seeking specifically to abduct children. The LRA advance was halted when they encountered Congolese soldiers less than 15 kilometers from Ango, forcing them to change direction.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">During the LRA's campaign in Bas Uele between March 2009 and June 2010, the rebels abducted at least 375 people, at least 127 of them children, most ages 10 to 15. More recent information indicates that there have been more LRA attacks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">There has been very little reporting of the LRA's numerous abuses in the region because it is so remote and communications are so poor. Few humanitarian agencies are working there, and there is only a small United Nations presence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Tens of thousands of people have fled the area. In southeastern CAR an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people have sought refuge in the main towns, leaving entire villages abandoned. In the last few months, the government has deployed about 200 troops to the area to help protect civilians, too few to provide adequate protection. The Ugandan army has made some troops available to help protect civilians in the area.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Civilian protection concerns in Bas Uele district are even greater. An estimated 54,000<strong> </strong>civilians have been displaced in the district or have sought refuge across the border in CAR. The Congolese army has deployed an army battalion to the area, but it is ill-equipped and has little or no transportation and communications equipment.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO, with 19,000 peacekeepers across the country, has only 1,000 in the LRA-affected areas of northeastern Congo - far too few for the scale and geographical breadth of the problem. No peacekeepers are based in Bas Uele district. In the past two months, the MONUSCO base in Dingila, Bas Uele district, was closed and new MONUSCO bases expected to open in Dakwa and Digba have not yet been established.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">"The protection of civilians under LRA attack across central Africa is woefully inadequate, with some communities receiving no protection or humanitarian aid at all," Van Woudenberg said. "National governments, the Ugandan army, and the UN need to take urgent steps to protect people from these LRA attacks."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>A Vicious Abduction Campaign</strong>Human Rights Watch's field investigations have found that LRA combatants often attack villages early in the morning or late in the day, when residents are likely to be home. The LRA fighters grab their victims and tie them to one another at the waist in long human chains. The abductions are usually followed by extensive looting of food, clothing, salt, and other items, which are loaded in heavy bundles onto the captives' heads, backs, and shoulders before they are marched off into the forest.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A 40-year-old woman from Guerekindo in southeastern CAR told Human Rights Watch how on March 29, 2010, she watched in horror as the LRA tied up her husband and five young children in a human chain, loaded them with the household's goods, and dragged them out of their home. She was left on her own with twin infants and has had no news of her missing family members.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">According to former abductees, once away from a main road, the LRA force their captives to work for hours or days shelling peanuts, a staple crop in the area, or pounding rice or manioc to prepare for cooking. Those who work too slowly are beaten. The LRA rebels prohibit captives from speaking to one another and from eating, drinking water, or going to the toilet without permission.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Once the work is completed, some adults may be released, though they are usually viciously beaten or otherwise humiliated first. In Digba, Bas Uele, on September 27, 2009, the LRA whipped each of the 12 Congolese adult abductees with branches, then with a machete after they had worked all night shelling peanuts, before releasing them. A 41-year-old teacher in the group was punished more severely because he spoke English.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In another case, following large-scale abductions in Banda, the LRA forced their Congolese captives to dance for their freedom, releasing some adults only after they had danced for several hours. A woman who was released told Human Rights Watch: "I still remember the horrors of that night and being forced to look happy while I danced for my life. I am terrified that the LRA will come back."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Adults who are not released may be kept as porters, forced to march at a rapid pace to the LRA's next location, heavily loaded with pillaged goods. Those who cannot keep up are killed. On May 6, the LRA killed a 42-year-old Central African man named Bungu near Meskine, in CAR, who was loaded down with basins of peanuts and bags of rice. When he fell in a swamp area and was unable to get up, an LRA combatant beat him on the head with a heavy wooden club, crushing his skull.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Adults who make it to an LRA camp are often killed instead of released. One 12-year-old Congolese girl told Human Rights Watch that she was forced to participate in killing dozens of adults who had reached an LRA camp to prevent them from revealing its location to government soldiers or the Ugandan army.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">"The LRA tied the hands of the victims behind their back, a cord around their legs, and placed the victims face down on the ground," she said. "Then the LRA would give us children a heavy wooden stick and force us to beat them on the head till they died."</span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Brutalization of Children</span></strong><strong><br />
</strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Human Rights Watch found that abducted children are usually separated from the adults and kept close to the LRA commanders. They are rarely released. They quickly learn to obey the LRA's rules and to speak Acholi, the commanders' language, and are exposed to immense brutality to integrate them into the group. The LRA forces many children, as part of their indoctrination, to kill other children who try to escape or fail to obey the rules.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Of the 45 children interviewed by Human Rights Watch, most of those who had been with the LRA a month or more had been forced to kill other children. Human Rights Watch received information of at least 42 children killed by other child abductees in 2009 and 2010, though the figure is probably much higher.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Military training begins within months of captivity. Many children as young as 10 or 11, abducted in Congo, CAR, and Southern Sudan in 2008 and 2009, are now armed with guns and participate in LRA attacks. LRA combatants use mind control methods to get children to forget their lives back home and to view other human beings as animals. Witnesses to LRA attacks and those who were abducted told Human Rights Watch that the young LRA combatants are usually the most vicious and are ordered to carry out the beatings and killings.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The LRA assigns abducted girls to commanders for sex or as servants. Refusing sexual relations often results in death. A 17-year old Congolese girl, Osanna, abducted in Banda in March 2009, protested when a commander tried to rape her. The LRA tied her up and forced other children abducted from Banda to kill her by taking turns hitting her on the head with a heavy wooden stick. Her 12-year-old sister was forced to participate.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Children who escape are deeply traumatized by what they have experienced. One 15-year-old boy who had spent eight months with the LRA before he escaped told Human Rights Watch: "I am no longer the same. I often think about how many people I killed and then I can't sleep. I will never forget what they made me do."</span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ordered From LRA's Central Command</span></strong><strong><br />
</strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The available information strongly indicates that the LRA's central command has been ordering these abductions, which have been conducted in a manner consistent with the LRA's well-established practices. Abductees who spent months with the LRA before managing to escape said the abduction campaign was carried out on orders from Kony that LRA commanders should replenish their ranks.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">At least four former abductees who spent months or years with the LRA and had learned to speak Acholi told Human Rights Watch that there was a clear order from Kony to his commanders to abduct children. Some indicated that the abduction campaign was to enable the LRA to return to Uganda. Human Rights Watch has also seen transcripts of two oral messages from Kony in May in CAR, indicating that he continues to communicate with a number of his commanders.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Human Rights Watch research found that the campaign in CAR is led by Gen. Okot Odhiambo, the LRA's second in command, and by LRA groups acting under the direct command of Kony. In Bas Uele, the campaign is led by Lt. Col. Kidega, a senior LRA commander who has a number of smaller LRA groups under his command. Human Rights Watch also received reports of abductions and killings by Gen. Caesar Acelam in the areas around Yalinga and Bria in the Haut-Kotto prefecture of CAR.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Three of the LRA's leaders, including Kony and Odhiambo, are sought by the International Criminal Court under arrest warrants issued in July 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in northern Uganda. All three remain at large and continue to commit atrocities.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Long History of LRA Atrocities</strong>The recent LRA abductions and killings are part of the rebel force's longstanding practice of atrocities and abuse. Pushed out of northern Uganda by the Ugandan military in 2005, the LRA now operates in the remote border area between southern Sudan, Congo, and CAR.