Humanitarian Issues

[satchmo]

Not Guilty. The Israeli Captain who Emptied his Rifle into a Palestinian Schoolgirl

An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.

The soldier, who has only been identified as “Captain R”, was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.

The manner of Iman’s killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was “scared to death”, made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.

After the verdict, Iman’s father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.

“They did not charge him with Iman’s murder, only with small offences, and now they say he is innocent of those even though he shot my daughter so many times,” he said. “This was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered her once and the court has murdered her again. What is the message? They are telling their soldiers to kill Palestinian children.”

The military court cleared the soldier of illegal use of his weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and perverting the course of justice by asking soldiers under his command to alter their accounts of the incident.

Capt R’s lawyers argued that the “confirmation of the kill” after a suspect is shot was a standard Israeli military practice to eliminate terrorist threats.

Following the verdict, Capt R burst into tears, turned to the public benches and said: “I told you I was innocent.”

The army’s official account said that Iman was shot for crossing into a security zone carrying her schoolbag which soldiers feared might contain a bomb. It is still not known why the girl ventured into the area but witnesses described her as at least 100 yards from the military post which was in any case well protected.

philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2011/03/not-guilty-the-israeli-captain-who-emptied-his-rifle-into-a-palestinian-schoolgirl/

[poeteanglais]

I would just like to publicly offer up my prayers and thoughts for the people of Japan, and all those in the Pacific basin... and of course invite everyone else to join together sending positive thoughts for their safety and care.



This event is beyond my understanding, and all I can personally do is send out my love (while my stomach feels sick with concern.)

Blessings to all.

[cosmicstar]

Mar 11, 2011 19:41:59 GMT 4 @poeteanglais said:

I would just like to publicly offer up my prayers and thoughts for the people of Japan, and all those in the Pacific basin... and of course invite everyone else to join together sending positive thoughts for their safety and care.



This event is beyond my understanding, and all I can personally do is send out my love (while my stomach feels sick with concern.)

Blessings to all.

Same here. Focusing when in dreamtime to be able to see what I can find and help draw attention to folks that might not be seen/found as of yet.
Positive thoughts sending to all effected.

Cosmicstar

[satchmo]

Bahrain police open fire on protesters
There are also reports suggesting that security forces and pro-government vigilantes armed with clubs, swords and metal pipes are beating protesters near the royal complex.

Witnesses say at least ten ambulances were rushed to the area.

The violence came as nearly 50,000 demonstrators tried to stage a protest rally near the royal palace in the Refaa area of Manama on Friday, demanding political reforms.

Thousands of women have also joined the protest rally demanding an end to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's rule. Protesters are also calling for the ouster of the government and want a new constitution.

Bahraini authorities, however, claim that security forces fired tear gas on anti-government protesters to stop them from heading toward a square near the royal palace, where hundreds of armed pro-regime loyalists were waiting for them.

Bahraini security officials had earlier warned against demonstrations near the palace, saying they would deal with the issue as a national security threat.

“The march that some people are trying to hold today to the Reffa area threatens security and social peace," an interior ministry statement said on Friday.

"The interior ministry holds the organizers and participants of this march responsible for the consequences and reiterates the need to avert any confrontation among the residents that could result in unnecessary loss of life," the statement added.

"Under these conditions...the interior ministry confirms that forces to defend public order will be present to prevent any clash that may occur between the residents."

All roads leading to the palace were blocked since early in the morning, forcing protesters to walk long distances to reach the area where members of the Sunni royal family live.
www.presstv.ir/detail/169382.html

Anti-government protesters killed in Yemen


At least two people were reported killed and hundreds injured after Yemeni security forces confronted demonstrators in a protest encampment in the capital, Sana'a.

The clashes, which lasted several hours, and constitute a significant escalation in an already tense situation, broke out early on Saturday morning.

Protesters calling for the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32 year rule have been camped around Sana'a University for several weeks.

Protesters say they were subject to an unprovoked attack with water canon, gas and gunfire at around the time of morning prayers.

According to Taha Nasser, a first aid technician with the Yemeni German hospital, the casualties were much worse than in a previous confrontation with security forces earlier this week.

“The duration was longer, there were more wounded, and the cases were far more serious,” said Mr Nasser.

The majority of those in need of medical attention, according to Mr Nasser, were affected by gas.

Some protesters were reported to have thrown rocks at the security forces.

The interior ministry claims it was forced to intervene in clashes between residents and protesters when protesters expanded their encampment. The ministry denies its forces used firearms.

The clashes occurred shortly after the President Saleh assured White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan that he would not use violence against peaceful demonstrators. During their phone conversation on Friday, Mr Brennan welcomed a proposal by Mr Saleh to devolve power to parliament, and said that the opposition “should respond constructively to it,” according to a White House statement.

The US Ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein, reiterated the White House position on Saturday, telling reporters that “the only way to resolve these issues and to put Yemen on a path towards a positive future is through dialogue.”

