be just

Senate Passes Healthcare Overhaul, Compromise with House Bill Looms

2009-12-24T17:28:00.000-06:00

Senate Passes Healthcare Overhaul, Compromise with House Bill Looms

Al Jazeera English - Americas - US senate passes healthcare bill

2009-12-24T17:25:00.000-06:00

Al Jazeera English - Americas - US senate passes healthcare bill: "The US senate has approved new healthcare legislation, backing sweeping changes in the medical insurance market that will offer new coverage for tens of millions of uninsured Americans.

On a party-line 60-39 vote on Thursday, senate Democrats supported the most dramatic shifts in health policy in four decades."

Garowe Online - Home

2009-12-24T16:33:00.000-06:00

Garowe Online - Home: "Somalia’s hardline insurgent Al-Shabaab group claims that they have fought with an Ethiopian rebel group in Somali southern border town of Dhobley.

According to a senior Al-Shabaab official, the fighting broke out on Saturday between the group’s militia that control the town and fighters from Ogaden National Liberation Fronts (ONLF), which fights in eastern Ethiopia.

“We have attacked the ONLF militia to stop them from attacking and seizing Dhobley town,” said the official who requested anonymity.

The official said the fighting continued for an hour and they have inflicted heavy casualties on their rivals, adding that they have received the support of the locals to devastate the ONLF militia led by Sheikh Ahmed Madobe.

Sources told Garowe Online that at least 10 people, mostly combatants from both sides have been killed and over a dozen others injured in the fighting.

However, eyewitnesses in town, which strategically situated between Somalia and Kenya border, have confirmed the eruption of the fighting but could not comment about the casualty figures.

Al-Shabaab has previously fought with Hizbul Islam, another Somali militant over the town but has since claimed that Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, whom they consider part of the Ethiopian rebel group and not Hizbul Islam, instigated the fight."

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Deaths in Yemen raid on al-Qaeda

2009-12-24T12:12:00.000-06:00

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Deaths in Yemen raid on al-Qaeda: "At least 30 suspected al-Qaeda fighters have been killed in a dawn air raid by Yemeni forces in the eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa.

Among those thought to have been killed in the raid early on Thursday was Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim preacher, who according to a Yemeni security official was linked to a man who killed 13 people at a US army base in Texas.

'Anwar al-Awlaki is suspected to be dead [in the air raid],' the unnamed Yemeni official was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.

According to US officials, al-Awlaki had contacts to Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a US soldier, who shot dead 13 people at the Fort Hood army base in the US state of Texas.

But Abdullah al-Faqih, a professor of political science at Sanaa University, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that he was sceptical of the claims being made about al-Awlaki.

'He is the son of a colleague of mine at Sanaa University. His father is an adviser to the president of Yemen. If they really wanted him, they could phone him and tell him to come back to the capital and arrest him.

'I have serious doubts about him being a target - simply because he is well connected to the government and there is no serious case against him,' al-Faqih said.

Casualties disputed

Thursday's raid supposedly struck at a meeting of al-Qaeda operatives in Wadi Rafadh, a remote mountainous region lies about 650km east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Alongside al-Awlaki, several senior members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula - a group formed of al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen and Saudi Arabia - were also thought to have been killed in the raid.

But there was confusion over the number of casualties.

'Local sources have said that the casualties from this strike was seven people only,' Mohammed al-Qadhi, a correspondent in Yemen for Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper, told Al Jazeera.

'All of those are from al-Qaeda, according to local sources, but the government reports say there are more than 30 [dead].'

No confirmation

Nasser al-Whaychi, the head of al-Qaeda in the Arabic Peninsula, was thought to have been present at the meeting at the time of the attack but it is not known if he was killed in the raid.

Initial reports also said that two other al-Qaeda commanders, identified by security sources as Saad al-Fathani and Mohammad Ahmed Saleh al-Oumir, were among those killed.

But there was no official confirmation that any of the men had been killed.

Al-Oumir is thought to have been the man who spoke at a rally in Abyane, a rare public appearance by an al-Qaeda leader, footage of which was obtained by Al Jazeera.

Thursday's attack comes a week after the raid on Abyane, which prompted the rally at which al-Oumir appeared and which allegedly killed dozens of civilians as well as al-Qaeda fighters.

Yemen's government has been battling al-Qaeda in the country at the same time as dealing with a Shia uprising in the north and rising secessionist sentiment in the south."

Somali militants enforce Taliban-style dress code | Antiwar Newswire

2009-12-24T11:16:00.000-06:00

Somali militants enforce Taliban-style dress code | Antiwar Newswire: "Residents of a southern Somali town say Islamists are enforcing a Taliban-style dress code.

Kismayo resident Abdulahi Omar Dhere says members of the al-Shabab insurgent group are targeting young men who have long hair, no beards and wear Western-style trousers below the ankle.

Dhere said Wednesday that Islamists are publicly cutting off parts of trousers that violate the order and giving haircuts to anyone with long hair. The group has ordered men to grow beards and shave mustaches.

Al-Shabab has already banned movie theaters, musical ringtones and dancing at weddings — echoing rules ones imposed by the Taliban when they ruled most of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, though the group didn't oppose long hair."

The Daily Star - Politics - Yemeni rebels say they'll leave Saudi Arabia if attacks end

2009-12-24T11:13:00.000-06:00

The Daily Star - Politics - Yemeni rebels say they'll leave Saudi Arabia if attacks end: "DUBAI: Yemeni Shiite rebels are willing to withdraw from Saudi territory in exchange for an end to cross-border attacks by the Saudi military, a rebel spokesman said on Wednesday. “We are prepared to withdraw from sites if … Saudi Arabia does not attack any one of us from its territory,” said the rebel spokesman, Mohammad Abdel-Salam.

On Tuesday, Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan gave Yemeni rebels, who are known as Houthis, the name of their leader, 24 hours to withdraw from the border village of Al-Jabiri.

“They have 24 hours to surrender, or we will destroy them,” he said.

The rebels mocked the ultimatum in a statement on their website late on Tuesday, asking why Saudi forces had not already moved against the village. “The question is: what have you been doing these past days?” the statement said.

The rebels’ spokesman said their key grievance against Saudi Arabia was the kingdom’s decision to allow the Yemeni army to use its territory against their positions, a charge that Riyadh denies.

“We believe that the essence of the problem with Saudi Arabia is not land or borders, for we faced Yemeni aggression from Saudi Arabia,” Salam said.

“We entered Saudi territory in response to Saudi aggression against Yemen, by its air force and through ground attacks in Saada [province],” he added. “All we ask for is good neighborly relations.”"

U.N. council sanctions Eritrea over Somali rebel aid - Yahoo! News

2009-12-24T11:03:00.000-06:00

U.N. council sanctions Eritrea over Somali rebel aid - Yahoo! News: "UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on the Horn of Africa state of Eritrea on Wednesday because of aid that council members say it has given to Islamist insurgents in nearby Somalia.

A resolution supported by 13 of the 15 council members slapped an arms embargo, asset freezes and travel bans on Eritrea and individuals and firms to be designated by an existing sanctions committee. Those hit would include members of the country's leadership.

The United States and other nations accuse Eritrea of supplying al Shabaab rebels with funds and arms as they fight to topple a fragile U.N.-backed transitional government in Somalia, a state that has been virtually lawless for 18 years.