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In December 2008, the governments of the region, led by the Ugandan armed forces and with intelligence and logistical support from the United States, opened a military campaign against the LRA in northeastern Congo, known as Operation Lightning Thunder. The military campaign failed to end the violence or to apprehend the LRA's leaders. Instead, the LRA spread out across the central African region and have continued their campaign against civilians.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Human Rights Watch has previously reported on widespread and horrific killings in the Haut Uele district in northern Congo, including two deadly LRA rampages: one over </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/02/16/christmas-massacres-0"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">the 2008 Christmas period</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">, when 865 were killed, and a massacre in the Makombo area in </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2010/03/29/trail-death-0"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">December 2009</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">, which resulted in the deaths of at least 345 civilians.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Human Rights Watch has urged the US government to swiftly carry out the legislation signed by President Barack Obama on May 26 to develop a comprehensive strategy to protect civilians in central Africa from LRA attacks, bring LRA leaders implicated in atrocities to justice, and, together with regional governments, end violence by the rebel group.</span></div></div></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-72198426851887331772010-08-01T18:53:00.000+00:002010-08-01T18:53:22.811+00:00Israel: Halt Demolitions of Bedouin Homes in Negev<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-300x/media/images/photographs/2010_Israel_Negev3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="2010_Israel_Negev3.JPG" border="0" src="http://www.hrw.org/en/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-300x/media/images/photographs/2010_Israel_Negev3.JPG" /></a><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""> <div class="header"><h6 class="node-title"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span> </h6></div><h6 class="node-subtitle"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pre-Dawn Raid Destroys Entire Village </span></h6><div class="info"><div class="meta date" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="created">August 1, 2010</span> </span></div></div><div class="content clear-block filter-text"><div class="node-sidebar"><br />
<dl><dd><div class="clear-block field field-type-assetref field-field-related-images"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item"><div class="view view-asset-image-scale-300x-captioned-thickbox"><div class="view-content view-content-asset-image-scale-300x-captioned-thickbox"><div class="clear-block assets"><div class="asset first" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="view-field field-imagefile" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media/images/photographs/2010_Israel_Negev3.JPG" rel="gallery-image" title=""><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a></div><div class="view-field field-image-caption"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Israeli police restrain a Bedouin resident while demolishing al-Araqib village in Israel's Negev region in an early morning raid on July 27, 2010.</span></div><div class="view-field field-copyright"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></dd><dd><div class="clear-block field field-type-nodereference field-field-related-content"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item"><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/03/30/israel-end-systematic-bias-against-bedouin"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a></div></div></div></dd><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></dl></div></div></span><div></div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div></dd><dd><div class="clear-block field field-type-assetref field-field-related-images"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item"><div class="view view-asset-image-scale-300x-captioned-thickbox"><div class="view-content view-content-asset-image-scale-300x-captioned-thickbox"><div class="clear-block assets"><div class="asset first" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="view-field field-copyright"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tearing down an entire village and leaving its inhabitants homeless without exhausting all other options for settling longstanding land claims is outrageous. The attack on these Israeli citizens' property shows that Israel's discriminatory policies toward Palestinian Arab Bedouin have not changed/</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></dd><dd><div class="clear-block field field-type-assetref field-field-related-images"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item"><div class="view view-asset-image-scale-300x-captioned-thickbox"><div class="view-content view-content-asset-image-scale-300x-captioned-thickbox"><div class="clear-block assets"><div class="asset first" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="view-field field-copyright"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></dd><dd><div class="pullquote"><div class="clear-block field field-type-text field-field-news-pullquote-author"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch</span></div></div></div></div></dd><br />
<dl></dl><div></div><div class="node-body"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Jerusalem) - The Israeli government should immediately impose a moratorium on demolishing the homes of Bedouin citizens, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also fully compensate those whose homes and property it has destroyed and allow them to return to their village pending a final agreement with the displaced that respects their rights under international law. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In a pre-dawn raid on July 27, 2010, Israeli security forces destroyed all 45 homes, animal pens, and other structures in the village of al-Araqib, leaving more than 300 people homeless, about half of them children under 16. Nearly 90,000 Palestinian Arab Bedouins, the indigenous inhabitants of the Negev (Naqab) region of southern Israel, live in dozens of "unrecognized" towns. Because the Israeli authorities refuse to recognize their towns and villages, the Bedouins risk the destruction of their homes at any time. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Tearing down an entire village and leaving its inhabitants homeless without exhausting all other options for settling longstanding land claims is outrageous," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The attack on these Israeli citizens' property shows that Israel's discriminatory policies toward Palestinian Arab Bedouin have not changed." </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The July 27 raid began around 4:30 a.m. when 1,300 armed police officers in riot helmets and shields blocked the entrance to the village and entered it. The force included mounted cavalry, helicopters, inspectors from the Israel Land Administration (ILA) - the government agency responsible for managing the 93 percent of Israeli land owned by the state, and demolition crews operating bulldozers, according to witnesses and video images viewed by Human Rights Watch. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The crews forcibly removed the villagers, mostly children and elderly people, from their homes before the demolition operation began. Awad Abu Freih, spokesman for the al-Araqib civil committee, told Human Rights Watch that residents were unarmed and stayed in their homes after police arrived in a form of passive resistance. Bulldozers also destroyed carob and olive trees, chicken coops, and other structures, residents said.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Israeli police foreign press spokesman, Mickey Rosenfeld, told Human Rights Watch that the police acted on a court order issued 11 years ago but not previously executed. The operation "was done quietly and sensitively and in coordination with the village representatives," Rosenfeld said. Abu Freih denied that there had been any coordination. Rosenfeld added that Land Administration officials evacuated al-Araqib residents to an area close to the nearby city of Rahat, where, he claimed, they had additional residences.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ortal Tzabar, a Land Administration spokeswoman, confirmed in a statement to Human Rights Watch that the authorities also uprooted 850 olive trees that she said were "to be replanted elsewhere." </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abu Freih and Ye'ela Raanan, spokeswoman for the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages, a local organization, said that only a few dozen people from al-Araqib have other homes. Some residents may have spent the night with friends or relatives in Rahat after the demolitions, Raanan said, but "there are at least 250 people now who don't have another option." Raanan said she was at al-Araqib during the operation and that residents began on July 28 to build makeshift tents on the site with wooden frames and cheap fabric.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Residents and Israeli rights activists told Human Rights Watch that police began assembling at the village late Monday evening. At 12:15 a.m., the Kiryat Gat Peace Court (court of first instance) rejected an appeal filed by village residents contending that the state had no legal grounds to demolish their homes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Negev Coexistence Forum, a Bedouin rights group, said in a statement that al-Araqib existed before the creation of Israel in 1948 and that residents returned there after being evicted by the state in 1951. Many of the unrecognized villages are around Beer Sheva, the Negev's largest city. The current draft of a metropolitan plan for Beer Sheva designates the land where al-Araqib is located as a "recreational area" and as an area for "forest and forestation."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A lawyer who represents several al-Araqib residents and who asked not to be named, said that the Israeli government issued "evacuation orders" in 2002 to nine people in the village based on Article 21 of the Property Law, which allows for the owner of a piece of property - in this case, the state of Israel claims to own the property - to evict anyone residing on it illegally. But, he said, in the eight years since then authorities had not made any attempt to carry out these orders. