The pilot's body shortly after it was off-loaded from boat (Daily Herald St Maarten photo)
November 2, 2014 - CARIBBEAN SEA -
The pilot and co-pilot of a cargo plane, contracted by Fedex, died when
the aircraft plunged into the Caribbean Sea off Dutch St. Maarten.
Acting
Director of the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard, Wendell Thode told
Caribbean News Desk that the body of the 59-year old German pilot was
recovered Wednesday night about four hours after the twin-engine SH-36
plane went down.
He said that the Search and Rescue teams on
Thursday called off the search because they believed that the American
co-pilot died and his body might still be in the submerged aircraft.
Thode
said that about 6:55 PM Wednesday, the Coast Guard was informed by Air
Traffic Controllers at the Princess Julianna International Airport that
the plane went down one minute after take-off to return to Puerto Rico.
He
said that immediately private boat owners, the Coast Guard, a
cruise-ship and a LIAT plane assisted in providing the coordinates of
the crash-site.
Immediately rescuers rushed to the area, Thode
said, where debris was seen afloat. The pilot’s body was located about
four hours later and taken to a mortuary.
The cause of the crash
was unknown. The government said local aviation authorities would
conduct an investigation with assistance from experts from the U.S.,
where the plane was registered, and Britain, where it was manufactured.
The names of the pilots were withheld until their families could be notified.
St. Maarten is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and shares an island with French St. Martin.
The
Skyway Enterprises twin-engine SH36 aircraft was en route to Puerto
Rico at the time of the crash. Skyway Enterprises, based in Kissimmee,
Florida, was operating under contract with FedEx. - Carib News Desk.
November 2, 2014 - AUSTRALIA -
The fires coincide with storms that have rocked much of Sydney, the
Hunter and Illawarra regions, leaving more than 35,000 homes without
power.
A 14-year-old boy has died after being struck by lightning at One Mile Beach, north of Newcastle.
It is understood he was standing in shallow water when he was struck, suffering a cardiac arrest.
NSW Fire and Rescue's Tom Coopers said rescue crews received a call for
help from a house that was struck by lightning in Lansvale in Sydney's
west.
"The fire has severely damaged the roof but it's also gotten into the walls of the structure," Mr Coopers said.
"We understand that there's a woman there aged around her 40s, we
believe. She's been affected by the lightning strike in someway.
"She's felt tingling sensations in her body and so [the] NSW Ambulance service will take a look at her."
The heavy storm has caused many fallen trees and traffic lights to be blacked out across Sydney.
Dave Bushman from New South Wales SES said Western Sydney had been the worst hit by storm damage.
"Penrith would probably be the hardest hit at this point of time," Mr Bushman said.
"Since 2:00pm we've had 125 jobs come through for the Penrith area but
we've also seen some significant damage around the Sutherland and
southern parts of Sydney area as well - Liverpool, Bankstown,
Campbelltown areas.
November 2, 2014 - INDIA/PAKISTAN - A suicide bombing near the India-Pakistan border has killed at least
45 people, Pakistani police say. Women and children are amongst the dead
following the blast, which took place near the Pakistani city of
Lahore. The injury count is currently around 70. "The death toll increased to 45," the provincial police
chief in Lahore told Reuters.
A senior police official verified the claims that the blast at
the Wagah crossing was a suicide attack.
"According to
initial information it was a suicide attack," Inspector
General of Punjab Police, Mushtaq Sukhera, told local television
channels. "When ...
security was a bit relaxed, the suicide attacker blew himself up
near a restaurant,"he added. Pakistani Taliban has
claimed responsibility for the attack."We claim the Lahore suicide
attack," senior commander Gilamn Mehsud said. "I was sitting in my
office near the border when I heard the blast. I rushed to the
scene and saw scattered bodies, injured men, women and children
and smashed cars," a Pakistani intelligence source told
Reuters.
File photo: Pakistani side of the Wagah border crossing with India (Reuters)
An Indian security
official said that the Indian side of the border was
“safe” after the blast, Reuters reported.
Speaking earlier, the Deputy Medical Superintendent of Ghurki
Hospital, Dr Khurram, said, "We received 35 bodies including
those of women and children and 60 to 70 were wounded,” as
reported by local TV stations.
Local media had earlier reported that a gas cylinder caused the
explosion. The blast took place in the village of Wagah, where
the boundary demarcation line dividing India and Pakistan was
drawn in 1947. It is the only road border crossing between the
two countries.
Large crowds are attracted to the crossing on both sides of the
border at around sunset, as soldiers from Pakistan and India
gather to simultaneously lower the respective flags of their
countries. - RT.
Protesters pose with a police shield outside the parliament in
Ouagadougou on October 30, 2014 as cars and documents burn outside.
(AFP
Photo/Issouf Sango)
November 2, 2014 - EARTH -
Social inequalities and political discontent have spurred peoples across
the globe to gather and protest against their respective governments.
Even places traditionally more muted such as Hong Kong have seen
citizens erupted into wild riots in the streets. Is this more evidence
of societal collapse as civilizations unravel or are we witnessing a
true global awakening?
Widespread demonstrations and riots in Burkina Faso forces out president for 27 years
Burkina
Faso’s president of 27 years, Blaise Compaoré, has resigned after
nearly five days of unrest on the streets of the capital. So what is
going on? Is it the African Spring? RT collects basic facts on the
crisis in the West African country. Burkina Faso is a country in West
Africa of some 17.3 million people that was a French colony from the
1890s until the 1960s. Its name roughly translates as the “land of honest people.” The capital is Ouagadougou.
Blaise
Compaoré ruled the country from the coup of 1987 – when Marxist
revolutionary Thomas Sankara was ousted and killed – until Friday,
October 31. “I declare a vacancy of power with a view to allowing a
transition that should end with free and transparent elections in a
maximum period of 90 days,” he said on Friday.
