At a time when local law enforcement agencies are being forced to cut
\nbudgets and freeze hiring, cities across Southern California have found a
\ngrowing source of income — immigration detention.Roughly two-thirds of the
\nnation’s immigrant detainees are held in local jails, and the payments to
\ncities and counties for housing them have increased as the federal
\ngovernment has cracked down on illegal immigrants with criminal records and
\noutstanding deportation orders.Washington paid nearly $55.2 million to
\nhouse detainees at 13 local jails in California in fiscal year 2008, up
\nfrom $52.6 million the previous year. The U.S. is on track to spend $57
\nmillion this year.<\/p>\n
After dumping its untreated wastewater into lake Managua for more than 80
\nyears, the capital of Nicaragua has started to clean up the huge source of
\nwater in this country, where 80 percent of fresh water sources are
\npolluted. “For 82 years we have turned Central America’s largest lake into
\nthe world’s biggest toilet.We poison it every day with tons of feces and
\ngarbage, and now, at this pace, it will take 50 years or more to salvage.”
\nHowever, that new Augusto C. Sandino wastewater treatment plant inaugurated
\nby President Daniel Ortega on the shores of Lake Managua (also known as
\nLake Xolotl\u221a\u00b0n, which means “dedicated to the god X\u221a\u2265lotl” in the N\u221a\u00b0huatl
\nlanguage) is a huge step towards the aim of cleaning up the country’s water
\nsources. There is still much to be done; this is just the first step in a
\ngood plan to rescue the country’s water sources. It will take more than 50
\nyears to get to the point where the water can be used for consumption.<\/p>\n
Despite Indonesia’s West Papua region being home to some of the world’s
\nlargest resource extraction projects, which generate massive wealth for
\nmultinationals and for the government in Jakarta, local indigenous people
\nstill suffer from poor health. Documenting that has not been easy, since
\nJakarta has been reluctant to allow outsiders into this remote region. But
\nrecently a few international health NGOs, including Medecins du Monde, have
\ntravelled to West Papua, and their data shows a region where tens of
\nthousands out of 2.5 million inhabitants are estimated to be infected with
\nHIV\/Aids, and lethal cholera and diarrhoea outbreaks are frequent. The
\nhealth problems of West Papuans are often the result of change taking place
\ntoo quickly for such a remote people. Papuans are being overtaken by new
\ndevelopment and while the delivery of basic health services lacks support
\nand funding, they’re falling way behind in health standards.<\/p>\n
A major 7.9-magnitude earthquake shook the South Pacific nation of Tonga,
\nprompting a tsunami warning but causing no major damage. The quake was
\ncentred 210 kilometres (130 miles) south-southeast of the Tongan capital
\nNuku’alofa. A 5.2-magnitude aftershock was also recorded in the same region
\njust over two hours after the initial quake. A resident of Nuku’alofa said
\nthere was no sign of significant damage or of a tsunami after the shallow
\nquake, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles). The US Pacific
\nTsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning for Tonga, Niue, the
\nKermadec Islands, American Samoa and Fiji, but lifted it nearly two hours
\nafter the quake struck.<\/p>\n
Despite Australia’s best efforts to supply safe-sex aids to AIDS-ravaged
\nPapua New Guinea, there’s no stopping local creativity in finding unusual
\nuses for condoms. Local fisherman cut them up for lures, and women find the
\nlubricant good for their hair and beauty regime. Non-government
\norganisations and various HIV\/AIDS groups know all too well where many of
\nthose Australian-funded rubbers go. As one NGO boss said: “If they’re
\nfishing, they’re not f**king.” The PNG National AIDS Council Secretariat
\nwas recently described as “rotten to the core” with corruption,
\nmisappropriation and mismanagement amid news that two million condoms had
\nbeen left to expire in a Port Moresby warehouse.<\/p>\n
Two leading networks of environmental and Indigenous Peoples’
\nOrganisations, called on world governments to take immediate action to halt
\ndeforestation and forest degradation. Deforestation rates continue to be
\nshockingly high in many countries despite increased awareness that forests
\n— which host more than 70% of terrestrial biodiversity — play a key role
\nnot only in sustaining the livelihoods of more than one billion people but
\nalso in mitigating climate change. The environmental networks called for a
\nstop to promoting plantations and urged governments to immediately halt the
\nconversion of forests into biofuel plantations in their countries.
