Fukushima etc

Radioactivity level spikes 6,500 times at Fukushima well 18 Oct 2013 Radioactivity levels in a well near a storage tank at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan have risen immensely on Thursday, the plant's operator has reported. Officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Friday they detected 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances - including strontium - at the site, a level 6,500 times higher than readings taken on Wednesday, NHK World reported. The storage tank leaked over 300 tons of contaminated radioactive water in August, some of which is believed to have found its way into the sea through a ditch.

Senior adviser for Fukushima cleanup says foreign assistance needed 17 Oct 2013 One of the senior advisers of the Fukushima cleanup said that Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) needs foreign assistance. The utility operator may have already sought foreign assistance, but the ones currently available seem to be not enough to ensure that the defunct nuclear plant causes no more trouble. "They need to have a number of foreign firms to come in and assist them with the cleanup," said Lady Barbara Judge in an interview in Tokyo.

Meet Fukuppy, the inadvertent Fukushima mascot 15 Oct 2013 It wasn't a refrigeration company's decision to use a cartoon egg with wings, of indeterminate gender and with "a strong sense of justice" as its corporate mascot that got Japan-based internet users giggling. It was, simply, the character's name. Fukuppy has become an unlikely online star... This led to inaccurate reports that Fukuppy was being used to promote the regeneration of Fukushima Prefecture - given the long list of problems to have hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant since 2011, some thought the name would have been inadvertently fitting. "I'm Fukuppy. Nice to meet you," the mascot says on the company's website.

 

 

Here's the balance of CLG articles:

 

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government18 Oct 2013http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

 

 

 

Targeted Killings Defender Jeh C. Johnson Will Be Nominated as Homeland Security Chief 18 Oct 2013 President Obama plans to nominate Jeh C. Johnson, a former general counsel for the Defense Department, to become the next head of the Homeland Security Department, according to administration officials. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Johnson will fill the vacancy left by Janet Napolitano, who resigned in July to lead the University of California system. Mr. Johnson shaped the Obama administration's policies on detainees prisoners and military tribunals.

Documents reveal NSA's extensive involvement in targeted killing program 16 Oct 2013 It was an innocuous e-mail, one of millions sent every day. But this one was of particular interest to the National Security Agency and contained clues that put the sender's husband in the crosshairs of a CIA drone. Days later, Hassan Ghul -- an associate of Osama bin Laden who provided a critical piece of intelligence that helped the CIA find the al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leader -- was killed by a drone strike in Pakistan's tribal belt. The U.S. government has never publicly acknowledged killing Ghul. But documents provided to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden confirm his demise in October 2012 and reveal the agency's extensive involvement in the targeted killing program that has served as a centerpiece of President Obama's counterterrorism strategy.

Edward Snowden: I brought no leaked NSA documents to Russia 18 Oct 2013 Edward Snowden, the source of US National Security Agency leaks, has revealed that he left all the leaked documents behind when he flew from Hong Kong to Moscow and there was no chance of them falling into the hands of Russian or Chinese authorities. In an interview with the New York Times (NYT), Snowden said he had decided to hand over all the digital material to the journalists he had met in Hong Kong because it would not have been in the public interest for him to hold on to copies. Snowden conducted the interview over the past few days, communicating from Russia, where he has been granted a year's asylum, with an NYT journalist in the US via encrypted email.

Snowden leaks: David Cameron urges committee to investigate Guardian 16 Oct 2013 David Cameron has encouraged a Commons select committee to investigate whether the Guardian has broken the law or damaged national security by publishing secrets leaked by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. He made his proposal in response to a question from former defence secretary Liam Fox, saying the Guardian had been guilty of double standards for exposing the scandal of phone hacking by newspapers and yet had gone on to publish secrets from the NSA taken by Snowden.

New US charges in Blackwater shootings 18 Oct 2013 The US Justice Department has brought fresh charges against four former Blackwater Worldwide security contractors [mercenaries], reviving an internationally charged case over a deadly 2007 shooting on the streets of Baghdad. A new jury indictment charges the men in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraq and heightened diplomatic sensitivities amid an ongoing war. The men were hired to guard US diplomats. The guards are accused of opening fire in busy Nisoor Square on September 16, 2007, killing 17 Iraqi civilians, including women and children.

