The killing of at least four Honduran civilians, including two pregnant women, in an attack by a US helicopter triggered angry protests in Honduras’s remote northeastern Mosquito Coast area: here.
TEGUCIGALPA, May 16, 2012 (IPS) – A few short hours after Honduran President Porfirio Lobo said he had seen evidence that Alfredo Villatoro, a radio reporter kidnapped May 9, was alive, the journalist’s body was found in a residential neighbourhood on the south side of the capital: here.
EJC president Moshe Kantor said the rise in support for the Greek far-right Golden Dawn party, whose leader is a Holocaust-denier, should send “shock-waves throughout Europe.
“Before calling on European leaders to act against hate on the street, they must clear their own houses and that means banning and ostracising any politicians and political parties that preach hate and violence,” Mr Kantor said in Prague ahead of a meeting with Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas on Wednesday.
“While we highly value freedom of speech, we all recognise that there must be restrictions and the visceral hatred propagated by Golden Dawn is surely outside the boundaries of appropriate political discourse.”
But while Mr Kantor expressed fears over anti-semitic violence, he showed no such concern over the rampant Islamophobia of most of the European far right and even named “radical Muslim communities” as a key threat to Jews on the continent.
Critics also raised fears that restrictions on freedom of expression could be used against the left as well as the right.
Tomorrow’s Sovereign’s Lunch Gets Political as Spanish Queen Cancels, and King of Bahrain is Expected
by Tom Sykes May 17, 2012 5:17 AM EDT
Lunch list causes problems
Tomorrow’s Sovereign’s Lunch, to be hosted by the Queen at Windsor castle is turning out to be a surprisingly controversial affair.
Human rights activists are expected in force to protest the invitation of the King of Bahrain, when the Arab country is in the grip of a popular uprising being suppressed by government forces, and now Spain’s Queen Sofia has snubbed Britain’s royal family by cancelling in protest at an upcoming visit by Prince Edward to the British territory of Gibraltar, which lies just off the coast of Spain.
In a surprisingly forthright statement, the royal palace in Madrid said, “The government has considered that, under the current circumstances, in would be inappropriate for Queen Sofia to attend Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee.”
Spain has long claimed sovereignty over the Rock of Gibraltar, which has been British for the past 300 years, but relations between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar have deteriorated since Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s People’s party took power in December.
The British ambassador was summoned to Spain’s foreign ministry to discuss Prince Edward’s planned June trip to the Rock.
“During the course of the conversation, and amongst other topics, [officials] were able to express the disgust and upset of the government for the visit of the royal highnesses the Count and Countess of Wessex to Gibraltar from June 11 to 13,” a foreign ministry statement said at the time.
The Guardian in the UK says that the cancellation comes as Spain’s royal family is under intense scrutiny at home after King Juan Carlos was forced to apologise for going elephant-hunting in Botswana while ordinary Spaniards suffered austerity, recession and unemployment, and added that Sofia’s trip to join in the celebrations may also have looked awkward alongside the complete absence of public celebration in Spain to mark the golden wedding of Sofia and Juan Carlos last week.
The couple are reported to be effectively separated, with Sofia reportedly spending much of her time abroad with her daughters.
Fears of a military clash between Spain and the UK over Gibraltar grew last night after Spanish police demanded navy protection to defuse a fishing dispute around the Rock: here.
Bahrain Live Coverage: Playing the Iran Card: here.
US Sells More Humanitarian Helicopters, Tanks, Rifles, and Tear Gas to Bahrain to Fend off the Bahrainis: here.
A Bird’s-Eye View of Colombia’s Fragile Beauty (Part 3 of 3)
Last year, CI cameraman John Martin traveled to Colombia to document the threatened páramoecosystems that supply critical fresh water to Bogotá. Back in March, we brought you the first two parts of John’s behind-the-scenes look at filming spectacular aerial footage; here’s the conclusion of his story. Check out his previous posts.
Bogotá’s weather can change from one minute to the next. This high-elevation plateau city of about 8 million inhabitants is often blessed with blue skies and plenty of sun, but can also be veiled in fast-passing clouds loaded with moisture. We are on our second day of filming the páramos surrounding Bogotá from the air. Our target site now is the páramos of Chingaza, but the weather forecast provided by the control tower is not favorable for flying there.
This video is about the threatened páramo ecosystems near Bogotá.
May 2013. A new global standard in assessing environmental risk, the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, has been trialled on 20 ecosystems spanning six continents and three oceans: here.
Eritrea: New Scheme to Be Introduced As Regards Conservation of Trees and Wild Animals – Ministry
16 May 2012
Asmara — The Ministry of Agriculture said that new work scheme would be introduced to back up endeavors as regards conservation of trees and wildlife.
Mr. Arefaine Berhe, the Minister of Agriculture, explained on the occasion of National Afforestation Day that remarkable accomplishments have been made in the conservation of wildlife, and that a new work scheme would be introduced to facilitate the achievement of the set goal.
The meeting took a note of 5.3 million seedlings that were planted in a total of 2,115 hectares, in addition to the significant outcome registered in soil and water conservation through nation-wide popular activities. It further assessed that increased endeavors are essential to ensure sufficient use of the energy-saving wood stove, Adhanet.
The participants on their part put forth views pertaining to promotion of grassland enclosures to the level of complete wood enclosures, execution of corrective mechanisms for misdeeds in tree destruction, examination of designate afforestation sites and community sensitization programs regarding conservation of trees and wild animals.