\nGovernments should also recognize urgently Indigenous Peoples’ territories,
\npromote community-based forest management and restoration, ban illegal
\nlogging and related trade, and implement immediate deforestation moratoria.<\/p>\n
A U.N. panel will recommend that the world ditch the dollar as its reserve
\ncurrency in favor of a shared basket of currencies, adding to pressure on
\nthe dollar. the proposal was to create something like the old Ecu, or
\nEuropean currency unit, that was a hard-traded, weighted basket. The
\nrecommendation would be one of a number delivered to the United Nations by
\nthe U.N. Commission of Experts on International Financial Reform. It is a
\ngood moment to move to a shared reserve currency. Central banks hold their
\nreserves in a variety of currencies and gold, but the dollar has dominated
\nas the most convincing store of value — though its rate has wavered in
\nrecent years as the United States ran up huge twin budget and external
\ndeficits.<\/p>\n
A reef-top cemetery in Solomon Islands has been destroyed in what villagers
\nsay is clear evidence of the effects of climate change. Villagers in Temotu
\nProvince say they have seen the effects in the Reef Islands, a group of 16
\nsmall coral islands 80 kilometres from Santa Cruz island, in eastern
\nSolomon Islands. an entire cemetery at Tuo village, Fenualoa Island, has
\nbeen washed away by waves. The villagers say the destruction was carried
\nout by a rise in sea levels which has happened gradually over the past few
\nyears. Tuo village community leader, Ezekiel Nodua said the only remains of
\nthe graves are broken pieces of cement scattered over a wide area of
\noff-shore reef. The reef at high tide now becomes submerged by the sea. Mr
\nNodua says the people of Tuo village now bury their dead beside their
\nhomes, because they no longer have a community cemetery to bury their dead.
\nThe densely populated islands have been known to be previously subject to
\ntidal surges caused by cyclones and volcanic activity<\/p>\n
There is a close correlation between disaster, whether natural or
\nmanufactured, and the philanthropy industry. This implies the existence of
\ntwo symbiotic professions. First is conflict entrepreneurship and war
\nmongering whose business is to ensure continuous presence of warlike
\nactivities and general instability in different places. In part this is
\nbecause war is big business and hence the tendency for war and business to
\nreinforce each other. Second is that of philanthropic entrepreneurs,
\nincluding peace activists, who make elaborate plans to raise funds to deal
\nwith expected disasters that can be either natural or man-made. Total lack
\nof disaster is catastrophic to their interests. Man-made disasters can be
\nrelated to the business of war. The link between war and business gave rise
\nto two complexes that have the military at the centre perpetuating warlike
\nconditions.<\/p>\n
Australia has recently seen a surge in asylum seekers arriving on boats. An
\nAustralian navy ship has intercepted a boat carrying nearly 60 suspected
\nasylum seekers – the fourth such incident in less than two weeks. The boat
\nwas stopped some 420km (265 miles) north of Broome in Western Australia.
\nThose on board were being sent to an immigration detention centre on
\nChristmas Island, about 2,575km (1,600 miles) north-west of the mainland.
\nThe nationalities of the suspects were not immediately known.<\/p>\n
The largest federal contract in the state is with the Los Angeles County
\nSheriff’s Department, whose 1,400-bed detention center is dedicated to
\nhousing immigrants either awaiting deportation or fighting their cases in
\ncourt. The department received $34.7 million in 2008, up from $32.3 million
\nthe previous year. Some smaller cities have seen their income rise much
\nfaster. Glendale received nearly $260,000 in 2008, triple what it got the
\nprevious year. In Alhambra, last year’s $247,000 was more than double the
\nprevious year’s payments. For some cash-strapped cities, the federal money
\nhas become a critical source of revenue, covering budget shortfalls and
\nsaving positions.<\/p>\n
The new plant is processing 132,000 cubic metres of wastewater a day, and
\nwill process 180,000 cubic metres a day when it reaches full operating
\ncapacity. The wastewater from 60 chemical companies and Managua’s 1.2
\nmillion people has been dumped untreated into the lake from 17 drains since
\n1927, when the government ordered all sewage to be channeled into the lake
\nuntil a new sewer system was built. But the system was not in place until
\n2007, when 32 kilometres of underground drainage and sewage pipes running
\nto the treatment plant were completed. It is an old dream of the Nicaraguan
\npeople to salvage the beautiful gifts that God gave this land of lakes and
\nvolcanoes and, thanks to God, the government and friendly countries, we are
\ngiving a start to that dream. Work on the plant began in 1997, with funding
\nfrom the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the governments of Germany
\nand other European countries, and the Nicaraguan treasury. The total cost
\nwas 85.5 billion dollars.<\/p>\n
There were hundreds of new reported cases of AIDS, taking the total
\nofficial number to more than 4,000 (50% of Indonesia’s total cases). Some
\nhealth agencies estimate that the real number with AIDS has reached 70,000,
\nor about 2.5% of the population. Diarrhoea killed dozens in rural areas
\nwhile in urban centres, such as Jayapura and Manokwari, food poisoning
\nkilled more. Deaths from a cholera epidemic in the Dogiyai and Paniai
\ndistricts were about 300 by the end of last year. “We are seeing just the
\ntip of the iceberg of several health problems, and access to clean water
\nand education. This cholera bacterium is always there. When people are in a
\nlower nutritional state, or have another disease like HIV\/AIDS, then they
\nare more vulnerable to this. “All families in my village, someone dies…
\nevery day,” says Ipo Hagwan of Northern Kamuu. “People are very scared. It
\nhas been getting worse and we don’t know how to stop it.” The remoteness of
\nthe region makes it difficult for Jakarta to deal with epidemics. But many
\nPapuans feel their welfare is just not a concern for Indonesia. “Since this
\ncholera outbreak hit, Jakarta has done nothing to help these people. Where
\nare the health services from the government and the World Health
\nOrganisation when people are dying every day?”<\/p>\n
The centre later said in an updated warning that a tsunami had been
\ngenerated that could have been destructive along coastlines of the region
\nnear the earthquake epicentre. In Fiji, the authorities warned people in
\ncoastal areas to move to higher ground and schools along the coast were
\nclosed. Many businesses and government offices stayed closed until after
\nthe warning was lifted. In New Zealand, the Ministry of Civil Defence also
\nissued a tsunami advisory for all coastal regions soon after the
\nearthquake. But the tsunami warning was lifted after there were no reports
\nof any significant rise in sea levels. The warning centre said after
\ncancelling the tsunami alert that only a minor rise in sea level of around
\nfour centimetres (1.5 inches) was recorded by sea level gauges in the South
\nPacific nation of Niue. Nuku’alofa resident Mary Fonua said no significant
\ndamage was apparent after the quake, which lasted for about a minute.
