By: BBC News, February 1, 2010
The army in Burma has released a 14-year-old boy it had forcibly recruited, after his mother appealed for his return on international media.
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Burmese still demand return of democracy
By: Dayanath Singh, Assam Times, February 1, 2010
Burma’s largest political party, National League for Democracy (NLD), which won 392 seats out of total 492 parliamentary seats, in the country’s general elections of 1990, could not form its government even after its landslide victory, as the military junta regime ignored the verdict of the people and refused to hand over the power to NLD.
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Burma: Palaung community women expose opium fields in junta strongholds
By: Marwaan Macan-Markar, IPS, January 31, 2010
A report exposing the spreading opium fields in the north-eastern corner of the military-ruled Burma has brought to light an equally revealing story. It was produced by a team of ethnic women who risked their lives to document the heroin-filled world they inhabit.
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Arrest of Burmese journalist condemned
By: RSF, January 29, 2010
Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association condemn the 13-year jail sentence passed on journalist Ngwe Soe Lin by a special court inside Rangoon’s Insein prison on 27 January. He is the second video reporter for a Burmese exile radio and TV station based in Oslo to be convicted in the space of a month.
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EAST ASIA
China refuses to compromise over Tibet
By: Gillian Wong, Huffington Post, February 1, 2010 China stuck to its hard line in its first talks with Tibetan envoys in 15 months, refusing to discuss changes to the Himalayan region’s status and thus dashing hopes of a breakthrough. Read full article… Chinese dissident stranded at Tokyo airport set to return home Press group slams Chinese censorship Hong Kong: Lawmakers resign, call for suffrage
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AFRICA
Moroccan independent magazine faces closure
By: Bikya Masr Staff, CPJ, January 31, 2010 Moroccan authorities continue to stifle free press and freedom of speech in the country, the press watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a report published January 29. According to the New York-based rights group, the independent Le Journal Hebdomadaire is under threat from the government, who has been upset at the recent articles being published. Read full article… Morocco loses a beacon of freedom Gandhi’s ashes scattered off South Africa coast
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NORTH AMERICA
US: Civil rights pioneer brings nonviolent message to Dallas
By: Wendy Hundley, Dallas News, February 1, 2010 One of the key architects of the nonviolent civil rights struggle is bringing his message of faith and peace to North Texas. Violence “is the No. 1 enemy of the human race,” the Rev. James Lawson told the congregation at St. Luke Community United Methodist Church on Sunday after he was introduced as a “living legend.” Read full article… US: How the news media of the 1960s reported the civil rights revolution Google, China and U.S. foreign policy Obama asked why US doesn’t condemn Israeli human rights abuses
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CENTRAL AMERICA/CARIBBEAN
Honduras in limbo, awaits foreign aid resumption
By: EU News Network, February 1, 2010 Honduras is eagerly awaiting the resumption of international aid that should have been restored after the November presidential elections but still remains blocked, officials said. The United States and other donors suspended assistance programs in Honduras after President Jose Manuel Zelaya was removed from power on June 28, 2009. Read full article… Honduras: Zelaya supporters allege harassment Cuba: Much more frightened than me Ex-Honduran leader leaves for exile, vows return Honduras’ new government finds nation ‘bankrupt’ after diplomatic isolation over coup |
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SOUTH AMERICA
Brazil: ‘Changing lives but still machista’
By: Mario Osava, Al Jazeera, January 31, 2010 There was just one woman for every seven men on the Brazilian committee that organised the first World Social Forum (WSF) meeting in Porto Alegre, the southern Brazilian city where this annual gathering of social organisations from around the world was born ten years ago. Read full article… Gruma sinks after Chavez orders Venezuela unit seized
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Why are there no Arab democracies?
By: Journal of Democracy, January 2010 By the time the Journal of Democracy began publishing in 1990, there were 76 electoral democracies (accounting for slightly less than half the world’s independent states). By 1995, that number had shot up to 117-three in every five states. By then, a critical mass of democracies existed in every major world region save one-the Middle East. Fifteen years later, this exception still stands. Read full article… Salinger’s ‘Catcher In The Rye’ resonated behind Iron Curtain as well Howard Zinn (1922-2010): In lieu of flowers, organize |
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Honduras: Enorme despedida al compañero Manuel Zelaya
By: Habla Honduras, January 2010 Más de 350,000 miembros de la Resistencia marchamos el día de ayer en Tegucigalpa hasta desembocar al final de la pista del Aeropuerto Toncontín, el mismo lugar donde nuestro primer mártir,Isis Obed Murillo, muriera aquel fatídico 5 de julio del 2009. Read full article… Le journaliste Alexandre Podrabinek, condamné à payer une amende et à publier un démenti sur la disparition de l’Union soviétique
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Book dismantles female stereotypes
By: Times of India, February 1, 2010 These were voices that spoke in a babel of tongues, their stories drawing from cultures as diverse and far-flung as Cambodia and Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka and Mongolia. But bound between two covers, the tales were strung together by a common theme Asian women and their fight against stereotypes and repression. The book, Speaking for Myself: An Anthology of Asian Women’s Writing, was released by filmmaker Mrinal Sen at a glittering ceremony in Kolkata on Sunday evening. Read full article…
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By: Survival International, December 15, 2010
The human rights organization Survival International celebrates its 40th birthday this month, and is highlighting the huge advances in tribal peoples’ rights since 1969. Survival focuses on supporting tribes under threat, and its campaigns alongside tribal people and local organizations have achieved many remarkable successes.
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