Terror news briefs

CONFLICT & TERROR 08/02

Fresh record for euro inflation

Eurozone inflation jumped to 4.1% in the year to July, the highest since the measurements began in 1997, according to EU statistics office Eurostat. Inflation in June in the 15 nation bloc was 4.0%, also well above the European Central Bank's 2.0% target. Full Story

Strike-hit Lufthansa cancels 128 flights

Lufthansa canceled more flights Thursday, including 28 long-haul flights, because of a strike by technical and catering staff now in its fourth day, the airline said. The German-based airline said it expected to cancel a total of 128 flights Thursday -- 50 more than the day before. They include 28 flights to North American destinations like New York, Washington, Atlanta, and Calgary, Canada, spokesman Aage Duenhaupt said. Full Story

Afghan, NATO troops kill 20 Taliban - official

Afghan and NATO-led troops backed by air power killed more than 20 Taliban insurgents southwest of the capital Kabul, a provincial official said on Thursday. Full Story

Malaysia's Anwar to contest election for wife's seat

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said Thursday he would contest a by-election for a parliamentary seat vacated by his wife in a bid to expedite his return to political office. Full Story

Blast wounds 18, including infant, in Thai south

Eighteen people, including a six-month-old baby, were injured in a bomb blast early Thursday at a busy market in Thailand's Muslim south, where a separatist insurgency is raging, police said. Full Story

30 killed as fighting escalates in Pakistan valley

Pakistani troops battled Islamic militants in a valley near the Afghan border Wednesday, killing 25 insurgents and losing five soldiers as escalating combat threatened the new government's policy of offering peace to pro-Taliban groups. Full Story

Thai court convicts Thaksin's wife for tax evasion

The wife of Thailand's deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was convicted Thursday of tax evasion in the first ruling against his family since the 2006 coup that toppled him from power. Full Story

Homemade Bomb Jolts Indonesia's Restive Poso

A homemade bomb exploded Thursday in the restive Indonesian town of Poso but caused no casualties, police said. Police said the roadside bomb rocked the Sayo residential area at 1:30 am ( 1730GMT) and appeared to be designed to spread fear after years of relative calm in the area, which has been plagued by Christian-Muslim violence. Full Story

William to visit special forces

Prince William is to spend time with special forces in the next stage of his army career, Clarence House has said. The Prince will return to the Army on a secondment and will also spend time at the Ministry of Defence with the Army Air Corps. He will not take part in any operational missions, a spokesman said. Full Story

House attacked in bonfire dispute
Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 8:16am

There has been an attack on the home of of a community worker in Ballymena. A window of the man's home in Dunclurg Park was broken by a stone after a crowd gathered in the area at about 2300 BST on Wednesday. Full Story

Bomb wounds 3 at Pakistan consulate in Afghanistan

A bicycle bomb outside the Pakistani consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat wounded a police guard and two civilians on Thursday, a Reuters witness said. Full Story

IAEA set to advance U.S.-India atom pact despite qualms

U.N. nuclear watchdog governors are expected on Friday to approve an inspections plan for India needed for its atomic trade deal with the United States, despite qualms about rewarding a non-proliferation outsider. Full Story

Japanese: E-mail warns of more bombs in India

The Japanese embassy has received an e-mail warning of a bomb planted at a market in India's capital, and has warned its citizens to stay away from crowded public places, a notice posted on its Web site Thursday said. Full Story

Spain, France seek allies to fight Somali pirates
Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 8:27am

Spain and France are looking for allies to create a multinational naval force to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia, defence ministers from both countries said Wednesday in Madrid. "Our wish is that as many countries as possible" participate, Spanish minister Carme Chacon said following talks with her French counterpart Herve Morin. Full Story

Spate of Algerian migrant arrivals hits Spanish coast
Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 8:35am

The number of clandestine migrants travelling between Algeria and Spain's southeast coast has surged in recent days, coinciding good weather conditions in the 200 kilometres of sea that separate the two countries. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 91 Algerians were detained in Murcia and Alicante, all of them thought to have arrived aboard 10 small boats. Full Story

Newspaper: New group claims Greek bomb attack

A previously unknown terrorist group has sent a statement to a Greek newspaper claiming responsibility for the 2004 bombing of a courthouse in central Greece and two failed bombings in Athens, the newspaper said Thursday. Police said all three bombs had been set up to detonate with the use of a mobile phone  a tactic not used before in Greece. Full Story

Crane protests in Brussels coming to an end

Asylum seekers are giving up their protest actions on cranes at building sites after a court ordered them to come down. A Brussels court had ruled that the cranes near the de Brouckhre Square had to be abandoned. About 25 sans-papiers (people without legal documents) climbed down of their own free will. Full Story

Libya resumes Swiss oil shipments

Libya has resumed oil shipments to Switzerland, the Swiss Petroleum Association said Wednesday, ending an embargo against the Alpine nation to protest the arrest of Moammar Gadhafi's son in Geneva. A tanker with 80,000 tons of oil left Libya on Tuesday for Switzerland, said Rolf Hartl, managing director of the Swiss Petroleum Association. The oil will be refined in the Swiss branch of Libya's state-owned oil company Tamoil in Collombey, he told The Associated Press. Full Story