Eritrea has repeatedly denied the allegation.

Libya, which has no veto in the council, voted against the resolution, while veto-holder China abstained.

Wednesday's resolution demands that Eritrea 'cease arming, training, and equipping armed groups and their members including al Shabaab, that aim to destabilize the region' and also resolve a border dispute with Djibouti.

It says 'Eritrea's actions undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia as well as the dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea constitute a threat to peace and international security.'

It's the first time U.N. sanctions have been imposed on Eritrea. The last country to be sanctioned by the United Nations for the first time was Iran in December 2006.

Council members say Uganda originally drafted the resolution after the African Union called on the 15-nation body in May to punish Eritrea over its role in Somalia. But Eritrea has charged that its true author is the United States.

'CYCLE OF CONFLICT'

In a letter to the council last week describing the sanctions as 'ludicrous punitive measures,' Eritrea's U.N. ambassador, Araya Desta, warned that the move risked 'engulfing the region into another cycle of conflict as it may encourage Ethiopia to contemplate reckless military adventures.'

Eritrea's regional rival, Ethiopia, invaded Somalia in 2006 with tacit U.S. backing to rout an Islamic courts movement from Mogadishu. It withdrew its troops earlier this year.

In Wednesday's council debate, Libyan envoy Ibrahim Dabbashi said the resolution took an 'unrealistic point of view' and that sanctions were not the way to resolve the problems in the region.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui said sanctions 'should not replace diplomatic efforts to resolve disputes through dialogue and negotiations.' China is traditionally leery of sanctions although it has voted for them in some cases.

But British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said Eritrea had violated a U.N. arms ban on Somalia.

In a telephone interview with Reuters last week, Desta insisted that 'many African nations do not support the idea of sanctions.' He said Eritrea was urging the AU to hold another meeting next year to discuss the sanctions issue.

A U.N. arms monitoring body, set up to record violations of a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia, has said Eritrea was sending munitions and giving logistical support to Somali rebels.

There is little sign the latest attempt to establish a central government in Somalia is proving any more successful than previous efforts since a dictator was ousted in 1991.

(Editing by Eric Beech)"

Modern Day Slavery in Mexico and the United States / Council on Hemispheric Affairs

2009-12-23T12:54:00.000-06:00

Modern Day Slavery in Mexico and the United States / Council on Hemispheric Affairs: "On December 3, Mexico City police freed 107 human trafficking victims who were forced to manufacture shopping bags and clothespins under “slave-like” circumstances. Officials reported that the victims exhibited signs of physical and sexual abuse, and were also malnourished, as they had been given only chicken feet and rotten vegetables. Twenty-three individuals were arrested and charged with human trafficking after one of the workers escaped and informed the authorities about the dire situation. Despite that fact that Mexican states have enacted some forms of anti-trafficking legislation, there have been no criminal convictions of traffickers to date. In the coming months, it awaits to be seen if those captured on December 3rd will be convicted. While the discovery of this trafficking ring has made for lurid headlines, doubt regarding whether or not these criminals will be brought to justice illuminates the fact that Mexico still has a long road ahead in eradicating the destructive industry of human trafficking.

Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is the fastest growing illegal industry in the world and, by 2010, it is predicted to surpass the illicit drug trade, which will make it the world’s largest criminal activity. The United Nations defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, […] for the purpose of exploitation.” A common misconception is that an individual must cross international borders to be considered a victim of human trafficking; however, as evidenced by the United Nations’s definition, this is not always the case.

According to the United Nations, human trafficking generates an estimated $32 billion in revenue each year. According to a State Department estimate, between 600,000 and 800,000 individuals are trafficked annually, with women and children especially being targeted. The State Department estimates that 70 percent of trafficking victims are female and that nearly 50 percent of the victims are younger than 18. Moreover, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), of the 12.3 million people who are currently subjected to forced labor, bonded labor, or the commercial sex industry, 2.4 million have been trafficked. Of these, 80 percent are used for sexual exploitation while the remaining victims are forced to labor on farms or in factories.

President Obama Addresses Trafficking

President Obama spoke in Tokyo last November about the need for international collaboration in fighting against modern-day slavery. Mr. Obama discussed the need for vigilance in combating human trafficking, stating that the industry is a “transnational problem.” He went on to emphasize that countries must work together to put a “stop to this scourge of modern-day slavery once and for all.” Many anti-trafficking advocates argue that the emotional reaction engendered by “slavery” accurately captures the industry’s deplorable nature and applauded President Obama’s use of modern slavery.

On the subject of using the term, “slavery,” Luis C. de Baca, the U.S. Ambassador for Human Trafficking, remarked, “we cannot create terms that are too bland, [because they] ameliorate the conditions victims experience.” Human trafficking thus represses basic human rights and represents a global civil rights imperative. While world leaders publicly acknowledge the destructive nature of this illegal industry, countries must work together to truly eradicate human trafficking. In particular, neighboring countries, like the U.S. and Mexico, must combine forces to eliminate all forms of criminal activity, as human trafficking is often a symptom of larger social problems.

The Trafficking Process

At a macro-level, individuals are “pushed” from countries that have few economic or educational opportunities available and “pulled” towards wealthier countries that have a demand for sex and labor. These countries are typically impoverished and suffering from conflicts or natural disasters. Victims in developing countries are especially susceptible to traffickers’ offers of economic prosperity in a developed country, like the U.S. As social turmoil typically weakens the law enforcement system, traffickers can operate without fear of being prosecuted and brought to justice. Victims of trafficking do not necessarily arrive to their destination countries immediately, but are instead passed through what is known as a transit country. The final point in a victim’s journey is entering the destination country where he or she is subsequently exploited for labor or sex. Throughout the process, traffickers employ a combination of deception and force to capture and terrorize their victims.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, individuals who are trafficked fall victim to acts of force, fraud, and coercion. The vast majority of human trafficking victims are raped, physically abused, and confined by their captors. According to the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 95 percent of trafficking victims experience physical or sexual violence. This violence frequently occurs during the first stage of victimization, termed the “seasoning process,” where captors abuse victims in order to break their resistance and make them easier to control. Trafficked individuals also fall prey to false promises such as offers for employment in other countries. Women and children typically reply to advertisements for positions as waitresses, maids, or dancers and are subsequently trafficked into brothels and other forced labor situations.

Finally, coercion in trafficking cases often involves the captors threatening the victim or the victim’s family with physical harm if the trafficked individual fails to cooperate. Traffickers often steal important government issued documents, like passports or identity cards, from the individual in an attempt to impede his or her escape. Additionally, individuals are often caught in endless cycles of debt bondage. The trafficker typically argues that the individual must work to pay off the cost of the trans-border passage, while also paying for living expenses in the host country. According to the U.S. Health and Human Services, “fines for not meeting daily quotas of service or ‘bad’ behavior are also used by some trafficking operations to increase debt” of their victims. Individuals are thus caught in a cycle of debt and, due to language, social, and physical barriers they are reluctant to seek assistance from local authorities or family members back home. Each year, according to the U.S. State Department, between 14,500 and 17,500 individuals are trafficked into the United States with a large percentage of these victims originating from or traveling through Mexico.

