Hamilton Disability Committee Meets With LRT Office, Some Questions Answer, Many Not Due to Lack of Info from HSR – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

July 13, 2016
The Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities (ACPD) met with the Hamilton LRT project office during the regularly schedule July ACPD meeting.
The LRT office made their standard presentation – which regular viewers of The Public Record are familiar with – to the committee and then discussion immediately began.
The question and answer session which followed was noteworthy for three discussions and a theme to Metrolinx’s ‘we don’t have the answer’ responses.
The two discussions of note involved how mobility devices will interact with LRT vehicles and how people will travel up to 400 metres to an LRT station on King Street with the planned end of 1-King service along the LRT route.
The answer came from the Metrolinx representatives who explained the platforms and trains will be level, allowing for a roll-on-roll-off boarding experience similar to subways and the Spadina streetcars in Toronto.
The representative explained that tracks and platforms will be maintained to ensure they are level at stations. Following the meeting, I asked who will be maintaining the level standard. Specifically, I cited the City of Hamilton Public Works record of not inspecting sidewalks (costing hundreds of thousands in lawsuit settlements), and how can we be assured the inspections will be done.
The answer – Metrolinx will be doing the inspections and maintaining the capital systems of the LRT. Like so many other components of the LRT, the answer that Hamilton Public Works isn’t doing the job is reassuring.
A major problem on the HSR is bypasses of persons using wheelchairs by full buses or buses with both wheelchair spots occupied by either other Advwheelchairs or, more often, walkers and strollers.
@CP24 Wheelchair bound person resorts to playing 'chicken' with #TTC bus after being 'passed by'(waiting) 2 hrs. pic.twitter.com/OuTtLRyaPT
— CK Mitchko (@cclefplay) July 5, 2016
On the same day in which Toronto’s news cycle included the story of a man who waited hours being bypassed by buses and eventually put his wheelchair on the road in front of a bus to demand service from the TTC, ACPD asked how the LRT will ensure people with wheelchairs are not in a similar situation, especially closer to McMaster.
The answer was not direct and took awhile to get to. The short – the LRT cars allow for passenger movement between cars so there should not be the grouping of persons that is problematic on HSR buses, and LRT has numerous more spaces for wheelchairs.
There was new information in the answer – no matter if Metrolinx or the HSR operate the LRT, it will be subject to Metrolinx’s Passenger Charter.
Safety on the vehicle was another discussion. Much feedback was given to Metrolinx in regards to seatbelt device for wheelchairs, and that the design must enable passengers to be able to fasten themselves, otherwise drivers will have to spend a great time of deal assisting and this will delay LRT trains.
Members of ACPD outlined numerous safety concerns and problems with wheelchair restraints on HSR vehicles – especially new HSR buses where the restraint is attached to the wheelchair armrests. ACPD members are concerned the restraint could rip over the chair.
One of the Metrolinx’s staffers suggested members of ACPD contact HSR Customer Service with their concerns. They caused almost the entire membership of the committee to break out in laughter, HSR Customer Service isn’t known for its customer service ability.
Which brings us to the number one non-answer of the night.
Numerous times during the meeting, members of ACPD asked questions about service changes to HSR and integration of HSR feeder buses into the LRT system.
The answer from Metrolinx staff was they didn’t have the answer, HSR hasn’t made any concepts public, and HSR staff were not present at the meeting.
What about those who presently use the 1-King and can’t walk up to 400 metres? HSR not present.
Will there be stretches of the LRT route with local HSR buses that are feeder routes from elsewhere? HSR not present and doesn’t have those answers.
After the meeting, I asked City of Hamilton LRT communications manager why the HSR has not been present at these meetings and when the public can expect some answers from the HSR. (Prior to her promotion to LRT communications manager, Anderson was Public Works spokesperson.)
Anderson says the HSR will be joining the LRT conversation in September and will start providing answers to questions related to the future of HSR as it relates to integration with the LRT. The HSR will have representatives at all public consultations as well.
ACPD’s discussion on LRT was fruitful, their questions insightful and based in lived experiences, and Metrolinx be wise to regularly present themselves to the full ACPD for feedback during the next 18 months of finalizing plans.


Brazil: Introducing the Big Think · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“Internet gives a voice to everyone, but what are we saying? We have access to lots of information, but are we better informed? We may not have all the answers, but we do have many questions”. Marcos Palacios [pt] looks with curiosity and some hope at the Big Think, an interative website dedicated to the debate of ideas.


Hong Kong: Writing oneself · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Glutter completes a 18,000-word post, seven days after the break-up with her man, and emerges saying she has written her way out of it.


HIV: FG Validates Efficacy Of Self-Test Kits - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
November 19, 2019
The National AIDS and STDs Control Programme, NASCPhas acknowledged the efficacy of the HIV self-test kits for use in Nigeria with98.4 per cent specificity and sensitivity to detect HIV antibodies.
Organising Committee, Godwin Emmanuel Coordinator,who made this known in a statement in Abuja, said NASCP was established tospearhead the Ministry of Health’s interventions on the fight against HIV andAIDS.
Emmanuel said the HIV self-test kit evaluationreport scheduled to be disseminated by NASCP on Nov.22, outlines modalities forconducting HIV self-testing in the country.
He said the report dissemination was sequel to thenational operational guidelines for the delivery of HIV self-testing in Nigeriawhich was recently approved by the Federal Ministry of Health.
Emmanuel further mentioned that the HIV self-testkit also known as Oraquick HIV self-test kits were currently used in more than50 countries of the world. He noted that the test kit had also being certifiedby World Health organisation, WHO the US Food and Drug Administration, FDA andNAFDAC.


China: translation tool · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Eric Hu has a review on the google translation in Shanghaiist.


Bolivia: Commercial Activity at Christmas · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Alberto Medrano of El Alto Noticias [es] writes about holiday traditions and commercial activity in El Alto, Bolivia.


Under Peña Nieto, Mexican journalists endured threats, killings — and digital surveillance, say researchers · Global Voices
Giovanna Salazar

Protest of the murder of Javier Valdez in Mexico City (2017). Photo by ProtoplasmaKid. Published under Creative Commons License 4.0
More than a year after Mexican journalist and writer Javier Valdez was murdered, the details of his case are finally coming to light. Towards the end of 2019, a new wrinkle emerged: Just one day after Valdez's death, two of his colleagues received mobile phone messages infected with the surveillance software Pegasus.
Javier Valdez was a dedicated journalist who, among other things, covered stories about corruption, impunity and organized crime for the independent media outlet Ríodoce, which he co-founded in Culiacán, Sinaloa (a disputed territory that both the Jalisco Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel claim). On May 17, 2017 Valdez was shot 12 times in broad daylight, just outside Ríodoce's offices.
According to a research report by the Digital Rights Defense Network (R3D) and a partnership of international NGOs, both Ismael Bojórquez (director of Ríodoce) and its director of information, Andrés Villarreal, suffered hacking attempts on their cell phones via text message.
Combined with other cases that we have reported previously, this amounts to a total of 28 cases of attempted infection with Pegasus, against various journalists, activists, and human rights defenders in the country.
The report, jointly researched by Article 19, Digital Rights Advocacy Network (R3D), SocialTIC and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, shows how journalists have been detected as targets of espionage through such malware:
Journalists and civic media have been a favorite target of government users of NSO Group spyware. Pictured below is a list of journalists @citizenlab has identified targeted with Pegasus. https://t.co/8j6fTVOoqk pic.twitter.com/PSA2KZTQ7S
— profdeibert (@RonDeibert) November 27 2018
Attempts to infect Valdez's colleagues followed a similar procedure to other attacks with Pegasus. The messages were received via SMS, and were allegedly sent by a popular news service called “UnoTV”. The content was difficult to ignore — particularly since the messages referencing the then-recent murder of Valdez and significant related events.
At the end of each message there was a suspicious link that, when clicked, would immediately install the surveillance software or spyware. This allowed the spyware to monitor any information hosted on the device and even take control of the microphone and camera.
Image taken from the report “Reckless VI. Mexican Journalists Investigating Cartels Targeted with NSO Spyware Following Assassination of Colleague”. Citizen Lab 2018.
One of the most noteworthy conclusions of the report was that there seemed to be a common attacker in all cases, given the methods of infection and the use of the same infrastructure. Moreover, it was noted that the software was used in situations affecting Peña Nieto's outgoing administration.
Pegasus is a sophisticated tool sold exclusively to government agencies. The technology was acquired by the Mexican government in 2014 and 2015 for the alleged purpose of fighting organized crime. As such, this series of revelations is now colloquially referred to online under the label #GobiernoEspía (#SpyGovernment in English).
The report listed their most recent findings alongside other uses of spyware in Mexico. With this information in hand, the organizations involved called on the new government to ensure an independent investigation into government use of surveillance software. They asked officials to carry out a comprehensive reform of the possession and use of surveillance systems by the government:
With this seventh publication on abuses of NSO Group spyware in Mexico, Citizen Lab and our partners R3D, SocialTic, and Article 19 have identified a total of 24 cases of abusive targeting by Mexico-linked NSO Group customers. Our previous investigations identified infection attempts against multiple journalists, lawyers, international investigators, public health practitioners, senior politicians, and anti-corruption activists.
A correspondent for media outlets AFP and La Jornada, and a co-founder of Ríodoce, Javier Valdez was a prolific writer who wrote at least nine books on drug trafficking in Mexico, always putting victims at the center of his stories. He was credited with numerous awards, including the 2011 International Freedom of the Press Prize, awarded by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). At the awards ceremony, Valdez said:
Ahora en Culiacán, Sinaloa, es un peligro estar vivo; y hacer periodismo es caminar sobre una invisible línea marcada [por los que están en el narcotráfico y en el gobierno] en un piso filoso y lleno de explosivos. Esto se vive en casi todo el país. Uno debe cuidarse de todo y de todos; no parece haber opciones ni salvación y muchas veces no hay a quién acudir […] Esta es una guerra, sí […] por el control del narco. Pero nosotros, los ciudadanos, ponemos los muertos; y los gobiernos de México y Estados Unidos las armas. Y ellos, los encumbrados invisibles y agazapados dentro y fuera de los gobiernos, se llevan las ganancias…
Right now in Culiacán, Sinaloa, it dangerous to be alive, and to be a journalist is to walk on an invisible line drawn [by those inside drug trafficking and the government] on a sharp floor full of explosives. This is the case in most of the country. One must protect oneself from everything and everyone. There seems to be no option or salvation, and often times there is no one to turn to […] Yes, this is a war […] for the control of drug trafficking. But we, the citizens, supply the dead, while Mexico and the United States supply the weapons. And they, the ones that are invisible but high above, crouching in and out of those governments, take all the profits for themselves…
After more than two decades of pursuing critical journalism, Javier Valdez became an exemplar, on a national and international level, on issues related to the violence that is devastating the northern part of the country. Many thought that this would protect him, but it did not.
The journalists’ guild showed profound indignation in response to Valdez's death, through protests, acts of denunciation, and labor strikes throughout the country.
The assassination also marked a breaking point for journalism in Mexico, as Froylán Enciso described in an essay for Horizontal, a digital media outlet:
Si matan a Javier Valdez, nuestro querido Javier, el más conocido, el más premiado, el más divertido, el más protegido del gremio: ¿qué puede esperar el resto? Es como si a todos nos hubieran puesto un blanco en el pecho.
If they killed Javier Valdez, our beloved Javier, the most well-known, most acclaimed, most fun and most protected member in the field, what can the rest of us expect? It is as if we all have a target on our backs.
The Mexican government has a terrible record when it comes to human rights and the circumstances facing journalism in the country are especially grave.
On this note, the organizations that are reporting on #SpyGovernment cases see it as a positive sign that current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently stated at a press conference that his government will not engage in such practices. However, those declarations will not be much of a guarantee if crimes against journalists remain unpunished.