Police arrest man regarding passport theft

British police say they've arrested a delivery man over the theft of thousands of blank British passports and visa stickers. Greater Manchester Police say the 48-year-old man is being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery. It follows a raid on Monday on a delivery van carrying 3,000 blank documents bound for British embassies overseas. Full Story

Three policemen wounded in a clash with ultra-nationalists

Three policemen were wounded in a clash with supporters of the ultra-nationalist party Ataka in front of police station in the centre of Sofia, Interior Ministry website said. Two of the victims were hit with flagpoles. Two firecrackers were thrown against the police cordon, but did not harm anyone, the statement on the website said. No more information on the condition of the victims was revealed. Full Story

Centrica announces higher than expected #992m profits

British Gas parent Centrica today reported higher-than-expected profits of #992m and raised its dividend, the day after it provoked fury among its 16 million customers with its biggest ever price hike. The first-half results and the 16% hike in the dividend payment to shareholders drew another angry response from consumer groups. Patrick South at Age Concern said: "Many pensioners will be shocked that while they are worrying about how to afford to heat their homes this winter such significant profits are being made and shareholders are getting a substantial dividend." Full Story

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Leader May Be in Afghanistan

The leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq and several of his top lieutenants have recently left Iraq for Afghanistan, according to group leaders and Iraqi intelligence officials, a possible further sign of what Iraqi and U.S. officials call growing disarray and weakness in the organization. Full Story

Italy ratifies EU Lisbon Treaty

Italy's parliament has ratified the EU Lisbon Treaty, which was rejected by Irish voters in June. Italy has become the 23rd out of 27 EU member states to approve the reform treaty, which is aimed at improving decision-making in the enlarged EU. Full Story

Hitmen kill six, including kids, in western Mexico

Gunmen shot dead six people, including children, in western Mexico in an execution-style massacre of the kind often carried out by drug gangs, Mexico media said on Thursday. All the victims, apparently from the same family, were shot in the back of the head and found shrouded in blankets in a house near the town of Zapotlan el Grande, online newspapers said. Full Story

Courtesy Terrorism Research Center, Inc.

10 Top Environmental Headlines of the Week

Written by Gavin Hudson

Published on April 5th, 2008

Posted in Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Spain, Thailand, United States of America, World

1. Asia — United Nations Climate Change Talks: “Kyoto II” climate talks open in Bangkok

“The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.

‘The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,’ U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,000 delegates from 190 nations gathered in Bangkok.

The week-long meeting stems from a breakthrough agreement in Bali last year to start negotiations to replace Kyoto, which only binds 37 rich nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of five percent from 1990 levels by 2012.” (Source: Reuters)

Europe held a the European Climate Conference as well this week in Rovigo, Italy, “to encourage capacity-building from city to city regarding climate change.”

2. Africa — The Play Pump and the Electric See-Saw

The Play Pump is back in the headlines with an article at TreeHugger, Hybrid Merri-Go-Round Water Pump Saves Lives in Africa. EcoWorldly’s Sam Aola Ooko recently covered the Play Pump from Kenya:

“Hailed by the World Bank as ‘one of the world’s most innovative designs capable of providing self sustainable free clean water to poor communities, as well as being an effective delivery system for social messages’, the PlayPump system is a merry go round that pumps water from a ground source as children spin, and they like working hard at it.”

This Week, Sam followed up on the Play Pump concept with news of another breakthrough invention, “a see-saw that generates electricity when played on by children.” (Sources: TreeHugger via Digg; EcoWorldly Play Pump; EcoWorldly Electric See-Saw)

3. North America — $3 Billion Solar Power Deal Signed By California Utility

“Pacific Gas & Electric today will announce a deal to buy as much as 900 megawatts of electricity. It will be enough to power 540,000 California homes each year, and involve the construction of five solar power plants during the next decade. The company to build the solar-thermal power plants in the Mojave Desert is BrightSource Energy.

Building all five plants in the Mojave will cost $2 billion to $3 billion, Woolard said. The project, which faces regulatory and financing hurdles, could mean 2,000 construction jobs, and employ about 1,000 workers to operate the plants.” (Source: MetaEfficient via ENN; More Reading: LA Times)

4. Europe — New Wind Power Record in Spain: 40.8% of Total Demand!

“Last year we wrote about Spain’s wind power production record, which was 27% at the time. That seemed like a lot, but a week ago, Spain’s wind turbines produced 40.8% of total demand, or 9,862 megawatts of power.

Spain, which along with Germany and Denmark, is among the three biggest producers of wind power in the European Union, is aiming to triple the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources by 2020.

Spain’s wind power industry currently enjoys a 30% annual growth rate.” (Source: TreeHugger via Reddit)

5. Australia — Farmers Invest In Diesel-Producing Trees

“Farmers in Northern Queensland, Australia, are investigating another approach to producing renewable fuel: growing diesel trees. As weird as that sounds, it’s real, and it isn’t a scientific breakthrough. We’ve actually known about the trees for over 300 years.

As Treehugger reported earlier this week, farmers in the more tropical region Queensland purchased about 20,000 Brazilian diesel trees, or Copaifera langsdorfii, with the intention of having a living oil-mine in 15 years. According to Purdue University, a 100 acre plot of trees could produce about 25 barrels of oil per year.” (Source: Gas 2.0)

This week also witnessed the Fourth Annual Biofuels Americas Conference and Expo in Mexico City.