\n“There was a lot of rattling and shaking. It went on for about 30 seconds
\nand I went outside and the house was shaking for about another 30 seconds,”
\nshe said. Electricity and phone services were not disrupted.<\/p>\n
So where do Aussie condoms end up besides going off in storage? Several
\nfisherman were out on Port Moresby’s harbour to catch what they promised
\nwould be big tuna. “The fish think the condoms are squid,” fisherman Iewana
\nsaid. “Us coastal people use it, but it’s more in the north by the New
\nGuinea islands guys.” Other fishermen had said they would raid any condom
\ndistribution point when the Aussie-funded rubbers bounced into town. Asked
\nabout the raids, one woman said some of the sisterhood had taken to using
\nthe lubricant for their hair and skin and on rashes because they had heard
\nit had healing properties. Back to the fishing excursion, which cost 100
\nkina and two tanks of petrol, but delivered precious little in the form of
\ntuna of any size. “It’s best to fish in the afternoon,” Iewana said. Even
\nas this condom fishing story seemed to be slipping away, the fisherman
\nfriend wanted even more money. “You must buy petrol for us,” Iewana said as
\nthey puttered back into shore. “But I’ve already bought ample and gave you
\nsome cash,” the visitor retorted, used to the PNG try-on. “Okay,” he said,
\nmiffed at missing an extra hand-out. They both felt a little screwed.<\/p>\n
The expansion of large-scale monocultures of oil palm, soy and other crops
\nfor agrofuel production has been a key factor in the failure to halt
\ndeforestation. The report also states that “the potential for large-scale
\ncommercial production of cellulosic biofuel will have unprecedented impacts
\non the forest sector. If cellulosic biofuel leads to a strongly increased
\ndemand for wood, it will have a dramatic impact on the world’s forests,
\nespecially in regions like Africa and Asia, which are already facing
\nincreased pressure on forests due to the failure to combat illegal logging
\nand the rapidly rising demand for wood in general.<\/p>\n
News of the U.N. panel’s recommendation extended dollar losses because it
\nfed into concerns about the future of the greenback as the main global
\nreserve currency, raising the chances of central bank sales of dollar
\nholdings. Speculation that major central banks would begin rebalancing
\ntheir FX reserves has risen since the intensification of the dollar’s slide
\nbetween 2002 and mid-2008. Russia is also planning to propose the creation
\nof a new reserve currency, to be issued by international financial
\ninstitutions. It has significantly reduced the dollar’s share in its own
\nreserves in recent years.<\/p>\n
Another driver for deforestation is illegal logging – 20% of the timber
\nsupply comes from illegal sources. Europe remains one of the main markets
\nfor illegal timber. Strong legislation to halt illegal timber trade and to
\ndecrease Europe’s devastating impact on the world’s forests should be
\nadopted as a bare minimum – there is no time to lose. Illegal logging could
\nincrease due to the global economic crisis, as it might cause a contraction
\nof the formal forestry sector. An additional worrying trend is the massive
\nreplacement of forests by large-scale tree plantations in many countries.<\/p>\n
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that Russia will finance arms
\npurchases valued at $2.2 billion. This would increase the country’s
\ndefensive capacity with more tanks, missiles and anti-aerial defense
\nsystems. Venezuela will buy 92 T-72S tanks, Smerch missiles with a range of
\n90 kilometers, and an S-300, Antey-2500 anti-air defense system including
\nradars and missile ramps with a range of 400 kilometers. The Russian
\ngovernment approved financing for $2.2 billion for arms spending. The arms
\npurchases are intended to defend the country’s petroleum and natural gas
\nreserves and aren’t intended to attack any other country. Since 2006,
\nChavez has bought about $4.4 billion in Russian arms to modernize the armed
\nforces.<\/p>\n
First is the big country complex of manufacturing weapons that have to be
\nsold or used somewhere. USA President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned Americans
\nabout the dangers of ‘a military industrial complex,’ as he left office.
\nHis country was and is the world’s leading industrial power and weapons
\nproducer. Second is the small country complex, having intricate weapons
\nbuying arrangements. For small countries that do not have industries let
\nalone manufacture weapons, the concept is that of the military-business
\ncomplex in which those with access to strings of power determine the
\nstationing or removal of officers who influence military procurement. The
\nresult is skewed purchases that might be irrelevant to actual defence and
\nnational well being, but which make the well-connected very comfortable.
\nConsequently, they are often caught flatfooted when real disaster strikes.
