Russian News Conflicting Before/After Reports Malaysian MH17 [video]

Russian News Channel Airs Conflicting Before and After Reports of Suspected Downing of Malaysian Air MH17 [video]

October 17, 2014July 20, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

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Two reports of the downing of a plane suspected to be Malaysian Air MH17 have been published by Russian news network LifeNews. The two television reports were aired before and after the identity of the Malaysian passenger plane was known, and reported conflicting testimonies by pro-Russian separatists active in Donetsk about responsibility for a plane crash near Torez, Donetsk that took place July 17.

“Insurgents have reported a downed another Ukrainian military cargo aircraft,” the newscaster reported in the earlier broadcast. “The plane was flying over the city of Torez in the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic at approximately 5 pm Moscow time . The AN-26 was flying over the city and was hit by a missile, there was an explosion, and the plane fell, with black smoke visible.”

The reporter added that the location of Torez was near Snezhnoe and Saur-Mogila Hill–territories controlled by the rebels.

This report accompanied social media posts by pro-Russian separatists, such as a post purportedly by militant leader Strelkov stated, “Near Torez we just downed an AN-26 plane. It’s lying near Progress Mine. We warned them–don’t fly in our sky.” The post accompanied the same picture presented in the LifeNews broadcast.

After the identity of the Malaysian passenger plane was reported, the post was removed and claimed to have been a fake.

The rebels later published statements that they did not have the equipment to down the plane, although the rebels have already downed several Ukrainian military planes with surface-to-air missiles, and had made statements that they would protect the sky over Donetsk with highly sophisticated surface-to-air Buk missile systems.

The rebels asserted that the Malaysian jet was downed by the Ukrainian air force. The LifeNews reporter also noted that “according to some data, the plane was followed by a UA air force plane,” and that, according to Russian intelligence, the Ukrainian military had transported Buk systems to the area.

Russian News Channel Airs Conflicting Before and After Reports of Suspected Downing of Malaysian Air MH17

By Day Blakely Donaldson

UN Makes Public China’s Admission of Jailing Tibet Musicians for 6 to 9 Years on Charges of Separatism for Singing Songs

October 17, 2014July 11, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

According to a document made public by the UN recently, China was issued a “joint urgent appeal” earlier this year. China has responded to the appeal, confirming that at least six of the 10 Tibetan musicians were jailed on charges of separatism for singing songs supporting Tibetan culture and about the plight of Tibet under Chinese rule. No information was provided by China on the other four musicians.

The joint appeal was sent to China on behalf of UN offices covering freedom of expression, cultural rights, arbitrary detention, minority rights, and other UN interests.

For several years, Tibetans have been arrested and jailed on various charges, including the charge of separatism, for such offenses as carrying pictures of their chief spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and Tibetan songs on their phones, refusing to fly Chinese flags from their homes, and self immolation or being related a person who had self immolated. Jail terms for these offenses usually range from around six to nine years.

Listed along with many other nations in a UN Human Rights Commission document, the People’s Republic of China was alleged to have arrested and detained ten Tibetan singers and musicians. The charge laid by China in the arrests was alleged to have been that of creating or performing songs supporting Tibetan culture and reflecting the current situation in Chinese-ruled Tibet.

The UN report stated, “Serious concerns are expressed that the alleged arbitrary arrest and detention or enforced disappearance of the aforementioned 10 Tibetan singers and musicians may be linked to their legitimate human rights activities.”

The human rights mentioned here included those related to arbitrary detention, cultural rights, disappearances, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, freedom of religion, and minority issues.

The ten artists were listed as Gongpo Tsezin, Trinley Tsekar, Kelsang Yarphel, Lolo, Pema Trinley, Chakdor, Khenrap, Nyagdompo, Shawo Tashi, and Achok Phulshung.

The musicians were reported to have been detained or of unknown whereabouts.

In the same UN document, China was also alleged to have arrested Liu Xia, the wife of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Mr. Liu Xiaobo, in violation of international human rights law.

The joint appeal seeking an account of the fates of the Tibetan musicians came after the rights group Free Tibet sent a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights.

China responded in late April, stating that, “The Chinese government has carried out careful investigations on the matter as stated in the letter and provides replies…” and confirming the fate of six of the 10 listed musicians.

