‘Portuguese austerity is illegal’

This video is called Portuguese to strike over austerity measures.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Portuguese government cuts thrown out

Friday 06 July 2012

Lisbon’s Constitutional Court struck down a government measure to cut public-sector wages and conditions late on Thursday.

The decision is a huge setback to the centre-right government’s efforts to reduce its budget deficit.

The IMF, European Central Bank and World Bank advanced Portugal a €78 billion (£62bn) bailout loan last year supposedly to spare the country from looming bankruptcy.

But the lenders’ conditions specified that in return for the money, Portugal has to drive down its deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product next year. It was 9.8 per cent in 2010.

As part of that effort, the government had scrapped the Christmas and vacation bonuses of public-sector workers and pensioners.

But the constitutional court has declared that targeting the public sector is unconstitutional, saying that it contravened guarantees of equality.

Greece‘s ruling coalition unveiled an “everything must go” sale of the country’s assets over the weekend as Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras gushed that privatisation was his “top priority”: here.

Argentine dictator Videla convicted for baby-stealing

This video is called Argentine Torture Survivor Patricia Isasa Tells of Her Struggle to Bring Her Torturers to Justice.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Joy in Argentina as justice catches Videla

Friday 06 July 2012

by Our Foreign Desk

Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison on Thursday for a systematic programme of stealing babies.

The children were taken from prisoners who were kidnapped, tortured and killed during the military junta’s war on left-wingers three decades ago.

Argentina’s last dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, also was convicted and will serve 15 years.

Both are already in prison for other human rights abuses.

“This is a historic day. Today legal justice has been made real – never again the justice of one’s own hands, which the repressors were known for,” prominent rights activist Tati Almeida said outside the courthouse, where a jubilant crowd watched on a big screen and cheered each sentence.

During the period military and police officials unleashed a campaign of terror to remove any trace of the armed leftist guerilla movement they said threatened the country’s future.

The “dirty war” eventually claimed 13,000 victims according to official records.

Bignone ordered the military to destroy evidence of dirty war activities, and the junta denied any knowledge of baby thefts, let alone responsibility for the disappearances of political prisoners.

Many were pregnant women who were disappeared shortly after giving birth in clandestine maternity wards.

Videla denied in his testimony that there had been any systematic plan to remove the babies, and claimed that prisoners had used their unborn children as “human shields” in their fight against the state.

Nine others, mostly former military and police officials, were also accused in the trial, which focused on 34 baby thefts. Seven were convicted and two were found not guilty.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo human rights group has since used DNA evidence to help 106 people who were stolen from prisoners as babies recover their true identities and 26 of these cases were raised as part of this trial.

The group estimates that as many as 500 babies could have been stolen during the period.

Chinese police arrested 802 people on suspicion of child trafficking and rescued 181 children in an operation spanning 15 provinces, the Ministry of Public Security said today: here.

Bloody Sunday in Derry, Ireland aftermath

This video is called RARE UNSEEN FOOTAGE Bloody Sunday, Derry, Northern Ireland 1972.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

No reason to delay inquiry

Friday 06 July 2012

Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson‘s demand that any police inquiry into the Bloody Sunday army massacre in Derry must include investigation of his deputy Martin McGuinness‘s role is par for the course.

Robinson could be expected to do nothing else in order to retain the support of his electorate and of his Democratic Unionist Party.

This realisation could explain McGuinness’s calm reaction to the demand, together with his knowledge that the unionist establishment is engaged in laying down a smokescreen to cover up the real issues.

Those opposed to a police probe of the criminal activities of the British army have seized upon part of Lord Saville’s inquiry report which found that McGuinness had been in Derry on the day of the slaughter, “probably armed with a machinegun.”

McGuinness accepts being on the streets of the city where he lived but denies carrying a firearm.

Even if he were lying through his teeth about being armed it would be irrelevant – since the whole world knows now that, despite lies spread at the time by the military, British government and media, soldiers did not come under fire from the IRA on that day.

The 14 Irish Catholics done to death were unarmed and met their end as the result of members of the Parachute Regiment shooting them down without justification.

Saville also took apart the tissue of lies confected by the British military, political and media elite and demolished the absurd apology for an inquiry cobbled together by Lord Chief Justice John Widgery.

Even David Cameron has had to accept that the Bloody Sunday killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable.”

That being so, natural justice demands that the perpetrators of this heinous crime should face trial, but this is resisted by those in Northern Ireland with a vested interest in preventing a belated resolution of this matter.

