http://rinf.com/alt-news Breaking News, Alternative News & Media Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:20:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en By Ryan Singel |On Tuesday, the Senate resumes considering whether to hand new dragnet spy powers to the nation's spooks and to grant retroactive amnesty to telecoms that secretly helped the government spy on Americans without warrants for five years. The Senate seems set to bless the president's secretive program and ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/surveillance-big-brother/amendment-would-put-spy-lawsuits-amnesty-on-hold-pending-investigation/4063/ A month before the opening of the Olympics Amnesty International has today sent an open letter to Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China, urging him to deliver on the promises made to improve the country's human rights. "If China can mobilise thousands of people to clean up algae ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/contributions/china-one-month-left-to-improve-human-rights/4062/ Amnesty International today released a report revealing the dire human rights and humanitarian crisis facing the people of Somalia. The report contains first-hand testimony from scores of traumatised survivors of the conflict, exposing the violations and abuses they have suffered at the hands of a complex mix of perpetrators which include ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/contributions/troops-killing-people-like-goats-by-slitting-throats/4061/ Saudi Arabia should implement labor, immigration, and criminal justice reforms to protect domestic workers from serious human rights abuses that in some cases amount to slavery, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released Tuesday. Employers often face no punishment for committing abuses including months or years of unpaid ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/contributions/many-migrant-women-workers-in-saudi-treated-like-slaves/4060/ Guardian.co.uk | Israeli troops have surrounded a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank after several weeks of demonstrations against the latest stretch of the West Bank barrier. For at least the past two days the military has placed a cordon around the village of Nilin, imposing what it calls a "closure" ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/activism/we-have-no-alternative-than-peaceful-protest/4059/ WEST Australian Police have asked the state government to authorise them to take a DNA sample from anyone who is arrested, even for minor offences such as trespassing. WA Police can now take samples only from people charged with or suspected of an offence that carries a minimum jail sentence of ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/surveillance-big-brother/police-seek-wider-dna-data-powers/4058/ By Ellen Nakashima |   The United States is negotiating deals with European countries to exchange fingerprint and DNA data in criminal and terrorist cases, and in some circumstances to transfer data on race or ethnic origin, political and religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. Such agreements are a condition for granting citizens of newer ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/surveillance-big-brother/us-seeks-data-exchange/4057/ By Jeffrey Denning | Just when you thought you’ve heard it all... A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/war-terrorism/want-some-torture-with-your-peanuts/4056/ By Damien McElroy in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba | The United States is considering transforming the Guantanamo Bay terrorism prison into a base for a Marines "rapid reaction force" to deal with threats in Central America. In the first official admission that closure of the camp had entered the planning stage, the ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/war-terrorism/guantanamo-bay-may-be-turned-into-marine-rapid-reaction-base/4055/ By Sherwood Ross | One issue the American people likely are not going to hear about in this presidential campaign is how to stop the millitary-industrial complex(MIC) from destroying this country, from bankrupting it morally and financially. No matter that each passing day brings some new revelation of gross Pentagon mismanagement ... http://rinf.com/alt-news/contributions/americas-culture-of-war-not-an-issue-this-election/4054/