The capital was tense throughout Saturday, a work day in Yemen, with many employees staying at home as gunfire crackled across the city.
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e0976be8-4cbe-11e0-8da3-00144feab49a.html#axzz1GPDWVd9m

[ninathedog]

A couple walk along the rubble at a residential area in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture,
northern Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011, two days after a powerful earthquake-triggered
tsunami hit the country's east coast. (AP Photo/The Yumiuri Shimbun)


People walk amid the rubble in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, northern Japan,
Sunday, March 13, 2011, two days after the powerful earthquake-triggered
tsunami hit the country's east coast. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)


A ferry stranded on a building is seen in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan,
unday, March 13, 2011, two days after a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami
hit the country's east coast. (AP Photo/The Yumiuri Shimbun)

Japan races to prevent
nuke reactor meltdowns

By Eric Talmadge And Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press – 1 hr 16 mins ago

KORIYAMA, Japan – Japan's nuclear crisis intensified Sunday as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple reactor meltdowns and more than 180,000 people evacuated the quake- and tsunami-savaged northeastern coast where fears spread over possible radioactive contamination.

Nuclear plant operators were frantically trying to keep temperatures down in a series of nuclear reactors — including one where officials feared a partial meltdown could be happening Sunday — to prevent the disaster from growing worse.

But hours after officials announced the latest dangers to face the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, including the possibility of a second explosion in two days, there were few details about what was being done to bring the situation under control.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Sunday that a hydrogen explosion could occur at the complex's Unit 3, the latest reactor to face a possible meltdown. That would follow a hydrogen blast Saturday in the plant's Unit 1, where operators attempted to prevent a meltdown by injecting sea water into it.

"At the risk of raising further public concern, we cannot rule out the possibility of an explosion," Edano said. "If there is an explosion, however, there would be no significant impact on human health."

More than 180,000 people have evacuated as a precaution, though Edano said the radioactivity released into the environment so far was so small it didn't pose any health threats.

Such statements, though, did little to ease public worries.

"First I was worried about the quake," said Kenji Koshiba, a construction worker who lives near the plant. "Now I'm worried about radiation." He spoke at an emergency center in Koriyama, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the troubled reactors and 125 miles (190 kilometers) north of Tokyo.

At the makeshift center set up in a gym, a steady flow of people — mostly the elderly, schoolchildren and families with babies — were met by officials wearing helmets, surgical masks and goggles.

About 1,500 people had been scanned for radiation exposure, officials said.

Up to 160 people, including 60 elderly patients and medical staff who had been waiting for evacuation in the nearby town of Futabe, and 100 others evacuating by bus, might have been exposed to radiation, said Ryo Miyake, a spokesman from Japan's nuclear agency. The severity of their exposure, or if it had reached dangerous levels, was not clear.


Officials in protective gear check for signs of radiation on children
who are from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daini
nuclear plant in Koriyama, March 13, 2011. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon


Edano said none of the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors was near the point of complete meltdown, and he was confident of escaping the worst scenarios.

Officials, though, have declared states of emergency at six reactors — three at Dai-ichi and three at another nearby complex — after operators lost the ability to cool the reactors using usual procedures. Local evacuations have been ordered at each location. The U.N. nuclear agency said a state of emergency was also declared Sunday at another complex after higher-than-permitted levels of radiation were measured there. It said Japan informed it that all three reactors there were under control.

A pump for the cooling system at yet another nuclear complex, the Tokai Dai-Ni plant, also failed after Friday's quake but a second pump operated normally as did the reactor, said the utility, the Japan Atomic Power Co. It did not explain why it reported the incident Sunday.

All of the reactors at the complexes shut down automatically when the earthquake shook the region.

But with backup power supplies also failing, shutting down the reactors is just the beginning of the problem, scientists said.

"You need to get rid of the heat," said Friedrich Steinhaeusler, a professor of physics and biophysics at Salzburg University and an adviser to the Austrian government on nuclear issues. "You are basically putting the lid down on a pot that is boiling."

"They have a window of opportunity where they can do a lot," he said, such as using sea water as an emergency coolant. But if the heat is not brought down, the cascading problems can eventually be impossible to control. "This isn't something that will happen in a few hours. It's days."

Edano, for his part, denied there had been a meltdown in the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex, but other officials said the situation was not so clear.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a senior official of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, indicated the reactor core in Unit 3 had melted partially, telling a news conference, "I don't think the fuel rods themselves have been spared damage," according to the Kyodo News agency.

A complete meltdown — the collapse of a power plant's ability to keep temperatures under control — could release uranium and dangerous contaminants into the environment and pose major, widespread health risks.

Experts noted, however, that even a complete meltdown would probably be far less severe than the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl, where a reactor exploded and sent a cloud of radiation over much of Europe. That reactor, unlike the ones in Fukushima, was not housed in a sealed container.

The nuclear crisis was triggered by twin disasters on Friday, when an 8.9-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful in the country's recorded history, was followed by a tsunami that savaged its northeastern coast with breathtaking speed and power.

More than 1,400 people were killed and hundreds more were missing, according to officials, but police in one of the worst-hit areas estimated the toll there alone was more than 10,000.

The scale of the multiple disasters appeared to be outpacing the efforts of Japanese authorities to bring the situation under control.

Rescue teams were struggling to search hundreds of miles (kilometers) of devastated coastline, and hundreds of thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers cut off from rescuers and aid. At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake, and food and gasoline were quickly running out across the region. Large areas of the countryside were surrounded by water and unreachable. Nearly 2 million households were without electricity.

Starting Monday, power will be rationed with rolling blackouts in several cities, including Tokyo.

The government doubled the number of troops pressed into rescue operations to about 100,000 from 51,000, as powerful aftershocks continued to rock the country. Hundreds have hit since the initial temblor.

On Saturday, an explosion destroyed the walls and ceiling of Fukushima Dai-ichi's Unit 1 as operators desperately tried to prevent it from overheating and melting down by releasing steam.

