Powerful statement from Howard students goes viral

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Students from the Howard University College of Medicine make a powerful statement about racial profiling in the killing of Travon Martin.

In March, the students of the Howard University College of Medicine made a powerful statement about the killing of Trayvon Martin with the photo shown at the right. Now that George Zimmerman has been acquitted in the case, the image’s popularity has started to grow, popping up across the Internet from BuzzFeed to Anorak.

The photo, which shows Howard’s medical students in both hoodies and lab coats, begs the question: “Now, do we look suspicious?”

Students of the historically black university also released a video in March to bring awareness to what they see as racial profiling, which some observers consider to be the principal factor that lead to Martin’s death.

The aftermath of last week’s verdict in the Zimmerman trial, which included nationwide vigils and protests, has brought new relevance to this student-led campaign. And while a jury has rendered its decision on the fate of Zimmerman, many still argue that the larger issues at play in the trial are far from resolved.

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Heat blankets much of US as summer sizzles

Heat turns much of US into drippy summer mess; temps forecast to top 90 all over the country

House painter Jesus Rubela wipes the sweat from his face while restoring a home in the South Boston neighborhood, Wednesday, July 17, 2013 in Boston. Temperatures in the Boston area reached the 90's, extending a heat wave. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

NEW YORK (AP) -- From Minnesota to Massachusetts temperaturessurged to potentially dangerous levels Wednesday as the largest heat wave of the summer stretched out and stagnated, with relief in many parts of the country still days away.

Most states in the U.S. were expected to have some areas where the temperature would hit 90 degrees or more, according to the National Weather Service. Humid air just made it all feel worse, with heat indexes in some places over 100. Parts of 19 states were under weather advisories.

In New York City, where it was 95 degrees, sidewalk food vendor Ahmad Qayumi said that by 11 a.m., the cramped space inside his steel-walled cart got so hot, he had to turn off his grill and coffee machine.

"It was just too hot. I couldn't breathe," he said, turning away a customer who asked for a hamburger. "Just cold drinks," he said.

Amid the heat, officials in Washington D.C.'s Maryland suburbs worked to keep a failing water main from cutting off hundreds of thousands of people, just when they needed it most. People in Prince George's County were asked not to run their faucets, water their lawns or flush toilets to keep the water system from emptying during emergency repairs.

Officials warn of severe heath risks as areas throughout the United States see temperatures soar.

Video: DC Crews Rush to Repair Water Main Amid Heat Wave

Firefighters in southern California faced brutally hot — but dangerously dry — conditions as they battled a wildfire outside Palm Springs. Temperatures could go as high as 105 and humidity could go as low as 1 percent by the afternoon, said Tina Rose, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire has already consumed seven homes.

At the World Trade Center reconstruction site in New York City, workers building a rail hub dripped under their hardhats, thick gloves and heavy-duty boots. Some wore towels around their necks to wipe away the sweat.

"We're drinking a lot of water, down under by the tracks, in and out of the sun all day — very hot," said carpenter Elizabeth Fontanez, of the Bronx, who labored with 20 pounds of tools and safety equipment strapped to her waist. Since the heat wave began, she said she has been changing shirts several times during her shifts.

Officials blamed hot weather for at least one death. A 78-year-old Alzheimer's patient died of heat exhaustion after wandering away from his northern Kentucky home Tuesday in temperatures that rose to 93 degrees.

Limited relief, in the form of a cold front, was expected to begin dropping south from Canada starting Thursday, before sweeping through the Midwest and into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions by Saturday. That will bring lower temperatures, but also possibly severe thunderstorms, Vaccaro said.

See below for larger image

Stephen: And another yukky secret pops out into public view….While some of this information has only been revealed today, the UK would certainly not be alone in making billions from the sales of arms to countries that have long been known for their human rights abuses. Thanks to Alice.

Blood money: UK’s £12.3bn Arms Sales to Repressive States

By Kim Sengupta, Defence Correspondent – July 17, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/n4ka3h3

Government approves thousands of deals with states it condemns for human rights abuses

The Government has issued more than 3,000 export licences for military and intelligence equipment worth a total of £12.3bn to countries which are on its own official list for human rights abuses.

