The Zika virus is rampant in Latin America. It is an infection that can cause deadly birth defects in fetuses. Health authorities in Rio are taking drastic steps to prevent the virus from spreading during Carnival.
Monthly Archives: January 2016
Danish Law Requires Asylum Seekers to Hand Over Valuables
Some Sheriffs Bristle at Recall of Military Equipment
With Carnival looming, Zika virus outbreak heaps pressure on Brazil


The Zika virus is rampant in Latin America. It is an infection that can cause deadly birth defects in fetuses. Health authorities in Rio are taking drastic steps to prevent the virus from spreading during Carnival.
Source: With Carnival looming, Zika virus outbreak heaps pressure on Brazil
German Muslim soldier criticizes racism following Cologne attacks | News | DW.COM | 26.01.2016
She even had to contend with people who accused her of not understanding the plight of the women who had been harassed. “Sexual harassment – against women, men or children- is bad,” Reinke said. “I don’t want anyone to experience this.”Reinke’s Facebook post begins with her saying she is a “German and a Muslim.” She says she was “ashamed” and felt “sick” when she heard that there were several Moroccans among the men who harassed women in Cologne on December 31.”My parents worked very hard to establish themselves here …” Reinke told DW. “I cringe when I hear these people who sexually assaulted women were from Morocco.”Reinke said she also feels bad when she hears about a refugee home being attacked. “For me it is attempted murder … because then people say, ‘All Germans are Nazis.’ And that makes me cringe too.”Reinke’s message unleashed an outpouring of reactions. She said her supervisors at the Bundeswehr and her organization Deutscher Soldat, which volunteers for refugee causes, were very cooperative. “I did not realize that it had been shared so much,” she said, adding that she was on holiday and looking for wedding dresses with her best friend who was getting married.
Source: German Muslim soldier criticizes racism following Cologne attacks | News | DW.COM | 26.01.2016
Man Killed by Chicago Police Called 911 Before Being Shot – The New York Times
A man who was fatally shot by the police in December as he emerged from a home with a baseball bat had called 911 seeking help from the police three times in the minutes before the shooting, but was met with curt dispatchers, according to audio of the calls made public on Monday. One of the dispatchers hung up on him when he was unwilling to elaborate on what was wrong.The man, Quintonio LeGrier, a 19-year-old college student whose family members have said experienced emotional troubles in the months before his death, first called 911 from his father’s house at 4:18 a.m. on Dec. 26. He said he needed a police officer to come to the house, but would not give details about why or provide his last name.
Source: Man Killed by Chicago Police Called 911 Before Being Shot – The New York Times
Hundreds Vanishing in Egypt as Crackdown Widens, Activists Say
Denmark passes controversial bill to take migrants’ valuables
Despite widespread condemnation, Denmark’s parliament on Tuesday approved drastic reforms curbing asylum seekers’ rights, including delaying family reunifications and confiscating migrants’ valuables.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Fraud | Inter Press Service
The modest benefits projected make it crucial to consider the nature and scale of costs currently ignored by all available modelling exercises. The TPP will impose direct costs, e.g. by extending IPRs and by blocking or delaying generic production and imports.The TPPA’s investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions will enable foreign investors to sue a government in an offshore tribunal if they claim that new regulations reduce their expected future profits, even when such regulations are in the public interest. As private insurance is already available for this purpose, ISDS provisions are completely unnecessary.Jagdish Bhagwati, a leading advocate of free trade and trade liberalization, along with others, have sharply criticized the inclusion of such non-trade provisions in ostensible free trade agreements. Instead of being the regional free trade agreement it is often portrayed as, the TPP seems to be “a managed trade regime that puts corporate interests first”.The TPP, offering modest quantifiable benefits from trade liberalization, is really the thin edge of a wedge package which will fundamentally undermine the public interest. Net gains for TPP partners seem doubtful at this stage.Only a complete and proper accounting based on the full text can settle this key question. The TPP has, in fact already been used to try to kill the Doha ‘Development’ Round of multilateral trade talks, but may well also undermine multilateralism more broadly in the near future.
Source: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Fraud | Inter Press Service
Danish teen fought off her attacker – now she’ll face fine – The Local
The teenager told police that she was attacked in central Sønderborg on Wednesday at around 10pm by an English-speaking man in dark clothing. She said the man knocked her to the ground and then unbuttoned her pants and attempted to undress her. The girl was able to save herself from further assault by using pepper spray on the attacker, but now she may be the one who ends up in legal trouble. “It is illegal to possess and use pepper spray, so she will likely be charged for that,” local police spokesman Knud Kirsten told TV Syd. The case has sparked a backlash among some Danes who point to increasing reports of sexual harassment in Sønderborg and other Danish cities at the same time that police say they are stretched too thin to properly carry out their duties. Numerous readers wrote in the comments section on TV Syd’s story about the incident that they would be willing to pay the girl’s fine, which will most likely be 500 kroner. The man who attacked the 17-year-old fled from the scene and has not been charged.
Source: Danish teen fought off her attacker – now she’ll face fine – The Local


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