The musicians were in prison for terms of six to nine years on charges of “seditiously splitting the state” and related crimes, although one had been released for health-related reasons. Regarding two other musicians, the Chinese response read, “On Kelsang Yarphel and Achok (both names are transliterations), there is lack of reliable information on them. We, therefore, cannot verify their authentic identities and personal data.”

The response made no mention of Khenrap and Nyagdompo. Free Tibet also noted that the UN did not make mention of another musician, Choksal, in its request to China.

Free Tibet has set up a petition to demand the release of the jailed Tibetan musicians, addressed to China’s justice minister.

By Day Blakely Donaldson

UN to Legislate Against Transnational Corporations Which Violate Human Rights – US and EU Oppose Resolution

October 17, 2014July 1, 2014 by Cheryl Bretton

The UN will move toward a legal treaty that penalizes transnational corporations which violate human rights, after a vote at the 26th UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session last week.

Key language included in the resolution includes a decision to “establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group on a legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, the mandate of which shall be to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises.”

The vote was split. Twenty states voted in favor, including Ecuador and South Africa, who proposed the resolution. Additionally, more than 80 nations and 600 organizations supported the resolution.

Fourteen states voted against, including the US, who said that “this legally binding instrument will not be binding for those who vote against it,” and EU states. Some nations who voted against did so expressly because of political pressure. “We vote with the EU. If we do not, it can become very unpleasant for us”, one representative was quoted as saying to Friends of the Earth International.

The opposing states also lobbied other countries to side with them, threatening the loss of developmental aid and foreign investment.

Thirteen nations abstained.

There is already a voluntary framework in place at the UNHRC to support human rights. The resolution to move from the voluntary framework to a more strict one was led by Ecuador in 2013, and was supported from the outset by 80 nations.

Cheryl Bretton

42 Percent of Muslims Polled by Pew Research Think Suicide Bombing and Other Violence Against Civilians Are at Least Occasionally Justified

September 1, 2015July 1, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

A Pew Research study has found that 42 percent of Muslims in 15 locations think that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets is at least occasionally justified in order to defend Islam from its enemies. The study was concluded in Spring 2014 and the results were published Tuesday by Pew Research as part of its Global Attitudes Project. In a few of the nations polled, a large majority of Muslims were against suicide bombing.

Pakistan and Tunisia were found to be overwhelmingly against suicide bombing. Indonesia was also found to be significantly against suicide bombing.

On the other hand,a significant percentage of Muslim populations polled supported suicide bombings in some circumstances.

Out of 15 polled locations (counting Gaza and West Bank separately), in eight the majority of respondents said suicide bombings were never justified, while in four the majority believed they were at least occasionally justified. Overall, 42 percent of Muslims polled thought suicide bombing was at least occasionally justified.

However, in all or most of the nations polled, there was at least a significant minority that thought suicide bombings were at least occasionally justified. Only in Tunisia and Pakistan was the minority under 10 percent. Depending upon interpretation, 7 and 8 percent of populations of 180 million and 11 million may be considered significant.

42 Pecrent of Muslims Polled by Pew Research Think Suicide Bombing and Other Violence Against Civilians Are at Least Occasionally Justified (4) — Click to expand

Although Pew tallied their net results to include only “Often” and “Sometimes,” a large percentage of Muslims polled felt that suicide bombings were at least “Rarely” justified. For example, in Israel only 16 percent of Muslims thought that suicide bombings were “Often” or “Sometimes” justified, but an additional 30 percent felt they were justified on some occasions. In Jordan, only 15 percent felt suicide bombings were justified often or sometimes, but an additional 29 percent thought they were occasionally justified. In Egypt, 24 percent said “Often” or “Sometimes;” 35 percent said “Rarely.”

In a few locations, an uncertain response accounted for a significant percentage of responses. To compare the two regions polled within the Palestinian territory, although in Gaza 75 percent of Muslims thought suicide bombing was “Often” or “Sometimes” justified, and on the West Bank only 49 percent did, on the West Bank there was also a significant percentage of respondents who said they “didn’t know”–13 percent–while only 4 percent of Muslims in Gaza “didn’t know.”
Similarly, in Turkey, where the the minority (29 percent) of Muslims felt suicide bombings were never justified, 13 percent responded that they did not know. A similar percentage of uncertainty existed in three other majority-opposed nations: Pakistan, Nigeria and Senegal.