Reports indicate that the Administration of Central region has won 10 thousand Nakfa and Dima award for impressive accomplishment in soil and water conservation, increased resort to Adhanet stove, and that individuals and different institutions also won such award.
The plantation of tree seedlings in the Expo area also featured in connection with activities undertaken in connection with the day.
Missile strikes by US drones claimed the lives of at least a dozen civilians in Yemen’s southern Abyan province Tuesday, as Washington escalated its military intervention in the impoverished Arab country.
Saleh’s former vice president and successor, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has aligned himself even more closely with Washington, taking his orders from the US embassy and American special operations “advisers” who have been sent back into the country after being withdrawn during the recent popular upheavals.
According to Yemeni officials, Tuesday’s drone strikes followed a familiar pattern used to lethal effect in the CIA campaign in Pakistan. A first missile was fired against alleged insurgents meeting inside a house. The explosion drew a crowd to the scene as people sought to aid victims trapped in the rubble. These civilians then became the target for a second missile, which killed at least 12 people. Another 21 civilians were wounded in the second attack.
These latest casualties are part of a growing death toll as the Yemeni military, backed by US warplanes and directed by American special forces troops, wages a bloody campaign to retake the areas that came under the control of the Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) militia.
The US and Yemeni governments have claimed that the militia is merely another name for Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), while other Yemeni analysts insist that it includes both Al Qaeda elements and local groups and tribal factions. By branding all armed opposition as Al Qaeda, Washington is providing the justification for an open-ended war in Yemen against multiple opponents of the regime, including Shia rebels in the north of the country and those in the south seeking separation or autonomy from the central government.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva issued a statement Wednesday declaring: “Over the past few days, an escalation in fighting has resulted in scores of civilian casualties in Ja’ar.” Eric Marclay, the ICRC representative in Yemen, expressed particular concern about reports of “air strikes in civilian locations” and appealed to all sides to “protect civilians and allow health care workers to do their job safely.” The Red Cross said that it had distributed food and other items to some 100,000 internally displaced persons in Abyan province.
Both the US military’s Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA are waging drone missile campaigns in Yemen, where the number of strikes over the past month has exceeded all previous attacks in the country carried out over the past nine years.
Spy drone could have almost brought down a plane in Colorado: here.
Aid agencies rang the alarm on Wednesday over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where one million children are malnourished: here.
Brunswick Nuclear Plant to blame for deaths of endangered sea turtles
Submitted by Marcy Cuevas on Tue, 05/15/2012 – 6:21pm
SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — Three endangered sea turtles died recently near the Brunswick Nuclear Plant in Southport. The turtles died after getting into the canal that provides cooling water for plant operations.
The Brunswick Nuclear Plant is not far from the Atlantic Ocean. At times, migrating sea turtles make their way onto the property. This time, it had deadly consequences.
“It’s the filtration racks that are designed to block trash from getting into the cooling water, but sometimes they catch turtles, fish or other wildlife, and this is an example of one where an endangered sea turtle was actually killed,” said Tom Clements of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.
The plant found not one, but three green sea turtles dead in the intake canal last week. Clements learned about the first death via an e-mail from the plant on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s website.
“Some of these things don’t reach the public unless you go searching for them,” he said.
Do Nuclear Reactors That Jump $900 Million in Three Months Now Get Taxpayer Guarantees? Here.
First Unplanned Arrests in Chicago NATO Week of Action Have Activists Saying Police Overreacted
Wednesday, 16 May 2012 13:14
In what may be the first unplanned arrests during the NATO week of action, two activists were arrested after protesters from an action at the headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took the streets in downtown Chicago Tuesday. Along with two immigrant rights protesters arrested at a planned civil disobedience action earlier at ICE, it brings the total arrests on Tuesday to four.
Following the immigration protest at ICE headquarters, a group of about 75 marchers marched on the street for two Chicago streets blocks. The arrests took place after most marchers were back on the sidewalk and had made the decision to head back to Occupy Chicago‘s downtown headquarters, though there were still a handful of individuals that were crossing the street.
Natalie Wahlberg, an activist with Occupy Chicago, said that both arrested protesters were peaceful and on the sidewalk when they were arrested by the Chicago Police Department.
“Police grabbed two peaceful protests while they were on the sidewalk,” said Wahlberg, and “started yelling at someone else to get back on the sidewalk as he was standing on the sidewalk.” …
The coming NATO summit is expected to see an escalation of police forces in the city, with the city’s 12,000 strong police force to be deployed in riot gear. In addition, 500 state troopers will be deployed as well, the Chicago City Hall told sources in April.
On Tuesday, Chicago police also purchased two long-range acoustic device sound cannons, which “are equipped with a shrieking alarm able to send pain-inducing sound waves of up to 150 decibels that can be heard as far as 1,600 feet away, according to The Guardian. The use of the sound cannon is controversial since the human threshold for pain lies between 110 and 120 decibels,” NBC Chicago reported.
“This speaks to the nature of police violence in the city,” said Wahlberg. “The peaceful protesters are here to demonstrate against NATO’s war machine and it is currently being enforced by Rahm’s [Mayor Rahm Emanuel] goon squad.”
The US House of Representatives vowed today to continue the war in Afghanistan as deputies reviewed the colossal $642 billion (£405bn) military budget for the year: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 