It does not augur well for a speedy and successful procedure that the Northern Ireland Police Service is already suggesting that it could take a further four years – 40 years after the murders took place – before it is in a position to complete its investigation.

The police will require co-operation from the military, which already has form in welcoming back into its ranks – and subsequently promoting – the tiny number of soldiers found guilty of shooting civilians dead.

Similar co-operation will be needed from the British government and all its agencies to prevent a repeat, as Sinn Fein justice spokesman Raymond McCartney put it, of the “interference, prevarication and destroying of evidence that we witnessed during the Saville Inquiry.”

It is clear that there remains resistance within the police to investigating Bloody Sunday, despite Northern Ireland Police Federation chairman Terry Spence’s insistence that his organisation has always supported prosecution of police and soldiers if evidence is available.

Using the deaths of police officers killed by the IRA or the more recent murder of Constable Ronan Kerr by republican splinter groups in Omagh last year as bargaining counters against a Bloody Sunday investigation is unacceptable.

IRA members and other paramilitaries were arrested and prosecuted on a regular basis throughout the armed conflict for attacks on the security forces.

Their deeds were not systematically covered up by the authorities and justice denied to the families of the victims.

That is what causes Bloody Sunday to stand out and makes the police investigation a priority.

See also here.

The families of two men murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in Derry in 1976 demanded answers yesterday over possible collusion by the security forces in the killings: here.

Britain ‘falsely blamed’ IRA for bombing: here.

Related articles

• Bloody Sunday by Douglas Murray – review (guardian.co.uk)
• Families continue Bloody Sunday march for justice (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
• Artist ‘honored’ to hang Gerry Adams painting in top London gallery (irishcentral.com)
• Massacre justice ‘no closer’ (morningstaronline.co.uk)

Bush endangered endangered species

From Science:

Protected Habitat Shrunk for U.S. Endangered Species

by Erik Stokstad on 5 July 2012, 5:37 PM

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) consistently disregarded scientific advice when determining how much land to protect for endangered species during the George W. Bush Administration, a new study shows. The analysis, which includes decisions made between 2002 and 2007, shows that the agency was much more likely to ignore expert advice to increase protected areas. Instead, the agency typically ended up cutting the amount recommended by scientists, often by a sizeable amount.

$5.5 million an hour for US fat cat

This video from the USA is called The Rich Get Richer – New Facts.

By Philip Bump in the USA:

Duke Energy CEO Bill Johnson resigns after one day, gets $44 million in severance

When Duke Energy announced its merger with Progress Energy last year, the two companies agreed that Progress CEO Bill Johnson would assume the same position at the combined company. So he did: On June 27, Johnson signed a three-year contract to helm Duke. When the merger went into effect on July 2, he assumed the position of CEO.

And then, on July 3 at midnight, Johnson resigned. The Wall Street Journal:

Outsiders considered the turn of events highly unusual. New chief executives almost never quit days after accepting an employment contract, three executive-compensation consultants said.

It “is very odd” for a CEO to exit days after taking command, said David Schmidt, a consultant at James F. Reda & Associates, a compensation consulting firm in New York that wasn’t involved with either company. “I have never seen that before.”

But let us not weep for our once and not-future king. Bill Johnson’s golden parachute was not affected by his short flight.

Despite his short-lived tenure, Mr. Johnson will receive exit payments worth as much as $44.4 million, according to Duke. That includes $7.4 million in severance, a nearly $1.4 million cash bonus, a special lump-sum payment worth up to $1.5 million and accelerated vesting of his stock awards, according to a Duke regulatory filing Tuesday night. Mr. Johnson gets the lump-sum payment as long as he cooperates with Duke and doesn’t disparage his former employer, the filing said.

Under his exit package, Mr. Johnson also will receive approximately $30,000 to reimburse him for relocation expenses.

So assuming that he worked for a full eight hours on Monday, that comes out to a nice $5.5 million an hour – some 765,000 times the national minimum wage. His relocation alone is over half the average annual salary for an American worker. Hopefully he didn’t move to near any of his former colleagues. How embarrassing to run into them at the country club, what with Johnson being unemployed and all!

Johnson’s replacement is former Duke CEO Jim Rogers, just starting his fourth day on the job. He’s probably walking around the office, bragging about his longevity.

Farewell, Bill Johnson. You had a great run.

The super-rich are currently hiding away between $21 trillion and $32 trillion in tax havens such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands: here.

