Hours after hacktivist group Anonymous threatened to release the name of the officer involved in the Ferguson, Missouri police shooting, the group released the St. Louis Police dispatch recordings from the shooting.
The group claimed to have the name of the shooter already, but had not been yet able to verify the identity. Anonymous said that they needed a witness or a second leaked source to confirm before releasing the name.
Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot dead Saturdat by a police officer while Brown was walking from a convenience store with a friend. Brown’s friend reported that the officer ordered the two youths to the sidewalk and threatened Brown before shooting. Police have said that Brown tried to hit the officer and take the officer’s gun.
Although St Louis police initially said they would release the name of the officer involved, they later said that they would not release the name due to online threats made against the officer and the department.
Anonymous posted a demand Sunday on Youtube, calling for legislation to “set strict national standards for police conduct and misbehavior,” otherwise Anonymous would release emails and personal information of the department and “take every web-based asset of your department and government offline.”
Representatives of Anonymous released the home address and telephone information of St Louis Police Chief Jon Belman Tuesday, and a Twitter account linked to Anonymous threatened to release information about the chief’s daughter if the chief did not release the officer’s name.
Anonymous: Audio Tapes (St. Louis Dispatch) – talk of the Mike Brown shooting begins at 11:25
Russia has sent a humanitarian convoy toward Ukraine. The convoy was to cross the border Wednesday, but has unexpectedly changed course. Currently, no Russian convoy is at the planned border crossing. The current course of the convoy is unknown. The Red Cross, reported to be acting with Russia on the humanitarian mission, has stated that they are “not in charge of this convoy at the moment,” and Ukrainian forces have been dispatched toward another border crossing near Krasnodon, where, Ukrainian officials have stated, the Russian convoy attempted to cross during the night.
Russia’s convoy was announced to be in participation with the Red Cross, but the Red Cross said that only that they “could be on board” but “needed to have some clarification first regarding modalities, practical steps that have to be implemented prior to a launch of such an operation.
The Red Cross also stated that it would participate only “according to our own principles, according to our own modalities.”
Russia has refused, however, to allow inspection of their large column of almost three hundred freight trucks.
The Red Cross later announced that they no were not in control of Russia’s convoy. “We’ve been told by Russian authorities that an aid convoy is heading to #Ukraine border. We’re not in charge of this convoy at the moment,” tweeted the ICRC.
Nothing has approached the planned border crossing. The convoy has switched direction toward the border near Krasnodon, Luhansk, Ukraine, according to Ukrainian sources.
Ukrinform published a report that the convoy was expected to arrive at a checkpoint in Kharkiv Wednesday but had bypassed the planned route, and that it was not clear what route the convoy would take.
Instead, the Russian convoy attempted to enter Ukraine over night by a different crossing, according to Ukrainian Presidential Administration Deputy Head Valery Chaly.
“Wednesday night… [there] was in fact an attempt to break through the Kharkiv region… It did not involve the Red Cross,” said Chaly.
Several units of the Ukrainian forces have been dispatched from Luhansk Airport to the road leading to Krasnodon, where a fierce battle is currently raging between Ukrainian forces and separatists, reportedly. The fighting involved shelling over Peremozhne village fired by separatists in Krasnodon. Numerous civilians have been reported killed.
Krasnodon and Sukhodilsk have also been used over the past months to transfer armored vehicles, including tanks, to Luhansk and Sverdlovsk. These tanks were not used, but kept hidden in abandoned factories, restorations and forested areas.
If Russia enters Ukraine by a different route, and continues to refuse inspection of its convoys, Russia may be considered to have invaded Ukraine.
Monday, US President Barack Obama held a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Poroshenko, in which the leaders agreed that “any Russian intervention in Ukraine without the formal, express consent and authorization of the Ukraine government would be unacceptable and a violation of international law.”
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also warned Moscow against any unilateral military action in Ukraine, even if it took place in the context of humanitarian circumstances.
A forced eviction is set to take place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in which 20,000 people will be set upon by 10,000 military police if they fail to comply with thousands of leaflets dropped from helicopters over the region, announcing to residents that violence will be their own fault if they fail to evict themselves. The community has stated none will leave their homes.
The military police action was announced despite the absence of a court decision regarding the eviction. The action was announced by means of leaflets dropped from helicopters, warning that failure to comply with the eviction will result in possible violence.
The leaflets stated that the Military Police of Minas Gerais (PMMG) would follow their orders for the repossession of the occupied lands, in accordance with the constitution and the fundamental principles of human rights, and suggested that pregnant women, seniors, children and people with special leave the location for their wellbeing.