Seven Killed, Many Missing As Boko Haram Ambushes Military, Convoy - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 01
June 28, 2020
At least 9 Nigerian soldiers were reported dead on Saturday as suspected Boko Haram insurgents ambushed a military van escorting travellers from Maiduguri to Damboa town, witnesses and security sources say.
The incident is the first in a long time that soldiers escorting travellers along that route would suffer such an attack.
Damboa, 87 km South from Maiduguri the state capital, has been one of the most attacked local government headquarters in Borno State.
Although soldiers have been protecting the town from being attacked or seized by insurgents, the highway to Damboa, which also leads to Chibok local government has been considered one of the most dangerous roads in the state.
At lest three days in a week, vehicles conveying travellers to and from the route would have to queue up to be escorted by armed security personnel, including soldiers. The escort team would also be responsible for accompanying travellers coming to Maiduguri from either Chibok or Damboa.
On Saturday, travellers from Maiduguri reportedly ran into an ambush by Boko Haram who targeted the military escort van.
“It happened at about 12:00pm to 01:00pm. When the convoy of travellers arrived Abbari village,” said a traveller who survived the attack.
“We were almost getting to Damboa when suddenly we heard some loud sound, and before one could figure out what was happening, we saw the escort vehicle up in flames and thick smoke. Then we began to hear sporadic shootings from different locations.”
The survivor, a 32-year-old male who requested anonymity due to security concerns, said all the passengers in the vehicles disembarked and fled the scene.
“I believe many soldiers may have died because the shooting at the military vehicle had hit it badly.”
Also speaking a leader of the Civilian Joint Task Force, CJTF, Bunu Malam, confirmed to Liberty News that “nine soldiers were escorting travellers from Maiduguri to Damboa,”
“The attackers had also gone away with a patrol vehicle belonging to our vigilante operatives who were also part of the escort team”.
The source said the attackers did not touch the civilian travellers.
The military has yet to comment on the matter. A text message to the acting Director Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir Musa, was not replied Saturday night.


Jamaica: Chutzpah and politics · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jamaica-based Linguist Ria Bacon uses the example of the Jamaican Minister of Information's statements about a recent political scandal to demonstrate the meaning of the Yiddish word “chutzpah”.


A Harry Potter addict suffers in Martinique · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

le blog de moi, a self-described Harry Potter addict (Fr), paid 43 euros to get her hands on the Deathly Hallows in Martinique; and finished the 607-page book in less than 24 hours.


Russia: “Chernobyl’s Other Victims” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about “Chernobyl's other victims” – “the thousands of people who exposed themselves to extraordinarily high levels of radiation while taking part in the clean up” and who now “find themselves not only sick as a result but largely forgotten by the successor governments to the regime which ordered them there without the protective gear they needed.”


Caucasus: Google Translate in Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Google Translate Blog announces the addition of five new alpha languages for its online translation service, including Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian. Likely to be considered in the same way in Azerbaijan and Georgia, The Armenian Observer applauds the move even at such an early stage and says the service is especially valuable.


World Cup Qualifiers: Coach Salisu, Others Depart For Morocco As Eagles’ Camp Opens Today - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Publisher (F.BA)
November 8, 2021
Eagles’ Assistant Coaches, Salisu Yusuf and Joseph Yobo, Goalkeeper’s Trainer, Alloy Agu and other officials of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF are expected to depart for Morocco ahead of November 13 qualifying series between Nigeria and Liberia in Morocco.
Super Eagles Media Officer Femi Raji said the officials will join Coach Gernot Rohr and other invited players in preparation for the qualifiers against the Liberia on November 13 and 16 against the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
He added that the invited players for the Liberia march have been directed to arrive camp early to enable the coaches blend the team properly ahead of the two ties.
It would be recalled that Coach Gernot Rohr had invited 23 players with the inclusion of former international, Odion Ighalo, for the final matches of the first phase of the World Cup qualifiers.


South Korean Election Scandal Brings Three Religions Together · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Opposition against the current administration's election manipulation scandal grows stronger every day, even enough to inspire conservative Protestant Christian groups to join the protest movement [ko] following the trails of Catholic leaders and Buddhist monks. On Christmas, this rare scene took place: in front of a Christmas tree which stood in the Jogye Buddhist temple, leaders from different religious groups held a joint prayer meeting/service lamenting the current political situation and denouncing the government bodies’ systemic interference on the latest presidential election. South Korean net users in major online venues shared this running joke; President Park has achieved something that no other previous heads of the state were able to pull off– the ‘grand slam of unifying the three major religions‘ [ko] (of South Korea) for a shared purpose.
부처님이 계신 조계사에 켜진 성탄트리 앞에서 철도노조지지와 노동탄압을 중단하라는 종교계 합동예배가 진행중이랍니다.대통합은 바로 이런것 입니다. pic.twitter.com/M3gafYIHXJ
— 언론이 살아야 나라가 산다.(나친노) (@answer1219) December 25, 2013
In front of a Christmas tree, at the Jogye temple where the Buddha(‘s statues/relics) are kept, held a joint religious service demanding the government to halt clampdowns on railway workers and labor groups. This truly is a scene of ‘grand unification’.


