BBC News - US flag ceremony to mark end of Iraq war role

BBC News - US flag ceremony to mark end of Iraq war role: "Some 4,500 US soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis have died in the war.

It has cost the US some $1tr.

Republicans have criticised the pullout citing concerns over Iraq's stability, but most Americans support the move."

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BBC News - Nearly 20% of women in the US are raped, study reveals

BBC News - Nearly 20% of women in the US are raped, study reveals: "Nearly 20% of women in the US are raped or suffer attempted rape at some point in their lives, a US study says.

Even more women, estimated at 25%, have been attacked by a partner or husband, the Centers for Disease Control said.

The findings form part of the first set of results from a nationwide study surveying sexual violence by intimate partners against men and women."

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Kenya's Samburu people 'violently evicted' after US charities buy land | World news | guardian.co.uk

Kenya's Samburu people 'violently evicted' after US charities buy land | World news | guardian.co.uk:

Members of the Samburu people in Kenya have been abused, beaten and raped by police after the land they lived on for two decades was sold to two US-based wildlife charities, a rights group and community leader have alleged.

The dispute centres on Eland Downs in Laikipia, a lush area near Mount Kenya. At least three people are said to have died during the row, including a child who was eaten by a lion after the Samburu were violently evicted in November last year.

The London-based NGO Survival International said the Samburu were evicted following the purchase of the land by two American-based charities, the Nature Conservancy and the African Wildlife Foundation.

The groups subsequently gifted the land to Kenya for a national park, to be called Laikipia National Park.

Survival International said the land was officially owned by former president Daniel arap Moi, although AWF simply said it bought it from a private landowner.

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BBC News - US Supreme Court to rule on Arizona's immigration law

BBC News - US Supreme Court to rule on Arizona's immigration law: "The US Supreme Court has said it will rule on the legality of Arizona's tough immigration law.

It requires police to demand proof of citizenship if they suspect anyone they stop is in the US illegally.

Key parts of the law were suspended last year after a challenge from the White House, which holds immigration to be a federal, not state, issue."

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BBC News - Gambia's Yahya Jammeh ready for 'billion-year' rule

BBC News - Gambia's Yahya Jammeh ready for 'billion-year' rule: "The Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh has told the BBC that he will rule for "one billion years", if God wills.

He said critics who accused him of winning last month's elections through intimidation and fraud could "go to hell".

The West African regional body Ecowas said the electorate had been "cowed by repression"."

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Malaysia: UN experts warn new bill restricts right to peaceful assembly

Malaysia: UN experts warn new bill restricts right to peaceful assembly: "7 December 2011 – A group of independent United Nations human rights experts today warned that a new bill in Malaysia restricts the right to peaceful assembly with measures such as a ban on street protests and conditional access for media to public gatherings.
The Peaceful Assembly Bill, which has been approved by the Malaysian Parliament, also includes a prohibition on non-citizens and citizens under the age of 21 to assemble peacefully, according to a news release issued by the experts."

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U.S. Backs Gay Rights Abroad, Obama and Clinton Say - NYTimes.com

U.S. Backs Gay Rights Abroad, Obama and Clinton Say - NYTimes.com: "In a memorandum issued by President Obama in Washington and in a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton here, the administration vowed to actively combat efforts by other nations that criminalize homosexual conduct, abuse gay men, lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people, or ignore abuse against them.

“Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct,” Mrs. Clinton said at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, “but in fact they are one and the same.”"

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BBC News - Exodus: movement of rich people - a life at home abroad

BBC News - Exodus: movement of rich people - a life at home abroad: "The cross-border migration of highly-educated people from upper-middle income countries rose by 44% between 2000 and 2006, according to a recently published study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In low income countries the cross-border movements also jumped significantly, by 28%.

Intra-company transfers in developed countries rose 39% between 2005 and 2008, and this does not include intra-company transfers within the European Economic Area, says OECD policy analyst Jonathan Chaloff, even though the scale of those "can be considerable"."

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