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News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 5, No. 20

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Important but underreported news from around the world. QUOTED: “The pollution that’s produced by a population of 200,000 or 300,000 fish would be the equivalent of the waste produced by a town of 60,000 people.” — Environmentalist Tim Eichenberg on a bill regulating fish farms, which are set to boom under a new federal mandate (story #15, below). TOP STORIES
[o1] “An Army of one wrong recruit”
[o2] “Nigeria: Pfizer’s deadly experiment”
[o3] “Vaccine makers helped write Frist-backed shield law”
 
BRITAIN’S WAR ON TERROR
[o4] “Terror suspect numbers soar”
[o5] “Spies ‘hid’ bomber tape from MPs”
 
WORLD
[o6] “Afghan poppy farmers expect record crop”
[o7] “Indian prisoners protest Chile’s anti-terror law”
[o8] “Zimbabwe students burn classrooms in fee protest”
[o9] “U.S. ‘not funding societies or activists'”
 
NATION
[10] “Lewis denies report that he was being investigated”
[11] “Was author dropped for opposing No Child law?” [12] “Uncle Sam doesn’t want you”
[13] “LA bans demolition of downtown flophouses to slow gentrification”
 
FISHERIES
[14] “Sonar range stirs concerns in fertile fishing area”
[15] “Bill would create tough standards for fish farms”
 
VIEWPOINT
[16] “Secrecy’s shadow falls on Washington”
 
TOP STORIES | top
[o1]
“An Army of one wrong recruit”
Oregonian, May 7, 2006
The Army broke their own regulations by recruiting an 18-year-old autistic boy to meet quotas.

Culture

A Flood of Trouble for a Thirsty World

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Analysis by David Agrell, Newsdesk.org

Unsafe water from New York to New Delhi, toxic rivers in China, drought in England and privatization riots in South Africa … water woes are playing out on every continent, where population growth, climate changes and pollution have turned “blue gold” into a commodity and a source of conflict. Dwindling water and droughts
According to the latest United Nations World Water Development Report, one-fifth of the world population lacks clean drinking water, and pollution, mismanagement and climate change will only worsen the situation. Attendees of the tenth Stockholm Water Symposium said that figure could swell to two-thirds by 2025 (PDF). Land affected by drought has doubled over the last 30 years, says the National Center for Atmospheric Research, adding that climate changes are responsible for “widespread drying” in Europe, Asia, Canada, Africa, eastern Australia and North America:

— East Africa is experiencing its worst drought in years, killing livestock and threatening starvation, the humanitarian aid group Project Concern International reported.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 5, No. 19

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Important but underreported news from around the world. QUOTED: “In a Hong Kong context, we are the canary in the mineshaft. If our independence is under attack, everybody’s is under attack.” — Foreign correspondent Francis Moriarty, describing how Beijing has begun censoring Radio Television Hong Kong (story #11, below). TOP STORIES
[o1] “Israel foils plot to kill Palestinian president”
[o2] “U.S. does not consider Taliban terrorists”
[o3] “Spies among us”
 
PRISONS
[o4] “Britain undermining rights of foreign prisoners”
[o5] “Staffers in 2004 prison controversy back at work”
 
NATION
[o6] “Report: Hate groups use U.S. Net servers”
[o7] “Feds’ watch list eats its own”
[o8] “Pamphlet about sex offends lesbian mom”
 
NATURAL DISASTER, HUMAN ERROR
[o9] “Tsunami alert exposes response weakness”
[10] “Hurricane destruction powers global warming debate”
 
WORLD
[11] “Officials target Hong Kong public radio”
[12] “Freeport mine ‘poisoning’ West Papua’s environment”
[13] “Asbestos victims to lose out”
 
PROTESTS
[14] “Pakistanis burn German flag in prison death protest”
[15] “German leftists go to blows with neo-Nazis”
[16] “Fury over J&K sex racket”
 
VIEWPOINT
[17] “Mind games”
 
TOP STORIES | top
[o1]
“Israel foils plot to kill Palestinian president”
Sunday Times (U.K.), May 7, 2006
Mahmoud Abbas cancelled a Gaza trip after learning that Hamas members who consider him an obstacle were plotting to kill him.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 5, No. 18

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Important but underreported news from around the world. QUOTED: “Any time they take to the streets, we’ll burn a Mexican flag.” — Laine Lawless of the racist Arizona group Border Guardians, who burned a flag outside a Mexican consulate in Tucson (story #14, below). TOP STORIES
[o1] “Guantanamo prisoner ‘tried to commit suicide a dozen times'”
[o2] “Darfur refugees forced to join the fight”
[o3] “The weakest pay the price for anemic state oversight”
 
INDIGENOUS PROTESTS
[o4] “Mayor’s comments anger aboriginal protesters”
[o5] “Tobacco giant apologizes to Maori”
 
WOMEN
[o6] “Women’s groups differ over immigration strategy”
[o7] “Lingerie leads the fight for Saudi women’s rights”
[o8] “Iran bars single women from sporting events”
 