Officials were aware that the steam contained hydrogen and were risking an explosion by venting it, acknowledged Shinji Kinjo, spokesman for the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, but chose to do so because they needed to reduce the pressure.

Officials insisted there was no significant radioactive leak after the explosion.

Without power, and with its valves and pumps damaged by the tsunami, authorities resorted to drawing sea water mixed with boron in an attempt to cool the unit's overheated uranium fuel rods. Boron disrupts nuclear chain reactions.

Operators also began using sea water to cool the complex's Unit 3 reactor after earlier attempts to lower its temperature failed, the U.N. Nuclear Agency said.

The move likely renders the 40-year-old reactors unusable, said a foreign ministry official briefing reporters.

He said radiation levels outside the plant briefly rose above legal limits, but had since declined significantly.

Japan has a total of 55 reactors spread across 17 complexes nationwide.

___

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Tomoko A. Hosaka in Tokyo, Tim Sullivan in Bangkok and Jeff Donn in Boston contributed to this report.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110313/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake_nuclear_crisis

[ninathedog]

10K dead in Japan amid fears of
nuclear meltdowns

By Jay Alabaster And Todd Pitman, Associated Press – Sun Mar 13, 12:43 pm ET

SENDAI, Japan – The estimated death toll from Japan's disasters climbed past 10,000 Sunday as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns and hundreds of thousands of people struggled to find food and water. The prime minister said it was the nation's worst crisis since World War II.

Nuclear plant operators worked frantically to try to keep temperatures down in several reactors crippled by the earthquake and tsunami, wrecking at least two by dumping sea water into them in last-ditch efforts to avoid meltdowns. Officials warned of a second explosion but said it would not pose a health threat.

Near-freezing temperatures compounded the misery of survivors along hundreds of miles (kilometers) of the northeastern coast battered by the tsunami that smashed inland with breathtaking fury. Rescuers pulled bodies from mud-covered jumbles of wrecked houses, shattered tree trunks, twisted cars and tangled power lines while survivors examined the ruined remains.

One rare bit of good news was the rescue of a 60-year-old man swept away by the tsunami who clung to the roof of his house for two days until a military vessel spotted him waving a red cloth about 10 miles (15 kilometers) offshore.

The death toll surged because of a report from Miyagi, one of the three hardest hit states. The police chief told disaster relief officials more than 10,000 people were killed, police spokesman Go Sugawara told The Associated Press. That was an estimate — only 400 people have been confirmed dead in Miyagi, which has a population of 2.3 million.

According to officials, more than 1,400 people were confirmed dead — including 200 people whose bodies were found Sunday along the coast — and more than 1,000 were missing in Friday's disasters. Another 1,700 were injured.

For Japan, one of the world's leading economies with ultramodern infrastructure, the disasters plunged ordinary life into nearly unimaginable deprivation.

Hundreds of thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers that were cut off from rescuers, aid and electricity. At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake struck and some 1.9 million households were without electricity.

While the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000 and sent 120,000 blankets, 120,000 bottles of water and 29,000 gallons (110,000 liters) of gasoline plus food to the affected areas, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said electricity would take days to restore. In the meantime, he said, electricity would be rationed with rolling blackouts to several cities, including Tokyo.

"This is Japan's most severe crisis since the war ended 65 years ago," Kan told reporters, adding that Japan's future would be decided by its response.

PHOTOS -- news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Huge-Japan-quake-causes-tsunami-fires-landslide/ss/events/wl/031111japanquake

In Rikuzentakata, a port city of over 20,000 virtually wiped out by the tsunami, Etsuko Koyama escaped the water rushing through the third floor of her home but lost her grip on her daughter's hand and has not found her.

"I haven't given up hope yet," Koyama told public broadcaster NHK, wiping tears from her eyes. "I saved myself, but I couldn't save my daughter."

A young man described what ran through his mind before he escaped in a separate rescue. "I thought to myself, ah, this is how I will die," Tatsuro Ishikawa, his face bruised and cut, told NHK as he sat in striped hospital pajamas.

Japanese officials raised their estimate Sunday of the quake's magnitude to 9.0, a notch above the U.S. Geological Survey's reading of 8.9. Either way, it was the strongest quake ever recorded in Japan, which lies on a seismically active arc. A volcano on the southern island of Kyushu — hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the quake' epicenter — also resumed spewing ash and rock Sunday after a couple of quiet weeks, Japan's weather agency said.

Dozens of countries have offered assistance. Two U.S. aircraft carrier groups were off Japan's coast and ready to help. Helicopters were flying from one of the carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan, delivering food and water in Miyagi.

Two other U.S. rescue teams of 72 personnel each and rescue dogs arrived Sunday, as did a five-dog team from Singapore.

Still, large areas of the countryside remained surrounded by water and unreachable. Fuel stations were closed, though at some, cars waited in lines hundreds of vehicles long.

The United States and a several countries in Europe urged their citizens to avoid travel to Japan. France took the added step of suggesting people leave Tokyo in case radiation reached the city.

Community after community traced the vast extent of the devastation.

In the town of Minamisanrikucho, 10,000 people — nearly two-thirds of the population — have not been heard from since the tsunami wiped it out, a government spokesman said. NHK showed only a couple concrete structures still standing, and the bottom three floors of those buildings gutted. One of the few standing was a hospital, and a worker told NHK that hospital staff rescued about a third of the patients.