42 Pecrent of Muslims Polled by Pew Research Think Suicide Bombing and Other Violence Against Civilians Are at Least Occasionally Justified (3) — Click to expand

Pew Research also reported that support for suicide bombing has fallen since the September 2001 World Trade Center attack. Pew has recorded a steady decline in support for suicide bombings “against civilian targets in order to defend Islam from its enemies.” In all nations presented by Pew–with the exception of Tanzania–levels of support have declined or remained steady. However, it should be noted that although Pew formulated the results by asking “Do you feel this kind of violence is often justified to defend Islam, sometimes justified, rarely justified, or never justified?” they tabulate their percentages of support based on “often/sometimes” only, and do not show the percentage of Muslims who do support suicide attacks, but only “rarely.”

By Day Blakely Donaldson

Pew Research

South Sudan Crisis Could Not Have Been Predicted, Says UN Envoy, Preparing Step Down From Leadership in South Sudan

October 17, 2014June 30, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

The speed, the scale and the scope of what has unfolded in South Sudan during the last six months could not have been predicted, said Hilde Johnson, the UN head in the world’s youngest nation, who spoke at a press conference in New York Monday about her upcoming withdrawal from the leadership of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

At the press conference, Johnson referred to the situation in South Sudan as “bleak” and stressed the need to put the welfare of South Sudanese above all other concerns, as well as to bring to justice those responsible for crimes committed during the conflict.

“Although I knew it would be rocky and difficult and challenging and we would be under significant pressure,” said Johnson, “I did not expect what happened in the last six months – the speed, the scale and the scope of what has unfolded before our eyes.

“Yet, the events took a life of their own, and the took an ethnic turn, and I think that is one of the reasons why we saw [what] we saw,” said Johnson, referring to the ethnic Nuer-Dinka killings that have been reported to characterize a large part of the fighting.

Hilde Johnson — HIlde Johnson at the New York press conference

Johnson led an UNMISS that was focussed on building the nation. Since the fighting broke out last December, the UN mission has changed. It is now focussed more on peacekeeping and protecting South Sudanese lives. Johnson said this was “a very different from the mandate I took office on.”

The change was “not something we chose to do,” said Johnson. The UN was obliged to do so in order to save lives, which, Johnson said, had been saved.

The 12,000 UN peacekeepers and other workers who would compose the UN force decided on by UNMISS in January has not yet been realized, but Johnson made another statement that the force would now be possible after the May 27 Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting.

The country of South Sudan came into being in 2011 by seceeding from Sudan through a near-unanimous UN-backed referendum.

The conflict that has now lasted six months in South Sudan and caused thousands of deaths and over one million displaced began as a political scuffle between the supporters of South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir and supporters of former Vice President Riek Machar, who was removed by Kiir last summer as part of what Kiir has said was a paring down of government.

Currently, humanitarian action in South Sudan is focussed on assisting people through the rainy season, in which the country’s scant roads are often impassable and human resources are scarce.

Humanitarian agencies face the task of assisting 3.8 million South Sudanese–and another 3 million are at risk–according to UNOCHA estimates.

Johnson served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNMISS since 2011, when UNMISS was first established. Johnson announced that she was stepping down earlier this year.

By Day Blakely Donaldson

Fracking Can Be Banned by Local Communities, Says New York’s Highest Court

October 17, 2014June 30, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

$fracking$

Local communities have the power to use local zoning laws to ban heavy industry, such as oil and gas production and fracking, according to New York’s Court of Appeals Monday. The state’s highest court ruled in a 5-2 decision that the towns of Dryden and Middlefield could ban such industry within municipal borders.

“Today the Court stood with the people of Dryden and the people of New York to protect their right to self determination,” said Dryden Deputy Supervisor Jason Leifer. “It is clear that people, not corporations, have the right to decide how their community develops.”

The ruling effects more than just Dryden and Middlefield. More than 170 New York municipalities and many communities in Colorado, Ohio, Texas, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and California have passed or are attempting to pass measures against fracking, and the ruling is considered to significantly empower those citizens to establish bans or moratoriums on unwanted industry.

“Heavy industry has never been allowed in our small farming town and three years ago, we decided that fracking was no exception,” said Dryden Town Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner. “The oil and gas industry tried to bully us into backing down, but we took our fight all the way to New York’s highest court. And today we won.”

