News Updates from
CLG
25 January 2015
25 January 2015
http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news
Previous edition: C.I.A. Report Found Value of Torture Was
Inflated
US Trainers to Deploy to Ukraine --Also Will Begin Shipment of US-funded
Armored Vehicles --US has already earmarked 19 million to help build
Ukrainian [Nazi] National Guard | 22 Jan 2015 | American
soldiers will deploy to Ukraine this spring to begin training four companies of
the Ukrainian National Guard, the head of US Army Europe Lt. Gen Ben Hodges said
during his first visit to Kiev on Wednesday. The number of troops heading to the
Yavoriv Training Area near the city of L'viv -- which is about 40 miles from the
Polish border -- is still being determined, however. Funding for the initiative
is coming from the congressionally-authorized Global Security Contingency Fund
(GSCF), which was requested by the Obama administration in the fiscal 2015
budget to help train and equip the armed forces of allies around the
globe.
Donetsk trolleybus explosion blows Ukraine peace negotiations
apart | 22 Jan 2015 | Barely had the ink
dried on another diplomatic attempt to bring peace to eastern Ukraine than a
bloody explosion ripped through a trolleybus in Donetsk, killing 13 people.
Foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine had signed a document in Berlin late on
Wednesday night calling for Kiev's forces and Russian-backed rebels to pull back
artillery from the front lines: but on the ground, instead of peace, came signs
of intensified violence.
'We didn't even really know who we were firing at' - former US drone
operator | 22 Jan 2015 | Former US drone
sensor operator Brandon Bryant admits he "couldn't stand" himself for his
participation in the country's drone program for six years - firing on targets
whose identities often went unconfirmed. Since 2001, and increasingly under the Obama
administration, the US has been carrying out drone
strikes against targets believed to be affiliated with terrorist organizations
in countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia. The program, which
has been shrouded in secrecy, has been routinely criticized for the high number
of resultant civilian casualties.
ISIS sets up English-speaking brigade to target Western
countries | 23 Jan 2015 | The Islamic State
has created an English language group of fighters, whose aim is to bring the
terrorist organization's fight to the West. The first step is to send foreign
fighters back home after they have completed their training. The brigade, which
is known as the 'Anwar al-Awlaki Battalion,' [LOL! Who writes this stuff?] is
made up solely of English speaking jihadists. The Islamic State (IS, formerly
ISIS/ISIL) now wants to use this group of Islamists to plan and carryout
terrorist attacks in English speaking countries.
Islamic militants behead Japanese hostage, offer swap for remaining
one - reports | 24 Jan 2015 | A video has
reportedly appeared on the internet showing one of the Japanese hostages held by
jihadists. He claimed his companion was executed and said the Islamic State want
him swapped for a female [alleged] suicide bomber. Kenji Goto shows a picture
of the beheaded body of his fellow captive, Haruna Yukawa, reported the SITE
Intel Group. In his message, Goto reportedly blames Japan's prime minister
for Yukawa's death and says that the Islamic State now wants the release of
Sajida al-Rishawi, an alleged attempted suicide bomber, who is believed to be
connected to the attack on a hotel in Jordan in 2005.
President Barack Obama to meet, pay respects to new Saudi King [of
beheading and flogging] | 24 Jan 2015 |
U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in order to
meet the newly appointed
monarch, King Salman, and pay his respects to the
family of the late King Abdullah, the White House said Saturday. Vice President
Joe Biden was originally set to have led a delegation to Saudi Arabia on Obama's
behalf. However, the schedule for the President's departure from India has been
adjusted to allow Obama to stop in Riyadh himself on his way home, White House
press secretary Josh Earnest said.
Obama will not meet with Netanyahu during trip to
Washington | 22 Jan 2015 | President Barack Obama will not meet with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he travels to Washington in
March, the White House said Thursday, one day after being caught off-guard by
Republicans' invitation for the Israeli leader to address a joint session of
Congress.
Yemen president resigns under pressure from
rebels | 22 Jan 22 2015 | Yemen's president
resigned Thursday, saying he had reached a "deadlock" in talks with Shiite
rebels who rule the capital and had confined him to his home. His resignation
raised fears the Arab world's poorest country could again split apart, severely
complicating U.S. efforts to 'combat' al-Qaida's powerful local
franchise.
