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| Sentido's Broadsheet section provides readers with an archive of all stories placed on our front page, for each year. The service will soon be expanded to include republication of special reports from other sources and premium articles and information, along with the option to create tailor-made news and travel publications for personal enjoyment. | ||||||||
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UNJUST RENDERING: REVERSING THE LIE OF AN OBITUARY AGAINST DERRIDA
20 December 2004 A great and resonant thinker dies, and a great and resonant newspaper publishes an obituary dismissing his work as destructive and "abstruse". It is an unjustifiable communicative travesty. When Jacques Derrida passed away, in October of this year, the New York Times wrote that his work was an attempt to undermine Western culture. The obituary was full of factual errors and infected with a hard-line bias against complex and rigorous thought... [Full Story] POISONING OF VIKTOR YUSCHENKO CONFIRMED TCDD, the most toxic known dioxin, was used to poison the Ukraine opposition's candidate for that nation's presidency. New tests have confirmed that the shocking disfiguration clearly visible on the candidate's face, is the result of a deliberate, and possibly gradual and sustained poisoning. [Full Story] FLORIDA VOTING MESS: STILL SCARY During the last month, international observers, election experts invited by Democrats and by independent organizations to monitor the integrity of the November elections, reported that Florida's electoral system would not be prepared to produce a legitimate or fair democratic election on 2 November 2004. The major complaint was related to touchscreen voting machines (an issue first reported by SentidoNews on 29 January 2004), which are designed to record the count as votes are cast, but produce only that single electronic count, with no reliable means of reviewing the votes cast, and no way whatsoever of conducting a legally required manual recount... [Full Story] ALL THAT WE DON'T KNOW: THE PURPOSEFUL FOLLY OF POLLING We are hearing constantly that the Republican National Convention has yielded a political windfall in public opinion for President Bush, with polls shifting from a Kerry lead of 3 to 5%, to an astonishing Bush lead of 11% in a post-convention poll. But this is not the whole story. According to CNN, as reported today, polling data put Bush ahead by 3% prior to the convention and by 5% afterward, a bounce of only 2%... the smallest increase in polling for an incumbent since before Richard Nixon's presidency... [Full Story] MORE THAN HALF OF FLORIDA VOTERS DENIED VERIFIABLE BALLOTS 15 counties in Florida, which include more than half of the state's registered voters, will use touchscreen voting machines which produce no paper trail and allow the voter no verification that their vote was cast accurately. Anecdotal reports suggest voters are turning to absentee ballots in order to secure the right to a paper ballot and to recountability. An estimated 48 to 60 million voters nationwide will cast votes on machines that offer no verifiable or recountable paper trail. [For more: ABC] FLORIDA'S LOST & FOUND ELECTRONIC VOTES The Supervisor of Elections for Miami-Dade County, Florida, announced Friday that her office had recovered missing electronic records of touch-screen votes from the 2002 primary elections in the race for Florida Governor. The records had been reported lost, after a series of computer crashes appeared to have wiped out the electronic files containing the record of the votes. [Full Story] OIL GIANT MAY FACE RULING ON FORCED LABOR IN BURMA A Burmese woman, who was beaten and thrown with her baby into a fire by regime forces who sought to relocate her to a forcible labor camp set up to build a pipeline, filed suit in U.S. court against Unocal in 1994. The Burmese dictatorship, in order to provide cheap labor for the Unocal pipeline project, ordered the relocation of the plaintiff's entire village, committing them to forced labor to fulfill the pipeline contract. [Full Story] EAC RECOGNIZES NEED FOR "ENHANCED SECURITY MEASURES" IN TOUCHSCREEN BALLOTING The Election Assistance Commission, set up by the 2002 Help America Vote Act to provide nationwide oversight of election processes and to seek to prevent any debacle resembling the 2000 Florida recount, has voiced support for "paper verification" and "enhanced security measures" to guarantee legitimacy of touch-screen votes. For some time, verified voting activists have been troubled by the unwillingness of members of Congress to support legislation to require a paper record of electronic votes until the EAC makes its recommendations. [Full Story] TWO LINGUISTS STAND AS LAST BASTION OF FADING CALIFORNIA LANGUAGE MotherJones reports this month that the 82-year-old linguist, William Shipley, is one of the last handful of speakers of Mountain Maidu, a language spoken by aboriginal Californians. He is passing his knowledge of the language to a young "protégé", who is actually of Maidu descent