Mexican Drug and Human Trafficking

The U.S.-Mexico border is an especially conflicted area where transnational crime is rampant. Mexican President Felipe Calderon explained the relationship between criminal activity in Mexico and the U.S. saying, “the more secure Mexico is, the more secure the United States will be.” As Mexico and the U.S. are connected physically and through criminal links, issues the Mexican government deals with will subsequently impact the U.S. Many of the Mexican criminal networks notable for narcotrafficking are also involved in human trafficking. According to the Inter Press Service, “at least 20 networks are involved in the trafficking of persons, with links to organised crime rings involved in other activities like drug smuggling.” Rampant corruption plagues the U.S.-Mexico border, where high-ranking Mexican officials have been accused of taking bribes from drug rings. According to Gary Hale, DEA intelligence chief for Houston, the U.S. effort to end the drug war has forced these criminal networks to seek “other crime activities to generate their income.” Hale reports that, due to the U.S. government’s crackdown on drug trafficking, crime rings income has decreased significantly. As a result, many of the criminal networks have searched for other activities, like human trafficking, to supplement their income.

Ambassador C. de Baca believes that focusing on eradicating human trafficking could improve U.S.-Mexican efforts to combat other forms of transnational crime. According to C. de Baca, human trafficking “appears to be an area where the [Mexican government] is prepared to cooperate with [the U.S.].” C. de Baca and others are hopeful that the exchange of information on human trafficking cases will build relationships between Mexican and U.S. officials that might help further combat the drug war.

Trafficking in Mexico

The State Department classifies Mexico as a source, transit, and a destination nation for human trafficking. The State Department also has labeled Mexico a “Tier 2” country, meaning that it has yet to fully implement effective anti-trafficking measures. While many Mexican states have adopted measures to criminalize human trafficking, the report found that “no convictions or stringent punishments against trafficking offenders were reported last year.” The government’s failure to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice further enables this damaging industry to effectively function. The trafficking industry is also contingent on corruption at the local level and, as many officials routinely receive generous bribes from traffickers, few regional trafficking measures are strictly enforced.

Mexican Victims in the United States

In response to the human trafficking link between the U.S. and Mexico, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), funded by the U.S. State Department, recently published the Human Trafficking Assessment Tool for Mexico (HTAT). The report states that “one of the greatest challenges regarding trafficking in persons in Mexico is that the phenomenon is believed to be extensive, but has yet to be documented in a systematic manner.” While estimates of human trafficking in Mexico can be somewhat allusive, the U.S. State Department and the United Nations have begun to devote more attention to the issue.

Mexico is one of the world’s largest source countries in the hemisphere and countless numbers of these victims being trafficked into the United States originate here. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Mexico ranks “high” as an origin country in its annual trafficking report. Traffickers employ a variety of strategies to ensnare their victims, ranging from false promises of employment in the United States to kidnapping. Often, individuals pay “coyotes,” or immigrant smugglers, to help them cross over into the U.S. These individuals, anxious for the opportunities these coyotes promise, turn over thousands of dollars in transportation fees. However, the line between coyote and trafficker is tenuous at best and smugglers often enslave those in their charge. Mexican women and children are particularly vulnerable to falling prey to traffickers as they are highly valued commodities for sex traffickers supplying destination countries, like the United States and Canada. Due to the Mexico’s proximity to the U.S. and the relaxed government regulations concerning trafficking, a huge percentage of the sex trafficking victims in the U.S. originate in Mexico.

Mexican victims of sex trafficking often appear in the United States either as prostitutes or as bargirls in cantinas. In high volume brothels, according to the State Department, these women and children are forced to service from 10 to 40 clients each day and are extremely vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases and excessive physical violence. While prostitution is illegal in most of the United States, “cantinas” — restaurants and bars where clients watch, grope and, on occasion, have sexual encounters with the young victims — are legal and lucrative businesses.

On November 25, Brooklyn police discovered a sex trafficking ring and found a young Mexican woman who had been forced into prostitution and the buried remains of her two month-old son. The brothel owners, illegal immigrants from Mexico themselves, face criminal charges for sex trafficking in the Brooklyn Federal Court. Domingo Salazar, the man accused of organizing the woman’s capture, allegedly traveled to Mexico, impregnated the young woman and smuggled her back to the United States. Coyotes, or traffickers, intentionally try to impregnate young women because they will be less likely to return home bearing an illegitimate child. This act of coercion is unfortunately a common factor in trafficking Mexican women into brothels in the U.S.

Once she arrived in the U.S., the young woman was forced to engage in sexual activities with 25 clients daily and was regularly abused by her captors. After she gave birth in November of 2007, the owners of the illegal establishment barred her from seeking medical treatment for her infant, who died two months later. After 2 years in bondage, investigators received a tip, raided the brothel, freed the young woman, and arrested the couple. Officials continue to search for other victims of this couple’s dreadful business. In response to the crime and investigation, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged victims to speak out saying, “We all have an obligation to help each other, and if somebody really is being trafficked, you’ve got to make that phone call.” Just as New Yorkers must “help each other,” the U.S. and Mexico need to collaborate in order to prevent human trafficking and ensure proper treatment for victims of the illegal industry. If Mexican authorities fail to promote more stringent measures against human trafficking, these heinous acts will continue to be encountered in the U.S. and other destination countries. Conversely, the U.S. must also address the country’s demand for prostitutes and inexpensive laborers.

In addition to sex trafficking, victims from Mexico are also held captive by farm operators, who exploit them as a source of cheap labor. Ambassador C. de Baca has said that, “the pickles and tomatoes that we eat are more and more being picked by people held against their own will.” While U.S. citizens are starting to become more aware of sexual trafficking, few individuals realize that modern-day slavery is taking place on U.S. farms. Unfortunately, the demand for inexpensive labor in the U.S. often leads to the exploitation of illegal immigrants and trafficking victims. Especially in the current financial climate, more farm and factory owners are in need of cheap labor to ensure that profits remain high despite the economic downturn.

Victims in Transit are Vulnerable to Traffickers

Mexico also acts as an intermediary location between the individual’s country of origin and the nation where he or she will be enslaved. Statistics representing Mexico as a transit country for traffickers are particularly lacking, as many individuals enter Mexico illegally and only briefly pass through the country. According to the U.S. State Department, “victims from South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia, are trafficked into Mexico for sexual or labor exploitation, or transit the country en route to the United States.” The Human Trafficking Assessment Tool reports that, of the estimated 500,000 Central Americans that travel through Mexico hoping to reach the U.S., 20,000 to 50,000 of these immigrants fall victim to human traffickers. The overwhelming majority of these victims are trafficked to the U.S., and a small minority of individuals are trafficked into Canada.

Unaccompanied Immigrants Captured and Forced to Work in Mexico

The U.S. State Department reports a new trend that immigrants from Central and South America, traveling towards the U.S., are captured and exploited in Mexico. Guatemalans, living in a country wrought by political instability, violence, and crime, are often desperate to improve their economic situations and provide for their families. Devastatingly, human traffickers play upon their victims’ desperation. Luis C. de Baca observed that, “though [human traffickers] deal in misery, what they’re pitching is hope: hope for a better life, hope for a better opportunity.”

