On Friday, the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will vote to decide which city will host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Originally, there were three finalists, but in October, the favorite, Oslo, withdrew. With the withdrawal of Oslo, the Olympic Movement has found itself in a crisis. Both of the cities left in the running, Beijing and Almaty, are located in countries that are ruled by repressive dictatorships: China and Kazakhstan.   read more

Fishermen revealed horror stories of crew members being dumped overboard and defiant ones being killed, sometimes by having their heads cut off. “Life at sea is cheap,” said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch, Asia. The FDA had found Songkla’s Thailand facilities to have unsanitary conditions that produced “adulterated” seafood that is potentially “injurious to health.” The U.S. is the biggest customer of Thai fish, totaling more than $190 million last year.   read more

The hackers are looking for information on everything from electronics to plant seeds—anything to put Chinese manufacturers on an equal footing with those from the United States which did the original research and development on a product. Last year, a California businessman was convicted of selling China the secret to what makes Oreo cookie filling so consistently white. Others have been charged with stealing plant seeds.   read more

Many have fled to Canada requesting permanent residence, but often they have been rejected and forced to return to the U.S. Once back on American soil, deserters have been prosecuted by the military, with several sentenced to prison terms of about a year. Canada’s policy on U.S. deserters is markedly different than it was 50 years ago. Part of the change is a result of the U.S. military being an all-volunteer force, while the Vietnam-era resisters were trying to avoid being drafted.   read more

Unaccompanied minors from countries other than Mexico and Canada are guaranteed a hearing before they can be deported. However, the Department of Homeland Security has more leeway with immigrants from the United States’ neighboring countries. Those minors may be returned if they’re not victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons or they’re able to make an independent decision about returning. It’s the last provision that appears to be violated in the case of the youngest immigrants.   read more

Texron claims the bomb is designed to be used only on specific targets and will either pre-destruct or be rendered inert if it doesn’t hit what it was aimed at. Perhaps Texron needs to go back to the drawing board. Not only have civilians been injured by the CBU-105, but unexploded components of the bombs have been found on the ground. There is concern that those looking to sell the bombs as scrap will be injured by them.   read more

When they reached Signal’s shipyards in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the workers discovered that not only were their H-2B guest worker visas meant for temporary non-agricultural workers and would not lead to a green card, but they would also be working in slave conditions. Signal packed the Indian workers 24 to a trailer in "isolated, guarded labour camps", and extracted $35 a day from each for accommodation.   read more

The incarceration rate as of 2010 was 3.3% for the native-born and 1.6% for immigrants. That ratio has held steady over the preceding three decades as well. Among young, less-educated men, the differences are even more pronounced. The study showed that 10.7% of native-born men without high school diplomas are incarcerated. The numbers for similar men from Mexico are 2.8% and from El Salvador and Guatemala 1.7%.   read more

The restrictions are coming as the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported that Adeang and Nauru President Baron Waqa took thousands of dollars in bribes from Getax, an Australian phosphate dealer. When Waqa and Adeang were in opposition in 2010, according to ABC, they told former Getax director Ashok Gupta: “We can create a new business relationship that can take this country to a higher level of development and of course taking also your business to even more success.”   read more

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that “people need to work longer hours.” Hillary Clinton responded by tweeting “Anyone who believes Americans aren’t working hard enough hasn’t met enough American workers.” It might come as a surprise to Bush who grew up amid family wealth, but American workers already put in longer hours than those in economic engines such as Germany and Japan. U.S. workers put in 1,789 hours of labor each year, more than Japan (1,729) or Germany (1,371).   read more

“The smoke from these fires has risen above 20,000 feet, and the jet stream has been acting like a highway and transporting that smoke all across the country,” said meteorologist Dustin Bonk. The biggest impact has been in Minnesota, where the air quality has been compared to that in areas of heavy pollution such as Beijing. Minnesota’s state Pollution Control Agency reported that “fine particle levels had reached unhealthy levels in a diagonal band across the state.”   read more

The State Department said in its 2014 Human Rights Report, which was released last week, that the Bahraini government restricts civil liberties and limits its citizens’ ability to alter the makeup of its government, which is a constitutional monarchy. Pro-democracy opposition leaders continue to be thrown in prison and the country bars international election monitors. However, the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based there, its headquarters serving as a key command post.   read more

The U.S. Spanish-speaking population is now second in the world, behind only Mexico, which has 121 million people. Between the United States and Spain is Colombia, with 48 million Spanish speakers.   read more

Researchers on the atoll, which has been owned since 2000 by the Nature Conservancy, previously had to bring in diesel to fuel a generator to provide power, according to Ari Phillips of ClimateProgress. Including transportation costs—Palmyra is about 1,000 miles from Hawaii—the diesel ended up costing $11 to $13 a gallon. Now about 95% of the island’s energy needs are met via wind and solar energy.   read more

The documents note that al-Alwi has made threats to kill U.S. personnel during his detention at Guantánamo and that he promised to do so following his release. However, there have been no efforts on the part of the U.S. government to prove any of those charges in a court of law. His petition to be tried in a civilian court has been denied, with federal judges determining that “it is more probable than not that petitioner was supporting the Taliban and al Qaeda.”   read more

The department traditionally takes two secured floors at the Waldorf for the UN session. However, the department has been worried about security issues at the iconic hotel since it was purchased last year by the Chinese Anbang Insurance Group for $1.95 billion.   read more