Khadr will seek to be released on bail | 23 Jan 2015 | Former Guantanamo Bay
detainee prisoner Omar Khadr
will seek to be released on bail pending a decision on the appeal of his
convictions in the United States. A two-day hearing for the bail application was
scheduled Friday in Edmonton's Court of Queen's Bench to be heard on March 24
and 25. Khadr, 28, is currently serving an eight-year federal prison sentence in
Bowden Institution as a result of an international transfer agreement with the
U.S. in 2012.
FBI finds no bombs on Atlanta-bound flights guided into airports by
fighter jets after threats were posted on Twitter --It's believed threats prompted NORAD fighter jets to
escort Delta flight 1156 and Southwest flight 2492 to Atlanta, Georgia, airport
| 24 Jan 2015 | The FBI have found no bombs on the two Atlanta-bound
planes that were guided into airports by fighter jets after threats were posted
on Twitter. The Twitter user with no followers, who goes by the name KingZortic,
sent a slew of warnings to Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines, claiming to
have planted explosives on flights which were due to land at Hartsfield Jackson
International Airport. Bomb squads was rushed in as a result, but nothing
suspicious was found on either flight.
F-16 fighter jets escort two passenger planes after bomb
threat | 24 Jan 2015 | F-16 fighter jets
escorted two passenger planes into Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport on Saturday after a bomb threat made on Twitter was deemed credible,
according to military officials. Southwest Airlines Flight 2492 and Delta Flight
1156 landed safely at the airport and were searched by bomb disposal units,
according to airline officials. Nothing out of the ordinary was found, officials
said. One runway was closed temporarily, causing delays for other flights as
passengers on the two flights were questioned and their luggage was searched by
bomb-sniffing dogs, officials said.
Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months for 'merely linking to hacked
material' | 22 Jan 2015 | In a rebuke to a
legion of online supporters and what the journalist and one-time member of
Anonymous called a "dangerous precedent", Barrett Brown was sentenced to 63
months in prison by a federal judge in Dallas on Thursday. Brown's backers from
across the web had hoped he would be able to walk free with his 31 months of
time served for what they insist was "merely linking to hacked material". But
the 33-year-old, who was once considered something of a spokesman for the
Anonymous movement, will face more than twice that sentence. The judge also
ordered him to pay more 890,000 in restitution and fines.
Journalist Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in federal prison,
must pay $890K in restitution | 22 Jan 2015
|A court in Dallas has sentenced Barrett Brown to 63 months in federal prison,
minus 28 months already served. For count one in the case, he receives 48
months. For count 2, he receives 12 months. And for count 3, he receives 3
months. He is also ordered to pay 890,000 in restitution. The government's
charges against the intelligence and security reporter stemmed from his
relationship with sources close to the hacker group Anonymous, and the fact that
Brown published a link to publicly-available copies of leaked Stratfor
documents. Brown read a statement to the court
during the sentencing hearing, and you can read that statement in entirety
here.
TEPCO reneges on deadline to process radioactive water at stricken
Fukushima nuclear plant | 23 Jan 2015 |
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), owner and operator of the crisis-hit Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant, said Friday it would be unable to keep its promise
of processing all the highly radioactive water still stored at the plant before
the end of March, due to ongoing problems with faulty and untested equipment. In
a pledge to the nation and to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he visited the
stricken plant in Fukushima Prefecture, 220 km northeast of Tokyo, in Sept.
2013, TEPCO President Naomi Hirose vowed that the embattled utility would
complete the filtration process of all the dangerously toxic water being held in
temporary storage tanks by March 2015. As it stands, at the stricken
plant...280, 000 tons of highly-radioactive water is in need of treating and
being stored in tanks, with around 350 tons of toxic water being added daily, to
keep the reactors cool.
Three Tepco execs again dodge indictment over meltdown
disaster | 23 Jan 2015 | The Tokyo District
Public Prosecutor's Office dismissed a case Thursday against three former senior
executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. again over their alleged negligence for
failing to prevent the March 2011 tsunami-triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima
No. 1 nuclear power plant. The prosecutor's office cited a lack of sufficient
evidence following its six-month reinvestigation, which was conducted after a
special prosecution inquest panel ruled last July that the three should be
charged with professional negligence leading to death and injury...Despite the
latest decision, however, the three could still be indicted forcibly by
court-appointed lawyers acting as prosecutors if the inquest panel seeks
indictments for a second time.
