New Delhi police have a new weapon in the battle against bad drivers, Facebook. Two months ago the police created a Facebook page that allowed people to inform on others breaking traffic laws, and upload pictures of the violations. The page has more than 17,000 fans, and 3,000 pictures currently. From the article: "The online rap sheet was impressive. There are photos of people on motorcycles without helmets, cars stopped in crosswalks, drivers on cellphones, drivers in the middle of illegal turns and improperly parked vehicles. Using the pictures, the Delhi Traffic Police have issued 665 tickets, using the license plate numbers shown in the photos to track vehicle owners, said the city’s joint commissioner of traffic, Satyendra Garg."
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Psycho Squatt - Anthology 1988-1990
Incredible and unique punk from Dijon, France. The "Liberté, Précarité, Fraternité" 2x7" was one of my most-played records during the early '90s. I just recently re-discovered this amazing band after getting a rip of the band's live demo (thanks Mickael!), and it's pretty much all i've been listening to for weeks now.
This is a collection of most of the band's recorings spanning 1988-1990. The 4-song "Liberté, Précarité, Fraternité" double ep released in 1989 on Maloka (Anarcho Punk Collective), six tracks from the "Lutin De Vie" live demo, recorded in December of 1988, and the band's two rare comp tracks - one track from the "Mentally Broken Vol. 3" tape, released in 1989 on Broken Tapes Productions, and one track from "The Control of Violence" comp tape released on Violence in 1990. The only songs not included (unfortunately) are the demo tracks that are also on the band's 2x7".
Maloka released these tracks on CD a while back, but it's long out of print. I got the files from the Maloka site (which are in .ogg files) here, cleaned up the sound, adjusted the levels so all the tracks are the same volume, and converted the files to mp3s. Excellent sound, excellent songs. This gets my absolute highest recommendation. Enjoy.
Psycho Squatt collection
I have no further info on this band, aside from at least one member now plays in a band called Anarkrose, who perform some Psycho Squatt songs live (check out the band's Myspace page for footage). If anyone has any info to share, please leave a comment. Thanks.
Taliban captures two US soldiers
The Taliban has captured two US soldiers in Logar province in eastern Afghanistan.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) confirmed on Saturday that two of its soldiers were captured. "Two International Security Assistance Force servicemembers departed their compound in Kabul City in a vehicle on Friday afternoon and did not return," Isaf said in a statement. Isaf did not specify the nationality of the captured soldiers, but US officials told the Associated Press that the soldiers are Americans. A Taliban spokesman who earlier announced the capture also described the soldiers as American. He told the Reuters news agency that three US soldiers were initially captured, but that one of them has died.
The governor of the province told Al Jazeera that he believes the missing Americans work for a Provincial Reconstruction Team, a military-led development team. Samer Gul, the administrative head of Charkh district in Logar, said the Taliban noticed the soldiers when their vehicle passed through a market. "They stopped in the main bazaar of Charkh district. The Taliban saw them in the bazaar," Gul said. "They didn't touch them in the bazaar, but notified other Taliban that a four-wheel vehicle was coming their way."
Gul said the soldiers were captured following a shootout with the Taliban.
A journalist from Reuters reported hearing local radio stations in Logar broadcasting US statements that offered a $20,000 reward for information about the captured Americans. Logar is southeast of Kabul, the Afghan capital, in an area that has seen growing insurgent activity over the last few years..Captures of foreign soldiers are rare in Afghanistan. The only other soldier known to have been captured is Bowe Bergdahl, an American who was captured by the Taliban in Paktika province in June 2009. Paktika is near Logar in eastern Afghanistan. His fate and whereabouts remain unclear, though he appeared in a video released by the Taliban in April.
------------------------------------------
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban militants kidnapped two American service members who were driving a civilian vehicle in a particularly dangerous region of Logar Province south of Kabul on Friday, according to officials and local residents.
The abduction prompted a wide manhunt by the American military, including searches by military helicopters and radio broadcasts of a $20,000 reward for information leading to their return.
Local officials in Logar began receiving unconfirmed reports late Saturday afternoon that one of the two Americans may have been killed, and that the other one was still alive, said Din Mohammed Darwish, the spokesman for the Logar provincial governor. A NATOofficial said that he did not know whether that was true.
The Taliban have reportedly claimed responsibility for abducting the two Americans, but Mr. Darwish said local officials knew little more. “We don’t know what their demands are,” he said.
News of the abduction came on the same day that five other American service members were killed in southern Afghanistan in two separate bomb attacks.
Fifty-six American troops have died in Afghanistan so far this month, according toicasualties.org, which tracks military fatalities. The toll for July is now close to the 60 United States troops who died last month, the largest number of American deaths in the nearly nine-year war.
In a terse statement, the American-led NATO military command said Saturday evening that the two missing Americans had left a compound in Kabul on Friday afternoon, but the statement did not address why they traveled to Logar.
The two service members had “departed their compound in Kabul City in a vehicle on Friday afternoon and did not return,” the statement said, adding that troops in military vehicles and helicopters were now searching for them.
Mr. Darwish, the governor’s spokesman, said the two Americans were dressed in civilian clothes, and were abducted while they were driving in an armored sport utility vehicle early Friday evening in the Charkh District of southern Logar Province, a Taliban hotbed.
