CLG: Strontium-90, tritium soar to record-breaking readings in Fukushima groundwater after Typhoon Phanfone

News Updates from CLG
15 October 2014

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Previous edition: 'New Jersey officials order 'symptom-less' NBC News crew into Ebola quarantine,' which Google relegated to the sp*m bin. See: Google Filter Instructions for CLG Newsletter.

Strontium-90, tritium soar to record-breaking readings in Fukushima groundwater after Typhoon Phanfone 12 Oct 2014 The radioactive water woes at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant got worse over the weekend after the tritium concentration in a groundwater sample surged more than tenfold this month. Some 150,000 becquerels of tritium per liter were measured in a groundwater sample taken Thursday from a well east of the No. 2 reactor. The figure is a record for the well and over 10 times the level measured the previous week. In addition, materials that emit beta rays, such as strontium-90, which causes bone cancer, also shattered records with a reading of 1.2 million becquerels, utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. said of the sample.

WHO: Ebola cases could hit 10,000 a week 14 Oct 2014 The death rate in the Ebola outbreak has risen to 70 percent and there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week in two months, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday. WHO assistant director-general Dr. Bruce Aylward gave the grim figures during a news conference in Geneva. Previously, WHO had estimated the death rate in the current outbreak at around 50 percent.

CDC Creating Ebola Response Team 14 Oct 2014 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are creating an Ebola response team that will respond within hours to any U.S. hospital where there is a confirmed case of Ebola. The team will include experts in personal protective equipment, laboratory science, infection control, experimental therapies, public education and environmental controls, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said as he made the announcement at a Tuesday news conference.

CDC urges all US hospitals to 'think Ebola' 13 Oct 2014 Federal health authorities are telling the nation's hospitals to "think Ebola. "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden is urging hospitals to watch for patients with fever or symptoms of Ebola who have traveled from the three Ebola-stricken African nations in the past 21 days. The CDC is now monitoring all hospital workers who treated the Liberian man. Frieden says he wouldn't be surprised if another hospital worker who cared for that patient when he was very sick becomes ill.

UK to start fever tests for Ebola at Heathrow airport --New measure comes as health secretary Jeremy Hunt says it is likely that virus will be diagnosed in UK by end of year 13 Oct 2014 Passengers will have their temperatures tested for suspected Ebola at Heathrow terminal one from Tuesday but it will be impossible to check all the 1,000 people a month arriving from the worst affected countries, the UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted. Hunt said it was likely that Ebola would be diagnosed in the UK by the end of the year but the best estimates suggested there would probably be less than 10 cases over the next three months.

Terrifying moment team of Hazmat-wearing officials board Boston plane and remove five passengers with flu-like symptoms (despite them not having been to Africa) 14 Oct 2014 This is the terrifying moment a team of Hazmat-wearing officials boarded a Boston plane following reports that five passengers were exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Donning overalls and masks, the officials were filmed walking down United Arab Emirates Flight 237 from Dubai to Logan International Airport this afternoon, before removing the sick fliers. None of the five passengers had recently traveled to West Africa, where an outbreak of the Ebola virus has already killed more than 4,000 people, the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) said.

Panic at London hospital after suspected Ebola patient arrives at A&E --Came on same day as high-profile NHS drill in how to respond to outbreak 13 Oct 2014 A London hospital was totally unprepared when a suspected Ebola patient walked into A&E, it was claimed today. Health authorities have carried out high-profile drills in a bid to show that Britain is ready for the feared arrival of the disease. But an insider at Lewisham hospital said the response when a potential case walked into casualty on Saturday night shows the reality of the situation is much worse. The man - who was later found not to have the virus - was not transferred to the specialist Royal Free Hospital, which is the only hospital in Britain equipped with a fully 'Ebola-proof' isolation unit.

Ebola outbreak: UN health worker dies in Germany hospital 14 Oct 2014 A United Nations medical worker infected with Ebola has died at a hospital in Germany. Doctors at the hospital in Leipzig said the man, 56, originally from Sudan, died despite receiving experimental drugs to treat the virus.

Ebola-infected Dallas nurse upbeat as her condition improves --Pham is first person to contract Ebola virus in U.S. 15 Oct 2014 News about Dallas nurse Nina Pham took an optimistic tone Tuesday with improvement in her condition and her first statement after being diagnosed with the Ebola virus. Pham, 26, a critical care nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, was listed in good condition Tuesday, up from stable condition Monday. Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Pham has been speaking with investigators.

