tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54617624452958694682024-03-13T01:36:51.285-07:00Your Activist News SourceYour Activist News SourceCoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.comBlogger4318125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-85149489460565572172012-08-14T14:44:00.000-07:002012-08-14T14:44:02.803-07:00Julian Assange will be granted asylum, says official<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wemeantwell.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Julian-Assange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://wemeantwell.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Julian-Assange.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/14/julian-assange-asylum-ecuador-wikileaks"><b>Guardian</b></a><br />
Aug. 14, 2012<br />
By <a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/irene-caselli" rel="author">Irene Caselli</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ecuador" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Ecuador">Ecuador</a>'s president Rafael Correa has agreed to give <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/julian-assange" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Julian Assange">Julian Assange</a> asylum, officials within Ecuador's government have said.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/wikileaks" title="More from guardian.co.uk on WikiLeaks">WikiLeaks</a> founder has been holed up at Ecuador's London embassy since 19 June, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/19/julian-assange-wikileaks-asylum-ecuador" title="">when he officially requested political asylum</a>.<br />
<br />
"Ecuador
will grant asylum to Julian Assange," said an official in the
Ecuadorean capital Quito, who is familiar with the government
discussions.<br />
<br />
On Monday, Correa told state-run ECTV that he would
decide this week whether to grant asylum to Assange. Correa said a large
amount of material about international law had to be examined to make a
responsible informed decision.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo
Patiño indicated that the president would reveal his answer once the
Olympic Games were over. But it remains unclear if giving Assange asylum
will allow him to leave Britain and fly to Ecuador, or amounts to
little more than a symbolic gesture. At the moment he faces the prospect
of arrest as soon as he leaves the embassy for breaching his bail
conditions.<br />
<br />
"For Mr Assange to leave England, he should have a
safe pass from the British [government]. Will that be possible? That's
an issue we have to take into account," Patino told Reuters on Tuesday.<br />
<br />
Government
sources in Quito confirmed that despite the outstanding legal issues
Correa would grant Assange asylum – a move which would annoy Britain,
the US and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/sweden" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Sweden">Sweden</a>.
They added that the offer was made to Assange several months ago, well
before he sought refuge in the embassy, and following confidential
negotiations with senior London embassy staff.<br />
<br />
The official with
knowledge of the discussions said the embassy had discussed Assange's
asylum request. The British government, however, "discouraged the idea,"
the offical said. The Swedish government was also "not very
collaborative", the official said.<br />
<br />
The official added: "We see
Assange's request as a humanitarian issue. The contact between the
Ecuadorean government and WikiLeaks goes back to May 2011, when we
became the first country to see the leaked US embassy cables completely
declassified ... It is clear that when Julian entered the embassy there
was already some sort of deal. We see in his work a parallel with our
struggle for national sovereignty and the democratisation of
international relations."<br />
<br />
Assange took refuge in Ecuador's embassy to avoid <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/extradition" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Extradition">extradition</a>
to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of
sexual misconduct. He is said to be living in one room of the diplomatic
building, where he has a high-speed internet connection.<br />
<br />
Ecuadorean
diplomats believe Assange is at risk of being extradited from Sweden to
the US, where he could face the death penalty. Assange's supporters
claim the US has already secretly indicted him following WikiLeaks'
release in 2010 of US diplomatic cables, as well as classified Afghan
and Iraq war logs.<br />
<br />
Correa and Patiño have both said that Ecuador
will take a sovereign decision regarding Assange. They say they view his
case as a humanitarian act, and are seeking to protect Assange's right
to life and freedom. On Monday the state-run newspaper El Telégrafo <a href="http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=item&item_id=49722&Itemid=2" title="">confirmed a decision had been made</a>,
although the paper did not specify what that decision was. It said that
senior officials had been meeting in the past few days to iron out the
last legal details.<br />
<br />
Two weeks ago Assange's mother Christine
Assange paid Ecuador an official visit, following an invitation by
Ecuador's foreign affairs ministry. She met with Correa and Patiño, as
well as with other top politicians, including Fernando Cordero, head of
Ecuador's legislature. Both Patiño and Ms Assange appeared visibly
touched during a press conference, which had to be briefly suspended
when Ms Assange started crying.<br />
<br />
Ms Assange also held several
public meetings in government buildings, and in one case she was
accompanied by the head of Assange's defence team, Baltasar Garzón, the
former Spanish judge who ordered the London arrest of Chile's General
Pinochet.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/14/julian-assange-asylum-ecuador-wikileaks">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/14/julian-assange-asylum-ecuador-wikileaks </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-52682732164396720612012-08-14T13:29:00.003-07:002012-08-14T13:29:58.917-07:00FBI raids homes of Occupy protesters in Oregon and Washington<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2012/07/25/fbi_raid_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2012/07/25/fbi_raid_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/fbir-a13.shtml"><b>WSWS</b></a><br />
Aug. 13, 2012<br />
By Tom Carter<br />
<br />
Over the last month, heavily armed “domestic terrorism” units of the
FBI used battering rams and stun grenades to conduct early-morning raids
on the homes of political protesters in Seattle and Olympia, Washington
and Portland, Oregon. On July 25, three homes were raided in Portland
alone and, since July 10, as many as six homes have been raided.<br />
<br />
These
raids are only the latest in an emerging pattern of similar raids
conducted by the Obama administration in order to terrorize, suppress
and chill political dissent, in flagrant violation of the US
Constitution and Bill of Rights.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
“The warrants are sealed,” FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele told the<em> Oregonian</em>
newspaper, “and I anticipate they will remain sealed.” Steele described
the raids as part of an “ongoing violent crime” investigation, which is
related to the recent Occupy May Day protests, during which a number of
minor acts of vandalism allegedly took place.<br />
<br />
At 6:00 a.m. on
July 25, Dennison Williams was asleep in his Portland home when FBI
agents smashed down his door without warning with a battering ram and
threw flash or stun grenades into the building. FBI agents armed with
assault rifles then stormed into Williams’ bedroom, pointed their rifles
at him while they handcuffed him, and forced him to sit in a chair for a
half an hour without pants on while they searched his apartment.<br />
<br />
Williams,
a 33-year-old self-described anarchist who helped run an information
booth at recent protests and events, reported that FBI agents boxed up
and removed his laptop computer, political literature, his cell phone,
thumb drives, and various pieces of clothing bearing political slogans.<br />
<br />
Neighbors
described yelling and multiple loud bangs and saw swarms of agents in
body armor using a battering ram against the front door of Williams’
home. Similarly disproportionate displays of force and violence were
involved in the other raids.<br />
<br />
According to the<em> Oregonian, </em>a search warrant was left behind during one of the raids (available <a href="http://media.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/other/DWsearchwarrant.pdf">here</a>).
The warrant indicates that the agents were seeking, among other items,
“anti-government or anarchist literature or material” and “documentation
and communications related to the offenses, including but not limited
to notes, diagrams, letters, diary and journal entries, address books,
and other documentation in written or electronic form.”<br />
<br />
In one of
the raids, eyewitnesses reported as many as 80 agents in body armor,
wearing military fatigues, and armed with assault rifles participating
in the raid. No arrests were made in any of the raids, but as many as
six protesters have been subpoenaed to appear before grand juries.<br />
<br />
Two
of the subpoenaed protesters, Williams and Leah Plante, 24, read a
statement outside the courthouse on August 1: “This grand jury is a tool
of political repression. It is attempting to turn individuals against
each other by coercing those subpoenaed to testify against their
communities. The secret nature of grand jury proceedings creates
mistrust and can undermine solidarity. And imprisoning us takes us from
our loved ones and our responsibilities.”<br />
<br />
Williams and Plante declared their intentions to refuse to answer questions on the basis of their constitutional rights.<br />
<br />
The
“Pure Pop” record store, where Ms. Plante worked, issued a statement on
its web site: “We at Pure Pop are unaware of the specifics of Leah’s
current legal troubles but in her time at Pure Pop Records she
demonstrated high character and integrity. We wish her luck, safety and
perseverance.”<br />
<br />
While the <em>World Socialist Web Site</em> has
fundamental political differences with the various anarchist elements
active in the Occupy protests, we unreservedly defend the democratic
rights of these groups and individuals, and we demand an end to the
campaign of intimidation and repression against them.<br />
<br />
This is not
the first of such raids that has been carried out by the Obama
administration. In September 2010, the administration ordered raids on
the homes of leaders of the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and the Freedom
Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) in Minneapolis and Chicago, and
subpoenaed 23 people to testify before grand juries.<br />
<br />
The