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While the village population has grown since then, no other residents received evacuation or demolition orders until June of this year, the lawyer said, when several others received letters from the government threatening them with house demolition. These letters were based on Article 64 of the Repossession Law (<em>Hotza'a Lapoal</em>), which says the authorities may also evict other residents, interpreted by the state and the courts to include those in a vaguely-defined "legal relation" with anyone against whom other orders have been issued. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Israeli authorities carried out the demolitions despite pending legal claims to the land that Al-Araqib residents are pursuing in Beer Sheva District Court. Abu Freih, the al-Araqib civil committee spokesman, told Human Rights Watch that over a dozen such land claims are pending. One resident and human rights activist, Nouri al-Okbi, testified in court that the Israeli government confiscated 820 dunams (82 hectares) of land from his family, without compensation, when they were expelled in 1951. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The state contends that the Bedouin have never had recognized land claims in the area. Al-Okbi's lawyer, Michael Sfard, recently produced evidence in court, however, that appeared to show that the Jewish National Fund had bought land in this area from Bedouin owners during British rule, as did Ottoman authorities before then. This, he said, indicated that the area had customarily been recognized as belonging to the Bedouin.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The demolitions came two days after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made comments in a government meeting, as reported by Israeli media, about the "threat" of losing a Jewish majority in the Negev region. "We are under real attack on this issue [of Israel as a Jewish state]," Netanyahu was quoted as saying in a July 25 government meeting regarding amendments to the citizenship law. "The meaning could be that different elements will demand national rights within Israel, for example, in the Negev, if we allow for a region without a Jewish majority. It has happened in the Balkans, and it is a palpable threat." </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Israel has demolished thousands of Negev Bedouin homes since the 1970s, and over 200 since 2009. Israeli authorities have demolished many structures in al-Araqib in the past, although never the entire village. The Land Administration also began spraying villagers' crops with herbicides in 2002 as a mechanism to cause evacuation, a practice deemed illegal by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2007. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Israel employs systematically discriminatory policies in the Negev," Stork said. "It is tearing down historic Bedouin villages before the courts have even ruled on pending legal claims, and is handing out Bedouin land to allow Jewish farmers to set up ranches." </span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Background</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens in southern Israel live in "unrecognized" villages like al-Araqib. Because the government considers the villages illegal, it has not connected them to basic services and infrastructure such as water, electricity, sewage treatment, and garbage disposal. Although the villages do not appear on official maps, some existed before the state of Israel was established in 1948. Others sprang up after the Israeli army forcibly displaced Bedouin tribes from their ancestral lands immediately following the 1948 war. Israel passed laws in the 1950s and 1960s enabling the government to lay claim to large areas of the Negev where the Bedouin had formerly owned or used the land. Planning authorities ignored the existence of Bedouin villages when they created Israel's first master plan in the late 1960s. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Israeli officials contend that they are simply enforcing zoning and building codes and insist that Bedouin can relocate to seven existing government-planned townships or a handful of newly recognized villages. The government-planned townships are seven of the eight poorest communities in Israel and are ill-equipped to handle any influx of new residents. Many - if not most - Bedouin have rejected relocating to the townships, which have minimal infrastructure, high crime rates, scarce job opportunities, and insufficient land for traditional livelihoods such as herding and grazing. In addition, the state requires Bedouin who move to the townships to renounce their ancestral land claims - unthinkable for most Bedouin, who have claims to land passed down from parent to child over generations. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bedouin constitute 25 percent of the population of the northern Negev, but occupy less than 2 percent of its land. Over the past decade, Israeli authorities have allocated large tracts of land in this region, and public funds, for the creation of private ranches and farms. There are 59 such "individual farms" in the Negev - only one allocated to a Bedouin family and the rest to Jewish families - that stretch over 81,000 dunams of land, greater than the total land area granted to the seven planned Bedouin townships housing 85,000 people. The Israeli human rights organization Adalah says the state has connected these farms to national electric and water grids, despite the fact that some lack proper planning permits. In a series of laws, the latest passed on July 12, the state retroactively legalized such farms and authorized the establishment of more. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Human Rights Watch documented the systematic discrimination that Bedouin citizens face in a130-page report, "</span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/03/30/map-0"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Off the Map</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">," released in March 2008. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Israel ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1991, requiring it to guarantee the right to housing. The United Nations Committee responsible for interpreting the covenant has said this means governments can carry out forced evictions only in "the most exceptional circumstances," and even then only in accordance with human rights principles requiring the government to consult with the affected individuals or communities, identify a clear public interest requiring the eviction, ensure that those affected have a meaningful opportunity to challenge the eviction, and provide appropriate compensation and adequate alternative land and housing arrangements. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another right at stake is the right to property, set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 2007 UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, opposed by only two states in the world - the US and Canada - states that indigenous peoples have the right to lands they traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used, and that states should give legal recognition to this. It also says that no relocation of indigenous peoples should take place without their free, prior, and informed consent and only after prior agreement on just and fair compensation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In December 2008, the Goldberg Commission, appointed by the government in late 2007 to find a solution for the land claims of residents of the unrecognized villages, recommended that the state recognize villages that have a "critical mass" of permanent residents and that do not interfere with other state planning. In practice this would be limited to the recognition of only a few of the dozens of unrecognized villages. The commission also called for the establishment of several claims committees to deal with Bedouin ownership claims and provide financial compensation for expropriated land. In May 2009, the government established the Prawer Committee to outline a plan to implement the Goldberg Commission's recommendations.</span></div><div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-64838596497338924912010-08-01T18:50:00.000+00:002010-08-01T18:50:26.818+00:00Los ilegales, parte de la vida estadounidense<span ?font-family:="" verdana;?=""><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em><span class="autor">ISABEL PIQUER</span> <span class="lugar">Corresponsal en Nueva York</span> <span class="fecha">01/08/2010 08:00</span></em></span> </span><div style="text-align: justify;"><!--
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<!-- FIN TOOLBAR --><!--INICIO CONTINFO --><div class="contInfo ancho"><!-- INICIO IMAGEN INTERIOR --><div class="contImagen" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><div class="fotoTexto"><h3><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dos agentes detienen a un inmigrante irregular</span></span></h3></div></div><!-- FIN IMAGEN INTERIOR --></div><!-- FIN CONTINFO --><!-- INICIO CUERPO NOTICIA --><div id="cuerpoNoticia"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://imagenes.publico.es/resources/archivos/2010/7/31/1280610796639_EA0E04AB-88D1-4B51-9BFA-DD118613DE8D_dn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Dos agentes detienen a un inmigrante irregular." border="0" src="http://imagenes.publico.es/resources/archivos/2010/7/31/1280610796639_EA0E04AB-88D1-4B51-9BFA-DD118613DE8D_dn.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Se calcula que en Estados Unidos viven unos 12 millones de sin papeles, más o menos la misma cifra que en toda la Unión Europea. En Arizona representan el 8% de la población y juegan un papel esencial en el sector turístico, el mayor negocio del estado.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Estados Unidos, por razones históricas obvias, siempre ha sido, pese a las apariencias, bastante acomodaticio con sus irregulares porque los necesita económicamente. Los indocumentados pueden meter a sus niños en las escuelas y recibir atención médica de urgencia. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Así lo estipula la Corte Suprema que en 1982 declaró que ningún estado podía negarse a educar hijos de irregulares, porque suponía discriminarlos. Cuatro años más tarde, en 1986, el Congreso aprobaba el Emergency Medical Treatmen and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), que obliga a todos los hospitales y ambulancias a asistir a cualquiera que necesitara atención médica inmediata, independientemente de su ciudadanía, estatus legal, o capacidad de pago.</span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Integración económica</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">La idea es integrar al indocumentado en la vida económica antes que en la legal. Algunos estados, como Maine, New México y Tennesee otorgan permisos de conducir a los sin papeles. