CLG: Thousands of teenage girls enduring debilitating illnesses after routine school cancer vaccination, NSA used Stuxnet to attack North Korea's nuclear program, but U.S. agents could not access core machines, Fired Nuclear Plant Contractor Arrested With Carload of Explosives, Ammunition Is Charged With Terroristic Threats

News Updates from CLG
02 June 2015

http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

 

Previous edition: Live anthrax 'inadvertently' sent by U.S. military

 

NSA used Stuxnet to attack North Korea's nuclear program, but U.S. agents could not access core machines | 29 May 2015 | The United States tried to deploy a version of the Stuxnet computer virus to attack North Korea's nuclear weapons program five years ago but ultimately failed, according to people familiar with the covert campaign. The operation began in tandem with the now-famous U.S.-Israeli Stuxnet attack that sabotaged Iran's nuclear program in 2009 and 2010 by destroying a thousand or more centrifuges that were enriching uranium. According to one U.S. intelligence source, Stuxnet's developers produced a related virus that would be activated when it encountered Korean-language settings on an infected machine. But U.S. agents could not access the core machines that ran Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, said another source, a former high-ranking intelligence official who was briefed on the program.

 

Pentagon's anthrax scandal spreads to Washington, D.C., Canada | 01 June 2015 | The Pentagon has learned that additional samples of live anthrax were sent to three laboratories in Canada, two Defense officials confirmed Monday evening. That means that specimens of the deadly Bacillus anthracis have been sent to labs in 12 states, the District of Columbia and three countries. The samples came from the U.S. Army lab at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The number of laboratories known to have 'mistakenly' receiving samples of live anthrax has grown to at least 28 labs in 12 states and the District of Columbia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

 

Pentagon admits 24 US labs, 2 foreign states received live anthrax shipments | 30 May 2015 | The Pentagon has revised the number of instances in which live anthrax samples have "accidentally" been shipped both across US and abroad, and has announced a comprehensive review into the poor handling of the deadly bacteria. "As of now, 24 laboratories in 11 states and two foreign countries are believed to have received suspect samples," the Pentagon said in a statement. Earlier this week it was revealed that US Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah had shipped live anthrax to labs in nine states, and to a US military base in South Korea.

 

Iraq: 10 dead, 30 wounded after car bomb blasts at top Baghdad hotels --'Baghdad is burning' | 29 May 2015 | At least 10 people have been killed after car bombs exploded at two exclusive hotels in Baghdad. The explosions happened just before midnight local time (21:00 GMT) and were heard across the city centre. Both hotels are popular with Western tourists. Reuters news agency reported that at least 30 people were injured in the blasts which went off in the hotel car parks.

 

FBI: ISIS poses 'near-term' threat to U.S. military bases; personnel warned of insider attacks [aka false flags] | 26 May 2015 | The FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center and Department of Homeland Security have issued a new bulletinwarning of increased "near-term" threats against U.S. military bases and events. The bulletin, obtained by Fox News, advised law enforcement and military personnel to remain vigilant, especially during upcoming national holidays and military events, due to the "heightened threat of attacks" by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the ultra-radical group that's been targeted by U.S. forces [after they were created and funded by U.S. forces]. The bulletin said there was no "credible" threats involving specific events but said the agencies had become aware via social media of suggestions U.S. military bases, locations, and events could be targeted in the near-term.

 

U.S. drops Cuba from list of state sponsors of terrorism | 29 May 2015 | The [corporate-ruled] United States formally dropped Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Friday, an important step toward restoring diplomatic ties but one that will have limited effect on removing U.S. sanctions on the Communist-'ruled' island. President Barack Obama had announced on April 14 he would drop the former Cold War rival from the list, initiating a 45-day review period for Congress that expired on Friday. Obama ordered a review of Cuba's status on the terrorism list as part of a landmark policy shift on Dec. 17, when he and Cuban President Raul Castro announced they would seek to restore diplomatic relations that Washington severed in 1961, and work toward a broader normalization of ties.

 

M8.5 quake rocks Ogasawara Islands, jolting Tokyo and wider Kanto | 30 May 2015 | A magnitude-8.5 earthquake struck off the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo on Saturday evening, jolting wide parts of the Kanto region and causing moderate tremors in many parts of the archipelago, the Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued by the agency, and no serious injuries or major damage were immediately reported in the Ogasawara chain by local authorities. In Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, a woman sustained a minor injury when dishes fell on top of her head at home. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said no damage had been reported at its Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power stations.

 

Radioactive Leak Contained at Delhi Airport, Minister Says | 29 May 2015 | A radioactive leak detected at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport was contained by emergency response teams, India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh said. There's "absolutely no risk of exposure" to any passengers and authorities are making arrangements to remove a medical consignment suspected to be radioactive, Delhi International Airport Ltd., the operator, said in an e-mailed statement. The suspected material was Sodium Iodide Liquid Class 7, which is low on radio-activity and is used in medicine, DIAL said in the statement, citing a preliminary report by the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research.