In the hard-hit port city of Sendai, firefighters with wooden picks dug through a devastated neighborhood. One of them yelled: "A corpse." Inside a house, he had found the body of a gray-haired woman under a blanket.

A few minutes later, the firefighters spotted another — that of a man in black fleece jacket and pants, crumpled in a partial fetal position at the bottom of a wooden stairwell. From outside, while the top of the house seemed almost untouched, the first floor where the body was had been inundated. A minivan lay embedded in one outer wall, which had been ripped away, pulverized beside a mangled bicycle.

The man's neighbor, 24-year-old Ayumi Osuga, dug through the remains of her own house, her white mittens covered by dark mud.

Osuga said she had been practicing origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into figures, with her three children when the quake stuck. She recalled her husband's shouted warning from outside: "'GET OUT OF THERE NOW!'"

She gathered her children — aged 2 to 6 — and fled in her car to higher ground with her husband. They spent the night in a hilltop home belonging to her husband's family about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away.

"My family, my children. We are lucky to be alive," she said.

"I have come to realize what is important in life," Osuga said, nervously flicking ashes from a cigarette onto the rubble at her feet as a giant column of black smoke billowed in the distance.

As night fell and temperatures dropped to freezing in Sendai, people who had slept in underpasses or offices the past two nights gathered for warmth in community centers, schools and City Hall.

At a large refinery on the outskirts of the city, 100-foot (30-meter) -high bright orange flames rose in the air, spitting out dark plumes of smoke. The facility has been burning since Friday. The fire's roar could be heard from afar. Smoke burned the eyes and throat, and a gaseous stench hung in the air.

In the small town of Tagajo, also near Sendai, dazed residents roamed streets cluttered with smashed cars, broken homes and twisted metal.

Residents said the water surged in and quickly rose higher than the first floor of buildings. At Sengen General Hospital, the staff worked feverishly to haul bedridden patients up the stairs one at a time. With the halls now dark, those who can leave have gone to the local community center.

"There is still no water or power, and we've got some very sick people in here," said hospital official Ikuro Matsumoto.

Police cars drove slowly through the town and warned residents through loudspeakers to seek higher ground, but most simply stood by and watched them pass.

In the town of Iwaki, there was no electricity, stores were closed and residents left as food and fuel supplies dwindled. Local police took in about 90 people and gave them blankets and rice balls, but there was no sign of government or military aid trucks.

___

Todd Pitman reported from Sendai. Associated Press writers Eric Talmadge and Kelly Olsen in Koriyama and Malcolm J. Foster, Mari Yamaguchi, Tomoko A. Hosaka and Shino Yuasa in Tokyo contributed to this report.


news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake

[ninathedog]

Mar 10, 2011 20:04:51 GMT 4 @satchmo said:

Not Guilty. The Israeli Captain who Emptied his Rifle into a Palestinian Schoolgirl

An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.

The soldier, who has only been identified as “Captain R”, was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.

The manner of Iman’s killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was “scared to death”, made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.

After the verdict, Iman’s father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.

“They did not charge him with Iman’s murder, only with small offences, and now they say he is innocent of those even though he shot my daughter so many times,” he said. “This was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered her once and the court has murdered her again. What is the message? They are telling their soldiers to kill Palestinian children.”

The military court cleared the soldier of illegal use of his weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and perverting the course of justice by asking soldiers under his command to alter their accounts of the incident.

Capt R’s lawyers argued that the “confirmation of the kill” after a suspect is shot was a standard Israeli military practice to eliminate terrorist threats.

Following the verdict, Capt R burst into tears, turned to the public benches and said: “I told you I was innocent.”

The army’s official account said that Iman was shot for crossing into a security zone carrying her schoolbag which soldiers feared might contain a bomb. It is still not known why the girl ventured into the area but witnesses described her as at least 100 yards from the military post which was in any case well protected.

philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2011/03/not-guilty-the-israeli-captain-who-emptied-his-rifle-into-a-palestinian-schoolgirl/

Thanks for posting this, Satchmo.

I want to point out that the murder of 13-year-old Iman Al Hams occurred in 2004.

Ultimately, the soldier who emptied his entire magazine of bullets into her fallen body from one meter away was not only acquitted but was financially compensated and, along with the rest of his battalion, was even given a medal for valor and courage. True story.

earlier post on this topic (it may be a little confusing, I was trying to get a lot in) --
the-goldenthread.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=43&page=47#14622

....


Wikipedia entry:
Compensation and promotion to rank of major

Subsequent to his acquittal, Captain R., was promoted to the rank of major.[21][22] In March 2006, he received 82,000 New Israel Shekels (roughly $17,000) to compensate him for his defense expenditures and time spent in jail.[23] Captain R. also filed a libel suit against Dayan and Channel 2.[12]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iman_Darweesh_Al_Hams

.........

Israeli officer: I was right
to shoot 13-year-old child

Radio exchange contradicts army version of Gaza killing

By Chris McGreal
UK Guardian
November 24, 2004

(edited for length)

...The official account claimed that Iman was shot as she walked towards an army post with her schoolbag because soldiers feared she was carrying a bomb.

But the tape recording of the radio conversation between soldiers at the scene reveals that, from the beginning, she was identified as a child and at no point was a bomb spoken about nor was she described as a threat. Iman was also at least 100 yards from any soldier.

