Democracy & Civics

Tear Gas for Ethnic Protest in Malaysia

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Riot police greeted thousands of minority protesters in Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur, turning back their calls for increased social benefits with water cannons and tear gas. The protesters, primarily Tamils, seek business licenses, access to scholarships and “other privileges reserved exclusively for native Maylays,” reports Asia Times Online. Tamil activists also sought reparations from the United Kingdom for relocating their ancestors to Malaysia as indentured laborers 150 years ago, according to the Web site. The protestors represent a Hindu minority that makes up roughly eight percent of the population in the majority Muslim nation. Economic programs established in the 1970s have created a burgeoning middle class, but one that is limited to Malays.

World

Kosovo Threatens Unilateral Independence

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Ethnic Albanian negotiators rejected a proposal for increased autonomy for their home province of Kosovo, and threatened a unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia if no deal is struck by a December 10 U.N. deadline. According to Agence France-Presse, the deal would have ensured self-governance in all of Kosovo’s economic, legal and “daily” affairs, while Serbia would retain possession of the province, as well as control over foreign policy and border security. The region has been administered by the United Nations and Nato since 1999, following military intervention in a bloody conflict between Albanian separatists and Serbian security forces. The United States and some E.U. nations said they would back independence for Kosovo, but Serbia, with the support of Russia, is steadfast in its opposition, and has called for further talks. Source:
“Deadlock in Kosovo talks”
Agence France-Presse/Sapa, November 27, 2007

Democracy & Civics

Japan to Expand Atomic Bomb Victim Definition

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More than 50 years after the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a string of court losses has forced Japan’s government to create a new standard that will recognize 20,000 new victims of diseases and health problems related to the blasts. The Kyodo news wire notes that nine kinds of diseases, including cancer and leukemia, will be recognized among the 250,000 registered bomb survivors in Japan. Under current standards, roughly 2,200 are recognized as victims.
The new standards will open the door for anyone who was within four kilometers of the blasts, or visited ground zero within 100 hours of the attacks. Source:
“New standard aims to certify more people as A-bomb disease sufferers”
Kyodo/Associated Press, November 27, 2007

Democracy & Civics

Hizb-ut-Tahrir: Winning Hearts and Minds

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The Islamic group Hizb-ut-Tahrir is gaining a foothold across Central Asia and is making its presence felt in Britain and elsewhere. Governments have banned the group, with its alleged bent towards violence, and the appeal of its charismatic leaders and Islamic ideology. Founded in the Middle East, Hizb-ut-Tahrir spread to Muslim communities in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan in the 1990s. The group, which calls itself a political party even though it has no elected members, aims to replace all secular governments with a united front of Islamic governments. The group professes nonviolence, but is banned in many places and its members are arrested on a regular basis, according to the Institute for War & Peace Reporting.

Democracy & Civics

Outsourcing Motherhood

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Scores of impoverished Indian women are selling their services as childbearers to foreign couples who either cannot, or don’t want to, bear their own children, reports the Daily Mail. Using an Indian surrogate mother is less expensive and less complicated than paying a Western mother for the same services — and in some cases, the surrogate offers her own eggs as well. The number of surrogate mothers in India has nearly doubled in the past three years, while surrogacy agencies are springing up to handle the caseload. Indian doctors are helping make the arrangements, even setting up a bungalow for surrogate mothers with a cook, a cleaner and English classes, according to India’s Daily News and Analysis. They say becoming a surrogate for childless couples is a “noble deed.”

World

Canadian Officials Knew of Afghan Torture, Records Show

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Secret documents obtained by court order show Canadian ministers were well aware of torture, rape and other abuse occurring at Afghan prisons filled with detainees that Canadian soldiers had turned over to Afghanistan’s secret police. According to the Globe and Mail, Canadian inspectors noted that prison floors were covered in “blood and feces” and that some prisoners were shackled at all times, according to the government report. They also knew a juvenile detention facility had been overseen by a warden accused of rape, and that the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission was barred by police from investigating abuse of detainees in the prisons. Yet Gordon O’Connor, the defense minister at the time, told the House of Commons that the Commission “has assured us … it is able to monitor all the prisoners,” despite his being told otherwise by Canadian diplomats the day before.

World

Rendition Inquiry Looks to Ukraine

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An Italian European Union minister wants human rights officials to investigate “strong and specific” evidence that the Ukrainian government was complicit in building a prison on its military base to hold and torture CIA detainees, reports the EU Observer. The minister cites a document suggesting that a Gulfstream jet known to be used by the CIA landed in the country five times in August 2005, with Ukrainian approval. The Ukrainian government calls the charges “nonsense.” A previous report, adopted by the EU legislature, concluded there were “over 1,000” secret stopover flights in the EU since 2001, and that detention facilities were known to exists, “particularly in Poland and Romania.” Source:
“EU investigator targets Ukraine in fresh CIA allegations”
EU Observer, November 14, 2007

World

$40 Million Stolen from Nigerian Aid Plan, Ex-Official Probed

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British and Nigerian officials are investigating possibly illict payments from Shell and Chevron into the bank account of former Nigerian state governor James Ibori, reports the Sunday Times. Ibori allegedly laundered $40 million meant for education and engineering projects through British banks, using part of the money instead to buy luxury cars. The investigation is also scrutinizing payments from Shell and Chevron that went directly to Ibori’s businesses in Nigeria to pay for houseboats for oil employees. Though he has not yet been charged with anything, Ibori is “desperate” to prove his innocence. Source:
“Governor ‘hid stolen 20m’ in UK banks”
Times (U.K.), November 18, 2007
LEARN MORE ABOUT NIGERIA’S OIL INDUSTRY:
“U.S. Courts Tackle Foreign Abuses / Energy corporations question ‘law of nations'”
Newsdesk.org, July 26, 2004
“Nigeria I — Wiwa v. Shell”
Newsdesk.org, May 13, 2002
“Nigeria II — Bowoto v. Chevron”
Newsdesk.org, May 13, 2002

Democracy & Civics

Families Asunder over International Adoption Woes

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Several countries are tightening their adoption laws to avoid kidnapping scandals, such as the recent confrontation in Chad over a French charity group’s attempt to take 103 children out of the country. The new restrictions highlight the huge international demand for adoptions, and the lack of adequate safeguards, standards and corruption-prevention in many of the nations providing children for adoption. Another result of the changes, however, is thousands of disappointed American parents. The regulatory changes could affect as many as 4,000 children who were already bound for adoptive homes in other countries, reports the Lawrence Journal-World in Kansas. One prospective parent of a Nepalese child told the Journal-World that she feared for the health and development of children in overcrowded Nepalese orphanages.

Economy

Land Struggles Sour India Economic Zones

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Controversy follows the violent deaths of 21 protesters who opposed the creation of a “special economic zone” in India’s West Bengal district, reports Agence France-Presse. Activists say the deaths highlight the dangers of land seizures to create industrial areas that largely benefit multinational corporations. Such conversions are common in nations such as China, where small fishing and farming villages are transformed into economic powerhouses. The Indian villagers, from the district of Nandigram, oppose the local Marxist government’s plans to acquire 14,500 acres for an industrial park and petrochemical hub. Nearly 150 special economic zones already exist in India, employing 41,000 people.