Former U.S.-Backed Guatemalan Dictator Faces Genocide Trial

27 Jan

Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt is seen outside the court in Guatemala City on Thursday.

By Mariano Castillo, CNN

(CNN) – A Guatemalan judge has ordered the country’s former dictator to stand trial on charges that he was responsible for atrocities committed during his rule.

Efrain Rios Montt will remain under house arrest while prosecutors work to gather evidence that would link him to genocide and human rights abuses.

After hearing prosecutors’ initial arguments Wednesday, judge Patricia Flores agreed there was enough evidence to keep the former leader confined.

“These crimes are horrendous and it was established that within the military structure you — Rios Montt — found yourself in the command structure,” the judge said, according to the Prensa Libre newspaper.

Rios Montt ruled Guatemala from 1982 to 1983.

He came to power in a coup and led a military junta at a time that Guatemala was in a bloody civil war between the army and leftist guerrillas. The war did not end until 1996. It left more than 200,000 people dead and 1 million as refugees.

Prosecutors argued that Rios Montt was aware of the repressive strategies that the military was using against anyone suspected of being a guerrilla, such as killings, forced disappearances and kidnappings, the state-run AGN news agency reported.

The human rights abuse and genocide allegations against him come from his “scorched earth” campaign to root out insurgents in provinces heavily populated by indigenous populations.

During his rule, there were massacres in these provinces in which, according to the Guatemalan truth commission, between 70% and 90% of some villages were razed. The commission found that during this and other periods of the civil war, there were reported cases of rape, especially of Mayan women.

Rios Montt did not address the court. His attorneys argued that the former dictator has cooperated with prosecutors and that the chain of command at that time was set up so that he didn’t know about the abuses. The regional commanders had the final say in what strategies they used, his lawyers said, according to AGN.

Source

Acta protests break out as EU states sign up to treaty

27 Jan

MEPs of 21 EU states, including the UK, have signed off on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

The UK and 21 other European Union member states on Thursday signed an international copyright agreement treaty called Acta (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), sparking more demonstrations by internet users who have protested for days both virtually and physically over fear it will lead to online censorship.

Following the signing, protesters rallied in the Polish cities of Poznan and Lublin to express their anger over the treaty. Lawmakers for the left-wing Palikot’s Movement wore masks in parliament to show their dissatisfaction, while the largest opposition party the right-wing Law and Justice party called for a referendum on the matter.

The signing has yet to be ratified by the European Union parliament, and is scheduled to be debated in June. MEPs are already coming under intense pressure from activists on both sides over the forthcoming vote.

Poland’s ambassador to Japan, Jadwiga Rodowicz-Czechowska, signed the agreement in Tokyo. Speaking on Polish television, she said that Poland was one of several EU countries to sign Acta on Thursday, including Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Greece.

Several other industrialised countries – including the US, Canada and South Korea – signed the agreement last year.

Poland’s support for Acta has sparked attacks on Polish government websites by the hacking collective Anonymous that left several of them unreachable off and on for days. Street protests of hundreds, and in some cases thousands of people, have broken out across Poland for the past three days.

Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia did not sign on Thursday, and one French MEP quit the scrutinising process for Acta complaining that the European Parliament was participating in a “charade”.

Acta has been significantly changed from earlier versions, removing an earlier demand that internet users found of repeatedly infringing copyright should be cut off from the web – a suggestion the EU rejected.

Although the EU maintains Acta will not require any legislative changes in member countries – and instead will bring other countries up to European standards – controversy has been deepening in Poland over the proposals.

While many other industrialised countries have signed it, popular outrage appears to be greater in Poland than anywhere else.

Acta is a far-reaching agreement that aims to harmonise international standards on protecting the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion, and a range of other products that often fall victim to intellectual property theft.

Acta also takes aim at the online piracy of movies and music; those opposed to it fear that it will also lead authorities to block content on the internet.

A prominent Polish rock act, Zbigniew Holdys, has come out in support of Acta, accusing the internet activists – mostly young people – of profiting from pirated material online and trying to hold onto that practice.

Acta shares some similarities with the hotly debated Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) in the US, which was shelved by lawmakers last week after Wikipedia and Google blacked out or partially obscured their websites for a day in protest.

In reaction to the widespread opposition, Polish leaders have been struggling to allay fears over it.

