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News to Follow
Women
For girls, Somali refugee camps are unsafe
Violence against women and girls is rife in Somalia, especially in the refugee camps in and around the capital, Mogadishu, where many fear rape by armed bands. "The other night a bandit came into my house and raped my little girl. I tried to fight but I couldn't, and he escaped," says one woman, Mayeda, in an audio slideshow that features several women. The Guardian (London)
Pakistani parents arrested in daughter's acid killing
A mother and father in Pakistan have been arrested in the death of their 15-year-old daughter, Anusha, who died after more than half her body was burned by acid in an attack by her parents for reportedly looking at a boy. BBC
"Info Ladies" deliver Web service by bicycle in Bangladesh
Tens of thousands of Bangladeshis are gaining access to the Web through dozens of "Info Ladies" who bicycle into communities with an Internet connection, laptop, printer and camera. The local group, D.Net, aims to train 15,000 such women by 2016. The Detroit News
In their own words: Women and clean cookstoves
The documentary film series "Black Inside -- Three Women's Voices," spotlights three women -- in Kenya, India and Peru -- and a look at their lives, in their own words, through the filter of traditional cookstoves. Replacing them with cleaner-burning stoves can be a matter of life and death. Women News Network
Patrolling Cairo's streets to stamp out harassment
Citizens groups in Egypt are stepping up in the face of indifference by Cairo police toward the increasingly visible harassment of women on the city's streets. Some of the vigilante groups are intervening forcefully -- confronting male suspects by spraying them with paint and publishing their photographs. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)
We're the key to African renewal, female entrepreneurs say
Female entrepreneurship is the key to lifting Africans out of poverty, say four female small-business owners. "We work very, very hard," says Angele Ciza, who runs a coffee plantation in Burundi. "If you want to develop Burundi, you develop the women." National Public Radio/The Salt blog
UN: Contraception access is a human right
For the first time, the UN Population Fund has declared that contraception is a human right -- and that legal, financial and cultural barriers to family planning constitute an infringement of women's rights. The fund estimates that a $4 billion investment in family services could save more than $11 billion in health costs for poor mothers and infants. The Huffington Post
UN Foundation board names Kathy Calvin next president, CEO
The United Nations Foundation Board of Directors today named Kathy Calvin as the new president of the UN Foundation, effective Feb. 1. At a meeting of the Foundation's board, founder and Chairman Ted Turner announced a number of transitions designed to help the Foundation meet the challenges and opportunities of its global mission to support the United Nations. PRWeb
Clinic saves women's lives in Sierra Leone
Deaths of women during pregnancy or childbirth have fallen by 61% in the Bo district of Sierra Leone since Doctors Without Borders set up a clinic in a remote area. Al-Jazeera
Rethinking what makes a man
Asian civil society activists, stymied in efforts to break the cycle of violence by men against women and children, are trying to alter people's perceptions about what it means to be a man. Their efforts also include changing the belief that gender violence is a woman's issue. "These are generational changes, but we do need to plant the seeds," says James Lang, program coordinator for Partners for Prevention, a United Nations interagency effort focused on ending gender-based violence. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)
Environment
Testing new technologies on crops -- virtually
The Global Futures project is growing virtual crops to test new technologies for small-scale farmers and rural poor in regions of the world most vulnerable to climate change. It is the first time computer modeling is being used to assess the effects of technologies on complex biological processes in plants before the crops are deployed, writes Gerald Nelson of the International Food Policy Research Institute. AlertNet/Climate Conversations blog
Japan looks to hot springs in energy revamp
Operators of Japan's famous hot spring spas are slowly backing the increased use of geothermal power as part of a mix of renewable sources that would eventually account for 30% of national energy usage. Japan is seeking alternatives to nuclear power. The Christian Science Monitor
Mexico City makeover: Recyclables for food
Recycling is gaining popularity among the 21 million people living in Mexico City, which faces considerable water- and waste-management concerns. Local governments, through barter markets such as Mercado de Trueque, are "trying to show people that trash is worth something" -- offering food from local farmers in return for recyclables. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)/Green blog
Analysis: Weather to turn more extreme sooner
Climate-change models that predict greater rises in temperature are more likely to be correct than those forecasting smaller temperature increases, according to an analysis by the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. "Our findings indicate that warming is likely to be on the high side of current projections," said researcher John Fasullo. The Guardian (London)
Ban: Sandy shows climate change is "new normal"
Superstorms and extreme weather caused by climate change are "the new normal," according to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "This may be an uncomfortable truth, but it is one we ignore at our peril. ... This should be one of the main lessons of Hurricane Sandy," Ban said. Reuters
Biogas from human waste? Kenyans are wary
In Nairobi, Kenya, the Umande Trust organization, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has developed a biogas toilet system that uses human waste to produce home cooking fuel. Results have been mixed. Residents like the safe and clean communal toilets, but hygiene concerns and unreliable gas pressure have limited the use of the gas in cooking. Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model)
U.S. considers moving climate talks away from UN
The U.S. may try to shift substantive negotiations to reduce greenhouse gases from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to the Major Economies Forum, an organization of the largest carbon producers. UN officials, however, resist the idea. "The one and only place where formal negotiations and, above all, decisions take place and where treaties are negotiated is the UNFCCC," said Christiana Figueres, UN climate chief. The Guardian (London)/EurActiv
UN: Greenhouse gases too great to meet target
The level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere exceeds by 14% the maximum for limiting increases in temperature this century to 2 degrees Celsius, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme. "The report provides a sobering assessment of the gulf between ambition and reality," says UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. BBC
UN's Figueres cites gradual gains on climate
"Slow but steady" progress is being made toward securing a new agreement on global warming by 2015, says Christiana Figueres, United Nations climate chief. "What is very clear and what no one denies is that of course the more delay there is in increasing mitigation, the more delay there is in decreasing emissions, the more the window is closed to the possibility of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations," Figueres says. Yale Environment 360
Could desert greenhouses help feed the world?
