Monthly Archives: August 2011

Nigeria

Bomb at UN building in Nigerian capital Abuja

BBC
There has been a bomb attack at the UN building in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the United Nations says.

The BBC’s Bashir Sa’ad Abdullahi, who is at the site of the explosion, says the ground floor of the building has been badly damaged.

The emergency services are removing dead bodies from the building while a number of wounded are being rushed to hospital, our correspondent says. Continue reading Bomb at UN building in Nigerian capital Abuja →

Haiti

Wave of Illegal, Senseless and Violent Evictions Swells in Port au Prince

Common Dreams
With nearly 600,000 internally displaced persons still in camps, the scale of Haiti’s homeless problem remains daunting.
by Bill Quigley
Mathias O is 34 years old.  He is one of about 600,000 people still homeless from the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.  He lives with his wife and her 2 year old under a homemade shelter made out of several tarps.  They sleep on the rocky ground inside.  The side tarp walls are reinforced by pieces of cardboard boxes taped together.  Candles provide the only inside light at night.  There is no running water.  No electricity.  They live near a canal and suffer from lots of mosquitoes.  There are hundreds of families living in tents beside him.  This is the third tent community he has lived in since the earthquake. Continue reading Wave of Illegal, Senseless and Violent Evictions Swells in Port au Prince →

trafficking

Human trafficking ring used girls as young as 12, Cook County prosecutors say

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez at a press conference regarding a long term undercover investigation into forced sex-trafficking of children and young women by Chicago street gang members. (Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Tribune
9 people charged in sex-ring case
By Antonio Olivo and Dahleen Glanton, Tribune reporters

Dozens of girls, some as young as 12, were forced into prostitution by a human trafficking ring that kept its victims in line with brutal means that included beatings, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said Wednesday Continue reading Human trafficking ring used girls as young as 12, Cook County prosecutors say →

Japan, Migration

Nuclear refugees struggle to cope with uncertain future

Japan Times

Making the best of it: Matsuki Kamoshita (left) and his brother Haruki play while their mother looks out the window in a room at the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in Tokyo on June 30, when hundreds of evacuees were preparing to leave for public housing units and other lodging. KYODO

Left in limbo by lack of official info, many don’t know where to turn
By MIZUHO AOKI
Like thousands of other people, Miwa Kamoshita’s life was turned upside down when the March 11 tsunami struck the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, leading her and her family to voluntarily evacuate their home in Iwaki, some 40 km south of the crippled power station.

For the past five months, Kamoshita and her two children have lived a life in exile, moving five times — from a relative’s house in Yokohama to an apartment in a western suburb of Tokyo, from the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka to another hotel in Shibuya Ward, and finally to an apartment in Chiyoda Ward in late July that the metropolitan government has made available until the end of next July. Continue reading Nuclear refugees struggle to cope with uncertain future →

Racism

Katrina Pain Index 2011: Race, Gender, Poverty

Common Dreams

by Bill Quigley and Davida Finger

Six years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast.  The impact of Katrina and government bungling continue to inflict major pain on the people left behind.  It is impossible to understand what happened and what still remains without considering race, gender, and poverty.  The following offer some hints of what remains. Continue reading Katrina Pain Index 2011: Race, Gender, Poverty →