59 killed, 196 wounded in violent attacks in Iraq 18 Oct 2013 At least 59 people were killed and 196 others wounded on Thursday in separate violent attacks across Iraq, including a wave of car bombings in the capital of Baghdad that left 40 people dead, police said. At least 11 people were killed and 21 others injured when two car bombs exploded near a popular restaurant in the Alwaya area in central Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua. Ten people were killed and 20 others wounded when a car bomb went off in the Husseiniyah area in northeastern Baghdad, while another car bomb attack in the Mamel area in eastern Baghdad killed six people and wounded 15 others, the source said.

Next round of Afghanistan deployments announced 24 Sep 2013 Almost 9,000 soldiers will deploy to Afghanistan this winter, the Defense Department announced Tuesday. The deploying soldiers represent six major Army units, including a corps headquarters, a division headquarters, three brigade combat teams and a combat aviation brigade. The BCTs will go as Security Force Assistance Brigades, which are smaller, tailored units designed to train, advise and assist the Afghan National Security Forces [to protect the CIA's opium routes].

San Francisco's Union Square reopens after bomb scare 17 Oct 2013 San Francisco's Union Square is getting back to normal after it was evacuated earlier Thursday. Hundreds of tourists and shoppers were rushed out of the plaza after a police officer spotted a suspicious backpack. For two hours, Union Square's garage and surrounding streets remained closed while police with bomb-sniffing dogs searched the area.

Canadian pleads guilty to terrorism charges in U.S. --Prosecutors alleged Nadarajah and co-conspirators negotiated with an undercover FBI agent to buy and export $1 million of high-powered weapons and military equipment 16 Oct 2013 A Canadian man has pleaded guilty in the United States to two terrorism offences in connection with the Tamil Tigers. Piratheepan Nadarajah, from Brampton, Ont., admitted to a conspiracy to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Online court records, updated Wednesday, show that Nadarajah pleaded guilty last week in New York to the two counts.

Canadian First Nation anti-fracking protest: Arrests, pepper-spray, snipers, torched cars 18 Oct 2013 An anti-fracking protest descended into violence when an estimated 100 police officers sought to control hundreds more Canadian protesters who set cars on fire and threatened officers mounted on horseback. Tension spilled over Thursday when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) moved in to take down barriers erected by members of the Elsipogtog First Nation tribe in New Brunswick, Canada. Activists and local aboriginals have held demonstrations for a week to protest shale gas exploration in the region.

BART workers go on strike 18 Oct 2013 (CA) BART workers went on strike early Friday morning, leaving hundreds of thousands of Bay Area commuters scrambling for ways to get to work. After a marathon bargaining session that lasted nearly 30 hours, Roxanne Sanchez, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1021, walked out of the Oakland negotiations late Thursday afternoon and said the talks were over and that union workers would walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Friday. SEIU spokeswoman Cecille Isidro confirmed shortly after midnight that the unions were on strike. "We made concessions, but you can only bend so far before you break," Sanchez said. "This is the way they want to solve the conflict, in a fight, a street fight."

Ex-Halliburton Manager Pleads Guilty to Destroying Evidence 15 Oct 2013 A former Halliburton manager pleaded guilty Tuesday to destroying evidence in the aftermath of the deadly rig explosion that spawned BP's massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Anthony Badalamenti, 62, of Katy, Texas, faces a maximum sentence of 1 year in prison and a $100,000 fine after his guilty plea in U.S. District Court to one misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence. Badalamenti was the cementing technology director for Halliburton Energy Services Inc., BP's cement contractor on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Prosecutors said he instructed two Halliburton employees to delete data during a post-spill review of the cement job on BP's blown-out Macondo well.