Domestic workers deserve workplace benefits - 360
Divya Ravindranath
Published on March 8, 2024
Employers provide direct financial or in-kind ‘support’ to their workers. In most households this is a form of benevolence, not an entitlement. This can change.
Every day millions of women in India enter their employers’ homes and perform duties such as cooking, cleaning and child minding.
Many work in multiple households. They work long hours doing menial tasks. They are poorly paid and — worse — despite being salaried employees, they have little or no protections from exploitation.
Estimates of the number of women working as domestics in India vary from three to 20 million. This reflects the challenges in accurately quantifying a workforce which remains invisible despite its ubiquitous presence in urban centres.
Designing, delivering and enforcing social protection for domestic workers is challenging for two reasons.
Without a written contract, individual households hesitate to acknowledge their role and responsibility as ‘employers’ as private homes of employers are not recognised as ‘places of work’.
While the implications of this for workers have been studied widely, an ILO-IIHS study set out to explore employers’ perspectives on social protection and their willingness to contribute to social protection measures for domestic workers.
Social protection, which includes insurance, maternity entitlements and cash transfers is crucial for those in informal work.
It helps these workers, who are often mothers themselves with a family to feed, cope with illness, accidents, maternity leave and old-age, unemployment or disasters.
In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, social protection is fundamental to achieve several SDG goals; SDG1 specifically calls on all countries to provide social security to all to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the gaps in social protection coverage, with domestic workers being among the worst-hit without any form of workplace benefits like health insurance or medical leave.
ILO-IIHS conducted a two-phased study in Bangalore and Chennai. In the first phase, we focused on questions of recruitment, income security, and employment and social security. We surveyed 3,067 employer households that engaged paid domestic workers in Bengaluru (1876 households) and Chennai (1191 households).
When it came to the responsibilities of the employers when a domestic worker falls ill or is pregnant, the dominant response in Bengaluru (40 percent) and Chennai (37 percent) was that employers should support expenses of treatment.
Of the 28 percent of households across both cities that noted that employers should give sick leave, about 59 percent and 44 percent in Bangalore and Chennai respectively noted that employers must provide paid sick leave.
However, we found considerable variation on whether employers should support expenses of treatment in full or in part.
When asked about maternity entitlements, only 36 percent of households in Bangalore and 16 percent in Chennai reported support for maternity leave with either full or partial salary payment.
Employers supported letting a worker go with a lump sum payment if they got pregnant (31 percent in Bangalore and 43 percent in Chennai), leave without salary (20 percent in Bangalore and 24 percent in Chennai) and the sack without offering any money (9 percent in Bangalore and 12 percent in Chennai).
In the second phase of the study, using the same sampling strategy as the first phase, we conducted qualitative interviews with a separate set of 403 households from 16 different neighbourhoods across Bengaluru and Chennai to understand existing practices in providing social protection for domestic workers.
Most employers reported already supporting their workers with financial aid and credit for children’s education, covering the cost of treatment during illness and other emergencies.
However, while employers supported the idea of maternity leave, they did not necessarily implement it. Instead, they reflected on the challenges it posed in making arrangements with their workers. They asked their workers to find a replacement and could not afford regular payment to the former worker if she availed maternity leave.
When asked if they would be willing to contribute to a formal social protection programme, we found three broad sets of responses:
They were open to contributing to workers’ medical insurance or obtaining group insurance (with multiple employers) for their employees. Some employers preferred to deduct a percentage from workers’ salaries for future medical expenses or retirement. Others were willing to pay an additional amount ranging from 5 to 20 percent.
They expressed lack of knowledge and didn’t want to take up procedural responsibility anticipating complicated documentation and paperwork. Many were also sceptical about the effectiveness and sustainability of formal social protection schemes, fearing that the system might lack accountability or eventually die out. Some suggested that instead of setting up provident funds and insurance mechanisms, safeguarding workers’ actual salaries might be more effective.
They considered the additional cost of social protection as being a financial burden that they could not afford as they were already responsible for salaries. They suggested government medical insurance or financial aid to domestic workers to ease the financial burden on both employers and workers.
The study shows that a vast range of practices exist in employer homes. While several employers provided direct financial or in-kind ‘support’ to their workers it was often meted out as a form of benevolence and not as an entitlement.
Any form of social protection for domestic workers can respond to the following concerns.
First, what type of social protection is needed?
Our data shows that while employers are willing to provide support for illnesses and other household contingencies, maternity entitlements were not seen as a non-negotiable right of domestic workers though recognised by law.
Social protection could be responsive to the risks and vulnerabilities in the life cycle of an individual, and its provisioning requires tapping into various modes of delivery.
This takes us to who is responsible for social protection for domestic workers.
Employers are critical as they are the first point of contact for workers. Addressing the challenges employers face in direct provision of social protection requires a coordinated effort involving employers, workers and policymakers to ensure that domestic workers receive the protection and support they need.
The possibility of Resident Welfare Association-led initiatives could be further explored as a potential avenue for collectively delivering social protection.
However, this also means the need for an arrangement between welfare boards or other arms of the state, unions and workers, without which workers will have no recourse to redressal in case employers fail to deliver social protection.
The National Policy on Domestic Workers outlines a list of schemes that domestic workers can avail as part of the unorganised workforce.
This includes schemes such as health insurance, pension, subsidised medical facilities, and educational support for children. However, this does not necessarily acknowledge the need for workplace benefits that are linked to employment security to prevent arbitrary termination from work.
The systemic neglect of this workforce is apparent from the fact that only a few states have included domestic workers in the schedule of the Minimum Wages Act.
In this sector wages remain abysmally low and strongly controlled by employer networks at the neighbourhood level as well as determined by the axis of workers’ gender (a feminised workforce undertaking gendered duties) and caste (low status work being fulfilled by marginalised communities).
Under such circumstances, whether from employers, the government or a combination of both, social protection is an absolute must for improving labour market outcomes.
The project was funded by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Divya Ravindranath is a senior researcher at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bengaluru. Her research interests include gender, informal work, social protection and urban health. Her current research project explores care infrastructure models for women in informal work. She holds a Masters and PhD degree in Social Work from Tata Institute for Social Sciences and Washington University in St Louis respectively. She would like to thank Antara Rai Chowdhury, Rashee Mehra and Dr. Gautam Bhan, her co-authors on the ILO- IIHS report.
Editors Note: In the story “Investing in women” sent at: 07/03/2024 06:00.
This is a corrected repeat.


Luc Montagnier did not claim that vaccinated people will die in 2 years - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 27, 2021
A social media post claiming that Nobel Laureate Luc Montagnier has said that ‘all those got vaccinated will die in 2 years’ is being widely shared across platforms. We have also received the same query on our WhatsApp tip line. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: ‘All vaccinated people will die in 2 years; Vaccines create more variants; Vaccination leads to more deaths – Luc Montagnier’
Fact: Luc Montagnier expressed concerns about mass vaccinations in a recent interview.  However, he did not claim that all vaccinated people will die in 2 years. Also, there is not enough scientific data to show vaccination leads to more deaths. Further, vaccination contains the spread of virus and mutation. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Dr. Luc Montagnier’s interview was published by the US-based RAIR foundation. However, in this interview, Montagnier nowhere claims that ‘all vaccinated people will die in two years’. In fact, RAIR foundation through a tweet clarified the same.
ALERT: Luc Montagnier Did NOT Say Vaccine Would Kill People in Two Years.
"The Nobel Laureate DID say the vaccine is 'creating the variants'."https://t.co/roME7iumOc pic.twitter.com/jLx3oT72CV
However, in this interview, Montagnier opined that vaccines are creating  new variants and he mentioned about a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) in support of his argument. He also claimed that vaccination would lead to more deaths.
Does Vaccine create new variants?
ADE (Antibody-Dependent Enhancement) is a phenomenon wherein the antibodies generated during an immune response fail to prevent infection and instead, the pathogen (virus) binds to these antibodies which act as a vehicle allowing the pathogen to get into cells which they could not previously and exacerbate the immune response.
There have been instances of ADE reported earlier in cases related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Ebola, influenza, and flaviviruses. However, the relevance of ADE for coronaviruses remains unclear and there is not enough data to substantiate its effect as far as coronavirus is concerned.
As per WHO, ‘viruses constantly evolve over time by replicating themselves or sometimes it changes itself a little bit. These changes are called mutations. A virus with one or more new mutations is referred to as a “variant” of the original virus’, and this a random process.
As per experts, most viral mutations have little to no impact on the virus’s ability to cause infections and disease. But depending on where the changes are located in the virus’s genetic material, they may affect a virus’s properties, such as transmission (for example, it may spread more or less easily) or severity (for example, it may cause more or less severe disease).
Generally, when a virus widely circulates amongst the population causing infections, the likelihood of the virus mutating increases. The more the virus spreads, the more it replicates. In this case, the spread of the virus could be contained either by achieving herd immunity (wherein a large portion of a community (60-70%) becomes immune to a disease making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely) or by vaccinating as many people as possible.
WHO says ‘scaling up vaccine manufacturing and rolling out vaccines as quickly and widely as possible will also be critical ways of protecting people before they are exposed to the virus and the risk of new variants.’
Does Vaccination lead to more deaths?
As far as efficiency of vaccination is concerned, WHO states that the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently in development or have been approved are expected to provide at least some protection against new virus variants because these vaccines elicit a broad immune response involving a range of antibodies and cells. Therefore, changes or mutations in the virus should not make vaccines completely ineffective. In the event that any of these vaccines prove to be less effective against one or more variants, it will be possible to change the structure of the vaccines to protect against these variants. For example, structure of the vaccine for the influenza virus changes regularly based on the circulating strain. Also, administration of a booster dose according to the composition of the variant is also a possible way to contend the spread.
Even studies by the CDC suggest that the current authorized vaccines work on the circulating variants. And a growing body of evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infection and potentially less likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others. The vaccines also seem to work on most variants that are in circulation in the US like B.1.1.7, B.1.351 & P.1.
Although there have been instances of breakthrough cases of deaths due to adverse events even after taking the vaccine, these numbers are very less compared to the scale of vaccination. For example, over 285 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States from 14 December 2020, through 24 May 2021. During this time, VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) received 4,863 reports of death (0.0017%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. This implies odds of dying after taking the vaccine are very low.
From this analysis, we can infer that rolling out vaccines as quickly and widely as possible protects people from the virus and contains the risk of new variants. In fact, well-known Indian virologist and member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, Dr. Gagandeep Kang through a tweet shared similar views regarding Montagnier’s claims.
Bear with me.. About Luc Montagnier’s statements-
Well, apparently he did not say all vaccinated people will die in two years (Given human variation why 2? Not 1 or 6??). But he did say
New variants are created through selection imposed by antibodies made through vaccination 1/n
Luc Montagnier controversies:
Luc Montagnier was the joint recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Earlier in 2012, Montagnier was in news as  he participated in a conference conducted by Autism One, a group that is against vaccination. This group is known to propagate the theory that vaccination causes autism among children.
Hence, Luc Montagnier in this particular interview has indeed expressed concerns over vaccination. However, he did not say that all those who got vaccinated would die in two years. Also, as of now, there is not enough scientific evidence about the seriousness of ‘Antibody-Dependent Enhancement ‘for coronavirus vaccines.
To sum it up, Luc Montagnier did not claim that vaccinated people will die in 2 years and there is no scientific evidence to correlate vaccination with more deaths.


Armenia: Life in Karabakh · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian continues reporting on Karabakh peace negotiations examining the issue of territories around Karabakh to possibly be returned to Azerbaijan.


Jamaica: Striking it rich · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Francis Wade considers what could happen if Jamaica were suddenly to strike it rich.


