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Mississippi: Memorial service marks 45th anniversary of Neshoba Co. civil rights slayings by Ku Klux Klan

(U.S.) Mississippi: Memorial service marks 45th anniversary of Neshoba Co. civil rights slayings by Ku Klux Klan
— memorial for Ku Klux Klan slaying of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner
— civil rights activists murdered in Neshoba County in 1964 registering blacks to vote
— Sunday 3 PM memorial service, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Philadelphia, Mississippi

— Story of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner written in book “We Are Not Afraid”

U.S. Group: Gay bias killings highest since 1999

Group: Gay bias killings highest since 1999
— 29 killings recorded in 2008

According to the report on 2008 violence released by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP):

“NCAVP identified the following key findings and trends.”

— “2008, with 29 total murders, has the highest number of deaths since 1999, and an increase of 28% from 2007.”

— “Of the total injuries reported in 2008, 216 (46%) were classified as serious, meaning that the injury required medical attention.”

— “Reports of abusive treatment by law enforcement increased significantly between 2007 and 2008:”
° “Reports of physical abuse at the hands of law enforcement increased 150%, from 10 in 2007 to 25 in 2008.”
° “One hundred forty-three cases (73%) of reports received bias classification by law enforcement – an increase over the 35% in 2007.”
° “Fifty three cases (27%) were refused bias classification by law enforcement in 2008.”

— “Reports of sexual assault rose 48% (from 94 to 138), continuing a three year trend of marked increases in reports of hate-motivated sexual violence.”

— “Bias violence from strangers climbed 36%.”

— “Weapons use during the commission of a hate crime increased significantly; at least 382 out of the total 1,677 incidents (23%) involved weapons use in 2008. The biggest increases in weapons use occurred in the other category (+34%) and the bottles/bricks/rocks category (+49%).”

— “There was a significant increase in reports in the 15 – 18 year old category (+118%).”

— “Anti-transgender bias comprised 12% (206) of the total incidents reported in 2008.”

— “Anti-HIV related violence comprised 5% (88) of the total incidents reported in 2008.”

— “Out of the total 1,677 incidents, 472 (28%) were also reported to the police, consistent with the percentage of reports made to police last year (29%).”

— “Incidents occurring in or around private residences constituted the most frequent site of anti-LGBT bias (32%).”

— “Workplace constituted the third most common site with (14%) and workplace incidents decreased 12% from 2007.”

— “Total number of offenders rose 5% over 2007, representing the most significant increase in terms of overall totals.”

— “Long-term data indicate that while hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people has fallen 4.7% over the last ten years, overall crime in country has declined 9.81%.”

Communist North Korean Central “News” Agency: 2 Americans illegally crossed into NKorea

Report: 2 Americans illegally crossed into NKorea

AP: “Two American journalists sentenced in Pyongyang last week to 12 years’ hard labor were detained in North Korean territory after crossing into the country illegally, state-run media said Tuesday, providing the first details about the circumstances of their arrest.”

“Laura Ling and Euna Lee of Current TV were taken into custody on the North Korean banks of the Tumen River after crossing over from China illegally three months ago, the official Korean Central News Agency said.”

“The women, tried in North Korea’s highest court earlier this month, ‘admitted and accepted’ their punishment of 12 years’ hard labor for committing politically motivated ‘criminal acts,’ the report said.”

“‘The accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts committed, prompted by the political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist system of the DPRK by faking up moving images aimed at falsifying its human rights performance and hurling slanders and calumnies at it,’ it said.”

— N. Korea: Journalists admitted to ‘criminal acts’

Link to R.E.A.L. petition and article

Link to other petition

Also:

— Video May Undercut U.S. Efforts to Secure Release of Reporters Jailed in North Korea
— Obama says nuclear-armed N. Korea ‘grave threat’

Holocaust Museum Attack: Von Brunn Links to German Neo-Nazis

(U.S./Germany) Holocaust Museum Killer Had Links to German Neo-Nazis
— Der Spiegel report on James von Brunn
— “In an e-mail to notorious lawyer Horst Mahler, he called hate ‘natural, normal and necessary.'”
— “He added that ‘compassionate nations’ would ‘die.'”
— “Aside from his links with Mahler, von Brunn had also voiced support for the notorious Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, who is currently serving time in a German prison for incitement to racial hatred”

Illinois: Creve Coeur Man Displays Nazi Flag on Flag Day

(U.S.) Illinois: Creve Coeur Man Displays Nazi Flag on Flag Day
— Cached News Report
— Main News Report Link

— “It was just an ordinary Flag Day for Phillip and Beverly Smallwood.”
— “They began their day by putting up flags in their yard…one of them the American flag to honor our country.”
— “However, as they were outside admiring their flags the couple looked down the street to find their neighbor Ron Wolf had put up a Nazi flag with the image”

Italian Interior Minister defends patrols with “Fascist and Nazi-like symbols”

(Italy) Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni defends citizen patrols with “Fascist and Nazi-like symbols on its uniforms”
— Interior Minister Roberto Maroni
— “Italy’s interior minister defended plans Monday to allow citizen patrols to beef up security amid outrage over a new right-wing guard that has put Fascist and Nazi-like symbols on its uniforms.”
— “The Italian National Guard was launched at a news conference over the weekend, sparking outcry from the center-left opposition, Jewish groups, police unions and others that it evoked Italy’s fascist-era paramilitary Black Shirts.”