Headlines for Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Sentencing disparities will be reduced under bill passed by Congress
The House of Representatives passed a bill reducing the sentencing disparities between Crack and Cocaine, sending the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 to the Presidents desk.  Under current law, one would need to be in possession of 100 times as much powder cocaine to receive an equal sentence to someone caught with the same amount of crack.  The new law reduces that ratio to 18 to 1.  It falls short of what many civil rights groups had called for, a full reduction in the sentencing disparity, but does eliminate mandatory minimum prison sentences for possession of crack. Current laws have lead to disproportionate incarceration rates for African-Americans, who are more often arrested for crack than whites.

New York City pays $7 million to Sean Bell’s family and friends
New York City has agreed to pay 7 million dollars to the family and friends of Sean Bell, the unarmed black man killed by city police officers in 2006.  Bell’s two children will receive 3 and a quarter million dollar; two of Bells friends who were also injured in the shooting will receive 3 million and 900 thousand dollars.  The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by the family in 2007.  The police department says it is moving ahead with an administrative case against the 8 officers involved in the incident.  Earlier this year, federal prosecutors decided not to file charges against the 5 officers who fired the 50 bullets at Bell and his friends.

3 charged in beating death of immigrant in New Jersey
Three New Jersey teenagers have been charged with murder, for the beating death of a Salvadoran immigrant. The attack comes as the number of hate crimes against immigrants is rising in the New York Metropolitan area.  Rebecca Myles has more.

Abelino Mazariego-Torres, a father of four and resident in the U.S. for 13 years, was found suffering from severe head trauma on a promenade bench in downtown Summit, New Jersey on July 17.  The Salvadoran immigrant was attacked by three teenagers, and died three days later, never regaining consciousness.   Now murder charges have been filed against the teens—aged 17, 18 and 19.  One has pleaded not guilty.  The attack was videotaped by another teenager who was present during the assault, but has not been charged, and the videotape is alleged to have been circulated among other teenagers. Summit authorities won’ t say how many teens were in the group or whether there will be more charges filed.   It is the second attack in less than a month in the area by teenagers against an older foreign-born man.  On June 25, Divyendu Sinha, a scientist and former professor, was beaten in his front yard, in the town of Old Bridge in front of his wife and children, and died a few days later of head wounds.  There’s also been a stream of attacks against Mexican immigrants in Staten Island, in New York City.  Police say there have been 10 anti Mexican assault cases since April; five were robberies, and many included the attackers yelling racial slurs at the victims.   Rebecca Myles, FSRN, New York.

Hamas passes new law on sellers of women’s clothing in Gaza
The Hamas-led police in Gaza have imposed new restrictions on shops that sell women’s clothing in the coastal territory. The decision is the latest in a series of similar restrictions the Hamas government has made since taking over the enclave in June 2007.  FSRN's Rami Almeghari has more.

Hamas authorities are defending the new restrictions as an attempt to prevent abuses of women in clothing stores. The restrictions include bans of black glass front doors, dressing rooms, surveillance cameras or the display of revealing clothes and underwear on the front doors of the stores.  Palestinian police in Gaza say the decision was made after the department had received a number of complaints by women who have been harassed while buying clothes.  Many women in the region support the restrictions. Elham or Um Ahmad is a mother of six children.

"When I buy clothes, I don't try them inside the shop's dressing room, because we hear so many awful stories.  I'm always afraid there may be cameras, someone might suddenly enter, or something urgent might happen, so I always prefer trying on my new clothes at home".

The Islamist Hamas government has imposed several bans relating to women, including preventing women from smoking water pipes in public places or riding motorbikes.  Rami Almeghari, FSRN, Gaza

3rd most wanted Nazi is charged in Germany
German prosecutors have charged 90-year-old Samuel Kunz with participating in the murder of 430,000 Jews at the Belzec death camp in Poland during the Second World War.  Kunz was identified as a suspect after he was called as a witness in the ongoing trial of alleged Nazi death camp guard, John Demjanjuk, who was deported from the United States last May.  Cinnamon Nippard has more from Berlin.

Samuel Kunz had been questioned several times over the years, but it wasn't until last June, during the trial of John Demjanjuk, that he admitted that he had worked at the Belzec death camp in Poland.  The Simon Wiesenthal center welcomed the authorities decision to charge Kunz, saying that such trials are indicative of recent changes in Germany's prosecution policy.  The Center has listed Kunz as the 3rd most wanted Nazi Suspect.  However others say this sudden push for justice comes too late, as suspects die of old age, like former SS Officer Erich Steidtmann, who died on Saturday. He was investigated several times, but never convicted.  German authorities have examined more than 25,000 cases since the Nuremburg trials after the Second World War, but most of them never made it to court.  Cinnamon Nippard, FSRN, Berlin.

4 Journalists kidnapped and 8 human heads found in Mexico
In Northern Mexico 4 journalists have disappeared, 3 of whom were reportedly kidnapped in broad daylight.  The journalists had been covering protests at a nearby prison.  Mexico has increasingly become a dangerous place for reporters; 9 journalists have been killed there in 2010. Meanwhile, in the same state of Durango, 8 severed heads have been found, after an anonymous tip was received by police.  They all appear to be of males between the ages of 25 and 30.  The discovery of the heads comes only a week after a grave with 51 bodies was found by authorities in the Mexican city of Monterrey.