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MEAN STREETS MEDIA
Friday, May 16, 2014
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Vietnam ( 20 people were killed-anti-China riots spread )
HANOI: More than 20 people were killed in Vietnam and a huge foreign steel project set ablaze as to the center of the country a day after arson and looting in the south, a doctor and company officials said on Thursday.
A doctor at a hospital in central Ha Tinh province said five Vietnamese workers and 16 other people described as Chinese were killed on Wednesday night in rioting, one of the worst breakdowns in Sino-Vietnamese relations since the neighbors fought a brief border war in 1979.
“There were about a hundred people sent to the hospital last night. Many were Chinese. More are being sent to the hospital this morning,” the doctor at Ha Tinh General Hospital told Reuters by phone.
Local media has, however, said only person was killed.
Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan’s biggest investor in Vietnam, said its upcoming steel plant in Ha Tinh was set on fire after fighting between its Vietnamese and Chinese workers. One Chinese worker was killed and 90 others injured, it said in a statement in Taipei.
It was not immediately clear if the casualties were among those admitted to the Ha Tinh hospital.
The plant is expected to be Southeast Asia’s largest steel making facility when it is completed in 2017. No details of fire damage or financial losses were immediately available, the company said.
The Ha Tinh industrial park, estimated to cost more than $20 billion, is more than half complete. When finished in 2020, it will have a port, a 2,100-MW power plant and six furnaces, Vietnamese media say.The United States has called on both sides for restraint.
Such disputes “need to be resolved through dialogue, not through intimidation,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told a regular briefing. “We again urge dialogue in their resolution.”
The US State Department said it was monitoring events in Vietnam closely, and urged restraint from all parties, while adding: “We support the right of individuals to assemble peacefully to protest.”
A doctor at a hospital in central Ha Tinh province said five Vietnamese workers and 16 other people described as Chinese were killed on Wednesday night in rioting, one of the worst breakdowns in Sino-Vietnamese relations since the neighbors fought a brief border war in 1979.
“There were about a hundred people sent to the hospital last night. Many were Chinese. More are being sent to the hospital this morning,” the doctor at Ha Tinh General Hospital told Reuters by phone.
Local media has, however, said only person was killed.
Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan’s biggest investor in Vietnam, said its upcoming steel plant in Ha Tinh was set on fire after fighting between its Vietnamese and Chinese workers. One Chinese worker was killed and 90 others injured, it said in a statement in Taipei.
It was not immediately clear if the casualties were among those admitted to the Ha Tinh hospital.
The plant is expected to be Southeast Asia’s largest steel making facility when it is completed in 2017. No details of fire damage or financial losses were immediately available, the company said.
The Ha Tinh industrial park, estimated to cost more than $20 billion, is more than half complete. When finished in 2020, it will have a port, a 2,100-MW power plant and six furnaces, Vietnamese media say.The United States has called on both sides for restraint.
Such disputes “need to be resolved through dialogue, not through intimidation,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told a regular briefing. “We again urge dialogue in their resolution.”
The US State Department said it was monitoring events in Vietnam closely, and urged restraint from all parties, while adding: “We support the right of individuals to assemble peacefully to protest.”
Syria ( Syria is driving one family from their home every minute )
GENEVA: The war in Syria is driving one family from their home every minute, pushing the number of people internally displaced by conflict to record highs globally, a report said Wednesday.
The study by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) said that 33.3 million people were displaced by violence in their own nations last year.
The report showed that just five countries accounted for two-thirds of the tally: Syria, Colombia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.
Internally displaced people (IDPs) are those who flee their homes but do not leave their country, as opposed to those who cross a border and are counted as refugees.
While the bulk of the 33.3 million were people who had already fled before 2013 — including some displaced over a decade ago — the total of new IDPs reached 8.2 million by the end of the year, the report said.
Of those, nearly half were in Syria.
With 9,500 people a day — approximately one family every 60 seconds — being displaced inside Syria, the country remains the largest and fastest evolving displacement crisis in the world.
“The IDMC report reveals a frightening reality of life inside Syria, now the largest internal displacement crisis in the world,” said former UN aid chief Jan Egeland, who now runs the Norwegian Refugee Council, of which the IMDC is part.
“Not only do armed groups control the areas where internal displacement camps are located, these camps are badly managed, provide inadequate shelter, sanitation and limited aid delivery,” he said in a statement.
In addition, the report said, large concentrations of IDPs have been particularly targeted by artillery bombardments and airstrikes.
Meanwhile, nearly 850 prisoners have died in Syrian regime jails this year, many executed summarily or tortured to death, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday.