With such a hope of improving her opportunities, a young Guatemalan woman left home to travel through Mexico in search of the fabled “American Dream.” On December 2nd, the Mexican newspaper El Universal related the story of Nancy, a young Guatemalan woman, who left her native Guatemala with her brother hoping to travel through Mexico and then into the United States. The pair boarded a northbound train secretly but members of a gang called Los Zetitas viciously attacked them. The group of armed men, known for participating in drug and human trafficking, is only one of many such organizations operating in Mexico along the migratory route. The men grabbed Nancy and threw her into a car that soon departed, leaving her frantic brother behind. Nancy spent the next two and a half months working in a brothel along the U.S.-Mexico border before she was able to contact her brother, who soon organized her rescue. According to the article, her story is shared by nearly 20,000 Central Americans currently forced to work in the sex industry throughout Mexico.

Mexican Child Sex Tourism

Mexican women and children are also forced from their homes due to economic issues and sent to work in the sex industry in Mexican tourist centers and border towns. ECPAT, an organization whose acronym stands for “End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes reports that the country has “long been regarded as a popular sex tourism location.” The State Department report also emphasizes that a “significant” amount of women and children are trafficked from within Mexico and forced into the sex industry. Each year, nearly 20,000 Mexican children are trafficked and forced into sex work in tourist centers like Acapulco and Cancún, and the border towns of Juárez and Tijuana. These cities become magnets for sex tourists and, especially pedophiles, that prey on minors who have been trafficked to border areas.

ECPAT enumerates three possible categories for child sex tourists. Those that do not travel to a country to initiate sexual relations but take advantage of the children when they arrive are called situational abusers. According to ECPAT, “the situational offender is an indiscriminate sex tourist who is presented with the opportunity to interact sexually with a person under 18.” The majority of child sex tourists are of this type. The second type, the preferential child sex tourist, displays an “active sexual preference for children” but is also attracted to adults. This type of individual typically seeks out adolescent children. Finally, pedophiles are sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children exclusively. Pedophiles and preferential child sex tourists represent the minority of child sex abuse cases. U.S. citizens are driving the demand for the trafficking of children by making trips, whether with a specific purpose or chanced interest, to brothels for the explicit purpose of exploiting children. ECPAT reports that 36 percent of U.S. child sex tourist cases involved crimes committed in Mexico. Mexico must address the trafficking of these child victims so that they are not available to situational abusers. The U.S. must also work to prevent these criminal acts by investigating the child sex tourism websites and networks that draw preferential child sex tourists and pedophiles.

An example of a child sex tourist case can be found in a November 25 article in the Arizona Daily Star. The paper reported that a former school superintendent pled guilty to charges that he planned a child sex tour of Mexico. The man, who indicated he was interested in a 13 or 14 year-old boy, arranged his trip with undercover agents. Officials arrested him as he crossed into Mexico and he now faces between five to nine years in a federal prison. According to Mario Fuentes, director of Mexico’s Centre for Studies and Research in Social Development and Assistance, “As long as the political will to combat trafficking is lacking, and until further legal changes are adopted, nothing is going to change.” Without stricter legislation and enforcement, the U.S.-Mexico border cities will continue to be a safe haven for American tourists to sexually exploit girls and boys.

Tackling the Issue

However, in its annual report, the State Department also applauded Mexico’s enactment of federal anti-trafficking laws that dole out six to twelve years of prison time to convicted traffickers. Nonetheless, they continued to be concerned that supportive legislation is not being implemented at the local level. To date, only twenty-two of the thirty-one Mexican states have ratified at least partial trafficking laws, but there have been no reports of any convictions at the local, state, or federal level this past year. “So far there have been no convictions, which is a very serious problem,” said ABA ROLI Consultant Gretchen Kuhner. “But the law against trafficking in Mexico is very new, and more time is needed to evaluate its implementation.” With Mexico’s federalist system, it is the responsibility of the state to enact legislation and subsequently punish offenders. The lack of prosecutions demonstrates a fundamental disconnect between the intentions of the federal government and the actual implementation of these reforms.

Corruption prevents federal legislation, ratified to adhere to international standards, from being implemented at the local level. According to the Trafficking Report, “some officials reportedly accepted or extorted bribes or sexual services, falsified identity documents, discouraged trafficking victims from reporting their crimes, or ignored child prostitution and other human trafficking activity in commercial sex sites.” In response to his country’s rampant corruption, Mexican President Felipe Calderón launched Operation Limpieza, a program intended to rid the government of crooked officials. The program resulted in dozens of arrests and was intended to demonstrate, especially to the U.S., Mexico’s commitment to establishing a morally upright law enforcement and judicial system. The Mexican government must continue to exhibit such dedication if it hopes to truly clean up its act and prosecute these criminals.

Possibly the most flawed aspect of existing Mexico’s legislation is that the victims themselves must bring charges against the offenders in order for the crime to be considered human trafficking. The obvious issue with this mandate is that the victims, who have been coerced and forced into servitude, are often far too traumatized and frightened to speak up against the traffickers. Victims often fear for the safety of their families as the traffickers, who are typically members of larger criminal networks, have the contacts necessary to avenge any criminal investigation that might result from the victims’ testimonies. Furthermore, without a real assurance that Mexican law enforcement officers will prosecute these offenders, victims will unfortunately be tempted to maintain their silence.

Protecting Victims of Trafficking

In addition to strengthening the existing legislation and ensuring that anti-trafficking laws are strictly enforced, the Mexican government must begin to serious protect the victims of human trafficking. Last year, the government allotted a mere $5.45 million to shelter victims of human trafficking in a variety of protection programs. The bulk of assistance provided for these victims has come from international organizations and national non-governmental organizations. Of more concern is that Mexican victims are typically directed to contact local resources, which are often lacking, and foreign victims are often deported within 90 days. These individuals are returned to their homes without regard for the potential economic or political difficulties that await them. Furthermore, given the far reach of these criminal organizations, deporting victims makes them available and vulnerable once again to trafficking.

Preventing Human Trafficking

The most important measure that must be taken to eliminate human trafficking is to work for the alleviation of poverty. Economic instability forces individuals, desperate to provide for their families, to seek employment opportunities in developed countries. According to the Associated Press, in Mexico from 2006 to 2008, people suffering from extreme poverty, or those surviving on less than $1.25 a day, rose from 13.8 million to 19.5 million citizens. Ordinary poverty, or those who cannot pay for housing, transportation, and education, increased from 42.6 million to 50.6 million people over the same time period. Poverty also weakens social infrastructure and generates “zones of impunity” where traffickers can operate freely. Alleviating poverty empowers potential victims and prevents them from falling prey to the false promises of traffickers. In addition, countries must not only address human trafficking but also work to eliminate all forms of criminal activities within their borders. Educating citizens, in developed and developing countries alike, about human trafficking is the first step to reducing misunderstandings about the illegal industry and empowering victims to advocate on their own behalf.

The traffickers play upon an individuals’ lack of awareness and social inequality to lure victims away from their homes and into a rapacious vocation. As a result, the individual does not understand that rather than gaining a steady job in the United States, he or she will be forced into prostitution or to labor on a farm. Supplying citizens with knowledge about trafficking affords them the ability to advocate on behalf of the exploited. The State Department reports that FEVIMTRA, the Mexican Attorney General’s Crimes Against Women and Trafficking in Persons Unit, began an educational campaign and distributed anti-trafficking material throughout the country. While this is a positive initiative, the State Department reported an “uneven” relationship between law enforcement and local NGOs, in that the work of the latter far exceeds the attention of the former to the subject. The Mexican government must endeavor to bridge this communication gaps between local and international organizations and law enforcement personnel.

