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Stormtrooper

Police evict indigenous Easter Island protesters

Michael Warren
Associated Press
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:51 UTC
Image
© EPA
The results of the Easter Island Native dispute with the Government and Police in Dec. 2010. Islanders said the police used batons and pellet guns against them.
Buenos Aires, Argentina - Police on Easter Island raided the grounds of a luxury hotel Sunday to evict the last of dozens of indigenous protesters battling for ancestral lands and a larger share of profits from the tourists who come to see the Pacific Island's mysterious statues of giant heads.

A Rapa Nui clan's claims to the land under the new, $800-a-night Hangaroa Eco Village & Spa has won support from international human rights agencies, and it poses legal and political dilemmas for a Chilean government already criticized for its treatment of indigenous people on the mainland.

The Hito clan's attorney, Rodrigo Gomez, said the last handful of about 50 squatters were hauled off and jailed by police Sunday after they had tied themselves down in the lobby.

Police Maj. Fernando Lobos said all the Hitos were processed and freed pending a court hearing. He said officers were following an order to empty the property so that federal investigators could survey its condition.

Members and supporters of the Hito clan had been squatting on the grounds of the $50 million development since August, claiming the land was swindled from their illiterate grandmother and then illegally sold into private hands by Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
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Bomb

Airliner evacuated in Chile after bomb threat


Associated Press
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:28 UTC
Chilean authorities have evacuated passengers and crew from an Iberia airline flight to Madrid, Spain, following a bomb threat.

Authorities say a team from Chile's civil aviation agency have searched the airliner and ruled out the presence of explosives. Police investigators are trying to determine the origin of Sunday's threatening phone call.

The civil aviation agency says 312 people were removed from the plane after the police communication center received the threat shortly before the aircraft was to take off.

Officials say passengers have been taken to a nearby hotel and will be put on a new flight to Madrid on Monday.
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Bizarro Earth

Asia faces climate-induced migration 'crisis'


Raw Story
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 18:00 UTC
asiafloods
© AP

Singapore - Asia must prepare for millions of people to flee their homes to safer havens within countries and across borders as weather patterns become more extreme, the Asian Development Bank warns.

A draft of an ADB report obtained by AFP over the weekend and confirmed by bank officials cautioned that failure to make preparations now for vast movements of people could lead to "humanitarian crises" in the coming decades.

Governments are currently focused on mitigating climate change blamed for the weather changes, but the report said they should start laying down policies and mechanisms to deal with the projected population shifts.
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Ambulance

Say 'No'! to Female Genital Mutilation

Diane Walsh
Salem-News.co
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 04:38 UTC
Image

"Female Genital Mutilation"
International Day on Zero Tolerance...

Victoria, B.C. - Female Genital Mutilation is a heinous crime still perpetrated against girls. On February 6 2011 throughout the day, the entire world community is being asked to chant together a resounding "No!" in unison with all activists against female genital mutilation. As this is the date marking the 8th International Day on Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, collectively, we can honour the global concerted efforts which rarely get the media attention, but which represent, both practical and existential struggles, against FGM tradition practice [as it is labelled for short].

Being that the 6th of February falls on a Sunday, the UN-sponsored meeting and backed by the World Health Organization will take place in Geneva on Monday 9:00 a.m. Feb 7 at "Le Centre International de Conférences" (CICG).
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Handcuffs

Iran opens espionage trial of U.S. hikers


Associated Press
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:44 UTC
An Iranian court held closed-door proceedings Sunday to begin the espionage trial of three Americans - two in custody and one freed on bail - whose 18-month detention has been the subject of impassioned family appeals and backdoor outreach by Washington through an Arab ally in the Gulf.

Iran's state-run Press TV reported that not guilty pleas were submitted to the court by their attorney, but gave no other details.

The case highlights the power of Iran's judiciary, which is controlled directly by the nation's ruling clerics and has rejected apparent appeals by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to show some leniency.

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USA

10 Things Conservatives Don't Want You To Know About Ronald Reagan

Alex Seitz-Wald
Think Progress
Sat, 05 Feb 2011 09:37 UTC
Tomorrow will mark the 100th anniversary of President Reagan's birth, and all week, conservatives have been trying to outdo each others' remembrances of the great conservative icon. Senate Republicans spent much of Thursday singing Reagan's praise from the Senate floor, while conservative publications have been running non-stop commemorations. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee and former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich are hoping to make a few bucks off the Gipper's centennial.

But Reagan was not the man conservatives claim he was. This image of Reagan as a conservative superhero is myth, created to untie the various factions of the right behind a common leader. In reality, Reagan was no conservative ideologue or flawless commander-in-chief. Reagan regularly strayed from conservative dogma - he raised taxes eleven times as president while tripling the deficit - and he often ended up on the wrong side of history, like when he vetoed an Anti-Apartheid bill.

