Hundreds killed by human stampede in Cambodia

people panicking during the stampede

Massive crowds gather every year for one of Cambodia's main events. The water Festival. On the final day of the water festival a large group of people overcrowded a bridge, it is unknown as to what caused the panic.



All of a sudden people were desperately trying to get off the bridge, people who tripped and fell were trampled and killed. An estimated 340 people were killed and 410 people injured. This is truly a tragic event not only for the people of Cambodia, but for the families of foreigners who were killed.
When countries hold an event that attracts thousands upon thousands of people to a small area, the local government should be responsible for the safety and security of these people. In this case, Cambodia should have put measures in place to protect the festival goers from piling up on bottlenecks such as bridges. I am not exactly sure how this could have been accomplished. Instead of spending loads of money on identifying dead bodies, they should spend their money on preventative measures.

Chinese woman sentenced to a year in prison for a tweet

Ten days after posting a tweet to her twitter account Cheng Jianping was sentenced without trial to be sent to a labour camp for one year. Cheng was participating in a low level of online activism against Japanese products. Essentially this woman has been imprisoned for posting a single tweet of less than 20 characters.

First of all, I already disagree with China's censorship laws which limit freedom of speech. But the imprisonment of a Chinese woman over one tweet by Chinese authorities is completely ridiculous and despicable. This is a social Justice issue in two main ways. One, this woman has been imprisoned unlawfully and without trial. Two, the Chinese government is censoring it's citizens beyond a remotely reasonable amount. For the sake of this woman I hope that this story receives lots of media attention outside of China.

US Soldier accused of esiponage for bringing light to cilivian killings in iraq

Apache helicopter in Iraq

      In 2007 a video of an American Apache helicopter gunning down 12 civilians including 1 journalist and 2 children was leaked to the public via wikileaks. Recently US army specialist Bradley Manning has recently been charged and accused of releasing the video.



Under the espionage act, he could face up to 50 - 70 years in a federal prison. He has already spent 2 months in a prison in Baghdad, two months after the video's publication.

It would be ridiculous for the US government to send this soldier to jail for releasing this video. What is shown in the video is despicable. Even I could tell that these civilians were not carrying weapons. If I was Manning I would have done the same thing and released the video. There are 12 innocent dead men killed for no reason other than one of them was carrying a camera. The real criminals are the helicopter gunners who took the shots that killed these men. If the US government wants justice, they should charge the gunners with 12 counts of manslaughter. For the sake of the families that are affected by the shooting I hope the case against Mannings does not stand up in court.

Pilot could lose job over refusal of full body scan

On Saturday October 16th, Pilot Michael Roberts declined a full body scan at a security checkpoint in a Memphis Tennessee airport. After declining the scan, the security attendant sent Michael through the metal detector. When no alarm sounded as he walked through the detector Roberts assumed he was good to go. That is when the security attendant said he would have to be frisked. When Roberts (in full pilots uniform) declined the frisking, the airport police as well as a TSA investigator were summoned. After stating to the TSA investigator that he has been a pilot for nearly 5 years without any sort of issues, Roberts declined being searched again. He was not allowed to pass through the checkpoint, by the time he left the airport the TSA had already contacted Roberts' superiors and his job status was put on hold.

In the case of Michael Roberts I agree with the actions of the airport security and the TSA fully. Everyone has to comply with regulations implemented for the public's' safety, no one should be above the law. Regulations and laws protect people. There are strict regulations as to what items people can bring onto planes. This helps to protect passengers from those who wish to do harm. It doesn't matter who you are, you still have to abide by the rules. Just because you work for an airline does not mean you can do whatever you want in an airport. If you don't like it get out. If you choose to work in an environment where there are security screenings, you have to abide by them. Unless it is stated in the policies that staff are exempt from screenings, they will have to go through them. Regulations and laws are implemented for a reason, in this case for the public's safety. Everyone should have to abide by them.

Tidal wave of toxic sludge kills 4 and threatens thousands

firefighters wade through toxic sludge to rescue residents

Just a few days ago (october 4) 184,920,000 gallons of toxic red sludge leaked out of a toxic waste reservoir in Hungary after a section of the wall broke. The thick opaque red sludge contains a dangerous cocktail of heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium.

So far four people have died as a result of the flood that occurred when the wall broke. Many who came in physical contact with the sludge have been hospitalized with extremely painful skin burns. The company responsible (MAL Hungarian Aluminum) has not accepted any blame for the incident as of yet. There is speculation that the company overloaded the reservoirs beyond the maximum approved level. I was shocked at first when I heard about this disaster on the news, and then proceeded to be disturbed when I looked into the details. I thought "should companies be allowed to stockpile city sized amounts of toxic waste?" I concluded that the answer was a blatant NO! Not only is it undoubtedly wrong to produce such mass amounts of waste. But it is even worse to let it all just sit there. To make no attempt to neutralize the waste should be considered an ecological crime. MAL should be financially responsible for all the damages to the villages effected by the leak of their toxic waste. MAL should also be responsible for the environmental damages that they have caused. They need to be held accountable for this disaster.