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Tanzanians killed in disco stampede
At least 19 youths have died and several others wounded in a stampede inside a disco in central Tanzania, police have told state television.
Police said that those who died were aged between 12 and 17 years.
"According to preliminary investigations, 19 died of stampede and suffocation in the disco hall," Daudi Siasi, Tabora regional police commander, told the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) on Wednesday.
"The stampede was caused by (a) commotion in the disco."
The incident occured in the Tabora region, 750km northwest of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, where a large number of youths had gathered for Eid al-Fitr festivities marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Saisi said several people were injured and taken to Tabora town's hospitals, where some were admitted and others were treated and then sent home.
"The town is in a sombre mood as a result the incident," he said, adding that police had launched investigations into what had caused the stampede. At least 19 youths have died and several others wounded in a stampede inside a disco in central Tanzania, police have told state telev... more -
Teachers' union wants sex with students to be allowed?
Teachers should not be prosecuted for having sex with pupils over 16, claim union bosses from NASUWT, claiming there should be a clear differentiation between "errors of professional judgement" in consensual relationships, and child abuse.
Intimate relations between teachers and students under 18 were made illegal in 2001, and professionals found guilty may be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for defying the law.
Should a teacher who has a relationship with a 17-year-old student be labelled a sex offender? Teachers should not be prosecuted for having sex with pupils over 16, claim union bosses from NASUWT, claiming there should be a clear... more -
Teens fight for lower voting age
A group of Florida teens have started a chapter of the National Youth Rights Association and are fighting to make Florida the first state in the nation with a voting age of 16. A group of Florida teens have started a chapter of the National Youth Rights Association and are fighting to make Florida the first st... more
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Parents taking advantage of law to abandon children
Some parents are taking advantage of a Nebraska law and are abandoning their children at local hospitals and police stations without consequence. Many teens have been abandoned under this law that was intended to calm the rising trend of "dumpster babies." Recently, a father abandoned nine of his ten children under this law. Some parents are taking advantage of a Nebraska law and are abandoning their children at local hospitals and police stations without c... more
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A $20,000 Debt
A student at Tidewater Community College, Logan Culpepper is only 19 years old and already has a $20,000 dollar debt to contend with. She talks about her lifestyle as she juggles school, work and family, barely squeezing out any time for herself. A student at Tidewater Community College, Logan Culpepper is only 19 years old and already has a $20,000 dollar debt to contend with. ... more
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Conservatives to crack down on youth crime
The Tories have carved out a niche as the tough-on-crime party, focusing on stiff punishment because they say it is a deterrent.
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Sidewalk Connections
SIDEWALK CONNECTIONS evaluates the mentality and the consequences of urban sprawl in a medium sized midwestern/southern town in terms of poor health and car dependency where sidewalks haven't been a part of public policy for 50 years.
The town in question, Sulphur Springs, Texas, is typical of how in large parts of the US, post-war urban planning tailored life exclusively around the automobile. Today, driving everywhere has contributed to many people's over-weight problem. Children are confined to staying home unless someone can drive them to a friend's house or park, and teenagers can't wait for their first car in order to be independent from this ristriction, thus creating 4-car-families.
While the national trend moves towards trying to reduce dependency on foreign
oil or going green, the reality is, in many towns, the lack of pedestrian lights, crosswalks, or sidewalks, let alone bike lanes, literally inhibits, unless very daring, the best efforts of gas-conscience citizens.
However, the film also addresses the fact that few people are demanding change from their city council and continue to cling to a car-culture. The young characters in the video petitioning to get their skate park is meant to be an example to the larger adult community about getting involved and making change. SIDEWALK CONNECTIONS evaluates the mentality and the consequences of urban sprawl in a medium sized midwestern/southern town in terms ... more -
Lower the Voting Age - [ Youth Empowerment ]
We're the National Youth Rights Association of Southeast Florida, a chapter of the National Youth Rights Association, and we're fighting to lower Florida's voting age to 16. Watch the video and visit www.16toVote.org for more info. We're the National Youth Rights Association of Southeast Florida, a chapter of the National Youth Rights Association, and we'... more
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Change in Community Starts with Seeing the Need
A once-undocumented scholar becomes an immigration lawyer; an 87-year-old Chicagoan instills hope in a new generation of youth; a Muslim-American organizer tackles criminal justice policies, and two women take action to keep a roof over their families’ heads. Life experiences enable them to see the need in their neighborhoods and drive them to work toward change.
