Published on Feb 17, 2013
Palestinian schoolchildren struggle with insufficient educational facilities and textbook censorship in their East Jerusalem neighborhood, according to a new report. Some say Israel should let Palestine handle schooling in the area. Linda Gradstein reports for The Middle Line.
Published on Jan 24, 2013
The filmmaker Dawn Porter follows Travis Williams, a young public defender in the Deep South, who struggles against long hours, low pay and staggering caseloads to bring justice to all.
Published on Jan 31, 2013
Human Rights Watch releases 2012 annual report, warning of the steady decline in human rights in Russia after President Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency.
Full story:
A representative from Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that 2012 was the worst year for human rights in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Division Deputy Director Rachel Denber spoke with journalists in Moscow.
She says Russia’s human rights last year was the worst she could remember in her 20 years of work in the former Soviet Union.
[Rachel Denber, Deputy Director, Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Division]:
“After the return of Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin, and I would say even before then, not only was the cautious progress towards liberalization of the ‘Medvedev-era’ liquidated, but in these months, authoritarianism in Russia reached a level unseen in this country’s recent history. The foundation of this authoritarian turn was a package of laws adopted by the State Duma. I don’t think it’s necessary to describe them in detail now, but I will just list them: this is restrictions on the freedom of assembly, restrictions on Internet content, the return of criminal liability for slander—which had been cancelled by Medvedev in the previous months—and this, of course includes the law about so-called foreign agents.”
Last summer, shortly after Putin was sworn into office, Russia passed a series of laws branding many rights and campaign groups as “foreign agents”.
It’s a move opponents say was an attempt to stifle protests against Vladimir Putin.
Denber says the decline in Russia’s human rights situation has been steadily worsening.
[Rachel Denber, Deputy Director, Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Division]:
“For a decade since the so-called ‘colour revolutions’, the Russian authorities have been attempting to marginalize, demonize, and discredit opposition politicians, human rights activists, civil society organizations, and the political opposition.”
Human rights organizations are voicing the rights issues against the fact that Russia is set to hold the Winter Olympics in February 2014.
[Rachel Denber, Deputy Director, Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Division]:
“Soon, in almost one year, the Olympics will take place in Russia, in Sochi, and I want to say that this is, of course, a very joyful occasion. But I want to say that the attack on civil society and this excessive suspicion towards foreigners is simply not compatible with the role of Russia as an Olympic Games host country. This, in my opinion, contradicts the Olympic spirit.”
Human Rights Watch says they have noted abuses such as expropriation of property, linked to Russia’s preparations for the 2014 Olympic Games.
Other issues raised include the harassment of Kremlin critics and human rights activists, and the Russian legislation banning so-called ‘homosexual propaganda’.
Also raised were the failures of the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development to meet World Health Organization standards.
Mexico: From “Drug-Fueled War Zone” to “Well-Traveled International Tourist Destination” – This video has no official description. It’s a PR firm describing their campaign to reinvigorate Mexican tourism.
Uploaded by HDNetWorldReport on Sep 16, 2011
Many tourists no longer want to visit Mexico because of drug violence. It might be time to cross another nearby country (Guatemala) off the list, because Mexicoapos;s ruthless cartels are going international.
Published on Sep 10, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
Northern Mexico’s Copper Canyon is considered one of the world’s most spectacular landscapes. But the site also right in the middle of Mexico’s drug-growing heartland, so it is struggling to attract tourists.
Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney travelled to the canyon in the state of Chihuahua to see what it offers for those prepared to make the trip.
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Jul 12, 2011
Mexico’s once buoyant tourism industry is being weighed downby the country’s ongoing drug war. Al Jazeera’s Adam Raney reports from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Uploaded by CBS on Feb 21, 2011
As the deadly drug war in Mexico continues, new violence is spreading towards popular tourist areas. Terry McCarthy reports on conditions in Acapulco, a new battleground between rival drug cartels.
Uploaded by ANewsVanIsland on Jan 20, 2011
OAK BAY – The phones are ringing at Oak Bay’s Athlone Travel – the first few weeks of 2011 have been busy. But bookings to Mexico are down, and clients are asking questions. “They’re Concerned about the violence, if they go to Mexico are they in any danger” says Manager Liz Smith.
And you can see where skittish travellers may be getting that idea.
On Monday, 69-year-old Mike Di Lorenzo of Penticton was hit in the leg by gunfire meant for someone else in Mazatlan. He needed surgery and two blood transfusions, and likely saved his wife’s life by diving on top of her.
Earlier this month, a Montreal police officer got separated from his friends at a bar in Cancun and was severely beaten. A woman from Ontario claims was gang-raped by police in Playa del Carmen on New Year’s eve.
And in November, 33-year-old Nanaimo Realtor, father, and newlywed Malcolm Johnson was killed in a freak gas explosion at the Grand Riviera Hotel along with four other Canadians.
Royal Roads University “Human Security” expert Kenneth Christie just returned from Mexico, where he says a drug war has taken more than 30,000 lives over the past four years. But most of the violence is taking place far from your favourite all-inclusive resort. “I think tourists should be careful when they go to Mexico, stay away obviously from where the drug war is taking place, but in most of the resorts they’re pretty safe” says Christie.
He says the BC man injured this week was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Mazatlan’s been a very safe place for Canadian tourists to go.”
Liz Smith at Athlone Travel agrees, suggesting you stick to the familiar resort destinations to stay safe. “It’s like all the people that go on airplanes every day, millions of people around the world travel by air, and when there’s an accident, everyone stops to think about it, and I think that’s what’s happening here.”