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski defended his government’s position in a TV interview on Wednesday evening, arguing that Acta is not as threatening as young people fear.

But he said the internet should not be allowed to become a space of “legal anarchy”.

“We believe that theft on a massive scale of intellectual property is not a good thing,” Sikorski said.

In the Czech Republic, a local group aligning itself with Anonymous attacked the website of a group that supports Acta. The group collects money for music production and distributes it to artists.

• The UK’s Intellectual Property Office has a guide to the aims of Acta

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Cuba Announces Release of the World’s First Lung Cancer Vaccine

27 Jan

HAVANA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — Cuban medical authorities have launched the sales of the world’s first therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer, local officials said on Tuesday.

The CimaVax-EGF vaccine, as a result of a 25-year research into diseases related to tobacco smoking, has been developed by researchers and scientists at the Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM) in Havana.

The active drug ingredient in the vaccine is based on “a protein we all have when cancer is uncontrolled.” “The epidermal growth factor is related to all cell proliferation,” said Gisela Gonzalez, head researcher of the project.

“The drug could turn the cancer into a manageable, chronic disease by generating antibodies against the proteins which triggered the uncontrolled cell proliferation,” she said.

The immunogenic vaccine is appropriate to patients with advanced lung cancer in stages of three and four, showing no positive response to other kinds of treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the expert said.

“It is not possible to prevent the disease but this vaccine improves significantly the status of the critically ill patients,” she added.

She said the CimaVax-EGF has gone through clinical studies and trials in over 1,000 patients across the island and is currently distributed free of charge in all hospitals of the Caribbean island nation.

Gonzalez also said researchers at the CIM planned to use the same principle of the CimaVax-EGF in treating other cancerous tumors such as prostate, uterus and breast cancers.

Lung cancer is regarded as one of the world’s most serious, common and deadly cancers and is most frequently found among tobacco smokers.According to the World Health Organization, the disease generally kills 5 million people a year, and the figure is expected to rise to as much as 8 million by 2030 unless smoking habits are changed.

In Cuba, like many other developing countries across the world, smoking is seen as a status symbol. Lung cancer, killing about 20,000 people a year in the Caribbean country, is considered a serious threat to public health and the leading cause of death in 12 of the country’s 15 provinces.

Source

SOPA’s big brother signed by EU nations amid widespread protests

26 Jan

Polish citizens take to the streets in protest at ACTA

By Jennifer Baker

IDG News Service – The European Union signed up to the controversial Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on Thursday despite widespread opposition, particularly in Poland, where people took to the streets in protest.

The agreement was officially signed in Tokyo by 22 European member states. Cyprus, Estonia, Slovakia, Germany and the Netherlands did not sign, but committed to do so in the near future, according to the European Parliament’s Green party.

The agreement seeks to enforce intellectual property rights and combat online piracy and illegal software. But opponents of ACTA claim it goes far beyond the U.S.’ doomed SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) legislation and encourages ISPs to police the internet without any legal safeguards. SOPA is being revised after receiving broad criticism.

The ACTA agreement, meanwhile, has been mired in controversy from the beginning due to secrecy imposed by the U.S. and worries that it may not uphold E.U. rules on data privacy. The most controversial paragraph in the final text leaves the door open for countries to introduce the so-called three-strikes rule, which would require Internet users to be cut off if they continue to download copyright material after receiving two warnings, as national authorities would be able to order ISPs to disclose personal information about customers.

Although the agreement has been signed, it still has to go through a ratification procedure in the E.U. But now, shortly after SOPA sponsors succumbed to pressure to revise the bill, digital rights groups and so-called hactivists are pushing hard for the European Parliament to reject ACTA.

More than 10,000 people have taken to Poland’s streets to protest the signing of the international treaty while the Polish branch of hacker collective Anonymous has attacked Polish government websites, including the prime minister’s office, leaving several sites paralyzed.

“In the last few days, we have seen encouraging protest by Polish and other E.U. citizens, who are rightly concerned with the effect of ACTA on freedom of expression,” said JA(c)rA(c)mie Zimmermann, spokesperson for citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. “This important movement will further build up. Our governments are bypassing democratic processes to impose draconian repressive measures.”

