All posts by nedhamson

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

IRIN Asia | Concern over Bangladesh move to repatriate Rohingyas to Myanmar | Bangladesh | Myanmar | Conflict | Governance | Human Rights

How would you feel if no state wanted you to live there in peace and would rather you just disappear? This is between Burma and Bangladesh but could just as easily be Serbia, USA, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Syria, Lebanon…

However, the 30-year-old said, choking back tears: “Our biggest concern is if we will be safe back in Burma? We don’t have any rights in Burma. We don’t have any dignity as human beings there. We are not entitled to our identity. Our properties and religious institutions are damaged. How we can be assured that we would be safe out there?”

via IRIN Asia | Concern over Bangladesh move to repatriate Rohingyas to Myanmar | Bangladesh | Myanmar | Conflict | Governance | Human Rights.

Stock price promo – Johnson & Johnson to Quicken Development of Ebola Virus Vaccine – WSJ

Will do nothing for this outbreak but they are hoping it will up their stock prices – profiting from a virus that most in advanced economies had ignored since 1970’s with first outbreak.

“Johnson & Johnson said the vaccine program is being accelerated to allow for clinical trials in humans in early 2015, after promising results in preclinical studies. The company previously had planned to conduct human trials nearly a year later in 2016. The company said the collaboration between Crucell and Bavarian Nordic would enable faster production of the doses necessary to start larger clinical trials.”

via Johnson & Johnson to Quicken Development of Ebola Virus Vaccine – WSJ.

Obama: ‘You Lost Your Independence Once Before. With NATO You Will Never Lose It Again’ | News | ERR

US President Barack Obama minced no words and left no doubts in his keynote address at the Nordea Concert Hall in Tallinn, Estonia, saying that the US would unconditionally come to the defense of its small Baltic allies in case of need and that the US would never condone or recognize the Russian invasion and annexation of any part of Ukraine.

In a speech largely dedicated to reassurance of newer allies and representing perhaps the most powerful expression of support from the US over the last 23 years of restored diplomatic relations, Obama made clear where the US stood on Baltic as well as Ukrainian independence.

“Just as we never accepted the occupation and illegal annexation of the Baltic nations, we will not accept Russia’s occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea or any part of Ukraine,” he said. Among much else, he denied that NATO had second-class members. “The defense of Tallinn and Riga and Vilnius is just as important as the defense of Berlin and Paris and London.”

via Obama: ‘You Lost Your Independence Once Before. With NATO You Will Never Lose It Again’ | News | ERR.

IRIN Global | Concern over World Bank proposals to roll back safeguards for indigenous people | Indonesia | Laos | Sri Lanka | Nigeria | Thailand | Vietnam | Aid Policy | Economy | Human Rights

Activists warn of a harmful regression in the World Bank’s safeguard policies, claiming that proposed changes being considered this autumn could weaken the rights of indigenous people, and others in danger of displacement and abuse as a result of Bank-funded development projects.

“This [version of the safeguards] will be dangerous backsliding into their bad legacy of treatment against indigenous people if it is approved,” said Joan Carling, secretary-general of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), a network that operates in 14 Asian countries.

via IRIN Global | Concern over World Bank proposals to roll back safeguards for indigenous people | Indonesia | Laos | Sri Lanka | Nigeria | Thailand | Vietnam | Aid Policy | Economy | Human Rights.

Fracking MFers in Congress pimping for Oil! POPVOX – Issue Spotlight: Greater Sage Grouse – POPVOX.com

Last week, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it is initiating its formal status review of the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity estimates that only a few hundred thousand birds survive, compared with its peak population of 16 million. The grouse depends on sagebrush to survive, which grows in areas that are perfect for oil and natural gas drilling, across 165 million acres across 11 states in the West. Energy companies are concerned that listing the grouse as “endangered” would hurt drilling opportunities and cost jobs.

via POPVOX – Issue Spotlight: Greater Sage Grouse – POPVOX.com.