Communities have faced daunting odds in their attempts to assert self determination when industry interests are at stake.

“This decision by the Court of Appeals has settled the matter once and for all across New York State and has sent a firm message to the oil and gas industry,” said Deborah Goldberg, managing attorney at Earthjustice, who worked on the case. “For too long the oil and gas industry has intimidated and abused people, expecting to get away with it. That behavior is finally coming back to haunt them, as communities across the country stand up and say ‘no more.’ Earthjustice is proud to have stood with, and fought on behalf of, one such community.”

“Town by town, New Yorkers have taken a stand against fracking. Today’s victory confirms that each of these towns is on firm legal ground,” said Helen Slottje, an Ithaca-based attorney whose legal research inspired New York’s fracking ban. “The oil and gas industry tried to take away a fundamental right that pre-dates even the Declaration of Independence: the right of municipalities to regulate local land use. But they failed. The anti-fracking measures passed by Dryden, Middlefield and dozens of other New York municipalities are fully enforceable.”

Dryden began its organized opposition to oil and gas projects in 2009 when it began to learn about the technique the companies planned to use to extract oil and gas–fracking. Dryen residents organized under the Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition (DRAC) and convinved the town board to prohibit oil and gas development activities, including fracking.

An interested oil and gas company sued the town weeks later. Dryden argued that they had the right to make local land use decisions under the provisions of the New York State Constitution, including where oil and gas interests were involved. In 2012, a trial court agreed, and a mid-level appeals court also found for the residents in 2013.

“Today’s ruling shows all of America that a committed group of citizens and public officials can stand together against fearful odds and successfully defend their homes, their way of life and the environment against those who would harm them all in the name of profit,” said Leifer.

Dryden – The Small Town that Changed the Fracking Game

By James Haleavy

Albania Granted EU Candidate Status

October 17, 2014June 25, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

The EU General Affairs Council granted the Balkan nation of Albania EU candidate status June 24.

The Council granted Albania candidate status “in light of its… continued progress… subject to endorsement by the European Council,” although the Council also urged Albania to increase its efforts to combat corruption and organized crime, reform its public administration and judiciary, and protect human rights, including with anti-discrimination policies for minorities and property rights. The council also requested the Western Balkan nation do more to relieve pressure on the EU related to immigration.

“The Council… expects Albania to intensify its support for the timely reduction of migratory pressures on the EU including by pursuing its efforts to ensure the fulfilment of all conditions of the visa roadmap and by taking further steps to address the issue of unfounded asylum applications lodged by Albanian nationals,” the EU stated in a press report.

“The Council welcomes Albania’s continued constructive engagement in regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations as well as its alignment with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.”

The decision is now subject to approval by the European Council.

By James Haleavy

Three Corporations Manage All of US’s Illegal Alien Prisoners in 13 Prisons, Net $4bn and Pay Executives Over $19 Million

July 30, 2016June 25, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Between 1998 and 2012, immigration prisoners incarcerated in federal prisons increased 145 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Thirteen US Criminal Alien Requirement (CAR) prisons managed by three private prison corporations house all of America’s 25,000 prisoners convicted of living in the US without proper documentation.

The three corporations, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the GEO Group, and Management and Training Corporation (MTC), are contracted by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), formed in 2003, has over 45,000 agents and receives more money than all other federal agencies combined. The CBP is a department of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is the largest law enforecment agency in the US. The primary task of the CBP is preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the US. The Customs and Border Patrol feeds the CARs.

In 2012, the three corporations took in a total of $4 billion in revenue. GEO and CCA executives made around $19 million that year.

Illegal immigrants are pursued by the DHS. Since 2009, illegal immigrants have been placed in US prisons in numbers greater than convicts for “violent, weapons and property offenses combined,” according to an ACLU report.

The ACLU has blamed a DHS-Department of Justice (DOJ) program, Operation Streamline, for much of what it deems human rights abuse of illegal migrants. Begun in 2005, Operation Streamline mandated that in addition to deporting illegal migrants, the US government would prosecute them.