There has also been widespread criticism of ACTA within the Parliament. Pirate Party parliamentarian Christian Engstrom accused Polish Minister of Digitisation Michal Boni of lying to the Polish people in order to get ACTA signed. “Unfortunately, it appears that the Polish minister does not shy away from telling his citizens blatant lies, in order to get the controversial ACTA agreement signed,” he said on Wednesday.

According to news site Global Voices, Boni said it was too late to back out of the agreement because all the other European countries had signed — but at the time this was not the case. “It is apparent that the game of telling EU citizens whatever lies may be necessary to get the ACTA agreement signed has begun,” Engstrom warned.

Green Member of the European Parliament, Ska Keller was also critical of the deal: “ACTA is wrong and should be rejected. The last word has not yet been spoken however: the European Parliament and national parliaments will now have their say as part of the ratification process.”

Parliament’s legal affairs, development, civil liberties and industry committees will give their opinions on the treaty in the coming weeks. These will be considered by the Parliament’s International Trade Committee when it makes its final report to Parliament on whether to accept or reject ACTA. Finally the deal will go before a vote by all of Parliament.

Outside the E.U., the agreement has so far been signed by the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

Source

Aid group quits Libyan prisons over torture

26 Jan

A female inmate of the infamous Djeida prison motions behind the door of her cell in Tripoli, on October 11, 2011. More than 1,000 inmates are detained in this facility, among them former regime ministers, loyalist fighters, ordinary criminals and foreign immigrants. (MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images)

(CBS/AP) BENGHAZI, Libya – The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said Thursday it has suspended its work in prisons in the Libyan city of Misrata because it said detainees are being tortured and denied urgent medical care.

Additionally, Amnesty International has said several people have died from torture by militias in Libyan detention centers in Tripoli, Misrata, and Gheryan, the BBC reports.

“The torture is being carried out by officially recognized military and security entities as well as by a multitude of armed militias operating outside any legal framework,” a spokesman for London-based Amnesty told the BBC.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres, said that since August its medical teams have treated 115 people in Misrata who bore torture-related wounds, including cigarette burns, heavy bruising, bone fractures, tissue burns from electric shocks, and renal failure from beatings. Two detainees died after being interrogated, the group’s director general said.

“Patients were brought to us in the middle of interrogation for medical care, in order to make them fit for further interrogation. This is unacceptable,” MSF general director Christopher Stokes said in a statement. “Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions.”

There was no immediate response from Libyan authorities, but the allegations were an embarrassment for the country’s new leaders, who have promised to respect human rights and end the rampant abuses of the Qaddafi regime.

Britain, [...] urged Libya’s National Transitional Council to “live up to the high standards they have set themselves.”

“They need to ensure a zero tolerance policy on abuse. We are concerned about these reports and are taking the up with the Libyans as a matter of urgency,” British Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said in a statement.

Stokes told The Associated Press that those subjected to torture include ex-combatants and people accused of theft and looting.

“There is a significant number of people with darker skin, but there is really a wide mix,” he said. “Whatever the motives, it is unacceptable to do this to human beings.”

He said most of the cases date from the past three months, but that two detainees died after beatings in October and November. He said his group is not in charge of autopsies and couldn’t determine what was the immediate cause of the death.

The interrogations were carried out by Libya’s National Army Security Service at facilities outside the detention centers, MSF said in a statement.

The group, which operates in the prisons but not the interrogation centers, said it contacted the NASS as well as authorities in Misrata, the port city whose fighters played a leading role in the eight-month war that toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi, to demand an end to the abuse, but received no official response, prompting MSF to halt its operations in the city’s detention centers.

“This is not a decision we wanted to take because we have people on treatment basically,” Stokes said by telephone from Brussels. “But we are not there to patch people up so they can be tortured between torture sessions. …This was becoming impossible and unacceptable.”

In its statement, MSF said the most alarming case was on January 3, when MSF doctors treated a group of 14 detainees returning from an interrogation center. It said nine of the detainees had numerous injuries, including broken arms and renal failure, and displayed obvious signs of torture.

Stokes said his group has informed the National Army Security Service that a number of patients needed to be transferred to hospitals for urgent and specialized care. All but one of the detainees were deprived of further medical care and hospitalization, and instead taken back to interrogation centers.

“Some of them couldn’t even stand up, they were so badly beaten,” he said.

