[Al Jazeera] The UN is investigating accusations that Uruguayan soldiers serving with the world body's peacekeeping force in Haiti sexually assaulted an 18-year-old man after alleged footage of the incident was circulated in the country on mobile phones.
"We're aware of this alleged incident. As soon as it was brought to our attention we immediately launched an internal investigation," Eliana Nabaa, spokeswoman for the UN's Haiti peacekeeping mission, MINUSTAH, said on Friday.
"We have a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and abuse and we take it extremely seriously. If the allegations are proved, the soldiers must be brought to justice," she said.
A Haitian magistrate told the AFP news agency on Friday that he had turned the case over to prosecutors after viewing the evidence and after the alleged victim and his parents gave depositions in a courthouse in Port Salut, the southern seaside town where the alleged sex attack is said to have occurred.
He said he was also investigating allegations of sexual relations between Uruguayan peacekeepers and young Haitian females who had become pregnant.
Uruguay's defence ministry earlier this week ordered an "urgent investigation" into allegations that its troops had committed "aberrant acts" against a Haitian.
Uruguay contributes 1,110 soldiers and coppers to the UN's more than 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in Haiti, according to UN figures released in July.
The one-minute video, which has circulated on dozens of mobile phones in Port Salut, pans out from a sideways close-up of the alleged victim's strained face to reveal his body being held down on a mattress by light-skinned men wearing camouflage-coloured clothes.
Some of them are seen wearing sky-blue caps in the style of those worn by UN peacekeeping forces. As the men's laughter grows in volume, a shirtless soldier kneels behind the man, slaps him and appears to thrust towards him.
The video ends as the bedraggled young man is grabbed by the arm and pulled onto his feet.
Nabaa said the UN inquiry had not yet proven the video's authenticity, but that "the results of the investigation will determine the facts".
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2011 00:00 ||
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Pakistan's eastern Punjab province is in the grip of a dengue epidemic with dozens of cases being reported daily at various hospitals across the province, said officials and hospital sources.
Strange, this doesn't happen in civilized countries...
A report issued by the provincial health department on Friday said that as many as 145 cases of dengue fever in Lahore, the provincial capital, and several other cities have been reported in Punjab over the past three days, Xinhua reported.
The total dengue fever cases in the Punjab are 1,419 since the beginning of this year, out of which 1,358 Dengue patients had recovered and been discharged from hospitals, according to local media.
Gravity of the dengue disease was felt at the central level and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani extended full support to the Punjab government in coping with the growing number of cases of dengue fever. The Prime Minister, who was in Lahore on Friday, directed his Principal Secretary to contact the Punjab government and assist them in taking necessary preventive measures against the Dengue fever. He also asked him to extend offer on behalf of the federal government for provision of any technical expertise to the Punjab government.
Acting on reports that the virus was spreading rapidly and that measures to control it had been unsuccessful, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has presided over series of meetings and ordered the immediate suspension of the Lahore district health officer for failing to control the epidemic.
A task force comprising a government minister, health officials and doctors has been set up to review the situation and suggest measures to curb the virus.
On the orders of the chief minister, giant advertisements on measures that can be taken to prevent dengue have appeared in the media.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Death is lighter than a feather. Being saved by Juice/Crusader vaccines is heavier than a mountain.
It isn't there yet, sport. My statement stands, there isn't a vaccine for dengue fever.
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2008) Researchers from Maryland and South Carolina have developed a novel four-component vaccine that protects monkeys against all four strains of dengue virus and may potentially offer protection to the millions of humans at risk worldwide.
International Vaccine Institute and Inviragen Announce a Collaboration to Accelerate Development of a Dengue Vaccine: The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), one of the partners of DVI, and Inviragen, Inc....
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
09/04/2011 9:12 Comments ||
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#5
Strange, this doesn't happen in civilized countries...
#6
Dengue is a widespread disease. It occurs anywhere that the carrying mosquitoes exist, mostly within 30 degrees or so of the equator. Most people who get the infection don't even know they have it. Somewhere over 10,000 die each year from the disease worldwide.