These men, women and youth – some community organizers, some volunteers, family members and neighbors – were among 4,000 people who gathered in Chicago earlier in September for a forum to amplify the seldom heard voices of working families.
Simultaneous events took place in Los Angeles and Birmingham, as part of the Marguerite Casey Foundation’s Equal Voice for America’s Families campaign, drawing 16,000 family delegates. They endorsed the National Family Platform for working families, crafted through months of hard work in over 60 town halls across the country. Among the issues addressed were: education, housing, healthcare, employment, criminal justice, and immigration reform.
A mosaic of ages, races and nationalities and religions, participants came from states in the region and from Chicago neighborhoods like Albany Park and Lawndale. They came to support each other, celebrate, and identify the most pressing needs of their communities.
Sandra Bruno, 25, volunteers with the Albany Park Neighborhood Council, while she’s looking for a job. She just graduated from law school at Tulane University, but her future didn’t always look so bright. In high school, Bruno was an undocumented immigrant. “Half my family had green cards and the other half didn’t,” she said.
Bruno excelled in school and won a scholarship to attend Princeton University. She said the process of applying for college was nerve wracking. “It was frightening and scary. I’ve lived here most of my life. I’ve done the best I can in school, have the exam scores, but lack the paperwork.” After graduation, Bruno ‘s student visa was approved and she continued her studies.
Bruno wants to practice family immigration law in her community. She said policies should help youth succeed in school so they can contribute to society.
Mahaley Somerville, 87, a longtime community organizer, said education is a key concern for the community.
“[The neighborhood] is better but it could stand for improvement, especially the schools…many schools have been closed by the mayor,” she said.
On Sept. 4, 1000 public school students skipped the first day of school – an action to call attention to under-funded schools. Students, parents, church leaders and activists boarded buses to register for school in a wealthier part of town where schools are better funded.
“I supported [the boycott],” said Somerville, noting that the mayor condemned the action. “They don’t want students to miss the first day, but they don’t care about the rest of the year.”
Wearing an Obama cap and a T-shirt with a photo of her and Barack Obama when he ran for the Senate, Somerville looked out on the sea of faces. “My greatest hope for the day is for the convention to bring different people together.”
Sultan Muhammad, an organizer with Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), said the biggest issue in his community is reform of the criminal justice system. IMAN helped to enact state legislation that would keep young adults convicted of non-violent drug offenses out of prison. Instead, they would go to “drug school” and complete a four-week session of rehab and life-skills training.
Muhammad said the Substance Abuse Management Addressing Recidivism through Treatment (SMART) Act addresses the disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans. “Out of every five people arrested, four are African-American,” he said, adding that diversion programs can dramatically lower prison re-entry rate.
------CONTINUES A once-undocumented scholar becomes an immigration lawyer; an 87-year-old Chicagoan instills hope in a new generation of youth; a Musl... more -
Mayor's Blog: About the Troubling Economic Crisis
The events of the past few days have caused me great pause and consternation. Our nation is gripped in a financial crisis that at its worse could send us down a course that would rival the Great Depression.
And yet these days it seems we go from crisis to crisis – a war with no clear result or end, the housing and foreclosure crisis a few months ago, now we have a melt down on Wall Street.
Congress considers passing a plan to bail out an industry that should know better, an industry Congress had coddled, and will now subsidize.
Congress will then move on to the next debate – all without addressing the underlying conditions that got us here, and keep getting us here.
Why are markets failing? Why are the fundamentals of our economy not sound? Why do people feel worse today, and are more pessimistic about our future than at any other time in our history?
This is a time when Washington has lost its values----- lost its principles - lost its sense of purpose - It no longer invests in our cities, it no longer invests in our people.
Plain and simple, Washington has abandoned us.
Cuts to education, cuts to housing, health, public safety, youth programs, economic development, job training, arts, and infrastructure.