Some officials have denied such torture is taking place, while others dismissed it as prevalent in all countries around the world, Stokes said.

Source

Libya: UN alarmed over failure to stop torture of detainees

26 Jan

Rebel fighters search for Gaddafi loyalists in Tripoli back in August last year.

Medicins Sans Frontieres, the medical charity, is suspending operations in Libyan detention centres because they were being asked to make torture victims fit for further interrogation.

The UN has expressed its alarm over the failure of the Libyan government [the National Transitional Council government set up by the Libyan "rebels" -- Ed.]to disarm militias and stop widespread torture of the thousands of people held in arbitrary detention.

The warning that human rights abuses were rampant in Libya came as Medicins San Frontieres, the medical charity, said it was suspending its operations in detention centres in the city of Misurata after encountering scores of torture victims.

Ian Martin, the UN envoy for Libya, said that the new Libyan authorities were failing to bring armed factions under control. As a result the law of gun dominated [...]. Mr Martin blame militias for fatal clashes around the country. [....]

He warned that the clashes could escalate.

The UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said she had serious concerns over the fate of the 8,500 prisoners held in around 60 centres by [Libyan rebel forces]. “The majority of detainees are accused of being Gaddafi loyalists and include a large number of sub-saharan, African nationals,” she said. “The lack of oversight by the central authority creates an environment conducive to torture and ill treatment.

The perils facing Libyan prisoners were exposed by MSF which said its doctors had treated 115 prisoners that they believed had been tortured in just one city.

The body said it would not collude with the abusive regime in the city.

“Some officials have sought to exploit and obstruct MSF’s medical work,” says MSF General Director Christopher Stokes. “Patients were brought to us for medical care between interrogation sessions, so that they would be fit for further interrogation. This is unacceptable. Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions.”

“My staff have received alarming reports that this is happening in places of detention they have visited.”

Miss Pillay also reviewed the investigations of the Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry which is investigating allegations of war crime by the Nato-led alliance that backed the uprising against Gaddafi.

[....]

Source

Cuba registers world’s first lung cancer vaccine

25 Jan

South Journal, HAVANA—Cuba registered the first therapeutic vaccine in the world against advanced lung cancer. Over 1 000 patients have been administered the vaccine known as CIMAVAX-EGF.

Specialist Gisela Gonzalez, leader of the project at the Havana-based Molecular Immunology Center, said that the vaccine turns advanced cancer into a controllable chronic disease.

The CIMAVAX-EGF is the result of over 15 years of research work and it aims at the tumor-associated system, while it does not have any severe collateral effects, the specialist pointed out.

“It is based on a protein we all have in our body: the epidermal growth factor, which is related to cellular proliferation processes that get out of control in the presence of cancer,” she said and explained that since the human body tolerates “what it contains” and reacts against “what is foreign to it” they had to find the way to produce antibodies against this protein.”

The therapeutic vaccine is administered after the patient concludes radiotherapy treatment or chemotherapy and cancer considered “terminal” with no therapeutic alternatives, because it helps “control the growth of the tumor without any associated toxicity, the expert explained.

The vaccine can be used as a treatment that increases the patient’s quality and expectancy of life, said the researcher who noted that after being registered in Cuba, the vaccine is making its way in other countries as it is being tested on as prostate, uterus and breast cancer.

CimaVax-EGF: Cuba Announces Release Of First Lung Cancer Vaccine

25 Jan

Laura Hibbard

After 25 years of research, Cuban officials have begun production on a vaccine for lung cancer, China’s Xinhuanet reported.

The vaccine, or CimaVax-EGF, works through the active drug ingredient, which is based on “a protein we all have when cancer is uncontrolled,” as the publication reported.

CimaVax-EGF isn’t a preventative vaccine, but attacks the already-existing cancer in a patient, PopScience elaborated.

The vaccine has allegedly been tested on 1,000 patients in Cuba, but it’s difficult to verify. If so, it could greatly improve the outlook of patients with what is widely regarded as one of the most deadly and common forms of cancer.

Gisela Gonzalez, head researcher of the project, told the Chinese news source that she is optimistic for the drug’s future.

“The drug could turn the cancer into a manageable, chronic disease by generating antibodies against the proteins which triggered the uncontrolled cell proliferation. It is not possible to prevent the disease but this vaccine improves significantly the status of the critically ill patients.”