Human trafficking takes advantage of and perpetuates economic and gender inequality. This illicit industry relies upon economic disparities to uproot impoverished individuals and transport them to areas where there is a consumer base for these services. The victims, who then do not have any opportunity to earn an income, cannot improve their economic situations or those of their families. In addition, many victims, due to emotional and physical trauma or social stigma, are barred from seeking gainful employment once liberated, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty. In regards to the trafficking of women and girls, human trafficking plays upon the image of a woman as a commodity, and commercializes the female body. Preventing human trafficking requires eliminating the gender and economic inequality that the industry relies upon to function.

Future Steps to be Taken

Collaboration between U.S. and Mexican authorities regarding the elimination of corruption and improving informational technology will help eliminate the prevalence of this malevolent industry. The most important step for both the U.S. and Mexico is to communicate and collaborate on issues involved with human trafficking. The industry thrives on so-called “zones of impunity,” or areas where traffickers can operate without fear of prosecution, and the elimination of such areas through international collaboration is crucial to effectively combat trafficking.

Another important process involves the eradication of corruption in both the U.S. and Mexico to ensure that perpetrators and “turned” police personnel are brought to justice. Victims will only begin to have faith in law enforcement and the justice system once they witness the convictions of offenders. Until these criminals are brought to justice, victims will continue to live in fear, both of their captors and of law enforcement. Finally, empowering Mexican civil society through improvements in technology is necessary for equipping citizens and victims with the tools to report these crimes. For example, implementing a national hotline and informative websites enables victims to cite instances of trafficking and locations where they can be found. The Mexican government must work to not only develop these technologies but also make them accessible throughout the country, which could be aided by skillfully applied funding.

Concluding Remarks

No country is immune to human trafficking. All nations, whether they are classified as source, transit, or destination countries, are being profoundly damaged by this illicit and demoralizing industry. While the United Nations regards the Asia Pacific region as the “most vulnerable” to human trafficking, the presence of trafficking in Latin America is growing. The current economic downturn’s effect on the region will undoubtedly lead to an increase in human trafficking throughout Latin America. The region must work together with the United States, which represents the largest destination country in the hemisphere, to ensure that countries are doing as much as possible to eradicate modern day slavery. While it is not easy for either the U.S. or Mexico to acknowledge the weight of the issue, both countries will, in fact, be key players in the fight against human trafficking."

Galloway raps Arabs over forsaking Gaza

2009-12-23T12:52:00.000-06:00

Galloway raps Arabs over forsaking Gaza: "British Member of Parliament George Galloway has leveled strong criticism at Arabs over their inaction and failure to play a role in organizing aid convoys to the besieged Gaza Strip.

“It is a shame that this convoy [Lifeline 3] is coming from Europe and not from the Arab countries,” Galloway told reporters upon his arrival at Damascus International Airport.

He said that Lifeline 3 charity convoy is a message of solidarity with the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip on the first anniversary of the Israeli onslaught against the coastal sliver.

Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to medical sources. The Israeli assault also led to the destruction of schools, mosques, houses as well as UN compounds, inflicting $ 1.6 billion damage on the Gaza economy.

The British anti-war activist added that the third Viva Palestina convoy is aimed to direct the world's attention to Israeli war criminals who committed the horrendous crimes in Gaza as well as the courageous Palestinian resistance. He voiced hope that the Egyptian authorities would secure the arrival of the convoy without hindrance.

Galloway meanwhile expressed his deep gratitude to Syrian authorities for the contribution they made to facilitate the entry of the Lifeline 3 convoy organized by the UK-based Viva Palestina movement. Galloway described Syria as a fortress and the symbol of pride that has never forsaken Palestine.

The third international convoy to Gaza departed from London on December 5, 2009. The convoy is made up of volunteers from Britain, Ireland, Belgium and Malaysia, who have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in their local communities to pay for ambulances, minibuses, vans and lorries and to fill them with medical and other aid that is desperately needed in Gaza.

Lifeline 3 will arrive in Gaza on December 27 through the Rafah border crossing to make a dent in the ongoing Israeli blockade imposed on the impoverished enclave.

Israeli political and military authorities now face the possibility of international prosecution and arrest over war crimes in the Gaza Strip. A British court has issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

The UN Security Council awaits investigative reports ordered pursuant to recommendations made by UN investigator Richard Goldstone, who detailed countless Israeli war crimes not just in the attacks on Gaza in 2008, but throughout the Israeli siege, which began in 2006.

Meanwhile, Egypt is building a wall along its border with Gaza which is installed and funded by the US in order to block the tunnels that have served as the only lifeline for needed food, household and consumer goods in Gaza."

: Information Clearing House - ICH

2009-12-23T12:51:00.000-06:00

: Information Clearing House - ICH: "December 22, 2009 'Information Clearing House' -- By spring of 2000, Texas governor George W. Bush was wrapping up the Republican nomination for president, and he went on to dominate the rest of the decade. If Dickens proclaimed of the 1790s revolutionary era in France that it was the best of times and the worst of times, the reactionary Bush era was just the worst of times. I declare it the decade of the American oligarchs. Just as the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union allowed the emergence of a class of lawless 'Oligarchs' in Russia, so Neoliberal tax policies and deregulation produced American equivalents. (For more on the analogy, see Michael Hudson.) We have always had robber barons in American politics, but the Neoliberal moment created a new social class. At about 1.3 million adults, it is not too large to have some cohesive interests, and its corporations, lobbyists, and other institutions allow it to intervene systematically in politics. It owns 45 percent of the privately held wealth and is heading toward 50, i.e. toward a Banana Republic. Thus, we have a gutted fairness doctrine and the end of anti-trust concerns in ownership of mass media, allowing a multi-billionaire like Rupert Murdoch to buy up major media properties and to establish a cable television channel which is nothing but oligarch propaganda. They established 'think tanks' like the American Enterprise Institute, which hires only staff that are useful agents of the interests of the very wealthy, and which produce studies denying global climate change or lying about the situation in Iraq. Bush-Cheney were not simply purveyors of wrong-headed ideas. They were the agents of the one percent, and their policies make perfect sense if seen as attempts to advance the interests of this narrow class of persons. It is the class that owns our mass media, that pays for the political campaigns of 'our' (their) representatives, that gives us the Bushes and Cheneys and Palins because they are useful to them, and that blocks progressive reform and legislation with the vast war chest funneled to them by deep tax cuts that allow them to use essential public resources, infrastructure and facilities gratis while making the middle class pay for them.

Here are my picks for the top ten worst things about the wretched period, which, however, will continue to follow us until the economy is re-regulated, anti-trust concerns again pursued, a new, tweaked fairness doctrine is implemented, and we return to a more normal distribution of wealth (surely a quarter of the privately held wealth is enough for the one percent?) It isn't about which party is in power; parties can always be bought. It is about how broadly shared resources are in a society. Egalitarianism is unworkable, but over-concentration of wealth is also impractical. The latter produced a lot of our problems in the past decade, and as long as such massive inequality persists, our politics will be lopsided.