New Angolan forest discovery

This video is about African wildlife.

From BirdLife:

Forest discovery improves prospects for Angola’s endemics

Fri, July 6, 2012

A large tract of near-pristine Afromontane forest has been found in Angola’s Namba Mountains, tripling the amount of this habitat that was thought to survive in Angola. The site meets the criteria for a new Important Bird Area (IBA), holding one globally threatened species, and assemblages of restricted range and biome-restricted bird species.

Afromontane forest is the most localised and threatened habitat type in Angola. By the early 1970s, only 200 ha was estimated to remain, mainly at the Mount Moco IBA (85 ha), and perhaps in the Namba Mountains, where most forest was thought to be degraded by logging.

Mount Moco and the Namba Mountains lie within the Western Angola Endemic Bird Area, which includes four restricted-range species associated with Afromontane vegetation. Two Afromontane endemics of global conservation concern, Endangered Swierstra’s Francolin Pternistis swierstrai and Near Threatened Angola Cave-chat Xenocopsychus ansorgei, are found at Mount Moco, but the francolin is now uncommon there. The Data Deficient endemic Grimwood’s Longclaw Macronyx grimwoodi is also found at Moco. Several other Afromontane specialists have been found only there or at one or two other sites in Angola, and face a serious threat of extirpation from the country.

Angola’s Afromontane forest and thicket holds 20 species, subspecies or populations of conservation significance, isolated and distinct from other Afromontane “centres of endemism”, the nearest of which is over 2000 km away.

New natural World Heritage Sites

This is called Great Pied Hornbill, Birds, Nature, Wildlife, Western Ghats, Kerala, India; Video Suresh Elamon.

From Wildlife Extra:

Six natural wonders declared World Heritage Sites

Saharan lakes and Western Ghats amongst new World Heritage Sites

July 2012. Sangha Trinational – shared between Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo; Lakes of Ounianga in Chad and Chengjiang fossil site in China have been inscribed on the World Heritage List, following the recommendations of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Lena Pillars Nature Park in Russia and Western Ghats in India were also added to the prestigious list by the World Heritage Committee, a 21-nation panel.

IUCN, the official World Heritage advisory body on nature, presented the findings of its comprehensive evaluations of the natural values of nine sites to the World Heritage Committee. Chad is joining the World Heritage family for the first time.

Sangha Trinational

Sangha Trinational is a chain of national parks shared between Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. Forming a broad network of well preserved and diverse landscapes, the forests and rivers are home to an outstanding diversity of plants and animals. The area hosts the largest intact populations of forest elephants and great apes, including the critically endangered Western Lowland Gorilla and the endangered Chimpanzee.

“Sangha Trinational is not a fragment but part of a much larger intact environment with good conservation prospects, and harbouring critically endangered species,” says Tim Badman, Director of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme. “We welcome the fact that this globally significant forest landscape has been recognized by the World Heritage Committee.”

The Lakes of Ounianga

The Lakes of Ounianga consist of a series of 18 mostly freshwater lakes in the heart of the Sahara desert in northeastern Chad. Relics of a single, much larger lake occupying the basin less than 10,000 years ago, these lakes are an exceptional example of permanent lakes in a desert.

“The Lakes of Ounianga are a jewel of the Sahara, not only of overwhelming natural beauty, but a testimony to the fragile and unique equilibrium of life on earth,” says Youssouph Diedhiou of IUCN’s Protected Areas Programme in Central and Western Africa. “IUCN is delighted that Chad’s first outstanding natural area is joining the prestigious World Heritage list.”

Chengjiang Fossil Site

The rocks of the Chengjiang Fossil Site, near the city of Kunming in the Yuann Province of China, are evidence of the rapid appearance and diversification of species and evolutionary development, also known as the Cambrian explosion, which took place over 530 million years ago. The exceptional remains of species recorded at Chengjiang are key to understanding the early evolution of life on Earth.

“The inscription of the Chengjiang Fossil Site on the World Heritage List recognises this iconic site, which provides direct evidence of the origin of animal diversity,” says Tim Badman, Director of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme. “The preservation of this exceptional window on the earliest stages of the evolution of biodiversity on our planet is of great scientific importance for the future.”

