May 13, 2018 – Bridge Agents

Can Ireland Escape the Influence of Dark Online Advertising on its Abortion Referendum?

May 13, 2018 Bridge Agents

Ireland (OpenDemocracy) – The mood music sounds a bit better this time – at least for now. Both Google and Facebook have this week vowed to ban ads from “foreign actors” trying to influence Ireland’s upcoming abortion referendum, after journalists and campaigners exposed how foreign and alt-right groups are funnelling unregulated cash into the campaign, and exploiting loopholes to target Irish citizens via social media. Ireland currently has some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws, denying women and girls access to terminations even in cases of rape or incest. Over the years there have been horrifying…

Latest Sudanese Attacks on Darfur Show Protection Needs

May 13, 2018 Bridge Agents

(HRW) – Today, the United Nations Security Council will get a briefing on the situation in Sudan’s Darfur region. Since March, government-led attacks have surged against dozens of villages in Jebel Mara, a restive mountainous rebel stronghold in central Darfur, resulting in killings, widespread destruction, looting, and mass displacement. The latest report of UNAMID, the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission, calls the situation in Darfur “generally stable” with some “low scale skirmishes.” With such a gloss-over assessment from peacekeepers, there’s a real risk the dire protection needs of civilians will…

E. Coli Contamination

May 13, 2018 Bridge Agents

(DoomAndBloom) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that food poisoning from romaine lettuce harboring the bacteria E. Coli spread recently to 29 states and sent at least 150 people to the hospital. The areas involved include all parts of the country from Florida to North Dakota to California, and new cases are making it the worst E. Coli outbreak nationally since 5 people died and 200 were hospitalized in 2006. Although E. Coli is a common inhabitant of the intestinal tract, some strains, especially O157:H7, produce a…

Armed detainees engage in hostile takeover of Indonesian high security prison

May 13, 2018 Bridge Agents

(GV) – A prison riot involving forty convicted terrorists is currently unfolding in Depok, a West Javan city adjacent to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. The riot began on Tuesday evening local time at Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters (Mako Brimob), a high security prison whose inmates include those convicted of terrorism. According to official reports, a standoff occurred as a result of a simple misunderstanding over food between one inmate and a member of Densus 88, Indonesia’s counter-terrorism squad. The situation escalated quickly as the inmate incited others to action, took…