The Battle for Fukushima is Lost

RT
31 March 2011

­Japan has lost the battle to rescue the Fukushima nuclear reactor, where preventing a large radiation release is practically impossible, conclude Western experts.

Meanwhile, Japanese authorities are taking additional measures to prevent a manmade disaster – the European press calls them “desperate.” In particular, they are planning to cover the damaged power generating units with fabric domes. Experts from various countries are urging the creation of an international commission on nuclear safety, which would consult authorities in similar situations and inform the public about health hazards.
  
The British newspaper The Guardian reported that, with each passing day, the risk of a massive release of radiation at Fukushima is rising. “The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and onto a concrete floor, experts say,” the publication reported. It references America’s leading nuclear expert, Richard Lahey, who headed the safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the power generating units at Fukushima. According to him, the major concern is when the fuel reacts with the drywell underneath the concrete floor and releases radioactive gases. The drywell is enclosed in a protective chamber, but it was most likely damaged during the hydrogen explosion.

“It's not going to be anything like Chernobyl, where it went up with a big fire and steam explosion, but it's not going to be good news for the environment,” said Lahey. He advocates creating an international group of nuclear safety experts that could consult the authorities of various countries in emergency situations.  
    
It seems that the concerns of the specialists are being realized. Yesterday, smoke was seen at the nuclear power plant, which also increases the risk of radiation release. The content of radioactive iodine in seawater close to Fukushima was slightly higher than was reported earlier. In an isolated place, located 300 meters from the shore, it exceeded the maximum allowable level by 3,355 times. 

The chairman of the board of directors of the power plant’s operating company, Tepco, Tsunehisa Katsumata, told journalists that the first four reactors of the distressed nuclear power plant cannot be repaired, and confirmed that the situation will remain “unstable” throughout the coming weeks. He added that the first four reactors have not yet been brought under control, but specialists “are making maximum efforts to cool them.”   

Meanwhile, it became known that the Japanese authorities are trying new measures to prevent the consequences of the accident. It is planned to cover the damaged reactors with domes of special fabric, which should prevent further distribution of radioactive particles. This applies to reactors 1, 3 and 4, the buildings of which were severely damaged in the first days of the catastrophe, when hydrogen explosions periodically occurred inside. However, experts are skeptical of the idea, insisting that the real threat is not posed by radioactive dust, but by the contamination of water, which could seep into the ocean and the ground. Collection of the radioactive water that is being pumped from the turbine halls of the reactors will involve a tank vessel, which will be docked at a pier near the nuclear power plant.

Today, French President Nikolas Sarkozy will arrive in Japan – he will be the first foreign leader to travel to the country since the destructive earthquake and tsunami on March 11. He will express solidarity with the Japanese people and offer the assistance of French Avera specialists, as well as “flex France’s nuclear muscles,” reported the Spanish newspaper El Pais. The United States has also become involved in helping with emergency operations at the nuclear power plant – it sent a shipment of radiation-resistant robots to Japan. Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a special address to Russian citizens, in which it asked to abstain from traveling to Japan in connection to the radiation threat. 

Meanwhile, the press noted a decline in consumer confidence toward food products from Japan. Foreign companies are refusing to purchase Japanese seafood out of fears of them being exposed to radiation, Hiromi Isa, the trade office director at Japan's Fisheries Agency, said in an interview with Bloomberg. Since March 11, at least 10 orders for the supply of seafood have been recalled, despite the assurances of the Japanese government that they do not pose any threat. Many countries, starting with Australia and ending with the US and Russia, have reduced the import of Japanese seafood after the radiation levels outside of the evacuation zone around Fukushima nuclear power plant were raised. A fall in demand, however, is often psychological in nature, note restaurateurs and vendors.

Radiation Dosage & Its Sources Explained [CHART]

Ben Parr / Mashable

Fear and uncertainty continue to grow around the condition of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. There has been a fervent struggle to keep the plant’s reactors from achieving a partial or complete meltdown after the devastating earthquake in Japan and Pacific tsunami damaged the plant and knocked out the backup power needed to cool its radioactive fuel rods.

Naturally, the events in Japan have people curious, frightened and confused about the potential impact of not only the Fukushima plant’s radiation, but on the impact of nuclear power plants and radiation in general on the body. Even friends have asked me if they should evacuate the U.S. West Coast just in case radiation from Japan travels across the Pacific Ocean.