\nThe two complexes are intertwined in that the military industrial complex
\nneeds the military business complex. Players in each complex tend to be
\ninterested in ensuring “demand” for the weapons it deals with. Those in
\ncharge, at either end, have to make money. The consequence can be man-made
\ndisaster to humans and the environment. The misery of the victims, whether
\ndue to natural or man-made disasters, is opportunity to the big
\nphilanthropy industry. The symbiosis between producers and absorbers of
\nweapons is replayed in the philanthropy arena.<\/p>\n
The immigration agency is inundated with detainees, if there were 100 more
\nbeds, they’d be filled. Immigrant detainees stay in the local jails
\nanywhere from a few hours to many months. At most jails, they are not
\nseparated from the rest of the population. Immigrant rights advocates have
\nraised concerns about local jails not following federal detention standards
\nand not segregating detainees from people suspected of committing crimes.
\nImmigration detention is civil, not criminal. If you are holding them in
\nthe same place, that distinction is meaningless. Even though the cities may
\nbenefit financially, the savings do not get passed along to taxpayers.
\nWe’re still paying for it. It’s still a waste of resources to detain people
\nwho do not need to be detained.<\/p>\n
More than 120,000 users of the sewage system are now connected to the
\ntreatment plant, which will begin to ease pollution of the 1,040 square
\nkilometre lake which is located in western Nicaragua, near the Pacific
\ncoast. Another sewage network will be built, to hook up the districts of
\nTicuantepe and Veracruz, as well as outlying areas to the south of the
\ncapital, with the new treatment plant. In 1969, the dictatorship of General
\nAnastasio Somoza (1967-1979) declared the western shore of the lake, where
\n20 different Managua neighbourhoods were located, as uninhabitable due to
\nthe health risks. The clean-up process is on the right track. By treating
\nthe water bacteriologically, the main factors that produce bad smells and
\ncolours, from sewage, are eliminated, and at least the landscape changes
\nand the lake will recover its normal colour, little by little.<\/p>\n
The government’s failure to respond quickly to the cholera epidemic caused
\nmany more deaths, and the repression Papuans have suffered for years at the
\nhands of the Indonesian military has exacerbated the problem. Papua has
\nbeen troubled by a low-level separatist insurgency since the 1960s.
\nJournalists need special permission to enter the area, and human rights
\ngroups have accused the military of abuses. Many tribal people in the area
\naffected by the cholera outbreak believe they have fallen ill because
\nIndonesian soldiers have poisoned them, and they are suspicious of any
\nmedical treatment. The living conditions of West Papuans can be primitive:
\nthey rarely boil water and their wells can become cesspits. Papuans observe
\ntraditional customs such as washing dead bodies and keeping them above
\nground for days before burial. Diseases such as cholera can spread quickly.
\n“In our village we share a pit for a toilet,” says Sabar Ingiwaii from
\nMimika. “And next to it is a pit for washing. We wash from the earth, like
\nour ancestors always did.” It’s not only disease contaminating the waters.
\nThe Freeport mine in Timika is the world’s largest gold and copper mine and
\nhas dumped an estimated 7bn tonnes of tailings and waste into surrounding
\nrivers.<\/p>\n
It is surprising there had not been more damage in Tonga from the quake.
\nThe critical point in earthquakes is buildings, so where there are not many
\nhigh rise buildings you don’t expect much damage or injuries. But 200
\nkilometres is very close for that type of magnitude and that kind of
\nshallow depth. She added a tsunami warning would be expected for such a
\nlarge earthquake. With a magnitude of nearly eight and very shallow, you
\nwould send out a warning. Several earthquakes have been felt in Tonga
\nrecently and an undersea volcano has been erupting off the coast of the
\nmain island Tongatapu, although it was not considered to be a threat to
\npeople in the area. The quake occurred near fault lines in the Pacific
\n“Ring of Fire” where continental plates in the earth’s crust collide and
\nearthquakes and volcanic activity are common. An undersea earthquake off
\nSumatra, Indonesia, in December 2004 set off a tsunami that killed more
\nthan 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean. In the South Pacific, at least
\n52 people were killed by a tsunami in the Solomon Islands in April 2007
\nafter a 8.0 magnitude earthquake.<\/p>\n
Plantations are not forests. All over the world, plantations destroy the
\nlands and livelihoods of local communities and Indigenous Peoples, as well
\nas biodiversity and water resources. They also store far less carbon than
\nnatural forests. As they provide very little employment for rural people,
\ntree plantations are also a major cause of rural depopulation and a further
\nshifting agricultural frontier, thus causing the destruction of forests
\nelsewhere. By actively promoting monoculture tree plantations, they are
\npartly responsible for this global trend of replacing biologically diverse
\nforests with straight rows of usually non-native trees.<\/p>\n
The United States was concerned that holding the reserve currency made it
\nimpossible to run policy, while the rest of world was also unhappy with the
\ngenerally declining dollar. There is a moment that can be grasped for
\nchange. Today the Americans complain that when the world wants to save, it
\nmeans a deficit. A shared (reserve) would reduce the possibility of global
\nimbalances. The panel had been looking at using something like an expanded
\nSpecial Drawing Right, originally created by the International Monetary
\nFund in 1969 but now used mainly as an accounting unit within similar
\norganizations. The SDR and the old Ecu are essentially combinations of
\ncurrencies, weighted to a constituent’s economic clout, which can be valued
\nagainst other currencies and indeed against those inside the basket.<\/p>\n
Less cocaine-laden airplanes are reaching Africa since Venezuela installed
\nradars covering the Atlantic coast and its southern border. Drug flights to