This comes at a time when people in America are suffering – when our nation needs the most.
Consider the following:
1 in every 6 children lives in poverty, with nearly half living in extreme poverty. Is poverty and economic opportunity an urban problem or an American problem?
The US economy has lost over 450,000 jobs so far this year - wages remain flat - gasoline is now over $4 a gallon - rising food prices, rising medical costs - hitting each and every one of us in the wallet.
Is our economy an urban problem or is it an American problem?
We know the answer - these are America’s problems – and yet cities have been left alone to deal with them.
Cities drive the national economy. And yet, when Mayors bring up the issues we all face – we get the same response.
We are told Mayors need to be fiscally responsible, that we need to do more with less, but there is not enough money to solve urban problems.
CDBG is funded at a little over 3.5 billion annually, and has been cut every year since I’ve been in office – We get a Water Bill passed over a veto, approximately $5 billion annually – this is what we spend on water! And remember the SCHIP crisis? How much resistance did the current administration put up to spending money to make sure uninsured children got health insurance?
And yet, this same administration proposes we spend $700 Billion to bail out Wall Street. We are supposed to entrust the bailout to the same regulators who allowed it to happen.
This isn’t monopoly money – Can any of you imagine what $700 billion dollars could do in America’s cities? Or even $350 billion?
Then we are told we MUST spend this money to save our economy, save our very way of life, but no one talks about the path that led us here. The financial crisis has been building up for some time – we know about the bad lending practices; irresponsible borrowing; irresponsible lending - No one bothered to look at underlying value until it was too late.
Meanwhile, mayors have been working on financial literacy, small business assistance, entrepreneurship, education – working with organizations like the ICIC to reinvigorate our inner cities –
We are arming people with the knowledge and tools necessary to make wise financial choices, to build credit worthiness, to accumulate wealth. And now the financial crisis may lead to a credit crisis – Whereas banks were too eager to lend, now they don’t lend at all.
It is time for Washington to end its partisan gridlock, end the pointless debates, and engage in some serious planning and leadership to address the issues we all face.
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Click the link for the rest of the post. The events of the past few days have caused me great pause and consternation. Our nation is gripped in a financial crisis that at its ... more -
New Black Panther Party vs NYPD at 9am [NYC]
(You're not gonna hear about this on the news, but you know that ain't nothing new... what the proverb say... "Until lions have historians, hunters will always be heroes.")
I was marching with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) prior to The New Black Panther Party's (NBPP) participation this past Sunday at the African Parade in Harlem. Everything was going beautifully; it was well-organized, and alive with festivities rich in Pan African culture.
All the sudden, a brutal attack on several NBPP members was carried out by the NYPD.
Now, let me make this clear about the NYPD's purpose at the parade: Participants in the parade were in the middle of the street and the police are required to stay on the sidelines to keep audience out of the street, not run in the middle of the street and start beating people who are part of the parade.
Apparently, they had a different agenda as we were nearing the end of our march. An NYPD officer was literally stomping on a NBPP member's head while other members were trying to save him but ended up catching the similar fate while the NYPD simultaneously began knocking cameras down, forming a circular blockade around the beatings, doubling the latter block up again to prevent clear composed shots of the incident for witnesses to this atrocity.
Juxtaposed to this scene, a group of kids started dancing, shouting "Black Power", obviously not fully understanding that these human beings are unjustifiably receiving capital punishment for representing the continuing effort for Black empowerment at this parade. It dawned on me at that moment, that this brutal treatment is not abnormal for them (and I'm sure for many others) rather a joke to be danced around. It wasn't fully their fault; I can go on all day about the factors that lead to this mentality and I'm sure you can too but watching them carry on made me feel helpless, angry and determined to keep pushing at the same time...we are in a lot of trouble and incidents like this definitely calls for a mass movement to uproot. There were 20,000 people at the parade, marching peacefully, not effectively prepared to protect ourselves legally and physically from the NYPD's lashing out. With their guns ready, Billy clubs and combat boots, the NYPD threw some of the NBPP members in the police van. 20,000! I cannot stress enough the need to organize as a continuing process!