6. South America — Prefab: Residencia RR Sustainable Style in São Paulo

“Just off the Brazilian coast in São Paulo, architect Andrade Morettin has created Residencia RR - a stunning summer abode nestled amidst the dense vegetation and semi-tropical, hot, humid climate of Itamambuca in the state’s north coast. Responding to the local environment, House RR is selectively protected from and open to the elements. Under a primary “shell” the home shelters from intense sun and rains but allows much desired natural cross-ventilation to permeate through living spaces. With prefabricated components and an elevated foundation, the construction sits lightly on its site with a low ecological impact.” (Source: Inhabitat via MindBodyGreen)

7. Asia — Olympic Commission Says Air Quality at Beijing Games Can Cause Athletes Health Damage

“Olympic Commission Says Air Quality at Beijing Games Can Cause Athletes Health Damage. More news from the Olympic drama in Beijing. While Beijing has stated that they plan to take half of its 3.5 million cars off the roads and partially shut down industry in the capital and surrounding provinces for two months for the Olympics (to improve air quality), concerns continue that no shut down will do enough to allow for athletes to safely compete.

In the most recent turn of events, just yesterday, Hein Verbruggen (Chairman of the IOC coordination commission) said that there is a chance that athletes involved in endurance events can suffer health damage if they partook in the events for longer than an hour.” (Source: The LOHASIAN)

8. South America — Patagonia’s Pascua River Threatened By Massive Dam Project

“Few people in the world have ever seen the pristine, 62-kilometer Pascua, which until as recently as 1898 was completely unknown to European settlers. Nor is the river completely anonymous, thanks to a controversial hydroelectric project being planned by Endesa, a Spanish-Italian enterprise, and Colbún, a Chilean energy company owned by the influential Matte family.

Via a joint entity called HidroAysén, the two companies look to build five massive dams in Aysén (Region XI) that would together generate some 2,750 MW of electricity – roughly equivalent to 20 percent of Chile’s current overall generating capacity. Three of those dams are slated for the Pascua. The other two would be built along the Baker River, Chile’s most voluminous, which is located farther north” (Source: Toward Freedom via Care2.)

9. World — Indigenous people should be involved in climate policy

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report published in early 2007 confirmed that global climate change is already happening. The report found that communities who live in marginal lands and whose livelihoods are highly dependent on natural resources are among the most vulnerable to climate change. Many indigenous and traditional peoples who have been pushed to the least fertile and most fragile lands as a consequence of historical, social, political and economic exclusion are among those who are at greatest risk.

On the other hand, people living in marginal lands have long been exposed to many kinds of environmental changes and have developed strategies for coping with these phenomena. They have valuable knowledge about adapting to climate change, but the magnitude of future hazards may exceed their adaptive capacity, especially given their current conditions of marginalization.” (Source, PDF: International Union for Conservation of Nature via ENN)

10. Antarctica — Airborne Study Of Arctic Atmosphere, Air Pollution Launched

“This month, NASA begins the most extensive field campaign ever to investigate the chemistry of the Arctic’s lower atmosphere. The mission is poised to help scientists identify how air pollution contributes to climate changes in the Arctic.

The recent decline of sea ice is one indication the Arctic is undergoing significant environmental changes related to climate warming. NASA and its partners plan to investigate the atmosphere’s role in this climate-sensitive region with the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) field campaign.” (Source ENN)

Michael Vail posted item on food rioting

Grain Prices Soar Globally Leading To Food Riots

Submitted by MichaelVail on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 5:52pm.

Bangkok, Thailand - - Rice farmers here are staying awake in shifts at night to guard their fields from thieves. In Peru, shortages of wheat flour are prompting the military to make bread with potato flour, a native crop. In Egypt, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso food riots have broken out in the past week.

Around the world, governments and aid groups are grappling with the escalating cost of basic grains. In December, 37 countries faced a food crisis, reports the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and 20 nations had imposed some form of food-price controls.

In Asia, where rice is on every plate, prices are shooting up almost daily. Premium Thai fragrant rice now costs $900 per ton, a nearly 30 percent rise from a month ago.

Exporters say the price could eclipse $1,000 per ton by June. Similarly, prices of white rice have climbed about 50 percent since January to $600 per ton and are projected to jump another 40 percent to $800 per ton in April.

The skyrocketing prices have prompted millers to default on rice supply contracts and bandits to steal rice as they aim to hoard the crop, and sell it later, as prices continue to rise.

“The farmers are afraid as their fields have been robbed in the nighttime,” says Sarayouth Phumithon, an official at the Thai government’s Bureau of Rice Strategy and Supply. “This is just the beginning. The problem will get worse if the price keeps increasing.”

The reported thefts in five rice-growing provinces in central Thailand are the first signs of criminal activity in this region stemming from the sharpest global spike in commodity prices since the oil crisis in the mid-1970s. Across the world, higher food prices are triggering thefts and violence – both by people who can’t afford to eat and those who want to make an easy buck.

Three men delivering food for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan were reported killed Tuesday, the latest in a surge of attacks that have delayed the arrival of vital supplies to some 2 million people in the region.