Pakistan may be more vulnerable because of the govt disorganization, medical incompetence, etc.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/04/2011 9:37 Comments ||
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#7
Time to bring back DDT.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
09/04/2011 10:06 Comments ||
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#8
Nonsense, Eric. It is better that hundreds of thousands of people die each year from mosquito borne illnesses than we use DDT.
/sarc
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/04/2011 13:16 Comments ||
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#9
Researchers from Maryland and South Carolina have developed a novel four-component vaccine that protects monkeys against all four strains of dengue virus
So it should work on Pakistanis.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
09/04/2011 13:19 Comments ||
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#10
So it should work on Pakistanis.
Not the ones I've met.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
09/04/2011 16:05 Comments ||
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[Dawn] A bank building and several shops were damaged when an bomb planted in a canister went off in the Omarzai bazaar on Friday, officials said.
They said that police had cordoned off the bazaar after receiving information about the presence of a bomb near the building of a commercial bank.
"As the police started combing the area, the device went kaboom! with a big bang. The bank building and a number of shops were damaged in the blast," they said and added that window panes of nearby houses were also shattered.
The officials said that about half a kilogramme of kaboom was used in the device.
TWO KILLED: Two young boys were killed in firing incidents in Charsadda district on Friday.
In the first incident, a nine-year-old boy was bumped off after an exchange of hot words between him and his neighbours in Prang area. The victim was identified as Anwar Khan.
Later, the relatives placed the body on the main road and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.
Anwar`s father, Asif Khan, told police that his son was killed by Ali Haider and Farooq of Garhi Shahbaz Khan village after an exchange of harsh words.
The family ended the road blockade after senior police officials assured them of early arrest of the accused.
In another incident, a young boy was killed when he was caught in a crossfire between two groups in the Rajjar area here. The boy was identified as Shah Sawar.
The victim`s uncle, Mohammad Sajid, lodged a report with the police, saying that his nephew Shah Sawar was killed after getting caught in the crossfire between Haq Nawaz and Mansoor groups.
The police have started investigation after registering the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Honour killings and forced marriages in Sindh receive wide attention in the national media. What is less well-known is that young women from the province frequently publish announcements in Sindhi newspapers declaring their intention to marry of their own free will.
As a way of fending off allegations that they have been kidnapped or have committed adultery, it is a bold move by these women but is known to few people beyond the readership of these regional papers.
Shabana Khatoon, 23, of Bhango Behan in Khairpur district, declares in widely circulated Sindhi daily Kawish that her parents wanted to sell her to an older man for marriage. Ms Khatoon's announcement is a summary of an attested affidavit she had a lawyer prepare for her and explains that she decided to run away and marry another man, Ghulam Murtaza Burero, in accordance with Islamic law.
She adds that no one has kidnapped her and that she is making the declaration as an adult in full possession of her senses. In case her parents register a case against her, her husband or his parents, it should be considered fake. Her statement, she says, is meant for purposes of record in case her parents move against her.
Shakeela Sheikh of Umerkot district also seeks protection through an announcement in the same paper, stating that she is divorced and left her parents' house to marry Ali Ghulam Chandio when they tried to get her remarried against her will. Guddi of Badin announces that her parents got her engaged to Asghar Ali, who used to bear the expenses of her family, but now want to marry her off to a man offering better compensation.
Couples like Ms Shabana and Mr Burero normally first contact a lawyer who prepares an affidavit based on their story that is attested by a judicial magistrate or notary public. They then have a nikah and announce it by publishing an advertisement commonly titled "dhiyan talab" ("seeking attention") or "qasam namo" ("sworn affidavit"). Some approach a local court to solemnise their marriages, also asking for protection from their families for fear of being declared karo-kari.
A study carried out by Kawish shows that an average of four to five couples announce these free-will marriages in the paper each day, and an executive in charge of advertisements there says this number can be as high as eight or nine a day. The men and women belong to a wide range of districts, tribes and castes of Sindh, including its Hindu communities, although most do not come from affluent families.
Couples who come to the newspaper's officers are sometimes too poor to afford regular rates, are often scared for their lives, and sometimes send a relative or lawyer instead of risking a visit themselves. Before publishing the advertisements the newspaper asks for signatures and NICs from the couples, attested affidavits, and photographs of the women involved.
