Monday, July 22, 2013

BBC News - Women 'banned from shopping alone' in northern Pakistan

BBC News - Women 'banned from shopping alone' in northern Pakistan: ""We have decided that women will not visit bazaars without a male relative," the cleric, Maulana Mirzaqeem, was quoted as telling AFP news agency.

"Those who will visit markets without male relatives will be handed over to police.

"They spread vulgarity and spoil men's fasting in Ramadan.""

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Every Two Hours in India, a Woman Dies from an Unsafe Abortion | TIME.com

Every Two Hours in India, a Woman Dies from an Unsafe Abortion | TIME.com:
In India, the problem of unsafe abortions is especially acute. There were 620, 472 reported abortions in 2012; experts say the true number of abortions performed in the country could be as high as 7 million, with two-thirds of them taking place outside authorized health facilities. Not all of these are pregnancies out of wedlock. Many unsafe abortions are performed on married women unable to obtain contraception, and unable to travel to a registered clinic, who for economic or personal reasons do not wish to have another child.

Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/07/19/world-population-focus-on-india-part-2-unsafe-abortions/#ixzz2ZkaphZth


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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

AP - Prominent gay rights activist killed in Cameroon

AP - Prominent gay rights activist killed in Cameroon: "A prominent gay rights activist in Cameroon was tortured and killed just weeks after issuing a public warning about the threat posed by "anti-gay thugs," Human Rights Watch said.

Friends discovered the body of Eric Ohena Lembembe at his home in the capital, Yaounde, on Monday evening after he was unreachable for two days, the rights group said in a statement Tuesday.

One friend said Lembembe's neck and feet looked broken and that he had been burned with an iron.

Lembembe was among the most prominent activists in one of Africa's most hostile countries for sexual minorities. First as a journalist and later as executive director of CAMFAIDS, a Yaounde-based human rights organization, he documented violence, blackmail and arrests targeting members of Cameroon's gay community. He was also a regular contributor to the Erasing 76 Crimes blog, which focuses on countries where homosexuality is illegal, and he wrote several chapters of a book released in February on the global gay rights movement titled "From Wrongs to Gay Rights.""

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Monday, July 15, 2013

Black, 17, and Shot Dead in Florida: Why Isn't Jordan Davis Getting the Attention Travyon Martin Is?

Black, 17, and Shot Dead in Florida: Why Isn't Jordan Davis Getting the Attention Travyon Martin Is?: "Without solid evidence from both sides and one surveillance video that only shows the story from the inside of the convenience store, this case has a long way to go.

It's more or less the same story all over again: a white man shooting a black teenager dead in Florida in a tragic dispute that perhaps could have been avoided. Yet, why is Jacksonville trial of Michael Dunn and Jordan Davis not receiving the same amount of media attention or criticism as the George Zimmerman vs. Trayvon Martin case?

Do the airwaves, newspapers and Twitter feeds have enough room for the prominence of one type of vaguely race-charged crime? Or crimes that could tie into the debate on gun control? Or goodness forbid, when both topics intersect.

Whatever the reason, there is no one to blame but the national media for more or less skipping this one over."

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On The Killing Of Trayvon Martin By George Zimmerman - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic

On The Killing Of Trayvon Martin By George Zimmerman - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic:

I interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to offer some thoughts on the verdict of innocent for George Zimmerman:

1.) Last year--after Zimmerman was arrested--I wrote something hoping that he would be convicted. A commenter wrote in to object, saying that arguing for his arrest was justifiable. Arguing for his conviction was not. I acknowledged the point at the time. The wisdom of it seems even more appropriate today.

2.) I think the jury basically got it right. The only real eyewitness to the death of Trayvon Martin was the man who killed him. At no point did I think that the state proved second degree murder. I also never thought they proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he acted recklessly. They had no ability to counter his basic narrative, because there were no other eye-witnesses.

3.) The idea that Zimmerman got out of the car to check the street signs, was ambushed by 17-year old kid with no violent history who told him he "you're going to die tonight" strikes me as very implausible.  It strikes me as much more plausible that Martin was being followed by a strange person, that the following resulted in a confrontation, that Martin was getting the best of Zimmerman in the confrontation, and Zimmerman then shot him.  But I didn't see the confrontation. No one else really saw the confrontation. Except George Zimmerman. I'm not even clear that situation I outlined would result in conviction.

4.) I think Andrew Cohen is right--trials don't work as strict "moral surrogates." Everything that is immoral is not illegal--nor should it be. I want to live in a society that presumes innocence. I want to live in that society even when I feel that a person should be punished. 

5.) I think you should read everything my friend Jelani Cobb has written about this case.

6.) I think the message of this episode is unfortunate. By Florida law, in any violent confrontation ending in a disputed act of lethal self-defense, without eye-witnesses, the advantage goes to the living. 

An intelligent, self-interested observer of this case, who happens to live in Florida, would not be wrong to do as George Zimmerman did--buy a gun, master the finer points of Florida self-defense law and then wait. 

7.) Circling back to the first point, it's worth remembering that what caused a national outcry was not the possibility of George Zimmerman being found innocent, but that there would be no trial at all.  This case was really unique because of what happend with the Sanford police. If you doubt this, ask yourself if you know the name "Jordan Davis." Then ask yourself how many protests and national media reports you've seen about him. 

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Monday, July 8, 2013

What Do I Know?: Asiana Crash and Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers Chapter Seven: The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes

What Do I Know?: Asiana Crash and Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers Chapter Seven: The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes: "Asiana Crash and Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers Chapter Seven: The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
When I heard about the Asiana crash in San Francisco today I had three thoughts"

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