Category Archives: human rights

Not so smooth for new white mayor to fire first black city manager of Cincinnati – FAIL!Cincinnati City Manager Dohoney will resign – Cincinnati Business Courier

\”It was best for the both of us to go in a different direction,\” Cranley said.

During the campaign, Cranley had said he would interview Dohoney for the city manager\’s job. Under the city\’s charter, the mayor does not have the power to fire the city manager without the consent of five council members.

At the news conference, Cranley denied that he had told Dohoney he had a choice between resignation or dismissal. But three sources with knowledge of the situation told the Courier otherwise, and Cranley did not deny the story when he was contacted for comment about it earlier Wednesday.

Cranley said he plans to pick an interim city manager when he takes office on Dec. 1 and would begin a search for a permanent city manager shortly thereafter.

\”I want the best city manager that shares my vision and values,\” Cranley said.

via Cincinnati City Manager Dohoney will resign – Cincinnati Business Courier.

French Fail! Black minister compared to a monkey – again – FRANCE – FRANCE 24

The latest racist attack on Taubira appeared on the cover of the far right weekly magazine, Minute, which featured a photograph of the 61-year-old black politician with the title, “Crafty as a monkey, Taubira gets her banana back”.

In French, the phrase, “to get your banana back” also means putting a smile back on your face.

The word-play was not appreciated across large swathes of French society – particularly because it was the third time the French politician has been compared to a monkey in recent weeks.

In an interview with the left-leaning French daily Libération earlier this month, Taubira recounted how she was taunted with a banana by a twelve-year-old at a street protest against same-sex marriage.

Born in the French overseas territory of French Guyana, Taubira has been a vocal defender of legislation allowing gay marriage, which was passed earlier this year.

via Black minister compared to a monkey – again – FRANCE – FRANCE 24.

Veggies on fire, villagers loot 3 bazaars in Malda – The Times of India

The trigger in Dharampur was the same as Sovanagar – potato being sold at Rs 20. Newly harvested potato was selling for a whopping Rs 60 a kilo and onion at Rs 80. Even the humble kochu (yam) was priced at Rs 45 per kg and raw banana at Rs 5 a piece. To top it all, there was little of everything. People flew into a rage and started looting the market. Some sellers began to hide their goods but the frenzied mob snatched everything. Even bundles of spinach were torn from hand to hand. It was a free for all.

Police from Manikchak reached around 9.30am but there wasn\’t anything left. Traders alleged that vegetables worth Rs 2-3 lakh were looted. In Balupur and Achintola , the loss was Rs 1 lakh each. Worryingly, clashes broke out at Achintola, and police had to lathicharge the looters.

via Veggies on fire, villagers loot 3 bazaars in Malda – The Times of India.

Hard to believe Israel wants peace… Israel ‘plans 20,000 new settler homes in West Bank’ | Maan News Agency

Israel plans to build 20,000 new settler homes in the West Bank, settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Tuesday, the biggest batch of tenders since peace talks restarted.

\”The housing ministry announced tenders for the planning of 20,000 settler homes,\” Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer told Israeli public radio.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\’s office stressed he had opposed some 1,200 of the homes slated for construction in the highly contentious area of the West Bank known as E1.

via Israel ‘plans 20,000 new settler homes in West Bank’ | Maan News Agency.

Clashes in Jerusalem after Israeli forces stop Arafat commemoration | Maan News Agency

Living under occupation

“After I was notified that on Nov. 11, 2013, the Palestinian Authority was sponsoring a celebration at Silwan club commemorating Yasser Arafat’s anniversary, without a license or a written permission, I hereby ban the activity in the club or any other location in Jerusalem,” the order read.

Fatah\’s secretary-general in Jerusalem Omar Shalabi denounced the ban and highlighted that Israeli soldiers handed summons to Maamoon Abbasi, Anas Abbasi, Muhammad Abu Swayy and Ghadyan Qemary.

Clashes broke near the club between Israeli forces and young Palestinian men. The Israelis fired stun grenades at the commemorators and as a result a motorcyclist, who was driving nearby, was injured by shrapnel.

via Clashes in Jerusalem after Israeli forces stop Arafat commemoration | Maan News Agency.

Polio virus strain in Syria confirmed as being from Pakistan: WHO | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Extremists in Northwest Pakistan have been killing those trying to vaccinate children in that area for the last two years. The same in Nigeria – to some fundamentalists – absolutely everything is political – including science – witness tea-baggers in US and UK denying climate change.

 

Islamist fighters from countries including Pakistan are among groups battling to oust President Bashar al-Assad, leading to speculation that they brought the virus into the country.

via Polio virus strain in Syria confirmed as being from Pakistan: WHO | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Jerusalem family forced to remove caravans on debris of ruined home | Maan News Agency

Living under occupation is like living in an ever evolving Kafka novel – it should not be this way!

A Palestinian family on Monday disassembled and removed their mobile homes in Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem upon orders by the Israeli municipality, a family member said.

Afif Castero told Ma’an that municipality inspectors arrived Monday morning and took photos of two caravans and a room made of bricks before they ordered his family to remove them immediately.

The inspectors, he explained, told the family the tin houses must be removed before Tuesday morning “otherwise municipality teams will remove them and the family will have to pay the bill.”

The pretext was construction without license.

Castero highlighted that his family moved to live in caravans after Israeli bulldozers demolished the family’s two-story building in February because it was built without license from the municipality.

via Jerusalem family forced to remove caravans on debris of ruined home | Maan News Agency.

Avian Flu Diary: WHO Declares Grade 3 Emergency In The Philippines

The Government estimates that some 4.5 million people have been affected in the Central Philippines. WHO is mobilizing supplies to assist the government in providing a coordinated, effective and rapid response:

An initial shipment of four emergency kits with medicines and supplies to cover basic health needs of 120 000 persons during one month and supplies to perform 400 surgical interventions are being deployed. Four diarrhoeal disease kits with medicines and supplies to treat 3000 cases of acute diarrhoea are also being sent.

WHO is also supporting the Department of Health (DoH) in strengthening its early warning alert and response network (EWARN) to rapidly detect disease outbreaks and other public health threats related to food and environmental hazards.

The Government is receiving international assistance such as field hospitals and medical teams, and WHO is working closely with the Government to ensure those supplies and teams go where they are needed most.

Medical storage spaces have also been damaged, and  WHO is working to re-establish logistics bases for new supplies that are arriving.

via Avian Flu Diary: WHO Declares Grade 3 Emergency In The Philippines.

Pakistan (Taliban) BANS memoir by Malala, the girl shot by the Taliban for going to school | Mail Online

Education officials in Pakistan have banned the memoir of Malala Yousafzai, the teenager shot by the Taliban, from 40,000 schools as she \’represents the West\’.

Adeeb Javedani, president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, said his group had banned the book from the libraries of all affiliated schools.

He said Malala, 16, was representing the West, not Pakistan.

via Pakistan BANS memoir by Malala, the girl shot by the Taliban for going to school | Mail Online.