Important Headlines for 2-11-2009

While there are a lot of important things happening, these are some recent developments that are pretty important to be aware of and a few interesting things.

First of all, the current Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stated that Iran is ready for dialogue with the USA as long as it is based on mutual respect. Here are some excerpts of the speech:

"If you really want to fight terrorism, come and cooperate with the Iranian nation, which is the biggest victim of terrorism so that terrorism is eliminated. ... If you want to confront nuclear weapons ... you need to stand beside Iran so it can introduce a correct path to you," he said.

Ahmadinejad said the world was at a "crossroads" because it had been proven that military power has not been successful — a reference to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But now, he said, "the world is entering an era of dialogue and intellect."

"The new U.S. government has announced that it wants to bring changes and follow the path of dialogue. It is very clear that changes have to be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear that the Iranian nation welcomes true changes," Ahmadinejad told the crowds at the rally in Freedom Square.

This is crucial as Iran could support the United States in being a stabilizing factor for the crises in Afghanistan and Iraq. Additionally, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the USA is very determined to pursue a dialogue with Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is up for election this year and former President Khatami is one of the challengers. For more information, please click here.

A second extremely important development is in the area of health care, specifically in regard to the prevention of HIV being transmitted. Some preliminary trials have found that a microbicide produced by a Massachusetts pharmaceutical company Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. slightly reduced HIV infection rates among its trial subjects, where approximately 3,100 women from four different countries participated. Scientists discovered a 30% lower rate of infection among women who used the Indevus-produced gel, however it is important to note that this difference is not statistically significant and that the results could have occurred by change or been the result of other contributing factors. The study has been expanded to include more women from more countries. For more information on this key development in combating HIV/AIDS, please click here.

In important domestic news, a panel of federal judges found that the overcrowding of state prisons violates the inmates' right to adequate health care. State prisons are currently operating at twice their intended capacity and measures to reduce the amount of new prisoners being compelled are being explored so that state prisons would not have to release large numbers of prisoners at once. This decision by the judges is significant as the United States currently imprisons the largest percent of its population than any other country in the world (click here). Land of the free, right? For more information about the judges' decision, please click here.

And yet another instance after the BART subway shooting where California police have shot an innocent person. Daniel Balandran was shot and killed by police gunfire in a shootout at a Papa John's Pizza in Chino, California. Police say Balandran was caught in the crossfire; his lawyer states that he was targeted. For more information, please click here.

Finally, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates annouced a review of the ban on photographing fallen soldiers' coffins, a ban that he himself asked for a few years ago. For more information, please click here.

Headlines 1-26-2009

Here are some important headlines at your disposal.

First, Bolivia is in the process of ratifying a new Constitution. This constitution is supposed to empower Bolivia's Indians. Preliminary vote counts estimate 60% of voters have approved the new Constitution. While the Constitution nationalizes much of Bolivia's natural gas resources and officially recognizes 36 indigenous groups, it is unclear exactly how the implementation of the law will work or how the new Constitution will affect Bolivia, facing a recent economic downturn. Xavier Albó, a Jesuit scholar and linguist, stated that "the new Constitution may be the equivalent of Spain’s Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors in 1492. But instead of the blood spilled in that process, Mr. Albó said, Bolivia is 'advancing in a democratic process that does not exclude or subjugate anyone."' For more information, please click here.

Secondly, Sri Lanken forces state that they have captured the last major base of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers), a group well known for the use of suicide bombings and its own air force. A Sri Lanken military spokesman stated that there were no LTTE leaders captured in the operation while the LTTE has not yet commented on the report. The Sri Lanken military states that they have isolated the LTTE into an area of 155 square miles (about 400 sq. km.) and that the LTTE has approximately 1,000 fighters left after the group's political headquarters were captured on January 2. The leader of LTTE is thought to have fled to Malaysia. For the rest of the article, please click here.

Additionally, Esteghlal, one of Iran's top soccer clubs, held a soccer match between the club's female team and its youth male team. However, as the Associated Press reports, "the first mixed soccer game—females vs. males—since the 1979 Islamic revolution led to swift punishment... as an Iranian soccer club said it had suspended three officials involved and handed out fines of up to $5,000." While a coach and two managers initially denied that the match had taken place, video footage from cell phones was used as evidence against them. In 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that women should and would be allowed to attend soccer games. However, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (the final voice on all matters in Iran) disagreed, forcing Ahmadinejad to revoke his previous statement. For more information, please click here.