Serbia: “Interesting Buildings” of Kragujevac and Majdanpek. · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Nothing Against Serbia: A Virtual Notebook writes about “interesting buildings” in Kragujevac and Majdanpek.


Get Out of Jail—For a Fee | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
March 16, 2015
The Atlantic


Independence Day: MLK mix · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

UK-based music blogger Soul on Ice posts a link to a mix of Martin Luther King's “I have a dream” speech against a background of tabla drums in honor of Independence Day, commenting: “African America wouldn't be celebrating anything if not for this great man.”


China: Your ethnic group can’t use the internet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“Your ethnic group can't use the internet” has become a popular phrase in the Internet in China. It comes from a 27-year-old Uighur photographer's real life experience in a hotel in Shenyang. Rob from Black and White Cat translated the two related blog posts.


Mexico: Celebrating the Bicentennial in the Middle of Chaos · Global Voices
Andrea Arzaba

This year Mexico will commemorate the bicentennial of its Independence from the Spanish Crown and the centennial of its Revolution with an extensive program of events. Every year,  the entire nation celebrates late into the night of September 15th (and early on the  16th) a renewal of the famous call for a revolution, which  is likely to take place in city halls all over the country. Mexicans living abroad will celebrate this act as well, whether in national embassies or at  renowned Mexican restaurants or bars.
But this year is supposed to be special, it is supposed to be something that will be “better than anything we have seen before,” as many have predicted.
"It is not perfect, but we can fix it" Image by flickr user Taller Hikari used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license
A few days ago, President Felipe Calderon gave a speech in which he  called all Mexicans to unite during the celebrations, regardless of their  different views in terms of religion, politics and attitudes on the  subject of the bicentennial. But the date is only a celebration for some; the bicentennial has become a complex subject that has led to different opinions and reactions. Even The New York Times noticed: Randal C. Archibold wrote, “There are the bicentennial buses. Bicentennial roads. A bicentennial   marathon. A bicentennial song. The bicentennial digital library. A   bicentennial video game. Even a bicentennial bird, the mountain trogan,   and plant, the owl agave. And of course the bicentennial fireworks   extravaganza, planned to be the largest the country has ever seen. What appears to be missing is bicentennial enthusiasm.”
It is well-known that the government is spending great amounts of money on this celebration, while there are other issues that Mexicans consider are more important than spending 580 million pesos (approx. 50 million dollars) in only one celebration –in only one night. Protests have taken place, and people are responding to the spending amid drug dealing problems, organized crime, migration and a lack of employment and schools.
El Universal [es], a Mexican newspaper, started a discussion to see what readers thought about the government spending that amount of money on the bicentennial celebration [es]. These are some of the responses they got:
Creo  que en estos momentos no estamos para festejar nada,tomando en  cuenta  que en otro estados de la republica,estan pasando por  inundaciones y  todo ese dinero se deberia aplicar en ayuda a esos  lugares y  la”celebracion” del bicentenario dejarlo para otra ocasión. (Esteban Flores García)
Para nada se justifica  tanto gasto del gobierno, hay necesidades muy grandes en el pais que  podrian ser apoyadas con ese tanto dinero que se va a gastar(Raul López M)
Yo siento que como Mèxicano da gusto el festejar el bicentenario, pero  desgraciadamente los festejos se ven opacados por tanta inseguridad y  delincuencia, recordemos lo que paso en Morelia Mich. con las granadas,  ademas como justificar un gasto tan exesivo habiendo otras prioridades  en el pais. (JOSE FRANCISCO)
On twitter, Mexican users also expressed their thoughts on the celebration of the bicentennial. With a positive attitude, Bernarda Jimenez (@b3rsita) expresses her wish to get Mexican food [es] in this special day:
Ya quiero que sea 15 para #comercomoprecious en este #bicentenario de-li-cio-so!!!
Another user,  Zuza-ku (@zuzaku22) talks about her personal concern on the difficult situation the country is facing [es]:
En el #bicentenario lamento y lloro cada una de las muertes presentes y futuras.
Finally, echoing what others have expressed, user Ariadna [es] in her blog Blog de Ariadna [es] writes about her opinion on Mexico's Bicentennial celebration and what is happening inside the nation [es]:
Se que es importante celebrar que somos un país “libre” y “soberano”  pero, esto se pudo invertir en cosas realmente necesarias, la pobreza  nos alcanza cada vez más y la delincuencia inunda nuestras calles y  nuestros políticos solo piensan en como “darnos atole con el dedo” con  estos festejos… ojala paremos un momento y nos demos cuenta que  realmente no hay mucho que festejar ni mucho por lo cual sentirnos  orgullosos.


Latvia: Constitutional Amendments Despite Failed Referendum? · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Following the failed referendum in Latvia on constitutional amendments, Baltic reports that President Valdis Zatlers and – so far – the Civic Union party (PS) are instead putting forward their respective proposals for constitutional amendments to an extraordinary session of the Latvian parliament – the Saeima.


Thailand: Blocking Pro-Thaksin Sites · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Thai authorities have blocked more sites that support the former prime minister Thaksin. The Bangkok Bugle says the block might have a reverse effect with Thai people trying other means to figure out what Thaksin has to say.


Research Watch: New Ryerson - Maytree Alliance will Seek to Reinforce Business Case for Diversity - New Canadian Media
Priya Ramanujam
September 5, 2014
When it comes to research pertaining to immigration and new Canadians, things are definitely picking up quickly this fall. In the second installment of Research Watch we take a look at some important research coming out of other parts of the world on migration issues, as well as the upcoming Pathways to Prosperity research conference and an exciting new research collaboration between Ryerson University and the Maytree foundation.
As of September 15, a section of the Maytree Foundation – projects, staff and resources – will have a new home: inside the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University. Through what is shaping up to be a dynamic research collaboration that will focus on effectively bringing about increased inclusion of immigrants and racialized minorities in the Canadian business world, four specific projects will come to Ryerson with Maytree: DiverseCity onBoard, HireImmigrants, Cities of Migration and Flight and Freedom. It truly speaks to the important role immigrants play in our country’s economy, explains Wendy Cukier, founder of Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute and Vice-President of Research and Innovation.
“I think that increasingly people are recognizing equity and diversity are grounded in a commitment to human rights and that it is the right thing to do from an ethical perspective,” Cukier says. “But, increasingly, they are recognizing the business case and how addressing [diversity] issues appropriately is critical for the competitiveness of businesses, for the effectiveness of government, and, in fact, for Canada as a nation.”
According to Cukier, the new initiative’s Executive Director Ratna Omidvar, and her team, is looking forward to being able to tap into Ryerson’s faculty and students to get involved in current projects. Cukier says this partnership will bolster the expertise, contacts, networks and partners Maytree has as a leading organization in reducing poverty and inequality since 1982. It will also further expand on Ryerson’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
But increasingly they are recognizing the business case and how addressing [diversity] issues appropriately is critical for the competitiveness of businesses, for the effectiveness of government and in fact for Canada as a nation.
Canada has a history of being a country of immigrants, and other countries are trying to catch up, Cukier explains. Leaders from countries around the world – she notes the president of Germany, Joachim Gauck, will be here later this month – come to Canada to find out how the nation has been so successful at inclusion of immigrants and racialized minorities.
“At the same time, we know we can do better,” she adds. “I hope this partnership pushes that envelope.”
Interestingly, over 90 per cent of the children I interviewed have a family member in the U.S., with just over 50 per cent having one or both parents there.
In recent years, the European Union (EU) has faced considerable economic turmoil. And as such, something has to be blamed. For many, that something is migration. Although political leaders once staunchly defended migration, since the 2008-09 financial crisis, defenders are few and far between. Views such as migrants-are-not-needed in the EU or migrants-take-up-all-the-jobs, run rampant. But, the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute challenges these notions with a new research paper: Is what we hear about migration really true? Questioning eight stereotypes, edited by researcher Phillipe Fargues. A combined effort of 10 authors and contributors, the 92-page report provides in-depth analysis that debunks eight specific stereotypes of migration in the EU.
Of the eight stereotypes, six are argued as point-blank wrong – we do not need migrant workers; migrants steal our jobs; we do not need low-skilled immigrants in the EU; migrants undermine our welfare systems; migration hampers our capacity to innovate and our southern coastline is flooded with asylum seekers. The authors counter these stereotypes with research proving otherwise; for example, an aging population and waning work force in the EU means immigrants will help stimulate the economy. The final two stereotypes – economic migrants are trying to cheat our asylum system and our children suffer from having immigrants in class are deemed complex issues that are not as cut-and-dried to easily proven or disproven.
The misconceptions of migration are not limited to the EU, it seems. In July, The American Immigration Council released a study by researcher Elizabeth Kennedy, No Childhood Here: Why Central American Children are Fleeing Their Homes, which worked to get to the bottom of the influx of unaccompanied child migrants in the United States coming from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Perhaps, what stood out the most about Kennedy’s findings was this passage, “Interestingly over 90 per cent of the children I interviewed have a family member in the U.S., with just over 50 per cent having one or both parents there. Most referenced fear of crime and violence as the underlying motive for their decision to reunify with family now rather than two years in the past or two years in the future. Seemingly, the children and their families had decided they must leave and chose to go to where they had family, rather than choose to leave because they had family elsewhere. Essentially, if their family had been in Belize, Costa Rica, or another country, they would be going there instead.”
Through this finding, Kennedy shows that it isn’t so much about the United States and the pursuit of the American Dream that brings the children across the border, as is widely reported, but rather it is serious issues such as organized crime, gangs and violence. The report also speaks to the fact that leaving their country is often a last resort for these young people and that the children and their families often don’t trust their own national governments to help them.
A benefit of attending this conference is to receive up-to-date information from a variety of stakeholders about the latest research being done on cutting-edge issues.
Pathways to Prosperity (P2P), which unites university, community and government partners in the work of promoting the integration of immigrants and minorities across Canada, will bring together its researchers with policy and program officials from all three levels of government, graduate students and community service providers to set research priorities for the coming year. The 2nd annual conference, being held on November 24 and 25 in Montreal, builds off of last year’s success, which conference co-chair Victoria Esses says created real connections between community partners and academics, which led to meaningful work.
“A benefit of attending this conference is to receive up to date information from a variety of stakeholders, about the latest research being done on cutting edge issues,”says Prof. Esses, who is the Director of the University of Western Ontario’s Centre for Research on Migration and Ethnic Relations.
Six main sessions are scheduled, themed around issues such as regionalization and immigration to communities outside of metropolises and changing entry pathways, including students, temporary workers and transition classes. Workshops and roundtable discussions will be held to set research priorities regionally – remote Northern communities, Quebec, Ontario, the Atlantic provinces, the Prairies and British Columbia are all focus areas, for example.
As Prof. Esses points out, not only will this conference help shape the priorities of P2P’s academic collaborators in the coming year, but it will also help finesse how projects are identified and how existing studies will be re-aligned to better suit community/government goals. The conference will also provide an excellent platform for graduate students to network and find out what’s new in the field, while they seek out possible thesis ideas or gain insight on how to narrow down broad thesis statements.
Registration is now open.


