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1,100 women raped every day in Congo


MSNBC
Wed, 11 May 2011 11:32 UTC
More than 1,100 women are raped every day in Congo, a study published in the American Journal of Public Health on Tuesday concluded.

The study found that more than 400,000 women aged between 15 and 49 were raped during a 12-month period in 2006-2007, AFP reported.

Image
© Pete Muller / AP, file
A mass rape victim comforts her son in the town of Fizi, Congo, on Feb. 20. She was among nearly fifty women who were raped by Congolese soldiers on the night of Jan. 1. Her son suffered a head wound when soldiers threw him to the ground prior to the rape. A court later sentenced an army colonel to 20 years in prison, convicting him of crimes against humanity.
The findings put the number of rapes at 26 times higher than a previous report from the United Nations, which said the number was 15,000 for the same period.

"Our results confirm that previous estimates of rape and sexual violence are severe underestimates of the true prevalence of sexual violence occurring," Amber Peterman, lead author of the study, told AFP.

The study reportedly did not gather data on sexual violence among boys and men, or in girls younger than 15 and older than 49.

"Even these new, much higher figures still represent a conservative estimate of the true prevalence of sexual violence because of chronic underreporting due to stigma, shame, perceived impunity, and exclusion of younger and older age groups as well as men," Peterman said.
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Target

Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor to Build High-Tech Weapons Systems

Mike Elk
AlterNet
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:05 UTC
Image
© miss_millions
Prison labor seems like a win-win to many, but a closer look reveals a race to the bottom for skilled workers.

It is a little known fact of the attack on Libya that some of the components of the cruise missiles being launched into the country mayl have been made by prisoners in the United States. According to its website, UNICOR, which is the organization that represents Federal Prison Industries, "supplies numerous electronic components and service for guided missiles, including the Patriot Advanced Capability Missile (PAC-3)".

In addition to constructing electronic components for missiles, prison labor in the United States is used to make electronic cables for defense items like "the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (BA) F-15, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron's (TXT) Cobra helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems".
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Bad Guys

US: FEMA asks for return of disaster aid

Ryan J. Foley
Associated Press
Tue, 10 May 2011 06:12 UTC
Van Fleet
© Van Fleet AP
In this May 5, 2011 photo, Justin Van Fleet stands at the site of where his home once stood before the flood of 2008, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa - After the raging Cedar River filled his home with 13 feet of water and ruined most of his possessions, Justin Van Fleet pleaded for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get back on his feet.

Dead broke and living in a FEMA trailer following the 2008 flood, Van Fleet repeatedly submitted paperwork and made countless phone calls arguing his case. After seven months, the agency finally gave him more than $20,000, which he said gave him his life back and allowed him to move into a house.

Then in March, a letter arrived from the government with a shocking message: He should never have gotten the money. And he had just 30 days to pay it all back.
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People

World population to pass 7 billion on October 31: U.N.

Patrick Worsnip
Reuters
Tue, 03 May 2011 07:07 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The world's population is projected to pass 7 billion on October 31 as it heads toward 10 billion or more by the end of the century, a new U.N. report said on Tuesday. The report also predicted that the global population would be higher by mid-century than its last edition forecast two years ago, reaching 9.31 billion instead of 9.15 billion.

It attributed this to fewer deaths as well as more births than it had anticipated. The October date for reaching the 7 billion mark is based on calculations from current trends and Hania Zlotnik, head of the U.N. economic department's population division, said it should be taken "with a grain of salt." Nevertheless, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) announced it would start a seven-day countdown on October 24 that would include a series of events. The world reached 6 billion people in 1998 and was 6.89 on July 1.

The report, "2010 Revision of World Population Prospects," projected there would be 10.1 billion people on the planet by 2100, the first time it has looked that far ahead. But it said that if global fertility was just half a child more per woman than it expected, that figure could be almost 16 billion. U.N. officials said their figures were based on the assumption that fertility would taper off during the century.
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Mr. Potato

Americans Gone Wild


Economic Collapse
Wed, 11 May 2011 06:05 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Gerald Celente is known to love to make the following statement: "When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose - they lose it." Sadly, Celente is exactly right about this. As the U.S. economy continues to collapse, Americans are going to becoming increasingly frustrated, and this frustration will inevitably boil over into rioting and violence. Could we be starting to see the start of this already? The number of Americans that have "gone wild" seems to be escalating. Years ago, losing a job was not that big of a deal. Now a job loss is enough to cause some Americans to snap and go over the edge. We are seeing restaurant brawls and open violence in the streets that would have been unthinkable 50 years ago. All over the nation people are losing it and are literally going crazy. The news stories and the videos posted below of "Americans gone wild" are very graphic and very shocking. There is a reason for this. These examples are meant to show you that the very fabric of our civilized society is falling apart. It won't matter who ends up leading us politically if this is the kind of people we become.
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People

Mangalore, India: Mysterious Case of Missing Brides

Loyan Aston D'Souza
Daiji World
Wed, 04 May 2011 01:42 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Divorce seems to have become a trend in the modern times, and unlike earlier when people used to be surprised at the increasing number of divorce cases, no more does the society pay much attention to them nowadays.

But recently, a new trend seems to emerging in the coastal districts. According to recent reports, girls have suddenly begun disappearing from their houses shortly after or just before their engagements were to take place. The news is shocking, but at the same time thought-provoking too.

