Category Archives: human rights

{The next bubble to impoverish US warming up!} Wall Street Sets Its Sights on Renters | Inter Press Service

Right as housing prices bottomed out around January 2012, large institutional investors began buying distressed properties in regions hit hard by the foreclosure crisis; they’ve purchased at least 200,000 to date.

In only a year, private equity giant Blackstone Group went from owning no single-family rental properties (SFRs) to being the U.S.’ single largest landlord.

Now, several companies, including Blackstone, are packaging their SFRs into bonds similar to the mortgage backed securities that fueled the financial crisis.

Like those securities, SFR bonds are backed by homes; but this time rental payments, rather than mortgage payments, pay the interest. Securitisation frees up money, allowing big buyers to purchase more properties with less capital by increasing their leverage – and risk.

via Wall Street Sets Its Sights on Renters | Inter Press Service.

Cyclist Killed By Hit & Run Driver In Queens : Gothamist

A cyclist and a pedestrian were both killed on North Conduit Avenue yesterday morning, their deaths coming around three miles and five hours apart. According to an NYPD release, 50-year-old Wayne White was killed by a hit and run driver as he biked west on North Conduit Avenue at around 5 a.m.. Police told the Daily News that the car struck White from behind and then fled the scene.

An NYPD spokesman said the driver is still at large. White lives roughly a mile from where he was killed.

In a study of 628 cycling fatalities nationwide from 2011 through 2013 [PDF], the League of American Bicyclists found that 40% of the cyclists killed were rear-ended; 88% of the drivers who killed the cyclists walked free.

via Cyclist Killed By Hit & Run Driver In Queens : Gothamist.

Indian minister says rapes happen ‘accidentally’ | News , International | THE DAILY STAR

{Seems there are stupid and biased men in power all over the globe – who also don’t know enough to just shut it!}

Politicians also came under fire after the fatal gang-rape in Delhi in 2012, a crime that angered the nation and shone a global spotlight on India’s treatment of women.

Several politicians have sought to blame tight jeans, short skirts and other Western influences for the country’s rise in rapes, while the head of a village council pointed to chowmein which he claimed led to hormone imbalances among men.

via Indian minister says rapes happen ‘accidentally’ | News , International | THE DAILY STAR.

In search of alternatives – Daily News Egypt

If we put aside the nationalistic and religious rhetoric in our political life, then democratic groups can present alternatives for the people to choose from. So long as there is a candidate hiding behind religion or the barrel of a gun, there can no alternative, as they stamp out any competition. So long as the people are given no platforms but words of heroism or verses of Quran, there will be no proper political or economic debate, because what discussion can there be when there is no platform to discuss? A leader of a nation should be chosen based on what his programme can offer the people, not based on the group backing him or his personal appeal.

This is, after all, what a revolution does: it presents people with the opportunity to choose. The Muslim Brotherhood killed that opportunity and paved the way for the militarised nationalistic rhetoric to win. Until the day comes when no military man nor religious leader appears on the presidential candidates list, there will be neither alternatives nor a true democracy.

via In search of alternatives – Daily News Egypt.

Bob Bergdahl remains calm at centre of storm over son released by Taliban | World news | theguardian.com

The Berdaghl family made its home in a remote, wind-whipped Idaho valley to keep the world at a certain distance. But two outside forces – the Taliban and US politics – crashed into the idyll.

It says a lot about Bob Bergdahl, 54, and the son he raised that of the two, he appears to have handled the Taliban better.

The former UPS delivery man has intrigued, inspired and infuriated the US public since the release of his son, Bowe, 28, ignited a political firestorm last week.

The ponytail and straggly beard, the phrases in Arabic and Pashto, the refusal to look or sound like a conventional dad, the theories about Bowe’s alleged desertion – all have fuelled the clamour, prompting many to ask: just who are the Bergdahls?

Interviews with friends, neighbours and colleagues in the valley and in Hailey, the nearest town, paint a nuanced portrait of a family that on one hand is sporty, Christian and all-American, fond of horses, hunting, chocolate muffins and Jimmy Fallon; and on the other bookish, private and iconoclastic, carving an individualistic trail in its own private Idaho. That lifestyle bred idealism – and, arguably, naivety.

“Bob almost reads and thinks too much,” said Lee Ann Ferris, a neighbour. “You’d ask him a question and, whoah, what an answer you’d get.”

via Bob Bergdahl remains calm at centre of storm over son released by Taliban | World news | theguardian.com.

