CIA torture prison in Poland update

This video is called CIA Secret Euro-Prison Network Exposed (PT1).

From Andy Worthington’s blog:

Polish Senator’s Startling New Allegations About the CIA Torture Prison in Poland

30.6.12

In the long quest for accountability for those who ordered, authorized or were complicit in the Bush administration’s torture program, every avenue has been shut down within the US by the Obama administration, the Justice Department and the courts, and the only hope lies elsewhere in the world, and specifically Poland, one of three European countries that hosted secret CIA prisons, where “high-value detainees” were subjected to torture.

Whereas the other two countries — Romania and Lithuania — have either refused to accept that a secret prison existed, or have opened and then prematurely shut an investigation, Poland has an ongoing official investigation, which began four years ago and shows no sign of being dismissed, even if numerous obstacles to justice have been erected along the way.

Last week, two US news outlets — the Los Angeles Times and ABC News — reported the latest claim by Senator Jozef Pinior, who, as ABC News explained, told the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza that prosecutors “have a document that shows a local contractor was asked to build a cage at Stare Kiekuty,” the Polish army base that was used by the CIA as its main prison for “high-value detainees” from December 2002 (when the previous prison in Thailand was closed down) until September 2003, when, for six months, the main “high-value detainees” were held in a secret prison within Guantánamo, before being transferred back to facilities in Europe and Morocco. 14 “high-value detainees” were eventually returned to Guantánamo, as military prisoners, in September 2006.

“In a state with rights,” Pinior said, “people in prison are not kept in cages.” He added that a cage was “non-standard equipment” for a prison, but that it was standard “if torture was used there.” He was also asked “if he was sure the cage was for humans,” to which he replied, “What was it for? Exotic birds?”

Wimbledon tennis hawk stolen

This video from the USA is called Harris’s Hawks vs. Jackrabbit.

From Sky News in England:

Wimbledon Hawk Rufus Snatched From Car

Police appeal for information after the Harrier Hawk used to scare pigeons at SW19 is stolen.

4:56pm UK, Saturday 30 June 2012

The hawk that patrols Wimbledon’s tennis courts to frighten away pigeons has been stolen.

Detectives are investigating the theft of Rufus, a Harrier Hawk

No, Sky News. A Harris’s hawk, originally from North America.

A Harrier Hawk is a bird from Africa.

, who was taken overnight on Thursday and Friday from a car parked outside the home of his owner.

A police spokesman said the car was parked on a private drive in Dunstall Road, with the rear window open for ventilation, when the thieves struck.

The hawk, which deters pigeons at the All England Club simply through his presence, is also a family pet.

“The family has become very attached to the bird who is now four-and-a-half years old,” the police spokesman said.

“They are distressed over the theft and are appealing for help to recover the bird.”

Owner Imogen Davis, 25, said her family are in shock after Rufus’s disappearance.

“It’s really, really sad,” she said. “He was taken in his travelling box, which is where he sleeps because it’s nice and dark and cool and he can fall asleep in there.

“We’re very, very shocked, we just want to know he’s okay.”

She said they reared four-year-old Rufus as part of the family-run business Avian Environmental Consultants.

“We work as a team together. To have him taken away like that is just horrible,” she added.

“It’s a family business, the birds are brought up around us. They’re part of the family. It’s just the way it is.”

Ms Davis said she originally thought it was a prank, but was not sure as a falconry glove and falconry hood were stolen at the same time.

“Initially I was almost hoping that it was a prank because there was more possibility of us getting him back, and somebody would realise it was a stupid thing to do,” she said.

“But because the hood and the glove were taken, I’m not sure. I suppose at least it means he’s been looked after.”

Rufus has become a well-known fixture at the south-west London club, with visitors often stopping to ask for photos with the hawk and even tennis stars, including former champion Richard Krajicek, tweeting pictures of him.

Texel butterfly and bee news

This video is called Mating of the silver-studded blue butterfly (Plebejus argus, family Lycaenidae).