 

Fired Nuclear Plant Contractor Arrested With Carload of Explosives, Ammunition Is Charged With Terroristic Threats | 28 May 2015 | A disgruntled contract employee who had been working at Xcel Energy's Monticello nuclear power plant [Monticello, MN] harassed and threatened union officials before police discovered he had a carload of explosive materials and ammunition, prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint. Robert James Johnson, 58, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was charged in Ramsey County last week with three felony counts of making terroristic threats...When police searched his car May 20, they found 6 pounds of the explosive Tannerite, lighter fluid, propane, 500 .22-caliber rifle rounds, nine 20-gauge shotgun shells, a 5-gallon bucket and leg irons, the complaint said. It alleged that he told investigators he was planning "a surprise attack."

 

TSA Director Reassigned in Wake of Security Failures | 02 June 2015 | The acting director of the Transportation Security Administration has been reassigned after an internal investigation revealed security failures at dozens of the nation's busiest airports, where undercover investigators were able to smuggle mock explosives or banned weapons through checkpoints in 95 percent of trials. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement Monday that Melvin Carraway would be moved to the Office of State and Local Law Enforcement at DHS headquarters "effective immediately."

 

Undercover DHS Tests Find Security Failures at US Airports | 01 June 2015 | An internal investigation of the Transportation Security Administration revealed security failures at dozens of the nation's busiest airports, where undercover investigators were able to smuggle mock explosives or banned weapons through checkpoints in 95 percent of trials, ABC News has learned. The series of tests were conducted by Homeland Security Red Teams who pose as passengers, setting out to beat the system. According to officials briefed on the results of a recent Homeland Security Inspector General's report, TSA agents failed 67 out of 70 tests, with Red Team members repeatedly able to get potential weapons through checkpoints.

 

Senate Roll Call Vote on NSA Surveillance | 31 May 2015 | The 77-17 roll call on Sunday by which the Senate voted to move ahead and consider the House-passed bill to extend parts of the Patriot Act. A "yes" vote is a vote to move ahead on the bill. Voting yes were 41 Democrats, 34 Republicans and 2 independents. Voting no were 0 Democrats and 17 Republicans.

 

Patriot Act powers to lapse at midnight as Senate fails to agree on NSA reform | 31 May 2015 | Republican senatorRand Paul forced at least a temporary shutdown of sweeping US surveillance powers on Sunday night after refusing to allow an accelerated vote on 'compromise legislation' designed to more 'narrowly restrain' the National Security Agency. In a double blow for Washington security hawks, represented by embattled Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, it now looks likely that Congress will have to wait several days before passing that bill, the USA Freedom Act. The reform legislation, which bans privatizes the NSA from collecting Americans' telephone records in bulk, was initially opposed by McConnell. But with the clock ticking down toward the midnight expiration of broader powers initially granted after 9/11 under the Patriot Act, Republican leaders had few options but to get behind the bill as the best way of preserving other surveillance authority.

 

Obama pleads with Congress to pass surveillance bill [that he promised to end when he campaigned for White House]| 31 May 2015 | President Barack Obama has made a plea to Congress to pass a bill that limits some NSA surveillance powers, saying it would be "irresponsible" and "reckless" to allow such authorities to expire at midnight on Sunday (US time). "This is a matter of national security," Mr Obama said in his weekly address. "We shouldn't surrender the tools that help keep us safe. It would be irresponsible. It would be reckless." Mr Obama blamed "a small group of senators [who are] standing in the way", understating the gridlock in Congress caused by several groups who support or oppose the reform-minded bill, the USA Freedom Act, over a status quo renewal of powers under thePatriot Act [that Obusha promised he'd end, when he campaigned for the White House in 2008. See: As Bad As Bush? Obama's Five Biggest '08 Campaign Reversals 27 Sept 2012.]

 

Coalition backbench calling for even tougher stance against Australians supporting terrorism | 01 June 2015 | Prime Minister Tony Abbott is under pressure from his own backbench to go further than stripping dual nationals of their citizenship, if they support terrorism. Liberal MP Dan Tehan delivered a letter to Mr Abbott today, with support from two thirds of the backbench for a plan to come down even harder on those found to be supporting terrorism. The move would go further than stripping the citizenship from dual nationals, but also solo citizens of second-generation Australians who can apply to another country.

 

Fatal police shootings in 2015 approaching 400 nationwide | 30 May 2015 | In an alley in Denver, police gunned down a 17-year-old girl joyriding in a stolen car. In a high-rise apartment in Birmingham, Ala., police shot an elderly man after his son asked them to make sure he was okay. Douglas Harris, 77, answered the door with a gun. The two are among at least 385 people shot and killed by police nationwide during the first five months of this year, more than two a day, according to a Washington Post analysis. That is more than twice the rate of fatal police shootings tallied by the federal government over the past decade, a count that officials concede is incomplete.