Avian Flu Diary: PAHO: Chikungunya Numbers Jump Nearly 30K In Past Week

While rarely fatal, Chikungunya can produce a severe fever and excruciating joint pain usually lasting for at least a week.  Some studies (cite) indicate significant arthritis-like sequelae can persist for months or even years post-infection.

 

With an incubation period of between 3 and 7 days, and the enormous amount of international travel to, and from, the Caribbean, the concern is that this virus will soon migrate to other areas that also have a favorable climate and the right kind of mosquitoes.

 

Brazil is particularly at risk this summer with the FIFA World Cup, something we discussed yesterday.

 

But then, so is the United States, and even parts of Europe (Italy saw a mini-epidemic in 2007 when just one infected traveler started a chain of infection that eventually touched 300 people).

 

The good news, at least in most of the United States, is that most of us live and work in air-conditioned spaces, and live in regions that maintain pretty good mosquito control programs, and so we aren’t as apt to be continually exposed to (and bitten by) mosquitoes as people living in the Caribbean.

 

But as a native Floridian, I can assure you that it is pretty much impossible to totally avoid feeding our unofficial `state bird’.

 

The state of Florida is concerned enough that it has issued warnings to the public, and is actively Preparing For Chikungunya.  In March the CDC held a Chikungunya Webinar and last December they released a CDC HAN Advisory On Recognizing & Treating Chikungunya Infection.

No one knows if Chikungunya will spread rapidly in the United States, like West Nile Virus has over the past 15 years, or produce infrequent and highly sporadic outbreaks, as has Dengue.

 

But given its rapid global expansion over the past nine years, no one in public health is taking the threat lightly.

via Avian Flu Diary: PAHO: Chikungunya Numbers Jump Nearly 30K In Past Week.

Obama administration declares surge at TX-Mexico border of unaccompanied minors a “humanitarian crisis” | La Prensa San Diego

Fleeing life-threatening violence, extreme poverty or just wanting to be with their parents are reasons cited as to why there has been a 90 percent increase over last year of children from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico making the dangerous journey to the United States by themselves.

While various immigrant advocates have been sounding the alarm over the past several years regarding the issue, it’s finally gotten the attention of Washington.

It’s because the increase, happening mainly at the Texas-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley, is overwhelming local officials and has triggered recognition from the Obama administration that this influx of “unaccompanied alien children” is a humanitarian crisis. To address the crisis, the President has created an “interagency Unified Coordination Group.”

via Obama administration declares surge at TX-Mexico border of unaccompanied minors a “humanitarian crisis” | La Prensa San Diego.

The Bergdahl blowback: Did he deserve to be rescued? – Los Angeles Times

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wrote that “the questions about this particular soldier’s conduct are separate from our effort to recover any U.S. service member in enemy captivity. This was likely the last, best opportunity to free him. As for the circumstances of his capture, when he is able to provide them, we’ll learn the facts. Like any American, he is innocent until proven guilty.”

via The Bergdahl blowback: Did he deserve to be rescued? – Los Angeles Times.

I still get abuse from Twitter trolls, says Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington | Media | The Guardian

Rebecca Adlington is far from the only high-profile female to receive abuse and criticism on Twitter. Other public figures have been attacked over their appearance – and much worse. The activist and writer Caroline Criado-Perez, the academic Mary Beard and the MP Stella Creasy were among the women targeted. Following public outcry Twitter has introduced an in-tweet “report abuse” button on all platforms.

Caroline Criado-Perez

The feminist activist and writer, who ran a successful campaign to keep a woman on a British banknotes, received persistent graphic rape and death threats on the site. She later said of the abuse: “Men get attacked because they’ve said or done something someone doesn’t like, whereas women get attacked because they’re visible”. Two people were later jailed.

Mary Beard

The historian Mary Beard fell victim to a torrent of abuse, which she called “truly vile”, following an appearance on BBC1’s Question Time. Beard, professor of classics at Cambridge University, said of the experience: “[T]he misogyny here is truly gobsmacking … It would be quite enough to put many women off appearing in public.”

Stella Creasy

The Labour politician received a barrage of rape and death threats via Twitter after she offered her support to Caroline Criado-Perez. The MP said later there should be no distinction between online and offline behaviour. “It’s absolutely harassment; it’s absolutely designed to intimidate, to scare, to frighten you; and it’s absolutely an issue we need to see both technology companies and police understand is part of the modern world,” she said.

via I still get abuse from Twitter trolls, says Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington | Media | The Guardian.