During the last week of April, Girija, from Mangalapadavu of Veerakamba village disappeared a few days after her engagement to one Narayana, chosen by her parents, and they were on the verge of getting married on April 27. But just two days before the wedding was to take place, Girija vanished.

Her case was followed by Amita, a 22-year-old who went missing from Hengavalli near Shankaranarayana. She was betrothed to a certain Narasimha. She left home for getting back her laundry, but never returned. Rumours are rife that after leaving home, she called her fiance and told him that she had already married someone else.
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Arrow Down

US: Austrian Olympic swimmer rescued after being buried in sand on US Beach


The Associated Press
Wed, 11 May 2011 05:43 UTC
Image
© AP / Broward Sheriff’s Office-Pompano Beach District, Lt. Darin D. Dowe
In this Sunday, May 8, 2011 cell phone photo provided by the Broward Sheriff’s Office-Pompano Beach District, rescuers attempt to free a member of the Austrian Olympic swim team who was buried in sand up to his neck in Pompano Beach, Fla. Authorities say the 19-year-old had spent much of Sunday digging a hole that was 7-feet deep and 6-feet across. Around 7 p.m., the man, whose name was not released, jumped into the hole and sand collapsed around him.
A member of the Austrian Olympic swim team had to be rescued after he used a bucket to dig a large hole that collapsed and trapped him, authorities said.

It took 60 rescuers two hours to free Jakub Maly, 19, who had spent a few hours Sunday digging the hole that was 7 feet (2.1 metres) deep and 6 feet (1.8 metres) wide. It's not clear why he jumped in after he finished digging. Rescue officials asked a teammate to lean over the hole and talk to Maly during the rescue, according to fire rescue officials.

"He looked more in shock when he came out," said Pompano Beach Fire Rescue spokeswoman Sandra King. "He was obviously traumatized."

Maly was in danger of being crushed by the pressure from the sand. The swim team first dug out Maly's head so he could breathe, and rescue officials gave him an oxygen mask as soon as they arrived. Large boards were placed along the outside of the hole to keep more sand from falling in on him, King said.

Maly was taken to North Broward Hospital and released early Monday. He and his team were scheduled to leave South Florida by early Monday afternoon, King said. It wasn't immediately known what injuries Maly sustained or if he dug the hole alone.

King said the Austrian Olympic team had been training in South Florida since April. Sunday was an off day for team members.

Source: The Canadian Press
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Attention

Riots in Uganda after top opposition leader kicked off Kenya Airways flight home


The Associated Press
Wed, 11 May 2011 05:20 UTC
Uganda's top opposition leader was kicked off a flight from Kenya on Wednesday, prompting riots back home that police quelled with tear gas only a day before the country's president of 25 years was due to be sworn in for another term.

Kizza Besigye said he was waiting to board a flight when a Kenya Airways official informed him that the plane would not be allowed to land in Uganda with Besigye on it. A government spokesman in Uganda denied that authorities had interfered with his return.

Anti-government marches led by Besigye over the last month have been the most serious unrest in sub-Saharan Africa since protests swept out leaders in Egypt and Tunisia. Human Rights Watch says that Uganda security forces have killed nine people during the protests.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who first came to power in 1986, has said repeatedly that his government will not fall to protests. He was re-elected in February and his inauguration is set for Thursday.
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Stop

The end of the world as we know it? 10 dates when the world failed to end


Telegraph UK
Wed, 11 May 2011 05:05 UTC
Italians are to leave Rome over fears a giant earthquake is coming following a seismologist's 1915 prediction that "the big one" would hit the capital on May 11, 2011. Here is a list of end of the world predictions:
Image
© Associated Press/Susan Weems
Flames engulf the Branch Davidian compound April 19, 1993 in Waco, Texas. Eighty-one Davidians, including leader David Koresh, perished as federal agents tried to drive them out of the compound.

Oct 3 1533 - Michael Stifel, a German associate of Martin Luther, urged his small band of followers to sell all their property after becoming convinced by his mathematical study of the Bible that the end of the world was approaching. On the appointed day he led his followers to the top of a hill so they could be delivered to heaven. A few hours later, with the world very much intact, he hurried down the hill and had to be locked in a local prison for his own protection.
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Nuke

US: Officials Investigate Nuke Reactor Shutdown

Aaron Curtis
The Palladium Times
Fri, 06 May 2011 05:22 UTC
Image
© Constellation Energy Group, Inc. 2008
The Nine Mile Point nuclear station, with Nine Mile 1 on the left and Nine Mile 2 and its signature cooling tower on the right.
As of press time Tuesday, nuclear plant personnel are continuing to investigate Monday night's automatic shutdown of Constellation Energy Nuclear Group's (CENG) Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station Unit 1.

The shutdown at the Scriba-based facility reportedly occurred at 8:51 p.m.

"(Nuclear power plants) are designed to automatically shut down when there are certain indications that come into the control room, and that is one of the foundational safety measures built into the plant," said Jill Lyon, a spokeswoman for CENG. "So everything worked as it was designed to."

The shutdown occurred while the reactor was operating at 47 percent power, Lyon said. Unit 1 operators lowered reactor power on April 26 based on indications within the feedwater system. In addition, the plant had been operating at reduced levels while equipment repairs were in progress.
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