Category Archives: human rights

CDC analysis concludes Zika causes microcephaly | CIDRAP

Despite urgent pleas from top federal health officials for Congress to approve Obama’s $1.9 billion emergency request to battle Zika virus earlier this week, House Republicans said they’ll probably grant part of it, but perhaps not until September, the Associated Press reported today. Federal health officials have said the money is needed to help states boost mosquito surveillance and control, to assist efforts in Puerto Rico and other US territories where the disease is already spreading, and to follow through on countermeasure development.

Source: CDC analysis concludes Zika causes microcephaly | CIDRAP

Rousseff decries ′conspiracy′ to replace her | News | DW.COM | 12.04.2016

“The mask of the conspirators has fallen,” Rousseff said. “One of them is the not-so invisible hand that’s leading this impeachment process, through perversion of power and unimaginable abuses,” she added. “The other is rubbing his hands together and is rehearsing the farce of a would-be inauguration speech.” Brazil is facing a deep political crisis, with opposition parties accusing Rousseff of illegally manipulating government accounts. In addition, many allies of the embattled president are suspected of links with the massive Petrobras corruption scandal. Rousseff and her supporters insist that the accusations are bogus.

Source: Rousseff decries ′conspiracy′ to replace her | News | DW.COM | 12.04.2016

Kurdish commander: European jihadists plan new attacks – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

European jihadists are the most ruthless fighters within the terrorist group the Islamic State and they have formed special units that focus on carrying out terrorist attacks in Europe, says the commander-in-chief of the female Kurdish forces in northern Syria. “European jihadist who join IS become key figures in the organisation. They become professional terrorists,” says Nasrin Abdullah, who is visiting Sweden this week. “A majority of the suicide bombers and decapitators that we see have been selected from the European recruits.” Abdullah heads the YPJ, the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units in northern Syria. Recently, the Kurds have made significant advances in the region, and have managed to reclaim large areas of land from the Islamic State, also known as IS.  But they have paid a high price. Abdullah has lost more than 500 soldiers in the fight against IS over the past two years, and she says IS has far-reaching plans to carry out further attacks in Europe. “IS has formed special units to attack Europe. To a large degree those units are made up of jihadist who have joined from Europe,” Abdullah tells Radio Sweden.

Source: Kurdish commander: European jihadists plan new attacks – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

A state of Monologue: Terror or Resistance in Palestine

I can assure that every single Palestinian has lost his faith in any possible hope from the Palestinian authority, either by believing that they are helpless, and thus they cannot do anything, or because they believe that thye are in full collaboration with Israel, and their role is nothing but to give a hand to Israeli power.

On the Israeli level of the Palestinian life, when for the whole last year, and as a consequence of the brutal burning and killing of abu Khdeir, more coercion was authorized against Palestinians? Shooting, lynching and imprisoning remarkably targeted children. When restriction increased. Violations expanded. And on top of all, if I was a young Palestinian who wants to be part of a demonstration and I know that throwing a stone will send me to a life imprisonment, I may as well try to stab. The result is always one, either death or prison.

Palestinians reach to a level where full despair made them enter a closed tunnel where they know that the end is a crash that is fatal. With full realization. It could be revenge to the weak disappointing Palestinian authority that failed to meet the minimum of peoples demands, especially in such times when the people are directly targeted and not a single statement is made properly in levels with the situation.

When the Palestinian sees his friend, his neighbor, or the scenes of lynching the bleeding bodies of youngsters with no remorse and absolute inhumanity and fascist behaviors. What does the Israel expect?

My Israeli friend was telling me yesterday: “ do you think it is fair that I will be walking with my infant in the old city and get stabbed?” suddenly for her everything Arab became a red zone and dangerous, even though she lives in abu gosh an Arab town, that she insists they are an exception. They are what stand for the good Arabs in Hillel Cohen’s book “the Good Arabs”. For her the fear of every Arab became the norm. At that instant I could but see the norm of my very own life. She wouldn’t even understand what it means to be a mother in my situation, like all those mothers who have just lost their children thinking that they went to school or colleges, living with an eternal mourning on a child who was just names a martyr for an act that no one really knows if it happened or not, and in any norm, should it have cost him his life? She doesn’t realize that the moment my daughters leave the door of my home, I leave them with a chance of the absolute hideous fate of a Palestinian living under Israeli occupation. She doesn’t understand that if my daughter for any reason made a wrong move and stopped by an Israeli could be the next Palestinian “terrorist” in her eyes.