For some Canadians, it appears the issue of whether or not Mexico is safe isn’t an issue at all. One viewer comments online: “Please don’t go to Mexico, way too dangerous. In fact, don’t go anywhere. Just stay home and hide under your bed, where it’s safe.”
He does make a good point – there are risks involved in doing just about anything.
Uploaded by AssociatedPress on Nov 4, 2010
In another grisly turn in Mexico’s drug war, police have recovered 18 bodies from a mass grave announced in a YouTube posting, a video saying the victims were from a tourist group kidnapped in Acapulco a month ago.
Uploaded by PBSNewsHour on Sep 15, 2010
A drop in tourism and manufacturing has left the Mexican state Baja, California, with a struggling economy. Jose Luis Sierra of New America Media reports on how the drug war and recession have played a role.
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Sep 1, 2010
At least eight people have been killed in a fire bomb attack on a bar in the Mexican tourist town of Cancun.
Local reports said the attack was carried out by a drug cartel which was trying to extort protection money from the bar owner.
It has heightened fears that drug-related violence is spreading to tourist towns.
Al Jazeera’s Franc Contreras reports from Cancun.
Uploaded by catoinstitutevideo on May 5, 2010
Juan Carlos Hidalgo of the Cato Institute on how the country’s drug problems are impacting tourism.
Uploaded by worldfocusonline on Mar 5, 2009
In Tijuana, a once-thriving city just across the border from San Diego, the increasingly deadly drug war has touched almost every part of life.
Americans used to flock to the city, but now largely avoid it. In 2005, a banner year for tourism, some four million people visited Tijuana. Last year, the number dropped to around 400,000. Residents, too, are fleeing in fear.
Worldfocus correspondent John Larson, producer Bryan Myers and field producers Megan Thompson and Ivette Feliciano explore Tijuana, beginning in a hospital that not only treats the victims of drug violence, but that operates in fear that its own people will get caught in the battle.
Published on Nov 2, 2012 by linktv
Policy brutality has long been a major issue in Vietnam, and has gone unchallenged due to government suppression. Yet as contributor Nguyen Qui Duc reports from Hanoi, advances in technology have allowed Vietnamese citizens to document the worst cases of brutality.
Published on Nov 3, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
Many countries are condemned in the West for organised religion and its effect on peoples lives. Societies throw their arms up in horror if countries like Iran or Afghanistan deny women basic rights. They tend, however, not to mention Ireland. In Ireland, a woman cannot have an abortion if she has been raped. She cannot have an abortion if the man who made her pregnant is beating her. She cannot have an abortion if the baby will die outside her body. She cannot even have an abortion if the fact of being pregnant is in some way threatening to her life. The absolute ban on abortion in Ireland creates some very stark choices for women. The choice has traditionally been for women to travel, often alone, to England for a termination. There is just one small organisation which exists to help women who want an abortion but cannot afford it, but it is in England. Requests for financial help have tripled in three years, mirroring Ireland’s financial crisis, as women discover they are pregnant with a baby they cannot support and with no recourse to help where they live. Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee reports from Dublin.
Published on Nov 1, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
The US locks up more people than any other country in the world, spending over $80bn each year to keep some two million prisoners behind bars. Over the past three decades, tough sentencing laws have contributed to a doubling of the country’s prison population, with laws like the ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out’ mandating life sentences for a wide range of crimes.
Published on Oct 17, 2012 by PBSNewsHour
The Philippines have become increasingly vulnerable to human traffickers, who lure women of all ages and circumstances into prostitution and other forms of forced labor. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on how Cecilia Oebanda’s Visayan Forum Foundation has worked with law enforcement to prevent more women from falling prey.
A British court has denied the plea of a severely disabled man to be allowed to die.
Judges told Tony Nicklinson, who suffers from locked-in syndrome after experiencing a stroke and who challenged the country’s laws in court, that the decision to allow him to die was not their’s to make but that of the country’s politicians.
Nicklinson, who did not take the news well, said he will appeal the decision.
Margo Anderson, a professor of History and Urban Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, talks about how the United States was the first country to use a census to apportion power in the government.
Published on Jul 2, 2012 by uscensusbureau
William Fliss, an archivist at Marquette University, tells how census data shows us how the United States has transformed from a new republic to the nation it is today.
A recent study by the Pew Research Center reveals that, for the first time, Asians outpaced Hispanics as the fastest growing immigrant population in the United States. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from Chicago, job seekers of South Asian origin make up the bulk of that Midwestern city’s new immigrant community, filling a critical demand for highly skilled technology workers.
(Chorus)
St. Maria, Virgin, become a feminist
Become a feminist, Become a feminist
(end chorus)
Church praises the rotten dictators
The cross-bearer procession of black limousines
In school you are going to meet with a teacher-preacher
Go to class – bring him money!
Patriarch Gundyaev believes in Putin
Bitch, you better believed in God
Belt of the Virgin is no substitute for mass-meetings
In protest of our Ever-Virgin Mary!
The U.S. government is currently reviewing orders to deport thousands of illegal immigrants in two cities, at a time of great division on the issue at federal and local levels. In the past fiscal year, a record 396,000 undocumented immigrants were deported from the United States, with more than 300,000 cases still pending. VOA’s Nico Colombant has more.
A new Gallup Poll shows that support for the death penalty in the United States remains high, but down to 61 percent from 80 percent in 1994. Part of the reason is the possibility of innocent inmates being put to death and the release of others after new evidence cleared them. Several men saved from execution are now telling their stories to the public.
Ron Keine was convicted of murder in the southwestern state of New Mexico and was just days away from his scheduled execution when the man who had really committed the crime confessed to a preacher.
It was known as the Noble Experiment. In this video, http://www.WatchMojo.com explores the period of history known as Prohibition in the United States.