“The area is very bad in terms of security,” he said. He said they were seized in an area locally known as Matani, inside Charkh, about 10 miles south of the provincial capital, Pul-i-Alam. The area is about 60 miles south of Kabul.
A NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not say whether the service members’ trip was sanctioned by the military, or whether they had gone somewhere they were not supposed to.
The official did confirm that the two were American military service members, not civilians, nor members of a State Department provincial reconstruction team. But he said he did not know whether they were wearing military uniforms or civilian clothes.
Local residents said the Americans had been taken while they were driving in an armored S.U.V. They said that a local radio station broadcast that NATO forces were offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to their safe return.
The only American service member known to be in Taliban captivity is Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, of Idaho, who was captured in late June, 2009, in Paktika Province.
Military officials had initially reported that he had walked off his post in eastern Afghanistan. But in a video sent out by the Taliban, Private Bergdahl said he had been captured after he lagged behind during a patrol.
International day against Islamic law of Stoning woman to death- video-Sweden
http://www.azadi-b.com/J/2010/07/post_44.html International Sakine Ashtiani Day
Below are rallies and events organised for International Sakine Ashtiani Day: World Citizens against Stoning - 24 July 2010.
Day asking for end to Stoning, Executions and Tortures in Iran.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/07/456004.html
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
IDF soldier who shot British peace activist to be released from jail
IDF soldier who shot British peace activist to be released from jail
A former IDF soldier who was found guilty of manslaughter in the 2003 shooting death of British peace activist Thomas Hurndall in the Gaza Strip will be released early from prison next month.
Taysir Heib was sentenced in 2005 to eight years in prison for manslaughter as well as obstruction of justice and giving false testimony. The decision to shorten his sentence was made by an army committee, against the advice of Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit.Hurndall, a 22-year-old student, was shot in the head in April 2003 as he was photographing the work of International Solidarity Movement activists. Witnesses said Hurndall had been helping Palestinian children avoid IDF tanks.
In his investigation, Heib initially claimed he had fired on an armed Palestinian, enlisting supporting testimony from another soldier in his unit. A few months later, however, the second soldier told Military Police investigators that he had not witnessed the incident.
In the verdict, the judges upheld all the arguments of the military prosecution, outlining and emphasizing the series of false and contradictory versions of the incident provided by Heib throughout the investigation.
The judges found that Heib had shot Hurndall with a sniper's rifle, using a telescopic sight, and that Heib had given a "confused and pathetic" version of events to the court.
The court also referred to a confession by the defendant in which he said he had wanted to teach Hurndall a lesson for entering a forbidden zone. Heib admitted to aiming 10 centimeters to the left of Hurndall's head to frighten him and inadvertently shooting the activist.
ISM members often place themselves between IDF troops and Palestinians in an effort to prevent military operations.
Sophie Hurndall, Tom's older sister, said the family had not been informed by Israeli authorities about the early release, but rather found out about it when someone from the British foreign office called with the news.
“We have not had time to regroup or work out what is going on. We have barely had time to process the news and we all feel angry and shocked,” she said, adding that they had long feared such a thing would happen. “We have had to deal with cover ups and lies and a total lack of accountability throughout - and this is in line with that. It's symptomatic.”
Hurndall said the family’s anger is not focused on Heib himself, but rather on the IDF and Israel as a whole.
“To be honest, it’s about the system. Not the man himself. This man who shot Tom was the same age as him. He is both the victim and the killer. He is part of a system that proactively encouraged soldier to target civilian," she said.
.
As Hunrdall sees it, the early release sends a message from Israeli to its young soldiers, "telling them 'do what you want. We have your back.’”
.
As Hunrdall sees it, the early release sends a message from Israeli to its young soldiers, "telling them 'do what you want. We have your back.’”
Israel, she concluded, simply does not care what people think of it in the international community: “So many innocent [people] killed in so many horrific ways. They just don’t seem to care about anyone.”
Hurndall also criticized her own government, which, under the leadership of then-prime minister Tony Blair, did not come out, she claims, strongly against the killing and now has had a muted response as well.
“It's incredibly sad. One of the things that happened to me since my brother was killed is that I have lost faith in humanity. I cannot believe that people can do such things, and that my own government can sit by and keep quiet," she said.
“It's incredibly sad. One of the things that happened to me since my brother was killed is that I have lost faith in humanity. I cannot believe that people can do such things, and that my own government can sit by and keep quiet," she said.
The British Foreign Office issued an official statement in response, saying "we note the court's decision today to release Taysir Heib and recognize the grief this decision will cause to the Hurndall family. We have the deepest of sympathies for the Hurndall family. Tom's death was a tragedy."
Saturday, July 3, 2010
From the Mara Soil - Film Trailer
FROM THE MARA SOIL takes you to a stunning but impoverished region in Tanzania, where a handful of activists are fighting food scarcity, water shortage, disease, health problems, and deforestation by teaching their people to use Mother Nature to lift themselves out of poverty.
FILM COMING JULY 2010.
Produced by Global Resource Alliance.
Directed by Steve Schrenzel.
http://www.globalresourcealliance.org/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)