Translated from wildlife ranger Erik van der Spek on Texel island in the Netherlands:

Silver studded blues enjoy the beautiful weather on Texel

Posted on June 30, 2012

In the National Park Dunes of Texel the silver studded blue butterflies fly now. These rare butterflies are found on the heather of the old Mient land between Den Hoorn and De Koog. The caterpillars mainly eat heather. The butterflies fly from June to August.

Parnassius apollo butterfly photos: here.

Also translated from Erik van der Spek:

Panurgus banksianus bees also occur in polder Ceres on Texel

Posted on June 30, 2012

The Panurgus banksianus bee is a species that is found especially in the eastern Netherlands and at one single spot in the western dunes. On Texel, this species is known from the Zandkuil nature reserve, where there’s a large population. The other observations of Texel so far are from the Hoge Berg area. Today it was proved that the species also occurs in the polder Ceres. Panurgus banksianus collects pollen on yellow composites like cat’s ear, smooth hawksbeard and dandelion.

Texel bees and flowers: here.

Dasypoda hirtipes bees on Texel: here.

Bees of the Dutch Wadden Sea islands: here.

Colletes halophilus bees on Texel: here.

Related articles

• Ambergris treasure found in dead Texel whale (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Singing young grey seal Justin, videos (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Dutch fish ladder for sticklebacks (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Young minke whale killed by plastic (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Freshwater fish of Wadden Sea islands (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Monarchs butterflies at risk (stuff.co.nz)

Big Oil threatens Norwegian seabirds

This is a video about Steller’s eider ducks.

The Norwegian Ornithological Society warns that oil drilling in the Barents Sea to the north of Norway threatens various seabird species.

These species include Steller’s eider ducks and guillemots.

Arctic birds still fit when fat: here.

Scientists have found that diving birds reach their 30s and then die quickly and suddenly, showing few signs of aging prior to death. Their findings, which will be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Salzburg on 2nd July could help us understand the aging process, providing critical insights for our aging population: here.

Conservationists on Tuesday appealed to countries to urgently address new threats to whales, dolphins and other cetaceans as climate change opens up previously inaccessible areas of the Arctic and industries move in to new areas: here.

The persecution of environmentalists is on the rise, as pro-oil corporate interests seem to prevail over ecological concerns: here.

Indian workers’ suicides in dictatorial Bahrain

This video says about itself:

Their living and working conditions are described by rights groups as atrocious. An estimated six million migrant workers, mostly from Asia, who are helping to build the rich Gulf economies. But international pressure for an end to what some term slavery appears to be having an impact.

From Gulf Daily News in Bahrain:

SUICIDES ALARM…

By Aniqa Haider

Saturday, June 30, 2012

MORE Indians have committed suicide in the last six months than during the whole of last year, according to the latest figures.

Twenty-one Indians have killed themselves since January, compared to 11 in 2011.

The figures, released by the Indian Embassy, have sparked growing concern about how to tackle the problem.

Adliya restaurant worker Santosh Kumar Nagaraj, 21, from Tamil Nadu became the latest person to take his life when he was found hanging in the storeroom of a restaurant where he had gone to collect fresh sheets and gloves on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Hercules Wrought Iron Factory worker Podimon Geevarghese Yohannan, 44, from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, was found hanging by a rope from a ceiling fan in his room in Riffa.

Mr Yohannan’s suicide came just nine days after Pasupathi Mariappan, 33, from Tamil Nadu, was found hanging from a palm tree in a public garden in Hamad Town.

“This figure is alarming and we need to take immediate steps to prevent it,” said an embassy spokesman.

“There are 21 suicides out of 106 total deaths, compared to 11 suicides out of 163 deaths last year and 11 suicides out of 197 deaths in 2010.”

The spokesman said most of those who had killed themselves were low-income workers with financial problems.

“Some workers may have family issues, which they are afraid to share with anyone,” he said.

“Many have problems with their sponsors, have not been paid for months, have financial problems, some are without their passports, some are illegal residents and some are not happy with their family members.

…

“But if they have any issues related to the embassy, they should immediately contact us.

“We can provide them consular services, speak to their employers and get their wages, issue an out pass so they can leave the country, and there are all sorts of assistance available, except finance.”