 

Anti-Islam protesters to stage 'Draw Muhammad' contest at Phoenix mosque, encourage participants to bring guns | 29 May 2015 | Anti-Islam protesters sociopaths have planned a "Draw Muhammad" rally outside an Arizona mosque once attended by the gunmen responsible for the attack on a similar event in Texas earlier this month. The event is timed to coincide with the Friday night communal prayer, jummah, at the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix. Rally participants are encouraged to bring guns to the event, despite the organizer's claim that it is a "peaceful" protest. Jon Ritzheimer, the event organizer, said that event is meant to "expose Islam" and to send a message "to the known acquaintances of the two gunmen".

 

Thousands of teenage girls enduring debilitating illnesses after routine school cancer vaccination | 31 May 2015 | ...Emily Ryalls is one of the thousands of teenage girls who have endured debilitating illnesses following the routine immunisation. She is yet to recover and has no idea when her health will return to normal. Mrs Ryalls reported Emily's condition to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). In the 10 years to April this year theagency received almost 22,000 "spontaneous suspected" adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports in 13 routine immunisation categories including flu, MMR, tetanus, diphtheria and polio, according to a Freedom of Information response released earlier this month. In the HPV category alone, ADRs numbered 8,228, of which 2,587 were classified as "serious" -- defined by several criteria, including whether it resulted in hospitalisation or was deemed life threatening. The MHRA said that the figures did not reflect the true amount of ADRs because of an "unknown and variable level of under-reporting".

 

A second person accused Hastert of sexual abuse, official says | 29 May 2015 | Indicted former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was paying a former student from Yorkville, Ill., to conceal his alleged sexual abuse of the youth that took place while Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach at a high school there, federal law enforcement officials said Friday. A top official, who would not be identified speaking about the federal charges in Chicago, said investigators also spoke with a second person who raised similar allegations that corroborated what the student said. The second person was not being paid by Hastert, the official said.

 

Ex-House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert Indicted on Federal Charges | 28 May 2015 | J. Dennis Hastert, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, has been charged with lying to the F.B.I. and making cash withdrawals from banks in a way that was designed to hide that he was paying 3.5 million to someone for his "misconduct" from years ago, afederal indictment released on Thursday said. Mr. Hastert, 73, the longest-serving Republican speaker, now works as a lobbyist in Washington. The indictment, announced by the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said Mr. Hastert, who was once a high school teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Ill., had so far paid 1.7 million to the person, who had lived in Yorkville and had known Mr. Hastert for most of his or her life. Mr. Hastert worked in Yorkville from 1965 to 1981.

 

Defense hawk Graham enters Republican race for White House | 01 Jun 2105 | U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a defense hawk, entered the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on Monday, putting criticism of President Barack Obama's foreign policy at the forefront of his White House bid. Graham, 59, is the ninth Republican to declare he is running. A fierce critic of Obama's nuclear negotiations with Iran, Graham was one of 47 Republican senators who signed a letter of warning in March to the leadership in Tehran, a highly unusual [traitorous] intervention into U.S. foreign policy-making.

 

O'Malley attacks big banks, political dynasties in launching uphill 2016 bid | 30 May 2015 | Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley launched his long-shot White House bid Saturday with populist attacks on corporate giants, big banks and political dynasties, offering himself as a younger, more progressive alternative to Hillary Rodham Clinton. "We cannot rebuild the American dream here at home by catering to the voices of the privileged and the powerful," O'Malley told a sweaty crowd at Baltimore's Federal Hill Park before coming here to campaign in the nation's first presidential nominating state. O'Malley will visit New Hampshire, another early nominating state, on Sunday. Creating a base of support there and in Iowa is crucial to his upstart strategy.

 

Joe Biden's son Beau dies aged 46 after battle with brain cancer | 30 May 2015 | Beau Biden, the 46-year-old son of Joe Biden, has died from brain cancer. The eldest child of the Vice President was taken to hospital earlier this month for undisclosed reasons, and died Saturday evening from the disease. He was an Iraq veteran and also served as the Attorney General of Delaware. His family announced the death in a statement around 9:45pm.

 

State threatens to take Lodi couple's rescued elderly black bear | 28 May 2015 | A Medina County is couple fighting to keep their pet, Archie, in his golden years. But they may lose their beloved bear all because of red tape. Archie has been living in Lodi for the past 30 years, ever since Jeff and Debra Gillium rescued him. Now the state of Ohio is considering taking the 600-pound bear away. Archie is about 40 and loves dandelions and red apples. Debra says she considers Archie her child and friend.

 

Another obvious set-up: D.C. mansion slaying suspect reportedly traced with DNA on pizza crust actually 'doesn’t like pizza': attorney | 30 May 2015 | The D.C. mansion murder suspect reportedly identified with forensic evidence on a pizza crust at the crime scene doesn't even enjoy eating pizza, an attorney hired by the family of Daron Wint told the Daily News. Robin Ficker, who said he completed a two-hour consultation with Wint, 34, on Saturday at the D.C. Central Detention Center, sliced into official accounts of the alleged quadruple homicide in an interview with the News. "He doesn't like pizza, he doesn't order pizza," Ficker said. "If you don't like pizza and you're holding people hostage in a house, aren't you going to look in the refrigerator for something else?"

 

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