Until now, I haven’t had a good way to explain why they shouldn’t worry about radiation from Japan, especially given the many other sources of radiation we encounter on a daily basis. However, Randall Munroe of XKCD has solved that problem by putting together a very informative chart explaining and visualizing radiation doses and their sources. Although we don’t suggest living by this chart, it’s a good general education tool for understanding the effect of radiation absorption.

We encounter sources of radiation every day, from natural background radiation to bananas. (Yes, bananas emit gamma rays, but you’d have to eat 5 million bananas in one sitting to get any kind of radiation sickness.)

The absorption of this radiation is measured in units called the sievert (Sv). As the chart explains, we absorb approximately 0.1 microsieverts (μSv) of radiation per day from eating a banana, 10 μSv from background radiation and 20 μSv from a chest x-ray. That’s more than the radiation you’ll absorb from living within 50 miles of a power plant (0.09 μSv). Even a coal power plant generates more radiation (0.3 μSv) because coal has trace amounts of uranium.

It takes a lot more radiation to actually cause harm to a person, although, the maximum yearly dose permitted for a U.S. radiation worker is 50 millisieverts (mSv), more than 200 times the exposure received from a typical X-ray. It takes double that amount though (100 mSv) for an increased risk of cancer and a full 2,000 mSv for severe radiation poisoning to occur.

For a more detailed explanation of radiation dosage, check out the XKCD chart below. Click on the image below to see a full-sized version:

London: Public Sector Cuts: The Worst is Yet to Come

The Guardian

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Calamitous as they may seem, the spending reductions that begin to take hold on Friday are only the start. The first cuts may well be the deepest, but they will not be the last, and nor will delivering them be the only challenge facing public services.

The UK's public services are about to step into a long age of austerity that will present them with twin agendas, both requiring unprecedented skill and ingenuity: to manage the cuts in as clever, socially just and strategic a way as possible; and to design and create affordable and innovative ways of meeting social need.

It might be tempting to assume that the worst is over. The finance director's spreadsheet might suggest the spending cuts trajectory is "smoother" in future years. But how many of the thousands of cuts plans lined up for implementation on 1 April will be neat and self-contained?

Public sector cuts: what we know so far
Sector	Total cut
The NHS	£20bn
Housing	£5.8bn
Disability services	£4.4bn
Local government administration	£3.4bn
Criminal justice	£3bn
Adult social care	£1.2bn
Children's services	£819m
Libraries, swimming pools and parks	£350m
Homelessness sector	£211m
Rubbish and street repairs	£165m
Domestic violence services	£36m
Drugs and alcohol	£9m
Mental health services	15.00%

What if the elegant savings plans don't deliver? A little-noticed warning a few weeks ago from the public sector accountants' body, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, pointed out that many local authorities, having struggled to set a legal budget, had serious reservations about whether those budgets would hold.

Half of the directors of finance surveyed worried that the complexity of the savings programmes meant they might cost more and deliver less than expected. Almost three-quarters feared that public opposition would mean changes will take longer to implement. An overspend at the end of 2011-12 will mean pain for staff (more job cuts), and for the providers and service users.

The consequences of cuts across the public sector will continue to ripple out. In local government, some difficult choices, which have been "parked" until after the local elections in May, will be revisited. Charities will go to the wall. The NHS cuts programme will heat up, with wards and perhaps even whole hospitals under threat. Cuts to the police frontline, moving on a slower cycle, will hove into view.

The speed and depth of the cuts means that the first part of the challenge – clever cuts – has been even more difficult than it should have been. There has been little time for reflection about what to cut, where, why and how much, and the avoidable waste, individual pain and destruction of skills, value and experience that that is causing will resonate for a long time. The effects will be seen from mental health, substance abuse and homelessness to libraries and swimming pools.

The second part of the challenge is to innovate. Ministers show no leadership or sophistication here: they deliver lumpen soundbites about cutting chief executive salaries, or ill-defined homilies to the "big society". They endorse "charities" and social enterprise as proxies for innovation, and yet oversee a huge, undiscriminating bloodbath of cuts among the civil society economy. The goal is always less: a smaller state, lower wages and lower prices.

Creating smarter, more efficient and socially just public services that deliver demonstrably higher impact and greater social value is the necessary task of the public and voluntary sectors over the next three years.

Investment in innovation at a time of terrible cuts? No one says it's going to be easy, but it just could be public services' finest hour.

Violent Protest in London

March 30, 2011

London at the TUC rally when the violence started.

Britons Stranded by Thai Floods

The Independant / World
Tuesday, 29 March 2011

British holidaymakers are among hundreds of tourists stranded by floods on a popular Thai resort island.