The spokesman said travel ban was another problem facing Indian workers.

“For example, Mr Mariappan‘s company reported him absent from work and his visa was not valid,” he said.

“He was distressed as he didn’t have a job or finance and was unable to go back home due to the travel ban imposed on him.

“According to his friends, he knocked on several doors and was upset and had no other option but to kill himself.

“Meanwhile, Mr Yohannan was drinking too much and spent all his money on that and didn’t send any to his family back home, which raised issues.

“This made him take a drastic step and kill himself.

“We need to raise awareness among people, especially low-income workers.”

The spokesman said the problem was that most of the workers at risk of committing suicide are illiterate.

“I don’t think workers have time to read newspapers, check a website to get the hotline or read brochures or pamphlets,” he said.

“We need to start a campaign and ask our volunteers and social workers to visit different labour camps and speak to the workers individually and register their complaints and then follow up on their cases one by one.

Distress

“We must keep a track and follow up on the most vulnerable people.

“We need to start an awareness campaign for people on how to cope with stress.”

Indian community leaders earlier called for urgent steps to offer counselling to people with suicidal tendencies so that they could be prevented from taking their own lives.

Indians in distress can call round-the-clock on hotlines 39523969 or 39010782.

Bahrain: Washington and London Complicit in Crimes against Humanity Committed by Alkhalifa regime: here.

UK rolls out red carpet for Bahrain. Officials held private talks while UN criticised Gulf state on human rights: here.

Bahrain: He is only 18 months old, but he had to pay the ultimate price for being born in a country riddled with hate, repression and criminality of a regime that has adopted revenge as the main weapon against its opponents. The 18-months old Sayyed Hussain Sayyed Isa, from the town of Nabih Saleh, died as a result of inhaling excessive chemical gases fired on his home by the Alkhalifa security forces. The child developed complications in his lungs that led to gradual deterioration of his health until he succumbed to death. His parents were devastated, so were all Bahrainis and freedom-loving people who curse a world that tolerates such criminal regime: here.

Bahrain Feature: UK Government and BBC Boost Regime’s “Terrorist Explosives” Campaign: here.

Help Thailand hornbills

This video is called Singapore Hornbill Project – Return of the King.

From Wildlife Extra:

Thai hornbills supported by UK charity

Money donated by Colchester Zoo’s charity Action for the Wild supports vital conservation research for three hornbill families in Thailand

June 2012. In 2011, Colchester Zoo’s charity Action for the Wild sponsored families of rhinoceros, wreathed and great hornbill species which all nest around the Budo Mountain area, part of the Budo-Sungai Padu National Park in Thailand.

Chicks

In 2011, the wreathed hornbill family were successful in fledging a chick meaning that this family have been very successful having fledged 9 chicks since 1999. The new great hornbill family were also successful in fledging a chick during 2011 resulting in this family having another successful breeding year bringing the total to 12 fledged chicks since 1994. It was noted that both of these families had similar nesting diets made up of almost entirely fruits mainly of fig species.

Rhinoceros hornbill

The rhinoceros hornbill family also successfully fledged one chick during their nesting season. However, their diet throughout the nesting period was different as although they ate mainly fruits which were not of the fig species. This family have produced at least 7 chicks since 2000. Some data collection by the team during 2011 was incomplete for some of the other family groups they monitor due to poor weather conditions and incidents of unrest in Thailand’s southernmost provinces, and so workings in unsafe areas had to pause.

The Hornbill Family Adoption Program will still carry on for 2012, with the project continuing to monitor our hornbill families. The team will also continue to promote hornbill conservation and train villagers as nature guides, so they can earn an income in a more sustainable way.

Colchester Zoo’s charity Action for the Wild has been supporting the Hornbill Research Foundation since 2002 annually donating $450 to support three hornbill families in Thailand.

Hungarian state homophobia

This video about Hungary says about itself:

Fascism in Hungary- Hungarian Guard- Magyar Garda

Magyar Gárda Hagyományőrző és Kulturális Egyesület (English: Hungarian Guard Association for Protection of Traditions and Culture) nationalist, paramilitary movement in Hungary. It was founded through an “oath of loyalty to Hungary” by its members in Buda Castle, Budapest, in August 2007.. They are backed by and developed out of the right-wing party, Jobbik.

