OND: Individuals & Groups

Be nice:  I am guest-hosting in exchange for the chance to get more letters to soldiers for Netroots Support the Troops!

Please share other news stories you find worthy or unusual.  

I selected a few stories, then noticed I was focusing on stories involving individuals not in anyone's headlines, and groups taking some kind of action.  

Individuals
Yahoo News:  Liberia
8 suffocated during soccer match in Liberia
Soccer stadiums are dangerous without hoodlums around:

At least eight people suffocated at an overcrowded stadium during a soccer match between Liberia and Gambia on Sunday, a doctor and an aid worker said.

The 33,000-seat Samuel K. Doe stadium in Monrovia was packed beyond capacity for the World Cup qualifying match.

The rowdy crowd pushed up against a metal bar, causing the bar to snap and sending dozens of people careening onto the floor below. They fell onto others at the game, crushing them.

Yahoo News:  Uganda
Uganda's children work on dangerous rock pile
The link from the news service reads "uganda_children_on_the_rocks"  :-(

Most of the workers are refugees who fled a civil war in northern Uganda. Now they make 100 Uganda shillings, 6 U.S. cents, for every 5-gallon bucket that they fill with chipped rocks. Stephen works 12 hours a day to fill three buckets.

There's no safety code or protective clothing. The children's arms and legs are covered in scabs from flying stones. Stephen says a friend lost an eye.

Rock falls are frequent. Stephen remembers the one that killed his mother.

The Guardian:  Serbia/Britain
Briton faces war crime trial over Serb massacre of 200 Croats
War criminals can be found everywhere, apparently.

Milorad Pejic, a Croatian Serb from the Croatian border town of Vukovar, lived in Corby in Northamptonshire for 10 years until last month and obtained a British passport.  

Pejic was arrested after travelling to Belgrade last month from the UK. He is to be put on trial with 16 other suspects already being retried for the Ovcara farm massacre. They were found guilty, but the supreme court in Belgrade ordered a retrial by Serbia's special war crimes court.

The Australian:  The Netherlands/Democratic Republic of the Congo
Warlord on Congo atrocity charges
War Criminals

Former Democratic Republic of the Congo warlord and ex-presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba has been arrested in Brussels and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The International Criminal Court at The Hague announced his arrest at the weekend, alleging Mr Bemba was the head of a militia that committed atrocities during the 2002-2003 conflict in the neighbouring Central African Republic.

Salon:  USA/Politics
Former House aide pleads guilty in lobby scandal
Another brick in the wall, imho.

A one-time top aide to former Oklahoma Rep. Ernest Istook pleaded guilty Monday to a conspiracy to defraud the House as part of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

John Albaugh admitted in federal court in Washington that he accepted meals and sports and concert tickets, along with other perks, from lobbyists in exchange for official favors.

Salon:  USA/Canada
Good News Item of the Day
Kids adopted from China raise cash for quake

A small body frozen in a moment, surrounded by rubble. A terrified, bleeding young girl carried on a stretcher. Sobbing mothers clutching photos of children lost to the earthquake in China.

"There for the grace of God go our daughters, and us," said Sandi Janusch, who adopted 7-year-old Kaili from China as a baby.

Moved by images of the tragedy and pulled by an invisible red thread that — as Chinese legend holds — forever connects her to her daughter's birth country, Janusch wanted to do something, anything, to help.

The Guardian:  Spain
Plane used in Honda ad crashes in Spain

A plane used in the filming of Honda's live skydiving TV ad crashed in Spain a day after filming was completed, reportedly killing the pilot and a skydiver.

Honda confirmed that the plane was one that was used in the live skydiving TV ad, which was broadcast on Channel 4 just after 8pm UK time on Thursday, but said that the crash did not involve anyone connected with the filming of the commercial.

The Guardian:  Palestine
In Beit Hanoun, Tutu visits a family torn apart by shells

Desmond Tutu stepped out of his armoured 4x4 and walked up to the Athamna family house in Beit Hanoun yesterday. Then the South African archbishop stopped and bowed his head in prayer for a minute.

Before him was an alleyway that 18 months ago was filled with grieving relatives and neighbours and soaked in blood. Shrapnel marks scar the walls of the house and those nearby, where a volley of Israeli artillery shells landed in the middle of a residential street in this eastern Gaza town early on November 8 2006. The shelling killed 18 Palestinian civilians, all members of the Athamna extended family, among them 14 women and children.

