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Au Pakistan commence le procès de l’incendie meurtrier de l’atelier de confection en septembre 2012 (environ 300 morts et des centaines de blessés graves). La qualification de l’accusation retenue par le tribunal (meurtre) a finalement été abandonnée sous la pression du premier ministre et des investisseurs locaux et internationaux...

Murder charges dropped in Pakistani factory fire - World Socialist Web Site

▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/04/paki-f04.html

By Sampath Perera
4 February 2013

Pakistan prosecutors have dropped murder charges against the owners of a Karachi garment factory that burned down last September, killing nearly 300 workers. The charge sheet was changed after the intervention of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, under pressure from domestic and international investors.

Ashraf met leaders of Pakistan’s largest and most influential business lobby group, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), on December 29. The KCCI had protested against the murder charges initially laid against the Ali Enterprises owners, “simply because they owned” the factory, and argued they should instead face lesser counts of “negligence”.

Urban matters : Détroit n’en finit pas d’agonir, c’est maintenant au tour des parcs et des terrains de jeux pour les enfants de disparaître. La municipalité prévoit d’en fermer une cinquantaine.

Detroit to close 51 parks - World Socialist Web Site

▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/04/park-f04.html

By Shannon Jones
4 February 2013

Detroit’s Democratic Party Mayor David Bing announced Friday that his administration will close 51 city parks and sharply cut back operations at recreation centers by the spring. The cuts mean that only 57 of the city’s more than 300 parks will be in operation this year. Those that remain open will see reduced staffing and maintenance.

Romanowski Park in southwest Detroit is slated to be closed

The park closures are in line with the plans of the Bing administration to deny services to so-called unviable neighborhoods, forcing residents to move out.

One life-long Detroit resident told the WSWS, “Recreation is an important part of a child’s development. When you close down recreation centers and don’t allow children to play it is a detriment to future generations. People still use the parks even though they are not in the same shape they were in previously.

“I believe the closing of these parks is part of a plan to turn the land over to private developers at a cut-rate cost.”