Headlines for Monday, July 19 2010

20,000 attend AIDS 2010
Some 20,000 HIV experts and advocates are in Vienna today, where a week-long international conference on AIDS is underway. AIDS 2010 Chair Julio Montaner said yesterday that G8 nations have not kept up with promises to fund universal access to treatment programs and warned that “dire consequences” could result. A study led by Montaner and published in yesterday's Lancet found a direct correlation between increased HIV treatment and decreased transmission. And another study, to be released by the CDC at the conference, finds that in the US, poverty – not race – is the most common denominator in urban transmission rates.

DC ordered to pay 900 K in racial discrimination claim
When five African-American police officers in Washington, DC complained about racial discrimination, their boss retaliated. A jury has now ruled in their favor. Tanya Snyder reports.

A jury has found that Commanding officer Ronald Wilkins punished the five officers for filing a racial discrimination complaint. The complaint was anonymous, but according to the Washington Examiner, Wilkins figured out who it was and started withholding information the officers needed to do their jobs. When they took the next step in the complaint, all five officers were taken out of the elite unit they worked in and demoted. Kris Baumann is the head of DC’s police union.

“That is unfortunately standard procedure right now within this police dept. The officials in the department, particularly the high ranking officials simply don’t understand how the law and rules are supposed to work, and frankly I don’t think they care.”

Despite a department reprimand for dereliction of duty and lying to investigators, Commander Wilkins has since been promoted. The city now has to pay nine hundred thousand dollars, to be divided among the five officers. A police spokeswoman says the department will appeal the decision. Tanya Snyder, FSRN, Washington.

Former GITMO detainee says UK documents of his interrogations are incomplete
An ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee says British secret service accounts of his interrogations are wrong. He is one of six former detainees suing the British government for its role in their secret rendition.   Naomi Fowler reports from London.

These highly classified documents were released through the high court as part of the ongoing case against the government and the security services. The British government tried and failed to get a halt to the proceedings to try to mediate with the men. Omagh Deghayes, one of those six men, says the notes the government has given the court are incomplete because they show only one record of an interview with UK agents in Guantánamo. Deghayes claims there were three or four meetings. He also says the notes leave out all the specific complaints he made about ill-treatment, starvation and beatings. He says one attack by a prison guard was so brutal he was left blind in one eye. The British government has always denied involvement in so-called “extraordinary rendition" and torture of terrorism suspects. But the documents do suggest ongoing, direct involvement. Mr. Deghayes’s allegations increase the pressure on the government to appoint an independent judge to decide whether the notes have been 'legitimately' blacked out. Naomi Fowler, FSRN, London.

Irish President signs civil union bill
Irish President Mary McAleese signed a civil union measure into law today. The Civil Partnership Bill will allow unmarried domestic partners – both gay and straight – to register and receive marriage-like legal rights. The measure will not take effect until after updates are made to the nation's tax and public assistance laws – most likely early next year.

Women in Gaza banned from publicly partaking in water pipe
In Gaza, Hamas has banned women from publicly smoking water pipes. Rami al Meghari has more.

Hamas authorities say that the ban is meant to preserve the social and religious values of Gaza's conservative community.  Gaza's 1.6 million residents have been locked down inside the Gaza Strip for three years, with severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods alike. Across Gaza, particularly at sea side resorts and big coffee shops, men and women enjoy smoking a water pipe as a diversion from the restrictions created by the Israeli blockade. Reham Alhalabi, who wears a head covering, is a university graduate. She was socializing with some friends at the Delice store, one of the major coffee shops in Gaza City.

"This decision contradicts our entire society where women or girls may have their own personal motives or reasons. Yet, it seems that this decision is binding, therefore, we will witness more repression of women's freedoms."

The water pipe ban for women is the latest in a string of restrictions imposed over the past three years. For example, females are not allowed to ride on motorbikes and should wear special uniforms at school. Rami Almeghari, FSRN, Gaza.

Dozens of Awakening Council members among dead in days of bombing in Iraq
In Iraq today bombs continue to kill – four are dead in Baquoba, one in Mosul. Yesterday, three separate bombings killed as many as 51 people – most of whom were members of the Awakening Council -- a US-funded group that turned on al Qaida in Iraq. The Awakening Council was established as a US sponsored alternative to insurgency. In 2008, Iraqi officials took over responsibility for the Council – but many promised civilian jobs have yet to materialize and they say they are often paid late – when they are paid at all.