All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Saturday Six | Lentil-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, Vegan Tagalongs & Sesame Cauliflower Wings

We’re rounding up some of our favorite recipes from this week’s Potluck submissions, including Barbecue Lentil Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, easy vegan Tagalongs, and Sesame Cauliflower Wings.

AMERICA/MEXICO – Children missing in Veracruz: people do not report them for fear of organized crime

Veracruz – “There are many cases of kidnapping. First there was talk of 50 but it seems that at least 400 have disappeared: But most of their families have not reported the kidnappings for fear”, said the father of one of the missing children, victims of drug trafficking and organized crime, who was present yesterday at the Tierra Blanca celebration. Relatives of victims of the missing children gathered at the Virgen del Carmen Parish and then took part in the Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Veracruz, His Exc. Mgr. Luis Felipe Gallardo Martín del Campo, S.D.B.. The Church has become the only point of reference for many families in search of faith and hope.Mgr. Gallardo Martín del Campo read the list of the 23 missing persons in Tierra Blanca in recent weeks. “Some time ago it was known that the armed gang of guerrillas in Sierra Guerrero enlisted people by force. Now the fact that drug trafficking and organized crime have entered in our society there is no control, the justice system has been destroyed, there is violence everywhere. And now the authorities do not know how to stop the problem”, reported the Bishop. “Not even the Church is free of this violence” continued the Bishop. “We have had more than 5 cases of abductions: priests kidnapped and then released in the middle of the fields, simply to steal their car. Two seminarians were kidnapped but luckily found: our parishes have to deal with robberies and extortions on a daily basis”.

Source: AMERICA/MEXICO – Children missing in Veracruz: people do not report them for fear of organized crime

The return of the dogs of war: what’s it like to be a soldier for hire?

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It’s one thing to pull the trigger for your country – quite another for a corporation. As a new report reveals how private military contractors have changed the face of conflict, they reveal how conflict has changed them

When you are a soldier in the military, and you’re firing at an enemy alongside several other soldiers, you don’t know if it was your gun, your bullet, that killed someone. “I’d rather not know,” says Stephen Friday, who spent 12 years in the British army before becoming a private military contractor (PMC) in 2008, working in Iraq and Afghanistan. The first time he ever shot somebody, and knew about it, “was as a PMC. The firefights were a lot closer, a lot more personal.” It was also more dangerous. As a soldier, he had once come under fire for seven hours in Baghdad, but as a PMC, “I would say it was worse. When you’re in the army, you’ve got an army behind you. As a PMC, you can’t call for back-up, you can’t call fire missions in. Certainly my worst incidents were as a PMC rather than in the military.” He was shot at by snipers, survived a handful of roadside bombs and a grenade attack, and once a bullet lodged in the bulletproof glass of his vehicle, inches from his head. “There was a stage in 2009, for a period of about three months, where we were probably losing guys every second or third day. It was violent, and emotionally difficult.”

Why did he do it? For the money, of course. There were periods when he could earn up to £10,000 a month, tax-free (his contracts, like many PMCs, were deliberately set up to favour tax avoidance by restricting the amount of time he was in the UK). How would he feel about being called a mercenary? “I would find it offensive,” says Friday. “There were definitely mercenaries out there. I sit here and say I did it for the money and that’s something that would be in alignment with being a mercenary, but there are certain stereotypes that don’t apply to me.” We meet at the small business he set up with the money he had saved before leaving the job in 2014, and despite first impressions – Friday is covered in tattoos, with a gruff voice and is built like an armoured personnel carrier – he seems surprisingly gentle and thoughtful.

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Jeremy Corbyn: UK can push for ‘a real social Europe’ by staying in EU

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Labour leader says referendum campaign will be chance to push for better workers’ rights and to stand up for public ownership

Staying in the European Union is in the best interests of Britain, with the referendum campaign a chance to push for more public ownership of local services, Jeremy Corbyn will say on Saturday.

The Labour leader is expected to stress that he will push for changes in Brussels beyond migration and welfare that would strengthen workers’ rights and end pressure to privatise public services.

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Lassa fever has killed more than 100 in Nigeria, latest figures show

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Reported cases of disease – both confirmed and suspected – stand at 175 with total of 101 deaths since August

A growing Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria has killed 101 people, as West Africa battles to contain a flare-up of the virus, according to data from the nation’s health authorities released on Saturday.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) statistics show that reported cases of the haemorrhagic disease – both confirmed and suspected – stood at 175 with a total of 101 deaths since August.

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Hillary Clinton is at her best when she’s counted out, campaigning her heart out

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The Anointed One may be gone, but so are ‘dem good old days’ of the boys on the bus. There’s no crying in New Hampshire anymore

There is a picture on the wall of the Espresso Café here in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in a corner near the exit. Hillary Clinton is talking to voters, but it doesn’t show the famous “Hillary cried” moment from eight years ago, when the senator teared up on the eve of the presidential primary.

She was exhausted, and a loss to Barack Obama was predicted. Some pundits believed the unusual display of emotion was a turning point that helped show Clinton had a human side.

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Activist condemns Labour response to charges of bias against Muslim women

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Shaista Gohir says party’s reply to letter calling for inquiry into allegations female councillors faced discrimination a ‘slap in the face’

A Muslim women’s activist, who called for a Labour inquiry into allegations that women have been systematically blocked from seeking election by men in their communities, has called the party’s lukewarm response “a slap in the face”.

Shaista Gohir of Muslim Women’s Network UK and Labour MP Gavin Shuker claimed discrimination was an open secret in many local councils.

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