Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

PAX GAEA WORLD POST HUMAN RIGHTS HEADLINES- TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2006

• Democracy advocates rounded up in Christmas raid by Fiji junta members
• Sadness marks two year anniversary of Asia tsunami
• Boycotting Pakistan elections 'Undemocratic' , states Pakistan information minister
• Does Syria want peace, ponders Israel Foreign Minister as possibility of talks increase
• Privacy violated admits U.S. Homeland Security
• How will same sex marriage affect life in South Africa?
• Legal case in Texas has ramifications for religious freedom throughout country
• Two Iranians picked up by troops in Iran when invited diplomats, protests Iranian government
• Sudan ready to accept to UN peace-deal
• Hundreds die in Nigerian pipeline explosion

Six activists seized by military in Fiji

Christmas Day got off to a rocky start in Fiji with six pro-democracy campaigners reportedly being hauled in by soldiers for questioning. The six were taken to the army barracks in Nabua shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve, the Fiji Times newspaper reported -- Fiji is one hour behind New Zealand time.It named the six as Fiji Women's Rights Movement executive director Virisila Buadromo, her partner Arshad Daud, businesswoman Laisa Digitaki, businessman Imraz Iqbal, and youth activists Jackie Koroi and Pita Waqavonovono. Efforts by the newspaper to contact the activists and the military were unsuccessful. The Pacific Centre for Public Integrity slammed the military's actions as cowardly and deplorable. Early this month military commander Voreqe Bainimarama took over the country in the Fiji's fourth coup in 20 years, drawing swift international condemnation. New Zealand Herald (12/26)

Prayers, tears mark tsunami anniversary

BAN NAM KHEM, Thailand - With prayers and flowers and tears, from Thailand's beaches to the islands of India, mourners paid tribute to their loved ones Tuesday on the second anniversary of the Asian tsunami. Emotional ceremonies across the region recalled the day when giant waves rose from the sea, killing 220,000 people in a sweep of devastation that washed entire villages away -- and left many that survived struggling to recover."I lost my father and his wife and my brother two years ago," said Linda Sander, who had come from Sweden to join hundreds of mourners at Ban Nam Khem, a tiny fishing village in hard-hit Thailand. Some threw flowers out to sea as dawn broke, tears welling in their eyes. Others stood in silent remembrance of the 5,400 killed in the village, more than half of whom were tourists."I feel strange," said Sander, who had booked a room in the same hotel as her doomed family. "I will attend every ceremony held today." Similar scenes were replayed around Asia, as people still grappled with the tragedy and destruction two years after one of the worst natural disasters ever recorded. With no comprehensive early-warning system in place, the waves wreaked havoc in a matter of moments -- rising up after a massive 9.3-magnitude undersea earthquake to rip through schools and hospitals, hotels and whole towns. ABS-CBN (Philippines) (12/26)

Those inclined to boycotts, resignations are ‘Undemocratic’, says Durran

iQUETTA: Federal Information Minister, Muhammed Ali Durrani said Tuesday said that resignations and boycotts mirror an undemocratic set of mind and the people with these traits are not liked by the common men. Addressing a press conference here, the Muslim League opted for President Musharraf as its candidate and he would be fully supported. “The next general elections would be fair and transparent; we are primed to give guarantees of all kinds to remove reservations of the opposition, if they have any,” he said. The federal information minister said that the government would establish a "Media University" in Islamabad with four sub-campuses in all the provincial capitals which would be interlinked through satellite system. The International News (Pakistan) (12/26)

FM: Before agreeing to talks, we must ask if Syria wants peace

By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz ServiceForeign Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday that before any change in policy regarding negotiations with Syria could be considered, Israel would have to ask itself whether the talks could lead to any sort of peace agreement. "We must ask ourselves if the significance of Syria's signals is that [Syrian] President Bashar Assad wants just negotiations with Israel or if he also wants to reach peace at the end of the process," Livni told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "We must know what we are going to get at the end of the process." Livni did not clarify her own stance on the matter during her address to the committee, but said Syria was interested in holding talks in order to improve its own situation in the international arena and reduce the global pressures it has faced in recent years. Ha'aretz (Israel) (12/26)

Homeland admits privacy violation

WASHINGTON, (AP): The Homeland Security Department admitted it violated the Privacy Act two years ago by obtaining more commercial data about US airline passengers than it had announced it would. Seventeen months ago, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing arm, reached the same conclusion: The department's Transportation Security Administration "did not fully disclose to the public its use of personal information in its fall 2004 privacy notices as required by the Privacy Act." Even so, in a report Friday on the testing of TSA's Secure Flight domestic air passenger screening program, the Homeland Security department's privacy office acknowledged TSA did not comply with the law. Instead, the privacy office said, "TSA announced one testing program, but conducted an entirely different one." In a 40-word, separate sentence, the report noted that federal programs that collect personal data that can identify Americans "are required to be announced in Privacy Act system notices and privacy impact assessments." Arab Times (Kuwait) (12/26)

Same-sex marriages: What next?