\nWest African countries such as Guinea Bissau became more common in 2007 and
\n2008, as traffickers took advantage of weak air control systems in
\nVenezuela. The government has taken actions and the effectiveness of those
\nactions can be seen because cocaine trafficking from Venezuela to Africa
\nhas dropped. Flights of Colombian-made drugs through OPEC nation Venezuela
\non capacity lost when tension between Washington and President Hugo Chavez
\nled to the removal of three U.S-owned radars a few years ago. Venezuela,
\nwhich has thousands of miles of coastline and a rugged and porous border
\nwith Colombia, the world’s top cocaine producer, ended cooperation with the
\nU.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005 after accusing it of spying.<\/p>\n
There were two main reasons why policymakers might consider such a move,
\none being the current desire for a change from the dollar. The other
\nreason, was the success of the euro, which incorporated a number of
\ncurrencies but roughly speaking held on to the stability of the old German
\ndeutschemark compared with, say, the Greek drachma. The dollar will give
\nway to the Chinese yuan as a global reserve currency within decades. A
\nshared reserve currency might negate this move, but he believed that China
\nwould still like to take on the role.<\/p>\n
A land dispute is believed to have sparked tribal violence that has left
\nthree people dead and hundreds homeless in Papua New Guinea. Among the dead
\nis a disabled man who was burnt alive in a house near the town of Wau in
\nMorobe province. Several people were also treated for shotgun wounds after
\nhundreds of armed men from the Watut tribe raided villages inhabited by the
\nBiangai people on Friday. A long-running dispute over ownership of a parcel
\nof gold-bearing land is the cause of the violence. There’s about more than
\n50 houses have been burnt – even business, people lost business like stores
\nand coffee. Everything got burnt down. The national government has provided
\nmoney for temporary housing and to maintain a large police presence in the
\narea.<\/p>\n
Several of the foreign nationals housed in Santa Ana said they believed
\nthey should be let out on bond rather than incarcerated while fighting
\ntheir immigration cases, especially if they had no criminal records or had
\nalready served their time. Victor Hidalgo, 36, finished a five-year
\nsentence in state prison on a drug charge before being transferred into
\nimmigration custody. Hidalgo, who is from Nicaragua, said he and others
\nhave jobs, families and homes here and are not a danger to society. “We’re
\nnot national security risks,” he said. The jails that house detainees for
\nmore than 72 hours — including in Santa Ana and Lancaster — are subject
\nto “stringent detention standards” and undergo inspection by a contracted
\ncompany. Other jails are inspected regularly by the immigration agency. The
\nfederal contracts with local jails began about a decade ago but have
\nexpanded over the last few years. The federal government operates some of
\nits own detention centers and contracts with private companies to run
\nothers but relies heavily on the local jails. The cost varies from around
\n$80 to just over $100 per detainee per day, generally less expensive than
\nthe cost of housing detainees at federal immigration facilities.<\/p>\n
But here in the Pacific coastal region there are five large lagoons and two
\nlakes, and with the exception of Asososca lagoon, which provides the
\ncapital with water, the rest are unprotected and exposed to pollution. 80
\npercent of the country’s water sources are polluted to some degree. That
\nincludes the Xilo\u221a\u00b0, Nejapa, Tiscapa, Venecia and Apoyo lagoons and the
\nlarge Managua and Cocibolca lakes. In 2006, the Latin American Water
\nTribunal, found Nicaragua guilty of neglecting and deteriorating its water
\nresources, mainly for allowing the mining industry to pollute the San Juan
\nriver, which runs out of lake Cocibolca and into the Caribbean sea. The
\nOrtega administration has plans to bolster the tourism potential of lake
\nManagua. Last year, the national port authority opened two ports on the
\nlake, and now offers scenic boat rides.<\/p>\n
More than 50 prisoners have escaped from a Papua New Guinea jail after
\nwardens failed to show up for work and police were busy guarding a rugby
\nleague match. Most of the 54 inmates are still at large after fleeing from
\nBomana Correctional Institution near Port Moresby the day by making a hole
\nin a steel fence around their cell block. “We’ve got about 50 still on the
\nrun,” the official said, adding four had been recaptured. The breakout was
\nnot discovered for “some hours” because many wardens, who are involved in a
\npay dispute, had not appeared for work at the prison, which houses some 600
\nto 700 inmates. The match had left officers unable to respond quickly. “We
\nwere tied up at a security operation at the rugby league ground, and could
\nnot do much,” Yakasa said. The prison official was unable to say what
\noffences the escapees had been charged with, but said that 22 had been
\nconvicted.<\/p>\n
Coastal villages in Alaska (USA) are reeling from the erosion caused by
\nunprecedented warming trends due to climate change. One of the most
\nimpacted areas is Shishmaref, a traditional Inupiat village in the Bering
\nStraits with a population of just over 600 people. The village is located
\non Sarichef Island, a barrier island in the Chukchi Sea. In the past, sea
\nice would form in the fall, creating a blockade of ice along the shore
\nwhich acted as a protective barrier against sea storms. This protective sea
\nice, which used to be in place by October or November, no longer forms
\nsolidly. Its absence allows powerful waves to undercut the banks that are
\nalready weakened by an increased melting of permafrost. The later freezing
\nof the sea ice is an indication of warmer temperatures in the ocean. Local
\npeople say that the Chukchi Sea doesn’t freeze right or fast anymore… We
\ngo out a couple of miles, and you have this creamy and dark-looking ice,
\nwhich is very thin and unstable.<\/p>\n
In the medium term, the Construction Ministry foresees the creation of a
\ncoastal road, which would link the country’s Pacific coastal departments
\n(provinces) and serve as a scenic drive along the shores of Lake Managua.