“From the beginning of the year until May 13, 847 prisoners, including 15 below the age of 18 and six women, have died in security service prisons and army bases,” the Britain-based monitoring group said.
“Families and relatives were notified of the deaths,” it added.
“All these people lost their lives as a result of torture, summary executions, maltreatment, poor detention conditions, including a lack of food, and because they were unable to obtain the medicine they needed.”
It said some 18,000 people among those held by the government have disappeared, and many were feared dead.
“The number of victims increases because there are no measures being taken to deter the regime,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. “When the criminal knows there is no accountability, he continues his crimes.”
The study by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) said that 33.3 million people were displaced by violence in their own nations last year.
The report showed that just five countries accounted for two-thirds of the tally: Syria, Colombia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.
Internally displaced people (IDPs) are those who flee their homes but do not leave their country, as opposed to those who cross a border and are counted as refugees.
While the bulk of the 33.3 million were people who had already fled before 2013 — including some displaced over a decade ago — the total of new IDPs reached 8.2 million by the end of the year, the report said.
Of those, nearly half were in Syria.
With 9,500 people a day — approximately one family every 60 seconds — being displaced inside Syria, the country remains the largest and fastest evolving displacement crisis in the world.
“The IDMC report reveals a frightening reality of life inside Syria, now the largest internal displacement crisis in the world,” said former UN aid chief Jan Egeland, who now runs the Norwegian Refugee Council, of which the IMDC is part.
“Not only do armed groups control the areas where internal displacement camps are located, these camps are badly managed, provide inadequate shelter, sanitation and limited aid delivery,” he said in a statement.
In addition, the report said, large concentrations of IDPs have been particularly targeted by artillery bombardments and airstrikes.
Meanwhile, nearly 850 prisoners have died in Syrian regime jails this year, many executed summarily or tortured to death, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday.
“From the beginning of the year until May 13, 847 prisoners, including 15 below the age of 18 and six women, have died in security service prisons and army bases,” the Britain-based monitoring group said.
“Families and relatives were notified of the deaths,” it added.
“All these people lost their lives as a result of torture, summary executions, maltreatment, poor detention conditions, including a lack of food, and because they were unable to obtain the medicine they needed.”
It said some 18,000 people among those held by the government have disappeared, and many were feared dead.
“The number of victims increases because there are no measures being taken to deter the regime,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. “When the criminal knows there is no accountability, he continues his crimes.”
Turkey ( a violent protest Wednesday after 245 miners died )
SOMA, Turkey: Anger and grief boiled over into a violent protest Wednesday in the western Turkish town of Soma, where officials said at least 245 miners died in a coal mine explosion and fire.
Nearly 450 other miners were rescued, the mining company said, but the fate of an unknown number of others remained unclear in one of the world’s deadliest mining disasters in decades.
There was no immediate confirmation of the company’s number from Turkish officials, who earlier said 363 miners had been rescued.
Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners jostled outside the coal mine waiting for news, countered by a heavy police presence. Rows of women wailed uncontrollably, men knelt sobbing and others just stared in disbelief as rescue workers removed a steady stream of bodies throughout the night and early morning. Others shouted at Turkish officials as they passed by.
In downtown Soma, protesters mostly in their teens and 20s faced off against riot police Wednesday afternoon in front of the ruling NKP party headquarters. Police had gas masks and water cannons.
Many in the crowd expressed anger at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. Rocks were thrown at the police, who chased down some of the protesters. Other protesters shouted that Erdogan was a “murderer!” and a “thief!“
Police set up fences and stood guard around Soma state hospital to keep the crowds away from scores of injured miners.
In Istanbul, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters of the company that owns the mine, Soma Holding. In the capital, Ankara, police dispersed a group who tried to march to the energy ministry to protest the deaths, the Dogan news agency reported.
Erdogan had warned that some radical groups would try to use the disaster to discredit the government. Erdogan himself is widely expected to run for president in elections in August, although he has not yet announced his candidacy.
Erdogan had declared three days of national mourning and ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff after the tragedy struck Tuesday. He postponed a foreign trip to visit the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul.
“Our hope is that, God willing, they will be brought out,” he said of those still trapped. “That is what we are waiting for.”
Authorities say the disaster followed an explosion and fire caused by a power distribution unit and the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. The prime minister promised the tragedy would be investigated to its “smallest detail” and that “no negligence will be ignored.”
Erdogan discussed rescue operations with authorities, walked near the entrance of the mine and comforted two crying women. He has appeared less-than-sympathetic in the past, however, saying that death was part of the “profession’s fate” after 30 miners died in a 2010 accident.
Turkey’s Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, including in March of 2014, and that no issues violating work safety and security were detected. But the country’s main opposition party said Erdogan’s ruling party had recently voted down a proposal to hold parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at the mines around Soma.