Instead, the tape shows that the soldiers swiftly identified her as a “girl of about 10” who was “scared to death”.

The tape also reveals that the soldiers said Iman was headed eastwards, away from the army post and back into the refugee camp, when she was shot.

At that point, Captain R took the unusual decision to leave the post in pursuit of the girl. He shot her dead and then “confirmed the kill” by emptying his magazine into her body.

The tape recording is of a three-way conversation between the army watchtower, the army post’s operations room and the captain, who was a company commander.

The soldier in the watchtower radioed his colleagues after he saw Iman: “It’s a little girl. She’s running defensively eastward.”

Operations room: “Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?”

Watchtower: “A girl of about 10, she’s behind the embankment, scared to death.”

A few minutes later, Iman is shot in the leg from one of the army posts.

The watchtower: “I think that one of the positions took her out.”

The company commander then moves in as Iman lies wounded and helpless.

Captain R: “I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over.”

Witnesses described how the captain shot Iman twice in the head, walked away, turned back and fired a stream of bullets into her body. Doctors at Rafah’s hospital said she had been shot at least 17 times.

On the tape, the company commander then “clarifies” why he killed Iman: “This is commander. Anything that’s mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it’s a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over.”

(edited for length)

www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/child-killed.html

[ninathedog]

Japan earthquake:
5 ways the international community is helping

March 15, 2011
The Christian Science Monitor

Japan has received offers of assistance from 14 international organizations and 102 countries (including a number of unexpected aid donors such as embattled Afghanistan and poverty-stricken Cambodia), according to the latest report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Japan has accepted help, mostly in the form of search and rescue teams, from 15 countries. Here is an overview of some of the help pouring into Japan as it struggles to dig out from Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami.

- Ariel Zirulnick, Correspondent

United States

The US is sending the largest contingency to Japan: 148 personnel and 12 rescue dogs hailing from Los Angeles and Fairfax County, Virginia. They will be mostly operating in Ofunato, about 100 miles northeast of Sendai and northwest of the earthquake's epicenter.

A US aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, has been diverted from exercises near South Korea to the Japanese coast, where it is serving as a refueling platform for Japanese helicopters conducting search and rescue efforts. The US military has also been assisting with humanitarian aid drops when needed.

But Japan has an effective, well-oiled disaster relief infrastructure, making it more capable of responding to the earthquake and tsunami than any other country that could swoop in. The main thing it needs now is cash, which it can then use as it sees fit, according to USAID, which is tasked with coordinating US government assistance, NPR reported.

As of right now, $100,000 has been offered to Japan via the US embassy in Tokyo, according to an embassy briefing.

China and greater Asia Pacific

Japan has accepted assistance from a number of its neighbors, including those with whom it has rockier relations. China has pledged the most so far. The Chinese government on Monday announced $4.6 million in disaster relief funding, which comes on top of almost $1 million offered by the Red Cross Society of China, Xinhua reports. China has also sent 15 search and rescue workers into the country, who are working in the same area as the US teams, according to the United Nations.

Meanwhile, South Korea has sent 105 search-and-rescue personnel, Taiwan has sent 30, and Singapore has sent five. South Korea and Taiwan’s workers are in Sendai City, the closest major city to the epicenter, while Singapore’s are operating in Fukushima, southwest of Sendai and the site of one of the nuclear reactors not functioning properly.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional economic and geopolitical bloc that excludes China, has also offered whatever assistance Japan needs. Mongolia and Sri Lanka have together offered $1 million in funds.

Australia and New Zealand

New Zealand, still digging out from its own 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Christchurch in late February, has sent 65 personnel to Japan to work in the Miyagi Prefecture. According to multiple news organizations, Japan’s own earthquake rescue specialists were still on the ground in Christchurch when their own country was struck by earthquakes March 11. At the time, Japan had already pledged $500,000 in funds to aid New Zealand’s rebuilding efforts.

The New Zealand rescue workers will be working alongside 72 Australian personnel and two rescue dogs. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the country is also providing a large military transport plane to help move Japanese troops carrying out rescue work, fresh water, and equipment.

Europe

Five European countries so far have personnel on the ground or on their way to Japan: 134 from France (the second largest search and rescue contingency, after the US), 64 from the United Kingdom, 54 from Russia, plus three vehicles, 41 from Germany, and 27 from Switzerland. The UK personnel will be located in the same area as US and Chinese aid workers, while the rest of the European countries will be in Miyagi Prefecture like almost all of the other countries putting boots on the ground.

The European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), which included 500 bone marrow transplant centers across Europe, is also on alert to potentially treat Japanese radiation victims, according to the BBC. "We have contacted Japan directly and have also offered our services to them through the World Health Organization," said Ray Powles, chair of the nuclear accident committee for EBMT.

International organizations

Several UN agencies are working with the Japanese government based on their areas of expertise.

The UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team has dispatched seven people to Japan to assist in an advisory role and to verify and disseminate information – an atypical role for them, but the best one in this situation because Japan’s disaster relief infrastructure is functioning well without them, according to the team’s press release. They will conduct a reconnaissance mission March 16.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and World Health Organization are also in contact with Japanese officials.

The International Federation of the Red Cross is on the ground, prepared to coordinate help from other countries’ Red Cross societies and provide support and assistance to the Japanese Red Cross. The World Food Program is also working alongside the Japanese Red Cross to assist with securing and distributing supplies.