After the police took off with the publically victimized NBPP members, the remaining NBPP members along with the MXGM headed straight for the nearest precinct to see about the members' welfare (and in case you're wondering, the parade continued, while the police were all over the place looking for more "work" and yes, they brought out the dogs too; it was chaotic but apparently not "abnormal" for others, as more chaos ensued).
The NBPP lined in front of the precinct as we waited on the side. Yes, 20,000 people were there but only a handful of us and the remaining NBPP were concerned about this issue enough to walk away from the festivities and silently post in front of the 32nd precinct.
Alarmingly, we encountered two passersby who wanted to put their two cents(less) in saying," Ya'll wilding out yo, what? This ain't no Malcolm X movie, ya'll lining up like this is the movie or somethin', ain't no cameras out here son, ya'll wilding out."
So if you are in NY this Friday and can free yourself briefly from your morning responsibilities, please come and "wild out" in concern for these young political prisoners at 100 Centre st, Part F, Manhatten/ 9 a.m. These are hard times not just for us as a people but for this country as a whole. This country is reaping what it has sown; we must persistently build, edify, (re)define and strengthen our support for one another en route for liberation on all fronts.
Peace. (You're not gonna hear about this on the news, but you know that ain't nothing new... what the proverb say... "Until li... more -
Student Kills Several in Finnish School
A male student shot dead several people at a vocational school in western Finland on Tuesday before killing himself, local authorities said.
The gunman, a student at the local school in the town of Kauhajoki, was shooting inside the building for some time before he shot himself, police said.
"He is no longer free. He has killed himself," Kauhajoki Mayor Antti Rantakokko told Reuters.
"Several are dead," said Rantakokko, adding he did not know the exact number. "The situation is over now."
Rescue personnel around the school had been unable to help while the student was still firing in the building, said rescue squad coordinator Kari Saarinen, chief physician at Senajoki Hospital, about 60 kms (40 miles) from Kauhajoki.
He said hospitals in the area were on full emergency alert. He added that he was unsure about the number of victims, but believed there were several–some wounded, some dead.
The shooting raised the spectre of the killings at Finland's Jokela high school last year, where student Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed six fellow students, the school nurse and the principal after broadcasting his intent with a video on YouTube.
Auvinen shot himself and died later of his injuries.
Rantakokko said there were echoes of Jokela in the Kauhajoki incident.
"On the Internet there is some information, there are analogies to the Jokela case," he said.
A search of YouTube yielded four videos filmed by a user who calls himself Mr. Saari, who said he was 22 years old and lived in Kauhajoki. The videos, between 20 and 32 seconds long, show a man dressed in black or dark colours, firing at a shooting range.
The YouTube user's profile included the words: "And suddenly there was war and the mothers they screamed. For revenge and reprisals for another war."
Kauhajoki is a municipality of 14,000 people located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. A male student shot dead several people at a vocational school in western Finland on Tuesday before killing himself, local authorities... more -
Tokyo shop sells PM favourite as cool old dude
A souvenir shop in Tokyo is offering a range of items all bearing the grinning face of "cool old dude" Taro Aso, 68-year-old frontrunner in the race to be Japan's next prime minister - everything from bean buns to kimono belts have been stamped with his features in this latest campaign to win over Japan's more politically apathetic youth.
Apparently Aso is also into manga and showy suits.
Would a politician branding himself as 'cool old dude' win your vote? Or do you reckon some of the punch has been lost in translation..? A souvenir shop in Tokyo is offering a range of items all bearing the grinning face of "cool old dude" Taro Aso, 68-year-old... more -
Toronto High School Locked Down after Shooting
A high school in Canada's biggest city has been locked down by police after a 17-year-old boy was shot in one of its hallways, a Toronto television station reported Tuesday.
The boy was shot in either the abdomen or the chest at Bendale Business and Technical Institute in Toronto 's east end, TV station CP24 reported. The victim was rushed to hospital in serious condition.
Police swarmed the area and are searching for either one or two suspects, CP24 reported. A high school in Canada's biggest city has been locked down by police after a 17-year-old boy was shot in one of its hallways, a ... more -
12 year old Improves Solar Invention!