10. Stagnating worker wages and the emergence of a new monied aristocracy. Of all the income growth of the entire country of the United States in the Bush years, the richest 1 percent of the working population, about 1.3 million persons, grabbed up over two-thirds of it. The Reagan and Bush cuts in tax rates on the wealthy have created a dangerous little alien inside our supposedly democratic society, of the super-rich, with their legions of camp followers (sometimes referred to as 'analysts' or 'economists' or 'journalists'). The new lords and ladies are the Dick and Liz Cheneys and the people for whom they shill. They are the Rupert Murdochs and the Richard Mellon Scaifes, and they are guaranteed to own more and more of the country as long as more progressive taxation (i.e. pre-Reagan, not pre-Bush) is not restored. They are the ones who didn't want a public universal health option, did not want the wars abroad to end abruptly, did not want the Copenhagen Climate convention to succeed. They are driven by pure greed and narrow profit-seeking for themselves. They always get their way, and they always will as long as you poor stupid bastards buy the line that when the government raises their taxes, it is taking something away from you. It is the alliance of the Neoliberal super-rich with the new lower middle class populists led by W. and now by Sarah Palin that produces clown politics in the US unmatched in most advanced industrial countries with the possible exception of Italy.

9. Health and food insecurity increased for ordinary Americans. Health care costs skyrocketed. Most Americans in the work force who have health care are covered via their employers. 'From 1999 to 2009 health insurance premiums increased 132%' for the companies paying most of the costs of coverage to their employees. Euromonitor adds, 'Average private health insurance premiums for a family of four in 1999 were US$5,485 per annum or 7.2% of household disposable income. 2008 premiums were estimated at US$12,973 per annum or 14.8% of average household disposable income.' By Bush's last year in office, food insecurity among American families was at a 14-year high. About 49 million Americans, one in six of us, worried about having enough food to eat at some points in that year, and resorted to soup lines, food stamps, or dietary shortcuts. Some 16 million, according to the NYT, suffered from '“very low food security,” meaning lack of money forced members to skip meals, cut portions or otherwise forgo food at some point in the year.' Hundreds of thousands of children are going hungry in the richest country in the world. From being a proud, wealthy people, our social superiors reduced us to the estate of third-world peasants, so as to make sure their bonuses were bigger.

8. The environment became more polluted. The Bush administration was the worst on record on environmental issues. Carbon emissions grew unchecked, and the threat of climate change accelerated. In fact, Bush muzzled government climate scientists and had their reports rewritten by lawyers from Big Oil.

7. The imperial presidency was ensconced in ways it will be difficult to pare back. But note that its powers were never used against the oligarchs (unlike the case in Putin's Russia), but rather deployed to ensure the continued destruction of the labor movement and the political bargaining power of workers and the middle class, and to harass and disrupt peace, rights and environmental movements. A part of this process was the abrogation of fourth amendment protections against arbitrary search, seizure and snooping into people's mail and effects, and of other key constitutional rights under vague and unconstitutional rubrics such as 'providing material aid to terrorists,'(rights which seem unlikely ever to be restored).

6. The Katrina flood and the destruction of much of historic African-American New Orleans, and the massive failure of the Bush administration to come to the aid of one of America's great cities. The administration's unconcern about the unsound dam infrastructure, about climate change, and about the fate of the victims are all a wake-up call for what all of us have in store from the small social class that Bush served.

5. The Bush administration's post-2002 mishandling of Afghanistan, where the Taliban had been overthrown successfully in 2001 and were universally despised. The Bush administration's attempt to assert itself with a big troop presence in the Pashtun provinces, its use of search and destroy tactics and missile strikes, its neglect of civilian reconstruction, and its failure to finish off al-Qaeda, allowed an insurgency gradually to grow. It should have been nipped in the bud, but was not. Once an insurgency becomes well established, it is defeated militarily only about 20 percent of the time. Eight years later, the Neoconservative thrust into Central Asia (in search of hydrocarbon leverage, or in a geopolitical pissing match with Russia and China?) of the early years of this decade has bequeathed us yet another war, this time one that could destabilize neighboring Pakistan-- the world's sole Muslim nuclear power.

4. The Iraq War, which the US illegally launched a war of aggression that killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, displaced 4 million (over as million abroad), destroyed entire cities such as Fallujah, set off a Sunni-Shiite civil war, allowed Baghdad to be ethnically cleansed of its Sunnis, practiced systematic and widespread torture before the eyes of the Muslim Middle East and the world, and immeasurably strengthened Iran's hand in the Middle East. All this on false pretexts such as 'weapons of mass destruction' or 'democratization,' for the sake of opening the Iraqi oil markets to US hydrocarbon firms-- a significant faction of the oligarchic class. Cost to the US in American military life: 4,373 dead as of Dec 15 and 31,603 wounded in combat. The true totals of war-related dead and injured are higher, since 30,000 troops who were only diagnosed with brain injuries on their return to the US are not counted in the statistics, according to Michael Munk. The cost of the Iraq War when everything is taken into account will likely be $3 trillion.

3. The great $12 trillion Bank Robberry, in which unscrupulous bankers and financiers were deregulated and given free rein to create worthless derivatives, sell impossible mortgages to uninformed marks who could not understand their complicated terms, and then to roll this garbage up into securities re-sold like the
Cheshire cat, with a big visible smile of asserted value hanging in the air even as their actual worth disappeared into thin air. Having allowed the one-percent oligarchs to capture most of the increase of the country's wealth in recent decades, Bush and Paulsen now initiated the surrender to them of nearly a further entire year's gross domestic product of the US, stealing it from the rest of us by deficit budget financing that will have the effect of deflating our savings and property values and relative value of our currency against other world currencies. That is, we are to be further beggared for sake of the super-rich. And while the banks and bankers are held harmless, the hardworking Americans who have lost and will lose their homes are extended virtually no help. While 500,000 American children will go hungry at least some of the time this year, the Oligarchs at Goldman, Sachs, will get millions in bonuses, on the backs of the ordinary taxpayers. It seems likely to me that the creation of a pool of vast excess liquidity for the super-rich by the Reagan-Cheney tax cuts was what impelled them to develop the derivatives, since they had too much capital for ordinary investment purposes and were restlessly seeking new gaming tables. The conclusion is that until we get our gini coefficient back into some sort of synch, we are likely at risk for further such meltdowns.

2. The September 11 attacks on New York and Washington by al-Qaeda, an organization that stemmed from the Reagan administration's anti-Soviet jihad in the 1980s and which decided that, having defeated one superpower, it could take down the other. Al-Qaeda's largely Arab volunteer fighters had confronted the Soviets over their occupation of a major Muslimm country, Afghanistan. Bin Laden was himself a Neoliberal Oligarch, but he broke with the Gulf consensus of seeking a US security umbrella, thus creating a fissure within his powerful social class. Al-Qaeda viewed the US as only a slightly less objectionable occupier, though they were willing to make an atliance of convenience in the 1980s. But they were increasingly enraged and galvanized to strike, they said, by the post-Gulf-War sanctions on Iraq that killed 500,000 children, the debilitating Israeli occupation of the Palestinians, and the establishment of US bases in the holy Arabian Peninsula (with its oil riches that Bin Laden believed were being looted for pennies by the West, aided by a supine and corrupt Saudi dynasty). Al-Qaeda was a small fringe crackpot group of murderous conspiracy theorists, since most of what they considered an American 'occupation' of Muslims was no such thing. The leasing of Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia was comparable to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? They intended to make themselves look like a world-historical force, and the US new Oligarchs, who no longer had the international Communist conspiracy with which to scare the American public into letting them have their way, were happy to buy in to the hyping of al-Qaeda, as well. But the catastrophe was not only the attacks, deadly and horrific though they were, but the alacrity with which Americans rsurrendered their birthright of yeoman liberties to a Bonapartist regime that ran roughshod over law, the constitution, the Congress, and anyone, such as Ambassador Joe Wilson, who dared oppose it.

