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News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 6, No. 27

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“Our goal is to help the Philippines. Killing the JI, that’s our mission.” — U.S. Pacific Command Admiral Timothy Keating, on military cooperation with the Philippines (see “War & Terrorism,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Photo-free NYC
Backlash brewing in Mogadishu
Poverty is a plague for Africa’s children
*Labor & Economy*
Minimum wage remains elusive
*Petroleum Politics*
Russia’s thirst for Oil
*War & Terrorism*
Al Qaeda spreads

TOP STORIES
Photo-Free NYC
A post-9/11 requirement that tourists and other casual photographers get a permit before taking pictures in New York City has the ACLU claiming a First Amendment violation.

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Bus Lane to Paradise?

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The Globe & Mail reports that pollution, traffic and murder rates are down, while school enrollments are up, following a Bogota mayor’s embrace of “hedonics.”
Photo: Bogota bus lanes/Drayru

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Top Stories * June 21-27

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“Hedonics” Leaves Bogota Happy
Bogotans thank Enrique Penalosa for building parks, schools, and bike routes instead of freeways during his tenure as mayor in the late 1990s. At the time the city’s streets were “a living hell,” the Toronto Globe & Mail reports. Penalosa increased gas taxes, added buses and banned cars from driving at rush hour more than three days a week. The measures were controversial, but resulted in drops in traffic congestion and pollution, a 40 percent drop in the murder rate, and increased school enrollment. Penalosa, who is running for mayor again, attributes this success to “hedonics,” which values happiness above ordinary economics, and prioritizes access to parks, spending time with friends and family — and shorter commutes.

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News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 6, No. 26

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“We think the procedures that we have in place are good. They work, they help us minimize the effects [on civilians].” — Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel says the accidental killing of Afghan civilians by NATO forces does not require any rule changes (see “Afghanistan,” below).

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Land of the Lost

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Like its elected leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma has been held captive for almost 20 years by a military junta that renamed it Myanmar in 1989. The pariah state is rife with forced labor and repression, and survives in part through its trade in gems and illegal timber.

Photo: Bagan, Myanmar/H. Schmid

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TOP STORIES * June 14-20

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Anti-Gay Protests “Fall Flat” in Jerusalem
Fundamentalist, ultra-conservative — the Haredi Jews of Israel may be all that, but their message of intolerance towards gays and lesbians has so far failed to bring out the Orthodox masses. Their protest last weekend against the upcoming Jerusalem gay pride parade fell far short of the hoped-for “100,000 strong” crowd, and Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said their campaign to cancel the parade has failed. Even the most Orthodox non-Haredi Jews skipped the affair, primarily because they didn’t want to expose their children to a lifestyle they disapprove of. Agent Orange Persists — in Court
On the eve of Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet’s trip to the United States — the first such visit since the 1970s — a federal court in New York City is hearing an appeal of a ruling that exonerated producers of the toxic Agent Orange herbicide for birth defects and disabilities among more than 3 million Vietnamese. The chemical, which was used to defoliate jungle cover used by guerrillas during the Vietnam War, was produced by 37 American companies, including Monsanto and Dow.

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News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 6, No. 25

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“Fishing here is finished. We have boats, but we don’t really use them anymore.” — Turkish fisherman Adem Vay, on the effects of the Baku- Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which terminates near his Mediterranean fishing village (see “Resource Battles,” below.)

CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Anti-gay protests “fall flat” in Jerusalem
Agent Orange persists — in court
Adam and Eve photos bring calls for death
*Resource Battles*
Natural resources spur pollution, indigenous rights disputes
*Sudan*
The promises and pitfalls of Darfur’s salvation
*Burma/Myanmar*
Trade bolsters Myanmar junta

TOP STORIES
Anti-Gay Protests “Fall Flat” in Jerusalem
Fundamentalist, ultra-conservative — the Haredi Jews of Israel may be all that, but their message of intolerance towards gays and lesbians has so far failed to bring out the Orthodox masses. Their protest last weekend against the upcoming Jerusalem gay pride parade fell far short of the hoped-for “100,000 strong” crowd, and Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said their campaign to cancel the parade has failed.

Featured

An Islamist Gets Religion

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Can it be that Hassan al-Turabi, the world-renowned Sudanese Islamist who once offered shelter to Osama bin Laden, is now speaking out against violence in Darfur and in support of women’s rights? Photo: jamestown.org

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TOP STORIES * June 6-13

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An Islamist Finds Religion
Hassan al-Turabi, a renowned Sudanese Islamic scholar who once offered refuge to Osama bin Laden, is raising eyebrows with his support for the right of women to wear their hair uncovered and marry non-Muslim men, and his opposition to the ongoing violence in Darfur. A former supporter of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, al- Turabi was jailed in 2005 for allegedly backing a coup plot. Critics say he’s an opportunist trying to curry favor with a liberalizing Sudanese society, but the mercurial cleric says his calls for democracy and openness are entirely Islamic. Congo Shuts Down Mines Over Looting Fears
At least 60 mining deals have been suspended in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the newly elected government looks into complaints of “foreign looters” who exploit the nation’s vast mineral wealth with no benefit for Congolese citizens. The BBC reports that decades of civil war were driven by huge reserves of copper, cobalt, gold and diamonds, and that current mining contracts lack transparency and competitive bidding.

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News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 6, No. 24

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“They gonna keep moving us on, moving us on. They doing it again Sunday ’cause they got some soccer game they gonna charge people to park here for. They gonna make $500 at $20 bucks a space. We ain’t worth $500 to them.”