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">La preocupación por la inmigración ilegal, especialmente en tiempos de crisis cuando escasea el empleo, ha endurecido las políticas de los estados hacia los indocumentados. Y no sólo en Arizona. Esta semana, la Asociación de Libertades Civiles de Nueva York ha denunciado que uno de cada cinco distritos escolares de la ciudad pedía información sobre el estatus migratorio de los niños que optaban a una plaza. Aunque ningún escolar fue expulsado, la asociación advirtió del precedente que creaba.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Estados Unidos no tiene documento nacional de identidad. Las piezas que más se usan para los quehaceres diarios son las licencias de conducir que otorgan los estados, y para asuntos más serios, el número de Seguridad Social, que, como su nombre no indica en absoluto, suma la historia crediticia de cada habitante. En Estados Unidos se es lo que se debe y lo que se gasta. En este país de tradición anglosajona, una de las libertades del individuo es no tener que llevar papeles, contrariamente a Europa. De ahí que la ley de Arizona levantara tantas ampollas. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ningún policía en Estados Unidos puede detener o simplemente parar en la calle a un latino, por ejemplo, porque piense que es ilegal. Le puede detener por saltarse un stop y de paso pedirle los papeles. La iniciativa de Arizona daba a las fuerzas del orden un poder migratorio hasta ahora sólo reservado a las autoridades federales. Pero no era el único problema. Al no haber documento de identidad, resultaba incluso complicado pedirle una prueba de nacionalidad a un estadounidense.</span> </div></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-22459979795353122302010-08-01T18:46:00.000+00:002010-08-01T18:46:37.851+00:00EE UU dice que cuenta con un plan de ataque a Irán pero no quiere usarlo<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><h2 class="entry-title"><div class="entry-title-go-to">El jefe del Estado Mayor Conjunto de EE UU ha revelado en una entrevista que es la militar es una alternativa a la diplomacia. </div></h2><div class="entry-body"><div class="item-body"><ul><li>EE UU no quiere que Teherán posea armas nucleares por lo que no descartan una intervención armada para evitarlo. </li></ul><p><img alt="Marines de EE UU" src="http://estaticos.20minutos.es/img/2010/05/27/1085587.jpg?v=20100801194550" /></p><p>Un mando de alto rango del Pentágono dijo este domingo que <a title="Minuteca de EE UU" href="http://www.20minutos.es/minuteca/ee-uu/" target="_blank">EE UU</a> cuenta con un plan de ataque a <a title="Minuteca de Irán" href="http://www.20minutos.es/minuteca/iran/" target="_blank">Irán</a> en el caso de que fuera necesario r<strong>ecurrir a él para prevenir que Teherán se haga con un armas nucleares</strong>, pero que preferiría no tener que usarlo.</p><p>El jefe del Estado Mayor Conjunto de EE UU, el almirante Mike Mullen, confirmó en una entrevista en el programa dominical <em>Meet the Press</em>, de la cadena de televisión <a title="Web de la NBC" href="http://www.nbc.com/" target="_blank">NBC</a>, que el Gobierno dispone ya del plan de ataque, <strong>preparando en los últimos meses</strong> y cuya planificación no ha sido ocultada por el Pentágono.</p><p>El Gobierno de EE UU siempre ha dejado claro que <strong>emplea una estrategia de doble vía con Irán</strong>: la diplomática y la de las sanciones, pero al mismo tiempo nunca ha quitado de la mesa la opción militar, según recordó hoy Mullen a Teherán.<br /><br />"Las opciones militares han estado sobre la mesa y siguen estándolo", señaló Mullen en la entrevista. "<strong>Espero que no tengamos que llegar a ese punto</strong>, pero es una opción importante y es una que es bien entendida" por Teherán, agregó, no obstante. Preguntado si el Ejército dispone de un plan de ataque contra Irán, el jefe del Estado Mayor Conjunto respondió: "sí lo tenemos".<br /><br />En abril pasado, el secretario de Defensa, Robert Gates, se mostró, en una entrevista televisiva, satisfecho con la planificación, las previsiones y las estrategias del Gobierno ante la posibilidad de que Irán se convierta en un país con armas nucleares.</p><p>"Estoy muy satisfecho; satisfecho con el proceso de planificación, tanto dentro de este edificio como a nivel intergubernamental. <strong>Dedicamos mucho tiempo a Irán y seguiremos dedicándolo</strong>" a este asunto, aseguró. Mullen aseguró este domingo en NBC que <strong>las consecuencias de un potencial ataque</strong> contra Irán le "preocupan".<br /><br />Una acción militar contra la República Islámica podría tener "consecuencias no buscadas que son difíciles de predecir en <strong>una parte del mundo increíblemente inestable</strong>", explicó.<br /><br />No obstante, permitir que Teherán desarrolle armas nucleares también es inaceptable, recalcó. "Francamente, estoy extremadamente preocupado por las consecuencias de ambas" posibilidades, dijo el almirante. Por eso, expresó su esperanza de que la <strong>combinación del esfuerzo diplomático de la comunidad internacional</strong> y las sanciones lleven a Irán a suspender su programa nuclear.<br /><br />Mullen subrayó que la decisión de un eventual ataque militar tendría que ser tomada por el presidente <a title="Minuteca de Barack Obama" href="http://www.20minutos.es/minuteca/barack-obama/" target="_blank">Barack Obama</a>, y subrayó que tanto <strong>la amenaza de un Irán con arma nuclear</strong> como un ataque contra la República Islámica para parar el programa nuclear "tiene grandes desventajas".</p><br /></div><br /></div></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-11974957529863356292010-07-28T13:36:00.000+00:002010-07-28T13:36:50.537+00:00Le parlement de Catalogne donne l'estocade aux corridas<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""><!-- Tool box article @End --><div class="obs09-article-body" id="obs09-article-body"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>par Vanessa Romeo</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong>Le parlement de Barcelone a voté mercredi l'interdiction des corridas en Catalogne à partir de 2012, une première en Espagne exception faite des îles Canaries.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Soixante-huit députés ont voté l'interdiction, 55 s'y sont opposés et neuf se sont abstenus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ce résultat était attendu depuis qu'en décembre dernier le parlement catalan avait décidé de prendre en considération une pétition du groupe anti-corrida Prou! (Assez!), qui avait recueilli 180.000 signatures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">L'interdiction entrera en vigueur en 2012. Les dernières arènes actives de Barcelone, la capitale catalane, fermeront alors, de même que les rares autres encore en service dans le reste de la région.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Le groupe Prou! compte étendre sa campagne à d'autres régions d'Espagne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Selon l'organisation Humane Society International, 250.000 taureaux meurent chaque année dans les arènes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Au cours du débat, les députés ont invoqué, outre le traitement cruel infligé aux animaux, la défaveur que connaissent les corridas en Espagne où les arènes sont de moins en moins fréquentées.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">"Il y a certaines traditions qui ne peuvent plus être maintenues alors que la société change. Il ne faut pas tout interdire mais certaines pratiques avilissantes doivent disparaître", a dit Josep Rull, député du parti nationaliste catalan CiU.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mais pour Rafael Luna, élu du Parti populaire (conservateur), "interdire la corrida en cette période de crise économique est une folie". Les ventes de billets en Espagne et en France représenteraient chaque année environ 100 millions d'euros.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">DÉSAFFECTION</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Si les corridas connaissent une certaine désaffection en Espagne, elles sont pratiquées aussi au Portugal, dans le sud de la France et dans certains pays latino-américains: Colombie, Venezuela, Pérou, Equateur et Mexique. Dans certains pays, il est illégal de tuer le taureau dans l'arène.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Dans l'arène, le torero principal, le picador et les "peones" se servent de capes, de lances et de banderilles pour fatiguer le taureau. Le matador utilise une épée pour la rituelle mise à mort.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Les îles Canaries ont été la première région espagnole à interdire la corrida, en 1991.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Aux yeux de ses adversaires, la tauromachie impose aux animaux des souffrances gratuites qui n'ont pas leur place dans une société moderne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Pour ses partisans, le face-à-face du torero et du taureau furieux magnifie une forme d'émotion qui plonge au coeur du caractère espagnol et qu'ont célébrée des artistes et des poètes de l'envergure de Pablo Picasso ou de Federico Garcia Lorca.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ceux qui défendent la tradition font aussi valoir qu'elle crée des milliers d'emplois et constitue un élément central de l'attrait touristique du pays.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">José Tomas devait toréer cet été à Barcelone dans le cadre d'une contre-campagne mais il a dû y renoncer après avoir été grièvement blessé d'un coup de corne en avril au Mexique.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Une interdiction serait une "terrible perte", a-t-il déclaré récemment au journal La Razon. "L'idée qu'ils puissent voler une partie de ce que vous admirez le plus, et qui a une telle importance dans votre vie, c'est très dur."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Commentateurs et parlementaires assurent que le mouvement anti-corrida n'est pas lié au séparatisme en Catalogne.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mais pour Carlos Nunez, président de la fédération des éleveurs taurins, il est intégralement politique. "Les dirigeants politiques catalans en font un prétexte pour créer une identité artificielle", a-t-il dit.