The Last Time This Many People Went on Strike in Brazil It Was 1996 · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

The largest gathering was at Largo da Batata in central São Paulo. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert, published with permission.
Millions of workers are striking in Brazil against reforms set to weaken labour and pension laws pushed by the conservative government of Michel Temer, who replaced Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's president a year ago after a controversial impeachment process.
Public transportation has been partially shut down in most state capitals, including the country's largest, São Paulo. Bankers, oil industry workers, teachers and civil servants are among the main laborers that stopped working for 24 hours, starting midnight, Friday, April 28. They are led by social movement activists and trade union organizers, who are also staging public demonstrations.
Unlike the protests that have repeatedly occurred in Brazil over the past three years, these demonstrations are also taking place in smaller towns and the big cities’ poorer suburbs. Protesters have blocked some of the country's major interstate roads, bridges, airports and bus terminals since the early hours of the morning. Many people have reported that the day feels like a Sunday or a holiday.
The last time Brazil witnessed a general strike of comparable proportions was in 1996 when Brazil was governed by another pro-austerity president. On Twitter, the hashtags #GreveGeral #BrasilEmGreve trended all day on Friday.
Protesters in Belo Horizonte, Brazil's 4th largest city. Photo: Mídia Ninja CC BY-SA 2.0
Last week, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies approved labour reforms that would increase the workweek from 44 to 48 hours, water-down penalties for companies that fire employees, and make it more difficult for workers to sue their former employers.
The bill is part of a series of reforms hastily pushed by Temer, who enjoys a substantial legislative majority, as well as support from Brazil's business sector, despite his own sinking political popularity. A poll by Ipsos released last week puts his approval rating at a measly 4 percent. Other bills passed into law in the past year include a freeze on increases in public spending and legislation that lifts restrictions on outsourcing. In the coming weeks, the Congress is also expected to vote on major pension reforms.
The government says the reforms are necessary to counter Brazil's massive public deficit and were first announced in late 2015 by the centrist political party PMDB in a document titled “Bridge to the Future.” The plan was released shortly before the party ended its 12-year-old alliance with the Worker's Party — a crucial break that allowed Congress to impeach Dilma Rousseff easily in April 2016. Rousseff was elected with 54 percent of the votes in October 2014 with a very different platform, raising questions about the legitimacy of the government's new reforms.
An ever-unfolding corruption scandal, with new pleas in the past weeks implicating major party leaders and Temer himself, has also increased public discontent and puts the country in a state of uncertainty until the 2018 general elections. Temer himself will likely be prohibited from running in the elections, as he was convicted of violating electoral laws in 2014, leading critics to point out that he is now virtually unaccountable to future voters, as he pushes largely unpopular state policies.
A demonstration in São Paulo South Zone in the early hours of the morning. Photo: Mídia Ninja CC BY-SA 2.0
Many are not in favour of the general strike today. Conservative groups like Movimento Brasil Livre and Vem pra Rua, which were at the forefront of the pro-impeachment protests in 2015 and 2016 and support the austerity reforms, say the protests are merely a political platform for the Worker's Party. Both have started campaigns on social media calling on people to cross picket lines and go to work, while the Free Brazil Movement, which generally favors more aggressive rhetoric, has branded protestors “terrorists.”
A protester in São Paulo. Photo: Mídia Ninja CC BY-SA 2.0
Police have dispersed some crowds with tear gas and rubber bullets, leaving other large demonstration groups untouched. In São Paulo, police detained 16 activists from Brazil's Homeless Workers’ Movement, which advocates social housing and is arguably Brazil's largest social movement today, reportedly charging them with “criminal association.”
In Rio de Janeiro, police dispersed a large crowd of protesters in the early evening.
Pelotão de choque da PM avança em direção aos manifestantes no Centro do Rio. #grevegeral #Brasilemgreve pic.twitter.com/eG192BseXj
— The Intercept Brasil (@TheInterceptBr) April 28, 2017
While most demonstrations so far have been scattered, the largest gathering is happened on Friday evening in downtown São Paulo and protesters marched towards Michel Temer's house nearby.
A protest in the city of Salvador. Photo Mídia Ninja CC BY-SA 2.0
Smaller demonstrations in support of Brazil's protesters also took place in some European capitals, including Berlin.
Brazilian diaspora demonstration in Berlin in support of the national strike #brasilemgreve pic.twitter.com/6ATXjS6SJN
— Luiza Prado (@luizaprado) April 28, 2017


Peru: Children’s Play Inside a Moving Bus · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Perú Vas? presents Pequito and the Key of Seven Years, which is the first children's play that will take place inside a moving bus, writes Elizabeth Lino of Te Voy a Contar [es].


Armenia: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

With the presidential election only three months away, the Armenia Election Monitor 2008 says that attempts to disrupt opposition meetings might backfire. On the eve of one such rally to be held in Yerevan tomorrow, the blog reports that the authorities have erected a huge stage in the same location for a government-sponsored pop concert to be held the following day even though it is winter and such events are unheard of at this time of year.


‘Stop killing us!’: Thousands march to protest against femicide in Kenya - Minority Africa
Toluwani Omotesho
March 13, 2024
But first in Sri Lanka, where hundreds of refugees and asylum workers are facing fear and uncertainty about their future, following news of the UNHCR shutting down operations in the country this year.
For years, Sri Lanka has been home to hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers; according to the UNHCR, there are about 567 refugees and 224 asylum seekers who are mostly Pakistanis. However, Sri Lanka isn’t a member country of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the 1967 protocol, so it has no domestic laws to help guide its actions towards refugees or asylum seekers.
As a result, this has made it a way station for refugees while the UNHCR processes applications for their resettlement to other countries. Refugees and asylum seekers are legally barred from working in Sri Lanka, so they’ve had to depend on allowances from the UNHCR to cover their rent, food, and other basic needs. Scholarships are also provided to fund the education of many children. However, these allowances and scholarships were scrapped in December due to the UNHCR’s plans to close its office in Columbo and maintain only a liaison presence from 2025.
The rationale behind this move is that most displaced people from the Sri Lanka civil war have returned to their native places. Still, many refugees and asylum seekers worry that this opens them up to deportation amidst the already dwindling hopes of survival without the UNHCR’s financial support.
To address these concerns, the UNHCR has promised to collaborate with Sri Lankan authorities to safeguard the rights and interests of refugees. Nonetheless, many human rights activists advocate for establishing domestic laws guaranteeing refugees and asylum seekers access to basic rights like shelter and education.
‘Stop killing us!’: Thousands march to protest against femicide in Kenya