While some
notable protests against Compaoré took place in 2011, the defining wave
of violence – which was to put an end to his premiership – began on
Monday, prior to a vote to change the constitution.
The intended change of Article 37 would have put an end to term limits, allowing Compaoré to extend his reign beyond 2015.
However,
some regard the amendment as merely a catalyst in a country that has a
generation of youngsters which has never known another ruler.
Protests
reached an unprecedented level of violence, with demonstrators setting
fire to Parliament and other government buildings throughout the day.
The state television channel was also stormed and overrun with
protesters. Reuters reported hundreds of thousands on the streets of
Ouagadougou. At least three people were shot dead and several others
were wounded.
Prostestors enter the parliament in Ouagadougou on October 30, 2014. (AFP Photo/Issouf Sango)
Burkina Faso troops stand on October 30, 2014 as hundreds of angry
demonstrators in Burkina Faso stormed parliament before setting it on
fire in protest
at plans to change the constitution to allow President
Blaise Compaore to extend his 27-year rule. (AFP Photo/Issouf Sango)
France called for a “return to calm” and asked “all parties to show restraint.”
Compaore
attempted to demand an end to the unrest and impose a state of
emergency and a curfew. However, in the evening, the head of Burkina
Faso's armed forces announced the dissolution of the National Assembly. “A
transitional body will be put in place in consultation with all
parties. A return to the constitutional order is expected in no more
than 12 months,” General Honore Traore told a news conference.
Hundreds
marched in the capital. “We don't want him. We want him out of power.
He is not our president,” demonstrator Ouedrago Yakubo told Reuters.
Blaise Compaoré stepped down, making his resignation statement.
Later in the day, an armed convoy was observed traveling towards the Ghanaian border. Compaoré was thought to be inside.
Burkina Faso's armed forces chief, General Honore Traore, announced he had taken charge.
It’s
difficult to say with any certainty what happens next. While the
elections are tentatively scheduled to take place in 90 days, the former
president has headed south and the army is now the head of state. Only
this month, Tunisia managed to hold parliamentary elections after nearly
three years of political upheaval.
Violent clashes in France after protester killed ‘by police grenade’
Protesters stand as flaming objects hit the ground during clashes with
police on November 1, 2014 in Nantes, western France (AFP Photo /
Georges Gobet)
Riot
police have clashed with protesters as crowds rallied against police
brutality in several French cities after the death of an ecology
protester, apparently caused by a police stun grenade.
Following
the death of 21-year-old ecology protester Rémi Fraisse, rallies took
place in Nantes, Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux and Avignon on Saturday.
The
Nantes and Toulouse demos turned violent, with masked and hooded
protesters throwing projectiles and tearing down street signs. Security
forces retaliated by firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowds.
At
least nine people - including four police officers - were injured in
the confrontations, and 34 arrested, according to the interior ministry.
Demonstrators hurled acid-filled bottles and stones at security forces,
wounding an officer, Henri-Michel Comet, the regional governor, told
Reuters. "These are groups who have come in search of violent altercations with the police," Comet said on BFM Television. WATCH: Riots in France after activist killed by police grenade.
Rémi
Fraisse was killed while he was taking part in a protest over a dam
project in the Testet wetlands, near the southwestern town of
Lisle-sur-Tarn on October 26. After a tense standoff between security
forces and protesters, he was discovered dead with a wound in his back.
Fraisse's death was the first during a protest in mainland France since
1986, AFP reported.
French President Francois Hollande has urged
an investigation. The initial results announced on Tuesday by a state
prosecutor showed that Fraisse had been killed by a so-called "stun grenade." This type of device is used by police to crack down on serious riots, and was previously considered non-lethal.
Protesters
across France have demanded the resignation of the country’s interior
minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, but he dismissed the calls.
French Premier Manuel Valls described the latest riots as “an insult to the memory of Remi Fraisse” and condemned any deliberate acts of violence.
‘Water not for sale’: Ireland stands up against water tax, tens of thousands march in protest
Thousands on the streets of Letterkenny, Co Donegal
Ireland
is facing a massive flow of protests against the new water tax, with
tens of thousands of people joining in rallies across the country on
Saturday. Outraged protesters say they’ve had enough of EU austerity
measures since the economic crisis. Dozens of towns participated in the protests, with around 120,000 people coming from all over the country, state broadcaster RTE reported.
In
Dublin, a crowd of 20,000 protesters carried signs as they marched
through the city center, calling for a reversal to water charges. Some
of the signs read: “Our water supply is not for sale” and “Water is a human right and not for profit.” While many people chanted or displayed the common slogan “No Way – We Won’t Pay!,”
some protesters constructed installations to remind the public that the
new measures will hit every household in Ireland. One Kildare man
installed a toilet on a trolley complete with signs reading “Don’t tax the jacks!” while a woman in Dublin dressed herself as a washing machine.
Demonstrators
challenged the policies of Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and lashed out at
Irish Water – the national authority. Some even carried a coffin with a
skeleton and signs reading “Death to Irish Water.”
The
unprecedented hike in charges for the use of water would now cost the
Irish consumer up to 400 euros (US$500) a year. The Irish government
signed onto the water charges under the EU-IMF bailout, and while the
country emerged from the loan and saw its economy grow by about five
percent this year, austerity measures continue to bite the people.
WATCH: Soggy protesters brave the rain to demonstrate.
Until
now, Irish citizens have paid for their water services through general
taxation. However, starting in 2015, households will be charged the new
water tax.
The debate over the charges has been dominating public discussion.
The
demonstrators stressed that their discontent is not just about the
water tax, but has to do with the EU’s austerity measures in general,
which are criticized for hitting the lower class the most. “This isn’t just about the water, it’s about the last five years,” Reuters quoted a protester named Paul as saying.
Paul had to cancel his health insurance, along with his car- and life insurance, in order to make ends meet. “I was thinking about buying a new pair of shoes this year. It’s come to that. Enough is enough,” he said.