and seeks to return the language to use among his people. [Full Story] 191 CONGRESSIONAL SIGNATURES URGE RIDGE TO STOP POSTPONEMENT OF ELECTION This week, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) circulated a petition among her colleagues in Congress, which called for an immediate halt to all planning for postponing the election. Within the first hour, it had 100 signatures, and was ultimately signed by 191 members of Congress, including Ms. Woolsey. Only 1 Republican member signed the petition... [Full Story] CHINESE HEALTH HERO DR. JIANG A POLITICAL PRISONER The doctor who blew the whistle on the Chinese government's cover-up of the SARS outbreak is currently languishing in a detention facility, without charges, and reportedly undergoing social "re-training" sessions. Dr. Jiang Yangyong became a problem for the sole governing Chinese Communist Party, when he exposed the truth about the SARS epidemic and revealed the clumsy official cover-up, which had endangered public health at home and abroad. [Full Story] COSTS & OVERCROWDING FORCE NYC TO LIMIT TRANSFERS FROM FAILING SCHOOLS The New York Times reports the New York City public school system will limit the number of transfers allowed next year, under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The Act targets failing schools with high-stakes testing requirements and short-term improvement requirements. New York City had adopted the policy of permitting any studen who wishes to transfer out of schools classified as "failing". [Full Story] HOMELAND SECURITY CRAFTING CONTINGENCY PLAN TO POSTPONE NOVEMBER ELECTION Newsweek broke the story, which is now being covered by newpapers around the world, that the Department of Homeland Security is considering plans to postpone the November elections, should there be a terrorist strike. This has never occurred, and so the government would need to create a legal framework for implementing such a plan. [Full Story] FEDERAL APPEALS COURT FINDS PLANS FOR YUCCA NUCLEAR REPOSITORY INADEQUATE The federal appeals court for the D.C. circuit ruled last week that the plans for containing contamination from nuclear waste stored at the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada, facility, are inadequate and cannot proceed as written. The ruling is seen as a major setback for the government's controversial plan to remove all nuclear waste in the U.S. to the single repository under Yucca Mountain. [Full Story] UN REPORTS ANNUAL RECORD 5 MILLION NEW HIV CASES IN 2003 Even while other diseases are sweeping into the headlines (Malaria - Polio - SARS - West Nile), the UN reports that HIV, the AIDS virus, is spreading faster than ever. According to the new report, the UN found 5 million new cases of HIV infection worldwide during 2003. That's the highest number of new infections for any single year since the virus was discovered. The study also finds that 90% of those in desperate need of treatment are not receiving any. [Full Story] NEW YORK POST PICKS GEPHARDT, KERRY PICKS EDWARDS The New York Post added a special lead to later editions of its paper yesterday, hoping to trump the journalistic world with an unlikely exclusive: they ran a full-page headlline naming Rep. Dick Gephardt (MO) Kerry's choice for vice-president. It was a monumental error, and rivals were quick to seize the opportunity to make hay. SentidoNews contacted the Post editorial staff for an explanation of how the error occurred, but received no response. [Full Story] IS YOUR CEREAL BROADCASTING? How much do you know about your cereal, and how much does it know about you? What about your money, your passport, your boarding pass? These are just some of the items in your personal sphere which may soon be broadcasting radio frequencies, testifying to your habits and your movement. RFID, or Radio Frequency IDentification technology, is the reason why. Various private firms are currently researching, designing, producing and selling RFID chips, even for human implantation, and the powers that be are excited about it. [Full Story] ARGENTINA CALLED ON TO INVESTIGATE ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS Amnesty International says the government of Argentina needs to investigate threats of violence against journalists during the period of economic collapse, up through present day investigations into past abuses of police and military forces. The Asociación en Defensa del Periodismo Independiente - PERIODISTAS) reported in 2002 that attacks against journalists in Argentina were 15 percent more frequent than during 2001, a worrying escalation in so short a time. It is these reports of violence and harassment, that should be investigated, according to the report. [Full Story] |
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DUE PROCESS RIGHTS FOR DETAINEES