So far this year, the UN agency says 56 trucks have been hijacked in Sudan; 36 trucks remain missing, and 24 drivers are unaccounted for. The WFP says that banditry has reduced by half the amount of food normally transported to the western region of Darfur at this time of year.

“All parties must recognize that the drivers of humanitarian vehicles and their cargo are serving a neutral purpose,” WFP Sudan representative Kenro Oshidari said in a statement.

Last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index increased an unprecedented 40 percent from 2006, and this year it is projected to continue rising. Surging oil prices (in turn, boosting fertilizer and transport costs) combined with a drop in production due to droughts in Australia and the Ukraine have helped to drain global food stocks.

While rice production is rising, consumption is growing faster. The US Department of Agriculture forecast rice stocks to fall to their lowest level since the mid-1970s, and wheat stocks are projected to hit their lowest point since 1946, the year after World War II ended.

These factors, combined with a falling US dollar, steadily rising demand from developing countries, and biofuel policies that mop up excess cereal production, have all helped boost world prices.

The FAO expects food prices to stay high for the next three to five years, presenting a challenge for governments trying to keep domestic food prices low in order to keep poor citizens properly fed and avoid mass protests and social unrest.

Some countries like Vietnam, India, and Pakistan have banned grain exports. On Wednesday, Cambodia’s prime minister ordered a two-month ban on rice exports to neighboring Thailand and Vietnam “to guarantee food security.”

Meanwhile food importers Indonesia, Korea, and Mongolia have cut or reduced import tariffs. As Philippine farmers warned that the country was facing a serious rice shortage, the government signed a deal Wednesday to import 1.5 million metric tons (1.65 million US tons) of rice from Vietnam.

Analysts note that the current shortage isn’t hitting as many people as hard as past shortages. As incomes rise worldwide, food is a smaller portion of the family budget. “Governments have tried to protect domestic prices from fluctuations in international prices, and they have succeeded in the past,” says Sumiter Broca, a policy analyst at the FAO. “The key point is that the proportion of income spent on food is much lower than it used to be, so that provides a cushion. The situation is not as serious as it was in 1974.”

Citizens of Nepal and India now spend about 35 to 40 percent of income on food, down from about 70 to 80 percent in the early 1970s, Mr. Broca says. In developing countries, food costs eat up only about 7 percent of household incomes.

The FAO expects food prices to stabilize and eventually drop as farmers plant more grains. That’s already starting to happen with wheat and corn. But the next few years could be difficult.

On Monday, the WFP, a UN agency that distributes food aid to some 70 million poor people, made an “extraordinary emergency appeal” to donor countries for $500 million to prevent cutbacks in its global operations.

In the past two weeks, two rice suppliers in Cambodia defaulted on contracts with the WFP, claiming the new higher prices would offset any penalty for reneging on the contract.

“That’s extremely worrying, as it indicates the price of rice, just like the price of wheat, is now continuing to increase,” says Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman. “That makes it very difficult for us to find rice at an affordable price. The ability to end malnutrition is limited when food prices are so high.”

Countries with higher foreign exchange reserves and food stocks, including China, Japan, and India, can still afford the high food prices if necessary. But nations with low currency reserves like the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal may need assistance from international financial institutions to afford food if prices continue to spike.

Although higher food prices mean trouble for consumers and governments, they do increase incomes for farmers – assuming their crops aren’t stolen. Still, farmers aren’t making as much money as a middleman with a good-sized warehouse.

Rice millers in Thailand are defaulting on contracts with exporters to capitalize on higher prices, and speculators are renting warehouses to store paddy. Rice in paddy form (in the husk) can be stored for about a year and a half before quality starts to deteriorate, and milled rice can be held for another six months.

“Nobody dares to sell now as we don’t know where the price is going,” says Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of Thailand’s Rice Exporters Association. Although Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, has shipped record amounts in January and February, traders have lost money on futures contracts as prices have jumped more quickly than anyone expected, he says.

In the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has vowed to crack down on rice hoarders. The government has ordered police to stake out warehouses and follow trucks to see where the rice was going, she said.

Thailand may try to sell off 2.1 million tons of rice stocks to keep domestic prices low. But as long as prices stay high, Thai farmers will need to burn the midnight oil keeping watch over their fields.

“Most farmers must sell crops immediately as they don’t have a good warehouse that can withstand attacks from rats, birds, chickens – or human thieves,” says Mr. Sarayouth.

Associated Press reports were used in this story.

Global disaster watch

http://home.att.net/~thehessians/disasterwatch.html


Global Disaster Watch

http://home.att.net/~thehessians/disasterwatch.html


CURRENT WORLDWIDE NATURAL DISASTERS
Warnings and updates for:
drought, earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes, landslides, meteor
showers, severe weather warnings, solar flares, tsunamis,
volcanoes, wildfires, plus disaster archives and record-breaking
disasters.