Thousands protest against austerity in Athens
Thousands
of people demonstrated against the Greek government’s austerity
policies in the center of Athens on Saturday. They also called for
political and economic reforms, pay rises, and other social benefits.
The
protesters gathered at the landmark Syntagma Square, located just
outside Greek parliament, and marched through the center of the city
carrying anti-EU and anti-austerity banners.
The march was
organized by the All Workers Militant Front (PAME), a coordination
center for the Greek trade union movement, which is closely connected to
the Communist party. Aside from rejecting austerity measures, the group
calls for a 751 euro (US$940) minimum monthly salary, 600 euro ($751)
unemployment benefit, free healthcare, the return of Christmas, Easter
and summer bonuses, and the abolition of the single property tax
(ENFIA), as well as other extra taxes that eat up family income.
One
group of protesters commented on the ‘sickness’ of the Greek economy by
dressing as doctors and attaching a makeshift ‘euro’ intravenous drip
to a mannequin covered in a white sheet.
WATCH: Thousands swarm Athens in anti-EU protests.
“Resistance,
struggle and popular alliance is the solution for stable and permanent
jobs for all, as well as the elimination of tax-robbery and recovery of
the recent years’ losses,” Greek Communist Party (KKE) leader
Dimitris Koutsoumbas told Greek Reporter news portal. He also said they
will meet again on November 27 at the nationwide strike and called for “struggle in order to open the way for the people’s interest and the country’s future.”
There
have already been several rallies in Athens against austerity and
welfare policies imposed by the Greek government, the European Union
(EU), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in previous months.
Greece has been at the center of the European debt crisis and has been
forced to implement numerous austerity measures in order to receive
international credits.
Global day for Kobani: Thousands march to support Kurds’ fight against ISIS
Protesters carry pictures of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), during a demonstration in support of
Kurdish fighters and the besieged citizens of the Syrian town of Kobani
and against the Islamic State, in Aleppo's Kurdish neighbourhood of
Sheikh Maksoud November 1, 2014 (Reuters / Hosam Katan)
Thousands
of protesters from across the globe – including Turkey, France, Italy,
Germany, the UK, and Australia – marched to show solidarity with Kurdish
fighters battling ISIS in the strategic city of Kobani, located on
Syria's border with Turkey.
Hundreds gathered in London's
Trafalgar Square on Saturday to support the Kurds, who are fighting
against Islamic State militants in Kobani for the second month.
The protesters chanted “Down with ISIS” and “Hands off Kobani”
while Kurdish flags fluttered in the air. The central London rally was
the largest to take place in the UK. It was organized by the Kurdish
People’s Assembly and Kurdish community organizations throughout the
country. “The purpose of the event in London will be to let the world know, and more importantly let Kobani know, that we are with them!” said a statement from the organizers.
Hundreds gathered in Turin, Italy, holding signs that read “Free Kobani” and “Stop ISIS.”
The
international campaign was joined by Germany’s largest cities, Berlin
and Hamburg. Thousands of Kurds took to the streets waving flags. They
held signs calling to stop the jihadists, as well as photos of iconic
Kurdish fighters such as the woman warrior known as ‘Rehana.'
The streets of Paris were also filled with protesters on Saturday. The demonstrators held signs reading “Support the resistance” and “Save Kobani.”
Australian cities, including Sydney and Melbourne, were also gripped by protests. Demonstrators held banners which read, "ISIS Attacks, Turkey supports, Kobani resists.”
Kurds
demonstrated in central Athens on Saturday as part of the World Day of
Solidarity with Kobani.
Some carried banners reading “IS = Turkey.”
Ankara has been accused of not making enough effort in trying to stop
ISIS and turning a blind eye to foreign radicals passing through the
country en route to Syria to join the extremists.
Nevertheless,
thousands of demonstrators gathered in Istanbul and in Turkey’s
southeastern province of Diyarbakir to support Kurdish fighters. Some
were holding flags supporting imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan,
one of the founding members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The
PKK is banned in Turkey as a terrorist organization for leading a
30-year struggle against Ankara in order to create a Kurdish autonomous
region in the country’s southeast.
More protests expected as Ferguson cop who shot Michael Brown ‘unlikely to face civil rights charges’
The
white police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, is unlikely to face federal civil rights
charges for his role in the incident, according to a Friday report by
the Washington Post.
Officials familiar with the ongoing civil
rights investigation conducted by the Justice Department stated that
detectives feel there is not sufficient evidence to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that Officer Darren Wilson willfully violated Brown’s
rights,the report claimed.
If
true, the news would underscore the difficulty of proving if and when
an officer intends to violate an individual’s civil rights.
Rachel Harmon, a University of Virginia law professor, told the Post that Wilson’s case could be bolstered if he “genuinely believed” that his actions were in self-defense. “There is an extra burden in federal civil rights cases because the statute requires that the defendant acted ‘willfully,'” Harmon added. “It is not enough to prove that he used too much force. You have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did so willfully.” Additionally,
recent leaks from the county’s autopsy report indicate the officer may
have a case when he claims the teenager attempted to go for his gun.
They suggested that Brown’s hand was close to Wilson’s weapon when it was fired.
Protestors at the St. Louis County Justice Center call for the arrest of
Police Officer Darren Wilson in Clayton, Missouri August 20, 2014.
(Reuters/Mark Kauzlarich)
If true, these revelations would contradict witness testimony that depicts Brown surrendering. “The autopsy report is devastating because it raises doubts about him standing still with his hands in the air in surrender,”
said David Klinger, a criminology professor who was also involved in
the shooting death of a suspect as an officer in Los Angeles. “If you have a halfway competent lawyer, the defense could raise reasonable doubt with this.”
The county autopsy also reportedly stated that Brown was shot nine times – three times in his head.