• In Pictures: Japan Survivors
• Japan earthquake and tsunami aftermath: narrow escapes
• Japan officials: Stay indoors, nuclear leaks now dangerous (posted below)

www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0315/Japan-earthquake-5-ways-the-international-community-is-helping/United-States

[ninathedog]

Global News Blog
Japan officials: Stay indoors,
nuclear leaks now dangerous

Japan officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that 'radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere' after a fire broke out in a storage pond for spent fuel at nuclear reactor damaged by Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

By Staff / March 15, 2011
The Christian Science Monitor

Japanese officials are now ordering 140,000 people living near nuclear power plants damaged by Friday's 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami to stay indoors and seal their doors and windows.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan took to national TV to say that radiation has spread from four damaged nuclear reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant.

Japanese officials told the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that "radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere" after a fire broke out in a storage pond for spent fuel at one of the four reactors. The fire was extinguished earlier today.

IN PICTURES: Japan survivors

"Now we are talking about levels that can damage human health. These are readings taken near the area where we believe the releases are happening. Far away, the levels should be lower," said Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary.

"Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight. Don't turn on ventilators. Please hang your laundry indoors."

Until now, Japanese officials have said radiation levels at the plant were within safe limits.

And Tuesday foreign companies ordered evacuations of employees amid an upgrade about the severity of the nuclear disaster, according to Canada's CVT.ca news.

The head of France's Nuclear Safety Authority, Andre-Claude Lacoste told reporters on Tuesday that the situation in Japan is less severe than the core explosion at Chernobyl, but worse than the 1979 partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.

"We are now in a situation that is different from yesterday's. It is very clear that we are at a level six, which is an intermediate level between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," the ASN president said at a news conference in Paris.

Japanese officials had originally rated the situation at the plant in Fukushima as a level 4 on the 7-point scale.

www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2011/0315/Japan-officials-Stay-indoors-nuclear-leaks-now-dangerous

[ninathedog]

Japan Earthquake:
before and after

Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:00pm AEDT
ABC News (Australia)

Aerial photos taken over Japan have revealed the scale of devastation across dozens of suburbs and tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

Hover over each satellite photo to view the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami.

Development: Andrew Kesper
Source: Google

www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm
www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter2.htm

source: redicecreations.com

[ninathedog]

Japan races to contain
nuclear threat after quake

By Eric Talmadge And Shino Yuasa, Associated Press – 26 mins ago

SOMA, Japan – Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly tsunami.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern coast. The region was shattered by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world's third-largest economy.

Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the reactor fire was in a fuel storage pond — an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool — and that "radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere." Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool might still be boiling, though the reported levels of radiation had dropped dramatically by the end of the day.

Late Tuesday, officials at the plant said they were considering asking for help from the U.S. and Japanese militaries to spray water from helicopters into the pool.

That reactor, Unit 4, had been shut down before the quake for maintenance.

If the water boils, it could evaporate, exposing the rods. The fuel rods are encased in safety containers meant to prevent them from resuming nuclear reactions, nuclear officials said. But they acknowledged that there could have been damage to the containers. They also confirmed that the walls of the storage pool building were damaged.

Experts noted that much of the leaking radiation was apparently in steam from boiling water. It had not been emitted directly by fuel rods, which would be far more virulent, they said.

"It's not good, but I don't think it's a disaster," said Steve Crossley, an Australia-based radiation physicist.

Even the highest detected rates were not automatically harmful for brief periods, he said. "If you were to spend a significant amount of time — in the order of hours — that could be significant," Crossley said.

Less clear were the results of the blast in Unit 2, near a suppression pool, which removes heat under a reactor vessel, said plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. The nuclear core was not damaged but the bottom of the surrounding container may have been, said Shigekazu Omukai, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency.

Though Kan and other officials urged calm, Tuesday's developments fueled a growing panic in Japan and around the world amid widespread uncertainty over what would happen next.

In the worst case scenario, one or more of the reactor cores would completely melt down, a disaster that could spew large amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere.

"I worry a lot about fallout," said Yuta Tadano, a 20-year-old pump technician at the Fukushima plant, who said he was in the complex when the quake hit.

"If we could see it, we could escape, but we can't," he said, cradling his 4-month-old baby, Shoma, at an evacuation center.

The radiation fears added to the catastrophe that has been unfolding in Japan, where at least 10,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people were facing a fifth night with little food, water or heating in near-freezing temperatures and snow as they dealt with the loss of homes and loved ones. Up to 450,000 people are in temporary shelters.

Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken Japan's northeast and Tokyo since the original offshore quake, including one Tuesday night whose epicenter was hundreds of miles (kilometers) southwest and inland.

Officials have only been able to confirm a far lower toll — about 3,300 killed — but those who were involved in the 2004 Asian tsunami said there was no question more people died and warned that, like the earlier disaster, many thousands may never be found.

Asia's richest country hasn't seen such hardship since World War II. The stock market plunged for a second day and a spate of panic buying saw stores running out of necessities, raising government fears that hoarding may hurt the delivery of emergency food aid to those who really need it.

In a rare bit of good news, rescuers found two survivors Tuesday in the rubble left by the tsunami that hit the northeast, including a 70-year-old woman whose house was tossed off its foundation.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, along that battered coastline, has been the focus of the worries. Workers there have been desperately trying to use seawater to cool the fuel rods in the complex's three reactors, all of which lost their cooling ability after Friday's quake and tsunami.