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Friday, March 7, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.
Thomas Carlyle

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
3/6/08 -
5.4 KEP. MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA
6.0 HALMAHERA, INDONESIA
5.3 SALTA, ARGENTINA
5.6 KAMCHATKA PENINSULA, RUSSIA

WASHINGTON - an unfelt seismic event is taking place beneath western Washington. Earlier in the week, seismographs in the southern Hood Canal area began recording bursts of low-level shaking associated with what is called an episodic tremor-and-slip event. If this episode behaves true to form, the tremor will move north beneath the Olympic Mountains and across to Vancouver Island during the next two to three weeks. This the fifth so-called slow-slip event to be recorded since the phenomenon was discovered in 2002. Slow-slip events, or silent earthquakes, occur at a depth of about 25 miles and can last for several weeks. Though they are unfelt by humans, they can release as much energy as a large earthquake. Since they were first discovered in the Puget Sound region, such events have occurred regularly about every 14 months. The current slow-slip event was expected to start between mid-February and mid-April, and the first evidence that it had begun turned up on Sunday.

KASHMIR - A 3.9 earthquake of mild intensity rocked many parts of Kashmir Valley including the summer capital Srinagar early this morning. There were no reports of any damage to life and property. Even though the quake was of mild intensity, it jolted people out of their beds in panic. Anxiety is palpable here over the UNUSUAL seismic activity in the region for the past few weeks. The quake was the sixth temblor to hit Kashmir valley since February 20. Mild intensity tremors - between 2.9 and 4.1 on the Richter Scale - hit Srinagar on February 20 and 25, while two temblors occurred on March 1, triggering a feeling that the repeated tremors are prelude to a major earthquake. The growing public anxiety forced authorities to issue a statement reiterating that there is no confirmation of a major earthquake in the near future. A high intensity devastating earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale with its epicenter in Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir on October 8, 2005 caused widespread destruction and resulted in the death of nearly 75,000 people.

VOLCANOES -
HAWAII - The latest flow from Kilauea Volcano reached the ocean overnight Wednesday. Access to Kilauea's eruption was cut off Wednesday after the current lava flow crossed the last Big Island access road to the site. After threatening for several days, lava crossed the access road, cutting off a lava viewing site and forcing the last residents to evacuate. The homes that were in danger were not destroyed by Thursday. "The speed at which she moved from the base to where she is now is much, much faster than anyone, I'm talking about the scientists, anticipated. We are where we thought we would be by maybe next week sometime at the earliest, and here we are." Lava from the volcano eruption that began in 1983 destroyed four or five abandoned structures in Royal Gardens over the past two weeks. (video)

NEW GUINEA - Thermal activity at the Bagiai cone on Karkar Island in Madang is still continuing and is a concern. Thermal activity from within the cone has caused the vegetation to die and turn brown. Withered and dry vegetation could be observed at Bagiai’s flanks. In the meantime, seismic activity in the form of volcanic earthquakes is continuing, but at low levels. Three portable seismic recorders were deployed close to the summit area on the outer caldera, 3.5 km from Bagiai. They recorded 15-20 volcanic earthquakes per day. “Generally, the seismic activity is at a low level and our team on the ground is keeping an eye on it."

MARIANA ISLANDS - Volcanic haze blown to Saipan and Tinian again - The CNMI Emergency Management Office issued a volcanic haze and sulfur advisory late afternoon yesterday, saying that light winds will be carrying gas from Anatahan to Saipan and Tinian. EMO said that residents of Saipan and Tinian should notice a slight sulfur smell and some reduction in visibility due to haze last night until midnight. Those with respiratory problems were advised to stay indoors. “Light north winds are carrying gases and haze from Antahan to our area. The satellite images also shows some ash is being emitted by the volcano but the ash is mainly confined near and just east of the volcano.” All mariners were also reminded to take precautionary measures due to low visibility.

INDONESIANS in Java village scared by seeping gas - Gas seeping from the ground in a village hit by a mud volcano in Indonesia's East Java province is triggering safety concerns and calls for an evacuation. The gas is in an area where thousands of homes and factories have been submerged by hot mud since a mud volcano first started to erupt in May 2006, forcing about 15,000 people to abandon their homes. "Every two or three days, people find gas flares, big and small. In this village you could be burnt anytime unless we are relocated." A villager demonstrated the gas was inflammable by setting alight a leak causing a 20 cm (8 inch) high flame. Mindi villagers mark the spot of new gas leaks by planting a piece of pipe to try and prevent people from setting the flares alight. A spokesman for the government body managing the mudflow said he was aware of the flaring gas, but that Mindi was not a village eligible under a government decree for compensation to pay for an evacuation.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Cyclone JOKWE was 700 nmi WNW of Saint Pierre, Reunion.
Cyclone OPHELIA was 542 nmi NW of Perth, Australia.

Tropical cyclone Jokwe is expected to lash northern Mozambique tomorrow after sweeping through parts of Madagascar. As of Thursday morning, cyclone Jokwe was clipping the northern tip of Madagascar. It was slowing down over Madagascar, and the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre put its wind speed at 55 knots (100 kilometres an hour), with gusts of 65 knots (120 kilometres an hour). But cyclones intensify over the open ocean, and so as Jokwe moves across the Mozambique Channel, its wind speeds will become faster. As it approaches the Mozambican coast, a wind speed of almost 140 kilometres an hour, and gusts of up to 167 kilometres an hour are forecast. On its current course, the centre of the storm system will make landfall somewhere near the northern port of Nacala on Saturday morning. This is well to the north of the river valleys of central Mozambique that suffered severe flooding in January and February, and so it is unlikely that Jokwe will worsen the situation of the flood victims.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
PERU - A landslide in the hills surrounding the village of Caserio Sachavaca, in the Amazonian Huanuco State of Peru, killed seven people on Thursday after heavy rains battered the area. The heavy rainfall also destroyed at least four houses. The severe weather which has swept through the country has already killed 16 people and driven about 1700 people from their homes.