Image
ThinkProgress has compiled a list of the top 10 things conservatives rarely mention when talking about President Reagan:
1. Reagan was a serial tax raiser. As governor of California, Reagan "signed into law the largest tax increase in the history of any state up till then." Meanwhile, state spending nearly doubled. As president, Reagan "raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office," including four times in just two years. As former GOP Senator Alan Simpson, who called Reagan "a dear friend," told NPR, "Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration - I was there." "Reagan was never afraid to raise taxes," said historian Douglas Brinkley, who edited Reagan's memoir. Reagan the anti-tax zealot is "false mythology," Brinkley said.
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Stormtrooper

2 dead in Tunisia protest


United Press International
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 05:34 UTC
Image
© Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
Their dictator resigned three weeks ago... but the regime still stands.
El Kef, Tunisia - Police fired into a crowd of protesters in El Kef, Tunisia, Saturday, killing two people and injuring 17, state media reported.

CNN said Tunis Afrique Presse reported about 1,000 people had gathered outside a police station. They began throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at the building and burned two cars, TAP said.

Police responded first by firing tear gas and shots into the air. When that failed to disperse the crowd, they turned their weapons on the people, TAP said.

It wasn't clear what had prompted the rally in the first place, CNN said.

TAP also reported it had learned form a source in the Interior Ministry that four police officers were arrested Saturday afternoon in connection with the deaths of two youths after a fire broke out Friday in a Sidi Bouzid police station.

Tunisia has been in political transition since President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country on Jan. 14, following the outbreak of widespread protests.
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Che Guevara

Serbia holds biggest opposition protest in years

Aleksandar Vasovic
Reuters
Sun, 06 Feb 2011 05:27 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Ivan Milutinovic
Supporters of Serbia's opposition Progressive Party attend an opposition rally in Belgrade February 5, 2011.
Tens of thousands of disenchanted Serbs protested in central Belgrade on Saturday in the biggest anti-government rally in years aimed at showing opposition strength ahead of scheduled 2012 elections.

A pro-European Union coalition has governed Serbia since 2008, but persistent economic hardship and frustration with slow EU integration has left many disgruntled with the government.

"This government was promising us milk and honey in 2008 and what do we have now? More hardship, and a dishonest and arrogant government which does not care about its own people," said Zdravka Stanojlovic, 44, a Belgrade waitress.

The rally was organised by Tomislav Nikolic, head of the Serbian Progressive Party, the most influential opposition party shown in polls as offering a strong challenge to the current ruling Serbian Democratic Party.
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No Entry

Mystery of the mummy's Chinese travel ban

Clifford Coonan
The Independent
Sat, 05 Feb 2011 22:38 UTC
mummy,Beauty of Xiaohe
© AP
The 'Beauty of Xiaohe', which China has pulled out of an exhibition in the US

For her advanced years, she looks remarkable. Despite nearing the ripe old age of 4,000, long eyelashes still frame her half-open eyes and hair tumbles down to her remarkably well-preserved shoulders.

But the opportunity for new audiences in the United States to view the "Beauty of Xiaohe" - a near perfectly preserved mummy from an inhospitable part of western China - has been dealt a blow after it was pulled from an exhibition following a sudden call from the Chinese authorities on the eve of opening. The reason for pulling the mummy and other artefacts from the show remained unclear yesterday (Chinese officials were on New Year holiday) but there were suggestions that the realities of modern Chinese politics may have had a part to play.

The mummy was recovered from China's Tarim Basin, in Xinjiang province. But her Caucasian features raised the prospect that the region's inhabitants were European settlers.
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Crusader

Pope's Organs are Too Holy to Donate to Mortals, Says Church

Michael Day
The Independent, UK
Sat, 05 Feb 2011 20:55 UTC
Pope Benedict
© AFP
As a cardinal he carried a donor card and as Pontiff he showed his commitment to the cause by attending a congress on organ donation
Benedict XVI has tried to scotch rumours that he carries an organ donor card after his secretary revealed that his ascension to the position of Holy Father means he is no longer able to bequeath his body parts to lesser mortals.

On the pontiff's instructions, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Benedict's personal secretary, fired off a letter to quell the rumours that started in the Pope's native Germany.

"It's true that a simple cardinal can have an organ donor card but, despite public declarations to the contrary, it ceased to apply when he was elected head of the Catholic Church," Mgr Gaenswein said.

In 1999, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger said he was on an organ-donor list. "I am available to offer my organs to whoever might need them. It is an act of love, of affection and generosity," he said at the time.

And as recently as 2008, three years after being elected pontiff, Benedict attended an international congress on donor transplantation where he repeated his support for organ donors. "It's a special way of showing charity," he said, though he added that donations had to be "free, voluntary [and] respectful of the health and dignity of the donor".
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