Wars push number of internally displaced people to record levels
Crises in Syria and Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2012 help push total figure of people displaced worldwide to 28 million
Wars in Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) pushed the number of people internally displaced by armed conflict, violence and human rights violations to 28.8 million last year, the highest figure recorded by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in Geneva.
More than 6.5 million people were newly displaced within their own countries in 2012, almost twice as many as the year before, IDMC said in its annual report. Since these people have not crossed borders, they are not refugees and do not benefit from international protection.
Emergency Greek Bill allows 15,500 public sector layoffs
Move to permit massive redundancy plan by end of 2014 a condition for €8.8bn in rescue loans
Greece’s parliament has approved an emergency Bill to pave the way for thousands of public sector layoffs and clear the way for €8.8 billion in international rescue loans.
The Bill, which passed in a 168-123 vote, will allow for the first civil service layoffs in more than a century.
About 2,000 civil servants will be laid off by the end of May, with another 2,000 following by the end of the year and a further 11,500 by the end of 2014, for a total of 15,500.
Kalashnikov classes for Palestinian students
April 29, 2013 - 1:44PM
Phoebe Greenwood
Gaza City: Palestinian schoolboys are learning how to fire Kalashnikovs, throw grenades and plant improvised explosive devices as part of a program run by Hamas's education ministry.
The scheme has been criticised by Palestinian human rights groups, who point out that Hamas has previously banned sport from the school curriculum on the grounds that there is not enough time for it.
Hamas authorities introduced the "Futuwwa", or youth program into the state curriculum last September for 37,000 Palestinian boys aged between 15 and 17, conceiving it as a scheme intended to initiate a new generation of Palestinian men in the struggle against Israel.
Izzadine Mohamed, 17, was among the students who attended the weekly school classes, which covered first aid, basic fire fighting skills and how to fire a Kalashnikov rifle.
Nigeria's elite make country toast of champagne sellers
The party was just getting started at a plush club in this teeming Nigerian city, hip-hop blaring, the bar bathed in blue light -- and champagne bottles on ice already adorning tables.
"Too much oil money," said a 40-year-old man at Rhapsody's in the high-end Victoria Island district of Lagos, when asked about Nigerian spending on champagne.
Two bottles of Laurent-Perrier chilled in ice buckets on the table in front of him. His company was picking up the tab, like others here, he said, declining to give his name or say what he did for a living.
Recent data puts Nigeria among the fastest-growing countries in the world for champagne consumption, spending an estimated $59 million in 2012 on bubbly, according to Euromonitor International research firm.
Mexico: Border schools adjust to influx of English-speaking students
Thousands of children have arrived in Mexican schools from the US amid record deportations. One school in Northern Mexico is becoming a model for integrating this new student population.
Elementary students at Lamberto Hernández School in this northern Mexican city were long gone by the time teachers sat down recently to learn about the growing population of English-speaking students in their classrooms.
At the teacher training workshop, facilitator Laura Guadalupe Zatarain asked the educators in English to fill out a simple form written in German. The teachers looked at her, puzzled.
"This gives you an idea how these children feel when we start speaking too fast and they have trouble understanding," Ms. Zatarain says, switching to Spanish. "Especially about a subject like math, or history, or President Benito Juárez, someone they have never heard about."
Panel seeks to fine tech companies for noncompliance with wiretap orders
A government task force is preparing legislation that would pressure companies such as Facebook and Google to enable law enforcement officials to intercept online communications as they occur, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the effort.
Driven by FBI concerns that it is unable to tap the Internet communications of terrorists and other criminals, the task force’s proposal would penalize companies that failed to heed wiretap orders — court authorizations for the government to intercept suspects’ communications.
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