\nWith development aid from Spain, the La Chureca municipal garbage dump will
\nbe converted into a plant for the treatment and recycling of the solid
\nwaste that has gone into the dump along the edge of the lake for over 30
\nyears. In 2007, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources
\nlaunched a national reforestation campaign that includes the rivers and
\nbasins around the lake\u201a a measure that is essential to improving the
\nability of the lake’s water sources to capture water. The treatment plant
\nhas begun to operate, it hopes to eliminate 170 swamps that form every year
\nin areas around the lake and that are a source not only of bad odours but
\nof illnesses like malaria and dengue fever, and of flies, which increase
\nthe incidence of diarrhea among children. The project to clean up lake
\nManagua is one step more towards compliance with the Millennium Development
\nGoals (MDGs). Nicaragua will have to provide clean water and sanitation to
\nat least 2.5 million of its 5.8 million people by 2015, to meet the
\ndrinking water target, one of the eight MDGs adopted by the international
\ncommunity in 2000. The MDGs include a 50 percent reduction in poverty and
\nhunger; universal primary education; reduction of child mortality by
\ntwo-thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three-quarters; the promotion
\nof gender equality; ensuring environmental sustainability; the reversal of
\nthe spread of HIV\/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and a global
\npartnership for development between the rich and poor.<\/p>\n
U.S. accuses high level former officials in the Chavez government as being
\ninvolved in drug trafficking with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas. Venezuela
\nbought 10 radars from China and installed six of them last year. It is also
\nbuying Chinese K-8 light attack planes to be used to pursue flights. They
\nreplace a purchase of Brazilian Super Tucanos blocked by a U.S. arms
\nembargo. The United States says Venezuela let 300 tonnes of cocaine through
\nthe country in 2008. Chavez blames the multi-billion dollar industry on
\nU.S. consumption. If you do the math, you can’t say 200 tonnes, or 100 or
\n500 are coming through here, pointing to a U.S. inter-agency report that
\nsays less than 10 percent of Colombian cocaine headed north leaves via
\nVenezuela. A 4-year plan is to fight consumption, increase penalties for
\ntraffickers to a maximum 30 years in jail and allow the shooting down of
\nsuspected drugs flights. Tensions have flared between Venezuela and
\nColombia over a deal which gives U.S. soldiers access to more Colombian
\nmilitary bases to fight traffickers and rebels.<\/p>\n
Hauke Tekiman has lived most of his life in the area where communities are
\nnourished by fish from the Ajkwa river: “We were never told not to fish
\nfrom the river, we never knew that it is poison. And even when we know, we
\nhave to eat fish from the river just to survive. But now some fish are
\ndying off and people are starting to get sick, too.” The health situation
\nis a prime example of how Special Autonomy status, which was granted to
\nPapua by Jakarta in 2001 and is supposed to deliver improvements in basic
\nliving standards for Papuans, hasn’t been properly implemented. Major
\ndevelopment goes on, with massive road projects, oil palm expansion, BP’s
\nTangguh Gas project, and the Freeport operations. Indonesian security
\nforces are massing in Papua. The role of the military, and Indonesia’s
\ntransmigration policies, which has caused an increased Javanisation of
\nPapua, has been linked to the rising rate in sexually transmitted disease
\nin the region. HIV\/AIDS is threatening the survival of the indigenous
\npeople. Papua’s Provincial Legislative Council has said it wants
\npreventative measures taken to stop the spread of HIV\/AIDS, although it
\nrecently shelved a plan requiring AIDS patients deemed to have shown
\n“aggressively sexual behaviour” to be implanted with microchips so they
\ncould be monitored. Villagers have given pseudonyms as they say they fear
\npersecution.<\/p>\n
Pretoria police shot and killed a panga-wielding man who attacked several
\nhomeowners in Rooiwal. Police could not explain why the elderly man went on
\nthe rampage. The attacks ended when police opened fire on the man when he
\nrefused to surrender and started throwing stones at officers trying to
\ndisarm him. The suspect was shot and killed when he refused to surrender. A
\ninquest docket had been opened. Why did the police kill the man instead of
\njust injuring him so that they could arrest him?<\/p>\n
Situations around the world mean that large numbers of displaced persons
\nare looking for settlement in wealthy, developed nations like Australia and
\ncan be targeted by, and fall prey to, people-smugglers. The Australian
\ngovernment remains vigilant and committed to protecting Australia’s
\nborders. Canberra would work closely with neighbouring nations to tackle
\npeople-smuggling. The government has blamed the recent rise in asylum
\nseekers on the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, along with
\nthe global economic downturn. Australia’s opposition has linked the upsurge
\nwith a relaxation of the country’s immigration policy. The government
\nscrapped the widely-criticised policy, under which asylum-seekers and their
\nchildren were detained for years in special centres in Nauru or Papua New
\nGuinea, a plan labelled the “Pacific Solution”. Asylum-seekers now arriving
