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Last Updated: May 12th, 2008 - 13:42:06 |
Cyclone in Burma Kills at Least 15,000
In Burma, at least 15,000 people are feared dead following a devastating cyclone. Another 30,000 people are still missing. Aid agencies estimate as many as one million people may be without shelter. The storm hit Burma on Friday night. For over ten hours, winds traveling up to 150 miles per hour struck Burma’s largest city, Rangoon. More than twenty inches of rain were dumped on the city. Satellite images from NASA show virtually the entire coastal plain of Burma under water. It was the largest cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh. On Monday, Burma’s military junta said it would allow some foreign aid groups to enter the country. Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith offered assistance.
Stephen Smith: “Whilst we have very grave difficulties with the regime in Burma, we have over the period been continuing to render modest humanitarian assistance directly to the people of Burma. So we stand ready, willing and able to assist in conjunction with the United Nations and the relevant agencies.”
New Book Alleges Mumia Abu-Jamal Is Innocent
A new book on Mumia Abu-Jamal asserts the former Black Panther and journalist did not kill Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. In his book The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal, J. Patrick O’Connor concludes the actual killer was Kenneth Freeman, a business partner of Mumia’s brother. Freeman died in 1985.
NAACP Files Voter Suppression Complaint
The North Carolina NAACP has filed a formal complaint of possible voter suppression against the organization Women’s Voices Women Vote. Last week it was revealed that the D.C.-based nonprofit was behind a series of deceptive robocalls directed at African American households. Callers were falsely informed that they must first send in a “registration packet” before they’re allowed to vote.
Mildred Loving, 68, Dies; Challenged Interracial Marriage Ban
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| Mildred Loving and her husband challenged Virginia's law banning interracial marriage. |
Mildred Loving has died at the age of 68. She and her husband Richard made national headlines four decades ago when they successfully challenged Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage. In 1967, the Supreme Court heard their case, Loving v. Virgina, and struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least seventeen states. Richard Loving was killed in 1975 by a drunken driver.
Georgia Schedules First Execution Since End of Moratorium
Georgia is set to execute William Earl Lynd tonight. He will become the first US prisoner to be put to death since the Supreme Court ended a de facto seven-month moratorium on capital punishment. Anti-death penalty campaigners have planned protests outside the prison and in five cities across the state. Since the Supreme Court ruling three weeks ago, states have scheduled at least fourteen more executions to take place over the next six months.
North Carolina Man Released After 14 Years on Death Row
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, an innocent man has been released after spending fourteen years on death row. Levon “Bo” Jones is the fifth death row prisoner to be exonerated in the United States in the past eleven months.
More international news
“Guantanamo’s Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr”
A US military judge dismissed the argument Friday that Guantanamo’s youngest prisoner, Omar Khadr, was a child soldier when captured in Afghanistan and therefore in need of protection and not prosecution. US Army Colonel Peter Brownback’s ruling clears the way for Omar Khadr’s trial, which will be the first war crimes trial in history of anyone under the age of eighteen.
The Toronto-born twenty-one-year-old, now, was fifteen when he was shot and captured after a fight with US Special Forces in Afghanistan. He was first detained at Bagram Air Base, then transferred to Guantanamo. The Pentagon charged Khadr with five war crimes, including murder, for the death of a US soldier who was fatally wounded by a hand grenade. Khadr is scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing in Guantanamo next week.
Michelle Shephard is the national security reporter for the Toronto Star. She has been following Khadr’s story since his arrest in 2002. Her new book traces the story of Omar Khadr’s life. It’s called Guantanamo’s Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr.
NYT Scrutinized for Report on Hezbollah Training Iraqis in Iran
The New York Times is coming under criticism for publishing an article based solely on unnamed sources suggesting that the Lebanese group Hezbollah is training Iraqi militants inside Iran. The article by Michael Gordon was published on Monday, one day after Iraqi government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq has no hard evidence of Iranian support of insurgents in Iraq. John Stauber of PR Watch said Gordon’s article is “reminiscent of the horrendous errors of judgment and bad journalism committed by Michael Gordon, Judith Miller and others at the New York Times who turned the paper into a conduit for phony stories that sold the war in Iraq.” Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner said he feels the article in Monday’s Times is “part of a strategic communications plan.”
Zimbabwe Releases Official Election Results
Election officials in Zimbabwe have finally released results from the March 29 election. Officials say opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat President Robert Mugabe, but neither candidate passed the 50 percent threshold for an outright win. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change said the result was “scandalous daylight robbery.” MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said Tsvangirai should be declared president.
Tendai Biti: “This does not surprise us. This is consistent with a regime that is not ready to let go of power. This is consistent with an individual, Robert Mugabe, who will do anything and everything legally and extralegally to reproduce his repression, his tyranny in Zimbabwe.”
Sami al-Haj: Koran Desecrated at Guantanamo
Sami al-Haj has revealed more information about his imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay. Al-Haj is the Al Jazeera cameraman who was held without charge for over six years at Guantanamo. He was released on Thursday. In an interview from Sudan, al-Haj said US troops repeatedly desecrated the Koran.
Sami al-Haj: “They hold the Koran in contempt, destroyed it several times and put their dirty feet on it. They also sat on the Koran while trying us to get us angry. They repeatedly committed violations against our dignity and our sexual organs.”
The US has rejected Sami al-Haj’s claims. One US official told ABC News that al-Haj was “a manipulator and a propagandist”.
Lawmakers Demand Probe into Pentagon Propaganda Program
Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and thirty-nine other lawmakers have called on the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate the Pentagon’s propaganda program. Two weeks ago, the New York Times revealed the Pentagon had set up a secret program to use retired military officers to generate positive news coverage and to push for the war in Iraq. In a letter to the Pentagon, DeLauro described the program as a “unethical, and potentially illegal, propaganda campaign aimed at deliberately misleading the American public.”
US Military Launches Foreign Language News Websites
Meanwhile, USA Today is reporting the Pentagon has set up a global network of foreign language news websites that promote US interests and counter anti-American messages. One such website, Mawtani.com, is geared towards Iraqis. The site is available in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu, but not in English. It is supervised by the Pentagon’s Iraq command. The US Southern Command is building a similar site for Latin American audiences, and Pacific Command is interested in setting up a news site to cover Asia. The military claims the sites are not a form of propaganda. Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Vickers said, “Is this propaganda? No. It’s intended to counter extremist propaganda…with truth.”
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