Minneapolis and Chicago raids were similar in form to the recent raids
in Oregon and Washington: doors smashed in without warning by agents
with assault rifles and body armor, inhabitants terrorized, and property
scooped up and confiscated. The Obama administration justified raids
using the “material support for terrorism” provisions of the USA PATRIOT
Act.<br />
<br />
In the period leading up to the recent NATO protests in
Chicago in May, similar trumped-up “terror” charges were leveled against
three young anti-war protesters. Also in May, five young men described
as “anarchists” were ensnared in a so-called “terrorist plot” in
Cleveland, Ohio.<br />
<br />
The question arises whether the recent FBI raids
in Oregon and Washington were prepared by undercover police
infiltration of groups around the Occupy May Day protests earlier in the
year. In the cases of the Minneapolis and Chicago raids in 2010, at
least one undercover FBI spy active in preparing the raids was
subsequently exposed. (See “<a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/fbir-j26.shtml">FBI infiltrator prepared government raid on antiwar groups in Minneapolis and Chicago</a>”)
The “terror plots” in Chicago and Cleveland also involved undercover
provocateurs, who convinced the protesters to carry out the plot and
even supplied them with dummy equipment to carry it out. (See “<a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/terr-m21.shtml">Chicago police frame antiwar activists on ‘terrorism’ charges</a>” and “<a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/clev-m03.shtml">FBI provocateur ensnares Cleveland protesters in ‘bomb plot’</a>”)<br />
<br />
The
gravity and seriousness of the Obama administration’s issuance of
warrants to search homes for “anti-government literature or material”
cannot be understated. It suggests that possession of such literature is
now being considered evidence of criminal activity or “terrorism.”<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/fbir-a13.shtml">http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/fbir-a13.shtml </a><br />
<br />Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-22358783862328875242012-08-13T21:31:00.002-07:002012-08-13T21:31:27.892-07:00'Severe abnormalities' found in Fukushima butterflies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62243000/jpg/_62243663_butterlfymutated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62243000/jpg/_62243663_butterlfymutated.jpg" width="346" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19245818"><b>BBC</b> <b>News</b></a><br />
Aug. 13, 2012<br />
<br />
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
Exposure to radioactive
material released into the environment has caused mutations in
butterflies found in Japan, a study suggests.</div>
<br />
Scientists found an increase in leg, antennae and wing shape
mutations among butterflies collected following the 2011 Fukushima
accident.<br />
<br />
The link between the mutations and the radioactive material was shown by laboratory experiments, they report. <br />
<br />
The work has been <a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120809/srep00570/full/srep00570.html">published in the journal Scientific Reports</a>.<br />
<br />
Two months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
accident in March 2011, a team of Japanese researchers collected 144
adult pale grass blue (<em>Zizeeria maha</em>) butterflies from 10 locations in Japan, including the Fukushima area. <br />
<br />
When the accident occurred, the adult butterflies would have been overwintering as larvae. <br />
<strong></strong><br />
<a name='more'></a><strong> </strong><br />
<strong>Unexpected results</strong><br />
<br />
By comparing mutations found on the butterflies collected
from the different sites, the team found that areas with greater amounts
of radiation in the environment were home to butterflies with much
smaller wings and irregularly developed eyes. <br />
<br />
"It has been believed that insects are very resistant to
radiation," said lead researcher Joji Otaki from the University of the
Ryukyus, Okinawa.<br />
<br />
"In that sense, our results were unexpected," he told BBC News.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19245818">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19245818 </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-30820840872297302642012-08-13T16:11:00.000-07:002012-08-13T16:18:24.967-07:00TrapWire investigation links transit systems and Anonymizer in global surveillance network<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mf9xJVJIVZw/T4N_FGvJYbI/AAAAAAABHxk/RJCYLKa56zM/s1600/Surveillance-Orwell-Business8aug05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mf9xJVJIVZw/T4N_FGvJYbI/AAAAAAABHxk/RJCYLKa56zM/s400/Surveillance-Orwell-Business8aug05.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="color: black;">
<b><a href="http://rt.com/usa/news/trapwire-anonymizer-surveillance-system-588/">RT</a></b></div>
Aug. 13, 2012<br />
<br />
The facts behind TrapWire continue to surface in the days since WikiLeaks exposed the state-of-the-art surveillance system, but minute-by-minute more is being revealed about not just the scary intelligence infrastructure but its questionable ties.<br />
<br />
<br />
Last week, WikiLeaks published their latest addition to trove of the so-called Global Intelligence Files — emails uncovered from Texas-based Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor) by Anonymous late last year — in turn revealing a widespread surveillance system blanketing much of the United States and abroad. The project, TrapWire, is the brainchild of Abraxas, a Northern Virginia corporation that has cut countless deals with the federal government and is staffed by former agents out of not just the Pentagon but practically every leading intelligence agency in the country. As those connections are examined under a magnifying glass by researchers and hacktivists alike, though, more and more is being brought to light about the correlations that exist between the biggest of brothers and an entire industry that profits from pulverizing what is left of privacy. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
In addition to Abraxas overseeing perhaps the most-secret and advanced surveillance system in the world, other entities directly connected to the company have a monopoly in America’s mass-transit system and have also advertised themselves as the purveyors behind a tool designed to protect the privacy of US citizens. <br />
<br />
Much remains unknown about the actual technology behind TrapWire, but Abraxas founder Richard Helms explained it in a 2005 interview as being “more accurate than facial recognition.” A system of surveillance cameras in select locales across the world are connected to analysis centers that aggregate other data, which can be combined to examine suspicious activity reports and routinely monitor every move across vast areas of public space. Publically available information links the TrapWire system to projects in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, among others, but the ties beyond just that one Abraxas endeavor open the operation up to an infinite number of possibilities.<br />
<br />
San Diego-based Cubic Corporation acquired Abraxas in 2010 for only $124 million in cash, close to the same amount that the US Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense awarded the contractor during just the last 11 months. Within the vast Cubic empire exist other facets, though, ones that could very well be working hand-in-hand with what is quickly unfolding as one of the best-kept law enforcement operation secrets ever.<br />
<br />
Included in the sale of Abraxas to Cubic in 2010 was Anonymizer, described by its publicists as “the leader in consumer online anonymity solutions.” Anonymizer exists under the alleged platform of providing identity masking while making communiqué and clandestine transactions over the Web, and its then-newly-hired vice president for consumer products, Chaminda Wijetilleke, said in 2010, “As the online privacy space continues to mature, Anonymizer is in a great position to increase its lead in the industry and to be at the forefront of bringing innovative products to market.”<br />
<br />
“Consumers need state-of-the-art solutions to protect themselves from relentless threats to their online privacy,” added Wijetilleke, who went on to add, “I’m excited to join the Anonymizer team and to help drive this evolving business forward.” In Cubic’s acquisition of Abraxas and Anonymizer, though, real life privacy may have been put under immense risk thanks to TrapWire.<br />
<br />
TrapWire was first unraveled in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks by Abraxas back in 2004, and a decade down the road their connections within the private sector have surpassed more than just counterterrorism companies. In addition to being now under the same umbrella is Anonymizer, its parent company, Cubic, manages a massive transportation division that is reported to be the world’s leader in terms of automated fare collection cards and its related infrastructure in mass-transit systems across the globe. <br />
<br />
Full Article Here -<a href="http://rt.com/usa/news/trapwire-anonymizer-surveillance-system-588/"> http://rt.com/usa/news/trapwire-anonymizer-surveillance-system-588/</a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-65994832920635038252012-08-09T00:12:00.002-07:002012-08-09T00:12:58.791-07:00Still raw wounds greet US medics in Iraq's Fallujah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbQ8snOgQrzqXJnN7LtlGeebF1TD69ThLXCjP-wNp1ELJuj_dHLWhzEFizNBUO0oiNMyTQOBfAshyphenhyphenzlZuA_c1Hb-rV4wm2E-HpsVOzTtPtHgXRhNMJ-1keAzbozFkxyqO5VUxweYTfXI4O/s1600/pic.php.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbQ8snOgQrzqXJnN7LtlGeebF1TD69ThLXCjP-wNp1ELJuj_dHLWhzEFizNBUO0oiNMyTQOBfAshyphenhyphenzlZuA_c1Hb-rV4wm2E-HpsVOzTtPtHgXRhNMJ-1keAzbozFkxyqO5VUxweYTfXI4O/s400/pic.php.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g44juzjcp8qUykMUJYNpBkEIFwyw?docId=CNG.89466ee5f7249e9ff5ed6d21899eb4b4.601"><b>AFP</b></a><br />
Aug. 8, 2012<br />
By Prashant Rao<br />
<br />
FALLUJAH, Iraq — In an Iraqi city where US military offensives
levelled entire neighbourhoods in 2004, a hospital has turned to
American doctors to treat children with heart problems that residents
blame on fallout from the fighting.<br />
<br />
The decision was not easy for
Fallujah, which lies just west of Baghdad and still views the United
States with bitterness and extreme distrust.<br />
<br />
Residents point the
finger at US weaponry for causing a rise in birth defects, mainly
congenital heart problems, still occurring years later.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Yet when
Fallujah General Hospital opened a new cardiac catheterisation
laboratory in July, it was American doctors who helped launch it and
test the equipment.<br />
<br />
"I am an educated man," said Firas al-Kubaisy,
a Fallujah native and one of the hospital's paediatric cardiologists.