BEAVERTON, Ore. – A new invention could revolutionize solar energy – and it was made by a 12-year-old in Beaverton.
Despite his age, William Yuan has already studied nuclear fusion and nanotechnology, and he is on his way to solving the energy crisis.
It all started with Legos - after he learned nanotechnology to make robots take off. The seventh grader then got an idea inspired by the sun.
"Solar it seems underused, and there are only a few problems with it," Yuan said.
Encouraged by his Meadow Park Middle School science teacher, the 12-year-old developed a 3D solar cell.
"Regular solar cells are only 2D and only allow light interaction once," he said.
And his cell can absorb both visible and UV light.
"I started to realize I was actually onto something," Yuan said.
At first, he couldn't believe his calculations.
"This solar cell can't be generating this much electricity, it can't be absorbing this much extra light," he recalled thinking.
If he is right, solar panels with his 3D cells would provide 500 times more light absorption than commercially-available solar cells and nine times more than cutting-edge 3D solar cells.
"Which would make solar energy actually a viable energy source for the Pacific Northwest," Yuan said.
While college students have come up with unusual solar cars and the state of Oregon recently unveiled solar panels to power highway lights, Yuan is thinking global.
"It'll have a really positive impact on society and the environment," he said.
His next step is to get a manufacturer and market it.
Yuan is flying out to Washington D.C. on Monday to accept a $25,000 scholarship for his research. He earned the Davidson Fellow award, which is for those 18 and under. BEAVERTON, Ore. – A new invention could revolutionize solar energy – and it was made by a 12-year-old in Beaverton. ... more -
Our Rights: A New Patriotism
“Bin Laden didn’t blow up the projects. It was you n----, tell the truth n----. Bush knocked down the towers. Tell the truth!” As the crowd bulldozed though the chorus of Immortal Technique’s inflammatory song “Bin Laden,” the Harlem emcee paced the stage of Manhattan’s The Madison, playing resident hype man of the 9/11 Truth Movement. The moment encapsulated the fervor of a patriotic night of hip-hop, truth telling and advocacy.
On a weekend where many opted for moments of silence to commemorate the seventh anniversary of 9/11, 2008 Now or Never sought to bring justice to the victims, first responders and the American public by demanding answers to what some left-wing watchdog groups see as suspicious questions surrounding the attacks.
The star-studded concert was a benefit for first responders, a group of 9/11 rescue workers who've been largely ignored by the government. They include firefighters, police officers, port authority workers and volunteers who searched for victims in contaminated debris at and around ground zero in the weeks following the attacks. Now, many suffer from life-threatening respiratory illnesses.
The concert, however, was only a portion of the four-day affair, which also included demonstrations, speeches, movie screenings and a barbeque.
The weekend also represented the convergence of activist groups like We Are Change, the 9/11 Truth Movement, and the FealGood Foundation, all of whom advocate for an independent investigation of the 9/11 attacks and aid first responders.
The night featured artists includingTiye Phoenix, Mr Green of Channel Live, the Beatminerz, surprise guest KRS-One, and the headliners, Immortal Technique and Talib Kweli.
While many benefit concerts are lost in the divide between the politics of the events and the subject matter of the artists, Now or Never was refreshingly consistent since most of the artists took time out to discuss the importance of helping first responders and demanding an independent investigation of the 9/11 attacks.
Immortal Technique voiced his distrust of the government’s handling of the attacks on his track with Mos Def called “Bin Laden” and the militant “Homicide Harlem.” Mr. Green relayed his memories of the attacks and spoke to the importance of holding our leaders accountable. Talib Kweli, who brought his kids out to the event, finished the evening by blazing thorough tracks from his latest album Eardrum, including the incendiary “Hostile Gospel.”
