Recent border skirmish tops UN talks with Israeli, Lebanese military officials

The investigation by the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon was the focus of today’s talks with Israeli and Lebanese senior military officials today.

UN report on human rights violations in DR Congo to execute next month

The report documenting the most serious human rights violations committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between 1993 and 2003 will be made public on 1 October, the United Nations announced today.

Darfur: UN-AU envoy meets with World Bank officials

The head of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur today called for World Bank assistance to ensure that the “dividends of peace are made evident” to promote a sustainable peace in the war-ravaged Sudanese region.

A birds-eye view of hurricane Earl

An astronaut on the International Space Station has captured a serene-looking view of hurricane Earl – but things aren’t so calm down below

Staying in touch from the middle of the Atlantic

By Kerry Sanders, NBC NewsST JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND - Floating over the spot where Titanic sank April 15, 1912, I stood on the deck of the research ship Jean Charcot with my iPhone chiming as each mail arrived, while my earpiece remained dialed into NBC News in New York where I co …

Detroit Struggles With Rise in Murders of Young Black Men

September 2, 2010 http://detnews.com/article/20100902/METRO/9020418

Detroit struggles with rise in murders of young black men

MIKE WILKINSON AND SANTIAGO ESPARZA
The Detroit News

In Detroit, as jobs and hope have evaporated in the wake of a gnawing recession, the fallout has been more than just economic. For a tiny slice of the population, it’s become increasingly fatal.

For black males in the city between ages 15 and 24, the chances of getting murdered have risen rapidly in recent years, increasing from 79 in 2005 to 102 last year. The number reached a high of 115 in 2008.

“We are aware of it,” said interim Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. “We are concerned.”

Young black men account for just 7 percent of the city’s population, yet more than a quarter of all homicides. They have a murder rate — 200 per 100,000 residents — nearly seven times higher than the rest of the population. If they had died at the same rate as everyone else in Detroit, there would have been 16 killed last year, or one every three weeks.

Instead, police were investigating, on average, the murders of two young black men a week.

“There’s a lot of young kids dying,” said Lyvonne Cargill, a 39-year-old Detroiter whose son Je’Rean “Blake” Nobles was gunned down May 14 a few blocks from her eastside home. He was 17.

Most of Detroit learned about Je’Rean’s killing because of what happened days later: Police looking for his killer raided an east-side home and accidently shot and killed a 7-year-old girl, Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

But Aiyana’s death wasn’t the only tragedy to follow. Cargill said two of her son’s best friends, both 17, also have been killed. One was shot to death, the other beaten to death.

“It’s so bad what’s going on around here,” she said.

Environment needs change

Antonio Webster, strolling through his crumbling neighborhood off Grand River north of I-94, is a 17-year-old high school dropout who doesn’t have a steady job. He recently finished a stint in a juvenile detention center.

Webster admits trouble is always beckoning. But he said he wants to avoid getting labeled, as is happening more frequently in Detroit, as young, black anddead.

“It’s around me all day, every day,” Webster said.

Police have long known that youths like Webster are overrepresented at the county morgue. Yet, they and others have been surprised by an increase that can be found in area cemeteries, in graffiti memorializing the dead and in the fear that pervades the living.

“Nobody thinks positive,” Webster said. When asked what he wants to be doing in five years, he shrugs.

It’s not just in Detroit; national crime experts have noted the increase across the country. A 2009 report showed that young black males were both dying in greater numbers and committing more crimes, including murder.

As city leaders acknowledge and grapple with the problem, they find themselves trying to solve the murders — and the problems that are causing so many.

Cargill wants her son’s accused killer, Chauncey Owens, to go to prison. But she wants to see changes so her 11-year-old son can grow up safe. She said the city needs more opportunities for children to work and play.

“Us people have to step up,” she said.

In a city struggling to keep cops on the street, it’s been difficult to expand the types of recreation programs Cargill advocates. And jobs have been scarce in much of the city.

Godbee said the police department recently participated in a national youth violence prevention forum in Detroit hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice and city officials will travel to San Jose, Calif., in the fall for another forum.

In the short term, Detroit police will use data to determine how officers are deployed to head off crime. The practice started last year under former chief Warren Evans and is continuing under Godbee. Under this strategy, officials analyze crime trends and deploy patrols and sting operations accordingly.

To address the issue of youthful homicide victims over the long term, Godbee said mentors, jobs, better education, more involved parents and community-based programs will be needed, as well as anger management training.

“The end game is a holistic approach,” Godbee said. “We have to change the systemic environment that leads to violence.”

Mayor Dave Bing held a youth forum recently. Godbee said young people at the event cried out for mentors and for more involved parents.

Godbee praised community-based efforts like the Made Men patrols that started last fall at schools. The effort was spearheaded by the Rev. Edgar Vann, pastor of Second Ebenezer Church.