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday’s explosion, 245 died and scores were injured. He spoke to reporters as he oversaw rescue operations by more than 400 emergency workers.
“Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing,” Yildiz said.
Yildiz said some of the workers were 420 meters (460 yards) deep inside the mine. News reports said the workers couldn’t use elevators to escape because the explosion had cut off power.
The last worker rescued alive emerged from the mine around dawn, a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she didn’t have prior authorization to speak publicly to journalists.
The US stands “ready to assist the Turkish government as necessary,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, but didn’t detail what type of assistance that could entail. He extended condolences to the families of those killed.
Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Tuesday’s explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual.
A statement from the mining company, Soma Komur Isletmeleri A.S., said rescuers were still trying to vent out the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the mine and pump in clean air.
“We are deeply saddened to have lost 238 of our colleagues,” it said, adding that close to 450 others had been rescued.
The company said investigation into what caused the fire was underway and an announcement on its likely cause would come after the fire was completely under control.
Turkey’s worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.
At the mine early Wednesday, rescue workers slowly emerged carrying stretchers with bodies covered in blankets. The corpses’ faces were as black as the coal they worked on daily.
One man who declined to be named said he had led a 10-man team about a kilometer (half-mile) down the mine into the tunnels and had recovered three bodies. But his men had to flee because of smoke from coal set alight by the explosion, he said.
Another man walked weeping down the stairs from the mine’s entrance. Behind him, two groups carrying heavy stretchers pushed through the crowd like caterpillars.
As the bodies were brought out on stretchers, rescue workers pulled blankets back so crowds of anxious family members could get a chance to identify victims. One elderly man wearing a prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police had to restrain him from climbing into an ambulance with the body.
One injured rescue worker who emerged alive was whisked away on a stretcher to the cheers of onlookers.
Emine Gulsen was in a group of women who sat wailing near the entrance to the mine. Her son, Mehmet Gulsen, 31, has been working in the mine for five years.
“My son is gone! My Mehmet,” she cried.
But Mehmet Gulsen’s aunt, Makbule Dag, still held out hope.
“Inshallah” (God willing), she said.
Nearly 450 other miners were rescued, the mining company said, but the fate of an unknown number of others remained unclear in one of the world’s deadliest mining disasters in decades.
There was no immediate confirmation of the company’s number from Turkish officials, who earlier said 363 miners had been rescued.
Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners jostled outside the coal mine waiting for news, countered by a heavy police presence. Rows of women wailed uncontrollably, men knelt sobbing and others just stared in disbelief as rescue workers removed a steady stream of bodies throughout the night and early morning. Others shouted at Turkish officials as they passed by.
In downtown Soma, protesters mostly in their teens and 20s faced off against riot police Wednesday afternoon in front of the ruling NKP party headquarters. Police had gas masks and water cannons.
Many in the crowd expressed anger at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. Rocks were thrown at the police, who chased down some of the protesters. Other protesters shouted that Erdogan was a “murderer!” and a “thief!“
Police set up fences and stood guard around Soma state hospital to keep the crowds away from scores of injured miners.
In Istanbul, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters of the company that owns the mine, Soma Holding. In the capital, Ankara, police dispersed a group who tried to march to the energy ministry to protest the deaths, the Dogan news agency reported.
Erdogan had warned that some radical groups would try to use the disaster to discredit the government. Erdogan himself is widely expected to run for president in elections in August, although he has not yet announced his candidacy.
Erdogan had declared three days of national mourning and ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff after the tragedy struck Tuesday. He postponed a foreign trip to visit the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul.
“Our hope is that, God willing, they will be brought out,” he said of those still trapped. “That is what we are waiting for.”
Authorities say the disaster followed an explosion and fire caused by a power distribution unit and the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. The prime minister promised the tragedy would be investigated to its “smallest detail” and that “no negligence will be ignored.”
Erdogan discussed rescue operations with authorities, walked near the entrance of the mine and comforted two crying women. He has appeared less-than-sympathetic in the past, however, saying that death was part of the “profession’s fate” after 30 miners died in a 2010 accident.
Turkey’s Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, including in March of 2014, and that no issues violating work safety and security were detected. But the country’s main opposition party said Erdogan’s ruling party had recently voted down a proposal to hold parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at the mines around Soma.
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday’s explosion, 245 died and scores were injured. He spoke to reporters as he oversaw rescue operations by more than 400 emergency workers.
“Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing,” Yildiz said.
Yildiz said some of the workers were 420 meters (460 yards) deep inside the mine. News reports said the workers couldn’t use elevators to escape because the explosion had cut off power.