Across US, parks and memorials reopen, federal workers back in offices after 16-day shutdown 17 Oct 2013 From the Liberty Bell to Alcatraz, federal landmarks and offices reopened Thursday. Furloughed employees were relieved to get back to work -- even if faced with email backlogs -- but many worried about another such disruption in a matter of months. "We'd hate to have to live through this all over again," Richard Marcus, a 29-year employee of the National Archives in Washington, said after the government shutdown finally ended. Nationwide, from big-city office buildings to wilderness outposts, innumerable federal services and operations shifted back into gear after 16 days.

Government open again, Obama bemoans damage 17 Oct 2013 The government unlocked its doors Thursday after 16 days, with President Barack Obama saluting the resolution of Congress' standoff but lambasting Republicans for the partial shutdown that he said had damaged the U.S. economy and America's credibility around the world. "The American people are completely fed up with Washington," Obama said in stern remarks at the White House, just hours after signing a last-minute measure from Congress that headed off the threat that the nation would default on its debts. The nation's cr*dit rating was jeopardized, economic growth and hiring were slowed and federal workers deprived of p*ychecks, Obama said, all because of "yet another self-inflicted crisis."

U.S. Congress ends default threat, Obama signs debt bill 17 Oct 2013 The U.S. Congress on Wednesday approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world's biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity. Capping weeks of political brinkmanship that had unnerved global markets, President Barack Obama quickly signed the spending measure, which passed the Senate and House of Representatives after Republicans dropped efforts to use the legislation to force changes in his signature healthcare law. The White House budget office told hundreds of thousands of federal workers, the bulk of whom had been idle for the past 16 days, to be ready to return to work on Thursday.

Shutdown Deal Includes Over $2.8 Billion in Pork for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell 16 Oct 2013 A deal to reopen the government and avert a debt default also includes language authorizing more than $2.8 billion in funding for a locks and dam project championed in the past by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The provision would steer $2.918 billion in funding to the Army Corps of Engineers for the Olmsted dam and lock project on the Ohio River, and would benefit Kentucky, Tennessee, and Illinois. The language is only one of several provisions lawmakers have tucked into the must-pass spending and debt bill which would reopen the government through Jan. 15 and extend the nation's credit line until the middle of February. Although the language was inserted by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R), whose home state of Tennessee would also benefit from the project, McConnell has been its historical champion. In fact, the Kentucky lawmaker secured hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for the Olmsted project before lawmakers ended the practice several years ago.

House Roll Call: Vote to End Govt Shutdown 17 Oct 2013 The 285-144 roll call Wednesday night by which the House passed and sent to President Barack Obama legislation to avoid a threatened federal default and end the 16-day partial government shutdown.

Who voted against the Senate bill to end the government shutdown? 16 Oct 2013 Eighteen Senate Republicans vote against the deal to reopen the government and extend the debt ceiling, which passed 81-18. Here’s the breakdown of the 'no' votes

Cory Booker elected to Senate in NJ 16 Oct 2013 Newark Mayor Cory Booker won a special election Wednesday to represent New Jersey in the U.S. Senate, giving the rising Democratic [and Wall Street] star a bigger political stage after a race against conservative Steve Lonegan, a former small-town mayor. Booker, 44, will become the first black senator from New Jersey and heads to Washington with an unusual political resume. Booker was elected to complete the 15 months remaining on the term of Frank Lautenberg, whose death in June gave rise to an unusual and abbreviated campaign. If he wants to keep the seat for a full six-year term -- and all indications are that he does -- Booker will be on the ballot again in November 2014.

African Americans in the U.S. Senate 16 Oct 2013 Newark Mayor Cory Booker won the special election Oct. 16 for the U.S. Senate. With the victory, the New Jersey Democrat becomes only the ninth African American appointed or elected to the U.S. Senate. Here is a list.

Cervical cancer vaccination probe kicks off 16 Oct 2013 (Japan) Two groups set up by the health ministry have started full-scale studies of whether cervical cancer vaccines are directly linked to severe pain that has affected some young women. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare started recommending in April that girls between the sixth grade and the first year of high school be given cervical cancer vaccines under a free vaccination program. However, the ministry suspended the recommendation in June following reports of adverse reactions.

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