While
unnamed officials have told the Post that the chances of civil rights
charges moving forward appear slim, Justice Department spokesperson
Brian Fallon called the report “irresponsible” and “based on idle speculation.”
Brown’s
death galvanized residents in Ferguson as well as many across the
United States who saw the incident as another example of excessive
police force. Several weeks of protests unfolded following his death,
over the fact that police delayed identifying Brown and declined to
charge him with a crime.
Currently, a grand jury is considering
whether or not to bring criminal charges. It is unclear when the grand
jury will announce its decision, though it is possible one could be
reached before the end of the year.
Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong: But what is democracy for them?
Hong
Kong protesters - mainly students who lack ideology and political
awareness - are playing to the hands of the West, which has lately been
demonizing all governments resisting its quest for global dominance.
At
the North Point in Hong Kong, near Kowloon Ferry, a middle-aged man is
waving a banner that reads “Support Our Police.” On the photo, the tents
and umbrellas of the “pro-democracy” “Occupy Central” protest movement
(also known as the “Umbrella Movement”) are depicted in a depressing
sepia color.
“Are you against the protesters?” I ask the man.
“I am not for or against them,” he replies. “But
it is known that they have some 1 million supporters here. While Hong
Kong has over 7 million inhabitants. We think that it is time to clear
the roads and allow this city to resume its normal life.”
“On the 28 September,” I continue, “police
fired 87 canisters of tear gas at the protest site, and now this fact
is being used in the West and here as some proof of police brutality and
of Beijing’s undemocratic rule. Protesters even commemorated this event
a few days ago, as if that would turn them to martyrs...”
“They are spoiled,” a man smiled. “They
mostly come from very rich families in one of the richest cities on
earth. They don’t know much about the world. I can tell you that the
students in Beijing know actually much more about the world... 87
canisters of tear gas are nothing, compared to what happened in Cairo or
in Bangkok. And in New York, police was dragging and beating
protesters, even female protesters, during the endgame of the Occupy
Wall Street drama.”
Earlier I spoke to my friend, a top
Western academic who is now teaching in Hong Kong. As always, he readily
supplied me with his analyses, but this time, he asked me not to use
his name. Not because of fear of what Beijing could do, but simply
because it could complicate his position in Hong Kong. I asked him
whether the “opposition movement” is actually homegrown, or supported
from abroad, and he replied:
“To answer the question as to
foreign interference in Occupy Central, we would have to answer yes. As a
global city per excellence Hong Kong is more than exposed to
international currents and ideas and, historically, that has also been
the case. Doubtless as well certain of the pan-Democrat camp have shaken
hands with international ‘do-gooders’, a reference to various US or
western-based ‘democracy endowments’ or foundations active across the
globe. Taiwan may have a leg in. The British Parliamentary Foreign
Affairs Committee seeks to wade in. But ‘foreign interference’ is seen
here as Beijing’s call echoed by C.Y. Leung and with the letter holding
back from naming the culprits.”
Protesters may have some
legitimate grievances. They want direct elections for the chief
executive, and there is, in theory, nothing wrong with such a demand.
They want to tackle corruption, and to curb the role of local tycoons.
That is fine, too.
Photo by Andre Vltchek
The problem is, that the movement is
degenerating into a Beijing bashing mission, happily supported by both
Western and local (pro-business and pro-Western) mass media.
Several
students that I spoke to, at the Admiralty and Mong Kok sites, did not
even bother to hide their hatred towards the Communist system, and
towards the government in Beijing. All of them were denying crimes that
are being committed by Western nations, all over the world, or they were
simply not aware of them. “Democracy” to them means clearly one and
only thing – the system or call it regime, that is being defined,
promoted and exported by the West.
“China is surely on the right side of the history,” I tried, at Admiralty, when I met protesters on the 31th October. “Together
with Russia and Latin America it is standing against the brutal Western
interventions worldwide and against the Western propaganda.”
I was given looks of bewilderment, outrage and wrath.
I asked students what they think about Venezuela, Bolivia, or Ecuador.
“Dictatorships,” they replied, readily and with spite.
I asked them about Bangkok and those “pro-democracy movements and demonstrations”
conducted against the democratically elected government; demonstrations
that led to the coup performed by the elites and the army on behalf of
the West.
I asked about “pro-democracy” demonstrations against
democratically elected President Morsi in Egypt, and about yet another
military and pro-Western coup that brought the army back to power. In
Egypt, several thousand people died in the process. The West and Israel
rejoiced, discreetly.
But the Hong Kong students “fighting” for democracy knew absolutely nothing about Thailand or the derailment of the Arab Spring.
They also could not make any coherent statements about Syria or Iraq.
I
asked about Russia and Ukraine. With those topics they were familiar,
perfectly. I immediately received quotes as if they were picked directly
from the Western mass media: “Russia is antagonizing the world...
It occupied Crimea and is sending troops to Ukraine, after shooting down
the Malaysian airliner...”
Back to Hong Kong and China, two girls, protesters, at Admiralty, clarified their point:
“We
want true democracy; we want rights to nominate and to elect our
leaders. The local leader now is a puppet. We hate communism. We don't
want dictatorship like in China.”
I asked what they really want. They kept repeating “democracy.”
“What
about those hundreds of millions that China raised from misery? What
about China’s determined stand against Western imperialism? What about
its anti-corruption drive? What about BRICS? What about its attempt to
rejuvenate socialism through free medical care, education, subsidized
culture, transportation and mixed/planned economy?”
Is there anything good, anything at all that China, the biggest and the most successful socialist country on earth, is doing?
Brian, a student at Mong Kok, explained:
“We
want to express our views and elect our own leader. It is now
dictatorship in China. They chose the committee to elect our leader. We
want to have our own true democracy. Our model is Western democracy.”
