France Rejects Call to Repay Haiti "Independence Debt"
The French government has rejected a petition from a group of leading activists and academics calling for the repayment of an "independence debt" imposed nearly 200 years ago after Haiti successfully won independence. Haiti was forced to pay France around 90 million gold francs up until World War II, which after interest and inflation is valued today at up to $40 billion. French officials dismissed calls to repay Haiti, but refused to comment on whether the debt was legitimate.


US Submits First Ever Human Rights Report to the UN
For the first time, the United States has submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council chronicling the country’s human rights record. In the 29-page report, the Obama administration admitted more needs to be done in many areas including racial justice, women’s rights, LGBT rights and discrimination against Muslims and Americans of South Asian and Arab descent. The American Civil Liberties Union praised the administration for submitting the report, but the ACLU said the report neglects to address other key areas where the US has failed to meet its human rights obligations, including felon disfranchisement, inhumane prison conditions, racial disparities in the death penalty system, and deaths and abuse in immigration detention.


Almost 200 Women Gang-Raped in the Congo
In news from Africa, aid groups are reporting Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped almost 200 women and five young boys during a four-day seizure of a town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The rapes occurred in early August after the rebels occupied the town of Luvungi. International and local health workers have treated 179 women, but the number raped could be much higher as some terrified civilians are still hiding.
See related SB story: Africa, Rape and Terror


Sherrod turns down job offer from Agriculture DepartmentShirley Sherrod, who received an apology after being forced to resign from the Agriculture Department in July, declined an offer Tuesday to serve as the agency's deputy director of the Office of Advocacy and Outreach. The newly created position was designed to improve the department's civil rights efforts and image nationwide. In an interview with Tony Harris on "CNN NewsRoom" Tuesday, Sherrod said she was uncertain about that role. "There are still many questions around that position," she said. "I just felt that taking the position at this time wouldn't exactly be where I should be at this point. ... Everything that should've happened with that position hadn't been made clear." Sherrod said she also turned down an offer to return to her previous position as the department's director of rural development for Georgia. "When you look at everything that has happened in the last four or five weeks, it makes it difficult to go back to that position. I feel at this time I could do more to address issues not as a full-time employee of USDA," she told Harris. In a joint news conference after their meeting, Vilsack noted that Sherrod had expressed strong interest in a final settlement of claims made by black farmers against the USDA, as well as lawsuits raised by women, Hispanics and Native Americans.—CNN.com

Click here to wath Sherrod's CNN interview.


GOP Candidate Proposes Housing Welfare Recipients in Jails
New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has proposed transforming some New York prisons into dormitories for welfare recipients, where they would work in state-sponsored jobs, get employment training, and take lessons in "personal hygiene." In an interview with the Associated Press, Paladino said, "Instead of handing out the welfare checks, we’ll teach people how to earn their check. We’ll teach them personal hygiene...the personal things they don’t get when they come from dysfunctional homes." Paladino, who has become a tea party favorite, says the program would be voluntary.


California Jail to Test Ray Gun on Prisoners
Authorities in Castaic, California have announced plans to use prisoners as test subjects for a high-tech ray gun that fires an invisible heat beam capable of causing unbearable pain. The 600-pound, seven-foot-tall "Assault Intervention System" was built by Raytheon for the military, but it is now being introduced for domestic purposes. Raytheon is currently working on creating a hand-held version of the ray gun.


Homeless Man Jailed for Stealing Food Freed After 13 Years
A California man has been freed from prison after serving thirteen years following his arrest for trying to forcibly enter a church soup kitchen because he was hungry. Gregory Taylor had been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under the state’s controversial three-strikes law. At the time of his last arrest, he was homeless and suffering from drug addiction. Taylor’s release came in part due to efforts by students working on the Three Strikes Project at the Criminal Defense Clinic at Stanford Law School. Taylor says he plans to work for a food pantry run by his brother.


News Corp. Donates $1M to Republican Governors Association
The Rupert Murdoch-owned media giant News Corp. has made a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association in advance of the November elections. News Corp’s holdings include the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and Fox News.


Dr. Laura to End Radio Show After N-Word Tirade
The veteran right-wing radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger has announced she’ll end her talk show at the end of the year. Schlessinger has come under criticism for saying the N-word eleven times during an exchange with a listener during a recent broadcast.


ACLU Files Suit over Torture, Jailing of US Citizen in UAE
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit accusing the US government of stonewalling an attempt to unearth details of the alleged torture and imprisonment of a US citizen in the United Arab Emirates. The alleged victim, Naji Hamdan, was held for nearly three months without charge and was denied access to a lawyer and contact with his family. Hamdan says he was beaten, kicked in the liver, strapped to an electric chair, and told his wife would be raped in front of him. Hamdan moved to the UAE from the United States in 2006 after being the target of intense FBI scrutiny and was jailed just weeks after FBI agents questioned him at the US embassy in Abu Dhabi. The ACLU says the federal government has ignored a six-month-old Freedom of Information Act request for information about the FBI’s long-term surveillance of Hamdan, as well the US role in his imprisonment and torture. Hamdan has also claimed an unidentified American took part in his interrogation.


