January 2008
In Matters Big and Small, Crossing Giuliani Had Price - NYT
by raviIn March 2000, an undercover officer killed Patrick Dorismond, a security guard, during a fight when the police mistook him for a drug dealer. The outcry infuriated the mayor, who released Mr. Dorismond’s juvenile record, a document that legally was supposed to remain sealed.
The victim, Mr. Giuliani opined, was no “altar boy.” Actually, he was.
Oops: MPAA admits college piracy numbers grossly inflated
by raviAfter commissioning ... study ... that showed collegiate file-swappers were responsible for 44 percent of movie studio "losses" to piracy, the MPAA then used the report ... to bludgeon Congress into considering legislation... Now the MPAA admits ... collegiate piracy accounts for only 15 percent of "losses."
Guardian | This brutal siege of Gaza can only breed violence
by raviPalestinian suffering has reached new depths. Peace cannot be built by reducing 1.5m people to a state of abject destitution
BBC | Canada puts US on 'torture list'
by raviThe United States has been listed as a country where prisoners are at risk of torture in a training document produced by the Canadian foreign ministry.
BBC | Thirteen convicted for India riot
by raviMore than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the riots, although independent groups say the toll was nearly 2,000.
March 2007
October 2006
Pinochet held on murder and torture charges | Guardian
by raviThe former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, was detained under house arrest in Santiago today, over charges including, murder, torture and kidnapping in the years following his 1973 coup.
Guardian | FO's human rights report omits attacks on Lebanon
by raviMargaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, told a press conference the omission was because the timing was "a little bit tight" for publication. She said she anticipated the war being dealt with more fully in next year's report.
But the authors did find sufficient time to include criticism of the Lebanese-based guerrilla group Hizbullah, and one of its backers, Syria, over attacks on Israel and to provide a figure for Israeli, but not Lebanese, casualties.
BBC | Low-caste Hindus adopt new faith
by raviThousands of people have been attending mass ceremonies in India at which hundreds of low-caste Hindus (Dalits) converted to Buddhism and Christianity.
The events in the central city of Nagpur are part of a protest against the injustices of India's caste system.
Expecting U.S. Help, Sent to Guantánamo - NYT
by raviMr. Ginco ... had gone to Afghanistan in 2000 after running away from his strict Muslim father. He was soon imprisoned by the Taliban, and tortured by operatives of Al Qaeda until, he said, he falsely confessed to being a spy for Israel and the United States.
But rather than help Mr. Ginco return home, American soldiers detained him again. Nearly five years later, he remains in the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba...
Group: U.S. had secret prison in Germany - Yahoo!
by raviThe alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and other detainees may have been held and interrogated at a U.S. air base in Germany after they were captured, a British human rights group said Friday. Germany denied the claim.
Pentagon to probe Gitmo beatings claim
by ravi"From the whole conversation, I understood that striking detainees was a common practice," the sergeant wrote. "Everyone in the group laughed at the others' stories of beating detainees."
Strmz Video: Clinton Says Cheney Party to Saddam Atrocities in '80's
by ravi...I think they thought [the Iraqi invasion] might clean their own skirts a little since most of what Saddam did that was really terrible, he did when he had the full support of the Republican administrations in the 80's -- of which Dick Cheney was a part.
September 2006
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