MARYLAND - RECORD RUNOFF discharging at Conowingo Dam - Flood warnings remain in effect in Harford and Cecil counties Thursday as RECORD RAIN and snowmelt in Pennsylvania and New York send high water down the Susquehanna River. Water was rushing through the dam at a rate of 323,000 cubic feet per second. The previous record for a March 6 was 320,000 cf/s in 1979. The average for this date is 70,500 cubic feet per second. The all-time record high flow was 1.13 million cubic feet per second, on June 24, 1972, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Agnes.

NEW YORK - A new RAINFALL RECORD was set for Albany on Wednesday when 1.74 inches of liquid precipitation fell at the Albany International Airport.

MAINE - February proved to be another RECORD-BREAKING MONTH with precipitation superseding what fell in 1960 by more than half an inch.

ILLINOIS - Mother Nature's whims sent the Rock River to RECORD HIGH LEVELS in the Quad-Cities area Thursday, forcing people from their homes and Rock Island County to declare a state of emergency. At least one ice jam formed late Wednesday or early Thursday, causing the already swollen waterway to rise quickly. Area fire departments scrambled to launch boats to evacuate stranded residents. "We actually had power poles taken down by the ice." Area officials said Thursday that they cannot destroy the jams, and the blockages will have to break up on their own. That means no one can really predict when the flooding will be over and people can return to their homes. The river hit 16.38 feet at Moline at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, breaking a record set in 1973. (photos)

Coal cost soars in supply 'apocalypse' in Australia - Flooding in Queensland's Bowen Basin has resulted in a "supply apocalypse" for coking coal, with contract prices likely to hit $US300 per tonne - three times the price in 2007 - as steel mills scramble for the key ingredient. Flooding in the Bowen Basin has taken about 15 million tonnes of coking coal out of the market, as infrastructure limitations restricts the ability of producers to make up the lost output. "There is now an obvious scramble for supply with industry sources confirming that Asian steel mills are begging for tons at close to any cost." The Bowen Basin is the world's single largest resource of exported high quality coking coal. Tight supply has been exacerbated by China withdrawing from coking coal exports, as internal demand soars and coke stockpiles decline to historically low levels. Prices for coking coal and thermal coal, used as fuel for power stations, may rise by 30 per cent more than forecast this year after the flooding and severe snowstorms in China which have restricted supply.

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
TEXAS - The week's second snowstorm could cover McKinney with twice as much snow as Tuesday's snowfall. The National Weather Service predicted four to six inches of snow would fall on McKinney before midnight Thursday, causing hazardous road conditions, wrecks and city, school and county department closures all afternoon. Such heavy snow accumulation for McKinney is VERY UNUSUAL. "It's really something. It's kind of gotten into an active pattern where we've had some strong weather systems that typically move north of Oklahoma and have been moving from January and February moving across Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Then this past week, this will be the second major storm system that's moved across North Texas." A collection of colder air created the heavy snowfall. "It basically has to do with where the cold air sets up, where the cold air and warm, moist air sets up. It's in a funnel zone, so with the storm track farther south, the colder air is farther south and the colder air is where we get a lot of snow today and tonight and later in the week." The snowfall is heavier than average for the month of March, but isn't enough to break the previous snowfall record for McKinney. Eight to 12 inches of snow fell on McKinney on Jan. 15 and 16, 1964.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

CHILE - A wildfire near the port city of Valparaiso has destroyed 20 houses and thousands of hectares of pasture, pines and eucalyptus, but so far poses no immediate threat to populated areas. The houses destroyed by the fire in Laguna Verde, some 140 kilometres (87 miles) north-west of Santiago, were summer residences that were not occupied as the fire struck. On Wednesday, 200 people were evacuated as a precaution. The three-day fire had been brought under control on Wednesday, but regained force due to high temperatures and wind. (video)

AUSTRALIA - Adelaide is in the grip of its FIRST AUTUMN HEATWAVE IN ALMOST 70 YEARS. The heatwave will be the longest experienced in March since 1940 when seven days of 35C temperatures were last experienced.

THAILAND - Drought has arrived early this year and it may be a lengthy one as nine northern provinces are already bracing for water shortages.

Warmer waters leave fish floundering - Climate change could be reducing fish numbers by causing them to get lost, Australian scientists have found. The stresses of warmer sea temperatures and more acidic seawater may be affecting the development of ear bones in young reef fish. The stress in their larval stage could make fish develop asymmetrical ear bones or otoliths, causing them to lose their way at sea during a crucial stage of their development. "A degree of asymmetry is natural but when the environment deteriorates, asymmetrical fish become more frequent."

HEALTH THREATS -
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

THAILAND, drugs, George Bush, and Depleted uranium!!

Will a Drug Warrior Be Hanged?

| Bush Betrayal | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bush | Bovard

So, after the primary results last night, I was looking for something uplifting to put on the blog.

