All posts by nedhamson

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

Same firm, new house: Mexico leader’s conflict-of-interest storm grows | Reuters

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto faced fresh questions on Wednesday about his dealings with a company at the center of a conflict-of-interest scandal, after it emerged that he enjoyed rent-free use of a house belonging to the firm as a campaign office.

Already under pressure over the government’s handling of the presumed massacre of 43 students abducted by corrupt police in southwestern Mexico in September, Pena Nieto is facing his most difficult period since taking office two years ago.

On Nov. 3, the government announced a Chinese-led consortium had won a no bid contract to build a $3.75 billion high-speed rail link in central Mexico.

 

Three days later, the government abruptly canceled the deal, just before a report by news site Aristegui Noticias showed that a subsidiary of Grupo Higa, a company that formed part of the consortium and had won various previous contracts, owned the luxury house of first lady Angelica Rivera.

Under public pressure, Rivera said she would give up the house. But neither she nor Pena Nieto have addressed the apparent conflict of interest stemming from the government’s business with Grupo Higa.

via Same firm, new house: Mexico leader’s conflict-of-interest storm grows | Reuters.

Demanding justice for Ayotzinapa teachers

A student of Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College is seen next to a bus blocking the road to Acapulco on the outskirts of Chilpancingo, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, during a protest in support of the 43 missing students on November 26, 2014. Following mass protests in Mexico over the apparent massacre of the 43 trainee teachers two months ago, the government will unveil measures this week designed to improve policing and fix a failing justice system, lawmakers said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Henry Romero

via Demanding justice for Ayotzinapa teachers.

Bird flu in Kerala is of H5N1 strain

Thiruvananthapuram: The strain of avian influenza that caused deaths of thousands of duck in the three districts of Kerala has been identified as H5N1, which could also spread to human beings though the infection caused by it can be cured, officials said on Thursday.

The state government stepped up precautionary and containment measures in the affected areas to check the spread of the virus.

via Bird flu in Kerala is of H5N1 strain.

Pussy Riot wins Hannah Arendt Prize | News | DW.DE | 27.11.2014

The jury for the prize, based in the German city of Bremen, said in a statement that it wished to “honour all those who continue to resist reactionary developments in Russia despite persecution.”

Writer and activist Yuri Andrukhovych in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

They were jointly awarded the prize with Ukrainian author Yuri Andrukhovych for his role in the former Soviet republic’s democratic movement.

On making the 54-year-old the joint winner, the jury said it was to express its “respect for the campaigners for an independent and democratic Ukraine.”

The prize, which is worth 10,000 euros, has been awarded annually since 1995 and is financed by the Bremen Senate and the Böll Foundation.

via Pussy Riot wins Hannah Arendt Prize | News | DW.DE | 27.11.2014.

Louisiana Police Officer Shoots, Kills 14-Year-Old Honor Roll Student | The Free Thought Project

“He said ‘I’ve been shot,’ and the police came in and kept shooting him again. He was shot and defenseless. Why do you have to keep shooting?” she said

via Louisiana Police Officer Shoots, Kills 14-Year-Old Honor Roll Student | The Free Thought Project.

JBHCABHCGAWI = Just because he can and because he thinks he can get away with it!

 

Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet

Photos from last night’s massive Ferguson protest in NYC that shut down three bridges.

No justice. No peace. What now? #FergusonNext

“Property damage and looting have been the most effective tools of social progress for white people in America.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates

What Ferguson says about the fear of social media.

via Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet.

Ferguson on fire

It’s been 20 years since I last visited St. Louis, things have declined until now, they are experiencing the same turmoil that shook Cincinnati in 2001. Both episodes were driven by long neglect, over policing of “certain” neighborhoods until everything came together for a social implosion. After happening so many times, why the surprise, the denials, and in ten years or less another repeat in another city. Coping, self-delusion, and … are what we are good at – that and hoping that things will change without having to work at it.

Sarah Kendzior

My latest for Politico:

Darren Wilson will never be on trial. Black St. Louis always was.

For 108 days, there were protests in St. Louis. The vast majority of the protests were non-violent. Looting and arson, limited to the initial August days, became media memes that bore little resemblance to life on the ground. St. Louis is an insular city, and its agony was internal, felt rather than seen. Comparatively few participated in the protests, but everyone shared the dread of the impending decision. Residents woke every day to new emergency procedures, to strategic leaks, to media rumors and lies. When asked why it was taking over 100 days to deliberate over events that allegedly took 90 seconds, officials replied that the road to justice was long. They gave St. Louis a waiting game and let the protesters pretend they were players.

In November, when rumors circulated that a…

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