 

Reblogged on WordPress.com

Source: A state of Monologue: Terror or Resistance

Attawapiskat: ‘This community needs help right now’ | Ottawa Citizen

“There is no single suicide that can occur in a community like that that doesn’t ripple through the entire community,” said Manion, who is director of the youth mental health research unit. Manion and others who study suicide say clusters such as the one that occurred over the weekend in Attawapiskat, where 11 people attempted suicide in a single day, can be contagious. That is, they can make other members of the community more vulnerable to attempting suicide themselves. On Monday, the situation took another grim turn, as police detained 13 young people after learning they had a suicide pact, according to Anna Betty Achneepineskum of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the umbrella organization for northern Ontario reserves. Achneepineskum said the youth were sent to the local hospital to remain under watch. “It is very tense,” she said. There are no specialized mental health workers in the community of 2,000, according to the chief, where more than 100 people have tried to take their lives in the past seven months. One Attawapiskat family, whose 13-year-old niece died last fall after hanging herself, said they fly to Timmins once a month for counselling to help deal with her death and another suicide in the family.  “This community needs help right now,” said Attawapiskat resident Wayne Fireman, a father of young children who says he is worried for their future. Suicide clusters can become normalized without positive intervention, Manion said

Source: Attawapiskat: ‘This community needs help right now’ | Ottawa Citizen

4th yr in a row, 65k H-1B visas exhausted in 5 days – Times of India

The US Citizenship and Immigration Service did not give out the number of applications it got, but it is believed to be higher than last year’s 230,000. This will trigger a computer-generated process -also known as the lottery -to randomly select the petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 for the general category and 20,000 for the advanced-degree exemption.

Source: 4th yr in a row, 65k H-1B visas exhausted in 5 days – Times of India

Five years into ban, burqa divide widens in France | Europe | DW.COM | 10.04.2016

Roy says burqas were never popular in France. “The bulk of the Muslim population didn’t oppose the ban openly because they don’t ask for the freedom of the burqa,” Roy says. “There has been a feeling among people of Muslim origin, believers and nonbelievers, that the ban of the burqa is in fact part of pressure and attack against Islam as a religion.” France is home to the largest number of Muslims in Western Europe, with about 5 million. When the law went into effect, it was estimated that fewer than 2,000 women wore the full veil.

Source: Five years into ban, burqa divide widens in France | Europe | DW.COM | 10.04.2016

Avian Flu Diary: UK PHE: Scarlet Fever Still Rising – And Tories still want to cut NHS – duh!?!

Public Health England (PHE) has reported a continued increase in cases of scarlet fever across England with 1319 new cases between 21 to 27 March, the highest weekly total recorded in recent decades (data available from 1982 onwards).  A total of 10,570 cases of scarlet fever have now been reported since the season began in September 2015.  Scarlet fever is a seasonal illness which should be treated with antibiotics and cases of the illness usually peak at this time of year. An increase in invasive disease caused by the same bacterium group A streptococcus (GAS) which causes scarlet fever has also been seen in England. A total of 593 cases of invasive GAS infection, such and bloodstream infection or pneumonia, have been notified so far for 2016 compared to 440 cases for the same period last year (January to March). This year GAS seasonal activity coincides with the seasonal influenza activity owing to the late flu season. Influenza and invasive GAS co-infection is a rare but well-recognised occurrence.  Whilst the elderly remain most at risk of invasive GAS infection, increased levels of disease compared to last year have been seen in young adults and children less than 5 years old, the age groups most affected by influenza in recent weeks. There’s no suggestion of an increase in invasive GAS infection in patients diagnosed with scarlet fever. This is the third season in a row in which elevated scarlet fever activity has been  noted. A total of 15,637 notifications were made in England and Wales in 2014, rising to 17,590 in 2015. Weekly activity so far this season has been similar or slightly above for that last year.

Source: Avian Flu Diary: UK PHE: Scarlet Fever Still Rising

Don’t tell me to smile – LEO Weekly

Telling women to smile is a societal issue that goes far beyond the service industry, and women all over the world are taking a stand. Tatyana Fazlalizadeh of Brooklyn, New York, began a traveling street-art project in 2012, “Stop Telling Women to Smile.” It addresses gender-based street harassment in mural form — in public, where women are often the most vulnerable to physical and emotional harassment. I asked some of my male friends if they’d been told to smile at bus stops, walking down the street or while lifting weights at the gym? Few answered yes, while my lady friends are victim to such behavior daily — even multiple times per day. A girlfriend picking out tomatoes at Kroger was told, “Smile, it can’t be that bad!” Should she have taken this as a compliment, or a public accosting with a smile?  I hope I can speak for my lady bartender brethren when I say: I am not complaining about my job. I adore my job and the relationships I’m able to cultivate daily. Believe it or not, this bitchy bartender actually strikes up great conversations with her guests! I’m simply speaking out for progress in hopes that most men (and women) who tell us to smile will reconsider their desire to emotionally project. The evolution and growth needed for a more progressive society takes place in all workplaces, even bars, and you can be an ally by understanding that women are humans and are allowed to experience the spectrum of natural human emotions, even behind the bar. And, at the end of the day, we’re the ones who decide when and if you get another drink. Don’t worry, you can order it with whatever facial expression you please. Cheers!

Source: Don’t tell me to smile – LEO Weekly