CNN
‘We are dying slowly:’ Palestinians are eating grass and drinking polluted water as famine looms across Gaza
Did you know that Madagascar produces about 80% of the world’s vanilla? It’s often referred to as the vanilla capital of the world.
Edwin Chiloba, my first love
On January 4, 2023, Edwin’s body was found stashed in a metal box along the Kipkenyo-Kaptinga road in Kenya. Maybe, as is alleged, the murder of Edwin was a case of intimate partner violence. However, the events that led to his death cannot be divorced from homophobia.
When I first met him, there would have been no way to know that years later, I – and the world – would lose him so tragically. Due to the long wait at the bus terminal at our initial meeting, I was already irritated when he stepped out of the bus.
He stood at 6’2”, wearing a shirt with fur-like imprints on the collar, straightened black trousers and heels a few inches tall. He was a breathtaking figure and a sight that easily made me forget the hours of waiting.
I had little time for pleasantries as I was meant to travel to the countryside on a night bus that same day so we took the first tuk-tuk to my place, a humble bedsitter with a bed, cooking gas and a few utensils, where I fixed us supper before heading out to get the bus to Nairobi then try to get another bus to the countryside.
Mainstream breastfeeding discourse has nothing to do with women. And everything to do with patriarchy
Alternatives to breastfeeding like wet nurses have existed since 18th century France where 90% of babies were breastfed by women who were not their mothers. Today, millennial African women are not given the freedom to choose.
I introduced formula milk to my second son’s diet when he was five months old. I did this because I had a very busy schedule that kept me away from him for many hours during the day.
While I was thrilled that supplementing breast milk with formula kept my son full and happy throughout the day, I was constantly bombarded with questions from people I knew and even strangers.
Why are you not breastfeeding exclusively? Isn’t it too early to introduce the boy to formula? Do you even know what is in the formula?
Many of these people considered it appropriate to probe me in this manner. It left me feeling like a failure and with an ongoing question on my mind: why does society interrogate and scrutinize the actions of mothers and women generally, in a way that it does not do to fathers?
A life in Fear: The dangers of finding love online as a queer woman living in Nigeria
Izzy was feeling hopeful about the year ahead. It was January 2010, and she was about to meet a woman she’d been chatting with online for a few weeks.
She took her time getting ready, choosing to wear jeans and a button-down shirt to look casual yet, hopefully, impressive.
Her date had been pestering her to meet for some time, she remembered, but she had wanted to wait. “I was happy we were finally meeting physically,” Izzy recalled.
The two women had initially planned to meet in a public place, but her date changed the venue at the last minute, saying it would be more comfortable and safer to meet in her home in the Ogba neighborhood of Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.
When the then-20-year-old arrived, she was welcomed in and told to relax. Her date, Izzy remembered, made some food and served drinks, and the women began to connect. But something felt off.
France: Migrant Children Sleep in the Street in Marseille
The French department of Bouches-du-Rhône, which includes Marseille, France’s second-largest city, is failing to provide unaccompanied migrant children the protections they need and to which they are entitled, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 70-page report, “‘Not the France I Imagined’: Housing, Health, and Education for Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Marseille,” finds that Marseille’s child protection authorities are leaving children with health needs on the street without treatment, psychosocial support, or follow-up care.
Half of unaccompanied migrant children who face an age assessment in Marseille are denied formal recognition as a child. Yet, those decisions are overturned for nearly 75 percent of those who file an appeal. Review by the courts can take months or even years, leaving children ineligible for emergency accommodation and services such as legal assistance, the appointment of a guardian, universal health protection, and education.
How new anti-LGBTQ+ bills in Africa expand crackdown on rights
Despite the decriminalization of same-sex relations in Mauritius in 2023, rights groups warn that new laws being considered in several African countries risk eroding LGBTQIA+ rights by creating new offenses and targeting new groups.
Many of the new bills resemble Uganda’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was signed into law last May and which includes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”
Sexual minorities in the East African nation say they have faced a wave of abuse since then, with a prominent LGBTQIA+ rights activist stabbed in an attack in January.
In a January report, Amnesty International described a “barrage of discriminatory laws stoking hate against LGBTI persons” in some African countries.
Here’s what you need to know.
Gene Therapy Allows an 11-Year-Old Boy to Hear for the First Time
The genetic treatment targeted a particular kind of congenital deafness and will soon be tried in children who are younger.
Aissam Dam, an 11-year-old boy, grew up in a world of profound silence. He was born deaf and had never heard anything. While living in a poor community in Morocco, he expressed himself with a sign language he invented and had no schooling.
Last year, after moving to Spain, his family took him to a hearing specialist, who made a surprising suggestion: Aissam might be eligible for a clinical trial using gene therapy.
On Oct. 4, Aissam was treated at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, becoming the first person to get gene therapy in the United States for congenital deafness. The goal was to provide him with hearing, but the researchers had no idea if the treatment would work or, if it did, how much he would hear.
The treatment was a success, introducing a child who had known nothing of sound to a new world.
Features a roundup of fresh MA reports, announcements, events/workshop listings, and minority content curated from across the web.


In Kyrgyzstan, social media hate goes unchecked · Global Voices
Joldon Kutmanaliev

Sadyr Japarov, November 2020 | Source: President of Kyrgyzstan
This article originally appeared at oDR, openDemocracy's section on Russia and the post-Soviet space. It is republished here with permission, and has been edited for style and brevity.
Oljobai Shakir is a popular blogger and political activist in Kyrgyzstan. But his popularity has come at a cost. Since the country’s contested election in October, Shakir, an LGBTQ activist, has started receiving threatening comments, including those directly against him. Oljobai is not alone in receiving politically-motivated threats. Civic activist Ulan Usoiun reports that he sometimes receives up to 40 or 50 threats a day. Unidentified people have also attempted to assault Usoiun in person several times.
In the aftermath of Kyrgyzstan’s October election, social media posts and videos of public events featuring politicians and activists, who criticise Sadyr Japarov — who became interim prime minister and president in the post-election crisis — for his constitutional reform and other initiatives, immediately gather hundreds of comments. Japarov is currently running for president in elections set for January 10.
As we have previously reported, the combination of support for Japarov in Kyrgyz-language social media and the merciless trolling of his opponents online was crucial to the politician’s meteoric rise to power in the chaotic post-election environment, a pattern that has only escalated in the weeks since.
Currently, the overwhelming majority of comments contain hate speech and death threats against opposition figures, as well as explicit threats of sexual violence against female activists. Indeed, according to activists who have been subjected to this kind of trolling, it is public comments by Japarov himself that have provided a clear signal to his supporters and social media trolls to openly harass and threaten his opponents, as well as independent media. “Go to hell those [opponents of the new constitution] who cry out for their own interests,” he said in a Facebook post on November 19.
Such threats aren’t exclusive to Kyrgyzstan. In the US, for instance, female activists with the Black Lives Matter movement have received thousands of racist comments including death threats. What differs is that in Kyrgyzstan these threats go unchecked. Essentially, the Kyrgyz segment of social media — whether Facebook, YouTube or Instagram — is a fully unregulated domain where users are able to express the most virulent threats without any consequences.
Especially well-known political activists fall target to organised trolls and it is often the political elites who instigate hate speech. Rita Karasartova, a prominent human rights activist, emphasises that “the divisive language – anti-western, anti-NGO rhetoric – always comes from the president first. [Former presidents] Bakiyev and Atambayev, and now Japarov”.
During his presidency between 2011 and 2017, Almazbek Atambayev regularly incited the Kyrgyz public against independent mass media, opposition leaders and NGOs by labelling them “traitors”, “westerners” and “spies”, reproducing conspiracy theories similar to those fomented by the Kremlin against dissidents in Russia.
Now, Japarov is taking a leaf out of Atambayev’s playbook. Pro-Japarov trolls “have the president’s full support,” Karasartova continues. “They call us ‘enemies’, ‘spies’. They accuse us of being ‘traitors who sell national interests’. This rhetoric is projected by the president himself. [Trolls] fully reproduce the president’s discourse,” she says.
A Facebook post by Melis Aspekov, a close associate of Japarov and admin of one his Facebook groups, in which he claims that Japarov's opponents simulate troll activity and denies that Japarov supporters produce the kind of attack posters featured below | Source: Facebook
Since the parliamentary election, Karasartova admits, the intensity of online attacks and threats has significantly increased. If previously she used to receive threats mainly from anonymous or fake accounts, now she says she gets death threats from ordinary social media users via private messages in Facebook Messenger, in addition to public comments on online platforms and media websites. For example, we found one user who made a death threat against Karasartova via private message under their real account on Facebook.
Presidential candidate Klara Sooronkulova, a leader with opposition party Reforma and former constitutional chamber judge, has received messages in Facebook and Instagram that threaten her with rape or death, mostly from male users. “Usually threats come in relation to my critical opinion and comments regarding Sadyr Japarov,” she says.
According to Sooronkulova, political trolling is well organised, with trolls attacking their victims in groups. These accounts are usually fake and linked to Japarov-related groups and supporters. In a video aired on independent media NextTV, Sooronkulova discusses Japarov’s “gangster-style methods” in politics. We found eight open death threats among more than 1,000 hateful comments addressed to the opposition politician.
One indirect indication of how well-orchestrated extremist attacks on social media platforms have been is the manner in which they have shifted along with the political positions of those under attack.
Elvira Surabaldieva and Tilek Toktogaziev were leading critics of Japarov in the aftermath of the rigged elections this past October. Representing a new wave of young politicians and activists, Surabaldieva and Toktogaziev were extremely popular among Kyrgyzstan’s urban middle-class and were a focal point of liberal youth mobilisation during the struggle for power that emerged following the election. As such, they were frequent targets of attacks from pro-Japarov’s trolls. Both were physically attacked during the clash on the central square on 9 October, with Surabaldieva being hit in the face by a pro-Japarov supporter and Toktogaziev being heavily injured in the head by a thrown stone. According to our monitoring of social media, however, ever since they accepted high-profile ministerial positions in the Japarov-led government, the vitriol of online attacks against them significantly decreased.
Bolot Temirov, the founder of FactCheck — an online anti-corruption investigative resource — highlights the link between Japarov’s speeches and online activity, and the intensity of online attacks. “The inaction of government agencies indicate that these things are happening with the complacency of the authorities,” he says.
Generally, pro-Japarov’s trolls quickly share links among each other, leaving hate-filled comments under posts containing opinions about Japarov's planned constitutional changes. Attacks and threats against activists take place in the context of Sadyr Japarov’s divisive language.
Saniya Toktogazieva, a constitutional law expert, believes that “Japarov’s words are very divisive. Not only do his supporters write hate speech about political opponents, but Sadyr Japarov himself mentioned several times in his speech that everyone who is going against the constitutional reforms are akmaktar [bastards]”.
Toktogazieva continues: “Essentially, Japarov is dividing Kyrgyz citizens between those who are loyal to him and the rest who are actively against the constitutional reforms, labelling the latter ‘enemies of the people.’”
Omurbek Tekebaev, a leading opposition politician who is considered the father of Kyrgyzstan’s current constitution, agrees that Japarov himself initiates hate speech by directing his followers against his opponents. “They are trying to create an atmosphere of political terror, radicalism, and aggression. This is identical to what happened under [former President] Bakiyev. The only difference is that now political intimidation extends to social media. ”.
In his recent Facebook post, Melis Aspekov, one of Japarov’s closest associates and the administrator of his public Facebook group, has denied allegations of attacks claiming that it is actually “Japarov’s opponents who simulate trolling in order to attack their own opponents”.
The administrators of pro-Japarov Facebook groups, who include Japarov himself, turn a blind eye to the instigation of hate and the intimidation of opponents. Instead, they appear to tacitly encourage both via thousands of extremist comments in order to promote political and social polarisation, which increases tensions between various segments of Kyrgyz society, particularly between a more conservative (and largely rural) population and a more liberal (and largely urban) class.
With this combination of populist language and a climate of impunity, the obvious risk is that a dangerous dynamic may be set into motion, resulting in extremist social media users carrying out their online threats offline.