"So I know the American people are different from their politicians."<br />
<br />
But
"our population, they feel something in their hearts. They do not
understand what is going on.<br />
When they hear there is an American team in
our city, they are surprised they are helping us."<br />
<br />
The six-member
team -- two doctors and four nurses -- spent several days here in July,
sequestered inside the hospital where the normal Iraqi police guard was
boosted during their stay, said hospital director Abdulsattar Kadhim
Lawas.<br />
<br />
The team's head Kirk Milhoan, a former Air Force surgeon
who completed two tours in Iraq in 2005 and 2007, said he was frank with
Iraqi colleagues.<br />
<br />
"You know, 'How many of your friends, how many
of your relatives, have been affected by Americans and coalition forces,
and also how many sleepless nights did we give you?'," Milhoan asked
them.<br />
<br />
After the US invaded Iraq in March 2003, Fallujah, a city of
about a half million people, staged some of the earliest anti-American
protests though they were largely peaceful.<br />
<br />
In 2004, however, four
Americans employed by the private US security firm Blackwater, now
called Academi, were brutally killed. Pictures of their bodies,
mutilated, set alight then hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates, were
seen worldwide.<br />
<br />
The US response was swift and ruthless. In April,
American forces launched an offensive to quell a burgeoning Sunni
insurgency but it failed. Fallujah became a fiefdom of Al-Qaeda and its
allies, who essentially controlled the city.<br />
<br />
A subsequent campaign
in November saw some 2,000 civilians and 140 Americans killed in a
battle considered one of the fiercest for US troops since the Vietnam
war.<br />
<br />
Kubaisy, 36, sitting board examinations at the time, escaped
the worst as did his family. "They went to Baghdad because Baghdad was
safer at that time." But his home? "It's gone," he said simply. And the
land? "I left it."<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g44juzjcp8qUykMUJYNpBkEIFwyw?docId=CNG.89466ee5f7249e9ff5ed6d21899eb4b4.601">http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g44juzjcp8qUykMUJYNpBkEIFwyw?docId=CNG.89466ee5f7249e9ff5ed6d21899eb4b4.601</a><br />
<br />Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-31847788141901949012012-08-08T23:11:00.002-07:002012-08-08T23:11:31.037-07:00Pine Ridge Indian homicide cases get new scrutiny<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://michiganpeaceteam.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/incident_at_oglala1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://michiganpeaceteam.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/incident_at_oglala1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pine-ridge-20120809,0,246128.story"><b>Los Angeles Times</b></a><br />
Aug. 8 2012<br />
<span class="toolSet" style="width: 335px;"><span class="byline">By Richard A. Serrano</span></span><br />
<br />
PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION, S.D. — The top federal prosecutor in
South Dakota, stepping into the middle of a bitter dispute between the
Oglala Lakota Nation and the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/crimes/fbi-ORGOV000008.topic" id="ORGOV000008" title="FBI">FBI</a>, has reopened a series of unsolved murder cases that tribal leaders say the FBI has for too long ignored.<br />
<br />
The
homicides — shootings, stabbings and beatings, some stemming from a
violent political uprising in the 1970s — have deeply frustrated
residents because no arrests were ever made. Many no longer trust the
FBI and believe that the bureau, with jurisdiction on federal lands,
lost interest in Pine Ridge after two FBI agents died during the unrest
here.<br />
<br />
FBI officials, denying that they have forsaken this place of
crushing poverty and a deadly history going back 130 years, said they
had conducted their own review 12 years ago of many of the deaths but
simply could not produce new arrests.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Now Brendan <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/tim-johnson-PEPLT003338.topic" id="PEPLT003338" title="Tim Johnson">Johnson</a>,
the U.S. attorney for South Dakota, has moved squarely into the center
of the conflict by agreeing to reexamine homicide cases from lists
presented to him by tribal leaders. They include 45 unsolved murders and
11 other homicides that reservation officials said resulted in light
prison sentences.<br />
<br />
Johnson also is circumventing the normal process
of having the FBI investigate the cases. Instead, he is contracting
with a private investigator in nearby Rapid City to dig up new leads,
has asked the criminal division of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to
share its expertise and assigned his top three prosecutors to manage the
review.<br />
<br />
What is happening today on the Upper Plains in many ways
mirrors what occurred two decades ago in the Deep South, when activists
urged federal officials to reopen closed homicide cases in which African
Americans were killed during the civil rights struggles there. That
effort ended with a few new convictions. But the vast majority of the
unsolved deaths there remain just that — unexplained.<br />
Now it is Indian country's turn to be tested.<br />
<br />
"I
hope, I pray, that a lot of people will come forward and we will
achieve justice," Tom Poor Bear, vice president of the Oglala Sioux
Tribe, said at a recent Rapid City meeting with Johnson. "Every day
someone calls me or stops me and says this has opened their hopes
again."<br />
<br />
In a large white cowboy hat, his long black hair hanging
in braids, his voice low but firm, Poor Bear stood before the U.S.
attorney and pleaded: "Just one case. Can't we solve at least one case?"<br />
<br />
The
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 2 million acres rimming the South Dakota
Badlands, is home mainly to the Oglala Sioux and some of America's
harshest poverty. The summers are blazingly hot, the winters brutally
cold. Eighty percent of the residents are unemployed and many struggle
with alcoholism. The reservation says its community is burdened with
"crushing financial, housing, health, educational and social issues."<br />
<br />
It also is where the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee essentially ended the Plains Indian Wars.<br />
<br />
In
the early 1970s, tensions mounted on Pine Ridge when political factions
sparred over control of the reservation and residents split between a
new tribal chairman and traditional tribe members. Some members of the
American Indian Movement led an armed takeover at the Wounded Knee site,
which prompted a 71-day siege by federal law enforcement officials.<br />
<br />
<span class="toolSet" style="width: 335px;"><span class="byline">Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pine-ridge-20120809,0,246128.story">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pine-ridge-20120809,0,246128.story </a></span></span>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-47466612899271983682012-08-08T22:04:00.000-07:002012-08-09T00:05:39.040-07:00New York police launch high-tech surveillance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn1.alexanderhiggins.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Big-Brother-Is-Watching-You-Surveillance-Is-Security.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="333" src="http://cdn1.alexanderhiggins.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Big-Brother-Is-Watching-You-Surveillance-Is-Security.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2qwVj1gH6AIYBxqZ3HMAANSVbpg?docId=CNG.c7ce7e507078b5b80bad0712b772ec9b.1f1"><b>AFP</b></a><br />
Aug. 9, 2012<br />
<br />
NEW YORK — New York police on Wednesday launched what officials say
is a revolutionary camera surveillance system that will simultaneously
scan the streets and call up data on suspects.<br />
<br />
The Domain
Awareness System, developed with Microsoft, "is an innovative tool that
has the potential to revolutionize law enforcement, intelligence and
public safety operations," the mayor's office said.<br />
<br />
Unlike simpler
camera surveillance networks, the new system instantly gives officers
massive amounts of information about what they are monitoring.<br />
<br />
It
"aggregates and analyzes existing public safety data streams in real
time, providing NYPD investigators and analysts with a comprehensive
view of potential threats and criminal activity," the office said.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
For
example, officers watching crime suspects via a live video feed will
also immediately see arrest records, related crimes in the area and
other data that could build a portrait of the individual under scrutiny.<br />
<br />
Cars
linked to a suspect can be analyzed so that investigators know where it
has been for months, while officers will also be able to rewind footage
tracing who left any suspicious package.<br />
<br />
"The system is a
transformative tool because it was created by police officers for police
officers," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2qwVj1gH6AIYBxqZ3HMAANSVbpg?docId=CNG.c7ce7e507078b5b80bad0712b772ec9b.1f1">http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2qwVj1gH6AIYBxqZ3HMAANSVbpg?docId=CNG.c7ce7e507078b5b80bad0712b772ec9b.1f1 </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-78631898432910783562012-08-07T23:34:00.001-07:002012-08-07T23:34:26.447-07:00Appeals court overturns ruling, says government wiretapping was OK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.bugged.com/product_images/uploaded_images/uncle-sam-wiretap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.bugged.com/product_images/uploaded_images/uncle-sam-wiretap.jpg" width="261" /></a></div>
<a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/wiretapping-islamic-group-lawsuit-appeals-court.html%20%20"><b>Los Angeles Times</b></a><br />
Aug. 8, 2012<br />
<br />
A federal appeals court Tuesday threw out a lawsuit by lawyers for an
Islamic group that charged the federal government had illegally
wiretapped them.<br />
<br />
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the
government had legal immunity from the lawsuit filed by lawyers for
Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a now-defunct charity that federal
agents said was a terrorist group.<br />
<br />
The ruling overturns a 2010 decision by a San Francisco federal judge
against the wiretapping program. That ruling awarded the group’s
lawyers who had been wiretapped a total of $40,800 and required the
government to pay Al-Haramain’s $2.5 million legal fees.<br />
<br />
“This case effectively brings to an end the plaintiffs’ ongoing
attempts to hold the executive branch responsible for intercepting
telephone conversations without judicial authorization,” the 9th Circuit
said.<br />
<br />
The panel also affirmed a lower-court decision that FBI Director
Robert Mueller could not be personally sued as a result of the
surveillance.<br />
<br />
In 2001, President George W. Bush authorized the government to
monitor, without warrants, telephone calls and e-mails between Americans
and possible foreign terrorists. Al-Haramain and its two lawyers sued,
arguing that they had been wiretapped illegally.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/wiretapping-islamic-group-lawsuit-appeals-court.html">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/wiretapping-islamic-group-lawsuit-appeals-court.html </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-60140604326120510502012-08-07T22:56:00.001-07:002012-08-07T22:56:42.417-07:00Blackwater Successor to Pay Fine to Settle Arms Charges<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/blackwater-cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/blackwater-cartoon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/us/blackwater-successor-to-pay-fine-to-settle-arms-charges.html"><b>Reuters</b></a><br />
Aug. 7, 2012<br />
<br />
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The military contractor formerly known as <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/blackwater_usa/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Blackwater USA.">Blackwater Worldwide</a> has agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine to settle charges of arms-sales violations, the Justice Department said Tuesday.<br />