More than 14 other forms of cancer are currently in trials for vaccines in the US, and only two of those are preventative vaccines.

Although the medical advancement is difficult to confirm 100 percent, there have been significant strides forward in cancer research last month. One of which is a new treatment which has been found to almost completely eradicate leukemia. The next step for that treatment is test it on different types of the cancer, which could include other types of tumors.

The drug Xalkori was also approved earlier this month in the United States for treating the advanced, deadly form of lung cancer for a select group of patients, an idea in line with personalized medicine, the Associated Press reported.

Right now, lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 158,683 deaths from the cancer in 2007.

Source

Gadhafi Loyalists ‘Retake’ Town of Bani Walid

24 Jan

Celebration: A photo, reportedly from Bani Walid which appeared on a Libyan website, shows a green flag being raised as Gaddafi loyalists re-captured the town

Captured: Photos, reportedly taken in Bani Walid, show the flags that represent the presence of supporters of the ousted regime

Four Killed as Old Regime’s Flag Is Raised in Town

by Jason Ditz, January 23, 2012

Major fighting has broken out in the Libyan town of Bani Walid this weekend, and reports indicate at least in the near term, that it has fallen to fighters loyal to the former government of Moammar Gadhafi.

The same reports say at least four people have been killed in the fighting, and dozens wounded. The green flag of the former regime is now flying over the town, one of the last few that fell to the NTC during the NATO-backed civil war.

Anger: Libyans damage the car of National Transitional Council Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil over the weekend

Demands: Among protesters in Benghazi are Islamists demanding Libyan ruler apply Islamic sharia law

It is unclear from the reports whether the fighters were simply supporters of the former regime, or if they were remnants of the old Libyan military. NTC forces in the town said they had been warning about the prospect of a fight for months.

When the fighting finally broke out, NTC forces in the town petitioned for reinforcements, but none came. They finally withdrew when they ran low on ammunition. Libyan Defense Minister Osama Jweli says he will not order a new attack on the town until it is determined that the forces are indeed Gadhafi remnants and not merely some rival militia. Militia from Misrata on the northern coast, known to be a particularly aggressive faction, were sent to the area to blockade the town in the meantime.

Discontent: Crowds break into the local NTC headquarters in Benghazi on Saturday

Occupation: Crowds demanded to speak NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil after reaching the second floor

Source

Same-sex marriage has the votes to pass in Washington

24 Jan

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen announced support on Monday

C.R. Douglas, Q13 Fox News political analyst

SEATTLE—Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen announced on Monday that she would support Senate Bill 6239 to allow same-sex marriage. Haugen, who had previously been undecided, gives the bill enough pledged support to pass the Washington state Senate.

Haugen became the 25th state senator to support the bill. Four remain undecided. She said she came to the decision after reaching out to her constituency. Haugen, a Democrat, represents Camano Island.

“I have received many letters, emails, phone calls, very heartfelt, from both sides of the issue,” she said. “I’ve also received a number of very negative comments from both sides.”

Same-sex marriage supporters say that they already have enough votes lined up for the proposal to pass the House. Gov. Christine Gregoire has also publicly declared support.

Monday afternoon, the Seattle City Council passed a unanimous resolution supporting marriage equality legislation.

Several influential companies, including Microsoft and RealNetworks, have voiced their support for the state bill.
Opponents came out swinging, too. The Stand for Marriage Coalition on Friday announced longtime gay marriage opponent Ken Hutcherson as its spokesman. He had harsh words for Gregoire, who is leading the charge this year for the legislation.

“She might as well change her name to John Wilkes Booth,” said Hutcherson, “because what she’s doing now is trying to put a bullet in the head of one of the greatest traditions that has ever existed and has built our society — and that is marriage between one man and one woman.”

Hutcherson said that if the Legislature does pass gay marriage, his group will gather signatures and put a referendum on the ballot to overturn the law this fall.

Source

French Senate passes Armenian genocide law

24 Jan

Turks demonstrate in front of the French National Assembly in Paris, France, on 22 December 2011 as the French parliament considers the Armenian genocide law. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The French Senate has approved a controversial bill that makes it a criminal offence to deny that genocide was committed by Ottoman Turks against Armenians during World War I.