“The responsibility for these people’s health lies with the (resistance) movement,” the leaflet stated.
The houses of the 8,000 families will be demolished. No relocation scheme has been set in place, so the evicted will be rendered homeless.
According to the commander of the PMMG, Colonel Machado, “The eviction will take place in the next 15 days, but I will not say the specific day. We will use full force. Leave the area.”
Human rights lawyers are contesting the eviction.
In the absence of legal defense, residents met and decided unanimously to attempt to remain in their homes.
“We will not leave this ground,” said one member of the community, Carvalho Elielma, “It was empty before and now it’s being used for housing. The three communities are united behind this idea,” Elielma said, referring to the affected Rosa Leon, Hope and Victory communities.
Brazilian news organization Averdade predicted that the police eviction may result in a “massacre.”
Belo Horizonte is the sixth largest city in Brazil and has 2.5 million municipal citizens and 5.2 metropolitian residents.
The land is wanted for development. The development is projected to be worth $6.5 billion.
Six Tibetans have been located after being detained by Chinese police three years ago. The six were arrested during a protest against forced relocation and construction of a mining project in Lhundrub County, Tibet. The location of the six was confirmed to be Drapchi Prison, Lhasa. The six had received prison sentences ranging from eight to 12 years for their participation in the protest, according to Tibetan rights watch group, Free Tibet.
Two Tibetans received 12 years, three others received 11 years, and one person received 8 years.
Yarlung Tsangpo River
The protest took place in April 2011 in Lhundrub County and was staged against a mining project in the area.
In 2009, the Chinese government began damming the Yarlung Tsangpo river, a river that stretches from western to south-central Tibet and is the source of India’s and Bangladesh’s Brahmaputra River.
Tibetans had been forced to relocate in preparation of the mining project, and were promised support. The support did not materialize, however.
When Tibetans requested that the project be discontinued, they were told that anyone who opposed the project would be arrested and charged with political crimes.
Frequently, when Tibetans are arrested by Chinese authorities, their families are not able to find information about their whereabouts.
China currently has plans to build up to 60 dams on the Tibetan Plateau. Twenty so far have been constructed. The dams have affected major riverways in Southeastern Asia, such as the Mekong River.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has agreed to an international humanitarian mission to be participated in by Russia, the US and the EU. The mission is to be led by the Red Cross, which stated that the ICRC would be involved in the operation so long as it was “according to our own principles, according to our own modalities.”
US President Barack Obama held a telephone conversation with Poroshenko Monday, in which the leaders agreed that “any Russian intervention in Ukraine without the formal, express consent and authorization of the Ukraine government would be unacceptable and a violation of international law.”
The Russian government also announced its intention to send a humanitarian convoy into Ukraine with Red Cross support. Moscow said that there would not be a Russian military escort for the convoy.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned Putin against any unilateral military action in Ukraine, even if it took place in the context of humanitarian circumstances.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that he thought there was a “high probability” of Russian military intervention in Ukraine, however. Rasmussen said that Moscow was “developing the narrative and the pretext” for military action in Ukraine, noting that Russia had re-amassed 20,000 troops and other military equipment along the Ukraine border.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Monday, however, that Russia has currently amassed 45,000 troops at the border, along with thousands of pieces of military equipment, including tanks, missile systems, warplanes and attack helicopters.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a late night statement Saturday, calling on all Iraqi politicians to constitutionally nominate a new leader that will be acceptable to all of Iraq in order to mobilize the war-torn nation to confront the Islamic State (IS).
The statement read that the Secretary General was “deeply concerned about the evolving humanitarian and security situation” in Iraq, and that the UN and the international community were watching political developments in the country.
“The Secretary-General calls upon all Iraqi political parties to abide by the constitutional timeline that governs the nomination of the Prime Minister,” the statement read. “He also calls for reason and wisdom to prevail and urges all leaders in Iraq to form a broad-based government that is acceptable to all components of Iraqi society. Such a government should be able to mobilize the nation to confront the threat from the Islamic State (IS) in a way that will bring security and stability to the whole country.”
According to the Iraqi Constitution, the Prime Minister forms the government.
On July 15, a new Speaker of the Council of Representatives was chosen in Iraq, and on July 24, a new President was chosen by Iraqi politicians. A Prime Minister, however, has not yet been agreed upon.
Sunday is the final day provided by the Iraqi constitution to nominate a Prime Minister.
In Xinjiang a recent protest turned riot ended in approximately 2,000 dead, according to Uyghur leaders. Local sources have put the number in the thousands as well. Recent official Chinese sources, however, have provided a number of 96 killed.