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Avec Alice Tozer, Guy Kerivel pour le service français, édité par Gilles Trequesser</span></div></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-76448386641676783922010-07-28T13:33:00.000+00:002010-07-28T13:33:06.050+00:00Catalonia bullfight ban divides Spaniards<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""><span id="intelliTxt"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Barcelona - <strong>When prosperous Catalonia became the first part of mainland </strong></span><a class="kLink" href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1573840.php/eca104-Catalonia-bullfight-ban-dividesSpaniards-News-Feature#" id="KonaLink0" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline !important;" target="undefined"><span style="color: green; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="color: rgb(0,128,0) !important; font-family: arial; font-weight: 400; position: relative;"><strong>Spain</strong></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong> to ban bullfighting on Wednesday, it sent a powerful signal to the rest of the country.</strong> </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Namely, that bullfights are not an intrinsic and untouchable part of Spanish identity, but a form of animal abuse which can be abolished. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">That was the message sent out by the 135-member regional parliament when it voted to approve a ban proposed by animal rights activists. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Spain's </span><a class="kLink" href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1573840.php/eca104-Catalonia-bullfight-ban-dividesSpaniards-News-Feature#" id="KonaLink1" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline !important;" target="undefined"><span style="color: green; font-family: arial; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="kLink" style="color: rgb(0,128,0) !important; font-family: arial; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">Canary </span><span class="kLink" style="color: rgb(0,128,0) !important; font-family: arial; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">Islands</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> had already outlawed bullfights back in 1991, as part of a more general animal protection law, but that decision had gone largely unnoticed - the Catalan move, however, has ignited discussion and divided opinion across the rest of the country. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Movie director Agustin Diaz Yanes described it as a 'cultural tragedy' whilst anti-bullfighting activists hailed it as sending 'a message of progress to humanity.' </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Catalan decision takes place against a background of increased separatist feelings in the region of 7.5 million people, after </span><a class="kLink" href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1573840.php/eca104-Catalonia-bullfight-ban-dividesSpaniards-News-Feature#" id="KonaLink2" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline !important;" target="undefined"><span style="color: green; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="color: rgb(0,128,0) !important; font-family: arial; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">Spain's</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Constitutional Court trimmed its autonomy rights. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bullfighting opponents were forced to reject claims by conservatives that Catalonia wanted to abolish corridas - the Spanish word for bullfights - because it was a symbol of Spanishness. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">'We are not talking about identities here, but about very serious ethical arguments against the ill-treatment of animals,' said Jordi Portabella from the leftist separatist party ERC. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bullfights have traditionally been regarded as an important part of Spanish culture, and more than 11,000 bulls are killed annually. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Fans say the spectacle pits the intelligence of the human being against the brute force of the beast. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bullfighting also has an economic side to consider, with an annual turnover of nearly 1.5 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) and gives direct or indirect employment to around 200,000 people. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">However, less than 27 per cent of Spaniards were interested in bullfighting in 2006, according to one poll - down from 38 per cent in 1999. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bullfighting had long been on the decline in Catalonia, where the capital </span><a class="kLink" href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1573840.php/eca104-Catalonia-bullfight-ban-dividesSpaniards-News-Feature#" id="KonaLink3" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline !important;" target="undefined"><span style="color: green; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="color: rgb(0,128,0) !important; font-family: arial; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">Barcelona</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> declared itself an 'anti-bullfight' city in 2004, and dozens of other municipalities followed suit. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Two of Barcelona's three bullrings were closed down, leaving the Monumental as Catalonia's only bullring to still stage corridas on a regular basis. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The anti-bullfighting group Prou ('Enough' in Catalan) collected 180,000 signatures to request the ban which parliament then agreed to consider. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Catalonia debate then spread to Madrid, where in response conservative regional Prime Minister Esperanza Aguirre announced that her region would declare corridas a part of its cultural heritage. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Animal rights activists retaliated by asking the Madrid regional parliament to discuss a Catalan-style ban. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But the bullfighting question has turned out to be complex, with intellectuals and artists taking sides both for and against. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Corridas 'represent a form of spiritual and emotional nourishment as intense and enriching as a concert by Beethoven, (or) a comedy by Shakespeare,' Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa wrote. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bullfighting inspired the likes of painter Pablo Picasso and poet Federico Garcia Lorca, he argued, describing it as a 'sign of identity' for much of the Spanish-speaking world. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bullfighting fans also stress the healthy life of the Iberian fighting bulls, which are raised in environmentally-friendly sanctuaries measuring a total of 400,000 hectares, and which would be closed if corridas were abolished. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Animal rights campaigners, on the other hand, stress the suffering of the bull, which gets long darts pushed into its body before the matador finally kills it with a sword - often after several failed attempts. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bulls are herbivores which prefer to flee rather than fight, philosopher Jesus Mosterin wrote. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Critics also condemn bullfights as a cowardly bloodsport which leaves the animal no chance to defend itself. Matadors do get gored, but it is very rare for them to get killed by bulls. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The controversy is expected to continue even in Catalonia, where </span><a class="kLink" href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1573840.php/eca104-Catalonia-bullfight-ban-dividesSpaniards-News-Feature#" id="KonaLink4" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline !important;" target="undefined"><span style="color: green; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="color: rgb(0,128,0) !important; font-family: arial; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">Spain's</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> main opposition conservative People's Party (PP) has announced possible parliamentary or legal initiatives in order to overturn the ban. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Trying to prohibit bullfights was like prohibiting </span><a class="kLink" href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1573840.php/eca104-Catalonia-bullfight-ban-dividesSpaniards-News-Feature#" id="KonaLink5" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline !important;" target="undefined"><span style="color: green; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: rgb(0,128,0) 1px solid; color: rgb(0,128,0) !important; font-family: arial; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">football</span></span><span class="preLoadWrap" id="preLoadWrap5" style="position: relative;"> </span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">, conservative representative Juan Manuel Albendea quipped - an ominous joke in a country which has just won the </span><a class="kLink" href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/features/article_1573840.php/eca104-Catalonia-bullfight-ban-dividesSpaniards-News-Feature#" id="KonaLink6" style="position: static; text-decoration: underline !important;" target="undefined"><span style="color: green; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: 400; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="color: rgb(0,128,0) !important; font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 400; position: relative;">football</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> World Cup.</span> </div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;"><div id="preLoadLayer5" style="display: none; left: -18px; position: absolute; top: -32px; z-index: 2147482647;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><img class="preloadImg" src="http://kona.kontera.com/javascript/lib/imgs/grey_loader.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 22px; width: 22px;" /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-26256460559922364552010-07-17T10:40:00.000+00:002010-07-17T10:40:10.194+00:00Etno Grupa Trag - Zvuci Balkana<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><h2 class="entry-title"><a class="entry-title-link" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CmrM/~3/5ypuLGtbPys/etno-grupa-trag-zvuci-balkana.html" target="_blank"><div class="entry-title-go-to"></a><a style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9noZbuY0tpv4qsFUrVo0UB4NZw9jegT1G3TE5nOzhBjfLOBPFEGgpiXWGSPCRs87G1RW24oIGARP3MduTck9qaoFCeJi-fROPPAbUmVQGghv39PItAbPYecw5Zb-UQOvk-1fZkg/s1600/01.jpg" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9noZbuY0tpv4qsFUrVo0UB4NZw9jegT1G3TE5nOzhBjfLOBPFEGgpiXWGSPCRs87G1RW24oIGARP3MduTck9qaoFCeJi-fROPPAbUmVQGghv39PItAbPYecw5Zb-UQOvk-1fZkg/s640/01.jpg" width="540" height="214" /></a></div></h2><div class="entry-body"><div class="item-body">In May 2008. they finished recording their first album, titled "Sounds of the Balkans." It is 15 tracks from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bulgaria. A special place on the album found the music Lijevča field, far less familiar to the audience as the folk music of the area before 2007. The explored zabiljžena.