Buhari Arrives South Korea For Bio Summit - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Publisher (F.BA)
October 24, 2022
The Nigerian leader, media aide, Buhari Sallau made this known on his Facebook page, where he shared photos of the President’s arrival.
Detail of the news will come to you in our subsequent bulletin.


Kaduna sacks 65 'illegally recruited' teachers | EduCeleb
22nd January 2021
The Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) on Friday has confirmed the sack of 65 primary school teachers.
They were allegedly recruited illegally in Sanga Local Government Area of the state.
SUBEB’s Auditor, Mr Tandat Katuma, who served as the secretary of the investigation committee confirmed the development to Newsmen in Kaduna.
The council Chairman, Mr Charles Danladi, had on Wednesday announced the sack of the teachers to journalists in Gwantu, the Council headquarters.
Danladi alleged that the anomaly was detected through the over-bloated wage bill of the teachers, which kept increasing every month without new employment.
To this effect, an alarm was raised.
He said Danladi raised the alarm during the state’s Joint Account Committee Meeting, being chaired by the Deputy Governor and that SUBEB was asked to investigate the allegation.
“After our investigation, we confirmed that 65 teachers were illegally recruited in the area.
“Their appointments have been terminated.
“You will recall that in 2017, the Kaduna State Government had organised a competency test for primary school teachers.
“About 22,000 of the teachers failed the test and were sacked.
“Our investigation uncovered that 16 out of the 65 were among the primary school teachers that failed the competency test in the LGA but were illegally reappointed.
“The remaining 51 were illegally recruited during the first and second batches of the recruitment of 25,000 qualified teachers that replaced those sacked across the state,’’ Katuma told newsmen.
The auditor added that SUBEB official involved in the illegal recruitment exercise had been sanctioned.


Data: Most Migrants Transferred Their Ration Card Followed by Voter ID
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 4, 2023
One of the key areas covered in the recently released 78th round of National Sample Survey report is migration. Data on transfer of documents by migrants indicates that more than 60% of the migrants in both rural & urban areas transferred more than one document. Most migrants transferred their ration card followed by voter ID.
One of the key areas covered in the recently released 78th round of National Sample Survey report is migration. In the previous story, we looked at the migration figures at the national level and the reasons behind migration as mentioned in the survey. In this story, we discuss numbers surrounding the transfer of documents by migrants. Data for this story has been sourced from Dataful.
Legal identity documents are required for multiple reasons
Documents such as voter ID, Aadhar Card, PAN Card, etc. are necessary legal identity documents issued by the Government of India. These are used for numerous purposes ranging from obtaining a SIM Card for a mobile phone, for both domestic and international travel, opening a bank account and taking loans, for rental agreements, getting basic utilities like gas, electricity, and water connections, for employment-related benefits like PF, ESI among others. These are increasingly being used for transactions and obtaining benefits extended by the government. Not just that, these documents are interlinked too. For instance, Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act provides that every individual who has been allotted a Permanent Account Number (PAN) should mandatorily link their Aadhaar and PAN for seamless tax-related transactions.
Considering the significance of these documents, when a person shifts their place of residence, they tend to make the change of address in these documents as well. However, not everyone does it considering the long process and procedures to be followed, especially if the migration or shifting is temporary and if only one member of the family has shifted to seek better education or employment opportunities while the rest of the family continues to reside in the permanent residence. In most cases, it is those who wish to permanently settle down at a new place and avail services that transfer the documents to the new address. Moreover, those who wish to permanently settle down in a new place may need favourable conditions or reasons to do so, like improved income, better career prospects, marriage, etc. If the settlement is permanent, transferring documents may be done just once.
Document transfer-related information was collected in the survey
During the 78 round of the NSS, for the persons who had migrated, the information as to whether the documents of the household members were transferred in the present place of enumeration from the last usual place of residence, as on the date of survey, was recorded. The percentage distribution of persons who have transferred any document(s) from the last usual place of residence to the present place of residence, by the type of document(s) transferred has been captured in the report. The four main types of documents considered for analysis here are Aadhaar, Voter id card, Ration card, and Passport. ‘Combined’ or ‘Combination’ was recorded if more than one of these four documents have been transferred. Apart from these, documents such as driving licenses, electricity bills, telephone bills, gas connections, bank/post office passbooks, etc. have been categorized as ‘others’.
More than 60% of the migrants transferred 2 or more documents out of Aadhar card, Voter id, Ration card, and Passport
According to the NSS report, the percentage of persons with a current place of residence different from the last usual place of residence was 34.6% in urban areas and 26.8% in rural areas. Overall, the migration rate at the national level was 29.1%. In the report, migrants have been defined as those whose last usual place of residence is different from the present place of enumeration. The usual place of residence is the place (village/town) where the person stayed continuously for a period of 6 months or more or intends to stay for 6 months or more.
More than 60% of the migrated persons who had transferred at least one document in rural as well as urban areas had transferred more than one of the four main documents cited earlier. 27.9% had transferred only their ration cards in rural areas and 18.1% had transferred the same in urban areas. About 7.6% had transferred their Voter IDs alone. While 3% had transferred their Aadhaar in rural areas, about 5.6% did so, in urban areas. 1.3% and 2.8% had transferred other documents in rural and urban areas respectively. The share of migrated persons who transferred their Passports was negligible. This could be because of the strict procedures and its limited usage. While other identification documents like Ration, card Aadhaar, and Voter ID are used by the majority of the population, a passport is usually taken only by those who plan to go abroad. Meanwhile, a large share of people has transferred their ration cards which allows access to basic food supplies and kerosene from ration shops at subsidized prices.
Share of transfers of only Voter ID is relatively high in Bihar and Chhattisgarh while that of Aadhar was exceptionally high in Chandigarh
Among states, the percentage share of persons who transferred documents by type of document is discussed below:
Ration Card: The percentage share of persons who transferred Ration Cards widely ranges from 3-3.5% in Assam and Delhi to more than 50% in Lakshadweep and more than 40% in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. Out of the migrants who transferred at least one document, at least one in three migrants transferred only the ration card in MP, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Odisha.
Voter ID Card: In Assam, more than 53% had transferred only their voter ID in contrast to less than 1% in Tamil Nadu, HP, and Puducherry. Nagaland registered more than 40% while Manipur, Bihar and Chhattisgarh registered more than 20% each. It may be noted that across most states, ration cards were the most widely transferred individual documents while in Chhattisgarh and Bihar, the share of Voter IDs transferred was the highest.
Aadhar: Only in Chandigarh, more than two-thirds had transferred their Aadhaar alone whereas nearly one-fourth had transferred the same in Daman and Diu and Arunachal Pradesh. While Nagaland and Bihar had more than 14% reporting Aadhaar transfers, it was less than 10% in all other states/UTs. In Assam, West Bengal, and Rajasthan, the share of Aadhaar transfers was less than 1%.
Passport: With respect to passports, 4.5% in Chandigarh followed by 1% in Nagaland had transferred only their passports. Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Assam had also reported transfers, but the share was 0.1%-0.2%.
Combined: More than 90% in Mizoram had transferred more than one of the four documents mentioned above, while the same was more than 80% in Sikkim and Uttarakhand. While most states reported more than 50% of persons reporting changing multiple documents, the share was among the lowest in Chandigarh, Assam, Nagaland, Assam, Bihar, and Odisha which reported larger shares in individual document transfers.
In Arunachal Pradesh, more than 40% of migrated persons had transferred other documents whereas the share was less than 7% across all other states.
Other factors also influence document transfer
In Union Territories like Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Puducherry, where the share of individual documents like Aadhaar and Ration card transfers is high, the inter-state migration is relatively higher as seen in the previous story. Furthermore, it is also seen that in states of Bihar, Odisha, and Chandigarh, the share of persons whose income either decreased or remained the same even after migration is higher than that of those whose income increased following migration which could be why the document transfer percentage is low in these states for multiple documents as the migration could have been temporary. Factors like income change, type of migration, etc. influence the transfer of documents.
Featured Image: Migration figures


Bahamas: Political Gamesmanship · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I want a Bahamas that I can be proud of, but at the present time I can’t say that this is the case”: Craig Butler at Bahama Pundit thinks the behaviour of the island's two major political parties is counter-productive.