On Tuesday, the complex was hit by its third explosion since Friday, and then a fire in a separate reactor.

Afterward, officials in Ibaraki, a neighboring prefecture just south of the area, said up to 100 times the normal levels of radiation were detected Tuesday. While those figures are worrying if there is prolonged exposure, they are far from fatal.

Tokyo reported slightly elevated radiation levels, but officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) away.

Further south of the capital, air monitoring equipment on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington detected low levels of radioactivity as it sat pier-side at Yokosuka, a U.S. 7th Fleet spokesman said.

Cmdr. Jeff Davis said there was no danger to the public. But military personnel at Yokosuka and Naval Air Facility Atsugi were advised to limit their time outside and seal ventilation systems at their homes.

Amid concerns about radiation, Austria moved its embassy from Tokyo to Osaka.

Meanwhile, Air China and China Eastern Airlines canceled flights to Tokyo and two cities in the disaster area. Germany's Lufthansa airlines is also diverting its two daily flights to Tokyo to other Japanese cities. None mentioned radiation concerns, instead giving no explanation or citing the airports' limited capacities.

Closer to the stricken nuclear complex, the streets in the coastal city of Soma were empty as the few residents who remained there heeded the government's warning to stay indoors.

Kan and other officials warned there is a danger of more leaks and told people living within 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid exposure that could make people sick.

The government also imposed a no-fly zone over that area for commercial traffic.

Some 70,000 people had already been evacuated from a 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius from the Dai-ichi complex. About 140,000 remain in the larger danger zone.

"Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told residents in the danger zone.

"These are figures that potentially affect health. There is no mistake about that," he said.

Weather forecasts for Fukushima were for snow and wind Tuesday evening, blowing southwest toward Tokyo, then shifting and blowing east out to sea. That's important because it shows which direction a possible nuclear cloud might blow.

The U.S. Navy said several helicopter crews involved in relief efforts were exposed to low levels of radiation Tuesday. Like 17 crew members exposed the previous day, the personnel had to go through a decontamination process, which can involve a simple scrubdown with soap and water.

The Navy also said it was sending some of its ships to operate off the country's west coast instead of the east to avoid hazards from debris dragged into the sea by the tsunami and to be farther away from any radiation.

Officials said 70 workers were at the nuclear complex, struggling with its myriad problems. The workers, all of them wearing protective gear, are being rotated in and out of the danger zone quickly to reduce their radiation exposure.

Another 800 staff were evacuated. The fires and explosions at the reactors have injured 15 workers and military personnel and exposed up to 190 people to elevated radiation.

Temperatures in at least two of the complex's reactors, units 5 and 6, were also slightly elevated, Edano said.

"The power for cooling is not working well and the temperature is gradually rising, so it is necessary to control it," he said.

Fourteen pumps have been brought in to get seawater into the other reactors. They are not yet pumping water into Unit 4 but are trying to figure out how to do that.

In Tokyo, slightly higher-than-normal radiation levels were detected Tuesday but officials insisted there are no health dangers.

"The amount is extremely small, and it does not raise health concerns. It will not affect us," Takayuki Fujiki, a Tokyo government official said.

Edano said the radiation readings had fallen significantly by the evening.

Japanese government officials are being rightly cautious, said Donald Olander, professor emeritus of nuclear engineering at University of California at Berkeley. He believed even the heavily elevated levels of radiation around Dai-ichi are "not a health hazard." But without knowing specific dose levels, he said it was hard to make judgments.

"Right now it's worse than Three Mile Island," Olander said. But it's nowhere near the levels released during Chernobyl.

On Three Mile Island, the radiation leak was held inside the containment shell — thick concrete armor around the reactor. The Chernobyl reactor had no shell and was also operational when the disaster struck. The Japanese reactors automatically shut down when the quake hit and are encased in containment shells.

The impact of the earthquake and tsunami dragged down stock markets. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average plunged for a second day Tuesday, nose-diving more than 10 percent to close at 8,605.15 while the broader Topix lost more than 8 percent.

To lessen the damage, Japan's central bank made two cash injections totaling 8 trillion yen ($98 billion) Tuesday into the money markets after pumping in $184 billion on Monday.

Initial estimates put repair costs in the tens of billions of dollars, costs that would likely add to a massive public debt that, at 200 percent of gross domestic product, is the biggest among industrialized nations.

The Dai-ichi plant is the most severely affected of three nuclear complexes that were declared emergencies after suffering damage in Friday's quake and tsunami, raising questions about the safety of such plants in coastal areas near fault lines and adding to global jitters over the industry.

___

Yuasa reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake

[ninathedog]

Today is March 16, 2011. It is the eighth anniversary of the death of American Rachel Corrie, murdered by an Israeli bulldozer driver in Palestine.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMHeuDjhwFo

Uploaded by FarhanK501 on Mar 31, 2010
Rachel's bravery will never be forgotten. Everyday, more and more people
become aware of Rachel's work in Palestine and the positivity she left behind.
Her parents have tirelessly been working for the last 7 years to bring justice for
the shocking and disgraceful behaviour shown by the Israeli and American
governments regarding Rachel's death.

