Jan
25
2013
Hollywood-area City Councilman Eric Garcetti, who is running for mayor in the March 5 primary and has for 12 years avidly led the urban renewal in Hollywood, won’t discuss the census data, the outflow of Latinos or the area’s net population loss, none of which were foreseen by his office. But Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, a tenants’ rights advocacy group, says, “It was an economic tsunami that pushed low-income …
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Jan
25
2013
Just one day after quietly introducing a whopper of a bill that would categorize abortions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest as “tampering with evidence,” New Mexico State Rep. Cathrynn N. Brown found herself doing some swift damage control.
As it still currently appears on the New Mexico Legislature’s page, Bill HB206 is blazingly, insanely straightforward. It explains that “tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to …
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Jan
25
2013
A leaked internal memo shows how Saudi officials commuted 1,200 death row inmates under the condition they go and fight against Assad in Syria, according to the Assyrian International News Agency.
From the memo:
We have reached an agreement with them that they will be exempted from the death sentence and given a monthly salary to their families and loved ones, who will be prevented from traveling outside Saudi Arabia in return for rehabilitation of the …
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Jan
25
2013
The history of the South Central Farm acreage is telling.
Developer Ralph Horowitz owned the land before selling it to the city by eminent domain in 1986 for use as a city garbage incinerator (Lancer Project). The community fought having another insult added to their already blighted and bleak streets. And they won.
In 2003, Horowitz sued to get the land back and got a settlement with Jan Perry’s help without even a token for the …
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Jan
24
2013
WASHINGTON — Paula Coughlin and Jennifer Norris finished each other’s sentences, laughed loudly and put a hand on the other’s shoulder. Coughlin is a retired Navy lieutenant and helicopter pilot; Norris a retired Air Force technical sergeant. But what brought them together and to the Capitol is that both are survivors of military sexual assault — and Norris was preparing to testify to Congress Wednesday on the armed forces’ ongoing sexual assault problem.
More than two …
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Jan
24
2013
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence has decided to end the hunger strike she started on December 11 after representatives from the Assembly of First Nations and two Canadian opposition party caucuses endorsed a declaration of commitment to First Nations. Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper declined Spence’s initial demand to meet with all Assembly of First Nations chiefs and Governor General David Johnston, the declaration outlines a broad pledge to pressing First Nations issues.
Spence, who has lost …
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Jan
24
2013
Qatar sits like an oasis of hypertrophic capitalism amid a landscape barren in all respects except for its oil reserves. The emirate sustains itself by pumping out vast fossil fuel resources while importing human ones, in the form of legions of migrant workers from Bangladesh, Nepal and other Global South countries.
Labor activists say this fierce imbalance between the elite and the laboring underclass is headed for catastrophe as the country prepares to host the …
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Jan
24
2013
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice objected Wednesday to the Palestinians’ latest bid to capitalize on their upgraded U.N. status when their foreign minister spoke at the Security Council while seated behind a nameplate that read “State of Palestine.”
It was the first Palestinian address to the Security Council since the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Nov. 29 to upgrade the Palestinians from U.N. observer to non-voting member state.
Rice said that the United States does not …
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Jan
23
2013
A 21-year-old Palestinian woman has died after being shot in the face by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, witnesses said.
Lubna Hanash was killed when she and her companions were walking to a college near Al-Arroub refugee camp, some 8km north of Hebron, witnesses and medics said.
“It was a high commander in the Israeli army that got out from a civilian car and shot four bullets hitting four people; two women and two men. One …
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Jan
23
2013
Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has decided to allow women to serve in combat roles, a watershed policy decision that follows years of calls for a fully inclusive military, defense officials said Wednesday.
Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, are expected to formally announce the change Thursday, the officials said. The Army, Marines and other services will then develop plans to open jobs in ground combat units, such …
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