<br /><br />On the set for several months. For the arrangement is primarily responsible Goran Ćetojević and vocal arrangements Valentina Milekic, but other members in their peculiar manner impressed them his personal seal. Recording cameramen and producers were Ninoslav Dobrijević - Tiki and Dragan Bosnjak - Bole. Photos to pack worked Vladimir Milaković. The design was done by Valentina Milekic, a technical editor Dragan Grahovac. The album was recorded in two studios: "Digital Boyler" and "Studio 4" in Banja Luka.<br /><br />1. Falcon fly<br />2. Be merry, hosts<br />3. Seven hours of stroke<br />4. Carnation is the time saved<br />5. The string of songs from Montenegro<br />6. Moonlight<br />7. All the birds sang<br />8. Šetnala the Kuzum Stana<br />9. Judging from my e clear skies<br />10. Marijo, deli bela kumrijo<br />11. Udade the Živka Sirinićka<br />12. Vrbice, VRBO Green<br />13. We three sisters, we sing<br />14. Oh, Krajina<br />15. Navigate kume kićane wedding<br /><br />MP3 320 kbps including full scans<br /><br /><a href="http://flameupload.com/files/0G3OULB9/ZVBALK.rar" target="_blank">HERE</a><br /></div><br /></div></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-12863782684424140752010-07-15T14:33:00.000+00:002010-07-15T14:33:53.083+00:00The Gay Closet; Uganda, and Germany<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""><h2 class="entry-title"><a class="entry-title-link" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Gayuganda/~3/JBCndTuRDaE/gay-closet-uganda-and-germany.html" target="_blank"><div class="entry-title-go-to"></div></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An </span><a href="http://afrogay.blogspot.com/2010/07/in-footsteps-of-gay-man-journalists.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">expose of gay life in Uganda has Afrogay</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> angry.</span></h2><div class="entry-body"><div><div class="item-body"><div><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They've had a journalist infiltrate the Kampala gay community to try and ferret out what makes gay boys tick. It's not the first time this sort of thing has happened and the only thing that sets it apart is that this journalist has made a clumsy attempt to be balanced. That said, this journalist simply knows too much about the gay community for me to believe that he didn't get embedded deeper than he admits.And that is a great cause for discomfort.</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The tactics the journalist are pretty basic and that he seems to be so successful merely attests to the humanity in all of us. But it is also a wake-up call for those Ugandan gay boys who seem unable to take the simplest precautions in this day and age when stalkers, blackmailers and malevolent people are on the prowl, with gay boys and girls as their target.</span></i></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Indeed, for guys who are under pressure, the pressure of one of the most homophobic countries in the world, it is simply too easy to infiltrate us. And, it is possible.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh well....</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To my friends out there, I must confess I am more paranoid than lots of people. I mean, I have aided connection and lessening of our isolation in more than one way. Yet I continue to be anonymous. I am gayuganda, gug. And that is who I want to be. Gay, and closeted, and damned shy! Some have more to lose than others. Maybe I am just a coward.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, I know lots of people know who I am. But, not to the extent of opening up to </span><a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Sunday%20Life/-/689856/955376/-/item/0/-/twphi3/-/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">people like in this journalist's expose.</span></a></div><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Within a period of three weeks, I learnt that gay relationships are almost like straight ones. Those involved charm, seduce, deceive, try to manipulate with money and even plead with whoever they are interested in to give into them and yes, they also get cheated on It was a hot Tuesday morning and I was seated in front of my computer reading an online article about gays in Uganda. The page had a link to a website called icebreakersuganda.org.</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I clicked on it out of curiosity. It is probably one of the boldest gay things I have seen in this country. It’s a website that encourages gay people to come out and embrace their sexuality (thus the name icebreaker) and it connects gay people in Uganda. The website has a guestbook link where visitors of the site can update any comments or ideas on their mind about the website.</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, most of the comments posted on the website’s guestbook are announcements of gay people who want to meet other gays for mere company, sex or love. Consequently, this segment of the website has been turned into a “lonely hearts” of sorts for gay people. Some of the posted messages are darkly explicit and complete with e-mail addresses and phone numbers.</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the posted messages on the website was an announcement for a gay party of sorts. It had a phone number attached to it.</span></i></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gay, in the closet, in Uganda? Why the recklessness of those who are gay in Uganda?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because it is very hard to live in self denial; and sometimes recklessness takes the place of despair.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was mourning about the closet in Uganda. We are not alone. The German national team, the one which did so well in the World Cup of football? </span><a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Sunday%20Life/-/689856/955376/-/item/0/-/twphi3/-/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, they are a 'bunch of gays'</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Ha ha ha ha ha!</span></div><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am not alone in my woes about the goodness of the closet. Says one former manager of the Bundesliga-</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The whole issue of gay players in the Bundesliga is a sensitive issue in Germany. In March former football manager Rudi Assauer provoked outrage outrage by saying there is ‘no place' for gay players in football.</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Assauer, who was boss of Schalke in Germany, said: "Perhaps they are OK in other sports but not in football.</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"If a player came to me and said he was gay I would say to him: 'You have shown courage.' But then I would tell him to find something else to do.</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"That's because those who out themselves always end up busted by it, ridiculed by their fellow players and by people in the stands. We should spare them these witch-hunts."</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His outburst is set to enrage world footballing authorities who are making concerted efforts to rid the game of homophobia.</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Asked whether he had ever met a gay footballer during his many years as both player and manager, 65-year-old Assauer replied: "No, never.”</span></i></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ugh, of course German football is so holy a spot that no gay people make their way into that holy of holies. Self deception at its best</span></div></div></div></div></div></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-45763537361396333982010-07-03T19:33:00.000+00:002010-07-03T19:33:22.521+00:00UK Rejects ACTA Calls To Criminalize Illicit File-Sharing<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""><h2 class="entry-title"><div class="entry-title-go-to"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A leaked ACTA document published by citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net revealed the intention to introduce criminal sanctions into the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for file-sharing offenses.</span></div></h2><div class="entry-body"><div><div class="item-body"><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The ACTA Chapter 2 Criminal Provisions document (</span><a href="http://www.laquadrature.net/files/20100624_Acta_Chapter2_EU_0.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">) stated that “each party shall provide for effective proportionate and dissuasive penalties” to include “imprisonment and monetary fines”.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“The ACTA agreement, by its opacity and undemocratic nature, allows criminal sanctions to be simply negotiated,” </span><a href="http://www.laquadrature.net/en/leak-eu-pushes-for-criminalizing-non-commercial-usages-in-acta" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">commented</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net. “The leaked document shows that the EU Member States are willing to impose prison sanctions for non-commercial usages of copyrighted works on the Internet as well as for ‘inciting and aiding’, a notion so broad that it could cover any Internet service or speech questioning copyright policies.” </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">As noted by Zimmermann, the ACTA text includes proposals to apply criminal sanctions to “infringements that have no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain”. There are suggestions that “financial gain” could simply be obtaining anything without paying.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">However, it seems that at least one country is showing a reluctance to go along with suggestions that file-sharers should feel the full weight of a criminal court. The UK Government has now said that it feels that criminal sanctions are an inappropriate way to deal with this type of copyright infringement.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Acta should not introduce new intellectual property laws or offences. Instead, it should provide a framework to better enforce existing laws,” a UK Intellectual Property Office representative </span><a href="http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/news/2265799/uk-opposes-criminal-sanctions" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">told</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> ComputerActive.