Category Archives: human rights

Malaysia Airlines passenger jet ‘shot down’ in east Ukraine | euronews, world news

{Looks/sounds like a big Oops by the DPR}

RIP those killed – mercy on their souls

According to the Interfax agency, separatists from the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” claimed on social media to have shot down a Ukrainian military AN-26 transport plane, at around the same time and close to the same area that the Malaysian airliner came down.

via Malaysia Airlines passenger jet ‘shot down’ in east Ukraine | euronews, world news.

Anger and bewilderment in Finland over Microsoft job cuts – FT.com

now almost a quarter of Nokia workers in the Nordic country of 5.5m people are facing the start of their summer holidays with the prospect of no job to come back to. Microsoft employs 4,700 former Nokia staff in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, and in Salo, Tampere and Oulu.

The company said it will withdraw entirely from its R&D Centre in Oulu, a city of 200,000 people on Finland’s northwest coast. The centre develops software for low-cost phones and employs 500 people. It would instead focus on the development of key technologies in Tampere and Salo, Microsoft said.

The news did not come out of the blue, senior Oulu shop steward Timo Pukinkorvaa told local media – there had long been rumours that something was afoot. What was shocking, he said, was the “massive” number of redundancies and the fact that the entire unit would close.

via Anger and bewilderment in Finland over Microsoft job cuts – FT.com.

US Civil rights shame: Photos of Japanese Evacuation in San Francisco, California, 1942

Photographs show Japanese civilians evacuating areas of California and Arizona for relocation to assembly centers in California, Oregon, and Washington. Includes families preparing for evacuation; travelling to centers; registering at Wartime Civil Administration control stations. Images also depict daily activities of families at the centers; views of center facilities; federal officials and military personnel working for the relocation program.

via vintage everyday: Photos of Japanese Evacuation in San Francisco, California, 1942.

Through Lens, 4 Boys Dead by Gaza Shore – NYTimes.com

My day here began at 6 a.m. Photographing something as unpredictable as war still has a routine.

It is important to be out the door at first light to document the destruction of the last night’s bombings. By midmorning, I check in at the hospital’s morgue to see if families have come to pick up the dead for burial.

When the routine is broken, it is because things can go horribly wrong in an instant. That is how it happened in Libya in 2011, when three colleagues and I were taken captive by government soldiers and our driver was killed.

On Wednesday, that sudden change of fortune came to four young Palestinian boys playing on a beach in Gaza City.

Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE

Boys Drawn to Gaza Beach, and Into Center of Mideast Strife JULY 16, 2014

Israeli Invasion of Gaza Is Likely, Official Says; Brief Cease-Fire Is SetJULY 16, 2014

I had returned to my small seaside hotel around 4 p.m. to file photos to New York when I heard a loud explosion. My driver and I rushed to the window to see what had happened. A small shack atop a sea wall at the fishing port had been struck by an Israeli bomb or missile and was burning. A young boy emerged from the smoke, running toward the adjacent beach.

I grabbed my cameras and was putting on body armor and a helmet when, about 30 seconds after the first blast, there was another. The boy I had seen running was now dead, lying motionless in the sand, along with three other boys who had been playing there.

By the time I reached the beach, I was winded from running with my heavy armor. I paused; it was too risky to go onto the exposed sand. Imagine what my silhouette, captured by an Israeli drone, might look like as a grainy image on a laptop somewhere in Israel: wearing body armor and a helmet, carrying cameras that could be mistaken for weapons. If children are being killed, what is there to protect me, or anyone else?

I watched as a group of people ran to the children’s aid. I joined them, running with the feeling that I would find safety in numbers, though I understood that feeling could be deceptive: Crowds can make things worse. We arrived at the scene to find lifeless, mangled bodies. The boys were beyond help. They had been killed instantly, and the people who had rushed to them were shocked and distraught.

Earlier in the day, I had photographed the funeral for a man and a 12-year-old boy. They had been killed when a bomb hit the car in which they were riding south of Gaza City, severely injuring an older woman with them.

There is no safe place in Gaza right now. Bombs can land at any time, anywhere.

A small metal shack with no electricity or running water on a jetty in the blazing seaside sun does not seem like the kind of place frequented by Hamas militants, the Israel Defense Forces’ intended targets. Children, maybe four feet tall, dressed in summer clothes, running from an explosion, don’t fit the description of Hamas fighters, either.

via Through Lens, 4 Boys Dead by Gaza Shore – NYTimes.com.

