Renewed fighting in Myanmar′s Shan State ′threatens nationwide peace deal′ | Asia | DW.DE | 13.02.2015

Fighting started after the MNDAA took weapons from local militia in the Kokang province on Monday, February 9. Soon afterwards, other rebel groups including the Kachin Independence Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Arakan Army and Shan State Army-North joined the fight. Since 2011, the government of Myanmar has been trying to install a nationwide ceasefire by drawing up peace agreements with numerous ethnic minority rebel groups. But the recent fighting has put a halt to further agreements.

Thousands of people in the region have fled across the border into China as a result of the violence. Officials in China reacted by urging the two sides to settle the issue peacefully so that refugees could safely return to their homes.

via Renewed fighting in Myanmar′s Shan State ′threatens nationwide peace deal′ | Asia | DW.DE | 13.02.2015.

Stiffer Tax Penalties Used to Spur Insurance Enrollment – NYTimes.com

President Obama and his team are making a final, urgent push to boost government health insurance sign-ups in the next two days, in part by making sure people know that tax penalties for remaining uninsured have risen significantly.

After the enrollment deadline passes on Sunday, every adult without insurance will be subject to a minimum penalty of $325 when filing taxes next year. The fee will rise the following year to $695 per adult, more than seven times the $95 penalty for being uninsured in 2014.

via Stiffer Tax Penalties Used to Spur Insurance Enrollment – NYTimes.com.

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | My Dear Sister

For all the girls who suffer violence

I wish you could be free of the cage and

come beside your other sisters

sitting in a school chair,

hugging your books,

rather than your baby.

I wish you could wear your school clothes,

rather than a wedding dress,

laugh with your classmates,

rather than cry with your kids.

I wish you could wear the white school headscarf,

rather than wear the green wedding veil,

sleep all night so you could do well

in your studies,

rather than stay up all night for the baby.

I wish you could laugh one day.

I wish all this for you, my beloved sister,

and for all the girls forced to marry too young.

By Maryam M.

via Afghan Women’s Writing Project | My Dear Sister.

Palestine: Cycling Not to Forget

Three young women from the United Kingdom are about to start a journey that sees them cycling through Palestinian villages demolished in 1948. The Palestinian exodus, Nakba, occurred when about 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were forced to leave their homes in Mandatory Palestine, in the territory now controlled by Israel. Their right to return to their original hamlets or a possible compensation for their loss are one of the causes for discussion in the on-going Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Today the depopulated villages do not longer exist or are reduced to ruins.

via Palestine: Cycling Not to Forget.

Burma should be boycotted again! Myanmar′s Rohingya stripped of right to vote in referendum | Asia | DW.DE | 12.02.2015

Following protests by nationalist groups, the Myanmar government has decided to cancel the temporary voting rights that would have allowed the Rohingya minority to vote in the country’s upcoming referendum.

via Myanmar′s Rohingya stripped of right to vote in referendum | Asia | DW.DE | 12.02.2015.

We messed up but Greece still has to suicide? Stubb: No more patience with Greece | Europe | DW.DE | 12.02.2015

What do you have to offer Greece? Is there room for a compromise?

The compromise is very simple. They could receive an extension of the current bailout program, which in our opinion would be in Greece’s best interests. But then they would have to push on with their structural reforms. The body monitoring these structural reforms is the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF has 70 years of experience with situations like this. I don’t think we should allow any scope for populism in Europe. We have obligations and contracts, and we must stick by them.

via Stubb: No more patience with Greece | Europe | DW.DE | 12.02.2015.

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