<br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The agreement, filed in United States District Court in New Bern, N.C.,
covers unauthorized sales of satellite phones in Sudan; unauthorized
military training provided to foreign governments, including Canada’s;
illegal possession of automatic weapons; and other violations, the
Justice Department said. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The sales and training in question took place from 2005 to 2008 and did
not have the authorization of the Treasury and State Departments, as
required by law, prosecutors said. The company, now called Academi LLC,
acknowledged “responsibility for the conduct” in signing what is known
as a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The agreement means the company will not face prosecution on 17 counts
as long as it meets auditing requirements and complies with export
restrictions. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Two years ago Blackwater, which also used the name Xe Services LLC,
reached a $42 million settlement with the State Department for similar
allegations. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
“This company clearly violated U.S. laws by exporting sensitive
technical data and unauthorized defense services to a host of countries
around the world,” Brock Nicholson, special agent in charge of United
States Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations in North
Carolina and two other states, said in a written statement. </div>
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/us/blackwater-successor-to-pay-fine-to-settle-arms-charges.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/us/blackwater-successor-to-pay-fine-to-settle-arms-charges.html </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-2651860720436332622012-08-06T22:05:00.001-07:002012-08-06T22:05:18.872-07:00Tibetan sets himself alight in China: group<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images1.naharnet.com/images/42457/w460.jpg?1339750424" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://images1.naharnet.com/images/42457/w460.jpg?1339750424" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/tibetan-sets-himself-alight-china-group-183823932.html"><b>AFP</b></a><br />
Aug. 6, 2012<br />
<br />
<div class="first">
A Tibetan man in southwest China set himself on fire
Monday, the latest in a series of shocking protests against Chinese
rule, an overseas human rights group said.</div>
<br />
The man set himself alight along the main street of Ngaba which sits
on the Tibet plateau in a Tibetan-inhabited area of China's Sichuan
province, the London-based Free Tibet said in a statement.<br />
<br />
Local government officials in the town, known as Aba in Chinese, were not immediately available for comment.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Security personnel quickly extinguished the flames and took the man away in a security vehicle, the statement said.<br />
<br />
He was believed to be still alive, although his upper body was badly burned, it added.<br />
<br />
More than 40 people have set themselves on fire in recent months in
Tibetan-inhabited areas of China in protest at repressive government
policies, the group said, with most incidents linked to monks or former
monks of Aba's Kirti monastery.<br />
<br />
Tibetans have long chafed under China's rule over the vast Himalayan
region, charging that Beijing has curbed religious freedoms and their
culture is being eroded by an influx of Han Chinese, the country's main
ethnic group.<br />
<br />
Beijing, however, says Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and have
benefited from improved living standards brought on by China's economic
expansion.<br />
<br />
"As the world's media focuses on the discipline of Chinese athletes,
Chinese state repression is driving Tibetans to set fire to themselves
under a media blackout," said Free Tibet director Stephanie Brigden.<br />
<br />
"China is competing in the Olympic Games despite having broken every
commitment on human rights made during its bid for the 2008 Games."<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/tibetan-sets-himself-alight-china-group-183823932.html">http://ca.news.yahoo.com/tibetan-sets-himself-alight-china-group-183823932.html </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-31927077287979766292012-08-01T23:02:00.002-07:002012-08-02T12:13:28.453-07:00View profile 9th Circuit ruling favorable for Occupiers to hold police, gov'ts accountable for excessive force<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/c101.0.403.403/p403x403/405323_339467189472692_1556966045_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/c101.0.403.403/p403x403/405323_339467189472692_1556966045_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/01/1115561/-9th-Circuit-ruling-favorable-for-Occupiers-to-hold-police-gov-ts-accountable-for-excessive-force"><b>Daily Kos</b></a><br />
July 2, 2012<br />
By <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/user/joe%20shikspack">Joe Shikspack</a><br />
<br />
<div id="intro">
A three judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals filed an <a href="http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2012/07/11/10-16256.pdf">unanimous ruling</a>
in Nelson v. City of Davis. The student plaintiff, Timothy Nelson was
seriously and permanently injured by the excessive use of force by
police in a 2004 incident at UC Davis.<br />
<br />
The Court found that the police actions violated a basic
constitutional right, the Fourth Amendment right to be free of
unreasonable seizure and invalidated qualified immunity for the police,
meaning that police could be held liable for damages. This ruling
should offer considerable support to Occupiers pressing suit against
police and governments for their often brutal and excessive use of force
against peaceful protesters.</div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The incident is described in the decision and some of the details are
strikingly similar to reports of police attacks on Occupiers - emphasis
in quoted portion is mine:<br />
<br />
Timothy Nelson, a former student of the University of
California at Davis (“U.C. Davis”), suffered permanent injury when he
was shot in the eye by a pepperball projectile fired from the weapon of a
U.C. Davis officer when U.C. Davis and City of Davis police attempted
to clear an apartment complex of partying students. Officers shot
pepperball projectiles in the direction of Nelson and his friends as the
students stood in the breezeway of the apartment complex, attempting to
leave the party and awaiting instruction from the officers. <b>The
officers did not provide any audible warning prior to shooting towards
the unarmed and compliant students, and never informed the young
partygoers how to appropriately extricate themselves from the apartment
complex in order to avoid becoming the target of police force.</b> ...
<br />
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
The officers gathered in front of a breezeway in the apartment
complex that was described as a “very narrow and confined space.” A
group of fifteen to twenty persons had congregated in this breezeway on
the ground floor, including Nelson and his friends. <b>The students
were attempting to leave the party but the police blocked their means
of egress and did not provide any instructions for departing from the
complex.</b> ...<br />
<blockquote>
A pepperball launched from one of the officers’ guns struck Nelson in
the eye. He immediately collapsed on the ground and fell into the
bushes where he writhed in pain for ten to fifteen minutes. <b>Although unable to see, Nelson heard the officers proceed past where he lay, but none of them provided assistance.</b>
Some time later, Nelson was removed from the scene and driven to the
hospital. Later that evening, Lieutenant Pytel, the incident commander
at the scene learned that an individual was injured during the dispersal
of persons at the apartment complex and sent Wilson to the hospital to
ascertain whether that individual was injured by the officers’ use of
force and whether that individual had committed a chargeable offense.
The officers were unable to find any crime with which to charge Nelson —
thus no charge was ever filed against him.</blockquote>
The court ruled that the use of force against Nelson was excessive and
that police officers may be held liable for injuries caused by
non-lethal weapons used for crowd dispersal in cases of excessive use of
force. The court stated that a reasonable officer would have known
that the conduct engaged in and similar conduct would be
unconstitutional (emphasis mine):<br />
<br />
In LaLonde v. County of Riverside, 204 F.3d 947 (9th Cir. 2000), and Headwaters I and II, <b>we
held that the use of pepper spray, and a failure to alleviate its
effects, was an unreasonable application of force against individuals
who were suspected of only minor criminal activity, offered only passive
resistance, and posed little to no threat of harm to others</b>.
<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/01/1115561/-9th-Circuit-ruling-favorable-for-Occupiers-to-hold-police-gov-ts-accountable-for-excessive-force">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/01/1115561/-9th-Circuit-ruling-favorable-for-Occupiers-to-hold-police-gov-ts-accountable-for-excessive-force </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-7593183042695213282012-08-01T00:53:00.001-07:002012-08-01T00:53:04.187-07:00Study: Dispersants may have hurt Gulf food chain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://idahobusinessreview.com/files/2010/07/bp-protest2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://idahobusinessreview.com/files/2010/07/bp-protest2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/study-dispersants-may-have-hurt-gulf-food-chain/article_938bd8e7-e6b9-5d56-af35-ec7348c0632b.html"><b>Associated Press</b></a><br />
July 31, 2012<br />
<br />
<strong>NEW ORLEANS</strong> — A study on possible effects of the
2010 BP oil spill indicates dispersants may have killed plankton - some
of the ocean's tiniest plants and creatures - and disrupted the food
chain in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the nation's richest seafood
grounds.<br />
<br />
Scientists who read the study said it points toward major future effects of the spill. One called its findings scary.<span class="aa"></span><br />
<br />
For
the study, Alabama researchers pumped water from Mobile Bay into
53-gallon drums, then added oil, dispersant or both in proportions found
during the oil spill to simulate the spill's effects on microscopic
water-life in the bay.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Over more than 12 weeks in 2010, BP's well spewed nearly 200 million
gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The company used more than 1.8
million gallons of dispersants - more than 770,000 gallons of it at the
oil's source on the ocean floor - to break up the oil into tiny
droplets.<span class="aa"></span><br />
<br />
The
researchers found that, within days, the numbers of plant-like
phytoplankton and ciliates - plankton that use hairlike cilia to move -
increased under an oil slick. But they dropped significantly in the
drums with dispersant or dispersed oil, while the numbers of bacteria
increased. The study was published Tuesday in PLoS ONE, one of the
peer-reviewed journals in the online Public Library of Science.<span class="aa"></span><br />
<br />
"In
those tanks, all of the energy seems to get trapped in the bacterial
side. There were lots of bacteria left but no bigger things. It's like
the middle part of the food web is taken away," said lead researcher
Alice Ortmann of the University of South Alabama and Dauphin Island Sea
Lab.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/study-dispersants-may-have-hurt-gulf-food-chain/article_938bd8e7-e6b9-5d56-af35-ec7348c0632b.html">http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/study-dispersants-may-have-hurt-gulf-food-chain/article_938bd8e7-e6b9-5d56-af35-ec7348c0632b.html </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-70459413490541144272012-08-01T00:25:00.002-07:002012-08-01T00:31:09.887-07:00Early Warning: Anonymous Swipes Back at French Trademark Applicant<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Anonymous_emblem.svg/160px-Anonymous_emblem.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><b> </b><b> </b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/parmyolson/files/2011/11/Anonymous-Operation-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/parmyolson/files/2011/11/Anonymous-Operation-logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/07/31/Anonymous-Trademark-Early-Flicker-073112.aspx"><b>Brand Channel</b></a><br />
