polymorpheous
EU Court Attacks GM Crop Secrecy
Europe’s top court has ruled that EU governments have no right to conceal the location of field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops. The European Court of Justice was responding to a case brought by Pierre Azelvandre in Alsace, eastern France.
He wanted to know where GM field trials had taken place in his local area. The only EU-approved GM crop is a strain of corn developed by the US firm Monsanto. But GM trials for research are legal, under strict controls.
The court in Luxembourg ruled on Tuesday that “information relating to the location of the release can in no case be kept confidential”. It said “considerations relating to the protection of public order and other secrets protected by law… cannot constitute reasons capable of restricting access to the information listed by the [EU] directive, including in particular those relating to the location of release”.
On Monday, the European Commission failed in…
U.S. and UK Anti-Terror Tactics ‘Actively Undermined’ International Law
Anti-terror measures worldwide have seriously undermined international human rights law, a report by legal experts says. After a three-year global study, the International Commission of Jurists said many states used the public’s fear of terrorism to introduce measures.
These included detention without trial, illegal disappearance and torture. It also said that the UK and the US have “actively undermined” international law by their actions.
It concluded that many measures introduced to fight terrorism were illegal and counter-productive. It called for justice systems to be strengthened and warned that temporary measures should not become permanent.
The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is a non-governmental organisation which promotes the observance of the rule of law and the legal protection of human rights. The panel of eminent lawyers and judges concluded that the framework of international law that existed before the 9/11 attacks on the US was robust and effective.
…
IMF Says Advanced Economies Already in Depression
Bloomberg: Advanced economies are already in a “depression” and the financial crisis may deepen unless the banking system is fixed, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.
“The worst cannot be ruled out,” Strauss-Kahn said in Kuala Lumpur, where he was attending a gathering of central bankers from Southeast Asia. “There’s a lot of downside risk.”
Ten days ago, the IMF cut its world-growth estimate for this year to 0.5 percent, the weakest pace since World War II. Stimulus packages alone won’t succeed in dragging the global economy out of recession unless confidence is restored in the banking system, Strauss-Kahn said today.
“All this will work if, and only if, the different countries are likely to do what they have to do in terms of restructuring the banking sector,” he said. “And today it’s not done.”
The U.S. economy has lost 3.57 million jobs since a recession started in December 2007, its biggest…
The ACLU’s Letter to Secretary of State Clinton
‘Hope is flickering,’ ACLU declares.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has generally been harshly critical of President George W. Bush and praiseworthy of President Barack Obama, has fired a torpedo across the Obama bow.
After the British High Court ruled that evidence of a British resident’s rendition and harsh interrogation at the Pentagon’s Guantanamo Bay prison must remain secret because of threats made by the Bush administration to halt intelligence sharing, the Obama Administration offered a terse statement seemingly expressing support to the BBC.
“The United States thanks the UK government for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information and preserve the long-standing intelligence sharing relationship that enables both countries to protect their citizens,” a spokesman said.
In response, the ACLU’s executive director, Anthony Romero, shot off a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking the Obama Administration to clarify their position. Romero also issued a sharply-worded three sentence statement…
UK Judges Accuse Obama Administration of Suppressing Torture Claim
The US has threatened to withhold intelligence from the UK if evidence of the alleged torture of a British resident held at Guantánamo Bay is made public. Details of how the “terrorist” detainee was allegedly tortured — and what UK intelligence services knew about it — must remain secret because of the American threats, the High Court ruled yesterday.
Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said lawyers for the Foreign Secretary had told them that the threat by the US still applied under President Obama. Oppostion MPs accused the Government of giving in to blackmail. The disclosure that the US has threatened to re-evaluate sharing intelligence with Britain came only 24 hours after Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, lavished praise on the special relationship between the two countries.
Noting that it is contrary to the rule of law not to release the evidence, the judges said that it…
Obama Predicts More Bank Failures
US President Barack Obama has warned that more US banks are likely to fail, as the full extent of their losses in the economic crisis becomes clear.
Speaking to NBC News, Mr Obama said “some banks won’t make it” but stressed that people’s deposits would be safe. He has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to draw up guidelines for banks receiving taxpayers’ money.
Meanwhile, he warned of a “difficult next few days” as the Senate begins to debate his $800bn (£567bn) rescue plan.
China Birth Defects ‘Up Sharply’
A senior family planning official in China has noted an alarming rise in the number of babies with birth defects, a Chinese media report says. Jiang Fan, from China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, said environmental pollution was a cause of the increase.
The coal-mining heartland of Shanxi province had the biggest problem. China has reported the trend before, and it was not clear if Mr Jiang was commenting on new or old statistics. A 2007 commission report said the rate of defects had risen 40% since 2001, from 104.9 per 10,000 births to 145.5 in 2006.
