North America | United States | Corruption

CDC Official Steps Down After Coca-Cola ILSI Scandal Comes to Light

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Two days after it was revealed that a veteran leader within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was assisting Coca-Cola and International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) in influencing world health authorities on issues related to sugar and beverage policy, Dr. Barbara Bowman has now stepped down from her position. Dr. Barbara Bowman, the disgraced former director of the CDC’s division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention began working with the CDC in 1992 and has since been involved with a number of different initiatives within that division which is charged with providing �
International | Corruption

IMF’s Christine Lagarde: “When The World Goes Downhill, We Thrive”

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When we wrote earlier that based on a leaked Wikileaks transcript, which the Greek government interpreted “as revealing an IMF effort to blackmail Athens with a possible credit event to force it to give in on pension cuts which it has rejected”, the article promptly went viral. While it remains to be determined if the IMF indeed made such an implied threat, we attribute this spike in interest to the general public’s surprise that the IMF could stoop to such a low, even by its own standards, level as to use a nation of 11 million people as a lab rat on which to conduct policy experiments.
North America | United States | Activism

Beth Clarkson, Kansas statistician, suing the state to obtain election records, says voting results don’t add up

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A university mathematician found something that didn't add up, and now she's suing the state of Kansas to make sure every vote counts. Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson requested Sedgwick County release election records for the recent election. This week, Secretary of State Kris Kobach asked a judge to block that request. Clarkson said the election results in some counties, including Johnson County, are impossible to audit. During a celebration for the 95th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Clarkson said, “If we’re not bei
Middle East | Palestine | Corruption

Family members deny Gaza women their inheritances

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Many Palestinian women are being deprived of their inheritances in the Gaza Strip, and the problem is widespread and growing, especially among families who own land. Amina Hassan (a pseudonym) and her three sisters say they became the victims of their brother, who seized most of their real estate inheritance. Amina, who lives in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, told Al-Monitor she and her sisters have been suffering from social and financial problems ever since their brother stole their inheritance in 2007 and they initiated legal procedures to claim it in 2008. She said, �
South Asia | Pakistan | Ethics

Women in region of Pakistan forbidden to vote

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As local elections in Pakistan are drawing nearer, the local jirga – a traditional group of leaders that make decisions according to the teachings of Islam – has become active in the Odigram area of Swat valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, barring women from voting. The jirga is trying to convince elders to stop women from going to the polls on May 30 in order to follow the region’s conservative traditions.
South Asia | India | Culture

Building India’s cities, silent workforce of women goes unrecognized

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When newly-wed Kamlesh was told she would be accompanying her husband to work in the city, she was thrilled at the prospect of a better life than in the drought-prone village in central India where she grew up. But arriving in New Delhi 12 years ago, crammed into the back of a truck with her husband and dozens of others, Kamlesh was shown a make-shift tent home on a pavement and realized that city life would not be what she had expected. "We were put to work immediately. The contractors told us to clear all the dirt and soil around the construction site and carry the cement to the masons
North America | United States | Economy

The Pink Tax: Women coughing up more for same items as men

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As almost any woman knows, getting ready everyday takes work and often lots of products. But what if using some of your favorite products meant washing money down the drain? What if you knew some of them were being sold for less with a different look and name in the men's aisle? Countless personal care items like razors, deodorant and even wrinkle cream are sold in both the men's and women's sections, but, despite being nearly identical, the women's version costs more. It's called the "Pink Tax" and it's happening almost everywhere. I went to a local grocery store to test this theory
Middle East | Israel | Culture

Protest against Arab-Israeli TV host lighting Independence Day beacon

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Lucy Aharish, an Arab-Israeli journalist and TV host, was chosen among 13 other people to light a beacon on Israel’s 67th Independence Day ceremony in Jerusalem on April 22. Aharish is known as well-versed in both Jewish and Muslim cultures and many see her as a symbol of true coexistence between Arabs and Israelis, of tolerance and equality, as well as the face of Arab-Israeli women’s issues. The extremist right-wing Lahava organization — working for the prevention of assimilation in the holy land — started an online campaign calling to cancel Aharish’s participation in the cerem
Africa | Kenya | Corruption

Tetanus Vaccines Spiked With Sterilization Chemical in Kenya

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Tetanus vaccines given to millions of young women in Kenya have been confirmed by laboratories to contain a sterilization chemical that causes miscarriages, reports the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association, a pro-vaccine organization. A whopping 2.3 million young girls and women are in the process of being given the vaccine, pushed by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. “We sent six samples from around Kenya to laboratories in South Africa. They tested positive for the HCG antigen,” Dr. Muhame Ngare of the Mercy Medical Centre in Nairobi told LifeSiteNews. “They were all laced
Asia | Thailand | Corruption

Thai environmentalists pay for activism with their lives

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Jintana Kaewkao, a 53-year-old activist, shop-owner and mother of three, arrived at the district government office on March 12 ready for a fight. With local tensions rising over the planned construction of a steel manufacturing plant amid the wetlands and coconut trees of this seaside community of Bangsaphan, Thailand, more than 30 villagers had assembled in the morning heat. Most were women; some had toddlers in tow. They were ready to register their concerns over potential pollution, and a local conglomerate’s questionable land acquisitions, with the district leader. As usual, they w
North America | United States | Crimes

Nashville Prosecutors Reportedly Offered Women Plea Bargains in Exchange For Sterilization

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The district attorney in Nashville, Tennessee recently had to take an unusual action: banning prosecutors from offering women plea deals in exchange for sterilization. The Associated Press reports that Nashville prosecutors have used sterilization as a "bargaining chip" four times in the last five years. The latest case was the tipping point. Jasmine Randers, 36, woke up in the Nashville motel bed she was sharing with her five-day-old baby "only to find the child unresponsive," the AP reports. The infant died overnight, with no cause of death reported. Randers has serious mental-
South Asia | Nepal | Ethics

In Nepal, Women As Second-Class Citizen Takes A Sad New Twist

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Sabin Shrestha, the executive director of the Forum for Woman, Law and Development, says it is really an issue of male control. "They think if they give equal rights to women in terms of citizenship, then the patriarchy system will be destroyed," she says. Former prime minister and Assembly member Madhav Kumar believes mothers should not have the same rights as fathers. The Interim Constitution made in 2007 clearly states that "any person whose father or mother was a citizen of Nepal at his or her birth is a Nepalese citizen." But in practice, women in this patriarchal society still face
Europe | France | Culture

The ‘moderate’ imam who claims ‘all women are selfish’

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An imam in France has claimed in a sermon that selfishness is part of “the nature of women”, comments that have shocked all the more because of his reputation as a progressive influence on Islam in the country. “No matter how much good you bestow upon a woman, she will deny it. Her selfishness drives her to deny it.” These were the words of Imam Mohamed Khattabi, delivered during a Friday sermon at the Aicha Mosque in Montpellier, southern France, on March 6, two days before International Women’s Day. Standing high in the mosque’s minbar (pulpit), Khattabi continued: “This
Europe | Scotland | Ethics

Nicola Sturgeon: I’m SNP leader, not Alex Salmond

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Nicola Sturgeon has been forced to reassert she is the SNP leader after Alex Salmond undermined her demands for propping up a minority Labour government after the general election. The First Minister insisted that her predecessor is merely a member of her “team” and “I’m leading the SNP campaign” after he said he would install Ed Miliband in Downing Street regardless of whether a power-sharing deal was reached. His comments undermined Ms Sturgeon’s key campaign message.