I sincerely hope you will help Rachel, her parents and supporters by spreading
this video and learning more about her. Please visit the Rachel Corrie Foundation:

www.rachelcorriefoundation.org

Rachel Corrie Facebook fan page:

www.facebook.com/pages/Rachel-Corrie/9284243339

I'd like to give a huge thanks to THELIGHT for helping me with this video.
Please subscribe to his channel: www.youtube.com/THELlGHT

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

www.facebook.com/pages/Farhan-Khan/324440042346
twitter.com/FarhanK501

Again, please help spread this video. Thank you.
Category:

News & Politics
Tags:

* Rachel
* Corrie
* bulldozer
* palestine
* israel
* murder
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Rest in Peace, Rachel. We are doing the best we can.

[ninathedog]

Police say
international pedophile ring smashed

By Mike Corder, Associated Press – 52 mins ago

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Police said Wednesday they have smashed a huge international pedophile ring, rescuing 230 children from abuse and arresting 184 suspects — including teachers and police officers.

The three-year investigation codenamed Operation Rescue identified and safeguarded children in more than 30 countries by arresting people suspected of abusing them, said Rob Wainwright, director of the European Union police agency Europol.

The ring was centered on an Amsterdam-based online forum called boylover.net, which Wainwright described as "probably the largest online pedophile network in the world."

The heavily encrypted forum, whose administrator appeared in a Dutch court on Tuesday charged with sex offenses, had up to 70,000 members.

The investigation was led by Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre but also involved law enforcement agencies as far afield as Australia, the United States and Thailand.

Peter Davies of the British child protection center said there would be more arrests as the investigations continue.

"Those who have been members of the site can expect a knock on the door in the very near future," he said. In Britain, police said, the children involved were aged between 7 and 14.

Wainwright said the website was intended as a discussion forum where pedophiles could "share their sexual interest in young boys."

However, after making initial contact on the forum, members would use e-mail and other electronic channels to share images and video of children being abused, Wainwright said.

The majority of the 184 people arrested so far are suspected of direct involvement in sexually abusing children, They include teachers, police officers and scout leaders. One Spaniard who worked at summer youth camps is suspected of abusing some 100 children over five years.

After his arrest, the forum's Dutch administrator helped police crack the complex web of encryption measures shielding users' identities, allowing police to begin covert investigations that included posing as children online.

Australian Federal Police commander Grant Edwards said suspects arrested in Australia ranged in age from 19 to 84 and used the internet to "prey on children with anonymity, with subterfuge and with camouflage."

Children, Edwards said. "should be able to use the Internet safely, without fear of being approached or groomed by these online predators."

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110316/ap_on_re_eu/eu_netherlands_pedophile_ring

[ninathedog]

Tens Of Thousands Rally In Gaza
Calling For National Unity

Wednesday March 16, 2011 01:48
by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News Report post
International Middle East Media Center

Rallies organized by a grassroots youth movement in Palestine took place all over the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The largest such rally was in Gaza City, involving tens of thousands of Palestinians from every political faction.

Both major Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fateh, endorsed the rallies, which called for an end to internal divisions in Palestinian society, and a unified resistance to the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Rallies involving all political factions are rare in Palestine, where most marches are organized by political parties.

The organizers of the rally, a loose coalition of youth groups and individuals from across the political spectrum, used online social networks to help spread the word about the day of action, following the lead of Arab youth in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Youth activists stayed overnight in the Square if the Unknown Soldier in Gaza City Monday night, and were joined by tens of thousands of supporters on Tuesday who held Palestinian flags, as well as the flags of various political parties. They chanted slogans for political unity, and called for a unified and non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation and takeover of their land.

Some organizers called for a return of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO, as the voice of the Palestinian people, and some called for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, saying the Authority was illegitimate and not representative of the Palestinian people. But most of the participants simply called for an end to internal divisions among the Palestinian people.

Since Hamas won elections in 2006 in Palestine, the Fatah party, which lost power, has tried to reclaim power using coercion and violence, with Hamas supporters responding with violence. A wave of attacks and counter-attacks took place throughout 2007 and 2008 in Gaza, with hundreds of people killed and injured on both sides.

category gaza strip | non-violent action | news report author email saed at imemc dot org

www.imemc.org/article/60866

[ninathedog]

Haniyya Calls On Abbas To Visit Gaza,
Start National Unity Talks

Wednesday March 16, 2011 00:49
by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies Report post
International Middle East Media Center

Prime Minister of the dissolved Hamas-led government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyya (alternative spelling: Haniyeh), called Tuesday on Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, to visit the Gaza Strip and initiate comprehensive unity talks.


Ismail Haniyya - cdn.wn.com

Haniyya said that his government supports the youth movements’ call for national unity based on reconciliation and transparency.

Talking to crowds of peaceful protestors in Gaza, Haniyya addressed Abbas and his Fatah movement asking them to start talks to discuss all related issues that are obstructing reconciliation and unity.

He said that his government supports the demands of the youths movement, and is willing to cooperate with all segments of the Palestinian society in order to ensure unity is achieved.

Haniyya further stated that the internal Palestinian divisions were caused by meddling conducted by what he called “external parties and pressures that aim at keeping the Palestinians divided and weak in order to weaken their legitimate cause among the international community”.

The Hamas leader also said that several Palestinian leaders in the West Bank lack an independent political stance, and that those leaders fear reconciliation and political partnership, as such a partnership jeopardizes their personal interests and agendas.

“We are calling for national unity, a comprehensive dialogue”, Haniyya said, “The people want the Palestinian Liberation Organization reformed, they want the reconstruction of Gaza, ending the siege, they want a national unity government and a national council”.

category gaza strip | palestinian politics | news report author email saed at imemc dot org

www.imemc.org/article/60864