Many foreign travellers spent the night at Koh Samui's airport after flights were suspended indefinitely because of the rising waters.

Five days of heavy rain have left many roads flooded on the island, whose pristine beaches and tropical climate attract thousands of UK holidaymakers every year.

British photographer Marco Ryan was among those stranded.

He wrote on Twitter: "Stuck in Koh Samui. Storms creating havoc. Water to 6ft in hotels. Streets disappeared. No electricity, water, web or flights. Extraordinary."

The Foreign Office updated its advice on visiting Thailand to take account of the flooding along the south coast of the country.

British travellers are warned to be aware of the risk of mudslides and flash flooding, and advised to monitor local news for updates about the weather.

Virgin Holidays said about a dozen of its travellers were caught up in the floods.

A spokeswoman said: "Virgin Holidays has been proactively contacting its customers via our team in Thailand currently either already in Koh Samui, or due to travel there today, to ensure their wellbeing.

"Where customers have not left us their contact details, we are liaising with their hotels. We will continue to monitor the situation and will update them accordingly."

Lucy Pennington, who works as a travel PR in London, managed to get away from the floods at Railay Beach in southern Thailand today.

She said there had been heavy storms on the normally idyllic peninsula and that constant rain had inundated the area with water.

Ms Pennington wrote on Twitter: "Holiday turning into nightmare. Escaped Railay today, everywhere flooding and I don't know how to get to Bangkok."

Unrest in Syria and Jordan Poses New Test for U.S. Policy

The New York Times
March 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — Even as the Obama administration defends the NATO-led air war in Libya, the latest violent clashes in Syria and Jordan are raising new alarm among senior officials who view those countries, in the heartland of the Arab world, as far more vital to American interests.

Deepening chaos in Syria, in particular, could dash any remaining hopes for a Middle East peace agreement, several analysts said. It could also alter the American rivalry with Iran for influence in the region and pose challenges to the United States’ greatest ally in the region, Israel.

 

In interviews, administration officials said the uprising appeared to be widespread, involving different religious groups in southern and coastal regions of Syria, including Sunni Muslims usually loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. The new American ambassador in Damascus, Robert Ford, has been quietly reaching out to Mr. Assad to urge him to stop firing on his people.

As American officials confront the upheaval in Syria, a country with which the United States has icy relations, they say they are pulled between fears that its problems could destabilize neighbors like Lebanon and Israel, and the hope that it could weaken one of Iran’s key allies.

The Syrian unrest continued on Saturday, with government troops reported to have killed more protesters.
With 61 people confirmed killed by security forces, the country’s status as an island of stability amid the Middle East storm seemed irretrievably lost.

For two years, the United States has tried to coax Damascus into negotiating a peace deal with Israel and to moving away from Iran — a fruitless effort that has left President Obama open to criticism on Capitol Hill that he is bolstering one of the most repressive regimes in the Arab world.

Officials fear the unrest there and in Jordan could leave Israel further isolated. The Israeli government was already rattled by the overthrow of Egypt’s leader, Hosni Mubarak, worrying that a new government might not be as committed to Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

While Israel has largely managed to avoid being drawn into the region’s turmoil, last week’s bombing of a bus in Jerusalem, which killed one person and wounded 30, and a rain of rocket attacks from Gaza, have fanned fears that the militant group Hamas is trying to exploit the uncertainty.

The unrest in Jordan, which has its own peace treaty with Israel, is also extremely worrying, a senior administration official said. The United States does not believe Jordan is close to a tipping point, this official said. But the clashes, which left one person dead and more than a hundred wounded, pose the gravest challenge yet to King Abdullah II, a close American ally.

Syria, however, is the more urgent crisis — one that could pose a thorny dilemma for the administration if Mr. Assad carries out a crackdown like that of his father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad, who ordered a bombardment in 1982 that killed at least 10,000 people in the northern city of Hama. Having intervened in Libya to prevent a wholesale slaughter in Benghazi, some analysts asked, how could the administration not do the same in Syria?

Though no one is yet talking about a no-fly zone over Syria, Obama administration officials acknowledge the parallels to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Some analysts predicted the administration would be cautious in pressing Mr. Assad, not because of any allegiance to him but out of a fear of what could follow him — a Sunni-led government potentially more radical and Islamist than his Alawite minority regime.

Still, after the violence, administration officials said Mr. Assad’s future was unclear. “Whatever credibility the government had, they shot it today — literally,” said a senior official about Syria, speaking on the condition that he not be named.

