Israel denies American teaching volunteers entry to West Bank – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Ahwal said that even though she was allowed entry without a problem in June to attend the federation’s conference in Ramallah, this time the Israelis at the bridge acted differently. “As soon as we came up to passport control, I knew something bad was up,” she told Al-Monitor in Amman.

Israeli officials interrogated the entire group, trying to find any discrepancies in their narratives. In the end, Ahwal was told that she was denied entry for five years, and that the group will not be allowed in because they “lied.”

via Israel denies American teaching volunteers entry to West Bank – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Nonsense cannot make up for no sense – Microsoft could cut 1,000 jobs in Finland – Puget Sound Business Journal

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella hinted at a major reorganization in a letter to employees last week, sparking speculation that the company could lay off thousands of employees. Many analysts believe Microsoft, with 127,000 employees, needs to slim down in order to focus on innovating, which Nadella said is key.

via Microsoft could cut 1,000 jobs in Finland – Puget Sound Business Journal.

They innovated by buying Nokia – helped trash the brand and now lay off the people who innovated the cell phone industry? This is Wall Street gobbly spin and means absolutely nada!

GOP deja vu: blocked a bill aimed at restoring free contraception for women

Senate Republicans have blocked a bill aimed at restoring free contraception for women who get their health insurance from companies that object on religious grounds.

The vote on Wednesday was 56-43 to move ahead on the measure, short of the 60 votes necessary to proceed.

Democrats sponsored the election-year bill to reverse last month’s Supreme Court ruling that closely held businesses with religious objections could deny coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law.

via News from The Associated Press.

High School Student Committed Suicide After Video Of Him Masturbating Went Viral, Parents Say: LAist

The school district should admit its fault in the matter – and the newspaper that copped the student’s photo off of a tribute site should be ashamed that it did so.

The school district issued this statement on Monday: “At San Diego Unified, the safety and well-being of our students is a top priority. The district also adheres to the privacy and confidentiality laws and regulations related to students, families and ongoing investigations. For this reason, the district cannot provide details about Matthew Burdette’s death. Our hearts and thoughts continue to be with his family and loved ones.”

via High School Student Committed Suicide After Video Of Him Masturbating Went Viral, Parents Say: LAist.

City of Tehran’s female workers fired ‘for own well-being’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Tehran City Council member Gholamreza Ansari said on the issue of segregation, “In a situation where a worker has no choice but to work two shifts for the financial security of one’s family, these limitations will have negative consequences and will cause corruption, bribery and fraud.”

Ansari went on, “These kinds of actions have high costs and are only propaganda … and have no relation to the spirit of our religion and ethics. Separating the sexes has been tested many times in various places, such as our universities, and it has not been successful.”

via City of Tehran’s female workers fired ‘for own well-being’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Radio host gunned down in front of his children in Mazar-e-Sharif – Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders is appalled to learn that 27-year-old local radio host Kaled Aghah Yaghubi was gunned down in front of his children in his home in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of the northern province of Balkh, on 13 July. His murder comes amid a continuing wave of violence against journalists.

“They rang on his front door at around 1 p.m.,” said Ahmad Fahim Hagh Bin, the manager of Radio Lahzeh, the local station that Yaghubi worked for. “As soon as his four-year-old son opened the door, the gunmen looked around the room for Yaghubi and then opened fire.”

via Radio host gunned down in front of his children in Mazar-e-Sharif – Reporters Without Borders.

French Law Kicks Packaged Food Out of the Kitchen

Restaurant-goers in France will start seeing a funny little symbol on their menus this week: a skillet with a house on top, indicating your menu choice is made in-house.

It’s part of a new law meant to battle against the surprising amount of factory-made, pre-packaged food in French restaurants, and celebrate the country’s culinary traditions.

However, many in the industry say the law doesn’t go far enough, because it allows dishes made from frozen, pre-peeled or pre-cut products to count as home-made.

via French Law Kicks Packaged Food Out of the Kitchen.

Celebrating cellulite isn’t the route to happiness | Bella Mackie | Commentisfree | The Guardian

This desire to rejoice in our form, whatever its shape, is yet another way for women to see our bodies as the priority. We may refuse to see our cellulite as ugly or unsightly, but we are still being asked to focus on an external part of ourself, to flip the negative into a positive and examine our physical attributes from a different angle. Is this what we see as progress? If you cannot imagine a blog where men happily praise each others’ beer guts then the answer must surely be no.

I have spent the past year running. I’ve got stronger and leaner. I can feel my physical strength increasing. I have learned to appreciate how each part of the body connects, and how wonderful it is to be able to use it fully. But this trend towards body positive language and imagery requires us to do the opposite; it asks us to see our bodies as superficial.

When writing about the history of the suffrage movement, Jeanette Winterson argued that if a woman cannot feel comfortable in her own body then she has no home. In order to feel fully at ease with ourselves, perhaps we should throw off the notion that one’s body, and one’s specific body parts, must be seen as either praiseworthy or wanting. Acceptance, rather than jubilation, is the only way we women might have a real chance of moving away from the constant fixation with our image.

via Celebrating cellulite isn’t the route to happiness | Bella Mackie | Commentisfree | The Guardian.

Kidnapped women, kids are ‘sex slaves’ in DR Congo | News , World | THE DAILY STAR

Anyone listening? Didn’t think so, since this has been going on for decades. As long as minerals keep flowing from Congo to rest of the world’s industries – no one seems to really care.

“Victims have been held as sex slaves – sometimes for months at a time – and sexually assaulted violently by several men, several times a day,” MSF psychologist Ana Maria Tijerino said in a statement.

The aid group also warned that men are being kidnapped and put to work as laborers in the gold and diamond mining region of Okapi, in the east of the vast, mineral-rich nation.

In just one village between May and early July, MSF said its medical teams provided consultations for 3,586 people and treated 143 women, three men and two children who had suffered sexual violence.

Last month a team treated 20 women in a single village who had been raped, it said.

“Violence and sexual violence are nothing new in DR Congo,” Tijerino said. “But for the victims, these atrocities are not normal. No one should have to accept violence on this level.”

MSF warned that many of the victims of sexual violence kept captive for weeks were not receiving vital medical aid that could protect against HIV, sexually transmitted infections or pregnancy.

“Months after an assault, the physical and psychological trauma is still apparent in the survivors,” Tijerino said. “Many suffer from pain, infected wounds, stress, depression and nightmares. They are scared for the future and haunted by what they have lived through.”

via Kidnapped women, kids are ‘sex slaves’ in DR Congo | News , World | THE DAILY STAR.