Vann also offers mentoring programs through his church and the Vanguard Community Development Corp.

“There is a lack of hope with many young people and we have to help them get that back,” Vann said.

He agrees with Godbee that education is the key, but says many city schools are not up to par and threats of violence keep students away.

“It is easy to tell a young person to stay in school, but what if there are gangs?” Vann said. “What then?”

‘Well out of control’

For Yusef Shakur, 37, a one-time gang member who went to prison and now counsels youths like Webster on how to improve their lives, the solution is simpler.

“The culture, it has to be changed,” said Shakur, who has gotten a college degree and written two books on his experiences since his release from prison. “The normal has become abnormal and the abnormal has become normal.”

Too many youngsters are numb to the possibility of death, he said. For them, it’s a potential “badge of honor.” High school isn’t a viable option for many and most can’t see beyond the boarded-up and fire-damaged homes in their neighborhoods.

That people find life cheap doesn’t surprise Shakur. “It’s a reflection of a deteriorating city,” he said.

With the exodus of many of the city’s middle-class families, what remains are homogenous neighborhoods filled with the poor and less educated. Far more boys drop out of high school than graduate and only one out of four has a job.

Common disputes can quickly escalate into gun battles; the results are often fatal.

“They’re not abiding by anybody’s rules,” said criminologist Carl Taylor of Michigan State University. “It’s a total breakdown of social norms.”

When he grew up in Detroit, Taylor said, his teachers were his neighbors, as were area businessmen. There were standards to meet and social rules to follow.

Not so today, he said: “In some neighborhoods, there is almost anarchy and no one wants to address that.”

Taylor said public officials have to acknowledge the problem first. He said many leaders have been reluctant to talk about Detroit’s murder problem because it’s bad news few want to share. Then, they have to act.

“This is well out of control but it’s been well out of control for some time,” Taylor said. “If you don’t do something, the facts I’m looking at, it’s only going to get worse.”

On the east side, Lyvonne Cargill is recovering from back surgery and getting ready to relive her son’s death with Owens’ upcoming trial. She’s still mourning the loss of her son.

Cargill is urging leaders and parents to work on a solution so no one, she said, has to follow in her shoes.

“Listen to your kids and pay attention to your kids,” she said. “Our kids need us.”

mwilkinson@detnews.com (313) 222-2563

UN report on human rights violations in DR Congo to be released next month

The report documenting the most serious human rights violations committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between 1993 and 2003 will be made public on 1 October, the United Nations announced today.

‘Medical marijuana’ hits the small screen

The first advert for medicinal cannabis was aired on television this week in California. Is this a sign of things to come, asks Catherine de Lange

Once-in-a-century salmon run hits Canada’s West Coast

It’s good news for British Columbia’s salmon fishermen, particularly those situated on the Fraser River - this year’s Sockeye salmon run is the largest one seen in 100 years.

Every year Vancouver resident Stephen Ottridge takes hamburgers or steak to his street’s annual summer block party. This year he arrived with a salmon large enough to fill the whole barbecue.

“There is a cornucopia of salmon this year, so we decided to treat the block to some,” Ottridge said from the city on Canada’s Pacific Coast, where marine experts are both puzzled and delighted by the unexpected glut of the bright-red, succulent fish.

After years of declining sockeye numbers and a struggling fishing industry, the Pacific Salmon Commission last week said it now expects 25 million sockeye will return to the Fraser River (left) this year — more than double its earlier forecast and the best run since 1913. Industry insiders expected wholesale and retail prices for the fish to drop due to the abundance.

Last year, slightly more than a measly 1 million sockeye made their way back to their spawning grounds, prompting the Canadian government to close the river to commercial and recreational sockeye fishing for the third straight year.

The reasons for the salmon bonanza remain a mystery, but what has helped is that it has coincided with a “dominant-run” year, said Carl Walters, a fisheries expert at the University of British Columbia’s zoology department.

“Every fourth year is the dominant year when the biggest run comes in. The year after that is sub-dominant. Then you get two really low runs,” Walters said.

Twenty years of declining sockeye in the Fraser River led the Canadian government to launch an investigation last year into the disappearance of the fish at a time when numerous theories abound.

These include that climate change may be reducing food supply for salmon in the ocean, and that rising temperatures in the river may have weakened the fish.

Commercial fish farms that the young Fraser River salmon pass en route to the ocean have also been blamed for infecting them with damaging sea lice, a marine parasite.

While consumers are enjoying cheap salmon for the first time in years — prices for fresh sockeye are down about 30 percent from a year ago — the fishing industry is struggling to cope with the sudden bounty.

“It is an amazing thing but the problem is that this has come along when the market has been lost. Now we have all this fish and we can’t do a lot with it,” said Bob Fraumeni, owner of FAS Seafood Producers, which operates a West Coast commercial fishing fleet and retail outlets.