Armenia says up to 1.5 million people died in 1915-16 as the Ottoman empire split. Turkey rejects the term genocide and says the number was much smaller.

The measure will now be sent to President Sarkozy for final approval.

The bill’s passage in the lower house caused major tensions with Turkey.

Ankara froze ties with France after the vote last month and promised further measures if the Senate backed the proposal.

In the event the Senate approved the bill by 127 votes to 86.

The BBC’s correspondent in Istanbul, Jonathan Head, says stronger Turkish measures could include the withdrawal of ambassadors and creating more barriers to French businesses in Turkey.

In the first reaction from Ankara, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin condemned the bill.

“The decision made by the Senate is a great injustice and shows total lack of respect for Turkey,” he told the CNN-Turk television channel.

The Turkish embassy in Paris warned that if President Sarkozy approved the bill, the damage done to relations between the two countries would be permanent.

“France is in the process of losing a strategic partner,” Turkish embassy spokesman, Engin Solakoglu, told AFP news agency.

Armenia described the vote as “historic”.

“This day will be written in gold not only in the history of friendship between the Armenian and French peoples, but also in the annals of the history of the protection of human rights worldwide,” said Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, in a statement carried by AFP.

Free speech

The Turkish government argues that judging what happened to the Armenian community in eastern Turkey in 1915-16 should be left to historians, and that the French law will restrict freedom of speech.

Turkish officials acknowledge that atrocities were committed but argue that there was no systematic attempt to destroy the Armenian people – and that many innocent Muslim Turks also died in the turmoil of the events, in the middle of World War I.

France formally recognised the killings as genocide in 2001, one of more than 20 countries which have done so.

The current bill means that anyone denying the deaths were genocide would face a jail term and a fine of 45,000 euros (£29,000; $58,000).

The bill was put forward by President Sarkozy’s UMP party.

France has half a million citizens of Armenian descent, and correspondents say their votes may be important in this year’s presidential elections.

Ahead of the vote, a spokesman for the French foreign ministry called for “calm,” saying Turkey was a partner and a very important ally of France.

Source

Texana Hollis, Evicted 101-Year-Old Detroit Woman, Can’t Go Home

23 Jan

In this Oct. 3, 3011, photo, Texana Hollis, 101, reacts after discussing her eviction in Detroit. Hollis, was evicted from her home in September because her son, Warren, failed to keep up with mortgage payments. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said she could stay in the home as long as she wanted, but she has yet to move back in because the home is not in a livable condition. (AP Photo/Detroit News, John T. Greil)

(AP) DETROIT — The federal government now says a 101-year-old Detroit woman it promised could move back into her foreclosed home four months ago can’t return because the building’s unsanitary and unsafe.

Texana Hollis was evicted Sept. 12 and her belongings placed outside after her 65-year-old son failed to pay property taxes linked to a reverse mortgage and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development foreclosed on the home.

Two days later, the department said she could return. But now, HUD said it won’t let Hollis move back in because of the house’s condition. She had lived there about 60 years.

“Here I am, 100 years old, and don’t have a home,” Hollis said, rounding off her age. “Oh Lord, help me.”

Department spokesman Brian Sullivan told The Detroit News (http://bit.ly/yoTW9X ) that an inspection determined the house “was completely unsuitable for a person to live in.”

“We can’t allow someone to live in that (atmosphere) now that we are essentially the owners of the property,” Sullivan said. “The home isn’t safe; it’s not sanitary. It’s certainly not suitable for anyone to live in, especially not a 101-year-old mother.”

HUD doesn’t want to pay to fix up the house, but Sullivan said the department’s seeking other agencies that might help with the work and get Hollis back into her home.

“We’re not giving up,” Sullivan said. “We’re talking with anybody and everybody about solutions to this situation, but the condition of the property is a challenge.”

After hearing about her longtime friend’s eviction, Pollian Cheeks, 68, offered Hollis a room at her home within a mile of Hollis’ house. Hollis, who once taught Cheeks in Sunday school at St. Philip’s Lutheran Church, agreed to the invitation and has been staying at Cheeks’ house in the meantime.

“Polly’s just as nice to me as anybody could be. She goes out of her way to help me,” Hollis said, holding back tears. “It’s just like living at home, but it’s not my home.”

