Category Archives: human rights

Photos: When Santa Monica Beach Was Segregated: LAist

The story of Santa Monica\’s Inkwell beach sounds like something out of the Jim Crow South. During the 1920\’s, the 200-foot-long strip was one of the only beaches in the county—save for a sliver of Manhattan Beach—where African-Americans were allowed to enjoy the ocean.

via Photos: When Santa Monica Beach Was Segregated: LAist.

Israeli forces demolish water tank in Nablus village | Maan News Agency

Occupation is always seemingly random in its acts of terrorism and intimidation to deny humanity of those it seeks to suppress.

 

Israeli forces demolished a water tank and an agricultural structure in the Nablus village of Aqraba on Wednesday, a local official said.

Deputy mayor of Aqraba Bilal Abdul-Hadi told Ma\’an that three bulldozers escorted by seven military vehicles stormed the al-Taweel neighborhood and began demolishing the structures, claiming they were built without authorization.

The steel agricultural structure belongs to Marwan Hussein Abdul-Hadi and the water tank to Imad Fathi Minnat Allah.

Israel has destroyed more than 558 Palestinian properties in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the beginning of this year, displacing 919 people, according to OCHA.

Between 2009 and 2011, Israel\’s military destroyed 173 water, sanitation and hygiene structures in the West Bank including 40 wells, 57 rainwater collection cisterns and at least 20 toilets and sinks, OCHA says.

via Israeli forces demolish water tank in Nablus village | Maan News Agency.

US Supreme Court Majority joins GOP attack on women’s rights – declines to block Texas abortion law – USA – FRANCE 24

A sharply divided Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Tuesday to allow Texas to continue enforcing new abortion restrictions that opponents say have led to the closure of more than a third of the state\’s clinics.

via US Supreme Court declines to block Texas abortion law – USA – FRANCE 24.

Young Chile leaders take fight from streets to Congress – CHILE – FRANCE 24

The four congressional rookies will be sworn in in March, and have pledged to continue fighting for their cause from within the system.

Vallejo, 25, a member of the Communist Party, won over 40% of votes in the popular district of La Florida near the capital of Santiago. A trained geographer, she gained wide attention as the president of the University of Chile Student Federation, or FEch in Spanish, in 2011.

On Sunday she won a seat in Congress under the broad left-wing New Majority coalition led by Bachelet.

via Young Chile leaders take fight from streets to Congress – CHILE – FRANCE 24.

Garden-Fresh Foods Shuts Down over Recalls

The Garden-Fresh Foods plant in Milwaukee has halted production and reassigned about 100 employees because of product recalls, the company said Saturday.

Garden-Fresh has recalled tons of products in eight separate recalls since the end of August. The first was announced Aug. 30, after routine sampling of retail products by Michigan food safety officials detected Listeria bacteria.

The recalls include various fresh-cut vegetables and ready-to-eat slaws, dips and spreads, as well as 50 tons of ready-to-eat chicken and ham products that were the subject of a late-October recall. Among the brand names they have been sold under are Garden-Fresh, Grandpa\’s, Weis, Finest Traditions, Archer Farms, Market Pantry, D\’Amico & Sons.

via Garden-Fresh Foods Shuts Down over Recalls.

SPIN and ? Causing problems to improve food safety? FDA Extends Comment Period for Food Safety Rules

Fears of small farmers and natural food enthusiasts are being stoked, I expect, by big food interests to make food safety improvements no so much.  Too bad;  lots of folks will be sick and too many die because of supposed threat to small farmers ability to make a living.

The Food and Drug Administration has extended the comment for food safety rules for farmers by an additional week after people said they had technical problems submitting their views online.

New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster led a New England delegation in asking for the extension. The original deadline was Friday; the new deadline is Friday, Nov. 22.

Earlier this year, farmers attended FDA sessions on the rules, which would require them to take new precautions against contamination, including ensuring workers\’ hands are washed, irrigation water is clean and that animals stay out of fields. New England farmers say many aspects of the rules were derived from large-scale farming practices that don\’t apply to the region\’s smaller farms.

via FDA Extends Comment Period for Food Safety Rules.

Israeli settlers uproot 106 olive trees near Yatta | Maan News Agency

Israeli settlers raided Palestinian agricultural areas in the southern West Bank overnight, uprooting 106 olive trees in Quwawees area east of Yatta.

Locals said that Israeli settlers destroyed 106 olive trees owned by Abd al-Nabi Makhamra in an overnight attack.

Settlers have recently destroyed trees in the area with ripe olives, in order to prevent Palestinians from harvesting them, locals added.

via Israeli settlers uproot 106 olive trees near Yatta | Maan News Agency.

Over the rainbow: what is it like to be gay around the world? | World news | The Guardian

Russia introduces an anti-gay law, while Britain makes marriage legal. So what\’s it like to be gay around the world in 2013? Men and women from Afghanistan to Uruguay talk about love, the law and coming out to your mum. Roll over the portraits below to see where the interviewees are from, and click to read their stories

In an introduction to this special report, Masha Gessen explains why she and her family have to leave Russia

via Over the rainbow: what is it like to be gay around the world? | World news | The Guardian.

IWS Documented News DAILY POSTINGS: [IWS] 64 FEDERAL COURTS NOW PUBLISH OPINIONS ON FDsys [free] [13 November 2013]

A project providing free online access to federal court opinions has expanded to include 64 courts. The federal Judiciary and the Government Printing Office partner through the GPO’s Federal Digital System, FDsys, to provide public access to more than 750,000 opinions, many dating back to 2004.

 

The Judicial Conference approved national implementation of the project in September 2012, expanding participation from the original 29 courts. FDsys currently contains opinions from 8 appellate courts, 20 district courts, and 35 bankruptcy courts.

via IWS Documented News DAILY POSTINGS: [IWS] 64 FEDERAL COURTS NOW PUBLISH OPINIONS ON FDsys [free] [13 November 2013].

Settlers firebomb Palestinian home in revenge attack | Maan News Agency

Settlers set fire to a Palestinian home in the Ramallah village of Sinjil overnight Wednesday, in an apparent revenge attack following the killing of an Israeli soldier, PA security sources said.

Settlers entered the village overnight and threw a firebomb at the home of Khaled Khalil. Five members of his family suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to a Ramallah hospital for treatment.

Settlers also sprayed graffiti on the side of a wall which read: \”Hi from Eden, revenge,\” Israeli news site Ynet said.

B\’Tselem field researcher Iyad Haddad said Rawada and Khaled Dar Khalil saw several people outside of their home in the middle of the night, with one of them pouring gasoline on their front porch.

They then lit the gasoline and drove off.

The family were trapped in the home as the front door is the only entrance and went up onto the roof. The Palestinian Authority fire department arrived forty minutes later and Israeli forces about an hour later.

via Settlers firebomb Palestinian home in revenge attack | Maan News Agency.