I
asked at both protest sites about brutality of British colonialism. I
received no reply. Then I noticed quotes by Winston Churchill,
self-proclaimed racist and a man who never bothered to hide his spite
for non-white, non-Western people. But here, Churchill was considered to
be one of the champions of democracy; his quotes glued to countless
walls.
Then I noticed the John Lennon Wall, with the cliché-quotes like’: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
Exactly
what were they dreaming about? I was not told. All I saw were only
those omnipresent banalities about “democracy” and “freedom.”
There
were Union Jacks all over the place, too, and I even spotted two
English bulldogs; extremely cute creatures, I have to admit, but
explaining nothing about the aspirations of the protesters.
While
hardly anyone speaks English here anymore, all cultural, ideological and
propaganda symbols at the demonstrations and the “occupy” sites, were
somehow related to the West.
And then, on the 29 September, in the
evening, near Admiralty, I spotted a group of Westerners, shouting and
getting ready for “something big.”
I approached one of them; his name was John and he came from Australia:
“I
have lived in Hong Kong for quite some time. Tonight we organized a run
from here to Aberdeen, Pok Fu Lam, and back here, to support the
Umbrella Movement. Several foreigners that are participating in this
have lived in HK for some time, too.”
I wondered whether this could illustrate the lack of freedom and Beijing heavy-handedness.
I
tried to imagine what would happen under the same circumstances, in the
client states of Washington, London and Paris, in the countries that
are promoted by the West as “vibrant democracies.”
What would
happen to me, if I decided to organize or join a marathon in Nairobi,
Kenya, protesting again Kenyan occupation of Somalia or against bullying
of the Swahili/Muslim coast? What would they do to me, if, as a
foreigner, I would trigger a run in the center of Jakarta, demanding
more freedom for Papua!
Thinking that I am losing my marbles and with it, objectivity, I texted a diplomat who is based in Nairobi. “Wouldn’t they deport me?” I was asking. “Wouldn’t they see it as interference in the internal affairs of the country?”
“They would deport you” the answer arrived almost instantly. “But before that, you would rot for quite some time in a very unsavory detention.”
November 2, 2014 - UNITED STATES - The Center for Disease Control (CDC)
is conducting a nationwide search of its cold storage units after
discovering vials of smallpox in a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
cold storage room at the National Institutes of Health facility in
Bethesda, Maryland. Along with the vials of smallpox were 327 other
pathogens including vials labeled for dengue, influenza, and rickettsia.
This news comes as the CDC is under multiple investigations for unsafe
practices. In response to the news Richard H. Ebright, a professor of
chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University remarked “It is
ironic that the institution that sets U.S. standards for safety and
security of work with human pathogens fails to meet its own standards.”
Also this week, the AP reported
what is being described as an ‘accident’ saying “A government scientist
kept silent about a potentially dangerous lab blunder and revealed it
only after workers in another lab noticed something fishy, according to
an internal investigation. The accident happened in January at the
headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
Atlanta. A lab scientist accidentally mixed a deadly strain of bird flu
with a tamer strain, and sent the mix to another CDC lab and to an
outside lab in Athens, Georgia.” This strain of avian flu, known as
H5N1, has killed 60% of the roughly 650 people who have been infected with it since 2003 according the CDC and World Health Organization.
The New York Times reported
that CDC head, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden has closed the CDC’s flu and
bioterror labs, and has banned all shipments from the agency’s
highest-security labs while safety protocols are being reviewed.
While
the Times notes that these lab closures will hamper the work done by
other public health labs one could argue that the shutdown is the lesser
of two evils in light of government documents obtained by USA Today
revealing that more than 1100 similar cases were reported between 2008 – 2012 including a snafu at Fort Detrick
involving over 9,200 unaccounted for vials, some of which contained
Ebola and Anthrax. It’s impossible to know how many cases may have gone
unreported.
In 2011-2012, the world community attempted to prevent a CDC approved and US funded mutation
of H5N1 by Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam.
Previously, H5N1 was not considered a danger because the natural strains
of the virus were specifically adapted to infect birds. However the
mutation that Fouchier later developed, ostensibly to discover ways to
prevent it from threatening humans, is 'highly contagious,'
easily transmissible to mammals, airborne and deadly.
In other words, the CDC
approved the creation of a virus that would pose a grave threat to
humanity under the guise of preventing that same virus from threatening
humanity. Extrapolating from the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic scholars
have estimated that,
should H5N1 become a pandemic, one billion people would become ill and
62 million would die. Despite the Dutch government's attempts at
blocking the publication of Fouchier's processes and findings, the
entire 'manual for creating a global pandemic' was later made public by Science Magazine. Scientific American listed the necessary materials as "Ten ferrets, some bird flu and swabs. That is all."
Earlier this summer, a nearly identical experiment was announced, alarming scientists worldwide. Yoshihiro Kawaoka
and a team of researchers at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison used fragments of naturally occurring bird flu to
reverse engineer the 1918 Spanish Flu which
killed an estimated 50 million people. They then mutated the virus to
make it airborne and to spread more easily from one animal to another.
"The work they are doing is absolutely crazy. The whole thing is exceedingly dangerous," said Lord May,
the former president of the Royal Society and one-time chief science
advisor to the British government. "Yes, there is a danger, but it's not
arising from the viruses out there in the animals, it's arising from
the labs of grossly ambitious people." Marc Lipsitch,
professor of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, "…worried
that this signals a growing trend to make transmissible novel viruses willy-nilly, without strong public health rationale. This is a risky activity,even in the safest labs."
(emphasis mine) "Scientists should not take such risks without strong
evidence that the work could save lives, which (Fouchier's) paper does
not provide." In an article published
in May 2014, Lipsitch argued that experiments like Kawaoka's could
unleash a catastrophic pandemic if the virus escaped or was
intentionally released from a high-security laboratory.
Current investigations into CDC practices mirror
a similar probe that was launched by the Department of Health and Human
Services after it was discovered that United States government labs
were somehow involved in the anthrax bioterror attacks that began eight
days after 9/11.