In domestic news, the FDA has approved a Californian biotechnology company, Geron, to begin the first-ever human clinical trials with embryonic stem cells. The participants will be patients who have recently suffered severe spinal cord injuries. Researchers are planning to inject the stem cells into the patients' spines and monitor carefully if the procedure is working. For more information, please click here.

In state-wide news, a gunman opened fire on an under-21 nightclub in Portland, Oregon, killing two and injuring several others. Police speculate that it was a random shooting. Among those injured were students, five from other countries. One victim is currently in critical condition, four others hospitalized but expected to live, and two were treated and sent home. The gunman is hospitalized in critical condition. For the article, please click here.

Winds of Change?

Oscar Grant, a 22 year old man and father of a four-year-old daughter, went out to celebrate the New Year's like millions of others across the globe. The difference between Oscar and everyone else is that Oscar was shot in the back and killed by a Bay Area police officer while lying handcuffed, face down on the platform of a BART metro. He died in the early morning hours of January 1st, 2009.

While raw footage and eye-witness accounts of the shooting point towards the officer murdering Grant, BART authorities are still investigating the shooting:

There has been speculation that Mehserle [the officer who shot and killed Grant] may have believed he was reaching for his Taser to stun Grant rather than reaching for his gun to shoot him. To Burris [civil rights attorney for the family of Oscar Grant] such a distinction is not that important.

"If the officer had a Taser and he thought he was pulling it, to me that's still a criminal act," Burris said. "It means you're negligent, as opposed to knowing you pulled your gun." That, he said, would be "murder."

"I don't want to believe that an officer would just kill someone this way," said Burris, who called on BART officials to say whether Mehserle carried a Taser. "On the other hand, I'm not going to disbelieve my eyes either."

Grant had been celebrating New Year's Eve in San Francisco and was heading back to his East Bay home on a BART train when a fight broke out between two groups of riders about 2 a.m.

BART police met the train at Oakland's Fruitvale station and ordered passengers -- including Grant -- onto the platform.

Video taken by spectators with cellphones shows a chaotic scene, with uniformed officers pulling riders out of a train and then shoving one man onto the ground. While that man is face down, an officer stands over him, pulls his gun and shoots...

...According to the claim filed Tuesday, Grant was unarmed "and offered no physical resistance" to BART officers.

Here is the video of the shooting. Please be cautious, as the video could disturb some viewers.

The family of Oscar Grant is currently filing a $25 million dollar wrongful death lawsuit against the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency. For more information, please click here to view the article by the LA Times.

For updates, please click here.

911 is a Joke

Lose your arms and legs to them, it's compilation
I can prove it to you, watch the rotation
It all adds up to a funky situation
So get up, get get down
911 is a joke in your town
~"911 is a Joke," Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet, 1990

Since Flava Flav of Public Enemy cackled these words over a decade ago, the emergency services in New York City have only proven him correct. During the racial tensions of the 1990s, there were several instances of attacks on black Americans, especially black males. However, while many would hope that the situation has improved since then, today is yet another stunning example of the lack of progress made and the lack of accountability for institutions that perpetuate racism.

Today, Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict that the three NYPD detectives who shot the unarmed, 23 year old Sean Bell on his wedding day were to be acquitted of all charges. However, instead of murder charges, the most serious charge facing Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper was the manslaughter charge facing Isnora and Oliver.

While some may think that even though it is extremely suspicious for three police officers to shoot a man 50 times and believe that this is an isolated incident, the history of race-related killings by the NYPD proves otherwise, as the Associated Press reports:

In 1999, NYPD officers killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who was shot 19 times in the entry to his apartment building.

The four officers in that case were acquitted of criminal charges. In 2003, Ousmane Zongo, 43, a native of the western African country of Burkina Faso, was killed during a police raid on a warehouse where he repaired art and musical instruments. Zongo was shot four times, twice in the back.

If progress really has been made by this country in its race relations, the NYPD should step forward to condemn these detectives and take its role seriously, instead of joking around with the lives of innocent Americans, like Sean Bell.