Lena Pillars Nature Park

Lena Pillars Nature Park, known for the spectacular natural rock formations along the Lena River, are home to a wide range of rare plants and animals, including the Siberian Musk Deer, the Red Deer, the Siberian chipmunk, and 99 species of nesting birds. Located in the central part of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), it is an area with an extreme continental climate with an annual temperature range of almost 100º C, from around -60º C in winter to approximately.+40º C in summer.

Western Ghats

A series of protected areas across the Western Ghats in India were added to UNESCO’s list of iconic places after a persistent campaign for World Heritage status by the Indian government. Mountains, rainforests, rivers and waterfalls are all part of the 160,000 km² area, recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot. The Western Ghats are home to a number of flagship mammals including the endangered endemic lion-tailed Macaque, the endangered Asian elephant and Tiger.

Olympics bosses try to exploit musicians by petrel41

Reblogged from The Daily Cheese.:

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Olympics bosses try to exploit musicians

One London Olympics scandal does not seem to be enough.

Two London Olympics scandals do not seem to be enough.

After the Olympic missiles on people’s homes… the military aircraft above London… the Olympic sponsorship by Dow Chemical of Agent Orange and Bhopal disasterfame … the Olympic sponsorship by BPof the…

Read more… 838 more words

Thanks Daily Cheese for having my guest blog and adding the cartoon to it! One remark: the Illuminati (in the cartoon) have nothing to do it. They were a small late 18th century South German organization, then destroyed by absolute monarchical suppression. They were NOT the cause of the French revolution (which happened because French people were fed up with the absolute monarchy). They have nothing to do with London Olympics problems (contrary to organizations which really exist today, like Dow Chemical, BP, the British Conservative Party ..). This is my first reblog ever. I did not do it before, because being a WordPress newbie, I did not want to try out all WordPress features at once :) Another drawback of reblogging is that you see only the first part of the original blog. So, now the cartoon is missing here. Workers at penny-pinching workfare privateer Atos said today that they won't accept the Olympic sponsor's tiny pay offer - and could strike during the Games: here. And here.

South African secretarybirds study

This video is called Secretary Bird Stomps On Snake.

From BirdLife:

Satellite-tracking to assist in the conservation of South Africa’s Secretarybirds

Wed, July 4, 2012

BirdLife South Africa, the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Birds of Prey Programme (EWT-BoPP), and the University of the Witwatersrand have launched a collaborative satellite tracking project on one of South Africa’s most charismatic raptors, Secretarybird.

Secretarybird has a wide distribution, occurring throughout sub-Saharan Africa in different habitat types, except for areas covered by forests and true deserts. Secretarybird was recently up-listed on the IUCN Red List to Vulnerable, as it is threatened by a number of factors throughout its range. These include habitat fragmentation and degradation through agricultural and commercial forestry development, collisions with power lines and farm fences, and secondary poisoning. The continued survival of this iconic species, easily identifiable by its long legs and erectile crest, is under threat in South Africa. A preliminary analysis of information collected during the two bird atlas projects (http://sabap2.adu.org.za/) shows a considerable reduction in the areas this species previously occupied in South Africa.

The EWT-BoPP and BirdLife South Africa initiated a collaborative project to gain a better understanding of Secretarybird’s biology. Although Secretarybirds are large and visible birds, very little is known about their home range size, juvenile dispersal, and which habitats they prefer.

The tracking project, a costly exercise, will provide detailed information on the species’ movements and habits. These devices cost in the region of R25 000 apiece. The tracking device, using cell phone tracking with GPS technology, collects data every 15 minutes, is accurate to within 6-10 metres, and downloads the data via the GSM cellular network.

“The project will enable us to better understand the biology of the Secretarybird, and should help determine why they are no longer doing well in the grasslands and other habitats in South Africa and enable us to make better informed decisions on appropriate conservation action to benefit the species”, says André Botha, Manager of the Birds of Prey Programme of the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

BirdLife South Africa will focus its efforts in the grasslands, while the EWT-BoPP will focus its efforts in the Kalahari region of the Northern Cape and the savannas of the Lowveld and the Kruger National Park. The combined data will allow comparisons to be made, and the research findings will lead to considered conservation action and ultimately contribute to countering the current decline in numbers and decrease in range of this species.

Ernst Retief, BirdLife South Africa Regional Conservation Manager for Gauteng and North West says, “The first tracking device has been fitted to a Secretarybird fledgling on the farm Garingboom near Springfontein in the Free State on 22 March 2012. The fledgling called Spyker is sponsored by Radio OFM and its movements can be followed at http://www.birdlife.org.za/conservation/threatened-species/secretarybird. Spyker has moved around quite extensively since leaving the nest.”

