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Obama signs Haiti debt relief bill
Category: International Written by NNPA News Service
WASHINGTON (NNPA) —President Obama has signed into law a bill calling for the United States to take the lead in forgiving debt owed to international lenders by earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The bill, signed April 26, urges major multinational institutions to cancel all debt owed to them by Haiti and recommends that all aid to the country for the next five years be provided in the form of grants rather than loans.
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Last Updated on Monday, 03 December 2012 19:28
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Mexican women’s activists call for Cancun boycott
Category: International Written by Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP)—Women’s rights activists called on tourists May 6 to boycott the Caribbean resort city of Cancun, saying authorities there failed to protect the rights of an 11-year-old rape victim who is carrying the baby to term. Activists say the case of the girl, known only as “Amalia,” illustrates the lack of protection for women’s rights in the state of Quintana Roo, which recently passed a law banning most elective abortions.
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| PROTEST—A woman holds a banner that reads in Spanish: “Sexual Education in Order to Decide,” during a demonstration organized by women’s rights activists in Mexico City, May 6.
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The girl, 10 years old at the time, told authorities she was raped by her stepfather, and activists say a doctor at a government hospital failed to inform her that the new law allows for rape victims to have abortions. The child is reportedly carrying the baby to term and will give birth by cesarean section.
Last Updated on Monday, 03 December 2012 19:28
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British wonder twins set new math milestone, youngest Brits to advance to high school
Category: International Written by NNPA News Service
(NNPA)—Paula and Peter Imafidon have broken existing records and are setting new records as they wait to hear about their high school placement. While that is something children around the world are doing, what makes it special for the Imafidon siblings is that they are only 9 years old.
The twins have attracted attention for being the youngest to pass the A/AS-level math papers at age seven. Then a year later, they became the youngest to pass the University of Cambridge’s Advanced Mathematics paper, according to the TimesOnline report.
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PAULA AND PETER IMAFIDON
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Last Updated on Monday, 03 December 2012 19:20
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Racist Belgian comic book to be tried In court
Category: International Written by NNPA News Service
(GIN) – Capping a three-year effort, Congolese national Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo may finally get his chance to pull a racially insulting comic book “Tintin in the Congo” off of library shelves.
A trial is scheduled to begin this week in Brussels, the city where Tintin's creator, pen-named Hergé, once lived. Mbutu Mondondo, 42, says the book — first published in 1930 — is racist, colonial propaganda and should be banned.
Tinton in the Congo appeared just 22 years after the Belgian-born King Leopold II laid claim to the Congo with Belgian money. In the so-called Belgian Congo, Leopold with his private army, the Force Publique, enslaved and mutilated the population. .
Estimates of the death toll range from two to fifteen million.
“(Tintin) served – and still serves to prop up a sanitized account of Belgium’s colonialism. "It twists history to suggest that everything was happy and fun," says Mbutu Mundondo. "In reality, it was a tragic, hurtful time."
The offensive images ranged from Tintin's faithful terrier Snowy being crowned king by the Africans, to a Black woman bowing before the blond boy and declaring "White man very great. White mister is big juju man!"
The Brussels court will consider whether the book should be banned, or sold with a warning across the cover that some readers might find the content offensive. In 2007 a British court ruled that “Tintin in the Congo” should be sold with such a warning.
Mbutu has also tried, unsuccessfully, to have the cartoon banned in France.
Special to the NNPA from GIN
Last Updated on Monday, 03 December 2012 19:28
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U.S. military operation in Haiti draws to close
Category: International Written by Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP)—The U.S. military mobilization in support of Haitian earthquake relief and recovery efforts is winding down and will be concluded for the most part by June 1.
U.S. Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Ken Keen says there are about 2,200 American troops still there, compared to 22,000 at the peak of the U.S. effort. And he says that by June, only about 500 National Guard and Reserve personnel will be stationed in Haiti to help aid workers.
The Jan. 12 earthquake was estimated to have killed as many as 250,000 people.
Last Updated on Monday, 03 December 2012 19:20
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