The incident took place July 28, on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, one of the largest Islamic holidays celebrated at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Chinese authorities had imposed heavy religious restrictions in Xinjiang, which provoked an Uyghur uprising, reportedly.
Official Chinese and Uyghur account of the incident differ.
According to some Uyghur sources, the events leading to the riot began when around 40 women were detained by authorities for wearing excessively Islamic clothing–a crime in Xinjiang. When the family members of these women went to request the women return home to prepare for the celebration, their requests were denied.
Later, a religious gathering took place. A large security force attended the gathering, which they considered illegal, and the confrontation escalated. Fifteen to 20 people were shot initially. Riots spread to nearby villages.
According to Chinese authorities, there had been an “organized and premeditated” attack, in which Uighurs used knives and axes to ambush cars and trucks. Former imam Nuramat Sawut was identified by authorities as the mastermind behind the attack. Sawut had been fired from his office at a village mosque recently for disrespect of the elderly and poor knowledge of Islam, state news Xinjiang Daily reported.
Xinjiang daily quoted Sawut’s cousin, “He is the shame of our village. After the terrorist attack, everybody has drawn a clear line. We all support the Communist Party and the government in their efforts to strike a hard-line against terrorism and return a peaceful life to us.”
Chinese accounts of the event also included a narrative in which a “gang” of Uighurs, connected to the terrorist group East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), attacked police and government buildings in Elishku township, to which the authorities reacted with “a resolute crackdown to eradicate terrorists.”
Official reports initially reported that “dozens” of people had been killed, but later provided a figure of 96 deaths. Of the 96 deaths, officials reported that 37 were civilians killed in the incident and 59 were assailants shot dead by police. Thirty-five of the deaths were reported to be Han Chinese, two were Uyghurs, and the others were reported as “terrorists.”
Ninety-six deaths make the incident the deadliest example of ethnic violence in five years for China. In 2009, 200 people were killed in Xinjiang riots.
Additionally, 215 people were arrested.
Nury Turkel, Washington-based attorney active in the World Uighur Conference–a Germany-based group–made statements about a government action that was hidden. “Something terrible has happened that they are trying to sweep under the rug,” said Turkel.
Overseas Uighurs have also made statements that the official account is false, and that authorities had put the town on lock down, blocking telephone and internet communications, for days.
Kadeer pictured with exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama
Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, citing local sources, stated that at least 2,000 Uighurs may have been killed during the riots. Kadeer accused the Chinese authorities of covering up a “massacre” of Uighurs.
According to Kadeer, the riots began after a Uighur march to the police and government buildings protesting for justice “for the killing of innocent villagers,” including a police shooting death of a family of five during a dispute over traditional headscarves. Some protesters attacked government buildings and employees with sticks. Police shot down nearly all the protesters and went on a house-to-house search, killing other people, Kadeer reported.
“We have evidence in hand that at least 2,000 Uyghurs in the neighborhood of Elishku township have been killed by Chinese security forces on the first day and they ‘cleaned up’ the dead bodies on the second and third day during a curfew that was imposed,” stated Kadeer, “without even condemnation from the outside world.”
“It is clearly state terrorism and a crime against humanity by any standard committed by Chinese security forces against the unarmed Uyghur population,” said Kadeer.
Kadeer has lived as an exile in Washington, DC since her release from prison in China in 2005.
Han Chinese Source within Yarkand have put the number at “possibly more than 1,000,” and attributing the violence to “East Turkestanis” attacking people “with great, big chopping knives,” and comparing the region to Iraq, adding that some involved Uyghurs were foreign nationals from overseas and from Pakistan.
So far, no independent reporting has come out of the area. Local doctors have said that they are not able to answer questions about the injuries treated after the incident.
[This report will be updated within the next hour]
Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the so-called prime minister of the pro-Russian separatists active in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, has stated that the separatists are ready for a cease-fire.
Zakharchenko issued a statement Saturday, in which the leader said, “We are ready for a ceasefire in order to prevent the expansion of a humanitarian disaster in Donbass.”
Zakharchenko made the statement as the region was surrounded by Ukrainian forces.
“In the event of a storm on the city the number of victims will increase greatly. We have no humanitarian corridors. There are no medical supplies… food supplies are nearing their end,” Zakharchenko said of the city of around 1 million population.
Ukrainian forces have stated that they are willing to accept a ceasefire if pro-Russian separatists surrender their arms.
This news comes amid other news that large Russian force had been approaching the Ukraine border, reportedly in association with the Red Cross and with the purpose of entering Ukraine on a peace-keeping mission. The force did not enter Ukraine after Kiev appealed to Moscow, reportedly.
