Brazilian Indians protest proposed amendment

Published April 16, 2013

Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil –  About 700 Brazilian Indians are occupying part of the lower house of Congress to protest a proposed amendment that would give Congress a say in the demarcation of indigenous territory.

The Indians say they will not leave the offices of the Constitution and Justice Commission until the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Henrique Eduardo Alves, reverses his decision to form a commission to deal with the amendment.

The amendment is backed by the congressional caucus of rural property owners, which says the present demarcation system reduces their production possibilities.

The demarcation of Indian lands is currently done by Funai, the country's federal indigenous affairs agency.

Alves says he will suspend the naming of the commission and open negotiations if the Indians leave the premises. They have refused.

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Fast food workers in New York protest demanding higher wages

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  April 4, 2013: Demonstrators holds a sign and chant slogans outside of a Wendy's fast food restaurant in New York. New York City fast food workers plan a second job action day to press for higher wages.AP

NEW YORK –  Hundreds of fast food workers and supporters protested outside New York City restaurants Thursday to demand higher wages for their low-paying jobs, including about 60 who chanted "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Minimum wage has got to go!" at a midtown Wendy's.

Linda Archer said she has worked at a nearby McDonald's for three years and makes $8 an hour. The protesters want fast food restaurants to pay $15 per hour, almost double the current statewide average pay of $8.25 per hour. New York City has among the world's most expensive rents.

"I'm asking for respect, I'm asking for $15, I'm asking for a union, I'm asking for job security," she said. McDonald's said in a statement that it values and respects all the employees who work at its restaurants.

New York's minimum wage is $7.25, but the state Legislature last month voted to raise it to $9 by 2016.

The day of picket lines organized by a coalition of unions and community groups followed a similar job action last November. Organizers said they expected hundreds of workers to demonstrate Thursday at dozens of fast food establishments, including McDonald's, Domino's, Wendy's and Pizza Hut.

Fast food workers deserve union representation, said Richard Trumka, national president of the AFL-CIO, who stopped by the Wendy's protest.

"They're being mistreated, they're being underpaid, they're going to stand together until they get fair treatment and we're going to stand with them," Trumka said.

Shahnaz Perveen ate her lunch inside Wendy's while protesters marched outside but said she supported the workers' demands. "They work really hard," she said.

Thursday's action also commemorated the assassination 45 years ago of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, where he was supporting a strike by sanitation workers.

Several pickets wore signs that said "I am a man" or "I am a woman," echoing placards carried in Memphis in 1968.

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US pockets of protest persist after years of war

Published March 21, 2013

Associated Press

MONTPELIER, Vt. –  A decade after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, small groups of people across the country still carry signs to voice their opposition to the U.S.-led wars across the world.

Even though the war in Iraq officially ended in 2011, the war in Afghanistan continues.

Every Friday in Vermont's capital, a small group of protesters gathers in front of the post office. There are also protests in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado, California and other states.

Sixty-four-year-old John Snell of Montpelier says the protests are a reminder for everyone that the wars are still going on.

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Puerto Rico teachers protest changing pension plan

Published March 15, 2013

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  Dozens of teachers in Puerto Rico are protesting a proposal to cut retirement benefits and increase employee contributions to help save the island's crumbling public pension system.

The teachers gathered Friday afternoon in front of the governor's mansion in colonial Old San Juan.

Union leader Maria Lara Fontanez says teachers met with Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla last week to talk about their concerns but says they did not receive any guarantee the pension system wouldn't be changed.

Economists have said the teachers' pension plan is slightly healthier than a plan that covers other government employees in the U.S. territory.

The protest comes two days after a similar protest by hundreds of police officers.

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Egypt protest group signs Morsi up to go to space

CAIRO –  An Egyptian opposition group is using a novel way to protest against President Mohammed Morsi: Sign him up for a chance to win a trip to space.

The April 6 Youth Movement said on its official Facebook page on Thursday that it had entered the Islamist leader's name in the online contest because it wanted to be rid of him. It called on supporters to vote for the president so he'd have a chance to win the trip into space.

There was no immediate response from the president's press office to an email seeking comment.

"For sure, no one in the universe can put up with blatant lies, reneging on promises except for the brotherly people of the moon," the group wrote on its post.

"It is for this reason that the president needs your votes. President Morsi, we wish you safe travels."

April 6 was a driving force behind the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime. Many of its supporters backed Morsi in the June 2012 election he narrowly won to become Egypt's first freely elected president.

But later, the group became among the fiercest critics of the president and his Muslim Brotherhood, the fundamentalist group from which he hails. The opposition accuses Morsi of monopolizing power and going back on campaign promises to have an inclusive government and introduce far reaching reforms.

Morsi's supporters say the new government cannot immediately fix years of neglect and poor administration from Mubarak's 29-year rule.

The group also posted a collage of Morsi, who is a U.S.-trained engineer, in a white space suit.

"I want to go to space because I completed my mission," April 6 mockingly quoted Morsi as saying below his image.

The contest is being run by Axe, a brand of men's grooming products. It promises to send 22 people to the edge of space and back aboard a private spaceship. For the competition, Axe teamed up with U.S. astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon during NASA's Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

Contestants sign up and then get their friends to vote for them. Those with the most votes move to the next stage where they compete in their own country for a chance to go into space. The top recruits advance to a space camp in Orlando, Florida, where they are to take part in three training missions. A panel of space experts chooses those contestants they think are prepared to make the trip into space.

The winners then are to fly 103 kilometers (64 miles) into space with the space tourism company, Space Expedition Corp.

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https://www2.axeapollo.com/en_AE/244825/mohammed-morsi?image=0(hash)./mohammed-morsi?&_suid=13614680934900703352844006959

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