Does an experimental greenhouse in the Australian outback hold the promise for eliminating food insecurity? Sundrop Farms is growing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers irrigated with seawater desalinated by sunlight. The greenhouses are cooled and heated by the same water, and crops are grown without pesticides and minimal use of fossil fuels. The Observer (London)
Media and the Internet
Sandy Exposes Gaps in Wireless System During Emergency
The leap toward wireless and digital phone service may be setting Americans behind during times of emergency, some experts say. Four days after disaster struck the Eastern seaboard, scores of New York and New Jersey residents complain they still aren't able to make cellphone calls or use the Internet. Cecilia Kang, Washington Post
Four Out of Five Young People Feel 'Lost' Without Internet
Four out of five under-25s feel "lost" without the Internet, a survey has found. A Science Museum opinion poll of 1,000 adults shows how a generation that has grown up with the Web has become dependent upon it. Ben Bryant, Telegraph
Wired Editor Leaves Journalism, Starts Company to Improve It
Context is a cornerstone of quality journalism. The Internet fundamentally changed the way people consume content, as well as the way writers and editors create it. Today, Contextly has emerged from stealth mode to change the way digital journalists provide context in their stories. Contextly was founded by Ryan Singel, a veteran journalist who cofounded the Threat Level blog at Wired. After a decade as a writer and editor, Singel is leaving to run Contextly full time. Rebecca Grant, Venture Beat
Human Rights Groups: Telecoms Gouging Prison Callers
U.S. prisons, immigration detention centers and telecom carriers are charging "exorbitant" rates on collect calls made by inmates, and the FCC should step in to set rates, a coalition of 110 human rights groups, lawyers and professors said. Grant Gross, IDG News Service
We Need a 'Truth' Campaign for Digital Literacy and Data Tracking
For the most part, people have no idea of the extent to which they are being followed and watched, analyzed and targeted, bought and sold. Now, more than ever, we need a national digital and data literacy effort on the scale of the anti-Big Tobacco campaign to address the escalating privacy and security issues facing people and their data. Josh Stearns, MediaShift
Did the Media Fall for David Petraeus' Hype?