In 2010, when the Department of Justice and FBI announced a formal conclusion of the Amerithrax case,
they declared that microbiologist Dr. Bruce Ivins was the sole
perpetrator. Dr. Ivins was one of the lead scientists on the
FBI's Amerithrax Task Force. In July of 2008, police were summoned to
Ivins' home only to find him dead, purportedly from suicide, having
never been charged in the bioterror investigation. Many were incredulous
when local police told reporters that the state medical examiner
"determined that an autopsy wouldn't be necessary."
Citing a complete lack of physical evidence, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman (and recipient of one of the anthrax-tainted letters) Patrick Leahy stated that
"…he simply does not believe that Ivins was the prime culprit if he was
a participant at all, and said he is absolutely convinced that there
were others involved…" Francis Boyle, an international law expert and bioweapons advisor to the first Bush administration, also advised the FBI's investigation. Boyle later revealed evidence indicating that the attacks constituted a false flag designed to ensure that the PATRIOT Act would be signed into law.
In
addition to his credentials as a government advisor, Boyle also holds a
Doctorate of Law Magna cum Laude and a Ph.D. in Political Science, both
from Harvard University. He teaches International Law at the University
of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and also served on the Board or
Directors of Amnesty International (1988-92) and represented
Bosnia-Herzegovina at the World Court.
Regardless of what these
new investigations may or may not reveal concerning the CDC's standards
and practices, we know one thing is certain: to rely upon the Federal
Government for one's safety would be a stupid and potentially fatal
mistake, and one that is entirely contrary to the values and principles
upon which our country was founded. - Freedom Outpost.
November 2, 2014 - AUSTRALIA
- A firefighter has been killed and at least two homes have been
destroyed by Australian spring wildfires, officials said Saturday.
The 38-year-old volunteer firefighter was severely burned Friday while
battling a blaze on a farm near the town of Nantawarra in South
Australia state, state Country Fire Service chief officer Greg Nettleton
said. The fire was later contained.
At least two homes were
razed by wildfires Saturday on the outskirts of the town of Katoomba in
the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, in New South Wales state, state Rural
Fire Service Inspector Ben Shepherd said.
The service's deputy
commissioner, Bob Rogers, said firefighters had battled to protect
homes in Katoomba from flames fanned by winds of 80 kilometers (50
miles) per hour.
"There'll be a lot of work to clean up this fire in days to come," Rogers told Nine Network television news.
By late Saturday, the winds had dropped off and the danger posed by the
fire had decreased, although the blaze remained out of control,
Shepherd said, adding that the damage was being assessed.
WATCH: Australia wildfires.
Around 70 wildfires were blazing across New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, on Saturday, Shepherd said.
Destructive wildfires are common in much of Australia during the spring and summer months.
More than 200 homes were destroyed by wildfires in the Blue Mountains
last spring during a particularly devastating start to the wildfire
season. - AP.
November 2, 2014 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES-
Nearly a dozen homes north of Los Angeles were evacuated over mudslide
concerns, a fire captain said early Saturday, after storms that rained
on the San Francisco Giants' World Series championship parade moved
south.
Authorities said 11 residences in Ventura County were
evacuated late Friday and early Saturday after mud and debris from a
hillside struck at least two of them, partially burying one man.
Capt. Mike Lindbery of the Ventura County Fire Department said the
evacuations were going on in a neighborhood in the city of Camarillo.
He said heavy rains Friday night played a role in the mud flow, but he didn't know to what extent.
A fire crew rescued the man uninjured after he became mired waist-deep in mud at his home.
Lindbery said the other homes were evacuated as a precaution because it
was too dark to determine if there was the potential for mudslides from
the hill.
A geologist was assessing the situation but officials are waiting for daylight to make a determination, Lindbery said.
Meanwhile, some of the evacuees took refuge at a nearby Red Cross shelter.
Elsewhere, an evacuation advisory was issued and a shelter opened in
Orange County's Silverado Canyon, where about a half-inch of rain was
expected early Saturday morning, county sheriff's and fire officials
said.
Only residents would be allowed in the area and residents
were told the evacuation advisory could be turned into an order if the
situation grows more serious.
Some 200 homes were evacuated from the wildfire in September.
By late Friday night the storm had reached the Santa Barbara area, where hard rains were falling and filling streets.
In San Francisco a steady drizzle fell on the parade Friday to celebrate the Giants' third World Series win in five years
Matt Parker and Drew Kennett took a ferry from Marin County to San Francisco to attend the parade.
"Rain? What rain?" Parker joked.
"This isn't rain," Kennett said of the drizzly conditions. "This is San Francisco."
Area resident Mike Mezz, in shorts and a Giant's shirt, had his umbrella ready under the gray skies.
"I'm a San Franciscan, that's how we do it," he said. "I don't mind the
rain. If it was snowing I'd still be out here. That's how much I love
the Giants."
National Weather Service forecaster Matt Mehly
said that while the first big storm this fall is welcome and necessary,
it won't be nearly enough to affect statewide water shortages stemming
from years with little rainfall.
"It's going to take several years to put a dent in the drought," he said.
The weather service has issued a winter storm warning for much of the
Sierra Nevada starting at 5 p.m. Friday, with snow expected at higher
elevations overnight, he said.
Ranger Cari Cobb, spokeswoman
for Yosemite National Park, said in an emailed statement that Tioga and
Glacier Point roads would preemptively close at 6:00 p.m. Friday.
She said they are anticipating snow at 6,000 feet, with 6 to 15 inches accumulating above 8,000 feet by late Saturday morning.
Road crews will reassess the roads after the storm to decide if and
when they can reopen. They typically close in November and open in May
or June.
Snows were also expected in Southern California mountains. - AP.
