NYMHM: Iran's bicycle crimes, lupus/petroleum link, newspapers Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 13:42:45 -0700 ============================================================================= NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * May 23, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 21 Important but overlooked news from around the world. NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online this week: http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004280.html - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUOTED: "The dish's installer is very nice and gives a 40 percent discount for clients who have to replace a seized dish. My mother says she can't live without satellite television and she is right, our channels are boring and pious." -- Mariam, a 30-year-old Iranian clerk, on a vigorous but unpopular morals crackdown in her country (see "Iran," below). CONTENTS: *Top Stories* Transplant tourism fuels China's live organ harvest Saddam's Kurdish spies in the spotlight U.S. Sadr plot led to disaster *Iran* Vice squad targets women on bicycles *Media* Newspapers sell the farm, give up the goat *Public Health* Lupus linked to petroleum exposure ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES ............................................................................. > Transplant Tourism Fuels China's Live Organ Harvest Activists say the surge of kidneys and other organs available for transplant in China is no accident: they're being harvested from living Falun Gong members imprisoned by the military, and then sold to desperate Western patients on long waiting lists back home. Now Canadian doctors are calling for a ban on visiting doctors from China until the practice is forsworn, and warn transplant tourists that their new lease on life comes at a deadly price. > Saddam's Kurdish Spies in the Spotlight Allegations that 300 Kurds from several political parties were double agents for Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist government are shaking up the Kurdish establishment. Two newspapers made the allegations based on documents looted from Hussein's intelligence service; some parties are offering amnesty to the accused, or say that the spying was sanctioned. The Kurdish public is in a less charitable mood, calling for trials for suspected collaborators. An investigating council has been formed, but has no powers of prosecution. > U.S. Sadr Plot Led to Disaster Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr turned against the United States once and for all in August 2004, when U.S. forces laid seige to his brother's house after inviting him there to finalize peace talks. Iraq's National Security Adviser Dr. Mowaffaq Rubai'e claims he was used by the U.S. to lure Sadr to the house; but the cleric escaped, scuttling the peace plan, entrenching his anti-Americanism, and emboldening the Mahdi Army, which then took over Baghdad and many Shia cities across Iraq, the Independent reports. Sources: "China kills to harvest organs: MDs" National Post (Canada), May 18, 2007 http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=20d0fa3c-f0a4-4767-ab09-25456c176c4b "More alleged Kurdish spies exposed" Institute for War & Peace Reporting, May 11, 2007 http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=335516&apc_state=henh "Exclusive: Secret U.S. plot to kill Al-Sadr" Independent (U.K.), May 21, 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2565123.ece ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IRAN ............................................................................. > Vice Squad Targets Women on Bicycles Thousands of women have been cited and hundreds will stand trial for not complying with the Iranian government's new rules on stricter Islamic dress, listening to Western music and even walking a dog in public, which officials consider impure. The new rules, introduced for "the country's moral health," also include a ban on satellite dishes, co-ed Internet cafes, and any public establishment with darkened windows that prevent ... GET THE WHOLE STORY: http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004282.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MEDIA ............................................................................. > Newspapers Sell the Farm, Give up the Goat Across the country, falling newspaper circulation and the flight of ad dollars to the Web have caused publishers to fire employees, sell their buildings and outsource their ad and subscription departments to India. The San Jose Mercury News is the latest to do so; it follows other newspapers across the country, including the ... GET THE WHOLE STORY: http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004283.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PUBLIC HEALTH ............................................................................. > Lupus Linked to Petroleum Exposure Scientists in Boston and New Mexico have shown that exposure to petroleum is linked to the deadly auto-immune disease lupus, with residents of low-income and minority communities ... GET THE WHOLE STORY: http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004284.html ============================================================================= Editors: Julia Scott, Josh Wilson ............................................................................. SUPPORT PUBLIC-SERVICE MEDIA Newsdesk.org and News You Might Have Missed are commercial-free, and available at no charge. 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