PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES (12/10)
Shiites Rout Sunni Families in Mixed Area of Baghdad
By JOHN F. BURNS
BAGHDAD, Dec. 9 — Bands of armed Shiite militiamen stormed through a neighborhood in north-central Baghdad on Saturday, driving hundreds of Sunni Arabs from their homes in what a Sunni colonel in the Iraqi Army described as one of the most flagrant episodes of sectarian warfare yet unleashed in the capital. The officer, Lt. Col. Abdullah Ramadan al-Jabouri, said that more than 100 Sunni families, many with very young children, had left the Hurriya neighborhood aboard a convoy of trucks and cars under cover of the nightly curfew. Government officials tried to urge the families to return by promising army protection, but could not persuade them. New York Times (12/10)
On the Run as War Crosses Another Line in Africa
By LYDIA POLGREEN
KALANDAO, Central African Republic — The rumble of engines, any engines, is the signal for the villagers here to flee, leaving behind smoldering pots of wild roots and leaves, a meager afternoon meal. Their haste was so great on a recent afternoon that they left something else behind — a little girl in a filthy white shirt. She wailed as she sat, utterly alone, struggling to stand, much less flee, on slender, uncertain legs. New York Times (12/10)
DNA Gatherers Hit Snag: Tribes Don’t Trust Them
By AMY HARMON
SOUTH NAKNEK, Alaska — The National Geographic Society’s multimillion-dollar research project to collect DNA from indigenous groups around the world in the hopes of reconstructing humanity’s ancient migrations has come to a standstill on its home turf in North America. Billed as the “moon shot of anthropology,” the Genographic Project intends to collect 100,000 indigenous DNA samples. But for four months, the project has been on hold here as it scrambles to address questions raised by a group that oversees research involving Alaska natives. At issue is whether scientists who need DNA from aboriginal populations to fashion a window on the past are underselling the risks to present-day donors. Geographic origin stories told by DNA can clash with long-held beliefs, threatening a world view some indigenous leaders see as vital to preserving their culture. New York Times (12/10)
Nobel Peace laureate imagines a world without poverty
In receiving the Nobel Peace prize today, micro-credit pioneer Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh will no doubt hammer home the message he has been preaching for 30 years: a world blighted by poverty is a world without peace. The one-time economics professor stumbled almost by accident onto the formula that has lifted tens of millions out of penury, but the result of his labours has been so extraordinary that today he dares all who will listen to imagine a world without poverty. And he fully intends to use the Nobel limelight to further his cause. Sydney Morning Herald (12/10)
U.S. intelligence listened to Princess Diana's calls before crash
LONDON — U.S. intelligence listened to Princess Diana's telephone calls without British approval on the night she died in a Paris car accident, The Observer reported Sunday, citing findings of a long-awaited report. The surveillance arm of the U.S. government admitted to Lord John Stevens, who led an independent probe that confirms the crash was an accident, that it had listened to her conversations while she stayed at the Ritz Hotel, it said. It failed to notify MI6, Britain's overseas intelligence agency, the weekly said, adding the issue will raise new questions about trans-Atlantic agreements on intelligence sharing. Stevens was apparently assured that the 39 classified documents concerning her final conversations did not contain material that might help explain her death, The Observer said. No explanation for the alleged eavesdropping was given. Japan Today (12/10)
Breakaway Dniester republic starts presidential elections
TIRASPOL, December 10 (Itar-Tass) - The presidential elections started in the self-proclaimed Dniester republic at 08.00 local time. Head of the Central Election Commission of the breakaway republic Pyotr Denisenko told reporters that all the 263 polling stations, including 14 abroad, opened by this time. Four candidates try to lure to their side 394,000 voters. They are incumbent President Igor Smirnov who was elected to this post for three terms and is regarded as the favorite son of the republic, deputy to the local parliament Pyotr Tomaily, as well as editors of opposition newspapers Andrei Safonov and Nadezhda Bondarenko. Tass (Russia) (12/10)
85 killed in Sri Lanka fighting