The existence of one licence to Israel and the Occupied Territories has not been made public until today. Worth £7.7bn, it relates to cryptographic equipment, which has dual defence and civilian use.

The scale and detail of the deals emerged after a forensic investigation by a committee of MPs, who also discovered that strategically controlled items have been sent to Iran, China, Sri Lanka, Russia, Belarus and Zimbabwe – all of which feature prominently on the Foreign Office’s list of states with worrying civil rights records.

There are even three existing contracts for Syria, notwithstanding the fact that the UK is sending equipment to rebels fighting the Assad regime and is considering arming them. There are also 57 for Argentina, which is not on the list, but which remains in confrontation with Britain over the Falklands.

The Government had stated that it would not issue export licences for goods “which might be used to facilitate internal repression” or “might provoke or prolong regional or internal conflicts”.

However, the report by the Committees on Arms Export Controls found there were 62 licences for selling to Iran, again overwhelmingly cryptographic equipment. This also features heavily in the 271 licences for Russia, along with biotechnology equipment, sniper rifles, laser weapons systems, weapon sights and unmanned air vehicles (drones).

Both countries have been involved in large-scale supplies of weaponry to President Assad, and members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have been on the ground, supporting regime forces, in Syria. The committee points out that the contracts should be examined both on grounds of “internal oppression” and “prolonging regional conflicts”.

The Syrian licences are for components for four-wheel drive vehicles with ballistic protection, which is believed to have been for an aid organisation. But there are also hydrophone arrays, which can be used to listen underwater. The report points out that the latter have a dual use and the Government needs to confirm that it is not breaking international sanctions against Syria.

Yesterday William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, announced that hoods offering protection against chemical weapons would be sent to the Syrian rebels. There have been persistent reports of the regime using sarin nerve gas.

The suppliers to China have the largest numbers of licences, with 1,163 worth £ 1.8bn. As well as cryptographic equipment, this includes direct military communications equipment, body armour and weapons sights.

The committee urged the Government to examine whether this infringes the EU’s arms embargo on Beijing and whether it should, in fact, seek to expand the embargo to include all military goods.

On Argentina the report is not only critical of the existing contracts, which consist mainly of cryptographic components, small arms ammunition and lasers, but the failure to press allies not to supply Buenos Aires with arms.

It states: “The committee concluded that it is reprehensible that the Government, given the relatively recent history of British ships being sunk in the Falklands War by missiles supplied by a Nato member [French Exocets], is unwilling to lobby other governments.”

The MPs noted that the Argentine Foreign Minister recently stated: “I don’t think it will take another 20 years” to retake the islands.

Only two states of 27 on the Foreign Office’s human rights list – North Korea and South Sudan –did not have licences to their names. Among the others, Saudi Arabia has 417 licences with a value of £1.8bn; Pakistan 219 worth almost £50m; Sri Lanka 49 at £8m and Zimbabwe 46, worth just under £3m.

Sir John Stanley, the chairman of the committee and a former Defence minister, said he had decided to carry out the inquiry into arms licences after the Foreign Office began to publish its human rights reports. He added: “When I first wrote to Vince Cable [the Business Secretary] I had no idea that the figures involved would be so large – I thought someone may have added some zeros by mistake; £12bn is an absolutely huge sum. I asked Vince Cable to confirm they were accurate and, apart from a small adjustment for Iran, they all were.

“We shall continue to seek more clarification from the Government. We would like to know, for example, whether the cryptographic equipment can be used on internal dissent, and its possible military use.

“There are other, quite clear areas of concern; 600 assault rifles were sold to Sri Lanka, despite the very well documented cases of human rights abuse there. We have to ask the Government why this is the case.

“The Government needs to acknowledge that there’s an inherent conflict between strongly promoting arms exports to authoritarian regimes whilst strongly criticising their lack of human rights at the same time. Instead they continue to claim these two policies ‘are mutually reinforcing’.”