According to a CCA executive who was quoted by the ACLU, “Let me just make a brief comment on Operation Streamline…. Before this initiative was put in place, only a small percentage of [il]legal persons crossing the U.S.-Mexico border were prosecuted….We are now experiencing significant numbers to further be in place in custody as a result of Operation Streamline…We believe that the Federal Bureau of Prisons…will continue to provide a meaningful opportunity for the industry for the foreseeable future.”

By Day Blakely Donaldson

National Immigration Forum

The Atlantic

Business Managed Democracy

Two Days After News Australia Has Highest Number of Citizens Fighting Jihad with ISIS, Extraordinary, Unseen Months-Old Government Video Emerges Threatening Asylum Seekers

October 17, 2014June 25, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Two days after news headlines told the world that Australia had the highest number per capita of nationals fighting Jihad overseas, a hard-line government statement threatening asylum seekers, recorded months ago but never shown to the public, has found its way to the news.

Last Thursday, it was reported that Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had said that 150 Australians were fighting in Iraq and Syria for the Sunni extremist group ISIS in that group’s attempt to establish a Sunni caliphate across the Middle East.

Additionally, the recent ISIS recruitment video “There Is No Life Without Jihad,” released this month, was reported to feature two Australians.

In addition to those already in the Middle East, Bishop had cancelled the passports of several Australian nationals on advice from intelligence agencies. Bishop also said that Australian citizens were not only participating in the conflict in Syria and Iraq, but were taking “leadership roles in radicalising others in these conflicts.”

“In Syria it seems that over a period of time they have moved from supporting the more moderate opposition groups to the extreme,” Bishop said, “and that includes this brutal extremist group ISIS.”

“We are concerned that Australians are working with them, being radicalised, learning the terrorist trade and if they come back to Australia of course it poses a threat.”

At the time, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison had said that Australia’s Abbott government was trying to find ways to cancel visa and revoke citizenship for dual nationals that have taken part in these conflicts, pointing out, “It is a crime to fight with terrorist organisations and this [ISIS] is a listed terrorist organisation.”

Prime Minister Tony Abbot also publicly spoke on the subject, saying that the government would do what it could to protect Australia from extremists returning to Australia.

“The best thing we can do for Australians at home is to ensure that jihadis do not come back to this country,” said Abbot.

“We will do everything we humanly can to stop jihadist terrorists coming into this country and if they do return to this country, we will do everything we reasonably can to ensure that they are not moving amongst the Australian community.

“We will ensure we stop the jihadists as well because the last thing we want is people who have been radicalised and militarized by experience with these Al Qaeda offshoots in the Middle East returning to create mischief here in Australia.”

In the video released Wednesday by The Guardian, which had been recorded in September but had never been shown to the public, Morrison spoke of detention centers on the Papua New Guinean (PNG) islands of Manus and Nauru, where asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and other nations were being held.

“There are new rules in place under this government so I urge you to think carefully about your next decision and to make a decision to get on with the rest of your life and to not remain here and take the option to go back to the country from which you’ve originally come.”

Australia is a signatory to the Refugee Convention, under which the country cannot legally return asylum seekers to their origins if they are subject to persecution. Australia has been criticized for infringing upon the rights of asylum seekers by Human Rights Watch, who claimed that residents of Manus had been offered repatriation despite their testimony that they feared certain death if returned to their country of origin.

In the video, Morrison tells asylum seekers that certain detainees would never be resettled in Australia under the governments “PNG solution.”

The PNG solution detains all arriving asylum seekers who come by boat to be processed and resettled off of the Australian mainland.

“You will not be getting what you got on that boat for,” said Morrison, “and anyone else who tries to come will not get what they got on that boat for.

“You have been brought to this place here because you have sought to illegally enter Australia by boat. The new Australian government will not be putting up with those sorts of arrivals. ” Morrison spoke of the asylum seekers, saying that if they had valid claims, they would still “never be resettled in Australia,” and if they did not have claims, they would be detained in the camp until they return, and that the government would not change its position.

“If you choose not to go home then you will spend a very, very long time here and so I urge you to think carefully about that decision and make a decision to get on with the rest of your life.

“You have been told a lie by people smugglers. They have taken advantage of you. They have ripped you off. And I understand you will feel very angry about that. But the facts will not change. You are where you are because you have sought to come to Australia illegally by boat. You should tell anyone else you know who seeks to follow you that they should not do it, or they shall find themselves in a similar circumstance or much, much worse. You should tell anyone in Australia who may have supported you… that the new government will be looking for them.”