July 31, 2012<br />
By <a href="http://www.brandchannel.com/home/author/michael.aspx">Michael Waltzer</a><br />
<br />
Would you buy a T-shirt with a Latin Kings gang symbol on it? How
about a backpack with the Bloods gang sign? Would you even try and
trademark such a symbol? The branding of illegal activity is usually
done underground, consisting of tattoos and graffiti mostly. So why
French company, <a href="http://stores.ebay.fr/Early-Flicker" target="_blank">Early Flicker</a>, would try and <a href="http://bases-marques.inpi.fr/Typo3_INPI_Marques/getPdf?idObjet=3897981_FMARK-1,FMARK-2" target="_blank">trademark</a> the Anonymous logo and slogan is <i>un peu</i> bizarre.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/Asher_Wolf/status/229937466080120832" target="_blank">Tweeted</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/Asher_Wolf" target="_blank">@Asher Wolf</a> yesterday, it <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/31/trademark-anonymous-logo" target="_blank">appears</a> Apollinaire
Auffret from Early Flicker applied to the Institut National De La
Propriete Industrielle (INPI) to protect the logo and slogan. The
hacktivist group's logo consists of a headless man in a suit with a
question mark for a head, standing before a globe and a wreath. The
slogan reads "Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not
forget. Expect us." Early Flicker is an <a href="http://myworld.ebay.com/early-flicker/?_trksid=p4340.l2559" target="_blank">eBay store</a> that has a range of different product categories, including t-shirts, handbags, and accessories.<br />
<br /><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yuq9bBiRELA" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/07/31/Anonymous-Trademark-Early-Flicker-073112.aspx">http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/07/31/Anonymous-Trademark-Early-Flicker-073112.aspx </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-83149160615578287722012-07-31T22:11:00.002-07:002012-07-31T22:11:31.434-07:00UC Davis confirms officer at center of pepper spraying controversy no longer on the force<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.phibetaiota.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/pepper-spray-davis.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="http://www.phibetaiota.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/pepper-spray-davis.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/31/4679466/uc-davis-confirms-officer-at-center.html"><b>Sacramento Bee</b></a><br />
July 31, 2012<br />
By <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/search_results/?sf_pubsys_story_byline=Sam%20Stanton&link_location=top" title="Read more articles by Sam Stanton"><span>Sam Stanton</span></a><br />
<br />
Lt. John Pike, the <a class=" lingo_link" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/UC+Davis/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400;">UC Davis</a>
police officer who became a focal point of last November's pepper
spraying incident during a campus protest, is no longer employed by the
university, a spokesman confirmed late Tuesday.<br />
<br />
UC Davis spokesman
Barry Shiller said he could not discuss the details of Pike's
departure, but in response to queries from The Bee, he said Pike was no
longer employed there as of Tuesday.<br />
<br />
"Consistent with privacy
guidelines established in state law and university policy, I can confirm
that John Pike's employment with the university ended on July 31,
2012," Shiller said. "I'm unable to comment further." <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Pike, 39, declined to comment when reached by The Bee, saying he wanted to consult with his attorney first.<br />
<br />
Pike's
2010 salary was listed as $110,243.12. He has been on paid leave since
the debacle unfolded last year, sparking worldwide outrage, numerous
investigations and calls for the resignation of UC Davis leaders.<br />
<br />
Pike's
leave coincided with an internal affairs investigation into his and
other officers' actions on the campus quad Nov. 18, when Pike and at
least one other officer used <a class=" lingo_link" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/pepper+spray/" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400;">pepper spray</a> on students and protestors who were seated and had locked arms, refusing police orders to disperse.<br />
<br />
UC Davis officials have said that because the internal affairs probes are confidential, they cannot not disclose their findings.<br />
<br />
As
a result of cell phone video showing Pike spraying the students and
protesters, he became the primary symbol of the public outrage over the
incident as the images spread worldwide on the Internet.<br />
<br />
Pike, a
former Sacramento police officer, was suspended with pay after the
incident along with another officer and then-UC Davis Police Chief
Annette Spicuzza.<br />
<br />
Spicuzza retired in April after an independent
panel issued an investigative report that severely criticized her
leadership of the police department and found fault with much of the
uiversity leadership during the crisis.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/31/4679466/uc-davis-confirms-officer-at-center.html">http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/31/4679466/uc-davis-confirms-officer-at-center.html </a><br />
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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/31/4679466/uc-davis-confirms-officer-at-center.html#storylink=cpy<span> </span></div>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-6247134746024470302012-07-31T14:34:00.004-07:002012-07-31T14:34:34.991-07:00More details of stunning Y-12 break-in; protesters offered bread to guards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://media.knoxnews.com/media/img/photos/2012/07/28/559905_t607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://media.knoxnews.com/media/img/photos/2012/07/28/559905_t607.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://knoxnews.com/"><b>KnoxNews.com</b></a><br />
July 31, 2012<br />
By <a class="fn" href="http://www.knoxnews.com/staff/frank-munger/" title="Frank Munger">Frank Munger</a><br />
<br />
OAK RIDGE — Emerging accounts of what took place in Saturday's
predawn hours at Y-12 are surely unlike any of the threat scenarios
regularly tested during security exercises at the government
installation. It apparently was a surreal scene inside the nuclear
weapons plant.<br />
<br />
Around 4:30 a.m., Y-12's protective force responded to a sensor on
the PIDAS (perimeter intrusion detection and assessment system) that
indicated an unauthorized entry into the so-called Protected Area, where
work on nuclear warheads takes place.<br />
<br />
As it turned out, there was no terrorist attack under way. Nor was
the alarm tripped by a wayward deer or other critters that sometimes
prove to be a security nuisance at the plant.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Instead, three aging peaceniks were hanging banners in the dark,
splashing blood, and painting messages on the plant's pride-and-joy
storage facility, a $549 million fortress which contains the nation's
primary supply of bomb-grade uranium.<br />
<br />
As they were confronted by a heavily armed guard, the anti-nukes
protesters — Megan Rice, an 82-year-old nun; Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, a
housepainter and military veteran; and Michael Walli, 63, a gardener and
Roman Catholic layman — reportedly began reading a prepared statement
about their beliefs and opposition to nuclear weapons.<br />
<br />
"He was on his walkie-talkie talking, but he heard it," Rice told one
of the protest supporters in a jailhouse telephone conversation.<br />
<br />
Before they were ordered to halt and kneel, the protesters reportedly
offered to break bread with the guards and displayed their possessions —
a Bible, candles and white roses. They also sang.<br />
<br />
Their words and actions were not that unusual. They were standard
fare for many protests staged around the U.S. and beyond. What was
unusual was where these acts took place — the inner sanctum of the Oak
Ridge weapons facility — which heretofore had been portrayed as
impenetrable and deadly dangerous to unauthorized visitors.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.knoxnews.com/photos/2012/jul/28/242458/">http://www.knoxnews.com/photos/2012/jul/28/242458/ </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-45152050526473434682012-07-29T21:34:00.002-07:002012-07-29T21:34:45.994-07:00Anaheim protest: Crowd chants 'Am I next?' outside police station<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://a.scpr.org/i/0b51b4f06b2439286ba279fe5ef50e3e/43919-five.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://a.scpr.org/i/0b51b4f06b2439286ba279fe5ef50e3e/43919-five.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/07/anaheim-crowd-chants-am-i-next-outside-police-station.html"><b>Los Angeles Times</b></a><br />
July 29, 2012<br />
<br />
Tempers continued to flare in Anaheim on Sunday afternoon as a group
of about 250 protesters stood directly in front of the Police
Department, the latest demonstration the city has seen after two fatal
police shootings last weekend.<br />
<br />
About 45 minutes after the protest began, demonstrators congregated
in front of police headquarters as officers on foot and horseback told
them to stay off the private sidewalk directly in front of the building.
Some protesters moved to the edge of the adjacent public sidewalk and
held out their arms in an effort to keep their fellow demonstrators
back.<br />
<br />
"These are our weapons," Renee Balenti, 39, shouted at police,
pointing to her mouth and head before joining the chain of
demonstrators.<br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://framework.latimes.com/2012/07/25/anaheim-police-shootings/" target="_blank" title="Raucous protests in Anaheim over police shootings">PHOTOS: Protests against Anaheim police shootings</a></strong><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The crowd — whose chants included "The whole system is guilty" and
"Am I next?" — included members of Occupy Orange County and Kelly's
Army, a protest group formed after the fatal police beating of Kelly
Thomas in Fullerton last year.<br />
<br />
Anaheim, Orange County's largest city, has seen a series of protests
after Manuel Diaz, 25, was shot and killed by police July 21.
Authorities said the unarmed man was avoiding arrest.<br />
<br />
The fatal officer-involved shooting was the first of two that
occurred that weekend; a day after Diaz was killed, Anaheim police shot
and killed Joel Acevedo, 21, who authorities say fired on officers
during a foot chase. A third such shooting occurred Friday, when
officers opened fire on a robbery suspect, but the suspect was not hurt.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/07/anaheim-crowd-chants-am-i-next-outside-police-station.html">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/07/anaheim-crowd-chants-am-i-next-outside-police-station.html </a><br />
<br />Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-47416429248553768532012-07-29T21:21:00.002-07:002012-07-29T21:21:30.808-07:00Anti-nuclear protesters surround Japanese parliament, gubernatorial election highlights issue<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/stories/large/2012/07/29/149464405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/stories/large/2012/07/29/149464405.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/anti-nuclear-protesters-surround-japanese-parliament-gubernatorial-election-highlights-issue/2012/07/29/gJQADU1uHX_story.html"><b>Associated Press</b></a><br />
July 29, 2012<br />
<br />
TOKYO — Thousands of people formed “a human chain” around Japan’s
parliament complex Sunday to demand the government abandon nuclear power
— the latest in a series of peaceful demonstrations on a scale not seen
in the nation for decades.