NATO warned Moscow to pull back its forces, and the US made statements warning that if Russia moved into Ukraine, the US would consider it an invasion.
Zakharchenko became prime minister of the separatist forces in Donetsk August 7, when former separatist leader Alexander Borodai announced he was resigning and would henceforward act as an adviser to Zakharchenko.
Recent CNA Corporation research has brought to light new revelations about water consumption and the electricity sector–including that electricity generation could become difficult in areas of the world prone to water scarcity or water stress.
“Given pending constraints in water availability, business as usual will be completely nonviable for the electric power industry,” Benjamin Sovacool, Professor of Business and Social Sciences at Aarhous University and Director of the Danish Center for Energy Technology at AU Herning, told The Speaker.
CNA Corporation is a federally funded research and development center for the US Navy and Marine Corps. CNA Corporation also provides research and analysis for US national defense.
“The electricity-water nexus makes ‘business as usual’ completely nonviable,” Sovacool told us, referring to the relationship between the amount of water used in energy generation and the among of energy used to distribute and treat the water. “Combined trends in population growth, increasing electricity consumption, and increasing water usage indicate that we cannot, and should not, continue to generate electricity the way we do today. Because water is an essential part of the cooling process for thermoelectric power plants, they may become wholly unsuitable as the globe enters a new era of accelerated water stress and water scarcity.”
According to CNA Corporation’s research, increasing water use will create water scarcity in 30-40 percent of the world by 2020, and will create a global water shortage by 2040. The resulting situation will be one in which decisions will have to be made whether to use water for energy generation plants–by far the largest consumers of water–or for human consumption.
Currently, power production operates with an assumption that there is no limit to water use. This “blind spot,” as CNA Corporation calls it, extends to policy and technology analysis–decisions about industry that involve water use by-and-large do not factor in water use.
Using a model with no water limits, power generation companies formulate graphs in which energy production is increased alongside an increased use of water–a less-than-realistic scenario, according to CNA Corporation’s research.
When actual water resources are accounted for, as well as more complex representations of water cooling, such as including carbon capture and storage/sequestration (CCS), graphs for future power production look very different.
CNA Corporation found that water consumption could be hundreds of percent larger than water limits.
“Including consideration of water availability in electricity planning fundamentally ‘changes the game’ of how we make future projections about power plants and capacity additions,” explained Sovacool.
This problem was found to exist globally. Although in the US the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which regulates the power sector, has recently been doing a better job of ensuring information recorded by power companies is correct, according to CNA Corporation, neither the EPA nor the Department of Energy (DOE) even have the authority to regulate water quantity–only quality.
According to the study’s principal author, Director of Energy, Water and Climate at the Institute for Public Research at CNA Corporation, Paul Faeth, “[T]he governing responsibility for energy and water are separated and fall into different ministries or departments which don’t communicate with one another.”
“In the US, for example, the regulation of the power sector, which is the biggest source of water withdrawals in the US, falls to the US EPA but they do not have the authority to even consider the impact of their rules on water use,” Faeth told The Speaker. “Nor do they EPA or EIA have any models that account for water use.”
However, the situation was even more bleak in the other countries CNA Corporation examined in their study. In France, India and China, the CNA Corporation team was unable to find any sources of water use data.
The revelations brought forth by the study have demonstrated the current global situation with regard to the changing nature of water resources.
“I suppose we weren’t really that surprised that most power plants do not report their water consumption, since this is not mandatory and most of the time water is free,” Sovacool told us. The research team recommended investment in wind and solar energy production.
“As we have shown, the electricity generation technologies that are beneficial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions correspond with those that require less water to operate, providing crucial benefits on both ends of the scale: reducing the inputs that contribute to the severity of climate change, avoiding additional stresses on water resources, and minimizing water use as climate change inevitably stresses water resources. Policies that promote renewables and efficiency thus provide multiple benefits beyond technical reliability and economic cost.”
A Chinese Aerospace rocket crashed in Bulong Gachaa, in Arbas subdivision of Otog County, Ordos Administrative Region–a remote region in inner Mongolia, Thursday. The rocket caused a large explosion and impact crater, and was witnessed by many local residents.
Mongolians in the area have been evacuated from their homes, according to Chinese news agency Epoch Times.
After the crash, photos were posted on Chinese Sina Weibo social media platform, showing clouds of orange smoke and wreckage bearing China Aerospace logos, but the photos have since been deleted.
The rocket had originally been reported as a missile on social media, but this description was retracted.
