Urge Nepalese Officials to Reveal Whereabouts of Human Rights Defender Krishna Pahadi




Krishna Pahadi, the founding chairman of the Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES), was arrested at the organization’s office in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, on February 9. Krishna Pahadi, the former president of Amnesty International’s Nepal section, is well-known as one of the country’s leading human rights defenders. His whereabouts are unknown and there are serious concerns for his safety.

Bill would halt use of state funds for sex change
Department of Corrections' policy allows inmates to receive hormone therapy
By GINA BARTON
gbarton@journalsentinel.com


Three state legislators introduced a bill Wednesday that would make it illegal to use government funds for hormone therapy or sex change surgery for prisoners and for residents of state mental institutions.

Transgender rights bill bizarre, say Opposition MPs
By DANYA LEVY
Proposed laws to stop discrimination against transsexuals, transvestites and cross dressers were yesterday slammed by Opposition MPs as bizarre, foolish and wrong.


Transsexual MP Georgina Beyer is proposing the Human Rights (Gender Identity) Amendment Bill which will prohibit discrimination on the grounds of gender identity.

The Human Rights Act already bans discrimination on other basis such as race or sex.

The member's bill would protect hundreds of inter-sex New Zealanders - those born hermaphrodite but reassigned the wrong sex - and thousands of transgender people, Ms Beyer said.

Gay marriage vote postponed in Massachusetts


In a move that could bode well for gay rights, the leader of the Massachusetts senate will delay a second vote by lawmakers on whether to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, The Boston Globe reports.

A new definition of 'terrorism'

Now that the House has passed the Real ID Act, country is one step closer to being officially opposed to allowing terrorists in the country. Who counts as a terrorist? Anyone who is a

State Repression and Indigenous Resistance in Oaxaca


Three members of an Oaxacan state-wide alliance, COMPA (Oaxacan Anti-Neoliberal Popular Magonista Coordination) have been arrested as part of an escalating campaign of repression and human rights abuses by the PRI state government against an increasingly mobilized indigenous population.

The arrests took place the same afternoon in which members of COMPA were scheduled to meet with the PRI party governer Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, under the advisement of Dr. Jose Luis Soberanes, the president of the CNDH (National Commission on Human Rights) as part of an ongoing investigation of human rights abuses committed by armed state forces against the people. This meeting was taking place less than a month after a massacre in the community of Santiago Xanica on January 15, during a communal work day, in which three community members (also part of COMPA) were shot and arrested.

Wal-Mart to close unionized Quebec store
CBC News


MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - Wal-Mart Canada is closing its store in Jonquiere, Que., the company announced Wednesday – six months after the workers won union certification.

Wal-Mart said it was unable to reach a tentative agreement with the union that would "permit it to operate the store in an efficient and profitable matter."

Bush press pal quits
over gay prostie link
BY HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU


WASHINGTON - A conservative ringer who was given a press pass to the White House and lobbed softball questions at President Bush quit yesterday after left-leaning Internet bloggers discovered possible ties to gay prostitution

Move To Unseat Utah Gay Senator
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff


(Salt Lake City, Utah) He's been in office only two days, but already a move is underway to unseat the first gay man to sit in Utah's Senate.

An elections complaint has been filed by an unnamed person claiming that Scott McCoy has not lived in the district long enough to be eligible to serve.

Judge demands appearance by Gale Norton
By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge has given Interior Secretary Gale Norton an ultimatum: Either appear in his court or face the prospect that he'll rule against her on an accusation that she retaliated against American Indians suing her agency for lost royalties.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth gave Norton the choice in an order he issued late Monday. The judge has frequently battled with the Interior Department since a class-action suit was filed in 1996 on behalf of more than 300,000 Indians seeking an accounting of trust funds set up in their behalf more than a century ago.

House passes constitutional ban on gay marriage
From NBC12 News


The House of Delegates today easily approved a constitutional ban on homosexual marriage in Virginia, one day after the State Senate easily passed a similar measure. The House voted 78-to-18 on the bill Tuesday.

The state's first openly gay lawmaker, Adam Ebbin of Alexandria warned that the ban would one day shame Virginia as slavery and racial segregation once did.

EU executive denies illegal rainforest wood in new HQ

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Union (news - web sites)'s executive arm has denied allegations that illegally logged rainforest wood went into the renovation of its futuristic Berlaymont headquarters, officials said.

The European Commission (news - web sites) said that such wood may have been inadvertently used for temporary structures during the decade-long renovation process, but did not end up in the finished building.