Voila! The possibility that an evil politician could get hanged!

The Future of Freedom Foundation today posted online an article from their Freedom Daily on the Bush-blessed Thai slaughter of drug users and other people hated by the police. The American media has largely ignored the Thai atrocities.

Will a Drug Warrior Be Hanged?
by James Bovard

Thailand’s billionaire prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was deposed in a coup last year by the country’s military. Somchai Hom-la-or, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, recently declared that “Thaksin and his government committed crimes against humanity.” Thai lawyers and human-rights activists are suggesting that he be indicted and tried by the International Criminal Code for the thousands of killings committed by Thai police and other agents during his war on drugs.

While the odds of Thaksin’s ever having to face charges for atrocities committed by his war on drugs are slim, it is refreshing that people are openly suggesting that an elected leader be held to account for his actions.

Thailand’s war on drugs — vigorously approved by the Bush administration — has received far less attention in the United States than it deserves.

When Thaksin launched his anti-drug campaign in 2003, he declared that “in this war, drug dealers must die.” Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha promised that drug dealers “will be put behind bars or even vanish without a trace. Who cares? They are destroying our country.”

The Thai government was concerned about the rising number of Thais taking amphetamine-type pills — popularly known as Yaa-Baa. The crackdown began in early February 2003. Within weeks, government officials were bragging about the number of bad guys killed. A New York Times article noted that “the killings started right on cue. Many victims were on secret, but official, ‘black lists.’”

Throughout Thailand, local officials set up black boxes or mailboxes and encouraged people to accuse anyone suspected of involvement with narcotics — no evidence required. Many people used the anonymous system to accuse business competitors or personal enemies. According to a 2004 U.S. State Department human-rights report, the interior minister warned “governors and provincial police that those who failed to eliminate a prescribed percentage of the names from their blacklists would be fired.”

The central government issued specific quotas for arrests for each state, city, and village. Sunai Phasuk of Forum Asia, a Bangkok-based human rights organization, noted, “Most of [the victims] got killed on the way back from the police office. People found their name on a blacklist, went to the police, then ended up dead.”

Thai Senator Tuenjai Deetes observed, “The justice system was destroyed…. Here, the government official or police judged immediately, ‘You are doing drugs, you must be killed.’”

Drugs were planted on the bodies of many victims after they were murdered. Amnesty International complained, “Authorities are not permitting pathologists to perform autopsies and bullets are reportedly being removed from the corpses.”

The interior minister even established an arrest quota for local politicians: “To prove the government is serious and spares no one, in March and April you will arrest big dealers — suspects such as provincial councilors and local politicians — four to five in each province.”

Governors were permitted to keep 35 percent of all the drug assets they confiscated, and police detectives were entitled to skim 15 percent of the loot.

Many knowledgeable Thais believed the crackdown had little or no chance of permanently suppressing narcotics. Charan Pak-dithanakul, secretary to the supreme court president, commented, “People may take one look at the death toll and hail the government, but if you scrutinize the names of those killed, there’s not a single big-time dealer.”

Many Thai drug gangs operate under the protection of politicians and the military and appeared to easily survive the Thaksin purge.

In early May 2003, the Thai government proudly announced that 2,275 suspected drug dealers had been killed and that 90 percent of the nation’s drug trafficking had been eliminated. The government insisted that it had no role in the vast majority of deaths of drug dealers, except for a small number of dealers whom police supposedly killed in self-defense.

Some of the killings did not enhance the government’s image, including the police slayings of a 9-year-old boy as he and his mother drove along a Bangkok street; a 16-month-old baby killed along with her mother when their car was riddled with bullets; a woman who was in the eighth month of her pregnancy; and a 75-year-old grandmother gunned down as she walked along a street. Thaksin dismissed concerns about widespread violence in the drug crackdown, declaring that being murdered “is not an unusual fate for wicked people.”

U.S. response to the killings

The slaughter evoked muffled comments from the U.S. embassy in Bangkok. On May 7, a U.S. embassy spokesman, who insisted on anonymity, told the Associated Press that the Bush administration has “made very clear that we have serious concerns about the number of killings that may have been associated with Thailand’s war on drugs” and insisted that the Thaksin government “needs to … investigate all unexplained killings and identify and prosecute those responsible.”

The Thai government ignored the anonymous State Department official’s comments. The following month, Thailand’s prime minister was invited to the White House to meet with Bush. Bush upgraded Thailand’s status with the U.S. government to “major non-NATO ally” (thereby entitling the Thai government to a bevy of U.S. government benefits and subsidies, including the right to buy depleted-uranium ammunition). A June 11, 2003, White House statement by the Thai and U.S. governments declared,

The two leaders recognized the long, successful history of cooperation between the United States and Thailand on law enforcement and counternarcotics. President Bush appreciated Thailand’s leadership in hosting one of the largest and most successful U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) operations in the world as well as the U.S.-Thai International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA). President Bush recognized Prime Minister Thak-sin’s determination to combat transnational crime in all its forms, including drug trafficking and trafficking in persons.

The White House Joint Statement dismissed the allegations of anti-drug carnage:

Regarding recent press allegations that Thai security services carried out extrajudicial killings during a counter-narcotics campaign in Thailand, Prime Minister Thaksin stated unequivocally that the Thai government does not tolerate extrajudicial killings and assured President Bush that all allegations regarding killings are being investigated thoroughly.