<br />
<br />
Also Sunday, voters went to the polls in a closely watched
election for governor of southwestern Yamaguchi prefecture, where an
outspoken anti-nuclear candidate was running. Japanese media reported
his loss late Sunday, citing exit polls, although official results had
not been tallied.<br />
<br />
Protesters said they were angry the government restarted two reactors
earlier this month despite safety worries after the multiple meltdowns
at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in March last year. The reactors
were the first to return to operation since May, when the last of
Japan’s 50 working reactors went offline for routine checks.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/drXBNHB23Xg" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Banging
on drums and waving balloons and banners, protesters marched from a
Tokyo park and lined up along the streets around the parliament building
chanting, “Saikado hantai,” or “No to restarts,” and later lit candles.<br />
<br />
“All these people have gotten together and are raising their voices,”
said Shoji Kitano, 64, a retired math teacher who was wearing a sign
that read, “No to Nukes.”<br />
<br />
Kitano said he had not seen such massive
demonstrations since the 1960s. He stressed that ordinary Japanese
usually don’t demonstrate, but were outraged over the restarting of
nuclear power.<br />
<br />
Similar demonstrations have been held outside the
prime minister’s residence every Friday evening. The crowds have not
dwindled, as people get the word out through Twitter and other online
networking. A July 16 holiday rally at a Tokyo park, featuring a rock
star and a Nobel laureate, drew nearly 200,000 people.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/anti-nuclear-protesters-surround-japanese-parliament-gubernatorial-election-highlights-issue/2012/07/29/gJQADU1uHX_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/anti-nuclear-protesters-surround-japanese-parliament-gubernatorial-election-highlights-issue/2012/07/29/gJQADU1uHX_story.html </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-56726507965143122972012-07-29T20:29:00.002-07:002012-07-29T20:29:43.116-07:00Bradley Manning's lawyers seek to show torturous holding conditions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-d_-TzPXR_2Ae8HLUv7nfl3LxLjGUEgREk3YF7p6CoCyB7ppaRMFLcun5KZbRFc_a6xEuMzAQtfcT-5jKIQD7QDQKB1Q1aJuVsnsiWHZJaJVk0r6XUEbK_jMZpEVDX9YvyNoHYGwvKuM/s1600/Picture+13.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-d_-TzPXR_2Ae8HLUv7nfl3LxLjGUEgREk3YF7p6CoCyB7ppaRMFLcun5KZbRFc_a6xEuMzAQtfcT-5jKIQD7QDQKB1Q1aJuVsnsiWHZJaJVk0r6XUEbK_jMZpEVDX9YvyNoHYGwvKuM/s400/Picture+13.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/29/bradley-manning-torturous-holding-conditions"><b>Guardian</b></a><br />
July 29, 2012<br />
By<a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/edpilkington" rel="author"> Ed Pilkington</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/bradley-manning" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Bradley Manning">Bradley Manning</a>, the suspected <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/wikileaks" title="More from guardian.co.uk on WikiLeaks">WikiLeaks</a> source, is seeking to call several military psychiatrists to testify that he was held in custodial conditions likened to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/torture" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Torture">torture</a> against their professional advice.<br />
<br />
Manning's defence lawyers have <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=">lodged a motion</a>
with the military court in Fort Meade, Maryland requesting the
appearance of seven medical and other experts at the next pretrial
hearing scheduled for 1 October.<br />
<br />
The defence team, led by civilian
lawyer David Coombs, is trying to have all 22 charges against Manning
thrown out of court on grounds that he was subjected to illegal pretrial
treatment in violation of the constitutional prohibition of cruel and
unusual punishment.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Manning is accused of being responsible for
the biggest leak of state secrets in US history. Hundreds of thousands
of diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world, as well as
warlogs from Afghanistan and Iraq, were published by the whistleblowing
website WikiLeaks.<br />
<br />
After his arrest in May 2010 at a military base
near Baghdad, the young soldier was held at the Quantico marine base in
Virginia.<br />
<br />
For a period of about eight months at Quantico, Manning
was subjected to extraordinarily harsh conditions. This was done, the
military claimed, for his own protection under a so-called "prevention
of injury" order or POI.<br />
<br />
The unidentified witnesses that Coombs
wants to call include a military psychiatrist who consistently
recommended to Manning's captors at the brig at Quantico that the
prisoner should be removed from restrictive conditions. But his advice
was ignored and Manning continued to be subjected to solitary
confinement, being stripped naked, held in a bare cell and made to wear a
rough smock at night.<br />
<br />
Witnesses will testify, the defence motion
states, that when the psychiatrists objected to the conditions, they
were told by the military chiefs in the brig: "We will do whatever we
want to do."<br />
<br />
The defence also wants to call witnesses from Fort Leavenworth in Kansas where Manning was moved in April 2011 following <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/10/bradley-manning-legal-scholars-letter">an international outcry</a> about his treatment.<br />
<br />
After
the move, the soldier was allowed much greater freedom under
medium-security arrangements. The defence argues that his successful
transfer shows "he was improperly held to begin with".<br />
<br />
October's
hearing on Manning's treatment at Quantico is a crucial last chance for
his defence team to ameliorate some of the charges against him ahead of
the full court martial trial that is likely to take place early in the
new year. It is not clear, however, how far the judge presiding over the
proceedings, Colonel Denise Lind, will be prepared to go.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/29/bradley-manning-torturous-holding-conditions">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/29/bradley-manning-torturous-holding-conditions </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-8213716935064362572012-07-28T22:12:00.002-07:002012-07-28T22:15:00.199-07:00Anonymous begins dump of stolen ISP data<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/australia-anonymous.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/australia-anonymous.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/au/anonymous-begins-dump-of-stolen-isp-data-7000001749/"><b>ZD Net</b></a><br />
July 28, 2012<br />
By <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/meet-the-team/au/michael.lee/" rel="author">Michael Lee</a><br />
<br />
Anonymous Australia has followed through with its promise to dump of
what appears to be AAPT's customer data, releasing a sample of the
stolen data.<br />
<br />
The data was posted in several parts; six on Pastebin (<a href="http://pastebin.com/Ldgb3UVB" target="_blank">one</a>, <a href="http://pastebin.com/SJ8gyzGs" target="_blank">two</a>, <a href="http://pastebin.com/QcAJUnmq" target="_blank">three</a>, <a href="http://pastebin.com/CAh3y4TN" target="_blank">four</a>, <a href="http://pastebin.com/qftdUUqS" target="_blank">five</a>, and <a href="http://pastebin.com/MiEEVtuK" target="_blank">six</a>),
and four dump files. The information in these dumps appears to be about
AAPT's business accounts and the contacts for these agreements.<br />
<br />
The data appears to contain information about AAPT business customers
and staff, including the names, numbers, titles and email addresses of a
contact for each business agreement and how much the company spends
(presumably with AAPT) each month. AAPT confirmed earlier this week <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/aapt-confirms-data-breach-as-anonymous-claims-attack-7000001564/">that its data had been breached via its provider Melbourne IT</a>, but had not said whether Anonymous was behind the breach. <i>ZDNet</i> has contacted AAPT to confirm whether the dump is its data.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HPEM5G08XrI" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>There appear to be passwords in the dump. In the information leaked
to Pastebin, these passwords appear to be stored in plaintext, but
completely random, consisting of upper- and lower-case characters and
between 8 and 11 characters in length, indicating these users were
assigned passwords or the passwords were disguised in some way. But in
the dumped files, there are over a thousand passwords which aren't
random and appear to be user defined.<br />
<br />
Although Anonymous Australia previously stated it would <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/aapt-confirms-data-breach-as-anonymous-claims-attack-7000001564/">strip personal information from the data</a>, there is still some left in the dump files.<br />
<br />
This information includes the date of birth and marital status for
many business customer account contacts, which could potentially provide
would-be attackers with enough information to steal someone's identity.<br />
<br />
The group has since <a href="http://anonpr.net/aapt-805/" target="_blank">made its first press release</a> regarding the attack and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HPEM5G08XrI" target="_blank">uploaded a video to YouTube</a>
to explain its motives. The group states that "Australia feels the need
to censor and filter every day social and personal life" and that due
to this, Anonymous is "disgusted from this decision, based upon power,
money, and greed". <br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/au/anonymous-begins-dump-of-stolen-isp-data-7000001749/">http://www.zdnet.com/au/anonymous-begins-dump-of-stolen-isp-data-7000001749/ </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-12237280598702984252012-07-27T20:29:00.000-07:002012-07-27T20:29:00.648-07:00Ecuador fines Chevron $19.02BN over Amazon pollution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2OqN1d3njUEG7ZRhLwmpZBK7X8_d8bodwWKCVGVeGvhXznPW7hiSUiTJMqTeYj6d74ARPxCj1rcSLUN_-JE4Ajvpq7j-zJC7nL9VgCWxNjZ_oPyVXVV_UZ2NKOMRYbsybdMOsHm7IgHd_/s1600/ecuador-sludge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2OqN1d3njUEG7ZRhLwmpZBK7X8_d8bodwWKCVGVeGvhXznPW7hiSUiTJMqTeYj6d74ARPxCj1rcSLUN_-JE4Ajvpq7j-zJC7nL9VgCWxNjZ_oPyVXVV_UZ2NKOMRYbsybdMOsHm7IgHd_/s400/ecuador-sludge.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/120727/ecuador-fines-chevron-1902bn-over-amazon-pollution"><b>Global Post</b></a><br />
July 27, 2012<br />
By<span class="submitted"><span class="submitted-by"><a class="submitted-by-link" href="http://www.globalpost.com/bio/allison-jackson" rel="author"> Allison Jackson</a></span></span><br />
<br />
An Ecuadorian court has ordered US oil giant <a href="http://www.chevron.com/">Chevron</a> to pay $19.02 billion in compensation for environmental damage relating to its operations in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest">Amazon</a>.<br />
<br />
It is $1 billion more than the original fine imposed in 2011. The
ruling – considered one of the biggest ever for environmental damage –
was upheld by an appeals court in January. The increased fine came about
after Chevron appealed the decision in Ecuador's Supreme Court.<br />
<br />
"Due to an involuntary calculation error, the reparations now amount to $19,021,552,000," <a href="http://www.afp.com/en/news/topstories/chevron-ordered-pay-19bn-environment-damages">Agence France-Presse quoted</a> an unnamed court official as saying.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Thousands of indigenous people and local farmers accused US oil company <a href="http://www.texaco.com/">Texaco Petroleum Co</a>. of contaminating large areas of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest when it operated in the region between 1964 and 1990.<br />
<br />
Chevron inherited the lawsuit in 2001 when it bought Texaco, but it has denied responsibility for poisoning the land.<br />
<br />
<span class="submitted"><span class="submitted-by">Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/120727/ecuador-fines-chevron-1902bn-over-amazon-pollution">http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/120727/ecuador-fines-chevron-1902bn-over-amazon-pollution </a></span></span>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-35418347034734480922012-07-26T20:35:00.001-07:002012-07-26T20:35:50.215-07:00Legal Experts File Complaints about Widespread Rights Violations in Policing of Occupy Movement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://imgsrv.wina.com/image/WiresGraphic/2012-07-25T215357Z_1_CBRE86O1OTZ00_RTROPTP_2_USREPORT-US-NEWYORK-OCCUPY-REPORT.JPG?1343255790" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://imgsrv.wina.com/image/WiresGraphic/2012-07-25T215357Z_1_CBRE86O1OTZ00_RTROPTP_2_USREPORT-US-NEWYORK-OCCUPY-REPORT.JPG?1343255790" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://occupywallst.org/forum/legal-experts-file-complaints-about-widespread-rig/"><b>Occupy Wall Street</b></a><br />
July 26, 2012<br />
<br />
The City of New York must take immediate action to correct the clear
pattern of abusive policing of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests, said
legal experts in a complaint filed Wednesday with New York City
authorities, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the United Nations. The
complaint is based on a report providing in-depth documentation and
legal analysis of widespread human rights violations in New York City’s
treatment of Occupy protests over the past ten months.<br />
<br />
<br />
The 132-page report—Suppressing Protest: Human Rights Violations in
the U.S. Response to Occupy Wall Street—is the first in a series by the
Protest and Assembly Rights Project, a national consortium of law school
clinics addressing the United States response to Occupy Wall Street.