Lawyers: Boston 'has to be ready' for lawsuits over deal requiring
employees to support Olympics bid | 23 Jan
2015 | Mayor Marty Walsh has said he will not enforce an agreement with the U.S.
Olympic Committee that not only bans all city
employees from criticizing the Boston bid, but also
orders them to actively promote it. Despite his assurances, the ACLU of
Massachusetts is concerned. Deputy legal director Sarah Wunsch said Walsh's
promise might not be good enough and the agreement is "troubling" and
"ridiculous."
Olympic documents show Boston city employees barred from speaking
negatively about Olympics, IOC, USOC | 21
Jan 2015 | Documents obtained by MassLive show that Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh
signed an agreement with the United States Olympic Committee that blocks city
employees from making negative comments about the Olympics, the International
Olympic Committee, or the USOC. The documents obtained through a public records
request indicate that city employees are barred from making comments that
"reflect unfavorably upon, denigrate or disparage, or are detrimental to the
reputation." The documents indicate that not only must all city employees not
speak negatively about the games or the organizations connected to them but that
they must actively promote the games. [See: Boston 2024 Joinder Signed by Mayor
of Boston and Boston 2024 2015-17 Policy Summary -
w Binders.]
H5N8 avian influenza
confirmed in California turkey flock | 24
Jan 2015 | The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly
pathogenic (HPAI) H5N8 avian influenza in a commercial turkey flock in
Stanislaus County, California. This is the first finding of HPAI in commercial
poultry during the ongoing disease incident in the Pacific Flyway. Samples from
the flock, which experienced increased mortality, were tested at the California
Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS) and the APHIS National
Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa confirmed the
finding.
Avian flu outbreaks in Taiwan trigger human
monitoring | 22 Jan 2015 | In the wake of
widespread poultry outbreaks caused by three different highly pathogenic avian
flu strains, Taiwanese health officials are monitoring more than a thousand farm
workers and public health workers, though so far there have been no signs of
transmission to humans. Animal health officials in Taiwan are battling multiple
outbreaks of H5N8 and H5N2 avian influenza, along with H5N3, which the region's
veterinary experts have said is a novel strain. Yesterday regions reported
several new outbreaks involving all three strains.
GOP drops 'civil rights and human rights' from subcommittee
name | 24 Jan 2015 | The new GOP chairman
of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee changed the name of the panel, dropping
"civil rights" and "human rights" from its title. The subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights is now simply the subcommittee on
the Constitution. The subcommittee names are chosen by its chair, so Sen. John
Cornyn (R-Tex.) is responsible for the switch...Civil rights leaders are
displeased. Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of the Leadership Conference
on Civil and Human Rights, called it "a discouraging sign" in a news release
Friday.
Mega barf alert *and*
gag me with a chainsaw: Palin says she's 'seriously interested' in 2016
campaign | 24 Jan 2015 | Former Alaska
[half] governor Sarah Palin told The Washington Post in an interview Friday that
she is "seriously interested" in running for the White House in 2016. "You can
absolutely say that I am seriously interested," Palin said, when asked to
clarify her thinking about a possible presidential bid. Palin, the GOP's 2008
vice-presidential nominee, said she stood by comments she made Thursday in Las
Vegas to ABC News, where she first expressed enthusiasm about potentially
competing for the Republican presidential nomination.
Jay Leno defends women alleging sexual assault by Bill Cosby –
video | 22 Jan 2015 | "In Saudi Arabia you
need two women to testify against a man. Here you need
twenty-five."
Blizzard-Like Conditions Possible in Northeast's Next
Storm | 25 Jan 2015 | A major snowstorm
with blizzard-like conditions could drop a foot or more of snow across most
parts of the Northeast as they gear up for the workweek right after the first
real storm of the winter hit them with rain, several inches of snow and messy
slush. A storm system diving out of the Midwest has the potential to slowly coat
from Philadelphia up to Massachusetts and Maine with snow beginning late Sunday
night into Monday and intensifying greatly well into Tuesday, the National
Weather Service said. "There's the potential for a significant snowstorm to
impact the entire Northeast U.S.," meteorologist Patrick Maloit
said.
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