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Currently, personal-use file-sharing on a non-commercial scale is almost always considered a civil offense in the UK. However, there have been exceptions. In the case of the </span><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/oink-uploaders-sentenced-to-community-service-090123/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">OiNK uploaders</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> (who actually uploaded very little indeed), their cases were heard in a criminal court and they ultimately received fines and community service orders. This proves that when powerful enough people get involved, it’s trivial to escalate an offense way above its standing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">That said, it would be ridiculous to have small infringements dealt with by the criminal courts as a matter of course, so hopefully the UK Government stands strong. Jim Killock, Chief Executive at the Open Rights Group said the Government now needs to make its opposition to these proposals both public and clear to the US and EU.</span></div></div></div></div></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-84220385117618614392010-06-30T10:24:00.000+00:002010-06-30T10:26:34.575+00:00UGANDA: Finally ready for male circumcision<span ?font-family:="" verdana;?=""> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="reportbody" style="text-align: justify;"><span id="Body"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-bottom: rgb(187,187,187) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(187,187,187) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; margin: 2px 5px 8px 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; width: 120px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="right" style="padding-top: 3px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img src="http://pictures.irinnews.org/images/2009/200912041010050720.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 3px;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="ImgCreditCaption" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>The national policy will be launched in July 2010</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">RAKAI, 29 June 2010 (PlusNews) - The Ugandan government will begin a nationwide male circumcision programme in July as part of its HIV prevention strategy, a senior government official has said. <br />
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"We now have a national vision on how to move forward, and a government policy and communication strategy will be launched in July," said Dr Alex Opio, assistant commissioner for health services in the Ministry of Health. <br />
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"Circumcision will be carried out in national referral hospitals, district hospitals and health centre IVs [county level health centres] which have the capacity to conduct minor surgeries." <br />
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<strong>Why the delay?</strong> <br />
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The government began drafting the policy in 2008 and there has been criticism of the delay in launching the circumcision programme. In terms of the </span><a href="http://www.aidsuganda.org/nsp.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">National AIDS Strategic Plan 2007/8-2011/12</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, at least 160,000 men should have been circumcised by the end of 2010. <br />
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It had taken time to get all the government's ducks in a row. "We needed funding; PEPFAR [the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief] has stepped in to give the ministry and its partners US$5 million for male circumcision over the next year," Opio said. <br />
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Unlike neighbouring Kenya, whose programme has already circumcised more than 100,000 men, medical male circumcision was relatively new to Uganda, where only 25 percent of the adult men are circumcised. <br />
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"Starting prematurely can do more harm than good; we needed to be sure we were truly ready to deliver safe medical circumcision before we launched," Opio commented. <br />
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The Rakai Health Sciences Programme (</span><a href="http://www.jhsph.edu/rakai" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">RHSP</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">), a medical research facility in central Uganda - one of three sites where research confirmed the protective effect of male circumcision against HIV - has circumcised more than 5,000 men, and is expanding its services to local district hospitals. <br />
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<tr><td align="left" bgcolor="#e5ccbf" style="color: maroon; font-family: tahoma; size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img align="left" alt="''" border="0" height="18" src="http://www.irinnews.org/images/design/PN/quotopenPN.jpg" /><b style="color: maroon;">Starting prematurely can do more harm than good; we needed to be sure we were truly ready to deliver safe medical circumcision before we launched</b><img align="absMiddle" alt="''" border="0" height="18" src="http://www.irinnews.org/images/design/PN/quotclosePN.jpg" /></span></em> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"We have found pretty high levels of acceptance of male circumcision so far - about 60 percent," said Dr Rajab Kakaire, a medical officer at RHSP. "There is a limit to how many men will accept circumcision without an official government policy; some are sceptical about undergoing a procedure that the government hasn't officially endorsed." <br />
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Their figures match those of a 2008 </span><a href="http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82684" target="_self"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">study</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by Uganda's Makerere University and Family Health International, a reproductive health NGO, which found that 62 percent of men in four districts would consider being circumcised. <br />
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"It seems quite fashionable now, like somehow men who are circumcised are more civilised, more educated," said David Sembatya, a motorcycle taxi rider, or 'boda boda', in the neighbouring district of Lyantonde, where RHSP provides male circumcision at the district hospital. "I will definitely do it." <br />
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James Nkale, a clinical officer at RHSP, said prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, hygiene, and social status were among the reasons men were so keen to be circumcised. "Men also listen to women, who have better health seeking behaviour and are advising their partners to go for the service." <br />
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<strong>Misconceptions </strong><br />
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Circumcision is a new concept to much of the population and there are some misconceptions. "Of course, the most common fear is pain - people associate circumcision with men wearing skirts and walking with a staggering gait," Nkale said. <br />
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"There are also some cultural practices that may be harmful ... some believe it is a curse to have sex with your official wife after circumcision, so the first sexual encounter after the procedure should be with another partner; others believe vaginal fluids are good for healing wounds, so they may have sex before they are properly healed. This is all anecdotal - we don't know how deep-seated these misconceptions are, so we need more studies." <br />
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Kakaire said another common perception was that male circumcision was a way of "Islamising" the population; in some ethnic communities the word for male circumcision is "okusilamula", which translates as "to make Muslim". "We discourage the use of that word, instead we use the word "okukomola", which means to trim," he noted. <br />
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: rgb(128,0,0) 1px solid; color: maroon; font-family: Tahoma; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">More on male circumcision</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="color: #006699; font-family: tahoma; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; padding-left: 8px; padding-top: 8px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em><img align="absMiddle" alt="" border="0" height="13" src="http://www.irinnews.org/images/design/page.gif" /> </em></span><a href="http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87441"><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Zulu king revives male circumcision</em></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="color: maroon; font-family: tahoma; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; padding-left: 8px; padding-top: 8px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em><img align="absMiddle" alt="" border="0" height="13" src="http://www.irinnews.org/images/design/page.gif" /> </em></span><a href="http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87640"><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>The fringe benefits of male circumcision rollout</em></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="color: maroon; font-family: tahoma; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; padding-left: 8px; padding-top: 8px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em><img align="absMiddle" alt="" border="0" height="13" src="http://www.irinnews.org/images/design/page.gif" /> </em></span><a href="http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88790"><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Clinics dispel male circumcision myths</em></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="color: maroon; font-family: tahoma; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; padding-left: 8px; padding-top: 8px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em><img align="absMiddle" alt="" border="0" height="13" src="http://www.irinnews.org/images/design/icon-photoreport.gif" /> </em></span><a href="http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=78900"><span style="color: maroon; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>The cutting edge (multimedia)</em></span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perhaps the biggest fear of male circumcision practitioners and the government is that men will become more sexually reckless after circumcision. "There is a legitimate fear of behavioural disinhibition as a result of being circumcised," Kakaire said. "However, a small qualitative study we did here [Rakai] showed no increase in risky behaviour as a result of the procedure." <br />