The report is available at: <a href="http://www.chrgj.org/projects/suppressingprotest.pdf">http://www.chrgj.org/projects/suppressingprotest.pdf</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
“Recently, officers repeatedly yanked the broken collarbone of a
protester as he begged them to stop hurting him. And just two weeks ago,
a phalanx of officers removed a grandmother from a park for the ‘crime’
of knitting in a folding chair, arrested a man trying to help her
leave, and then arrested another man filming the incident,” said NYU Law
School Professor Sarah Knuckey, one of the report’s principal authors,
who also witnessed these incidents. “These are just two of hundreds of
examples we document in our report, demonstrating a pattern of abusive
and unaccountable protest policing by the NYPD.”<br />
<br />
In the report experts catalog 130 specific alleged incidents of
excessive police force, and hundreds of additional violations, including
unjustified arrests, abuse of journalists, unlawful closure of
sidewalks and parks to protesters, and pervasive surveillance of
peaceful activists. Yet, to date, only one police officer is known to
have been disciplined for misconduct in the context of OWS policing.<br />
<br />
“The excessive and unpredictable policing of OWS is one more example
of the dire need for widespread reform of NYPD practices. These
violations are occurring against a backdrop of police infiltration of
activist groups, massive stop-and-frisk activity in communities of
color, and the surveillance of Muslims,” said Emi MacLean, a human
rights lawyer and primary author of the report. “This report is a call
to action.”<br />
The report calls for urgent state action, including:<br />
<ul>
<li>The creation of an independent Inspector General for the NYPD;<br />
</li>
<li>A full and impartial review of the city’s response to OWS;<br />
</li>
<li>Investigations and prosecutions of responsible officers; and<br />
</li>
<li>The creation of new NYPD protest policing guidelines to protect against rights violations.</li>
</ul>
If New York authorities fail to respond, the report calls for federal intervention.<br />
<br />
“The U.S. response to the Occupy movement – which itself emerged as
part of a wave of global social justice protests—is being closely
watched by other governments,” said Fordham Law Professor Katherine
Glenn, one of the report’s principal authors. “In the face of this
international attention, this report shows that New York City’s response
actually violates international law and, as such, sets a bad example to
the rest of the world. The city now has an opportunity to set this
right through reforms that reflect just and accountable policing
practices.”<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://occupywallst.org/forum/legal-experts-file-complaints-about-widespread-rig/">http://occupywallst.org/forum/legal-experts-file-complaints-about-widespread-rig/ </a>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-30395747831624697842012-07-26T17:43:00.000-07:002012-07-26T20:45:24.857-07:0014 Specific Allegations of NYPD Brutality During Occupy Wall Street<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJNGgyDPslzP_deFJO5QonIdF3eiBJ6_xyxC4TKLqi86KVmRCfFooD0DyqUkpCyQbx1JM06Bf0Sh3DDmHbkBCG5n0HfSXrHvlMdduYaYkIOX2n8h0QUvt1G_ozXgn75BXQbwP4NvBDhw/s1600/occupy-wall-street-_Cops_knees-720851.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJNGgyDPslzP_deFJO5QonIdF3eiBJ6_xyxC4TKLqi86KVmRCfFooD0DyqUkpCyQbx1JM06Bf0Sh3DDmHbkBCG5n0HfSXrHvlMdduYaYkIOX2n8h0QUvt1G_ozXgn75BXQbwP4NvBDhw/s400/occupy-wall-street-_Cops_knees-720851.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/14-specific-allegations-of-nypd-brutality-during-occupy-wall-street/260295/">The Alantic</a></b><br />
July 25, 2012<br />
<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/author/rleber/"></a>By Conor Friedersdorf<br />
<span class="offScreen"><span class="authors"><span class="author"></span></span></span>
<div class="metadata">
</div>
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<span class="plus-one"></span> <span class="date"></span><br />
<i>A collaborative investigation
launched by law clinics at four top universities has assembled damning
evidence of widespread misconduct.</i><br /><br />An
investigation undertaken by law clinics at NYU, Fordham, Harvard, and
Stanford has concluded, after eight months of study, that the NYPD
abused Occupy Wall Street protesters and violated their rights on
numerous occasions during the 2011 protests that radiated out from
Zuccotti Park. Their report, <a href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/Suppressing%20Protest.pdf"><i>Suppressing Protest: Human Rights Violations in the U.S. Response to Occupy Wall Street</i></a>, was released today. It focuses on transgressions against international law.<br /><br />What
I found most arresting were its specific descriptions of alleged police
misconduct. Scores of examples were offered. I've highlighted a
selection of the ones that struck me as most credible, whether due to
video footage of the incident or eyewitness testimony from a
credentialed journalist, a designated legal observer, or a member of the
legal team that put together the report (the report, linked above
features links).<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />All of the following vignettes are quoted verbatim from its pages:<br /><br />
<ul>
<li>A
café employee at work near Union Square heard a passing Occupy march,
went outside, and decided to begin filming after seeing police using
what he felt was excessive force on protesters. Video evidence shows a
white-shirted police officer pushing the café employee, camera in hand.
It appears that the employee then began speaking to the officer while
holding both hands in the air as the officer approached him. In an
interview, the employee stated that he asked the officer why he was
pushing and told the officer, "I'm just taking pictures." Video then
shows the officer grabbing the employee by the wrist, and flipping him
hard to the ground face-first, in what was described as a "judo-flip."
The employee stated that he was subsequently charged with "blocking
traffic" and "obstructing justice."</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Video shows that an
officer drove a scooter at a crowd of people, including journalists and
legal observers. The video then shows a legal observer lying on the
ground screaming, his foot under the scooter. A second video shows the
observer on the ground with his foot under the scooter. A third video
shows that the observer kicked the scooter off or away from his leg, at
which point officers dragged the observer several feet and began to cuff
him. While he was being cuffed, an officer pushed the observer's face
into the pavement by pressing his baton across the back of the
observer's neck.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A member of the Research Team observed
an officer push and then throw a male protester into the air for no
apparent reason as he walked, with many other protesters, near parked
police scooters. The protester fell hard to the ground and was not
arrested.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A journalist stated that when he asked a
non-uniformed officer for his name at a march, the officer pushed the
journalist against a wall and held him there, threatening him that if he
kept asking questions, he would get "his fucking ass beat." The
journalist recorded interviews with two bystanders immediately after the
incident. One bystander stated that he witnessed the officer using
abusive language toward the journalist. He then told the journalist that
the officer "put his chest in your face and pushed you around." The
other bystander told the journalist that the officer "[got] up in your
face and [shouted] at you. He pressed you against the wall of the
supermarket."</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A journalist reported that an officer
shoved a legal observer, also a retired judge, against a wall after she
demanded that the officer stop beating a protester. The legal observer
described the incident in an interview: "the officer said, 'Lady, do you
want to get arrested?' And I said, 'Do you see my hat? I'm here as a
legal observer.' He said, 'Do you want to get arrested?' And he pushed
me up against the wall."</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Video shows that an officer
approached a woman from behind and grabbed her by the strap of her
backpack and her scarf for no apparent reason. The officer began to pull
the woman towards him, and other protesters began pulling the woman
away from him. The officer pulled at the woman by the strap of her
backpack for approximately fifteen seconds, and appeared to possibly be
choking her via the strap or her scarf. The protesters eventually pulled
the woman away from the officer, and police appeared not to take any
further action.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Video shows that an officer punched a
protester three times in the head and shoulder. At the time, the
protester was in a soft lock, in which he linked arms with other
protesters and sat in the street, and police were attempting to pull him
away. The video shows that the officer tried to separate the protester
several times by pulling him, but did not attempt any other methods
before punching the protester.</li>
</ul>
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/14-specific-allegations-of-nypd-brutality-during-occupy-wall-street/260295/">http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/14-specific-allegations-of-nypd-brutality-during-occupy-wall-street/260295/ </a><br />
Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-84747268331713268912012-07-24T23:09:00.002-07:002012-07-24T23:19:41.980-07:00Several Arrested After Anaheim Police Protest Swells Into Streets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://media.nbclosangeles.com/images/654*368/anaheim+disperse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://media.nbclosangeles.com/images/654*368/anaheim+disperse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Skirmish-Lines-Attempt-to-Contain-Anaheim-Protests-Police-Shooting-163638466.html"><b>NBC Los Angeles</b></a><br />
July 24, 2012<br />
By
<a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/results/?keywords=%22Samantha+Tata%22&byline=y&sort=date" itemprop="author">Samantha Tata</a> and
<a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/results/?keywords=%22Vikki+Vargas%22&byline=y&sort=date" itemprop="contributor">Vikki Vargas</a><br />
<br />
<div id="paragraph1">
Shortly after 9 p.m., a disperal order was issued to a
group of demonstrators that began gathering outside Anaheim City Hall
around 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon to rally against recent fatal
officer-involved shootings, police said.</div>
<div id="paragraph2">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph2">
Officers used pepper balls and bean
bags to subdue the crowd, which continued to demonstrate late into the
evening. A group of protesters could be seen fleeing from the
intersection of Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway after officers reportedly
shot pepper balls at their feet, police said.</div>
<div id="paragraph3">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph3">
Several fires broke out near the
scene of the protest -- one in a trash bin, another near a bus bench,
according to aerial footage. It was not immediately clear if the fires
were related to the protest or how they started.</div>
<iframe width="480" height="386" src="http://www.ustream.tv/embed/9824271" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: 0px none transparent;"> </iframe><br /><a href="http://www.ustream.tv/facebook" style="padding: 2px 0px 4px; width: 400px; background: #ffffff; display: block; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Live Video app for Facebook by Ustream</a>
<div id="paragraph4">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div id="paragraph4">
At least one person was transported
to the hospital after being shot in the head with a pepperball and five
people were arrested in the skirmish, including one man who was booked
for resisting arrest after officers received a call that he may have a