The only reference to the slaughter was a brazen lie by the Thai prime minister that was sanctified in an official White House statement. The prime minister’s pledge made as much sense as if he had promised to personally resurrect all the people wrongfully killed in the crackdown. The Nation, one of the most respected newspapers in Thailand, noted that “the American president saw the halos on Thaksin’s head,” including one from the “drug-suppression campaign.” Thailand’s interior minister said that Bush praised Thailand’s anti-drug campaign during the White House meeting.

On October 27, Bush visited Thailand and proclaimed, “Thailand is also a force of good throughout Southeast Asia.” A month later, William Snipes, the Bang-kok-based DEA regional director for East Asia, hailed the Thai crackdown: “Temporarily, we look at it as successful.” Snipes conceded that whether the reduction in drug activity “is a lasting effect, we will have to wait and see.”

Drug-war “success”

By early December 2003, the official bad-guy body count had risen to 2,625. Speaking at a giant Bangkok victory rally of thousands of government employees, Thaksin proclaimed, “Today is a milestone. More than 90% of ordinary Thais can now lead an honest daily life free from narcotics in their communities…. We are now in a position to declare that drugs, which formerly were a big danger to our nation, can no longer hurt us. ”

In his annual birthday message on December 5, 2003, King Bhumibol Adulyadej — the king in whose honor Thailand had been rendered drug-free — first said that the alleged killings of drug dealers were a “small thing.” Then he insisted that many of the killings were not the fault of the government. Then he called for an investigation of the killings. The king fretted that, unless the killings were cleared up, “the people will blame the King. This would breach the Constitution which stipulates that the King should not have to take responsibility for anything.”

But the government stonewalled such investigations. Deputy Attorney General Prapan Naiyakowit, the chief investigator of the killings, complained in early December: “In May I completed the probe report on drug-related deaths. Since then, police have not submitted a single report on any individual killing that happened during the anti-drug campaign. ”

A Thai senate committee concluded that “the government used rhetoric and ceremony to make people hate each other, to destroy the human dignity of suspected drug dealers, and incite people to handle the drug problem with violence and without mercy.”

The government’s killing spree intimidated much of the populace. The Thai National Human Rights commissioner, Cha-ran Ditthaapichai, complained of the plight of the 329,000 people on the blacklist: “They feel they are no longer safe and could be exterminated at any time.” Amnesty International reported that the government’s murder spree left many Thais afraid to leave their homes, and others avoided traveling to areas where they were not known for fear of being suspected as drug traffickers and shot dead.

After 9/11, Bush repeatedly proclaimed that any nation or government guilty of aiding and abetting terrorists would be considered to be as guilty as the terrorists themselves. Yet the U.S. government helped bankroll a Thai government campaign that terrorized the Thai people. The Bush administration gave Thailand $3.7 million in anti-drug aid in 2003 — thus compelling American taxpayers to bankroll Thai state terrorism.

According to the U.S. State Department, 307 people were killed worldwide in international terrorist attacks in 2003. The Bush administration endorsed and helped finance an anti-drug crackdown that killed more than seven times as many people in a single country as were killed by all the international terrorists in the world that year.

It remains to be seen how vigorously the new Thai government will investigate the atrocities of the Thaksin regime. As Chairman Somchai noted, “Sad-dam Hussein was charged with committing crimes against humanity for the killing of 170 people. In that case, the 2,500 deaths we witnessed here must constitute crimes against humanity.”

If the Thais can help establish a principle of holding leaders responsible for the killings they order, they will be doing a far better service to the cause of democracy than anything the Bush administration has yet offered. Sometimes the threat of a noose is the best way to put government back on a leash.

James Bovard is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy [2006] as well as The Bush Betrayal [2004], Lost Rights [1994] and Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice and Peace to Rid the World of Evil (Palgrave-Macmillan, September 2003) and serves as a policy advisor for The Future of Freedom Foundation.

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Dirk W. Sabin

Comment on Wednesday 9th January 2008 @ 12:45 pm

Gee, and I bet there aint no more drugs in Thailand neither.

I must admit that I would be stuffing those boxes full myself…..under cover of darkness.

Another Democracy on the March
Shoot First, change later.

Tory

Comment on Wednesday 9th January 2008 @ 2:50 pm

My advice to all Asians would be to never, ever, act drunk, high or comatosed. No chantings or hummmings. Avoid all alcoholice beverages of any kind. I would bet they’re all on their best behavior - everyone is acting ’stately’ if you knmow what I mean. There are no signs of mental illness in Thailand.

Possession of any opium or opium derivative (in Asia) is punishable by death. This would include codeine, morphine, etc. In Thailand, people would rather eat dog than be caught (or accused) with cocaine; is also a death sentence. When Asian doctors prescribe pain killers the patients just walk away (quickly.)

I hear they’re avoiding rice tea too (their lives depend on it).

“Government is our worst enemy.”

Tory

Drug producing countries:

Opium:
Afghanistan, IRAN, (maybe China), and Turkey.

Marijuana (hashish): Syria (and California and maybe Florida)

Cocaine: COLUMBIA and other S. American countries.

Should I have included Mexico for something ?