MAY CAUSE CANCER
[o9] “3M fined for chemical used in Decatur”
[10] “Family flees cell towers”
[11] “Chernobyl cancer shock in Cumbria”
 
NATION
[12] “Md. sues Exxon over gas leak”
[13] “Partisan vote advances Bush nominee to head EPA air office”
[14] “Racist fringe darkens debate”
 
COMPUTER HACKING
[15] “Big holes in Net’s heart revealed”
[16] “Malicious-software spreaders get sneakier, more prevalent”
 
VIEWPOINT
[17] “The feds want to sell my land”
 
TOP STORIES | top
[o1]
“Guantanamo Bay prisoner ‘tried to commit suicide a dozen times'”
The Independent (U.K.), April 27, 2006
The Afghani prisoner who has been held without charge since 2001 says he was sexually abused and wrapped in Israeli flags.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 5, No. 17

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Important but underreported news from around the world.  
QUOTED: “The situation is terrible. We know the risks of waterborne
diseases … but there is really no choice.” — War veteran Savious Muromba on the lack of basic services following Zimbabwe’s massive farm resettlement program (story #10, below).

Featured

In China, Pollution Crashes the Party

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News analysis by David Agrell, Newsdesk.org
China’s rapid economic growth has come at a cost: environmental degradation that stokes civil unrest, affects economic growth and ultimately surpasses its own borders. The problem has become so bad that the government now says further progress is impossible without first establishing targets to reduce the damage. But previous pollution-reduction plans have failed to meet such targets, and some solutions bring problems all their own. Industry and unrest
After 20 years of industrialization, two-thirds of the world’s most polluted cities are in China, threatening urban residents with illness and disease. Acid rain, polluted rivers and inadequate sewage treatment have left half the rural population without access to clean drinking water, says the World Health Organization (PDF).

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 5, No. 16

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Important but underreported news from around the world. QUOTED: “Someone decided in the 1950s to take the water from the Jordan, grow oranges and sell them in Europe. The price of this decision is being paid by nature, tourism and infrastructure. Nobody asked us if we’re willing to pay it.” — Israeli parks inspector Eli Dror, explaining why the Dead Sea is drying up (story #14, below).

Featured

News You Might Have Missed

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Important but underreported news from around the world.  – – – – – – – – – –
QUOTED: “People need to be mad as hell about this situation, but they aren’t. We haven’t gotten the message across.” — Washington state official Brad Ack on fish kills and birth defects caused by the massive buildup in the Puget Sound of PCBs, antidepressents and other chemicals used by humans. (Story #14, below).

Featured

News You Might Have Missed

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Important but underreported news from around the world. QUOTED: “They wiped out two members of my family. I am proud that I served in the Marines, but there are some days I want to forget that I did.” — North Carolina resident Tom Townsend says trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent linked to cancer, has seeped into the groundwater at a military base near his home. (Story #10, below.)
 – – – – – – – – – –
TOP STORIES
[o1] “Bhopal gas victims in long walk for clean water” — UPDATED
[o2] “Industry, development foul Dong Nai River”
[o3] “Slum like it not”
ENVIRONMENT
[o4] “Ala Wai spillover: ‘welcome to the 1880s'”
[o5] “Rough burial”
[o6] “Last ditch try at saving the Narmada River”
PUBLIC HEATH & INDUSTRY
[o7] “‘Tooth Fairy Project’ follow-up links radiation, childhood cancer”
[o8] “Chromium wars, the sequel”
[o9] “Grower faces new allegation”
[10] “Cancer stalks a ‘toxic triangle'”
HEALTHCARE & MEDICINE
[11] “Fullerene for the face”
[12] “Gov’t may help victims of Kanemi oil poisoning”
[13] “The little pill that could”
SOLUTIONS
[14] “China’s green push starts at the bottom”
[15] “This ecologist is not just gathering dust”
[16] “Farmers now able to certify as ‘organic'”
VIEWPOINT
[17] “Profiteering from the Arctic thaw”
 – – – – – – – – – –
TOP STORIES | top
[o1]
“Bhopal gas victims in long walk for clean water”
Reuters, March 29, 2006
Survivors of the Bhopal disaster are confronting officials they say have neglected to clean up contamination that still kills.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed

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Important but underreported news from around the world.  – – – – – – – – – –
QUOTED: “Liberalizing trade by itself is not enough to generate growth and to fight poverty. While the World Bank has done the right thing in promoting more open trade worldwide it has not done everything right to help generate the payoffs.” — Vinod Thomas, director of the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group, is critical of economic policies that open markets but fail to implement anti-poverty programs. (Story #11, below.)
 – – – – – – – – – –
TOP STORIES
[o1] “U.N. accused of ignoring 500,000 Chernobyl deaths”
[o2] “Migration of working-age people devastates Mexican villages”
[o3] “Wi-Fi fight brews in Big Easy”
NATION
[o4] “DOD removes missile defense system report from Web site”
[o5] “Bush’s uncle earned millions in war firm sale”
[o6] “Does milk really do a body good?” [o7] “State bans abstinence program”
FOCUS: IMMIGRANT PROTESTS
[o8] “Undocumented immigrants rally for rights”
“Wis.