Hollis’s son took out the reverse mortgage for the $32,000 assessed value of the property, an option that HUD permits for the elderly. HUD took control of the mortgage after the amount paid to the family exceeded the value of the house in 2006.

Source

Pro-Gaddafi forces capture Bani Walid, 5 NTC troops killed – report

23 Jan

Files picture dated September 22, 2011 shows Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters launching a rocket towards Bani Walid from their outpost at the entrance of the city (AFP Photo / Joseph Eid)

Fighters loyal to late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have clashed with revolutionary forces in the former-regime stronghold of Bani Walid, taking control of the city in the process.

The head of Libya’s National Transitional Council Mustafa Abdel Jalil today warned of the threat of another civil war.

At least five NTC troops were killed and 30 others injured in the violence, Interfax reports.

M’barek al-Fotmani, a local official, says the pro-Gaddafi rebels who seized control of Bani Walid were using heavy weaponry including 106mm anti-tank weapons.

He also said that authorities called for help when the attack began, but the NTC did not send any troops.

“There are between 100 and 150 men armed with heavy weapons who are attacking. We have asked for the army to intervene, but the Defense Ministry and NTC have let us down,” he told Agence France Press.

“We’re out of the frying pan into the fire. We’ve been warning about this for the past two months,” he added.

Witnesses say the violence erupted on Monday after Gaddafi loyalists, angry over the arrest of one of their men, attacked pro-revolution fighters.

The town of Bani Walid was one of the last bastions of pro-Gaddafi force in Libya’s eight-month civil war.

The clashes came after mass protests in the city of Benghazi over the weekend and the subsequent resignation of NTC deputy chief Abdel Hafiz Ghoga.

Sabah al-Mukhtar, president of the Arab Lawyers Association, believes a new civil war is a real threat.

“Reason number one is that the arms are still in the hands of the various militias in various areas,” in addition to competing tribes in those areas, he explained.

“At the same time, the political views of the people are in conflict. You have a situation when people want Islam to be a part of the constitution, while you have others that are liberals who do not.”

“So you have the conflict on policies as well as the availability of arms,” he concluded.

Sabah al-Mukhtar also says there are dramatic divergences in what the NTC says and what it actually does.

“Many of them are actually from the old regime – including the leader who was a Minister of Justice under Gaddafi – and there are many other people like his deputy, like many others, who were men of Gaddafi and at the same time now they say, ‘we will not allow those who benefited from Gaddafi`s regime to stand for elections.’”

The lawyer pointed out that the head of NTC himself served as a Minister of Justice under Gaddafi and turned blind eye to many injustices in the country.

VIDEO LINK

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FileSonic shutters: Another file-sharing site bites the dust

23 Jan

By Zack Whittaker

Summary: Only days after the Megaupload website was taken offline by U.S. authorities, similar businesses are scrambling to protect themselves before any action is taken against them.

File-sharing site FileSonic has announced that it is has disabled “all sharing functionality”, and that its service can “only be used to upload and retrieve files you have uploaded personally”.

The company’s Facebook page has also disappeared. According to users on Reddit, it is believed that many accounts and files were deleted today.

It is thought that this measure has been put in place in response to the wider crackdown on file-sharing sites by U.S. authorities.

U.S. and New Zealand authorities shut down one of the Web’s most popular online properties, Megaupload, last week. Its founders and three other employees were arrested and detained. They are awaiting extradition to the United States to face copyright infringement and money laundering charges.

Within a few hours of the news breaking, hacktivist collective Anonymous retaliated by attacking the websites of the RIAA, the MPAA, the FBI, and the U.S. Justice Department by way of denial-of-service attacks.

Late last week, Uploaded.to blocked all U.S. visitors from accessing its site as part of efforts to distance itself from U.S. jurisdiction.

Another popular file-sharing service, RapidShare, said in an interview with Ars Technica that it was “not concerned”, adding that, “file hosting itself is a legitimate business”. The file-sharing giant is based in Switzerland, and is “set up in a much more transparent way”.

RapidShare and FileSonic comply with DMCA requests, and both have dedicated staff to remove illegally uploaded content.

FileSonic did not respond to comments at the time of publication.

Source

Political Cartoon: Internet Wars just begun! Struggle against Sopa/Pipa is NOT over!

23 Jan

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