Abuses in China, Russia, Brazil Show Games Need Human Rights Standards - The Olympic Movement urgently needs to focus on human rights reform, Human Rights Watch said today as the 2010 Winter Olympics opened in Vancouver.

One ugly legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is the continued imprisonment in China of those who protested forced evictions or called for human rights improvements there.

The next Winter Games are scheduled to take place in the Russian town of Sochi, where preparations for the Olympics have already generated concerns about the potential for rights violations linked to these preparations, Human Rights Watch said.

Hundreds of thousands of children are employed as farmworkers in the United States, often working 10 or more hours a day. 

They are often exposed to dangerous pesticides, experience high rates of injury, and suffer fatalities at five times the rate of other working youth.

Their long hours contribute to alarming drop-out rates.

The NFP is proud to announce the arrival of our latest Cartoonist Jennett Meriden Russell and her humourous collection of outstanding cartoons! Her first cartoon ran in the Long Island Traveler/Mattituck Watchman when she was 13!

Born in Connecticut in 1960, the Coram, New York resident was a former disc jockey, news reporter, and radio commercial producer for various Long Island radio stations.

A freelance journalist and photographer with The Press of Manorville and the Moriches, Miss Russell won six New York State Press Association Better Newspaper awards last year including three first place standings!

Independent Investigation Remains Essential - Israel has failed to demonstrate that it will conduct thorough and impartial investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations by its forces during last year's Gaza conflict, Human Rights Watch said today. An independent investigation is needed if perpetrators of abuse, including senior military and political officials who set policies that violated the laws of war, are to be held accountable, Human Rights Watch said. 

On February 4, 2010, Human Rights Watch met with military lawyers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to discuss the investigations. While the military is conducting ongoing investigations, officials did not provide information showing that these will be thorough and impartial or that they will address the broader policy and command decisions that led to unlawful civilian deaths, Human Rights Watch said.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the government’s latest offensive against the Internet coinciding with celebrations marking the Islamic Revolution’s 31st anniversary. Online access has again been disrupted, as it is whenever opposition protests are expected.

In major cities such as Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Ahvaz and Shiraz, Internet connections have been slowed right down, restricted to certain neighbourhoods or entirely suspended in some areas for the past few days. Some mobile phone companies have blocked the sending of SMS messages since the evening of 6 February.

Evidence of monstrous neglect of the Haitian people is mounting following the catastrophic earthquake a few days ago. As life-saving medical supplies, food, water purification chemicals and vehicles pile up at the airport in Port au Prince, and as news networks report a massive international effort to deliver emergency aid, the people in the shattered city are wondering when they will see help.

BBC World Service reports that Haitian officials now fear the death toll could rise to 140,000. Three million people are homeless.