Officials blame emissions from Shanxi’s large coal and chemical industry for the problems there. “The problem of birth defects is related to environmental pollution, especially in eight main coal zones,” said An Huanxiao, the director of Shanxi provincial family planning agency.
‘Prevention plan’
Mr Jiang said a child was born with physical defects every 30 seconds…
Obama Half-Brother on Drug Charge
The Kenyan half-brother of President Barack Obama has been arrested for alleged marijuana possession. George Obama was arrested in Nairobi with one joint of marijuana, police chief Joshua Omokulongolo said.
“He is not a drug peddler. But it is illegal, it is a banned substance,” he said. Mr Obama has denied the allegations. The US president and George Obama share the same father, but are thought to have only met each other briefly. George Obama, who is in his 20s, is due in court on Monday.
“They took me from my home,” George Obama told reporters in Nairobi from his jail cell. ” I don’t know why they are charging me.”
Kenyan family
Last year, George Obama told Vanity Fair magazine that he had only met his more famous half-brother twice, once when he was five and once when he visited East Africa in 2006. Of their second meeting, George reportedly said:”It was very…
Brown Sees ‘New World Order’ After Crisis
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday the financial crisis must not be an excuse to retreat into protectionism and instead be viewed as the “difficult birth-pangs of a new global order”.
In a speech, he will urge countries to avoid “muddling through as pessimists” and “make the necessary adjustment to a better future and setting the new rules for this new global order”, according to his office.
Official data confirmed Friday that Britain is in recession. Days earlier, the government unveiled a new package of measures to help the flow of credit in the economy, but Brown has argued global action is needed for a quick recovery.
He will warn Monday that the crisis has given the world a choice: “We could allow this crisis to start a retreat from globalisation. “As some want, we could close our markets — for capital, financial services, trade and for labour — and therefore reduce the…
Any Israeli Soldiers Accused of War Crimes in the Gaza Strip Will Be Given State Protection
Ehud Olmert said troops should know Israel would keep them safe after they acted to protect their country. Palestinians say 1,300 people died during the offensive, and UN officials want independent probes into whether war crimes were committed.
Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation is in Egypt for talks on cementing a truce. Israel ended its military operation in Gaza on 18 January, and Hamas declared a ceasefire hours later.
In Brussels, EU foreign ministers meeting to discuss the situation urged Palestinian factions to resolve their differences and speak with one voice. Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said that without a Palestinian consensus government the organisation and delivery of humanitarian aid would be undermined.
No formal framework for a lasting ceasefire over Gaza has yet been agreed. While Israel says it requires Hamas to end weapons smuggling into Gaza and rocket attacks on Israel, Hamas has demanded that Israel lift its economic blockade of the…
Israel Defends Use of Phosphorus
Israel insists its use of white phosphorus shells during its three-week campaign in Gaza was not illegal.
Foreign ministry spokesman Ygal Palmor said an internal investigation so far had found no evidence to support claims it was illegally fired near civilians.
White phosphorus is legal for making smokescreens in open battleground. But rights groups and journalists say it was used in crowded civilian areas. The weapon sticks to human skin and will burn through to the bone.
It can cause death or leave survivors with painful wounds which are slow to heal. Its ingestion or inhalation can also be fatal.
Army investigation
The UN said its headquarters were hit by three white phosphorus shells during the offensive, causing a fire destroying much of its aid supplies.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and foreign journalists who have gone into Gaza since the operation ended say they have found evidence of its use in crowded residential areas.
The Israeli…
Mexico On Path To Becoming Bigger Security Threat Than Iraq
MEXICO CITY — Indiscriminate kidnappings. Nearly daily beheadings. Gangs that mock and kill government agents. This isn’t Iraq or Pakistan. It’s Mexico, which the U.S. government and a growing number of experts say is becoming one of the world’s biggest security risks.
The prospect that America’s southern neighbor could melt into lawlessness provides an unexpected challenge to Barack Obama’s new government. In its latest report anticipating possible global security risks, the U.S. Joint Forces Command lumps Mexico and Pakistan together as being at risk of a “rapid and sudden collapse.”
“The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels,” the command said in the report published Nov. 25.
“How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state.” Retiring CIA…
Israel ‘Admits’ Using White Phosphorus Munitions
The Israeli military came close to acknowledging for the first time yesterday its use of white phosphorus munitions during the war in Gaza, but continued to insist that it did not breach international law.
As fresh evidence emerged of Gazan civilians being burned by phosphorus, Avital Leibovich, the army spokeswoman, said its use was “legal according to international law…All the munitions we were using were legal, like the French, American and British armies. We used munitions according to international law.