A wave crashes over the pier at Pere Marquette Park in Muskegon Friday, Oct. 31, 2014. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)
November 2, 2014 - CHICAGO, UNITED STATES
- Lake Michigan waves neared record territory Friday as gale-force
winds churned the waters into massive breakers on shorelines across the
state. The southern buoy, located in the middle of the lake due west of Holland, recorded a 21.7-foot wave height earlier this afternoon.
A wave crashes over the north pier head in Muskegon Friday, Oct. 31, 2014. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)
Waves crash over the breakwall at Clinch Park Marina in downtown
Traverse City, Mich. on Friday, Oct. 31. The waves flooded the marina
parking lot,
causing headaches for city and utility workers. (Garrett
Ellison | MLive.com/The Grand Rapids Press)
View of West Grand Traverse Bay on Friday, Oct. 31 from the Great Lakes
Campus at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Mich. High
winds,
30 to 50 mph, kicked up large waves. Picture shows the State of
Michigan training ship at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy.
(Garrett
Ellison | MLive.com/The Grand Rapids Press)
View of West Grand Traverse Bay on Friday, Oct. 31 from the Great Lakes
Campus at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Mich. High
winds,
30 to 50 mph, kicked up large waves. Picture shows the State of
Michigan training ship at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy.
(Garrett
Ellison | MLive.com/The Grand Rapids Press)
Waves batter the pier along Lake Michigan at Holland State Park, Mich., Friday, October 31, 2014. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)
Matt Mcinerney of Holland takes a selfie on the pier as he is hit by a
wave along Lake Michigan at Holland State Park, Mich., Friday, October
31, 2014.
(Joel Bissell | MLive.com)
People view large waves along Lake Michigan at Holland State Park, Mich., Friday, October 31, 2014. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)
A couple walks along the beach as large waves come along Lake Michigan
shoreline at Holland State Park, Mich., Friday, October 31, 2014.
(Joel
Bissell | MLive.com)
Marc Hoeksema prepares to surf in Lake Michigan waves at Pere Marquette
Park in Muskegon, Mich., Friday, Oct. 31, 2014.
(AP Photo/The Muskegon
Chronicle, Cory Morse)
It, too, measured a wind speed of 59 mph, just below its all-time highest speed at 62 mph set on Nov. 10, 1998.
WATCH: Surfers brave large waves and snow in Muskegon.
A wind advisory remains in effect for the southern half of the state through 7 p.m. Friday at the earliest.
Grand
Rapids and Ionia reported a peak wind gust by 4 p.m., with Saginaw just
a tick higher. Gusts are expected to lessen through the prime
trick-or-treating hours.
The highest wave recorded by the south buoy: 23 feet. It came in September 2011.
The buoy has been measuring waves since 1981. - MLIVE.
A general view shows Dhaka during a power blackout on November 1, 2014 (AFP Photo / Munir uz Zaman)
November 2, 2014 - BANGLADESH - Imagine what happens when electricity is cut off nationwide in a
country of 160 million people. In Bangladesh, everyday life was brought
to a standstill on Saturday as factories, hospitals, and homes plunged
into darkness or had to rely on generators.
Even the prime
minister’s official residence was left with no electricity, as the small
but extremely densely populated South Asian country experienced one of
the worst blackouts in world’s recent history.
“The national grid collapsed so the whole country lost power,” Reuters quoted Mohammad Saiful Islam, a director of the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board, as saying. “Our repeated efforts to restore electricity across Bangladesh failed repeatedly.”
Local
media reported that the blackout was caused by the failure of a
transmission line transporting electricity from India. India’s Power
Grid Corp, however, said there were no problems on their side of the
border.
“I can’t run my shop without power and no one seems to care,” Mohammad Ripon, owner of a grocery store in the capital of Dhaka, told the agency. “It has been about eight hours now and still there is no word on when the power will come back.”
The airport and main hospital in Dhaka are running on emergency generators.
A general view shows Dhaka during a power blackout on November 1, 2014 (AFP Photo / Munir uz Zaman)
Bangladesh fishmongers light their fish stalls with candles during a
power blackout in Dhaka on November 1, 2014 (AFP Photo / Munir uz Zaman)
A Bangladesh woman fans a sick child during a power blackout at a hospital in Dhaka on November 1, 2014 (AFP Photo)
A Bangladesh patient lies on her bed during a power blackout at a hospital in Dhaka on November 1, 2014 (AFP Photo)
A Bangladesh fishmonger lights his fish stall with candles during a
power blackout in Dhaka on November 1, 2014 (AFP Photo / Munir uz Zaman)
A general view shows Dhaka during a power blackout on November 1, 2014 (AFP Photo / Munir uz Zaman)
Garment
factory owner Anwarul Alam Chowdhury said he was able to get 2-3 hours’
worth of power out of his generator, but then had to halt the factory’s
output. “This is a big slap for my business,” he said, explaining that many other factories were forced to shut down production as well.
Bangladesh’s
plunge into darkness provides a glimpse into a recently debunked hoax
about NASA confirming six days of ‘total darkness’ in December.
The hoax went viral on Twitter, leaving many people shocked and bewildered as to how the experience would feel. - RT.
November 2, 2014 - UNITED STATES- Top
medical experts studying the spread of Ebola say the public should
expect more cases to emerge in the United States by year's end as
infected people arrive here from West Africa, including American doctors
and nurses returning from the hot zone and people fleeing from the
deadly disease.
But how many cases?
No
one knows for sure how many infections will emerge in the U.S. or
anywhere else, but scientists have made educated guesses based on data
models that weigh hundreds of variables, including daily new infections
in West Africa, airline traffic worldwide and transmission
possibilities.
This week, several top
infectious disease experts ran simulations for The Associated Press that
predicted as few as one or two additional infections by the end of 2014
to a worst-case scenario of 130.
