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.”
US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, spoke Wednesday about the consequences of the prolonged crisis in South Sudan, saying four million South Sudanese were at “grave risk” of malnourishment and starvation in the upcoming year.
“Not only are people dying every day in what has deteriorated into an ethnic conflict, but the country now faces a horrible famine,” stated Power. “Four million people are at grave risk of famine. And that includes 50,000 kids, who, if we can’t get this back on track, if we can’t bring peace to the country, are at risk of dying over the course of the next year because of malnourishment.”
“…In a man-made famine,” Power added.
“The fighting continues to go on. Notwithstanding the rebel leader and the president sign the pieces of paper that are put in front of them. Because the fighting continues, it makes it impossible for the humanitarian aid deliveries to go through dangerous areas…”
Power cited recent ethnic killings in South Sudan, commenting that what began as a political conflict has become an ethnic one.
The UN warned earlier this month that tens of thousands of children could die of starvation in South Sudan, adding also that disease was a further concern.
“Cholera has broken out and malaria is rampant and many children are malnourished. Millions of people need emergency health care, food, clean water, proper sanitation and shelter to make it through the year,” said Toby Lanzer, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan.
In addition to starvation and disease, the prolonged crisis in South Sudan has given rise to a situation in which terrorists could flourish. The Ambassador stated, “We have seen elements from Darfur make their way into the Central African Republic, where there are reports of Boko Haram and al Shabaab taking root… That is, of course, a risk in Sudan. The connections between the government and some very unsavory terrorist actors, I think, are well-known.”
Nearly US$400 million has already gone to assist the world’s youngest country. The US ambassador commented that the numbers at risk of starvation would be “a lot worse” without this investment, and noted that the US has contributed a lot relative to other countries, despite the many pressing global issues currently taking place.
“We want to focus intrinsically… on the welfare of the population in South Sudan… but also in Darfur and in Sudan, where the killing and the airstrikes and the use of food as a weapon of war are also continued.”
The UN has appealed for more than $1 billion to help South Sudan, and is currently going nation-to-nation to appeal for contributions.
At the site of one of British Columbia’s worst environmental disasters, the Cariboo Regional District has declared a state of local emergency. In order to access additional capacity needed to protect property and infrastructure from the Mount Polley tailings pond breach, the district made the declaration Wednesday, expanding governmental provisions from the complete water ban that was issued Monday.
“The potential long-term impact to waterways, the watershed and roads is huge,” said Chairman of the Cariboo Regional District Al Richmond.
The Mount Polley Mine tailings pond collapsed Monday near Williams Lake, central British Columbia. Millions of cubic meters of waste water and debris flooded into the Cariboo river system.
A complete water ban was announced Monday morning, and included all consumption and recreational use. The ban extended to the entire Quesnel and Cariboo river systems.
The waste spilled into Quesnel Lake, one of BCs largest clean lakes, and Polley Lake. Approximately 10 million cubic meters of water and 4.5 million cubic meters of debris were lost. Water continued to spill out of the pond Wednesday, although the pond was nearly empty.
Responders have been working around the clock to close the dam and secure debris areas, but due to the region’s locality and sparse population, quickly addressing a large environmental disaster such as the spill has proven a challenge.
The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) declared a state of local emergency Wednesday. The district, working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Emergency Management BC, Central Cariboo Search and Rescue, Mount Polley, Interior Health and other associated agencies, is formulating a plan to deal with the disaster.
“The local state of emergency was declared to ensure the CRD has the power to take any remedial actions that may become necessary,” the CRD stated.
Immediate actions include bringing in barges to break up the debris before it hits the shore. There is concern that if the wind picks up, islands of debris dislodged by the massive water flow could be blown against the shore, damaging structures. There is also concern that the Quesnel Bridge–a wooden structure and the towns main access route–could be damaged by the debris.
There is also concern that the salmon run, which will begin soon, will be harmed. There have been reports and photos published of fish floating and being washed up on shore.
A chief concern is the quality of the water that left the tailings pond. The exact composition of the water is not currently known, although Polley Mine’s head official, Brian Kynoch, stated that the water was “very close to drinking water.” BC’s Environment Ministry is currently conducting an analysis. The results of the water tests will be known late Wednesday or Thursday.
Among the elements and chemicals expected to be found in large quantities are nickel, lead, copper and arsenic. Around 400,000 kilograms of arsenic were dumped into the pond in 2013, but Kynoch said that arsenic levels were one-fifth drinking water quality. There have also been reports that a large amount of phosphorous was in the water–the element found in fertilizers blamed for massive algae blooms making news in Ohio and other areas.
“I apologize for what happened,” stated Kynoch at a community meeting Tuesday. “If you had asked me two weeks ago if that could happen, I would have said it couldn’t happen, so I know that for our company it’s going to take a long time to earn the community’s trust back.”
The Mount Polley Mine tailings pond, near Williams Lake, British Columbia, has been breached, and regional authorities have issued a complete water ban.
The ban regards all water use in the area, and will be in place until further notice. Drinking, cooking and bathing are prohibited.
The ban was enacted by the Cariboo Regional District (CRD). The CRD is currently working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Emergency Management BC, Central Cariboo Search and Rescue, Mount Polley, Interior Health and other associated agencies.
The breach took place around 3:00 AM. The 4km square tailings pond broached, contaminated water entered Polley Lake, then Quesnel Lake.
The extent and possible impacts of the breach are not yet known.
Residents and visitors are advised to use only bottled water until further information is available.
For further information, the CRD advises visiting their Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/CRDEmergencyOperations, or their website, at cariboord.ca. A public information line has been set up, which can be reached by dialing 250-398-5581.
Mount Polly is an open pit copper and gold mine located in south-central British Columbia, Canada. The mine reaped nearly 40 million pounds of copper in 2013, 45,000 pounds of gold and 125,000 pounds of silver.
Tailings are waste material left over after separating the valuable part of an ore. Modern mining usually takes adequate steps to ensure tailings disposal is environmentally safe. One method of containing tailings is tailings dams, which are often the most significant environmental liability involved in a mining project.
“The best thing a mother can do for her newborn is breastfeed,” said the UN Friday, “which does more than help children survive–it helps them to thrive with benefits that last a lifetime.” The executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Anthony Lake, made the statement, urging promotion of breastfeeding everywhere.
“Immediate breastfeeding within the first hour of birth could prevent one in five unnecessary deaths,” said Lake, kicking off World Breastfeeding Week. “That’s more than 500,000 children every year. More than 1,500 children every day.”
Fewer than half the world’s newborns benefit from breastfeeding, said the UN. Even fewer are exclusively breastfed for the first six months.
“Breastfeeding is the foundation of good nutrition,” said Lake, “reducing the risk of malnourishment in early childhood and the risk of obesity later in life. By supporting nutrition and strengthening the bond between mother and child, breastfeeding also supports healthy brain development.”
World Breastfeeding Week takes place between August 1 and 7. This year the celebration will highlight the link between breastfeeding and Millennium Development Goals, particularly decreasing child mortality.
“Breastfeeding is the foundation of good nutrition,” said Lake, “reducing the risk of malnourishment in early childhood and the risk of obesity later in life. By supporting nutrition and strengthening the bond between mother and child, breastfeeding also supports healthy brain development.”