By Jake Blumgart, Truthout in the USA:

Homophobia on the Rise in Eastern Europe as Rightist Extremism Intensifies

Friday, 29 June 2012 00:00

On July 2008, Michael Simmons marched in the tenth annual Budapest gay pride parade, just as he had in previous years. Established in 1998, Hungary’s pride parade is one of the longest established in Central and Eastern Europe, and for the first nine years of its existence it was marked by the festivities – transvestites dancing in flatbed trucks, loud music, colorful floats – familiar to inhabitants of most Western European and American cities. Back then, the conservative and skinhead counter protesters were a joke.

That changed in 2007 when large groups of right-wing thugs attacked the marchers with vegetables, rotten eggs, rocks and bottles. Some people who left the parade were beaten. The police response was inadequate, as they were unprepared for the sudden violence. In 2008, Simmons experienced the same thing, “well-organized and well-orchestrated attacks” by crowds of counter protesters.

“It was four hours of sustained attack and it never let up; there was never a breathing period,” said Simmons, a lifelong human rights activist, who took part in the civil rights movement in the American South and has worked extensively in Eastern Europe since the late 1980s. “Their [faces were so full of] hate. And their children were there. It reminded me of those pictures you see of lynchings, where young men are holding their girlfriends’ hands.”

Although police protection for the marchers improved after the first couple of years, the general situation of Hungary’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has worsened. The extreme right-wing party Jobbik, which is often associated with such hateful attacks, has grown rapidly. (They even have a paramilitary wing.) In 2007, Jobbik could be dismissed as a fringe group with no parliamentary representation. Today, Jobbik is the nation’s third-largest political party, with 47 of 386 seats in the Hungarian Parliament.

The nationalist conservative Fidesz Party, which controls two-thirds of the parliamentary seats and has been widely condemned for authoritarian tendencies, is less overtly discriminatory. But before Fidesz’s 2010 electoral sweep, LGBT rights in Hungary were rapidly progressing. Today, the new Constitution that Fidesz wrote and implemented unilaterally stipulates that marriage must be between a man and a woman. For the last two years, the Fidesz-controlled city government of Budapest has tried to ban the Pride March, citing traffic concerns and the presence of small children on the city streets. In both cases, the ban was challenged by LGBT groups and overturned by the courts.

“We are working in a context of rising extremism, which not only targets the LGBTQ community, but also the Roma and Jewish community,” said Dorottya Karsay, one of the organizers of Budapest Pride. “We’ve seen a number of hate crimes, hate attacks in recent weeks, both in Budapest and in the countryside…. Extremism has been on the rise in the region for the last few years; it definitely has something to do with the crisis.”

More than 60 per cent of Scottish people agree that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face prejudice – and it’s time MSPs tackled it, campaigners said today: here.

Britain: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people often hide their sexuality or gender identity in sports, research by the Equality Network found today: here.

This weekend sees London play host to the third ever WorldPride event – a global celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture: here.

Related articles

• Europe and the Resurgent Politics of Ethnic Scapegoating (theatlantic.com)
• The “true” Hungarian (ailsackay.com)
• On the Queen’s Lack of Pro-Gay Speech (towleroad.com)
• Clubs asked to tackle homophobia (bbc.co.uk)
• Hungary to Amend Constitution as EU Monitors Backsliding – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Hungarians in massive rally to keep freedoms (wnd.com)

Osprey and heron nest webcams

This video is called A Hatch at the Dunedin Osprey nest.

From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the USA:

June 29, 2012

New Osprey Cam

We’re excited to let you know that we’re now featuring a very active Osprey cam hosted by the Univerity of Montana in Hellgate Canyon near Missoula. Three chicks hatched last week and the parents are busy bringing fish to feed their young ones’ ravenous appetites. It will be another 7 to 9 weeks before the youngsters fledge, most likely sometime between the second and third weeks of August. Just before the chicks leave the nest, researchers from the University of Montana will band the young as part of their long-term study on mercury in the environment.

