Category Archives: human rights

The Monuments Men Recognition Act: H.R. 3658: Monuments Men Recognition Act of 2013 – POPVOX.com

One of the honorees is a woman – so she is going to be given medal recognizing Monuments “Men”?

H.R. 3658: Monuments Men Recognition Act of 2013

Summary: To grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the Monuments Men, in recognition of their heroic role in the preservation, protection, and restitution of monuments, works of art, and artifacts of cultural importance during and following World War II.

via The Monuments Men Recognition Act: H.R. 3658: Monuments Men Recognition Act of 2013 – POPVOX.com.

Divide grows between Israeli, Palestinian journalists – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

The situation of Palestinian journalists has created anger toward their Israeli counterparts for a number of reasons. For instance, Israel continues to restrict Palestinian journalists’ movements, while Israeli journalists are freely granted access to Palestinian areas.

While the Palestinian Journalists’ Association has denounced all acts of violence against journalists, including the attacks against the two Israelis in Beitunia, their Israeli counterparts rarely speak out about the travel restrictions on Palestinian journalists and regular Israeli army attacks on Palestinian journalists. Of note, on May 15, Palestinian cameramen Issam Rimawi and Abdul Kareem Mestaif were injured by rubber bullets that Palestinians believe were directed at them specifically because they were carrying cameras. The Foreign Press Association in Israel, currently headed for the first time by a Palestinian, Samer Shalabi, issued a statement that “condemns in the strongest terms” the incident and called on everyone to “respect the right of journalists on assignment to work unharmed to freely and unhindered pursue their profession.”

via Divide grows between Israeli, Palestinian journalists – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Israeli forces uproot trees, level land near Bethlehem | Maan News Agency

Israeli bulldozers leveled large tracts of Palestinian land in the Bethlehem-area village of Nahalin on Monday, locals said.

Head of the village council, Majid Ghayatha, told Ma’an that Israeli bulldozers uprooted dozens of olive and almond trees in the Wad Salem area.

Several grapevines were also destroyed.

Israeli military forces deployed on hilltops above the village to prevent land owners from accessing their fields.

Locals told Ma’an that they believe Israeli forces are clearing land for a new road connecting the Neve Daniel and Beitar Ilit settlements.

via Israeli forces uproot trees, level land near Bethlehem | Maan News Agency.

Erdogan, entourage lose control in Soma – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

The most emotional photograph from the Soma mine disaster was of a rescued miner covered all in black laid on a stretcher. His rescuer wished him good luck, and the miner said, “Should I remove my boots, so they do not dirty the stretcher?” Millions of Turks cried watching this scene. In the midst of tragedy, to see a survivor worrying about “dirtying the stretcher” was a heart-stabbing moment.

via Erdogan, entourage lose control in Soma – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Boko Haram threat: Leaders vow to wage ‘total war’ on ‘Al Qaeda of West Africa’ – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

West African leaders have agreed to work together to wage “total war” on Boko Haram, saying the Nigerian Islamist group had become a regional Al Qaeda that threatened them all.

Nigeria, its neighbours – Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin – and Western officials met in Paris to flesh out a plan enabling them for the first time to share intelligence, coordinate action and monitor borders.

It comes as a suspected Boko Haram attack was carried out on a Chinese work site in northern Cameroon, killing at least one Cameroonian soldier with 10 others feared kidnapped.

Although Boko Haram has been fighting for five years, carrying out bombings and attacks on civilians and security forces, the kidnapping last month of more than 200 schoolgirls in the north-east has focused world attention on them.

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan says Boko Haram is no longer a local threat, but has become West Africa’s Al Qaeda.

via Boko Haram threat: Leaders vow to wage ‘total war’ on ‘Al Qaeda of West Africa’ – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Shinzo Abe reveals plans to lift Japan’s ban on fighting in conflicts overseas | World news | theguardian.com

(Wonder how long it would take him to come to South Korea’s assistance to quell disruptions and help defend against North Korean aggression – and then declare that the unified Korea wanted to become part of a Greater Japan – while claiming to not be waging war)

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has announced plans to lift the country’s ban on fighting in conflicts overseas – a move that is certain to raise tensions with China and anger voters at home.

Abe called for a review of the way Japan interprets its pacifist constitution, to allow its military to participate in conflicts beyond its borders for the first time since the end of the second world war.

In an apparent attempt to address concerns in Chin and other parts of Asia where memories of Japan’s wartime conduct remain strong, he said Japan would never again become “a country that wages war”.

via Shinzo Abe reveals plans to lift Japan’s ban on fighting in conflicts overseas | World news | theguardian.com.

IAVA – Wall Street Journal- Veterans Groups Split on Support for Shinseki | Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

“We are not going to call for the secretary’s resignation,” said Dave Autry, spokesman for Disabled American Veterans, a 1.2 million-member veterans advocacy group. “We are going to find out what the result of the inspector general investigations are.”

Few veterans service organizations have followed the American Legion in publicly demanding Mr. Shinseki’s resignation. The nation’s second largest group, the Veterans of Foreign Wars has said they don’t agree with demands for Mr. Shinseki’s resignation, and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, with some 300,000 members, has yet to take a side on the debate while it polls its members, said the group’s CEO Paul Rieckhoff.

via IAVA – Wall Street Journal- Veterans Groups Split on Support for Shinseki | Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

[UPDATED] NY Times Abruptly Replaces Jill Abramson As Top Editor: Gothamist

Paying a woman less – plain and simple sexism by management – ironic and sleazy! 
Update 5:58 p.m.: In a post on the New Yorker’s blog, columnist Ken Auletta says sources tell him that in addition to other tensions with management, Abramson “discovered that her pay and her pension benefits as both executive editor and, before that, as managing editor were considerably less than the pay and pension benefits of Bill Keller, the male editor whom she replaced in both jobs.” She reportedly confronted the paper’s management—”and this may have fed into the management’s narrative that she was ‘pushy,’ a characterization that, for many, has an inescapably gendered aspect.” Auletta reports that Abramson was told she would be terminated last Friday.Update 5:58 p.m.: In a post on the New Yorker’s blog, columnist Ken Auletta says sources tell him that in addition to other tensions with management, Abramson “discovered that her pay and her pension benefits as both executive editor and, before that, as managing editor were considerably less than the pay and pension benefits of Bill Keller, the male editor whom she replaced in both jobs.” She reportedly confronted the paper’s management—”and this may have fed into the management’s narrative that she was ‘pushy,’ a characterization that, for many, has an inescapably gendered aspect.” Auletta reports that Abramson was told she would be terminated last Friday.

via [UPDATED] NY Times Abruptly Replaces Jill Abramson As Top Editor: Gothamist.