The harnesses were tested on captive Secretarybirds to make sure that they fit correctly and therefore to prevent any side-effects.

Dr Hanneline Smit, BirdLife South Africa Conservation Manager/Oppenheimer Fellow of Conservation, says: “In this short amount of time since fitting the device to Spyker, our knowledge on juvenile dispersal and behaviour has increased immensely.” She asked farmers and birders to let BirdLife South Arica and the EWT identify breeding sites in the target areas, to enable the conservation teams to fit further tracking devices to fledglings later this year.

The devices are best fitted to 8 – 9 week fledglings and are expected to last for a minimum of two and a half years should the fledglings survive to adulthood. Given the numerous threats faced by this species, we also request the public to report mortalities.

South African schoolboy wows Google with Kruger wildlife-tracking website: here.

Cyprus songbirds, don’t eat them

This video says about itself:

BirdLife Cyprus has created this short film on the trapping situation in Cyprus which was presented at the Bern Convention Conference (6-8 July 2011) that took place in Cyprus. The 4-minute film titled the “The missing visitors of Cyprus” describes the extent of trapping in Cyprus and the key drivers for the trappers, the efforts from competent authorities to tackle this issue but more importantly highlights the lack of political will and the hypocrisy of a group of politicians who have been trying to make less strict the trapping legislation of Cyprus, at times when trapping is on a steep rise.

Visit BirdLife Cyprus website to find our more on www.birdlifecyprus.org.

From BirdLife:

If you visit Cyprus say no to Ambelopoulia

Wed, July 4, 2012

BirdLife Europe encourages those visiting Cyprus during its 6-month EU presidency to enjoy the many traditional culinary delights the Mediterranean island has to offer, but with one important exception: ambelopoulia (trapped birds).

The issue at stake is not gastronomic but ecological, and relates to the source and content of this one dish. Ambelopoulia is the name given to a local “delicacy” consisting of blackcap warblers and other songbirds illegally trapped in their thousands in Cyprus every year. The tiny birds are eaten whole, legs, beak and all. Local demand for these traditional but illegal ‘delicacies’ is the financial driving force behind what has become a mass annual slaughter of migratory birds, most of which come from mainland Europe.

The Cyprus EU Presidency begins on July 1st and runs till the end of 2012. As with any EU Presidency, visitors will flock to the host country to take part in a series of formal and informal meetings and conferences. It is a chance for Cyprus to show off its many delights and attractions.

Cyprus has a plethora of customs due to its long history and tradition and numerous distinctive dishes for visitors to taste. The best place to do this is in one of the many traditional tavernas dotted around the island’s attractive villages, where one could order a selection of Cyprus dishes such as koupepia, souvla, kolokasi, pourgouri, seftalies and makaronia tou fournou to name a few. Or for the ultimate gastronomic experience in Cyprus and the best way to try all of these and more in one sitting, one should order ’mezedes’, a selection of more than 20 vegetable and meat dishes, but make sure you are hungry as food will be plentiful.

Ambelopoulia, however, spell an ecological disaster of considerable proportions, hence the BirdLife Europe warning to steer clear. Non-selective methods such as mist nets and limesticks are used for trapping birds during the migration periods, mainly during the autumn but also in the spring. Trappers mainly target blackcaps but also other birds such as bee-eaters and shrikes. The list of trapped bird species is over 150 species long and includes 78 species listed as threatened by BirdLife International and the EU Birds Directive.

Moreover, the widespread application of these non-selective methods contributes to large-scale killing of birds, with literally hundreds of thousands of birds being killed every year in Cyprus. The illegal trapping – outlawed by both the EU Birds Directive and the Cyprus bird protection law – is highly lucrative, with a plate of a dozen ambelopoulia selling for between €40 and €80 in law-breaking restaurants.

The banned dish is usually served secretly, so it is unlikely that foreign visitors will be presented with the trapped songbirds in a Cyprus tavern. But it is important for visitors to be aware of the darker side of Cypriot cuisine and steer well clear of it.

Cyprus is in the European spotlight and BirdLife Europe will be working hard together with its Cypriot colleagues in BirdLife Cyprus and the Cypriot authorities to consign bird trapping to past history, which is where it belongs.

For more information, please contact Elodie Cantaloube, Media and Communication Assistant at BirdLife Europe.

Movement Ecology of Long Distance Migrant Songbirds: here.