China had announced missile launches in Inner Mongolia–one from Northwest Lop Nur region and another from a region to the west of the Alxa League.
China has not offered any explanation about the crash, and authorities quickly cleaned up the wreckage, according to eyewitnesses.
Chinese officials contacted by other news agencies have reportedly said that there was an incident, but the matter was secret,that there was nothing remaining at the scene, and that authorities were currently looking for the source of the photos posted online.
Recently, in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, Mongolian herders staged a protest against forced displacement from their land due to Chinese appropriation for mining and tourism purposes, and were broken up by police. Ten protesters were arrested.
“Return our green land”, “Return our hot spring”, “Return our livelihood”, “Who is accountable for the destruction of our natural environment?” read the banners displayed by the Mongolians who protested in the capital. Another banner read, “Let our natural environment remain in pristine condition, let our water and rivers be unpolluted, let our sky be blue forever, and let our people live without any suffering!”
Photo courtesy SMHRIC
The herders were from Hejing County, Bayangol Prefecture, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China. They were protesting the appropriation of their grazing lands by the Chinese government for the purposes of tourism and mining. The protesters also complained of destruction and pollution of the Mongolian lands by state-run and private industries.
“Compared to the tourism industries, mining is even more destructive to our land,” stated a communique from the region, “our land is opened up and water resources depleted.” Hejing is rich in iron, magnesium and copper. As of 2010, 28 mining licences had been issued. Another 400 target zones have been defined for prospective mineral extraction.
The displaced Mongolians were forced to give up their grazing land for such projects. According to Chinese sources, 80 percent of the houses of the herders were demolished by 2011 and road paving and other construction projects were carried out in the region. Last year, Chinese state media agency Xinjiang Daily reported that the herders had almost completed the “transition from herders to peasants” and were “living a happy life.”
According to Chinese news, the herders had been moved “in order to protect grassland”–they were moved because of the government’s development and nature conservation projects.
The herders have been protesting the appropriation of their grazing land and forced displacement for decades.
Local government authorities dispatched police to disperse the protest. Ten protesters were arrested.
“The Chinese have no idea how sacred and how valuable water is to the Mongolians,” one involved Mongolian told the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC), explaining one of the concerns the Mongolians had about Chinese use of their land–water.
“Polluting water source is absolutely not permitted by the Mongolians. However, recently some Chinese tourist companies came to destroy our grazing lands and even built toilets by the upper bank of the Arshaan River to dump their filth directly into our most sacred water source.”
Sixty-four-year-old drilling company owner Benedict Lupo has been sentenced to jail for dumping fracking waste into a river tributary in Cleveland, Ohio. For the frail Lupo, jail will be a death sentence, according to his lawyer, but the judge rejected a request for home detention, according to a Cleveland Plain Dealer report.
In his decision, US District Judge Donald Nugent cited Lupo’s ordering of two employees to dump the waste and then to lie about it. When the employees tried to talk Lupo out of dumping the waste in the tributary, Lupo refused. Nugent also cited the damage that had been done to the creek, which had been rendered, according to the prosecution, “void of life.”
“Even the most pollution-tolerant organisms, such as nymphs and cadis flies, were not present,” wrote assistant US attorney Brad Beeso. “The creek was essentially dead.”
In addition to 28 months of jail, Nugent fined Lupo $25,000.
Lupo was charged under the US Clean Water Act, and had pled guilty to unpermitted discharge of pollutants after state authorities had investigated his plant on a tip and caught an employee dumping the waste.
Lupo’s employees had purged the waste from oil and gas treatment into a storm-drain that fled into the river tributary 33 times between 2012 and 2013. The waste was a byproduct of fracking, a process involving saltwater brine, oil-based mud, benzene, toluene and other pollutants.
Lupo’s defense had asked for leniency in the sentence, requesting that the time be served at home, due to Lupo’s health. Lupo suffers from diabetes and chronic pain, according to defense attorney Roger Synenberg, and requires daily dialysis treatments.
“If he goes to jail, it’s the death penalty for him,” said Synenberg.
The two employees were sentenced earlier this year. Michale Guesman received three years probation and Mark Goff received a similar sentence. The two pled guilty under the same Clean Water Act charges as Lupo. The two men had explained that they dumped the waste after everyone else left the plant after dark, and were ordered by Lupo to lie if questioned. The two stated that they feared losing their jobs if they did not comply.
“Clean air and fresh water is the birthright of every man, woman and child in this state,” said US Attorney Steven Dettelbach. “Intentionally breaking environmental laws is not the cost of doing business, it’s going to cost business owners their freedom.”