\nby boat are held on Christmas Island, but their claims must be expedited,
\nwith six-monthly case reviews by an ombudsman now government policy.<\/p>\n
40 percent of all the Colombian cocaine that travels to Europe passed
\nthrough Venezuela in 2007, but overall traffic has fallen since then
\nbecause of a sharp output drop in Colombia. A shift in Colombian coca leaf
\nproduction from close to the border to the Pacific coast had also reduced
\nthe amount of traffic through Venezuela. There was a substantive decrease
\nin the number of shipments passing through Africa headed for Europe last
\nyear. New radars are tracking parts of eastern Venezuela, where planes
\nincluding private jets cross to the Atlantic or Caribbean to West Africa,
\nas well as a southern region close to Colombia and favored by cartels to
\nland light aircraft. The Chinese equipment cost $260 million and also
\nreplaces two U.S.-made Venezuelan radars that fell into disrepair because
\nof Washington’s arms embargo against the Chavez government. The embargo
\nincludes spare parts. Washington took its radars away after a short-lived
\n2002 coup against Chavez that worsened ties. Venezuela cooperated with all
\ncountries except the United States on combating drug trafficking and does
\nnot rule out signing a new deal with Washington. You can’t work with a
\ncolleague who criticizes you every day. The president governs foreign
\nrelations, he decides. Despite the rhetoric, the two countries often
\ncollaborate on interdicting drugs in international waters and Venezuela
\nextradites captured traffickers wanted in the United States.<\/p>\n
During a massive storm in 1973, nine metres of land was lost. In 1974, the
\nvillage experienced a storm of major proportions and high water partially
\nflooded the airport, prompting declaration of a national disaster. In 1997,
\na severe storm eroded some 45 metres of the north shore, forcing the
\nrelocation of fourteen homes. Five additional homes were relocated in 2002.
\nThe teacher housing is in a precarious location near the bluff. The fear
\nthat the next storm will leave them homeless, convinced long time and
\nwell-liked teachers to leave Shishmaref. This has been a huge loss to the
\ncommunity. The sewage lagoon, roads, water supply, laundromat, community
\nstore, and fuel tanks are at risk of damage or loss. The main road to the
\nairport and landfill has been eroded in several places and the road is now
\ndangerously close to the sea. Yearly storms continue to erode the shoreline
\nat an average rate of retreat of 1 to 1.5 metres per year. Almost $23
\nmillion has been spent to construct seawalls that will provide only
\ntemporary protection to what is left of Shishmaref.<\/p>\n
A former United States deputy sheriff, featured on the popular television
\nseries America’s Most Wanted, has been captured in Belize and is to be
\nextradited to face trial for murdering his wife and another man a year ago.
\nDerrick Yancey was caught over the weekend in a bar in Punta Gorda, the
\nlargest town in southern Belize, just days after the US\u00a0 Department of
\nState’s Diplomatic Security Service acted on a lead that he was hiding out
\nin that Caribbean country. Deputy Officer in Charge at the Punta Gorda
\nPolice Station, Inspector Andres Makin, said Yancey was taken into custody
\nwithout incident. “We had his photograph in our possession and upon
\nidentifying ourselves, he just handed over himself. There was no resistance
\nin his arrest,” he said, adding that Yancey was taken to the station in the
\narea before being transported to Belize City. “I believe that relevant
\narrangement is being made for him to transported back to the United States.
\nHe is in custody and a flight away from being taken back to the United
\nStates.” Yancey was an officer with the Sheriff’s Office in Dekalb County,
\nGeorgia when he was charged with murdering his wife Linda Yancey, 44, and
\n20-year-old labourer Marcial Cax Puluc. He had called into his own
\ndepartment to report that he had shot and killed Puluc in self defence
\nafter discovering that the young man had robbed, shot and killed his wife.
\nBut police say ballistic tests show Yancey was responsible for both
\nmurders. He was charged with two counts of murder, and released on
\nUS$150,000 bond while he awaited trial, under the condition that he be
\nconfined to house arrest. But Yancey escaped house arrest from his mother’s
\nhome on the morning of April 4th, 2009. Police say he cut off his
\nelectronic monitoring ankle bracelet before fleeing<\/p>\n
The United States has charged Bolivia and Venezuela with failing to do
\nenough to fight the drug trade, but said it would continue aid to the two
\ncountries, both led by critics of U.S. foreign policy. The United States
\nsaid Bolivia — the world’s third-largest cocaine producer — Venezuela and
\nMyanmar had all “failed demonstrably” to meet their counter-narcotics
\nobligations. The same three countries last year were cited on the list,
\nwhich allows the president to cut off U.S. aid other than counter-narcotics
\nand humanitarian funds. The White House has once again issued a national
\ninterest waiver to continue certain bilateral aid programs in the two South
\nAmerican countries. In Venezuela, funds will continue to support civil
\nsociety programs and small community development programs. In Bolivia, the
\nwaiver will permit continued support for agricultural development, exchange
\nprograms, small enterprise development, and police training programs.