So, what about Ozzie and Harriet, the Osprey pair at the Dunrovin Ranch nest we’ve been watching, also hosted by the University of Montana? Their two eggs have still not hatched and are not expected to, being way overdue. Though the adults are still tending them, it’s likely they will give up and leave the nest at some point. Although the reason for the eggs’ failure to hatch is unknown, researchers will be looking into whether mercury contamination may have been a factor. Meanwhile, we’ll keep the Dunrovin cam active to see what the adults do. You’ll see tabs for both Osprey nests on our website.

Meanwhile, check out the new Osprey cam and let us know what you think.

Heron Fledge Update

At the moment, three of the five Great Blue Heron chicks have fledged from the nest over Sapsucker Woods Pond right near the Cornell Lab. Click the links to see videos showing the first young heron launching from a limb near the nest around 9:18 AM on June 26, with two more soon following on the same day. The remaining two chicks are still holding out while they watch their three siblings wade in the pond below, perch on nearby branches, or come back to the nest for a visit.

Banding osprey chicks: here.

Dutch yellow-necked mice expanding

For a long time, the only place in the Netherlands where yellow-necked mice lived was the extreme south-east of Limburg, the most south-eastern province.

In 2005, for the first time one was seen in another province, Gelderland.

By now, however, the species has expanded to all eastern provinces.

Oldest European Neolithic bow discovery

This video says about itself:

Presentation of the archaeology and heritage of the river Guadalquivir in Cordoba, Spain by Cambridge University educated specialist historian and archaeologist, Farhat A. Hussain. An introduction to the value of the Guadalquivir (Wadi al-Kabir) river as an archaeological resource for the study of Cordoba for the Muslim era (711-1236 AD) when Cordoba was capital city of Muslim Iberia (al-Andalus) and comprised the largest and most advanced city in Western Europe.

From Sci-News.com:

June 29th, 2012

By Sergio Prostak

Oldest Neolithic Bow Unearthed in Spain

Spanish archaeologists have unearthed the most ancient Neolithic bow found to date in Europe at the lake site of La Draga.

Archaeological research carried out at the Neolithic site of La Draga, near the lake of Banyoles, has yielded the discovery of an item which is unique in the western Mediterranean and Europe.

The item is a bow which appeared in a context dating from the period between 5400-5200 BC, corresponding to the earliest period of settlement. It is a unique item given that it is the first bow to be found in tact at the site.

According to its date, it can be considered chronologically the most ancient bow of the Neolithic period found in Europe. The study will permit the analysis of aspects of the technology, survival strategies and social organization of the first farming communities which settled in the Iberian Peninsula.

The bow is 108 cm long and presents a plano-convex section. Worth mentioning is the fact that it is made out of yew wood, Taxus baccata, as were the majority of Neolithic bows in Europe.

In previous archaeological campaigns, fragments of two bows were found in 2002 and 2005 also from the same time period, but since they are fragmented it is impossible to analyze the characteristics of these tools. The current discovery opens new perspectives in understanding how these farming communities lived and organized themselves.

These bows could have served different purposes, such as hunting, although if one takes into account that this activity was not all that common at the La Draga area, it cannot be ruled out that the bows may have represented elements of prestige or been related to defensive or confrontational activities.

Remains of bows have been found in Northern Europe dating from between the 8th and 9th centuries BC

sic; probably millennia BC is meant

among hunter-gatherer groups, although these groups were from the Paleolithic period, and not the Neolithic.

Sometimes, the invention of arrows and bows is said to mark the end of the Paleolithic period, and the beginning of the Mesolithic.

The majority of bows from the Neolithic period in Europe can be found in central and northern Europe. Some fragments of these Neolithic bows from central Europe date from the end of the 6th millennium BCE, between 5200-5000 BC, although generally they are from later periods, often more than a thousand years younger than La Draga.

For this reason archaeologists can affirm that the three bows found at La Draga are the most ancient bows in Europe from the Neolithic period.

See also here.