Importation: Presidency Says No Ban, Restrictions On Food Items - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Publisher (F.BA)
August 19, 2019
The Federal Government explained that it has neither banned nor restricted importation of food items into the country.
It also explained that the recent directive by PresidentBuhari to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to stop providing foreign exchangefor importation of food items did not mean a restriction on the importation offood items.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Presidenton Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu stated that any importer of food items thatwished to source their forex from non-government financial institutions werefree to do so.
The Presidential spokesman was reacting to a report inFinancial Times, which was a letter to the Editor with the titled, “MuhammaduBuhari sparks dismay over policy shift on food imports”, published on August15, 2019.


Why CNN is Getting Praise and Flak for its Philippine Storm Coverage · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting from Tacloban, Philippines. Photo from CNN website
CNN was among the first global media teams which arrived in the Philippines to cover the destruction left behind by super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). Many Filipinos recognized the extensive reporting made by CNN during and after the storm hit the central part of the country.
Wow! @CNN has great coverage of the Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda than local news. I wasn't worried till I switched the channel to CNN! :(
— Frances Amper Sales (@FrancesASales) November 9, 2013
Thank you @CNN for the great #Haiyan/#Yolanda coverage! The Philippines is glued to you.
— Emilio (@13thFool) November 9, 2013
Many also appreciated the arrival of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper who reported live from Tacloban City, the ground zero of the disaster.
I'd rather believe those people on the field like @andersoncooper than those inside the news room
— Mei Lamamigo (@iloveMEIself) November 13, 2013
@andersoncooper, when journalists like you keep watch/notice, there's a bigger chance that most relief donations will reach Yolanda victims.
— Tinay VCS (@tin_tangkad) November 13, 2013
Anderson cited the complaints of survivors about the slow delivery of relief and other forms of assistance from the government. Filipino journalist Gel Santos Relos believes Anderson was objective in his reporting:
I personally think Anderson and the reporters and experts have been objective in the way they have covered the situation in Leyte — pointing out the intensity and magnitude of Yolanda, the effect of storm Zoraida on relief operations, the challenges brought about by geography, etc.
CNN is not there to “demolish” the image of the Philippines. They are in fact helping our kababayans by reporting things as they see them, so the international community can respond accordingly.
But her colleague and media personality Korina Sanchez disagreed. She reportedly criticized Anderson in her radio show:
Itong si Anderson Cooper, sabi wala daw government presence sa Tacloban. Mukhang hindi niya alam ang sinasabi niya.
This Anderson Cooper, he said there is no government presence in Tacloban. It seems he doesn’t know what he is saying.
Many reacted strongly against Korina and accused her of being comfortable in a Manila office in contrast to the ground reporting of Anderson. The following day, Korina travelled to Ormoc City (another badly hit town of Leyte province) where she reported about the situation of typhoon victims.
Apparently, Anderson heard about the criticism of Korina. He defended the accuracy of his report and invited Korina to go to Tacloban:
Ms Sanchez is welcome to go there and I would urge her to go there. I don’t know if she has but her husband’s the Interior minister. I’m sure he can arrange a flight
Anderson was correct when he pointed out that Korina is the wife of Mar Roxas, the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and head of the ruling Liberal Party. Netizen reactions were mostly in favor of Anderson.
Meanwhile, Yasmin Arquiza cautions the public not to immediately accept reports made by ‘parachute journalists’:
The problem in reporting a disaster of this magnitude, stretching across a string of islands hundreds of kilometers apart from east to west, is that the stories often resemble the tale of the six blind men and the elephant – depending on who's touching which part of the animal, you'll get a different description each time. Most of the images have been distressing, and it's often hard to tell if the reports from parachute journalists – we haven't seen this many since the days of coup d'etats in these parts – are mostly anecdotal or very much reflective of the reality in the field, given the tendency of foreign correspondents to generalize situations at times.
Anderson Cooper's coverage of the haiyan disaster in tacloban is a good example of parachute journalism and scaremongering.
— cebulog (@jdlctalk) November 16, 2013
Criticism should continue against the government’s slow relief operations, writes Professor Gerry Lanuza:
Without CNN Anderson Cooper's criticism of relief operation, Korina Sanchez would have not gone to Tacloban; without the victims complaining themselves, the government would have continued its failed response, without the vigilance and criticism against government bureaucracy the relief good would have been hijacked and used for political purposes.
Law professor Florin Hilbay tweets this reminder to reporters
regardless of whose side you're on, the journalist should not be the news. http://t.co/QwIqKP21zj
— florin hilbay (@fthilbay) November 15, 2013
Ayee Macaraig writes about the mixed reactions in the Philippines about the CNN coverage of the disaster:
CNN’s coverage of the typhoon has divided Filipinos on social media, with some praising the network for its extensive coverage and for calling out the Philippine government over the slow relief efforts. Others though criticized CNN for “parachute journalism” and for resorting to blaming the government instead of understanding the logistical problems involved.
Interestingly, there was a popular meme about the praise made by CNN about the ‘resiliency’ of Filipinos in the wake of the tragedy caused by Haiyan. But the ‘praise’ was actually a comment in a CNN article about the disaster.
A ‘CNN comment’ which went viral in the Philippines. Image from Filipino FreeThinkers website
Seekers Portal explains why many Filipinos believed in the ‘CNN photo’:
I believe that the reason why this “edited CNN photo” went viral was because, we Filipinos want to somehow alleviate the sufferings of our typhoon-and-earthquake-stricken countrymen, by sharing some encouragement.
But CNN did praise the Filipinos when Anderson left this message in his report yesterday:
They’re bowed perhaps, tired and traumatized, but they are not broken. Mabuhay Philippines, maraming salamat (thank you very much) for all you’ve shown us. Maraming salamat for showing us all how to live
As expected, Filipinos appreciated this remark
Because of the accurate report of Anderson Cooper, we filipinos were awakened of the real situation w/o bias. Thanks @CNN & @andersoncooper
— Angie G ♡ (@imSoooAngie) November 15, 2013
Meanwhile, some are not happy over the VIP treatment accorded by the government to the CNN news team. Some local media are accusing the office of the president of ‘babysitting’ CNN reporters.


Cambodia: Blogging in Khmer Language · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Given the rapid progress made in developing Khmer software packages, ThaRum's Web believes that it won't be long before we start seeing blogs written in Khmer.


‘We Got This’ to acquire Borchert Field lots from city | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
August 7, 2017
Andre Lee Ellis meets with “We Got This” participants in the garden on the first Saturday of the 2015 summer program. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
The Milwaukee Common Council last week authorized the sale of two vacant lots in the Borchert Field neighborhood to We Got This Milwaukee for $1 each. The resolution, sponsored by Alderwoman Milele Coggs, was adopted by a 15-0 vote.
Coggs said that as grassroots organizer Andre Lee Ellis described the work We Got This is doing in a community garden on one of the lots, “there literally wasn’t a dry eye” in the Zoning, Neighborhood and Development Committee.
Ellis, a resident of the block, created the community garden in the lot at 824 W. Ring St. on the northeast corner of 9th and Ring streets in 2012.
The second lot, at 3257 N. 9th St., is located across the street. There was a foreclosed house there until a few weeks ago when it was razed by the city. Ellis plans to install an orchard, several sheds to hold gardening tools and a temporary office for the organization, he said.
“This is changing the narrative,” said Ellis. “It enlarges our territory and allows us to expand (our program).” There isn’t room for fruit trees in the existing garden, he said.
Ellis moved to the neighborhood in late 2011. Not long after that a young man was shot and killed on the block south of 9th and Ring, and Ellis started observing and talking with young male residents walking on his block. Noting that many did not have jobs or fathers in their homes, Ellis started befriending and advising some of them. In 2012, he got permission from the city to create the garden as a community meeting place.
The We Got This orchard will be established on the site of this foreclosed house, which was torn down recently. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
One day, a neighborhood mom asked Ellis for advice about her 12-year-old son, who was getting in trouble with the police. Ellis offered to give him a job working in the garden to keep him busy and out of trouble.
The boy’s friends started coming to the garden with him and Ellis’ mentoring efforts evolved into a grassroots program that now attracts close to 100 young men each Saturday morning in summer. The boys and teens clean up the neighborhood and grow vegetables in the garden. They are paid $20 for four hours work if they arrive by 8 a.m.
Ellis has enlisted adults in the community to speak with the boys about overcoming the difficulties of poverty in the central city, serve as mentors and role models, and donate money to pay the young men. He has also established a PayPal account for online contributions.
During the four summers that We Got This has operated, the number of boys and adult mentors has increased, even as some participants have left for other employment opportunities.
We Got This also brings the boys and mentors together in December for a formal dinner.
Sen. Lena Taylor, who has supported Ellis’ efforts since the beginning, said, “I’m extremely excited about Andre and the work he does,” which, she pointed out, increases public safety. Calls to the police from the immediate area have dropped dramatically, she said.
In addition, the program is helping some of the young men develop an interest in forestry or agricultural careers and entrepreneurship, as well as connecting them to scholarship opportunities, teaching job readiness and encouraging them to make healthy choices.
“Young men who don’t believe they are going to live aren’t interested in going to school,” said Taylor.
Coggs, who has worked with Ellis on many aspects of his program, said, “I am extremely appreciative of the work that Andre and the team of people with We Got This do … on 9 and Ring, and the difference they make in the lives of the young people they come into contact with.”
She added that she hopes that others see this work “as an inspiration and a (demonstration) of how much influence they each can have on their own block and their own community.”


On the Block: ‘Slow down’ | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Elliot Hughes
October 31, 2017
Ellis McCoy, 64, said these days people are “rushing” too much and not carefully considering or planning their lives. McCoy, who lives in Washington Park, believes that kind of behavior can lead to things such as depression, unwanted pregnancies or incarceration. People need to slow down and realize it takes “a lifetime” to achieve everything they want, he said.