\nVenezuela’s President Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s President Evo Morales are
\npersistent critics of U.S. foreign policy in the region, and particularly a
\nplan by U.S. ally Colombia to give U.S. troops more access to its military
\nbases for joint operations against drug traffickers and leftist rebels. It
\ndid not give any similar detail for Myanmar. Washington is concerned by
\nVenezuela’s growing number of arms purchases, saying they could spark a
\nregional arms race. Along with the three countries identified as the worst
\noffenders, the U.S. list named 17 others as major production or transit
\ncenters for illegal drugs: Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, the
\nDominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos,
\nMexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru.<\/p>\n
Residents voted to relocate the community. However, numerous problems have
\nslowed this process, including reluctance of the state and federal
\ngovernments to give monetary support for vital infrastructure or to take
\nthe lead in the relocation project. The community learned that the site
\nchosen for relocation was not suitable due to permafrost issues. So efforts
\nhad to begin anew. The place they now think would be the most suitable is
\nnear Ear Mountain close to the village of Wales. It is possible that a
\nsustainable community can be created there utilizing geothermal potential
\nand wind power for energy. However, some people say they will never leave
\nSarichef Island. But how will they fare, as no services will be available
\nonce everyone relocates?<\/p>\n
Scientists have discovered new species of fanged frog, grunting fish and a
\ngiant rat, probably the biggest in the world, in a remote volcanic crater
\nin Papua New Guinea islands. Researchers have found more than 40 previously
\nunidentified species in the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi, lying
\nuntouched since 200,000 years. The biologists discovered in the the
\nthree-kilometre wide crater 16 frogs which have never before been recorded
\nby science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat. Other
\npredators included giant monitor lizards and kangaroos which have evolved
\nto live in trees. New species discovered include a camouflaged gecko, a
\nfanged frog and a fish called the Henamo grunter, named because it makes
\ngrunting noises from its swim bladder.<\/p>\n
More than 5,000 miles away from the Tri-Cities is a small village in Kenya,
\nwhere young girls are facing genital mutilation and forced marriage. Women
\nthey cannot work, or women cannot do anything without asking a man, and
\nthose are the things we would like to empower women, also to give them the
\nfreedom to do things that they need to do. “Voices of Hope” shows Americans
\nhow they can provide help for the young girls. The organization helps send
\nthe young girls to school in a safe location, far from their village where
\nthey would’ve had to go through the gruesome right of passage. Many of the
\ngirls who have their genitals mutilated suffer from sever bleeding, HIV
\nfrom shared knives and even death. We don’t want to change the whole
\nculture, we just want to remove things that are really not important for
\nwomen to go through.<\/p>\n
Thailand has seen an upswing in violence in its troubled south, where an
\ninsurgency has resulted in close to 4,000 deaths. The attacks seemed to be
\nslowing down until a massacre at a mosque renewed tensions between ethnic
\nThai Buddhists and Malay Muslims. Soldiers in an armored vehicle are
\ndriving up to a military checkpoint on a road lined with barbed wire and
\nsandbags. They are all on guard, armed with M16 assault rifles and wearing
\nbody armor and helmets. There are an estimated 60,000 security personnel in
\nsouthern Thailand’s Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces. They are
\nstruggling to put down daily violence from an insurgency. The ethnic Malay
\nrebels are seeking some form of independence from the Thai kingdom. A
\nspokesman for the Thai military’s Internal Security Operations Command,
\nsays the insurgents and their objectives are still a mystery. “What they
\nwant… there are many problems behind the violence – drugs, smuggling,
\ninfluential people – the problem of unrest is another one.” A century ago,
\nthis majority ethnic Malay Muslim region was an independent sultanate until
\nThailand seized it. The insurgents active in southern Thailand have never
\nsaid who they are and what they want. However, they usually kill people
\nviewed as symbols of the Thai Buddhist state or their collaborators.
\nBuddhist farmers, teachers, and monks collecting their daily alms require
\nconstant security or they risk being shot and beheaded. Phra Palat Manat, a
\nBuddhist monk who has lived in Pattani his whole life, says the Buddhist
\nand Muslim communities used to have friendly relations. But he says when
\nthe violence broke out they became suspicious of each other. “In the past
\nwe depended on each other, helped each other. When Muslims had a wedding
\nthey would invite Buddhists to attend,” he said. “But after the violence,
\nthe visits were few and far between. Sometimes we would attend, but there
\nwas always fear when we went out.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At a time when local law enforcement agencies are being forced to cut budgets and freeze hiring, cities across Southern California have found a growing source of income — immigration detention.Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s immigrant detainees are held in local jails, and the payments to cities and counties for housing them have increased as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[5,6,7,8,10,12,14,23,31,32,33,45,46,47],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1393,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392\/revisions\/1393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}