Texas health worker becomes first person to contract Ebola in U.S. 13 Oct 2014 A Texas health worker has contracted Ebola after treating a Liberian who died of the disease in Dallas last week, raising concern about how U.S. medical guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of the disease were breached. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where the new case was announced on Sunday, has already faced criticism for its management of the infection. The infected worker, a woman who was not named, is the first person to contract the disease in the United States.

Second leaker in US intelligence, says Glenn Greenwald 11 Oct 2014 The investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald has found a second leaker inside the US intelligence agencies, according to a new documentary about Edward Snowden that premiered in New York on Friday night. Towards the end of filmmaker Laura Poitras's portrait of Snowden - titled Citizenfour, the label he used when he first contacted her - Greenwald is seen telling Snowden about a second source. The specific information relates to the number of the people on the US government's watchlist of people under surveillance as a potential threat or as a suspect. The figure is an astonishing 1.2 million.

Terrorism trial hears of possible plot to assassinate Tony Blair --Significant parts of the evidence are being heard in secret 14 Oct 2014 A man accused of plotting a terrorist attack on the streets of the UK may have been targeting Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie Booth, among others, the Old Bailey heard on Tuesday. Erol Incedal was preparing to mount an attack that could have been against a small group of people or a single prominent person, the jury was told. Alternatively, he may have been planning an indiscriminate attack on a hotel, such as that [false flag] mounted in Mumbai, India, in 2008...Incedal denies two terrorism charges.

Six people arrested on suspicion of terrorism 14 Oct 2014 Counter-terrorism police have arrested three men and three women from Portsmouth, Farnborough and London on suspicion of plotting, or helping to plot, terrorism in Syria. According to the Press Association, one of the homes raided is understood to be the family home of Ifthekar Jaman, who was killed in Syria in December last year. Officers from the South East Counter Terrorism Unit led the operation, which also involved Hampshire constabulary and the Metropolitan police.

1,200 undercover police officers operating across England and Wales --The watchdog has refused to say how many undercover officers are being used to infiltrate political groups. 13 Oct 2014 There are more than 1,200 undercover police officers operating in 39 units across England and Wales the police watchdog has revealed for the first time, as it issued a damning criticism of senior officers responsible for the tactic. The inspectors said that the "generally poor knowledge and lack of expertise of senior officers" was unacceptable and called for a root-and-branch reform of the secretive national group that oversees the deployment of undercover officers. The watchdog broke new ground by disclosing the breadth of modern undercover work, revealing that there were 3,466 undercover operations in England and Wales between October 2009 and September 2013 and that at the most recent count, 1,229 officers in 39 units are trained as undercover officers.

Australia's defence intelligence agency conducted secret programs to help NSA 12 Oct 2014 Australia's defence intelligence agency has conducted secretive programs to help the US National Security Agency hack and exploit computer networks, according to documents published by the Intercept. The documents, which were leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, reveal new details about some of the NSA's most closely guarded secrets. The documents describe a class of "exceptionally compartmentalised information" (ECI) that strictly classifies information about select NSA programs. The information is so secret that some parts of these operations are only released on the approval of the NSA director.

UK MPs pass motion to recognize Palestine as a state 13 Oct 2014 The British parliament voted in favor of a symbolic move to recognize Palestine as an official state, answering impassioned pleas by pro-Palestinian ministers and activists. The vote, which took place on Monday evening, saw 274 MPs come out in support of the motion, while 12 voted against. A number of politicians chose to abstain from the final vote, including Prime Minister David Cameron and Respect MP George Galloway.

Investigation Into Missing Iraqi Cash Ended in Lebanon Bunker --$1.2 billion to $1.6 billion had been stolen and moved to a bunker in rural Lebanon 12 Oct 2014 Not long after American forces defeated the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein in 2003, caravans of trucks began to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington on a regular basis, unloading an unusual cargo -- pallets of shrink-wrapped $100 bills. The cash, withdrawn from Iraqi government accounts held in the United States, was loaded onto Air Force C-17 transport planes bound for Baghdad. Over the next year and a half, $12 billion to $14 billion was sent to Iraq in the airlift, and an additional $5 billion was sent by electronic transfer. Exactly what happened to that money after it arrived in Baghdad became one of the many unanswered questions from the chaotic days of the American occupation, when billions were flowing into the country from the United States and corruption was rampant.