****CONTINUES.... “Bin Laden didn’t blow up the projects. It was you n----, tell the truth n----. Bush knocked down the towers. Tell the truth!” As the ... more -
Chicago Youth: Violence Is Our Biggest Worry
On Sept. 6, the Marguerite Casey Foundation's Equal Voice for America's Families initiatve culminated with as many as 16,000 family delegates attending conventions in three cities to talk about issues they want to put on the national radar as the country prepares for the presidential election. In Chicago, youth discussed the issues that affect their lives, including violence, drugs, school and the deportation of their friends. At a youth media lounge staffed by youth editors from YO!/New America Media, young people interviewed each other live with Flip cameras about what they most wanted to see change in their community. On Sept. 6, the Marguerite Casey Foundation's Equal Voice for America's Families initiatve culminated with as many as 16,000... more
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“O.G. Grandma” Helps Kids Get Back on Track
Young Asian men mill around the Lincoln Square Recreation Center, smoking cigarettes, leaning against cars, sending text messages, playing basketball, and chatting with girls. But whatever they are doing, when they see Mrs. Lee coming their detached and tough expressions transform into wide grins.
"Hi Mrs. Lee!"
"Hi Willie, how are you?"
Darlene Lee, known to everyone as "Mrs. Lee" remembers all the names of the hundreds of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, Chinese and other Asian American teenagers who have entered the doors of the Lincoln Community Center throughout the years. And although mostly Asian youth come here, Black and white youth also come to play basketball or just hang out with their friends, some from as far as Richmond, Hayward, and San Leandro.
The playground here is wide and clean—four big basketball courts next to a playground for the younger kids. It's known as a safe space to play basketball in Oakland, open to anyone who wants to be there. It's peaceful, a fact that no one here takes for granted.
On one sunny afternoon, 18-year-old Willie Hong tells Mrs. Lee about how he was held up the night before, when he was helping out at his uncle's corner store.
"The next thing I know, I seen a gun to my head and I thought, oh man, this is not funny no more. It was out of nowhere. He grabbed me from the back, and I thought he was playing with me, I thought I knew him or he knew me. I couldn't do nothing, I couldn't think," he says, looking at Mrs. Lee, and then down at his shoes.
"I'm just glad you are okay…. It's better not to resist, the police always say just cooperate, it's just money,” says Mrs. Lee with a worried frown on her face. “Nowadays, we have to always be on the defensive. It shouldn't be like that but I guess it's a sign of the times, people are getting desperate, they aren't finding jobs, or they are high on drugs."
Mrs. Lee was a preschool and grade school teacher for many years. Born in the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco, she was raised in Oakland, and lives on the same street, Jackson Street, where she grew up. Her two daughters are now grown, and she resides with her husband.
She went to Lincoln public school, across the street from this center, and says she understands what it's like to grow up in Oakland as an Asian youth. She has watched the neighborhood change over the years. While the violence has gotten worse, she says, with kids using guns instead of bats, " The pattern is the same. They get into groups and break into cars, jack stuff from kids, and do home invasions. Stuff like that."
Willie dropped out of high school, and works at the store three times a week. Like many of the young men interviewed, he makes an effort to drop by regularly to see Mrs. Lee.
"She tries to teach me how to make my life better, straighter, even though we're living in Oakland and everybody gotta be who they is", he says. "She helps me become not so angry, and think before I do stuff. Because like Mrs. Lee said, I'm the kind of person that if people mean mug me, I wanna fight them. Mrs. Lee is helping me change that."
She has been patrolling the grounds for 25 years now, two times a week. She offers "dumb dumb" lollipops to the teens while cleaning up little pieces of trash around the playground. A large part of her day consists of listening to the worries and dreams of the kids who seek her out.
As she talks to this reporter, a young man approaches her, holding out a one hundred dollar bill. "It's for my brother's girlfriend. Can you give it to her when she gets here later?" He asked her politely. "Thanks Mrs. Lee!" he smiles happily, and saunters away. She sticks it in her pocket and says, "It scares me that the kids always have so much money. They don't tell me about how they got it though, they want to protect me."***CONTINUES Young Asian men mill around the Lincoln Square Recreation Center, smoking cigarettes, leaning against cars, sending text messages, pla... more -
Should We Reduce the Voting Age?
This week the National Youth Rights Association released this ad via YouTube and began spreading it across the internet.
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702.tv - Las Vegas Television
We are starting up a new television program for the younger demographic in Las Vegas, and are evolving every day.
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