Riaan Wolmarans Johannesburg, South Africa Trou is nie perdekoop nie, goes the old Afrikaans saying: marriage is even harder than buying a horse; it shouldn't be a rushed decision or taken lightly. After all, it's till death -- or divorce lawyers -- do us part. And there is one kind of marriage that has most certainly not been taken lightly, nor has its advent been quick: that between man and man, or woman and woman. This year, South Africa became the fifth country in the world -- and the first in Africa -- to legalise gay marriages, following a circuitous legal journey through the highest courts of the nation. The Civil Union Act allows same-sex or opposite-sex couples to register a voluntary union -- by marriage or civil partnership. Same-sex couples can be married by civil marriage officers, or by religious marriage officers who do not object to this duty. Opposition to the new legislation was predictably fierce. Motsoko Pheko, MP for the Pan Africanist Congress, called the Bill "repugnant", and African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe warned MPs that they would face divine wrath because they rejected God's laws. Despite eventual votes of support from some Cabinet heavyweights, it is not known how much more opposition would have sounded from the ranks of the African National Congress had the ruling party not instructed its members to vote in favour of the Act. Still, the Act's passing was a logical and unavoidable outcome, from a constitutional perspective. "It would have been a surprise if indeed this hadn't gone through, because it would have contradicted what the African National Congress had committed itself to [in the Constitution]," says Tim Trengove-Jones, a University of the Witwatersrand lecturer who has commented and published widely on gay politics in South Africa. Mail & Guardian (South Africa) (12/26)

Texas City Tests Religion Law

By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - When a pastor created a rehabilitation program for parolees near his church, the city of Sinton stepped in to stop it. Within months of the program's start in 1998, officials in the small city just north of Corpus Christi barred prison parolees from living within 1,000 feet of churches, schools and other certain areas. Grace Christian Fellowship's challenge of that 1999 ordinance has reached the Texas Supreme Court. The church and its pastor, Rick Barr, say the city broke a Texas law that state legislators passed later in the year to curtail government interference in religious practices. The Texas Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in March or April on whether Sinton's zoning ordinance violates the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law that then-Gov. George W. Bush endorsed. Under the law, state and local governments must show a compelling interest, such as protection of public health or safety, before limiting the practice of religion. Sinton is a test case that scholars and activists say could influence other states that have similar religious freedom laws. Backing the Grace Christian Fellowship is the Liberty Legal Institute, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Center for Law and Justice, founded by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson. ``It's significant,'' said Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Legal Institute. ``What kind of powers does government have to look at a church, say they don't like it, and ban it from the city?'' Guardian (United Kingdom) (12/26)

U.S. investigating Iranians detained in Iraq

Argentina Star

The White House says the detention in Baghdad of several Iranians suspected of inciting attacks against Iraqi troops validates the U.S. claim of Iranian meddling in Iraq. A spokesman said Monday U.S. officials want to finish their investigation of the detained Iranians before characterizing their activities. He said two detainees with diplomatic immunity were handed over to Iraqi authorities, and that U.S. officials are working with Iraq's government on the status of the remaining ones. U.S. forces in Baghdad detained several Iranians in raids last week. Iraqi officials say President Jalal Talabani had invited two of the Iranians to the capital, and that he was unhappy American forces had detained them. The New York Times reported that at least four Iranians remain in U.S. custody, and that the U.S. says they are senior Iranian military officials. The United States has accused Iranian agents of stirring up sectarian violence in Iraq by arming and training Shi'ite militias. Tehran says it only has political and religious links with Iraqi Shi'ites. Argentina Star (12/26)

Sudan president accepts U.N. peace deal

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - Sudan's president said he accepts a U.N. package to help end escalating violence in Darfur and is ready to discuss a cease-fire, according to a letter circulated Tuesday. President Omar al-Bashir said in the letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Sudan is ready to immediately implement two recent agreements endorsing a three-step U.N. plan to strengthen the beleaguered 7,000-strong African Union force in the vast western region of the country. Al-Bashir also dropped his opposition to a hybrid AU-U.N. force that would be deployed as the final step in the peace plan. However, U.N. Security Council diplomats cautioned that al-Bashir remains opposed to any large-scale deployment of U.N. troops and has backtracked on agreements regarding Darfur in the past. The letter also leaves unresolved the size and command of the hybrid force. Yahoo News (12/26)

Pipeline explosion kills at least 200

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- At least 200 people were killed outside Lagos, Nigeria, in a massive explosion and fire that ignited as crowds carried away buckets of refined fuel from a tapped fuel pipeline, the Nigerian Red Cross said. Extreme heat has prevented rescue workers from recovering bodies, and they fear the death toll could rise significantly. At least 60 others were injured with burns, Nigerian Red Cross Secretary General Abiodun Orebiyi said. "The explosion happened in a densely populated area, and that is why we're having these high casualty figures," Orebiyi added. (Watch how the pipeline incinerated buildings around the site ) The fire burned for nearly 12 hours after the blast, which happened around 1 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET Monday) before it was brought under control, Orebiyi said.By Tuesday afternoon, it was still unclear how many people were killed. "We can see more bodies that have been burned," he said. "We have yet to determine the number of hundreds that have died in this explosion." CNN (12/26)

posted by Dave Carroll @ 12/26/2006 05:14:00 PM