By Day Blakely Donaldson

Azerbaijan, Leader of Council of Europe, Called on to Address Its Human Rights Abuses

October 17, 2014June 23, 2014 by Sid Douglas

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Human Rights Watch has called on the current leader of Europe’s leading human rights body, Azerbaijan, to end persecution of government critics and independent groups. Azerbaijan took over the leadership of the Council of Europe

in Early May amid much criticism due to the country’s human rights record and ongoing human rights violations, which have been documented by international rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

In particular, Azerbaijan is criticized for its treatment of news media, government critics and independent groups. Abuse of over 40 activists, journalists, bloggers and human rights defenders has been documented by Amnesty and Human Rights Watch. Most of these people are now in prison. Azerbaijan uses charges such as drug and weapons possession, incitement to violence, hooliganism, tax evasion and treason against these citizens, as reported by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and other international rights groups, although Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly denied politically motivated persecutions.

“It’s sheer irony that Azerbaijan presides over a body whose standards it so flagrantly violates. The Council of Europe’s leadership should not miss this opportunity to urge Aliyev to free people who are behind bars for nothing more than speaking their minds and to allow independent groups to operate,” stated Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director.

In January the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution that stated, “The combination of the restrictive implementation of freedoms with unfair trials and the undue influence of the executive results in the systemic detention of people who may be considered prisoners of conscience,” and one month before the election of Azerbaijan to the chair, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks issued a statement that read, “Unjustified and selective criminal prosecution of people expressing dissenting views, including journalists, bloggers and activists, continues unabated. This is unacceptable. All those who are detained because of the views they expressed must be released.”

The chairmanship of the Council of Europe is a six-month rotating position.

By Sid Douglas

Top photo credit: Council of Europe

The Speaker

Human Rights Watch

World’s Most Authoritative Global Weather Forecast Service Becomes More User-Friendly

October 17, 2014June 22, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

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The most authoritative global weather forecasting service, the World Weather Information Service, has been upgraded and revamped to be even more user-friendly. The service, based on the collaboration of 133 international meteorological services, offers forecasts for 1,719 global cities in 10 languages. The new site has a user-customized home page, is integrated with GIS, and is mobile-friendly.

According to WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud, “The World Weather Information Service is the authoritative source of official forecasts from around the globe. It is an excellent example of international collaboration between meteorological services to better serve the public worldwide. National weather services operate standardized weather observing networks and follow the most rigorous forecasting procedures.b design will ensure that the weather information will be available in a more user-friendly manner.

“A five-day forecast today is as accurate as a two-day forecast 25 years ago thanks to cutting-edge science and powerful super computers. Meteorological services are constantly improving the lead-time and reliability of their predictions. The new web design will ensure that the weather information will be available in a more user-friendly manner.”

The updated service has a new interface and is integrated with the latest web technology, such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The site offers a user-customized homepage, a favorites list of cities, a sharing tool and news.

The service receives over 12 million views per month. It was launched in 2002, and has received a total of 1.3 billion user views, including a record high of 173 million last year.

By Day Blakely Donaldson

WMO Service

WMO Press Release

Massive Russian Forces Redeployment Started

October 17, 2014June 22, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

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As pre-announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday, Russian troops have begun relocating to designated areas, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense Sunday. The statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense on the massive redeployment were reported by RIA Novosti.

“In the process of checking the combat readiness of troops… the military units have started large-scale relocation to designated areas,” said the Russian Ministry of Defense.

In particular, tank and anti-aircraft missiles were loaded onto railway platforms, airborne units were moved to airfields, and some military units were moved.

Putin had announced his intentions to redeploy the units Saturday as part of what Putin called a comprehensive review of sudden alertness.

The review is expected to involve approximately 65,000 troops, 180 aircraft, 60 helicopters and over 5,500 units of weaponry and other military equipment.

Additionally, the Russian side of the Gokuvo checkpoint in the Rostov region has been closed due to shooting in Ukraine, the Russian Border Guard told RIA Novosti.

However, two other checkpoints, Kujbyshevo and Novoshahtisnk have been opened. Novoshahtinsk had reportedly been hit by mortar fire from Ukraine Friday, destroying buildings and utilities and injuring one employee of the customs post.

By James Haleavy

RIA Novosti