28 June 2004 In a ruling today, the Supreme Court upheld due process rights for all detainees. The ruling reinforces the essential Constitutional role of the Judiciary branch in the adjudication of accused crimes, whether against domestic law or national security. The ruling permits the Bush administration to hold American citizens as enemy combatants without charge, but detainees must have access to attorneys and be allowed to challenge their detention. The designation of enemy combatant will be assessed by the court system, like any other charge of criminal activity. [Full Story] MALARIA PANDEMIC KILLS 2 MILLION PER YEAR Anti-malaria activist and missionary groups report malaria is world's unseen pandemic, killing millions but largely unnoticed in the developed world. In April 2003, the United States' Department of Health and Human Services reported that malaria "affects an estimated 500 million people and results in up to 2 million deaths each year", with 90 percent of those deaths concentrated in Africa. The same report estimates an average of 3,000 children are killed every day in Africa by malaria parasites. [Full Story] ARAFAT SAYS HE ACCEPTS ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO JEWISH IDENTITY For the first time, Yasser Arafat has acknowledged the Jewish identity of the state of Israel. In an interview with the newspaper Ha'aretz, Arafat reportedly stated that he understands Israel's need to preserve its Jewish identity, and that the PA has "adopted the Arab Summit resolution of April 2002", which called for a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. He went on to outline terms he would accept, even ceding parts of the West Bank to Israel, and lowering the number of refugees eligible for right of return. [Full Story] BILINGUAL MINDS ARE BETTER GUARDED AGAINST AGING A new study published this month in the journal Psychology and Aging, shows that people who speak two languages from the age of 10 are more resistant to mental deterioration associated with aging. The study focuses on the fact that "crystallized intelligence", or early-learned habitual knowledge, is better retained than other intellectual capabilities. The findings seem to indicate that having two distinct cognitive resources for organizing information about the world trains the bilingual mind to focus on multiple stimuli with more ease, and to respond to their environment more efficiently. [Full Story] TURKEY RELEASES 4 KURDISH ACTIVISTS, INCLUDING MP ZANA
9 June 2004 Turkish courts ordered the release of 4 Kurdish activists, after a state prosecutor quashed the charges against them. Leyla Zana, who was the first Turkish MP to openly identify herself as Kurdish, had been jailed for speaking Kurdish at the end of her acceptance of the seat in Turkey's Parliament. The prisoner release is a major step in the eyes of EU officials, who have called for sweeping judicial and political reforms in Turkey, prior to any move toward accession to the EU. Critics note there are still major steps to be taken to democratize the legal system, and to recognize the Kurdish minority population, the very existence of which Turkey's government has long denied. [For more: BBC] DARFUR CRISIS IMPERILS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS The refugee crisis in Darfur, in western Sudan, is deepening, with more Sudanese seeking refuge in the dangerous neighboring country of Chad. The UN has designated the Darfur crisis the world's worst humanitarian disaster at present. The UN has cited incidents of mass killing that it classifies as ethnic cleansing, carried out by government backed Arab militia. The ongoing violence has made the distribution of aid extremely complicated... [Full Story] HAITI STILL MIRED IN ABUSES, UNREST Despite an internationally imposed solution, acceding to rebel demands to remove Pres. Aristide from power, Haiti remains mired in political turmoil, with armed militia and government forces committing grave abuses against one another's supporters. Amnesty International reports the viability and independence of the judiciary is threatened by the impunity of government officials and rebel leaders in their moves to consolidate power without following the strictures of international law. [For more: AI] WORLD DEMANDS RENEWABLE RESOURCES AT BONN The Renewables 2004 global conference in Bonn, Germany, has resulted in recommendations for more aggressive research and development of renewable energy resources. Citing persistent unrest in oil rich countries, the negative environmental impact of fossil fuels, along with soaring prices and the economic problems associated with any finite resource, the conference noted the benefits to economic and political security of using resources that are local, clean and renewable. [Full Story] DEPLETED URANIUM WILL POLLUTE IRAQ FOR 4.5 BILLION YEARS The President of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute has called for a comprehensive cleanup initiative in Iraq, aimed at reducing the danger posed by Depleted Uranium, left over from artillery shells launched against Iraqi cities and military positions. According to NPRI, Uranium 238, the radioactive isotope present in Depleted Uranium, has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. This means that land contaminated with DU spilled from exploding artillery shells will still be radioactive