News from Around the Globe, September 14, 2012
The following is an assortment of current news stories from around the world.
+++++++++++++++++++
South Africa – continuing coverage of the Marikana miner’s strike which is in its fourth week.
Timeline: August 10, 2012; 28000 employees of the Lonmin Mining Company (the 3rd world’s 3rd largest producer of platinum) go on strike demanding higher wages and safer working conditions. August 16, 2012, during a demonstration involving thousands of strikers, 34 workers were shot and killed by police. August 30, 2012 270 workers charged with murder as a result of the August 16 deaths. September 10, 2012, thousands of miners across the country walk off their jobs in a show of solidarity with the Marikana miners.
http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Mining/Lonmin-miners-reject-R900-wage-off...
Striking workers have rejected the Lonmin mining company’s latest offer to settle the now 4 week old Marikana Mine strike. Worker’s demands include improved safety conditions and a base wage increase from 4000 Rand to 12,500 Rand. Lonmin, the world’s 3rd largest producer of platinum offered a wage increase of 900 Rand. This was the first proposal Lonmin has made to the workers since the strike began.
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-09-14-radebe-mines-will-settle-down-or-else
As worker unrest continues to sweep across the country, South African Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe, stated that the country will deal forcefully with illegal strikes. Radebe’s statements focused on the strikes as an economic issue and did not discuss the demands by the workers for safer conditions and higher wages. Characterizing the strikes as an issue that will affect the economy of the entire country, Radebe said that the State will use force to end illegal strikes.
+++++++++++++++++++
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19591204
Democratic Republic of Congo.....Ebola outbreak continues According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ebola outbreak that began on August 17, 2012 and has killed 31 people, is not under control and could spread in the coming weeks. The Ebola virus, kills between 50% and 90% of those who become infected. An outbreak in neighboring Uganda killed 16, but is considered unrelated to the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Meanwhile, the Ebola outbreak in Uganda has been declared over.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Uganda+Ebola+outbreak+comes+to+an...
+++++++++++++++++++
From Turkey….
New Turkish Constitution will offer protection for the country’s atheists. Turkey, like America, is officially a secular country. However, like America, it has an extremely vocal religious community. Turkey has been working on a new constitution which will be more modern, inclusive and democratic.
http://english.sabah.com.tr/national/2012/09/12/new-constitution-offers-...
+++++++++++++++++++
From Guatemala…..
Approximately 8000 people have been evacuated as a result of an erupting volcano, located 25 miles from the capital city, Guatemala City. An additional 25000 people may need to be evacuated if the volcano continues erupting.
http://www.ntn24.com/news/news/guatemala-volcano-erupts-thous-17319
+++++++++++++++++++
From Lebanon….
Protests over the recent anti Islamic film continue to spread as Sudanese rioters attack German Embassy and British mission. The attacks on the German embassy were prompted by a popular sheik, who announced on his State radio progam that people should protest the Germans, because of anti Islamic graffitti that was recently painted on Mosques in Germany. the film was produced in America.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Sep-14/187911-islamist...
+++++++++++++++++++
Two human interest type stories from the country of Chili….
In a story that would absolutely never occur in modern day America, a Russian in prison on drug smuggling charges made his professional soccer debut…….while still serving his sentence.
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/sports/soccer/25137-russian-prisoner-makes-c...
-----------------------
This is not a political story, but as a dog lover it qualified as an 'Editor's Choice' story.
America loves dogs perhaps more than any other country. This opinion piece acknowledges the cultural differences in the treatment of dogs and how it is contributing to a growing problem of abandoned dogs in Santiago, Chili.
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/opinion/special-reports/25102-chiles-street-...
+++++++++++++++++++
From Vietnam….
From democracies to dictatorships, governments around the globe are trying to figure out how to control the internet. The government of Vietnam has announced a crackdown on anti government websites. Vietnamese government workers are now banned from reading anti government websites. New laws are currently being drafted to give the government greater authority to deal with those directly involved in the publishing of websites.
http://www.vnnnews.net/prime-minister-orders-crackdown-on-anti-governmen...
Comments
Looks like South Africa's government has been using
republican consultants. They would do this in the US if they thought they could because they want to take the country back...to the days when killing strikers to protect profits was the way we operated.
Indeed, many of today's conservatives would be at home in SA
Governmental apartheid is over, economic apartheid continues nearly unabated.
Wow, that's a lot of street dogs.
I've been to places where ya see a few, but...wow.
hey, thanks for reading!
Isn't that the most heart breaking story? I'm a little embarrassed to admit how many dogs (ok, ok, it's 6 - but they are all rescues who needed a home) currently live in my house and I just cannot understand how people can mistreat animals so casually.
Ladies We Love at the Party tonight, BTW...
if I may be so bold as to pimp my Party here?
mi casa su casa
looking forward to the party!
That's good news for Turkey.
Glad to hear that atheists will have some protection.
Thank you for this round up.
It's been really interesting to see how the Internet has
evolved and who wants to control it and why.
Knowledge is most definitely power. Can't have the little people know too much.
Also with the Internet comes a whole new set of issues to be dealt with as information is being disseminated on a huge scale like never before.
I think Pintak nails it here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/13/168434/bizarre-youtube-clip-innoce...
Big Al and I have both responded to this odd take
Blaming a few unaffiliated people on the internet for violence in the middle east requires incredible use of blinders. Absent the inflammatory situation created in large part by decades of relentless violence, of exploitation and clandestine interference by the West, it is unlikely a mere 13-minute film would have created any violence. The commenter would have us believe that the problem is individuals expressing themselves rather than an unimaginable amount of institutional violence, violence costing trillions of dollars to inflict. Killing civilians with drones is at least as inflammatory as the film, but we hear almost nothing of the rage these indiscriminate murders continue to create.
Goverments around the globe tryng to control the internet,
or rather what can be said about governments around the globe on the internet. The US has it's own plans for that. Get your gripes in while you can!
Another round-up grounded in reality
It is eye-opening to compare the context, the world-view, underlying this collection of stories with the stories featured in most media.
The story that really struck me was about the Russian prisoner
Thanks, Geomoo. I'm glad you enjoy the foreign news roundup. Wasn't the story about the Russian prisoner in Chili the stuff of Hollywood movies? I would not be surprised if that story was being turned into a movie right now, with an American replacing the Russian, of course. It pains me that the Democratic party is not trying to introduce real prison reform in America. We are destroying the lives of millions of people (the vast majority of whom are young minority men), spending a fortune, and achieving nothing in our current penal system. There are roughly 6 million people in prison in America. That includes all state, local and federal jails and prisons.
Think about this for a second: If the prison system was a state, it would be the 19th largest in the country. We have more people in prison than the population of 31 individual states. We do not make any effort whatsoever to try to reintegrate people back into society once they have served. Instead, America has embraced the concept of punishment for life, regardless of the crime committed.
So, the story about a young Russian who is being allowed to play professional soccer while still in prison just really captured my interest.
It is one of the many chilling realities today
And one of the more straightforward methods of social control, although television is preferable. Imagine this:
teenagers are imprisoned for months and years in Pennsylvania as a result of kickback from prisons to judges;
prison owners write an Arizona law (literally write the law) making it required for police to go out and hunt illegal immigrants, stating outright that this would their next "growth" area;
hundreds are kept in solitary confinement for months and years;
many other conditions contribute to make conditions in "our" supermax prisons considered torture by most civilized standards.
The prison system is quite frightening and it needs to be wrestled from private hands. I dream.