Der Spiegel:  Afghanistan
'I Wish I Had the Taliban as My Soldiers'
Karzai Interview

President Hamid Karzai has come under fire for not doing enough to stem corruption in Afghanistan. He speaks to SPIEGEL about the coalition forces' ties with warlords, rumors about his family's influence and why he believes dirty deals are sometimes necessary.

The Age:  Australia
Australian furniture champion bows out

MELBOURNE furniture maker Nicholas Dattner began championing Australian redgum a quarter of a century ago at a time when it was regarded only as good firewood.

Since then his handcrafted tables have sold for up to $85,000, but the 57-year-old has decided to close his Collingwood business and Sydney store as his two daughters have chosen different career paths.

NYTimes/AP:  Iran
Iranian women's rights activist sentenced

A young Iranian activist and his lawyer said Monday that he had become the first man sentenced for participating in a campaign to change laws that discriminate against women.

Amir Yaghoub Ali, 21, said he was convicted of acting against national security and sentenced to a year in prison for his role in the ''Change for Equality'' campaign, launched by Iranian women activists in September 2006.

When Money Falls From the Sky

Stories about money falling from the sky usually feature lame clip-art or reassurances that "all you need is a dollar and a dream." From time to time, however, it happens for real, as was the case in Serang, Indonesia, over the weekend.

Millions of rupiah worth of banknotes were dropped from a small plane flying over a sports field where hundreds of people were waiting, in a publicity stunt for a new book. There were no strings attached to the money. Tung Desem Waringin, the author, told BBC News that he wanted to do a bit of charity as well as promotion.

Big Groups
The Australian:  Burma/Indonesia
Jakarta proposes to use cyclone in push for radical change in Burma

INDONESIA is planning a bold new initiative on Burma, aiming to use the flux created by Cyclone Nargis to push through far-reaching change.

A group of think tank analysts and former senior officials have formulated a detailed plan, which is under consideration in the office of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

This would involve Indonesia commissioning a special envoy on Burma. One name mooted for this position is former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas.

Voice of America:  UN/Hunger
Could Women Solve the Food Crisis?

The United Nations agency says the three-day summit offers a historic chance to re-launch the fight against hunger and poverty. Another goal is to increase agricultural production in developing countries.

Poor countries will likely spend up to one hundred seventy billion dollars this year to import food -- up forty percent from last year.

Special Bonus Utah News
Because you usually don't get any, right?

Individual
Salt Lake Tribune:  
Huntsman's temple work

Gov. Jon Huntsman, facing re-election, is working today to nail down Utah's pivotal Hindu vote. Jon has played all the cards shrewdly: He eats their food, understands their cultural sensitivities, attends their festivals and, oh yeah, he adopted an Indian baby. Brilliant.

Groups
Salt Lake Tribune:
Foundation sees link between dull ads and rise in Utah HIV rate

The Utah AIDS Foundation used to pass out beer coasters with pictures of condoms and messages such as "Thank you and come again."
   But its latest federally funded HIV-prevention messages have been blander. One ad now in weekly newspapers shows a haggard man in women's clothing smoking a cigarette, with the line "STDS are a total drag," and urges readers to get tested.
   Meanwhile, Utah's HIV-infection rate has been rising; it's up 32 percent so far this year in Salt Lake County compared with the same time last year.

Netroots for the Troops - Letters for the Troops

The  IGTNT and Mojo Friday crews are pleased to announce that we will be going to Netroots Nation '08 in Austin, July 17-20.  Our joint venture will pay tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and help those on the ground today with care packages from home.

Our goal is to send 101 troop care packages from Austin, each containing a personally written letter to a soldier.  

Recent Netroots for the Troops diaries:
Ninepatch’s Army – tonight:  Live with A Real Soldier
llbear and Ninepatch hosted this chat with Jonathan, who told us

The best part about the letters is, no matter how crummy your day may have been, getting off of patrol, getting your mail and getting back to your quarters, was finding letters from folks telling you they care. After 18 hour patrols that makes a big difference.

It was good to know after seeing some of the horrible things we see that people like him and others we didn't know took time out of their day to write to us.

WE NEED YOU: Netroots For The Troops

Donate to Netroots for the Troops
Previous sample letters:
Sample #2, with comment on w
Sample #1:  Cost-Free Way to Help

   This is about SUPPORT, not just STUFF!
   A LETTER, from you, your children, the kids at church or school, is THE BEST THING to send.

   A show of personal support is far better than spending a bunch of money that you don't have.
anysoldier.com.

Please, take a few minutes and write a letter to a soldier, then email it to me at jlms_qkw AT xmission DOT com, or contact me there for a snail address.