Six Argentinian Ex-Military Repressors Sentenced to Life Imprisonment | Justicia argentina condena a represores

By Staff, UPI via The Argentina Independent | MSN Noticias. The Federal Court of Mar del Plata, Argentina, handed out convictions to 14 retired Argentine military and police officers. Six of these were life sentences to the retired officers, including former General Alfredo Arrillaga, for crimes against humanity during the last dictatorship.

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Gee-Whiz Science or Biopiracy?

By Sifelani Tsiki, The Herald | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food companies have made millions on plant species that have been used for generations by indigenous groups, without any benefit accruing to local communities in the countries of origin.

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Violence, Arson Against Haitians in Dominican Republic

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. For every embargo against the Dominican Republic (DR), there come a rash of repatriations and other abuses of Haitians. Rights groups call on the Haitian government to speak up for its nationals and denounce the abuses against them in the DR.

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Disparate Impacts of Isaac on Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba | Isaac desnuda vulnerabilidades caribeñas

By Patricia Grogg, IPS. The impact of Hurricane Isaac in the Caribbean region highlighted both the fragility of some countries in the face of extreme meteorological events, which are expected to become more intense, and the different strategies adopted to mitigate the risk of disasters. (English | Spanish)

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Climate Change and Poverty Deadly for Dominicans | Cambio climático y pobreza son nefasto para dominicanos

By Patricia Grogg, IPS. The Dominican Republic (DR) could lose about one fifth of its territory to rising sea levels. In the DR, where over 43 out of every 100 people are poor, and over 16 out of 100 are abjectly poor, 70 percent of the cities are on riverbanks and other waterways that are covered by impoverished urban settlements. (English | Spanish)

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MIT Climate Change Study: Tropical Rains to Become More Extreme

By Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office. According to a study by the Department of Atmospheric Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with every 1 degree Celsius rise in Earth’s surface temperature, tropical regions will see 10 percent heavier rainfall extremes, with possible flooding in populous regions.

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Let Them Eat Sand | Un sucre mêlé au sable vendu sur le marché dominicain

By Staff, AHP | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Dominican National Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Proconsumidor) has sounded the alarm against consuming “Canaria” sugar imported from Brazil into the Dominican Republic (DR) by Casa SRL Chepe: a product marketed for two months in the DR and Haiti. (English | French)

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Deadly Denim

By Staff, International Labor Rights Forum. Two separate fires in Pakistan killed more than 300 trapped workers: 289 workers in a Karachi apparel factory (sweatshop) and 25 workers in a Lahore shoe factory on Tuesday September 11, 2012. National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF) leader Nasir Mansoor called this the “darkest and saddest day in the history of Pakistan’s labor movement.” The fires are considered to be the logical result of the low prices buyers offer the factories and the quick deliveries they demand.

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Salvadorans Incubate Hope for Sea Turtles | Salvadoreños incuban esperanza para tortugas marinas

By Edgardo Ayala, Tierramerica via IPS. El Salvador’s Jiquilisco Bay, a tiny hidden corner of the Pacific Ocean and home to the country’s longest stretch of mangrove forests, is becoming a haven for endangered sea turtles. (English | Spanish)

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Poor Children as Big Pharma’s Lab Rats

By K. S. Harikrishnan, IPS | Staff, Rediff Business. American pharmaceutical companies, taking advantage of a Congressional provision called The Pediatric Exclusivity Provision, have been carrying out clinical trials in poor and developing countries where the drugs might never be available.

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A Poem by D. H. Lawrence: Snake

By D. H. Lawrence | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | D. H. Lawrence is best known for his novels and the persecution he endured for them, but he also wrote some 800 equally subversive poems. His 1923 collection “Birds, Beasts and Flowers” is a contemplation of the natural world and man’s relation to it.

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Colonialism of the Mind – Part I | ‘Colonizar as Mentes’ – Parte 1

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Western journalists increasingly assume the voices of subjugated countries’ natives while muzzling them by denying them access to the press. In the United states, the more visible venues of the alternative press, such as online news sites Truthout, Common Dreams, and Huffington Post are essentially closed to native writers. More than this, the punditry promotes the neoliberal agenda and encapsulates it in reasonable-seeming and progressive-sounding language.

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Cuba’s Cholera Outbreak Over in Two Months

Press Release from Cuban Ministry of Public Health, Granma, Cuba Debate. With epidemiological vigilance, public education, and appropriate treatment, Cuban public health workers completely ended in two months what might have become a major cholera epidemic and limited a cholera outbreak to three deaths and 417 cases. (English|Spanish)

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With MINUSTAH Up for Renewal, ‘Legal Bandits’ on Rampage

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Dr. Serge L. Bernard, Professor and Vice-Chair of the board of directors of the University of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was shot dead by five gunmen on motorcycles around midday on Friday August 31, 2012, within sight of police. Dr. Bernard is the latest victim of the traditional Spring-to-October insecurity that has preceded the renewal of MINUSTAH’s mandate every year since 2005.

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