1. The constitutional coup of 2000, in which Bush was declared the winner of an election he had lost, with the deployment of the most ugly racial and other low tricks in the ballot counting and the intervention of a partisan and far right-wing Supreme Court (itself drawn from or serving the oligarchs), and which gave us the worst president in the history of the union, who proceeded to drive the country off a cliff for the succeeding 8 years. And that is because he was not our president, but theirs.

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute. Visit his website http://www.juancole.com/"

The Seminal » Obama’s Senate Health Care Bill: A “Uniquely American” Idiocy

2009-12-21T17:24:00.000-06:00

The Seminal » Obama’s Senate Health Care Bill: A “Uniquely American” Idiocy: "In Copenhagen last week, when Senator James Inhofe tried to sell reporters on his climate change denialism, the European press corp showed the American media how to take its job seriously: 'You are an idiot,' one German reporter said to his face. Sometimes, that’s what reporting the truth requires.

And that’s exactly what the America media should be saying to the White House and the Senate Democratic leadership for the travesty of a health 'reform' bill now slouching towards Christmas eve. Only a group of idiots would have concocted this incoherent mishmash and called it 'reform.'

To be sure, there are many provisions of the Senate bill that are worthwhile, worth passing — I’ll get to that — but these mostly ad hoc features are carrying, fronting for a deeply flawed, underlying structure of a bill that utterly fails to reform what’s wrong with America’s inhumane, corrupt health care system.

America’s private, for-profit health insurance and delivery systems have failed. Their so-called 'markets' are not competitive, and that can’t be fixed with puny exchanges that may or may not be created by skeptical — or recalcitrant — states. The insurance and hospital sectors are highly concentrated, dominated by market power that allows providers and insurers to overcharge Americans by 50 to 100 percent more than other nations pay for equal or better care and universal coverage."

Mortar shell attacks kills at least 14 in Somalia | Reuters

2009-12-21T17:18:00.000-06:00

Mortar shell attacks kills at least 14 in Somalia | Reuters: "Click Here

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Artillery shelling between Islamist rebels and Somali government forces killed at least 14 people and wounded 28 others in Mogadishu on Sunday, residents and a rights group said.

World

Insurgents fired mortars at government troops, prompting a heavier response of shells that killed civilians in several suburbs of Mogadishu and made residents cower indoors.

'Fourteen civilians died and 28 others were wounded on Saturday night and Sunday morning in mortar shell exchanges in Mogadishu,' Ali Yasin Gedi, vice chairman of Mogadishu's Elman Peace and Human Rights Organization, told Reuters.

'Most of these people died this morning after an exchange of heavy shelling,' he said.

Maryan Said, a resident in the sprawling Bakara market, told Reuters by telephone that six people from one family were killed by one shell that also killed three others in a nearby house.

'Their house has partially demolished and the dead bodies are in pool of blood,' she said."

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Islamists Order Men to Shave Mustache And Release the Beard (Page 1 of 1)

2009-12-21T17:03:00.000-06:00

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Islamists Order Men to Shave Mustache And Release the Beard (Page 1 of 1): "Somalia — KISMAYU (Sh. M. Network) - the Islamic administration of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen in the port town of Kismayu, 500 kilometers south of the Somalia capital Mogadishu have ordered the men to shave their moustaches and release the beard, witnesses and officials said on Saturday.

Sheik Ibrahim, one of the high officials of the Islamic administration told a radio based in the town that the men were ordered to have cut their moustaches and grow their beard adding that the people in the town especially the men were those who are supposed to abide by the declaration of the Islamic adminstration.

Sheik Ibrahim had replied more questions asked by the people in the town on the array as he was attending the radio program in Kismayu town in Lower Jubba region calling for the young teenagers not to take clothes longer than their uncles.

The Islamic administration of Jubba regions told reporters that the orders would be taken with in three days saying that any one seen violating the rule of the administration after the three days would be taken drastic steps with the Sharia law.

More orders have been imposed to the people of the town earlier like women to take the veil and to close the business centers by the time of the prayer. All orders were taken by the people in the town in southern Somalia.

For more send your comments to radioshabelle@ymail.com

BBC News - Cambodia sends 20 Uighur asylum seekers back to China

2009-12-19T22:28:00.000-06:00

BBC News - Cambodia sends 20 Uighur asylum seekers back to China: "A group of 20 Chinese Uighurs who fled to Cambodia after ethnic riots in July have been deported back to China.

The United Nations refugee agency strongly condemned the deportation, saying Cambodia had committed a grave breach of international refugee law.

The decision follows intense pressure by China, which has referred to the group as criminals.

Human rights groups have warned that the group is likely to face persecution on return to China.

The expulsions came ahead of a visit to Cambodia by Chinese Vice-President Xi Jingping on Sunday. There has been no immediate comment from the Chinese foreign ministry.

Death sentences

A protest by Uighurs in the city of Urumqi, in Xinjiang region, erupted into violence in July, leaving at least 197 people dead.

Shops were smashed and vehicles set alight while passers-by were set upon by Uighur rioters in the city, whose population is mostly from China's dominant Han group.

Groups of Han later went looking for revenge as police struggled to restore order.

Most of those killed in the unrest were Han, according to officials, and Urumqi's Han population had demanded swift justice.

Twelve people were sentenced to death after the riots.

Tensions between the mainly-Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang and Han have been growing in recent years. Millions of Han have moved to the region in recent decades.

Many Uighurs want more autonomy and rights for their culture and religion than is allowed by Beijing's strict rule."

Obama Approves $30 Billion in Military Aid to Israel Over Next Decade -- News from Antiwar.com

2009-12-19T16:04:00.000-06:00

Obama Approves $30 Billion in Military Aid to Israel Over Next Decade -- News from Antiwar.com: "As the single largest expense of the 2010 foreign aid budget, President Obama approved $2.775 billion in military aid to Israel, the first payment in a decade-long commitment that will reach at least $30 billion."

US Attacking Yemen After All -- News from Antiwar.com

2009-12-19T15:59:00.000-06:00

US Attacking Yemen After All -- News from Antiwar.com: "Just one day after a very public denial that American forces were in the process of attacking sites in Northern Yemen, President Barack Obama ordered multiple cruise missile attacks on sites across the tiny, coastal nation.
The air strikes were coordinated with the government of President Ali Abdallah Saleh and the attacks left 120 killed, many of them civilians according to witnesses. President Obama called Saleh after the attack to “congratulate” him on the killings.

The Yemeni government denied any US role in the attacks, despite American officials’ admissions. This is largely in keeping with the Saleh government’s policy, as they angrily denied reports of Saudi attacks in the north as a myth even as the Saudi government was giving a press conference detailing the attack.

One Yemeni official however claimed that a local al-Qaeda “deputy” named Mohammed Saleh Mohammed Ali Al-Kazemi was slain, and that “scores” of al-Qaeda members were killed in the assorted attacks.