Mayaram Rathi, a manager who handles advertising for daily Ibrat, explains that this is not a new phenomenon and that such advertisements have been published for the last three decades. They include various kinds of cases ranging from teenage girls being forced to marry much older men, women being forced to marry men they don't know and parents breaking engagements for monetary reasons.
In some instances the announcements are published by Hindu girls who have chosen Mohammedan husbands. They declare that they have converted to Islam, often adding that they were inspired by Mohammedan neighbours they had been visiting since their childhoods. One reason for the women to opt for this bold step is to prevent harassment by police or simply to seek the protection of law enforcers and the judicial system from their families, who lodge FIRs of theft or kidnapping, pressurise the couples through their communities or seek the help of jirgas.
But according to social worker Lala Hassan Pathan, who has been working on cases of violence against women and free-will marriages for the last seven years, police seldom take note of these announcements or keep them on record. The couples themselves send clippings to local coppers, who rarely take action based on them and sometimes register kidnapping cases on the parents' behalf despite the existence of these declarations under oath.
According to Mr Pathan, men who end up in police custody for kidnapping in such cases are often tortured while the women are pressurised and sometimes taken away by parents with the knowledge of police. Judges in lower courts, he says, also tend to be unsympathetic towards the couples in free-will cases.
According to women's rights activist Arfana Mallah, however, the attitude of the lower judiciary towards women is changing and lawyers are now able to go to court with these affidavits without needing the support of NGOs or influential members of civil society.
On the other hand, she says, the publication of these announcements may provoke parents and other relatives and has been followed by the women's deaths in some instances. Using the media is a double-edged sword for the women of Sindh; the same declarations that can save them from honour killings can also leave them vulnerable to even more angry reprisals.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
welcome to the 19th century
Posted by: john frum ||
09/04/2011 15:40 Comments ||
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So the protests aren't a spontaneous grassroots protest. Whose bright idea was it to hire a no-doubt expensive community organizer? And who is paying? Not the tent sitters and concert goers, who after all can't afford decent housing...
Large scale protests / pop concerts dominated by secular Israelis are being held in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem and will include free performances by well known artists. The protesters demand "social justice" and a more equitable economy but their exact demands are not clear.
According to an investigative report by Maariv's Kalman Libeskind, the protests were engineered by a group of media strategists who are directed by prominent Democratic strategist Stanley Greenberg, a former adviser to Bill Clinton, John Kerry and others. Greenberg directed the strategists to create a protest that was not led by one specific group, in order to create social ferment. An unnamed left-wing leader would eventually step into this ferment and take the reins, Greenberg predicted.
The Israeli strategists reportedly include Boaz Gaon, Moshe Gaon and Eldad Yaniv, who worked in Ehud Barak's successful race for Prime Minister in 1999, also in cooperation with Greenberg.
This smacks of revenge because so many of the NGOs were revealed to be sock puppets of various European governments and George Soros foundations, not native Israeli movements of conviction at all. Plus lots of willing dupes, there for the excitement and the free concerts. I think it was .com who commented that such rallies, back in the anti-Viet Nam War days, were a great way to get laid.
h/t Gates of Vienna
A provocative new study shows that women who have an abortion face an increased risk for mental health problems including substance abuse, anxiety, and depression.
"Results indicate quite consistently that abortion is associated with moderate to highly increased risks of psychological problems subsequent to the procedure," the authors wrote in the study, published in the September 1 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
For the study, researchers analyzed data on 877,000 women, including 164,000 who had an abortion. They found women who had an abortion experienced an 81 percent increased risk for mental problems. Why am I not surprised?
#3
Cause and effect? Or is the decision to have an abortion merely an example of poor decision making by someone who is marginally unstable to begin with?
In any case, I'll bet "more studies are needed."
Posted by: My two cents ||
09/04/2011 10:46 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The UN is investigating accusations that Uruguayan soldiers serving with the world body's peacekeeping force in Haiti sexually assaulted an 18-year-old man after alleged footage of the incident was circulated in the country on mobile phones.
[Dawn] Honour killings and forced marriages in Sindh receive wide attention in the national media. What is less well-known is that young women from the province frequently publish announcements in Sindhi newspapers declaring their intention to marry of their own free will.
