Can dark tourism ever be a good thing? -- New Internationalist. Cambodia's Killing Fields Dave(ie) under a CC Licence A man spotted holidaying in the Syrian war zone was recently dubbed the world’s most extreme tourist. It’s a risky business, but Toshifumi Fujimoto says he enjoys it. His online photo collection includes pictures of rebel fighters, injured civilians and corpses. Fujimoto isn’t the first to be attracted to a war zone, and won’t be the last. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the victims of disasters don’t always take kindly to tourists witnessing their grief Dark tourism – also known as thanatourism – comes in many forms, from visits to memorial sites such as the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland to trips to the wreck of the Costa Concordia, or tours of slums.
Profiting from loss Perhaps unsurprisingly, the victims of disasters don’t always take kindly to tourists witnessing their grief, or travel companies profiting from their loss. ‘We live in a very fast, globalized society. ‘This communication has continued. Pilgrimage or voyeurism? Book Review - 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,' by Rebecca Skloot - Review. Horn of Africa Famine: Millions at Risk in "Deadly Cocktail" of War, Climate Change, Neoliberalism. This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZALEZ: The United Nations has called an emergency meeting to discuss the Horn of Africa drought, which it says has already claimed tens of thousands of lives. Famine was declared in two regions of Somalia on Wednesday, where 3.7 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Another eight million people need food assistance in neighboring countries, including Kenya and Ethiopia. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls the situation a "catastrophic combination of conflict, high food prices and drought" and has appealed for immediate aid. The World Food Programme’s director spoke about the conditions in southern Somalia and also called for urgent assistance. JOSETTE SHEERAN: I’ve met here today people from all over southern Somalia. JUAN GONZALEZ: That’s World Food Programme director Josette Sheeran. Kiki, let’s go to you first in Nairobi. Kiki Gbeho— AMY GOODMAN: What do you feel needs to be done?
Death of a Nation - East Timor - Australia NWO Conspiracy NO theory [Full Length Documentary] The tragedy on Utøya - an attempt to understand. (Fox News) Norway Terrorist Not Right-Wing. All Terrorists are Muslims, Except the 99.6% that Aren't. Europol releases an annual study of terrorism; the results do not support claims that "(nearly) all Muslims are terrorists" Islamophobes have been popularizing the claim that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but (nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.” Despite this idea becoming axiomatic in some circles, it is quite simply not factual. In my previous article entitled “All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren’t”, I used official FBI records to show that only 6% of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from 1980 to 2005 were carried out by Islamic extremists.
The remaining 94% were from other groups (42% from Latinos, 24% from extreme left wing groups, 7% from extremist Jews, 5% from communists, and 16% from all other groups). But what about across the pond? The results are stark, and prove decisively that not all terrorists are Muslims. Here are the official tables provided in the reports… For 2006: For 2007: For 2008: On p.7, the 2009 Europol report concludes: Perception is not reality. Faced with inhumanity, we must be more human. Oslo, my home, was bombed on Friday. July 22, 2011, at 15:26 in the afternoon. A powerful explosion in the middle of our capital, at the heart of Norway. Several people were killed, many more injured, the whole city wounded and marked for ever. An hour later, more than 80 people were brutally killed. From Gaza to Oslo For the past two years I have lived in Gaza, working for a Norwegian humanitarian organisation.
Then the bomb rocked the building I was in. I continued until I was standing at the entrance of the main building. The unimaginable I left and started calling people on the phone. In some ways, a bomb attack in a capital, even in Norway, is something most people can imagine and relate to. The morning after, when I heard the number of people killed, I was numbed. An attack on what Norway is The attacker, the terrorist - the person wanting to spread fear by violence - was a Norwegian. This brings up the question of what is Norwegian, what is Norway today? The space to be filled. Historic elections under way in Tunisia - Africa. Nine months after a popular uprising that ended decades of authoritarian rule, Tunisians have begun to vote for new leaders who will write the rules of the country's new political system. Polls opened at 07:00 local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday, with about 4.4 million registered voters set to pick a 217-member constituent assembly.
That multi-party body will, in addition to drafting a new constitution, also be charged with appointing an interim president and a caretaker government for the duration of the drafting process. More than 11,000 candidates are running in the election, representing 80 political parties. Several thousand candidates are running as independents. Polls close at 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT), and results will be declared on Monday. Al Jazeera's correspondents on the ground reported that despite high temperatures in and around the capital, hundreds came out and waited for hours in queues in order to cast their votes. 'Victory for dignity' "I'm very very happy for Tunisia. Outsourced: Clinical trials overseas - Fault Lines. US pharmaceutical companies have moved their operations overseas over the course of the past decade.
Instead of testing trial medicines on Americans, more and more of these tests are being carried out on poor people in faraway places. Russia, China, Brazil, Poland, Uganda and Romania are all hot spots for what is called clinical research or clinical trials. Now employing CROs - or clinical research organisations - the industry is big business, worth as much as $30bn today. One country has experienced a boom like no other in this industry - India. Spoken English, an established medical infrastructure, welcoming attitudes toward foreign industry and, most importantly, legions of poor, illiterate test subjects that are willing to try out new drugs have transformed the Indian landscape into a massive testing ground for pharmaceuticals.
Fault Lines' Zeina Awad travels to India to see what the clinical research practices look like on the ground. Dissident Artist in China is Held as Crackdown Spreads.