“They [Hamas] were committing war crimes by putting the civilians in the front line,” she said. “If Hamas chooses to locate training camps, command centres…in the middle of the [civilian population]…look how populated it is…naturally they are endangering the lives of civilians. Hamas is accountable for the loss of the civilians.”
Major-General Amir Eshel, the army’s head of strategic planning, said that firing shells to provide a smoke screen was legal. “It is…
Israel ‘admits’ using white phosphorus munitions
The Israeli military came close to acknowledging for the first time yesterday its use of white phosphorus munitions during the war in Gaza, but continued to insist that it did not breach international law.
As fresh evidence emerged of Gazan civilians being burned by phosphorus, Avital Leibovich, the army spokeswoman, said its use was “legal according to international law…All the munitions we were using were legal, like the French, American and British armies. We used munitions according to international law.
“They [Hamas] were committing war crimes by putting the civilians in the front line,” she said. “If Hamas chooses to locate training camps, command centres…in the middle of the [civilian population]…look how populated it is…naturally they are endangering the lives of civilians. Hamas is accountable for the loss of the civilians.”
Major-General Amir Eshel, the army’s head of strategic planning, said that firing shells to provide a smoke screen was legal. “It is…
Dick Cheney ‘94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire
In this interview from April 15th, 1994, Dick Cheney reveals the reasons why invading Baghdad and toppling Saddam Hussein wouldn’t be a great idea. He also stipulates that “not very many” American soldiers’ lives were worth losing to take out Saddam during the Gulf War:
Rep. Ron Paul: Strengthening or Weakening the Economy?
The economic situation continues to deteriorate this week as past and future bailouts were discussed on Capitol Hill. The debate was over the accountability of already disbursed TARP money, and on whether or not to release remaining funds. Banks that had already been bailed out before are looking for more money to fill the black holes that are their balance sheets, warning that they are simply too big to fail. However, whatever ‘devastating’ consequences these banks are dreaming up and pushing on Capitol Hill regarding their own collapse will be nothing compared to the collapse of our currency if we keep debasing it through these foolish bailouts. It should be that they are too big to bailout. The world will not come to an end without this or that bank. The most troubling thing to me is this rhetoric that only government can save the economy, and must act. This…
Rahm Emanuel Interview on C-SPAN: Obama’s Plan for The Draft
Obama’s Plan for The Draft — MANDATORY SERVICE Everyone 18–25:
Gaza: Residents Waving White Flags ‘Shot Dead As They Flee Their Homes’
Israeli forces said they had pushed deeper into Gaza City amid heavy fighting, with some units within a mile of the densely populated urban centre. Terrified residents were said to be fleeing from many homes which had been set alight.
At least three Palestinians in Gaza were shot dead yesterday after Israeli soldiers fired on a group of residents leaving their homes on orders from the military and waving white flags, according to testimony taken by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. The testimony was rejected by the military after what it said was a preliminary investigation.
The thrust by Israeli ground forces into Tel Hawwa was the furthest the Israelis had gone into Gaza City since military operations were launched on 27 December. Meanwhile, Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, declared that he would press forward with an “iron fist”. While his government in Jerusalem is claiming that Hamas’s military capabilities have…
War, Crowds Complicate Obama Inaugural Security
Midway through the article you’ll find this:
An estimated 8,000 police officers, about half from outside the Washington area, will be deployed, said Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty. Some 10,000 National Guard reserve troops and 7,500 active-duty soldiers will also take part.
That’s 17,500 soldiers! That’s a whole division!
And here is said article:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Barack Obama’s inauguration as the first U.S. black president will take place on Tuesday amid unprecedented security aimed at protecting him as well as the record crowds expected to attend.
With about 1.5 million people expected to take part in three days of festivities — including the swearing-in, parade and inaugural balls — tens of thousands of police and troops will guard the land, skies and waters around Washington.
The Homeland Security Department and other authorities see no credible or specific threat of an attack. But they say they are prepared for a wide range of potential catastrophes, including a…
Thais ‘Leave Boat People To Die’
Thai soldiers are detaining illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Burma and forcing them back out to sea in boats without engines, survivors say.
Survivors say their hands were tied and they were towed out to sea with little or no food or water. About 500 migrants are now recovering from acute dehydration in India’s Andaman islands and the Indonesian province of Aceh.
Thai officials were not immediately available for comment. But sources in the police and army confirmed to the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok that asylum seekers are being pushed out to sea. They did not provide further details about the practice.
Thousands of poor Burmese and Bangladeshis try to reach south-east Asian nations in search of work.
‘Without food’
Survivors rescued by Indian coast guards say hundreds of other asylum-seekers are still missing after leaving Bangladesh and Burma since the end of November. They told the BBC that they paid agents to take…