The conflict with al-Qaeda is just one of many conflicts currently going on in Yemen, including an enduring separatist movement in the south and an increasingly violent insurrection in the Shi’ite north. Technically Wednesday’s State Department denials appear to have been accurate, as the missile strikes were in a completely unrelated conflict from the one they were accused of taking part in."

Iraqi Troops Mass Along Iran Border -- News from Antiwar.com

2009-12-19T15:22:00.000-06:00

Iraqi Troops Mass Along Iran Border -- News from Antiwar.com: "Tensions are rising at the Eastern Maysan oil field, which straddles the border between Iran and Iraq, and Iraqi forces have massed at a “staging area” just outside the field, awaiting orders."

Al Jazeera English - Africa - Nigeria rebels 'attack pipeline'

2009-12-19T15:19:00.000-06:00

Al Jazeera English - Africa - Nigeria rebels 'attack pipeline': "Nigerian rebel fighters say they have attacked an oil pipeline operated by international oil giants Shell and Chevron in the south of the country.

The attack in Rivers State on Saturday would be the first since an indefinite ceasefire was announced on October 25 in response to a government amnesty for fighters who gave up their arms.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said in a statement the 'warning strike [was] carried out by five boats involving 35 ... fighters armed with assault rifles, rocket launchers and heavy calibre machine guns.'"

Iraq security forces involved in bombings: PM | Reuters

2009-12-16T14:04:00.000-06:00

Iraq security forces involved in bombings: PM | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Dozens of Iraqi security force members were involved in attacks that killed up to 112 people in Baghdad last week, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday."

Holocaust Survivor Heads to Gaza : Information Clearing House - ICH

2009-12-16T13:34:00.000-06:00

Holocaust Survivor Heads to Gaza : Information Clearing House - ICH: "By Hedy Epstein

December 16, 2009 'Code Pink' -- It's strange to see President Obama accepting a Peace Prize as he escalates a war. As a Holocaust survivor whose parents perished at Auschwitz in 1942, I know all too well what war looks like. I also know what peace looks like and I can tell you this: Sending 30,000 more U.S. troops to fight in one of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan, is not making peace.

As President Obama accepts a Peace Prize he does not deserve, it's a good time to model what real peacemaking looks like. That's why-at the ripe age of 85-I'll be joining the Gaza Freedom March on December 31. Over 1,000 peacemakers from around the world will join hands with 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza as we walk together to the Israeli border. As Jews, Christians, Muslims, atheists, and members of many faiths we will come together as one humanity to condemn the brutal invasion of Gaza one year ago and demand that Israel lift the siege that has brought 1.5 million people to the brink of disaster."

Al Jazeera English - Europe - UK court 'issued warrant for Livni'

2009-12-14T15:56:00.000-06:00

Al Jazeera English - Europe - UK court 'issued warrant for Livni': "A British court reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Israel's former foreign minister on charges relating to Israel's 22-day war on Gaza, before apparently withdrawing it after it was found she was not in the country.

Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition Kadima party, had been expected to travel to London this week for an event organised by the Jewish National Fund, followed by meetings with British government officials.

Livni cancelled the visit two weeks before the event was due to take place.

Israeli media reported on Monday that Livni had called off the trip fearing that she would be arrested after a pro-Palestinian group won a warrant for her arrest.

The British foreign office issued a statement on Monday saying it was looking into the incident and its possible effect on the peace process.

'The UK is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel,' it said.

'To do this, Israel's leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British government. We are looking urgently at the implications of this case.'

Israeli land, air and naval forces began bombarding the Gaza Strip last December saying that it wanted to stop rocket attacks by Palestinian fighters.

More 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the offensive, while 13 Israelis, including 10 soldiers, died over the same time period."

Saudi Air Strikes Kill Up to 70 Yemeni Civilians -- News from Antiwar.com

2009-12-14T15:37:00.000-06:00

Saudi Air Strikes Kill Up to 70 Yemeni Civilians -- News from Antiwar.com: "The Shi’ite separatists that have been fighting along the Saudi border later insisted that the raid had actually killed 70 people and over 100 were wounded. Exact figures are impossible to ascertain with the Yemeni government blocking reporters from the region.

The Saudi government has yet to comment but the Yemeni government, always quick to make spurious claims about the situation on the ground, insisted they were actually the ones who attacked the market, and that every person in the market was actually a militant.

The Saudi military has been bombing the region off and on for over a month, as the rebels clash with patrols along the ill-defined border. Yemen’s government has repeatedly condemned the Shi’ite separatist faction, and has denied that any Saudi bombings took place, even when the Saudi government confirmed them."

The Taxi Driver Who Drove Us to War by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com

2009-12-14T15:25:00.000-06:00

The Taxi Driver Who Drove Us to War by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com: "Over on the other side of the pond, the British are doing something we would never ever do – aside, that is, from spreading Marmite on a tea biscuit and actually consuming it. They are investigating the origins of the Iraq war. They want to know how did they get lured into an operation that not only turned out badly, but also seems to have been based on a battery of ill-thought-out lies. A commission has been set up, and public hearings are being held: among the revelations is the information that a key source of claims for the existence of Iraq’s fabled 'weapons of mass destruction' was the 'intelligence' provided by an Iraqi taxi driver who said he overheard a conversation between two Iraqi military officers. According to a report written by Tory MP and defense specialist Adam Holloway, here’s how it went down:

“Under pressure from Downing Street to find anything to back up the WMD case, British intelligence was squeezing their agents in Iraq for information. One agent did come up with something: the ‘45 minutes’ or something about missiles allegedly discussed in a high level Iraqi political meeting."

Citizen of 12 countries singled out for special US airport screening - Telegraph

2009-12-14T13:03:00.000-06:00

Citizen of 12 countries singled out for special US airport screening - Telegraph: "Travellers from 12 countries around the world, including Cuba, Iran and Syria, are automatically singled out for extra screening at airports in America unless they have been specifically cleared, according to a leaked document from the Homeland Security department."

The disclosure is among more embarrassing and sensitive information to have reached the public after guidelines issued to security officers at airports were posted online. The breach has led to five transport officials from the Transportation Security Administration which posted the document being suspended from duties while an investigation is carried out, the Guardian reports.

The information disclosed in the document includes those countries whose citizens are singled out for automatic additional screening. In addition to Cuba, Iran and Syria, they are: Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Manuel Zelaya refuses to leave Honduras as asylum seeker | World news | guardian.co.uk

2009-12-14T12:58:00.000-06:00

Manuel Zelaya refuses to leave Honduras as asylum seeker | World news | guardian.co.uk: "A dispute over political asylum today hindered a plan to fly the ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to exile in Mexico.

The leftist leader was set to leave his Brazilian embassy refuge in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, in a deal with the country's de facto rulers which would have ended an at times surreal three-month siege.

The plan unravelled after Zelaya insisted that he travel to Mexico as a 'guest' rather than asylum seeker, as the latter category would curb his efforts to be reinstated as president.

He told Honduran radio he would leave on condition he could continue political activities. 'I want to leave as a distinguished guest, not as political refugee like the interim government wants.'

The de facto authorities withdrew their offer of safe passage when his terms became clear. There would be no further talks with Mexico and Brazil unless Zelaya accepted asylum, said Rene Zepeda, the information minister."