Senior Iraqi police officer killed in bomb attack in Ramadi 12 Oct 2014 A high-ranking police officer and provincial police chief was killed Sunday in a bomb attack in the volatile province of Anbar in western Iraq, a provincial security source said. Major General Ahmed Saddak al-Dulaimi was killed when a roadside bomb struck his convoy in Albu Risha area in the northern part of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Albu Risha area is the stronghold of the tribal leader Ahmed Abu Risha, who heads the government-backed paramilitary groups of Awakening Councils, or Sahwa.

Taliban fighters kill 22 Afghan soldiers and police in ambush on convoy 13 Oct 2014 Taliban insurgents have ambushed a convoy of Afghan security forces in a mountainous northern region of Afghanistan, killing 22 soldiers and police, an official said, as bombs in the capital Kabul and elsewhere left three people dead. The Taliban attacked the convoy as it travelled through Laghman valley in Sar-e-Pul province, the governor, Abdul Jabar Haqbeen, said. Eight security forces were wounded and seven were taken captive. "Twelve army and police vehicles are totally destroyed," he added.

Kabul blast targets US-led forces, kills 1 13 Oct 2014 A car bomb blast has ripped through a convoy of US-led foreign troops barely outside Afghanistan's capital of Kabul, causing casualties. At least one individual was reportedly killed and three more injured as a result of the Monday morning blast, though it is still unclear whether the casualties included members of the contingent of foreign troops in the war-ravaged nation. Some local reports indicated that the bombing attack took place in the Qabilby neighborhood of Kabul at the Green Village, which is a residential compound for NATO contractors.

Nuclear plants must give anti-radiation pills to nearby residents: regulator 11 Oct 2014 Residents and businesses near nuclear power plants must be provided with potassium iodide pills as a precautionary measure in case of an emergency, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said Friday. The pills, which must be preemptively distributed in conjunction with local governments, protect against nuclear exposure by preventing the human thyroid gland from absorbing radiation. Nuclear energy operators must provide the pills to "all residences, businesses and institutions" that could be at-risk of exposure from a radiation plume potentially released during an emergency.

Texas Voter ID Law Deemed 'Poll Tax' Reinstated by Appeals Court 14 Oct 2014 A federal appeals court on Tuesday put on hold a ruling striking down a controversial Texas voter ID law, based "primarily" on the approaching election. The Texas voter ID suppression law, which requires voters to produce government-issued identification before casting ballots, was struck down last week by U.S. District Judge Nelva Conzales Ramos, who called the measure an "unconstitutional poll tax." But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit stayed Ramos's ruling, saying the "value of preserving the [unconstitutional] status quo" was important so soon before early voting begins in the state. [Start reading.]

Asset seizures fuel police spending --Stop and seize 11 Oct 2014 Police agencies have used hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Americans under federal civil forfeiture law in recent years to buy guns, armored cars and electronic surveillance gear. They have also spent money on luxury vehicles, travel and a clown named Sparkles. The details are contained in thousands of annual reports submitted by local and state agencies to the Justice Department's Equitable Sharing Program, an initiative that allows local and state police to keep up to 80 percent of the assets they seize. The Washington Post obtained 43,000 of the reports dating from 2008 through a Freedom of Information Act request.

St. Louis area police arrest at least 17 during weekend of protests 13 Oct 2014 Hundreds of civil rights activists and protesters applauded speakers, preachers and poets on Sunday in a an arena in St. Louis, Missouri, capping a weekend of protests against police violence that included 17 arrests earlier in the day. Thousands of people staged protest marches, vigils and other demonstrations in the St. Louis area, calling for the arrest of a white police officer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager in August, with more protests scheduled for Monday.

Supreme Court blocks parts of Texas abortion law 14 Oct 2014 The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked key parts of a 2013 law in Texas that had closed all but eight facilities providing abortions in America's second most-populous state. In an unsigned order, the justices sided with abortion rights advocates and health care providers in suspending an Oct. 2 ruling by a panel of the New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that Texas could immediately apply a rule making abortion clinics statewide spend millions of dollars on hospital-level upgrades.

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