As the media digests the fallout from Petraeus' sex scandal, it's scrutinizing the role it played in canonizing him as an American hero-saint. The Week
Long-Overdue FCC Report Shows Abysmal Levels of Female and Minority Broadcast Ownership
The FCC released an assessment of female and minority ownership of commercial broadcast radio and television stations. This is the first full census the FCC has completed. The FCC's data indicates ownership of broadcast radio and television stations by women and minorities remains at abysmally low levels. Free Press
America's Dangerous Tech Gap
The digital divide in this country is accelerating, with poor and minority kids still less likely to have access to critical tech tools, from laptops to the Internet. Chelsea Clinton, Daily Beast
When Armies Become Media: Israel Live-Blogs and Tweets an Attack on Hamas
How does it change the way we perceive a war when the armies involved become media entities -- publishing their own live news reports, uploading photos and videos and even live-tweeting their attacks as they happen? The Israeli army has started doing just that. Mathew Ingram, GigaOM
Radio News Is Tops for Teenagers
The rather unsurprising, if somewhat depressing, result of a new survey shows that not too many British teenagers are reading newspapers. More surprisingly, their preferred news provider is radio rather than online outlets. Roy Greenslade, The Guardian
UN body focus of unprecedented battle over Internet
World powers are on a collision course over Internet governance ahead of next week's conference of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union. Some countries with authoritarian governments are seeking to exert greater control over Internet content and structure, whereas the U.S., Google and others are pushing to preserve the decentralized governance system of private companies and nonprofit groups. Reuters
Don't Let Our Right to Privacy Expire
Internet freedom means different things to different people. But for most of us it boils down to this: the freedom to read, do and say what we want online -- and in private. On Nov. 27, that freedom could come under attack. The Senate Judiciary Committee wants to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act -- a bill passed in 1986, before most of us had even heard of the Internet -- to bring it into the 21st century. Josh Levy, Free Press
Rupert Murdoch's Whopping Christmas Present
It should be remembered that I speak now as someone who gladly took, and cashed, a paycheck from Rupert Murdoch for six years, from 1983 until 1989. It is in that spirit that I now argue that, if the FCC presents that old pirate with the whopping Christmas gift it is apparently preparing to give him, then the president either has lost control of his administration, or he personally has taken leave of his senses. There is no third alternative. Charles P. Pierce, Esquire
International Notes
Bacterial medicine: Are microbes the next wave?
"A new era of bacterial medicine could" be near, concludes The Economist after reviewing the results of a study on mice that treated bowel inflammation with bacteria. If such techniques are shown to work on humans, the publication says, "they may open avenues for the bacterial treatment of other conditions linked to gut bacteria," including obesity and diabetes. The Economist
Fate of Africa anti-malaria initiative to be decided
The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is poised to decide the future of a two-year pilot project in eight countries that supplied high-quality, combined-therapy malaria drugs at subsidized prices. The Affordable Medicines Facility services Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Niger, Madagascar, Kenya, Ghana and Cambodia. Results have been mixed. IRINNews.org
IShack eases life in South Africa settlements
The introduction of a prototype informal home, the iShack, is reportedly the first attempt to upgrade shelters in South Africa's ubiquitous settlements that a recent study reports are contributing to mental-health issues. The iShack is equipped with solar panels that generate enough electricity for charging a cellphone, lighting and an alarm system. IRINNews.org
Iran attack on U.S. drone heats up "hidden war"
The U.S. has disclosed that Iranian warplanes fired upon an American surveillance drone this month while it was reportedly flying in international airspace. It is the first known instance of such an attack. The incident comes as the largely covert war between Iran and other nations is intensifying. Reuters
UN may use evidence gathered by torture, official warns
Evidence used to identify some of the al-Qaida and Taliban suspects on the United Nations sanctions list may have been gathered through torture, according to Ben Emmerson, the UN's special rapporteur on counter-terrorism. "The consequences of being on the Security Council's consolidated [sanctions] list are enormous, so checks and balances should be brought to international human rights standards," Emmerson said. The Guardian (London)
Fear, misinformation slow drive to eradicate polio
Despite increased funding, the global campaign to eliminate polio continues to face fear and resistance. This is especially true in Nigeria, where 99 cases have been reported in 2012 -- more than half the world's total, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. "If we don't complete the job, polio will come back and there will be many, many cases," said Frank Mahoney of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. GlobalPost.com
New food-assistance agreement to take effect in 2013
With ratification by the EU this week, a new Food Assistance Convention will take effect in 2013, shifting the emphasis from traditional food deliveries to assistance that allows vulnerable populations to buy food within the country as much as possible, thereby supporting local markets. Some aid groups have criticized the new accord because it does not set specific goals for contributions. AlertNet
Conflict leaves many Afghans psychologically traumatized
The relentless Afghan war is leaving deep psychological wounds on an entire generation, according to psychologists and medical professionals. Even so, many Afghans don't understand the concept of mental illness and often believe that individuals are under the influence of evil spirits. Among the most vulnerable are children, who have known nothing but fighting and exploding bombs throughout their lives. AlertNet/Reuters
Is the end of AIDS in sight?
Fewer people are contracting HIV in poor and middle-income countries, and more people already afflicted are being kept alive by antiretroviral drugs, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. In a report released Tuesday, the agency charts progress over the past decade in 25 countries. Last year, 1.7 million deaths were attributed to AIDS, down from 2.3 million in 2005. "We are moving from despair to hope," said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS chief. AlertNet/Reuters
Executions surge despite growing opposition to death penalty
Afghanistan, India and Pakistan have executed convicted criminals amid a United Nations General Assembly vote that showed record levels of global opposition to the death penalty. "It's a horrible, weird coincidence," not deliberate timing, said Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch. The Wall Street Journal/India Real Time blog
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