COLOMBO: Thousands of civilians were on the run Sunday in Sri Lanka's restive northeast after heavy artillery exchanges left over 85 people dead, according to the Tamil rebels and government forces. The defence ministry said that 1,450 displaced by the fighting in the district of Trincomalee were found temporary accommodation in schools, temples and public building in the neighbourhood. The ministry said that 40 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and another 40 were wounded when troops retaliated against Tiger artillery attacks on Saturday. It said government forces lost two soldiers and that another 37 were wounded. The International News (Pakistan) (12/10)
Bangladesh deploys troops ahead of polls
Agencies
Dhaka: Bangladesh’s president has deployed army troops throughout the country in order to control escalating political violence after his interim government failed to end a continuing political standoff over electoral reforms, the home ministry said President Iajuddin Ahmed "has ordered deployment of army in aid of the civil administration to protect public life and property," the ministry said in a statement late on Saturday. The order came after days of often violent street protests by an alliance of 14 political parties demanding electoral reforms ahead of next month's general elections. Gulf News (United Arab Emirates) (12/10)
Saudi king: Spark could ignite region
ABDULLAH SHIHRI and DIANA ELIAS
Associated Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's king warned Saturday that all of the Middle East is threatened by escalating conflicts around the region, from spiraling sectarian violence in Iraq to rising tensions in Lebanon to fighting among Palestinians. "Our Arab region is surrounded by dangers," King Abdullah said at the opening of a summit for leaders of the oil-rich Arab nations around the Persian Gulf. "It is like a keg of gunpowder waiting for a spark to explode." Palestinian factions are fighting each other, and Iraq is slipping into "the darkness of strife and mad struggle," a danger that also looms over Lebanon's diverse communities, he said in a speech before the leaders began a closed session. San Luis Obispo (CA) Tribune (12/10)
92% of employers violate labor laws
By DAN IZENBERG
Ninety-two percent of employers have violated the country's labor laws, according to a report set to be released on Sunday by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). One of the most disturbing findings of the report, based on data collected by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, is that the government itself frequently violates these laws. One of the reasons ACRI cites for the fact that many employers trample on the law with impunity, systematically depriving workers of their basic rights and monetary benefits, is that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce employs a total of 200 work inspectors, many of them part-time, to supervise law enforcement of all the labor laws in the country. Jerusalem Post (12/10)
A victim's view of tragic Darfur
The horror of Darfur seems especially disturbing when seen through an infant's eyes and this sketch, of a village being bombed from the air, was drawn by an anonymous child -- one of the thousands now living in displaced people's camps in Sudan. The picture -- other drawings by the Darfur children were too distressing to publish -- was obtained by the human rights group Amnesty International, which has been monitoring fresh attacks in the region. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (12/10)
Iran's denial of Holocaust harms Arab cause, Palestine activist tells president
By Angus McDowall in Tehran
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has come under attack for his views on the Holocaust from an unexpected quarter - a Palestinian activist recently freed after 18 years in an Israeli jail. Mr Ahmadinejad was widely reviled in the West last year for saying the Holocaust was "a myth" and that Israel should be "wiped off the map". Later he said he did not know if the slaughter of six million Jews really happened, condemned laws in some European countries against Holocaust denial, and said that if Europe felt guilt about the Jews, it should create a homeland for them on European soil. Independent (UK) (12/10)
Abortion ship on its way to Argentina
Abortionist Rebecca Gomperts and her Dutch crew may come to South America in 2007
by Martin Barillas
Various media in Argentina announced this week that pro-abortion advocates have promised to bring the so-called “Ship of Death” to waters off the South American country in 2007. Even though the vessel does not have permission to practice abortions, two pro-abortion members of the Argentine Congress are apparently in communication with the main promoter of the ship, Rebecca Gomperts, for it to return to the country within the next few months. Gomperts, who founded “Women on Waves”, was in Argentina in 2004 to promote the legalisation of abortion in the largely Roman Catholic country. Even while she set the ground work for receiving the abortion ship, it never arrived in Argentine waters. Argentina Star (12/10)
posted by Dave Carroll @ 12/10/2006 06:15:00 AM
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