gun in his waistband, said Sgt. Bob Dunn with Anaheim police. No weapons
were found.</div>
<div id="paragraph5">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph5">
Law enforcement was on high alert as
the protest turned violent, with demonstrators throwing rocks, bricks
and traffic cones at officers and squad cars, Dunn said, adding that at
least one person -- a print reporter -- appeared to be injured in the
melee, possibly struck with a rock.</div>
<div id="paragraph6">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph6">
Tuesday's demonstration was the
latest sparked by a recent spate of fatal police shootings. Crowds
started gathering around 4 p.m. to urge councilmembers to investigate
those shootings and reform the city's police force, which <a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/The-police-are-nothing-but-murderers--163493476.html">residents have accused of racial profiling</a>.</div>
<div id="paragraph7">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph7">
The council chamber reached capacity and police in riot gear blocked access to the meeting.</div>
<div id="paragraph8">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph8">
The demonstration swelled into the
streets at about 6:30 p.m. While the protest escalated outside, the
Anaheim City Council continued to meet.</div>
<div id="paragraph9">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph9">
Law enforcement from several surrounding cities descended on the area to provide mutual aid, police said.</div>
<div id="paragraph10">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph10">
Skirmish lines established by
officers in riot gear attempted to corral demonstrators near the 200
block of South Anaheim Boulveard.</div>
<div id="paragraph11">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph11">
Within an hour, much of the police
presence had dissipated from the area immediately around City Hall and
the crowd moved -- some on foot, others on bicycles -- down Anaheim
Boulevard waving flags, carrying signs and speaking into passing cars.</div>
<div id="paragraph12">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph12">
As of 8:30 p.m., a crowd continued
to mill about around City Hall and a separate group appeared to gather
near the scene of one of the deadly shootings, setting up a candlelight
vigil, according to aerial footage.</div>
<div id="paragraph13">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph13">
By 9 p.m., officers in riot gear
again stepped up patrols near Broadway and Anaheim Boulevard in what
appeared to be preparation for their dispersal order.</div>
<div id="paragraph14">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph14">
Officials say there have been eight
officer-involved shootings in the city this year, including two fatal
incidents during the weekend.</div>
<div id="paragraph15">
<br /></div>
<div id="paragraph15">
Manuel Angel Diaz, 25, was shot and
killed Saturday after a foot pursuit through an alley in the 700 block
of North Anna Drive -- an area where police say they've noticed an
increase in gang and </div>
<div id="paragraph15">
narcotics crimes.</div>
<div id="paragraph16">
<br /></div>
That shooting sparked protests
during the weekend, including one on Saturday in which a trash bin was
set on fire and a small group of people threw rocks and bottles at
police. Three people were detained, officials said.<br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Skirmish-Lines-Attempt-to-Contain-Anaheim-Protests-Police-Shooting-163638466.html">http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Skirmish-Lines-Attempt-to-Contain-Anaheim-Protests-Police-Shooting-163638466.html </a><br />
<br />
<h5 class="author">
</h5>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-69438012057195814502012-07-24T22:06:00.001-07:002012-07-24T22:06:13.573-07:00Free Jeremy Hammond<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7mufkqphX1qjkzz8o1_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7mufkqphX1qjkzz8o1_1280.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://youranonnews.tumblr.com/"><b>You Anon News</b></a><br />
July 23, 2012<br />
Statement form Jeremy Hammond<br />
<br />
<em>Thanks for everybody coming out in support! It is so good to know
folks on the street got my back. Special thanks to those who have been
sending books and letters, and to my amazing lawyers.</em><br /><br /><em>I
remember maybe a few months before I was locked up I went to a few noise
demonstrations a the federal jail MCC Chicago in support of all those
locked up there. Prisoners moved in front of the windows, turned the
lights on and off, and dropped playing cards through the cracks in the
windows. I had no idea I would soon be in that same jail facing multiple
trumped up computer hacking “conspiracies.”</em><br /><br /><em>Now at New
York MCC, the other day I was playing chess when another prisoner
excitedly cam e up as was like, “Yo, there are like 50 people outside
the window and they are carrying banners with your name!” Sure enough,
there you all were with lights, banners, and bucket drums just below our
11th floor window. Though you may not have been able to here us or see
us, over one hundred of us in this unit saw you all and wanted to know
who those people were, what they were about, rejuvenated knowing people
on the outside got there back.</em><br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><em>As prisoners in this
police state – over 2.5 million of us – we are silenced, marginalized,
exploited, forgotten, and dehumanized. First we are judged and sentenced
by the “justice” system, then treated as second class citizens by
mainstream society. But even the warden of MCC New York has in
surprising honesty admitted that “the only difference between us
officers here and you prisoners is we just haven’t been caught.”</em><br /><br /><em>The call us robbers and fraudsters when the big banks get billion dollar bailouts and kick us out of our homes.</em><br /><br /><em>They
call us gun runners and drug dealers when pharmaceutical corporations
and defense contractors profit from trafficking armaments and drugs on a
far greater scale.</em><br /><br /><em>They call us “terrorists” when NATO
and the US military murder millions of innocents around the world and
employ drones and torture tactics.</em><br /><br /><em>And they call us
cyber criminals when they themselves develop viruses to spy on and wage
war against infrastructure and populations in other countries.</em><br /><br /><em>Yes, I am one of several dozen around the world accused of Anonymous-affiliated computer hacking charges.</em><br /><br /><em>One
of many here at MCCC New York facing trumped up “conspiracy” charges
based on the cooperation of government informants who will say anything
and sell out anyone to save themselves.</em><br /><br /><em>And this jail is
one of several thousand other jails, prisons, and immigrant detention
centers – lockups which one day will be reduced to rubble and grass will
grow between the cracks of the concrete.</em><br /><br /><em>So don’t let
fear of imprisonment deter you from speaking up and fighting back.
Silencing our movement is exactly what they hope to accomplish with
these targeted, politically motivated prosecutions. They can try to stop
a few of us but they can never stop us all.</em><br /><br /><em>Thanks again for coming out.</em><br /><br /><em>Keep bringing the ruckus!</em>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><em>——-</em></span><br />
You can donate to Jeremy’s legal fund <strong><a href="https://www.wepay.com/donations/125509" target="_blank">here</a></strong> and learn more about him <strong><a href="http://freehammond.com/" target="_blank">here</a></strong><br />
You can write to Jeremy in prison here:<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><span>Jeremy Hammond 18729-424</span><br /><span>Metropolitan Correctional Center</span><br /><span>150 Park Row</span><br /><span>New York, New York, 10007</span></span><br />
<br />
Full Article Here - <a href="http://youranonnews.tumblr.com/">http://youranonnews.tumblr.com/</a> <br />
<br />Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5461762445295869468.post-21916722372688383372012-07-24T21:08:00.001-07:002012-07-24T21:08:42.299-07:00Gas tragedy victims to hold ‘Bhopal Olympics’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000rQQurmyC6yE/s/860/860/Bhopal-Second-Disaster-175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000rQQurmyC6yE/s/860/860/Bhopal-Second-Disaster-175.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3678816.ece">The Hindu </a></b><br />
July 24, 2012<br />
By<span class="author"> Mahim Pratap Singh</span><br />
<br />
<div class="body">
Even as the world prepares to witness the spectacle of the London
Olympics starting Friday, victims and survivors of the Bhopal gas
tragedy have decided to pre-empt the organisers of the London Olympics
by holding the “Bhopal Special Olympics” in Bhopal on Thursday.
</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
Five survivor organizations, led by the Bhopal Group for Information and
Action (BGIA), will be jointly organizing “Bhopal Special Olympics” on
July 26, a day ahead of the London Olympics to oppose sponsorship of the
Olympic Games by Dow Chemical-the current owner of Union Carbide
Corporation-which “continues to evade civil, criminal and environmental
liabilities of Bhopal inherited from Union Carbide”.
</div>
<div class="body">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="body">
Children born with disabilities as a fallout of the world's worst
industrial disaster, would be participating in the “Bhopal Olympics” to
counter Dow Chemical’s attempts to “green wash its crimes through the
sponsorship of the Olympic Games”, representatives of the five
organizations said here.
</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
The Bhopal Olympics, with the theme “From East India Company to the Dow
Chemical Company”, will be held in a stadium right behind the abandoned
Union Carbide factory that continues to leach carcinogenic chemicals in
the local groundwater, causing birth defects in children even today.
</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
The games will start at 10.30 am on Thursday in the Arif Nagar stadium behind the abandoned Union Carbide factory.
</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
Children affected by this toxic contamination will participate in
sporting events such as “crab race”, “25 metres sprint” and “assisted
walking”, all aimed at bringing out the plight of those who continue to
live in the shadow of the tragedy that shook Bhopal from its slumber on
the intervening night of 2nd and 3rd December 1984.
</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
“Contrary to the opening ceremony of the London Olympics that is
expected to highlight all that a British citizen could be proud of, the
Bhopal Special Olympics will open with songs and dances focusing on
matters that British people could be ashamed of,” Rachna Dhingra of the
BGIA told <i>The Hindu</i>.
</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
The opening ceremony will draw attention to the many famines caused
during the British rule in India, the mass hangings following the “first
battle for Indian independence in 1857”, the massacre at Jalianwala
Bagh in 1919 and last but not the least, to the support extended by the
British Prime Minister to the Dow Chemical Company.
</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
Over the last one year, victims have been campaigning to get Dow
Chemical dropped as a sponsor of the games, an effort that even found
favour with the Government of India and the Government of Madhya
Pradesh. However, the LOCOG and the IOC have backed Dow Chemical
throughout the controversy, holding the company “not responsible” for
the tragedy and even hailing it as “an industry leader in terms of
operating with the highest standards of ethics and sustainability”.
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<span class="author">Full Article Here - <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3678816.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3678816.ece </a></span>Coryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01668163815822074980noreply@blogger.com0