and uninhabitable 4.5 billion years from now. [Full Story] RADIO FREE DRIVEL: BIZARRE COMMENTS SEEN TO PROMOTE TORTURE The Iraq prisoner abuse scandal has entered a new arena: radio broadcasting. A new media fairness watch group, Media Matters, has called on Sec. Rumsfeld to remove Rush Limbaugh's radio program from the American Forces Radio network, broadcast to 1 million American military personnel around the world. The reason? Limbaugh has made several statements apparently condoning or promoting the use of torture. In its letter to Donald Rumsfeld, Media Matters cites Limbaugh as calling the abuses a "brilliant maneuver". [Full Story] REUTERS REPORTS 3 JOURNALISTS AMONG ABUSED IRAQIS The Reuters News Agency is reporting that 3 Iraqi journalists working for the agency were beaten and sexually abused when they were detained in January, while covering the story of a downed helicopter. The abuses occurred not at Abu Ghraib prison, but at the Volturno Forward Operating Base, near Fallujah. Reuters latest publication of the story is due to the fact that the Pentagon has not responded to requests for a review of an initial military report that found no torture had occurred (issued long before the Abu Ghraib photos had become public). [Full Story] MAINE DEFENDS RIGHT OF CITIZENS TO OPT OUT OF SWEATSHOP PRODUCTS The state of Maine has passed an Anti-Sweatshop Purchasing law requiring that all companies selling textiles in Maine follow international human rights-based code of conduct, inform public of location of factories, allowing consumers to choose lawful, ethical manufacturers over less scrupulous ones. [Full Story] CONDOLEEZZA RICE TESTIFIES UNDER OATH National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, testified under oath today, before the Commission investigating the 9/11 attacks and intelligence activities during the years prior to the attacks. The testimony came only after months of stalling by the White House. Dr. Rice repeatedly asserted that there were no clear indications of imminent terrorist attack during the months prior to 9/11, but she admitted that the administration had been warned there were Al Qaeda cells operating in the US and under investigation. [Full Story] |
HAMAS LEADER ASSASSINATED
22 March 2004 Israel has assassinated the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheik Ahmad Yassin, in what it calls a 'targetted killing'. 7 other people were killed in the missile strike. In response to the assassination, the Palestinian PM said the attack is designed to derail the Roadmap to Peace. World leaders have condemned the killing; the US has said the act is "deeply troubling", urging restraint. An estimated 200,000 Palestinians marched in Yassin's funeral procession. [For more: FT] CYANIDE SPILL POISONS ROMANIAN RIVER Romania's Siret River, a tributary of the Danube, is now reported to be contaminated by cyanide. Estimates are that "10 tons of toxic substances leaked into the river", according to Ioan Jelev, of Romania's Environment Ministry. [For more: Reuters] MOUNT LEBANON HOTEL DESTROYED BY BOMB Today in central Baghdad, a major bomb blast struck the Mount Lebanon Hotel, destroying much of the facade, and ripping apart rooms and nearby buildings. At least 27 have been reported killed so far. US military sources report that some 1,000 lbs. of explosive were used in this bomb. [Full Story] SPAIN ELECTS NEW GOVERNMENT Only three days after the worst terrorist incident in Spanish history, the stricken nation held its parliamentary elections. Turnout was up 8.46% over 2000. The new Prime Minister, Zapatero has pledged to combat terrorism as top priority... [Full Story] 5 DETAINED IN MADRID BOMB INVESTIGATION The Spanish government has announced it arrested 5 men in connection with evidence related to Thursday's bomb attacks in Madrid... [Full Story]
10 BOMBS STRIKE MADRID TRAINS, KILL 180+ Ten bombs struck the heart of Madrid today, exploding within a few minutes of one another at the Atocha, Santa Eugenia and El Pozo del Tío Raimundo train stations and at the Calle Téllez, near Atocha. Reports indicate at least 186 killed and 1,000 injured. The attacks are an unprecedented terrorist action for Spain. [Full Story]
ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES FAIL IN PRIMARIES 10% of machines in San Diego county experienced technical problems; 1 in six voters in Alameda county were turned away by machine glitches... [Full Story]
ARISTIDE RELINQUISHES POWER Haiti's first and only elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide has relinquished power in the midst of a violent uprising which has become the country's 33rd coup... [Full Story] MEDIA SELECTED KERRY, SAYS NEW STUDY HAITIAN REBELS ALIGN WITH EXILED DICTATORS' ASSOCIATES As pressure increases for Aristide to resolve the crisis, demonstrators marched in Port-au-Prince on Sunday. Due to past military dictatorships, Haiti has no military, and only 3,500 to 5,000 police officers, limiting the government's ability to maintain security. Rebels attacked another town today, killing the police commissioner...
SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has dissolved the country's parliament, in the wake of a power struggle with the Prime Minister, in which she seized control of the Defense Ministry. The PM had said he could no longer effectively deal with Tamil rebels in the ongoing peace process through which Sri Lanka hopes to end its 20-year-long civil war. The President has announced new elections, four years ahead of schedule; critics accuse her of trying to extend her term and consolidate power with a parliamentary majority, in itself not altogether likely. [For more: BBC] PRESIDENT PROPOSES CUTS TO TOXIN RESEARCH The AP reports that on the same day ricin powder was discovered in the Senate Majority Leader's mail, the new budget proposal requested that Congress eliminate funding for decontamination research. The article cites an EPA response as saying the cuts would "force it to disband the technical and engineering expertise that will be needed to address known and emerging biological and chemical threats in the future." [For more: Salon] IRAN'S PARLIAMENT VOTES TO LIMIT POWER OF GUARDIAN COUNCIL Iran's reformist parliament gathered to pass a law, under condition of "triple urgency", to forbid the Guardian Council from banning candidates for political reasons. The special urgency is reserved in Iran's parliamentary structure for situations of great political or military peril; it is the first time since the Constitution's adoption in 1979 that Iran has used this level of legislative urgency. Members of the conservative Guardian Council have indicated their opposition to the law, saying it is "contrary to Islam and to certain articles of the Constitution". [For more: AVUI] US NOW CONSIDERING UN ROLE TO EASE POLITICAL TENSION IN IRAQ IRAN'S PRESIDENT PUSHES BACK AGAINST HARDLINERS Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has threatened the resignation of his entire administration, if a unilateral ban by ruling clerics on reformist candidates is not lifted. The move would be aimed at delegitimizing the unelected Guardian Council. Parliamentarians are staging a protest sit-in, now in its third day. The ruling religious council declared that it would not permit some 3,000 candidates to stand in upcoming elections, 80 of which are current MPs. [For more: BBC] BERLUSCONI TO FACE CHARGES Italy's Constitutional Court has overruled Berlusconi's immunity law on grounds of equality before the law. The controversial Prime Minister and media-tycoon had pushed the law through Parliament in order to obtain immunity from prosecution on corruption charges going back more than a decade. Equality before the law is written into the Italian Constitution, leading the court to withdraw the law suspending investigations of high-ranking governmental officials. [For more: Corriere] HONG KONG DEMONSTRATORS WANT FREE ELECTIONS A 2-mile long procession of demonstrators marched yesterday in Hong Kong, demanding the right to elect directly the Chief Executive and the entire regional legislature. The current CE was elected by an 800-member electoral panel loyal to Beijing. This past summer, 500,000 marched and successfully delayed the implementation of strict new security laws. The government issued a statement saying it had a responsibility to listen and to pursue democratic structures, under the Basic Law, the Hong Kong constitution agreed to by the UK and China before transition. [For more: NYT] |
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