The last worker rescued alive emerged from the mine around dawn, a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she didn’t have prior authorization to speak publicly to journalists.
The US stands “ready to assist the Turkish government as necessary,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, but didn’t detail what type of assistance that could entail. He extended condolences to the families of those killed.
Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Tuesday’s explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual.
A statement from the mining company, Soma Komur Isletmeleri A.S., said rescuers were still trying to vent out the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the mine and pump in clean air.
“We are deeply saddened to have lost 238 of our colleagues,” it said, adding that close to 450 others had been rescued.
The company said investigation into what caused the fire was underway and an announcement on its likely cause would come after the fire was completely under control.
Turkey’s worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.
At the mine early Wednesday, rescue workers slowly emerged carrying stretchers with bodies covered in blankets. The corpses’ faces were as black as the coal they worked on daily.
One man who declined to be named said he had led a 10-man team about a kilometer (half-mile) down the mine into the tunnels and had recovered three bodies. But his men had to flee because of smoke from coal set alight by the explosion, he said.
Another man walked weeping down the stairs from the mine’s entrance. Behind him, two groups carrying heavy stretchers pushed through the crowd like caterpillars.
As the bodies were brought out on stretchers, rescue workers pulled blankets back so crowds of anxious family members could get a chance to identify victims. One elderly man wearing a prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police had to restrain him from climbing into an ambulance with the body.
One injured rescue worker who emerged alive was whisked away on a stretcher to the cheers of onlookers.
Emine Gulsen was in a group of women who sat wailing near the entrance to the mine. Her son, Mehmet Gulsen, 31, has been working in the mine for five years.
“My son is gone! My Mehmet,” she cried.
But Mehmet Gulsen’s aunt, Makbule Dag, still held out hope.
“Inshallah” (God willing), she said.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Iran ( Iranian WomenHundreds of Iranian women are ripping off their hijabs )
Facebook/Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian WomenHundreds of Iranian women are ripping off their hijabs and posting pictures online to the Facebook page "Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women,” a photo project that's reaped more than 130,000 likes and sparked conversation about how safe it is for women to forgo their headscarfs. London-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad told the U.K.’s The Guardian that since she created the page on May 3, she’s been inundated by submissions. "I've hardly slept in the past three days because of the number of pictures and messages I've received,” she said.
The hijab is a veil that covers the head and chest and is worn by many Muslim women. Alinejad says she is not anti-hijab (her mother wears one and Alinejad did for 30 years until she left her Iranian village in 2009) but it took time to summon the courage to tell people that she prefers to go without it. Now, she wants other women to feel comfortable making their own decisions about the religious headpiece.
Planned Parenthood ( Failed to report rape to police ) Serial rapist- Kost
Abortion advocate Planned Parenthood is under investigation after it was revealed that one of the organization's counselors in Arizona failed to report a rape allegedly carried out by accused 18-year-old serial predator, Tyler Kost, because it was too much of a "hassle."
Kost, of San Tan Valley, Arizona, was recently charged with assaulting 11 girls between the ages of 12 and 17, spanning the period from October 2009 to April 2014, according to Fox News.
Authorities, however, believe that he has assaulted at least 18 students from Poston Butte High School.
A Pinal County Sheriff's Office report reviewed by Fox News revealed that the mother of one of Kost's alleged victims, a 15-year-old who became pregnant due to his alleged assault, informed a staffer at Planned Parenthood's Arizona office in December.
Instead of reporting the rape to the relevant authorities, the staffer filed the incident as a consensual encounter due to the "hassle" that come with reporting it.
"The counselor intentionally miscoded the assault as a consensual encounter," notes the report. "The counselor told them that they did not want the hassle of having to report the assault to law enforcement as they were a mandatory reporter."
Planned Parenthood noted that they learned of the misconduct through the media and are investigating the allegations with law enforcement.
"Patient health and safety is our top priority, and Planned Parenthood Arizona takes its role as a mandatory reporter of criminal activity very seriously, including screening for potential abuse, charting answers and responding to indications of criminal behavior," said the organization in a statement.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu described Kost as an "aggressive predator" who knew how to manipulate and then have his way with his alleged victims in his bedroom, parked cars and isolated locations."In Arizona, once an individual turns 18, we don't have a choice,' Voyles said. '[State law] makes it fairly clear."
Babeu said he was "troubled" by the allegations made against Planned Parenthood and said if they are proven to be true the organization must be held accountable.
"If this is true, they should absolutely be held accountable," said Babeu. The allegations, he explained, have been forwarded to state officials. Any resulting prosecution will most likely be handled by the state attorney general's office, he said.
Kost is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, May 16.
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