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The Ministry of Health's Opio said the message that male circumcision was not a "magic bullet" against HIV was central to the communication strategy. "It is just an additional tool in our prevention arsenal - it becomes part of the 'plus' in our ABC [Abstinence, Be faithful and Condomise]-plus strategy," he said. <br />
</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Getting it right </strong><br />
Kakaire noted that good medical care and counselling were also critical to promoting circumcision, and RHSP has been training nurses, counsellors, and clinical and medical officers for more than two years. In the past year it has trained more than 170 health workers from across the country and is planning to double its training programmes to cope with demand. <br />
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One of the reasons this [RHSP] programme has been successful is that the clients get a complete service - from pre-op counselling to the procedure and post-op follow-up," he said. "Clients need to trust the programme for it to succeed." <br />
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"We are drawing up a roadmap that will guide the [national] programme," Opio said. "Training is ongoing and we are being careful to ensure that all practitioners of male circumcision follow standards set by our technical guidelines."</span> </span></span></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32325486.post-58590270496620963132010-06-30T10:22:00.000+00:002010-06-30T10:26:34.577+00:00MIDDLE EAST: New HIV report turns up some surprises<span ?font-family:="" style="font-size: 85%;" verdana;?=""> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="reportbody" style="text-align: justify;"><span id="Body"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-bottom: rgb(187,187,187) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(187,187,187) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; margin: 2px 5px 8px 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; width: 120px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="right" style="padding-top: 3px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img src="http://pictures.irinnews.org/images/2008/200802242.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 3px;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="ImgCreditCaption" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">A women's group meets in Upper Egypt to discuss</span></em> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Statistics on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East are hard to come by but a new study launched on 28 June in the United Arab Emirates has attempted to gather all existing data into one place and add some analysis and action points for policymakers. <br />
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“In all previous reports we thought there was no HIV data from this region. But there turned out to be lots of data here,” said Laith Abu Raddad, director of the Biostatistics and Biomathematic Research Core at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar and the principal author of the study (not yet available online). <br />
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“This report is basically more like a scientific epidemiological study: Getting pieces of data, thousands of data that we managed to collect from every country in the region, putting them together and analysing them to see what they tell us in terms of HIV epidemiology,” he said. <br />
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The report, characterizing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa, is a joint effort of the World Bank, the UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It covers 23 countries that the three organizations include in their MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.<br />
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According to UNAIDS, about 412,000 people were living with HIV in MENA by the end of 2008, up from 270,000 in 2001. The report said most new infections were from within commercial sex and drug-taking populations. <br />
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The report divides the MENA region into two categories according to HIV prevalence: the “subregion with considerable prevalence” (Djibouti, Somalia, Southern Sudan); and the Core MENA region, where HIV prevalence is described as “very limited” (the rest of MENA countries). <br />
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<strong>Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti </strong><br />
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“In north Sudan, we used to think in the past that we have a much more serious problem of HIV but now the data set is more complete, it’s clear that north Sudan really is quite similar to the rest of the MENA countries. But in south Sudan we may have a generalized epidemic,” Abu Raddad said. A generalized epidemic is one that has spread beyond high-risk minority populations to the general population. <br />
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A 2003 UNAIDS and WHO report referred to in the study said Sudan had a 2.6 percent HIV prevalence rate. <br />
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Abu Raddad said Djibouti “was the Disneyland of risk behaviour” and had a large number of Ethiopian sex workers serving truck drivers and foreign army bases. “We have this corridor which is certainly full of HIV, but the rest of the country is fine,” he noted. <br />
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A 2008 UNAIDS report said Djibouti had a 3.4 percent HIV prevalence rate in its capital and a 1.1 percent rate outside it. <br />
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“Technically speaking, the HIV epidemics in Djibouti and Somalia are already generalized, but the context of HIV infection and risk groups in these countries suggests that HIV dynamics are mainly focused around concentrated epidemics in the commercial sex networks,” said the new report. <br />
</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran </strong></span></span><table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: #eeeeee; border-bottom: rgb(187,187,187) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(187,187,187) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; margin: 2px 5px 8px 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; width: 180px;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="ImgCreditCaption" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Pakistan faces a concentrated HIV epidemic among injecting drug users</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The report said Pakistan and Iran, where HIV prevalence is low among the general population, faced concentrated HIV epidemics among injecting drug users (IDUs), while this was also a significant mode of transmission for HIV in Afghanistan. <br />
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“We know we have a concentrated epidemic among IDUs in Pakistan, and the increase was very rapid over the past few years. In Karachi, for example, we had near zero percent among this group in 2003 or 2004 and then within six months it jumped to 24 percent.” <br />
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He said this increase could be attributed to needle sharing, poverty and a lack of awareness. <br />
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<strong>Egypt and Tunisia </strong><br />
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Egypt has a different pattern in terms of the spread of HIV. Surveys of risk groups showed that HIV prevalence was very low among IDUs and female sex workers (FSWs). “This is not a surprise for FSWs. In those kind of conservative countries in the region - and Egypt is one them - we see very little prevalence of HIV among FSWs. But having very low prevalence among IDUs is quite a surprise,” Abu Raddad said. <br />
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He said that Egypt appeared to be having an HIV epidemic among men having sex with men (MSM), at a prevalence rate of 6 percent. <br />
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“The country also has an interesting pattern. Usually HIV epidemics start with IDUs and then move to MSM, which we see in Iran and Pakistan. But this is not the case in some countries, like Egypt and Tunisia, where the epidemic is starting with MSM,” Abu Raddad said. <br />
</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Dearth of data </strong><br />
Experts said that despite all the information from different sources that the new report brings together, the region still does not have enough data to form a coherent strategy to tackle HIV/AIDS. The report conceded that the MENA region “continues to be viewed as the anomaly in the HIV/AIDS world map”. <br />
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“This is because we have not invested enough in building the right surveillance systems, so we don’t have systems that actually detect and follow up on this issue,” Hind Khatib, regional director of UNAIDS, told IRIN. <br />
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“Political commitment should be matched with domestic resources and investment in human resources, which is limited in the region. You have to spend on your programmes and systems and you have to have strategic directions that are focused on the drivers of the epidemic,” Khatib said.<br />
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She said she hoped to see the governments of the many low-income countries in the region allocate more funds to HIV programmes, particularly in light of the fact that the financial crisis had made it harder for countries to be eligible for assistance from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. <br />
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Experts agreed that the main challenge for the region was the stigma of HIV/AIDS and discrimination against people living with it. <br />
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“We have to bring in the people living with HIV and the civil society. We have to open up in our thinking and policies,” Khatib said.</span></span> </span></span></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08801261427993768172noreply@blogger.com0