List of the 214 Palestinians killed in Gaza in the last ten days

Killed Wednesday 16/7

1. Mohammed Sabri al-Dibari, 20, was killed in Rafah.

2. Abdullah Mohammed Abdullah al-Irjani, 19, was killed in Khan Younis.

3. Ahmad Adel Ahmad al-Niwajha, 23, was killed in Rafah.

4. Mohammed Tayseer Sharab, 23, was killed in Khan Younis.

5. Farid Mohammed Abu Daqa, 33, was killed in Khan Younis.

6. Ashraf Khalil Abu Shanab, 33, was killed in Rafah.

7. Khadra al-Abd Salama Abu Daqa, 65, was killed in an attack on Khan Younis.

8. Omar Ramadan Hassan Abu Daqa, 24, was killed in the same attack.

9. Ibrahim Ramadan Hassan Abu Daqa, 10, was killed in the same attack.

10. Abdelrahman Ibrahim Khalil al-Sarkhi, 37, was killed in an attack on Gaza City.

11. Ahed Atef Bakr, 10, was killed on a beach in Gaza.

12. Zakaria Ahed Bakr, 10, was killed on a beach in Gaza.

13. Mohammed Ramez Bakr, 11, was killed on a beach in Gaza.

14. Ismail Mohammed Bakr, 9, was killed on a beach in Gaza.

15. Hamza Ra’ed Thari, 6, succumbed to wounds sustained “a few days ago” and passed away.

via List of the 214 Palestinians killed in Gaza in the last ten days.

Israel denies American teaching volunteers entry to West Bank – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Ahwal said that even though she was allowed entry without a problem in June to attend the federation’s conference in Ramallah, this time the Israelis at the bridge acted differently. “As soon as we came up to passport control, I knew something bad was up,” she told Al-Monitor in Amman.

Israeli officials interrogated the entire group, trying to find any discrepancies in their narratives. In the end, Ahwal was told that she was denied entry for five years, and that the group will not be allowed in because they “lied.”

via Israel denies American teaching volunteers entry to West Bank – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

GOP deja vu: blocked a bill aimed at restoring free contraception for women

Senate Republicans have blocked a bill aimed at restoring free contraception for women who get their health insurance from companies that object on religious grounds.

The vote on Wednesday was 56-43 to move ahead on the measure, short of the 60 votes necessary to proceed.

Democrats sponsored the election-year bill to reverse last month’s Supreme Court ruling that closely held businesses with religious objections could deny coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law.

via News from The Associated Press.

High School Student Committed Suicide After Video Of Him Masturbating Went Viral, Parents Say: LAist

The school district should admit its fault in the matter – and the newspaper that copped the student’s photo off of a tribute site should be ashamed that it did so.

The school district issued this statement on Monday: “At San Diego Unified, the safety and well-being of our students is a top priority. The district also adheres to the privacy and confidentiality laws and regulations related to students, families and ongoing investigations. For this reason, the district cannot provide details about Matthew Burdette’s death. Our hearts and thoughts continue to be with his family and loved ones.”

via High School Student Committed Suicide After Video Of Him Masturbating Went Viral, Parents Say: LAist.

City of Tehran’s female workers fired ‘for own well-being’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Tehran City Council member Gholamreza Ansari said on the issue of segregation, “In a situation where a worker has no choice but to work two shifts for the financial security of one’s family, these limitations will have negative consequences and will cause corruption, bribery and fraud.”

Ansari went on, “These kinds of actions have high costs and are only propaganda … and have no relation to the spirit of our religion and ethics. Separating the sexes has been tested many times in various places, such as our universities, and it has not been successful.”

via City of Tehran’s female workers fired ‘for own well-being’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Israel warns 100,000 Gazans to evacuate their homes | Maan News Agency

So if this child is killed because he has no place to go – it will be his fault because he was warned, or it makes it OK for the homes of 100,000 people to be destroyed?

Israel urged 100,000 Gazans to flee their homes on Wednesday, but the warning was largely ignored despite an intensification of the military’s nine-day campaign.

via Israel warns 100,000 Gazans to evacuate their homes | Maan News Agency.