Thousands of Dead Fish Found in Mississippi River
In Louisiana, authorities in St. Bernard Parish have found thousands of dead fish in the Mississippi River. St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro said, "I’m talking about 5,000 to 15,000 dead fish. Different species were found dead including crabs, sting rays, eel, drum, speckled trout, red fish." State officials said the fish might have died because of low levels of oxygen in the water. State officials have not yet linked the dead fish to the BP oil spill, but the Times-Picayune reported the fish were found floating on the surface of the water and collected in booms that had been deployed to contain oil that leaked from the BP spill.


Scientist Accuses Obama Administration and BP of Underestimating Amount of Oil Left in Gulf of Mexico
New evidence has badly shaken the Obama administration’s rosy narrative about the alleged disappearance of most of the oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s blown-out well. Early this month a report by government scientists declared three-quarters of the oil had vanished, either collected or dispersed. But numerous reports contradict the administration’s sanguine picture of the cleanup effort.

Researchers at the University of Georgia said about three-quarters of the oil is still lurking below the surface of the Gulf and may pose a threat to the ecosystem. Separately, a study released last week by the University of South Florida scientists found oil in sediments of an underwater canyon and evidence that the oil has become toxic to critical marine organisms. On Thursday, a team of researchers confirmed the existence of a vast underwater oil plume stretching twenty-one miles from BP’s blown-out well. Christopher Reddy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said the amount of oil in the plume is unknown.

Speaking before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior scientist Bill Lehr acknowledged that only ten percent of the oil has been cleaned up and that large quantities, evaporated or dispersed, remain in the Gulf ecosystem. The subcommittee chair, Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts, closed the hearing criticizing the administration’s so-called "premature celebration" and urged further vigilance.


Massive Egg Recall
The largest egg recall in US history is bringing renewed attention on the dangers of factory farming and on growing consolidation in the industries responsible for the food many Americans eat. Over half a billion eggs have been pulled off US shelves in the past two weeks following an outbreak of salmonella in the Midwest. Nearly 1,300 cases of people sickened by the eggs have been reported.

Despite the size of the recall, responsibility falls on just two factory farms: Hillandale Farms and Wright County Egg, both from Iowa. Both farms have also been linked to health, safety and employment violations. Wright County Egg was once cited for having its workers handle manure and dead chickens with their bare hands. Neither factory had ever been inspected by the top federal and state agencies responsible for food safety oversight: the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.



CodePink Founder Arrested at Home of Blackwater’s Erik Prince
CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and other activists were detained on Sunday at the home of Blackwater founder Erik Prince in McLean, Virginia. Medea Benjamin attempted to drop a letter off to Prince at his house.
Medea Benjamin: "Dear Erik Prince, on behalf of US taxpayers, we say shame on you. Through your company Blackwater, or Xe, as you now like to call it, you made—I mean stole—hundreds of millions of dollars. Your employees also killed innocent civilians in Iraq, and you should be held responsible. Don’t run away to the Emirates to escape prosecution. Stay here in the USA and face the consequences of your actions, like a good Christian."


More International News
One Million Pakistanis Face Starvation in Balochistan
Pakistani officials say more than one million people face starvation in the state of Balochistan due to the devastating floods. More than 5,000 villages in Balochistan have been washed away as well as over 120 miles of roads. Balochistan is located in Southwest Pakistan on the border of Iran and Afghanistan. On Monday, Jane Cocking, humanitarian director of Oxfam, urged people around the world to keep giving to help the people of Pakistan.

Jane Cocking: "What we have is a single long event, which has the scale of the tsunami, the destruction of Haiti and the complexity of the Middle East. And in twenty years in responding to humanitarian crises, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this."
Nick Guttmann of Christian Aid also appealed to the world to help the survivors of the massive floods in Pakistan.

Nick Guttmann: "We are very, very desperate for donations to come in. Donations have picked up. We’re very pleased that donations in the last week, unusually for the DEC appeal, have picked up in the second week. And within Christian Aid as well, our donations have picked up, but we desperately need more. The scale is so huge that every penny that is raised will be able to be used now. But also, we have to think about the future and rebuilding people’s lives, so they can have a future to look forward to, as well."


Relief Agencies Blocked from Using Pakistani Air Base Tied to US
There are reports that relief agencies have been blocked from using a large Pakistani air base in Sindh province that has been tied to the secret US drone program. Last week Pakistan’s health secretary said the base is essentially now run by the United States military. In 2008, the Washington Post reported the US was secretly using the Shahbaz base to house Predator hunter-killer drones used to carry out strikes inside Pakistan. In an attempt to save the air base, flood waters were diverted from the area, but the diverted water has reportedly inundated hundreds of nearby homes and displaced as many as 800,000 people.


100,000 Left Homeless by Floods in Niger
In the nation of Niger, aid agencies are warning of a "double disaster" as major flooding combines with the ongoing food crisis. Eight million people, half of Niger’s population, are facing hunger due to failed harvests. Now more than 100,000 people have been left homeless after heavy rains washed away their homes.


Haitian Authorities Release List of Qualified Presidential Candidates

Wyclef Jean will appeal disqualification from Haiti's presidential election.

In Haiti, election authorities have released the names of nineteen candidates who have qualified to run in the upcoming presidential election. Candidates include former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, who was held as a political prisoner for two years following the 2004 coup that ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Fifteen candidates were rejected, including the hip-hop singer Wyclef Jean, who said he plans to fight the ruling. Jean did not meet the requirement that presidential candidates have five consecutive years of residency in Haiti prior to the election.

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