There are reports of fish rotting on boats as fishermen run out of ice and freezer space, and of tempers flaring as boats jostle for space on the water.

For now though, most are enjoying the bumper harvest.
The spectacle of the returning salmon has wowed many fisherman. Steve Johansen told the Vancouver Courier:

“Seven miles of solid sockeye—jumping, boiling, finning on the surface of the water. I’ve fished all my life and I’ve never seen this.”

But Johanson cautioned that this year’s unexpectedly strong return did not mean the future for sockeye salmon is bright. The size of the return was not expected and many are stunned by the abundance of salmon. But those who know say the return will result in “overspawning” where too many future offspring will compete for scarce resources, resulting in a decrease in the survival rate for the young fish reported.

Meanwhile, despite the fears for the future of the industry, the people are enjoying the bounty that has dropped onto their plates.

“I’ve been in the business for 20 years and I’ve eaten sockeye from everywhere and this is, in my opinion, the best-tasting Canadian sockeye around,” said George Heras, president of family-owned Seven Seas Fish Market in Vancouver.

Source:
Reuters,“Once-in-a-century salmon run hits Canada’s West Coast“, accessed August 31, 2010
Digital Journal,“BC’s Sockeye salmon run the biggest seen in 97 years“, accessed August 31, 2010

From the Inbox: Tell Obama: Save Polar Bears and Stop the Next Drilling Disaster

It’s outrageous! Right now, the Obama administration is setting the stage for America’s next offshore oil disaster.

Even as millions of gallons of oil from BP’s botched Deepwater Horizon drilling operation pollute the Gulf and threaten the people and environment of the Gulf of Mexico, the administration has so far failed to act to protect Alaska’s fragile and remote Chukchi Sea — prime habitat for America’s threatened polar bears — from a similar catastrophe.

To help prevent the next drilling disaster and protect the lives of our polar bears, Defenders has joined with our friends at CREDO Action in a new campaign to stop harmful offshore drilling in this sensitive area — but we need your help to win!

Please read the message below and take action to save our polar bears!

– Rodger Schlickeisen, President, Defenders of Wildlife

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Tell Obama: Stop the Next Drilling Disaster Obama must act now to save an irreplaceable way of life. Obama’s support for drilling in the Chukchi could doom this sensitive area’s polar bears and native communities. Dear Friend, Last month, a federal court in Alaska found that the Bush administration violated the law when it approved oil and gas leasing in Alaska’s Chukchi sea without sufficient information and analysis about risks to the Arctic environment. A different court found similar flaws with Arctic drilling plans in 2009. Yet, President Obama’s administration has so far failed to revisit protections for the Chukchi - arctic waters off Alaska’s coast that are home to some of America’s remaining polar bears and key to the survival of Inupiat Eskimo communities. Please urge President Obama to take action now to save polar bears, bowhead whales and other wildlife - and the Alaska Native communities that rely on their health to survive - by preventing the next offshore drilling disaster. The Obama administration has asked the court in Alaska to allow activities that would pave the way for drilling to proceed, potentially jeopardizing an area key to the survival of not only polar bears, but also bowhead whales, Pacific walrus and other wildlife. The Gulf oil disaster clearly demonstrates the terrible risks of offshore drilling: Sea birds coated in oil and unable to fly; Seas turtles poisoned by toxic waters; and Wildlife habitat fouled by oil. And it could be much worse in the Chukchi. Thirty years after the Exxon Valdez disaster, there is still no effective, proven technology to clean up oil spills in broken sea ice conditions in Arctic waters, such as those found in the Chukchi Sea… a problem that could doom rare Arctic whales, threatened polar bears and other wildlife to extinction and destroy Inupiat communities if drilling proceeds. Help stop the next offshore drilling disaster! Tell President Obama to pull the illegal leases sold in the Chukchi Sea and halt seismic testing in the Arctic this summer. The courts and scientists have all said that more information is needed about the Arctic environment before we even consider drilling in its ice covered seas that are cloaked in darkness most of the year. The recent court decision provides the perfect opportunity for the Obama administration to take that time and really make sure we can protect the environment - before we jeopardize this fragile place, its wildlife and the people who count on it for the survival of their communities. To avoid another catastrophic offshore drilling disaster like the one now threatening the communities and wildlife of the Gulf of Mexico - and another Exxon-Valdez-like oil spill - we need a responsible approach to protecting the Chukchi. The Valdez spill decimated fisheries and continues to impact local wildlife and Alaskan communities to this day. And the Gulf oil disaster has killed thousands of animals and will impact the region’s fragile ecosystems for years to come. Alaska native communities, polar bears… and the rest of America deserve better. Please send President Obama a message right now. Thanks for all you do, Becky Bond Political Director CREDO Action