"I don't
think there's going to be a huge outbreak here, no," said Dr. David
Relman, a professor of infectious disease, microbiology and immunology
at Stanford University's medical school. "However, as best we can tell
right now, it is quite possible that every major city will see at least a
handful of cases."
Relman is a founding member
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advisory board for
biosecurity and chairs the National Academy of Sciences forum on
microbial threats.
Until now, projections
published in top medical journals by the World Health Organization and
the Centers for Disease Control have focused on worst-case scenarios for
West Africa, concluding that cases in the U.S. will be episodic, but
minimal. But they have declined to specify actual numbers.
The
projections are complicated, but Ebola has been a fairly predictable
virus - extremely infectious, contagious only through contact with body
fluids, requiring no more than 21 days for symptoms to emerge. Human
behavior is far less predictable - people get on airplanes, shake hands,
misdiagnose, even lie.
Pandemic risk expert
Dominic Smith, a senior manager for life risks at Newark,
California-based RMS, a leading catastrophe-modeling firm, ran a U.S.
simulation this week that projected 15 to 130 cases between now and the
end of December. That's less than one case per 2 million people.
Smith's
method assumes that most cases imported to the U.S. will be American
medical professionals who worked in West Africa and returned home.
Smith
said the high end may be a bit of an overestimate as it does not
include the automatic quarantining measures that some areas in the U.S.
are implementing.
Those quarantines "could both
reduce the number of contacts for imported cases, as well as increase
the travel burden on - and perhaps reduce the number of - U.S.
volunteers planning to support the effort in West Africa," he said.
In
a second simulation, Northeastern University professor Alessandro
Vespignani projected between one case - the most likely scenario - and a
slim chance of as many as eight cases though the end of November.
"I'm
always trying to tell people to keep calm and keep thinking
rationally," said Vespignani, who projects the spread of infectious
diseases at the university's Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological
and Socio-Technical Systems.
In an article in
the journal PLOS ONE, Vespignani and a team of colleagues said the
probability of international spread outside the African region is small,
but not negligible. Longer term, they say international dissemination
will depend on what happens in West Africa in the next few months.
Their
first analysis, published Sept. 2, proved to be accurate when it
included the U.S. among 30 countries likely to see some Ebola cases.
They projected one or two infections in the U.S., but there could be as
many as 10.
So far, nine Ebola patients have
been treated in the U.S., and one has died. Seven became infected in
West Africa, including Thomas Eric Duncan, the first to arrive
undiagnosed and the first to die. He was cared for at a Dallas hospital,
where two of his nurses were also infected.
Duncan, who was initially misdiagnosed and sent home from the emergency room, is Vespignani's worst-case scenario for the U.S.
A similar situation, if left unchecked, could lead to a local cluster that could infect, on the outside, as many as 20, he said.
The
foreseeable future extends only for the next few months. After that,
projections depend entirely on what happens in West Africa. One scenario
is that the surge in assistance to the region brings the epidemic under
control and cases peter out in the U.S. A second scenario involves
Ebola spreading unchecked across international borders.
"My
worry is that the epidemic might spill into other countries in Africa
or the Middle East, and then India or China. That could be a totally
different story for everybody," Vespignani said.
Dr.
Ashish Jha, a Harvard University professor and director of the Harvard
Global Health Institute, said he's not worried about a handful of new
cases in the U.S. His greatest worry is if the disease goes from West
Africa to India.
"If the infection starts spreading in Delhi or Mumbai, what are we going to do?"
Dr.
Peter Hotez, founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine
at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Texas Children's
Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, pegs the range of cases in the
U.S. between five and 100.
The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention prefers not to focus on a particular
number. But spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said Ebola will not be a
widespread threat as some outside the agency have warned.
"We're talking about clusters in some places but not outbreaks," she said.
The
CDC is using modeling tools to work on projections in West Africa, but
"there isn't enough data available in the U.S. to make it worthwhile to
go through the exercise."
University of Texas
integrative biology professor Lauren Ancel Meyers said there are
inherent inconsistencies in forecasting "because the course of action
we're taking today will impact what happens in the future."
Her laboratory is running projections of Ebola's spread in West Africa.
The
U.S. simulations run for the AP had fairly consistent results with each
other, she said. And they are "consistent with what we know about the
disease." - AP.
November 2, 2014 - SOUTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES - The snow that fell in the Midlands on Saturday morning is the earliest in recorded history.
Some areas reported 2-3 inches of the white stuff. The snow stayed mostly to the north and to the west of Columbia.
At this point, most roadways are not cold enough to cause any icing or
accumulations, however, you are urged to be cautious in areas where
frozen precipitation has fallen. Be especially aware when driving over
bridges as those will freeze first.
The snow isn't expected to last very long, though."
A cold upper low continues to pull in cold air and rain/snow/sleet into
the Midlands this morning," Meteorologist Von Gaskin says.
"The air
temperatures are in the 30's at the surface and much colder as you go
higher in the atmosphere. That has allowed for a wintry mix in parts of
the state. There will be some light accumulations on roads and grassy
areas, but all areas will see less than one inch. This system is
expected to pass through by late morning. As temperatures warm
everything will turn to rain, so, look for periods of rain by midday
through afternoon."
The First Alert weather team has the latest on the snow and the forecast for the rest of Saturday on the News at 9am. - WISTV.
Columbia, SC has just experienced their earliest snow in 125 years of weather records, beating the Nov. 9, 1913 earliest snow record by 8 days. Current South Carolina weather shows it’s still snowing in Greenville, SC.
The Christian Science Monitor is reporting
Greenville was especially hard hit with downed trees and power outages.
The Smokey Mtns received up to 16 inches overnight. The current U.S. snow cover map shows 18 states with some amount of snow this morning.
Early
indications are that next Sunday the “polar express” will arrive in the
northern plains and Great Lakes with bitterly cold air currently
sitting over northern Siberia. - Dr. Roy Spencer.