In the process, he said, Mr. Assad had also probably disqualified himself as a peace partner for Israel. Such a prospect had seemed a long shot in any event — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown no inclination to talk to Mr. Assad — but the administration kept working at it, sending its special envoy, George J. Mitchell, on several visits to Damascus.

Mr. Assad has said that he wants to negotiate a peace agreement with Israel. But with his population up in arms, analysts said, he might actually have an incentive to pick a fight with its neighbor, if only to deflect attention from the festering problems at home.

“You can’t have a comprehensive peace without Syria,” the administration official said. “It’s definitely in our interest to pursue an agreement, but you can’t do it with a government that has no credibility with its population.”

Indeed, the crackdown calls into question the entire American engagement with Syria. Last June, the State Department organized a delegation from Microsoft, Dell and Cisco Systems to visit Mr. Assad with the message that he could attract more investment if he stopped censoring Facebook and Twitter. While the administration renewed economic sanctions against Syria, it approved export licenses for some civilian aircraft parts.

The Bush administration, by contrast, largely shunned Damascus, recalling its ambassador in February 2005 after the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Many Lebanese accuse Syria of involvement in the assassination, a charge it denies.

When Mr. Obama named Mr. Ford as his envoy last year, Republicans in the Senate held up the appointment for months, arguing that the United States should not reward Syria with closer ties. The administration said it would have more influence by restoring an ambassador.

But officials also concede that Mr. Assad has been an endless source of frustration — deepening ties with Iran and the Islamic militant group, Hezbollah; undermining the government of Saad Hariri in Lebanon; pursuing a nuclear program; and failing to deliver on promises of reform.

Some analysts said that the United States was so eager to use Syria to break the deadlock on Middle East peace negotiations that it had failed to push Mr. Assad harder on political reforms.

“He’s given us nothing, even though we’ve engaged him on the peace process,” said Andrew J. Tabler, who lived in Syria for a decade and is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “I’m not saying we should give up on peace talks with Israel, but we cannot base our strategy on that.”

The United States does not have the leverage with Syria it had with Egypt. But Mr. Tabler said the administration could stiffen sanctions to press Mr. Assad to make reforms.

Other analysts, however, point to a positive effect of the unrest: it could deprive Iran of a reliable ally in extending its influence over Lebanon, Hezbollah and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

That is not a small thing, they said, given that Iran is likely to benefit from the fall of Mr. Mubarak in Egypt, the upheaval in Bahrain, and the resulting chill between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

“There’s much more upside than downside for the U.S.,” said Martin S. Indyk, the vice president for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. “We have an interest in counterbalancing the advantages Iran has gained in the rest of the region. That makes it an unusual confluence of our values and interests.”

Freedom’s Painful Price

The New York Times
March 26, 2011

CAIRO — Before she was arrested, tortured, stripped and subjected to a “virginity exam” — all for her pro-democracy activities — Salwa al-Housiny Gouda admired the Egyptian Army.

Her odyssey is a reminder that the Egyptian revolution that exhilarated so many around the world in January and February remains unfinished. The army is as much in charge as ever, and it has taken over from the police the task of torturing dissidents. President Hosni Mubarak is gone, but in some ways Mubarakism continues.

Ms. Gouda, a 20-year-old hairdresser, is unmarried and strong-willed. She threw herself into the democracy movement early this year, sleeping in a tent on Tahrir Square, also known as Liberation Square, the movement’s epicenter.

Like the other activists, she focused her rage initially on Mr. Mubarak and on the police, rather than the army. “I trusted the army,” she told me, and she and other protesters often chanted slogans like, “The army and the people are one.”

But that was an illusion. Never squeaky clean, the army has increasingly taken over the role of domestic security from the police and seems fed up with disorder. On March 9, it moved in to clear Tahrir Square, pulling down tents and detaining more than 190 demonstrators.

Ms. Gouda was one of about 19 women arrested that day. Though the army has denied all such accusations, her testimony is confirmed by other detainees and by human rights groups. They say that the women were taken to the Egyptian Museum, a tourist landmark beside Tahrir Square, tied up or handcuffed to the gate outside it, and then slapped, beaten and subjected to electric shocks.

“They didn’t give us a chance to speak,” Ms. Gouda said. “They used an electric prod whenever we tried to speak.”

The prisoners were later taken to the military prosecutor’s office, where the men were photographed as criminals beside a table full of clubs and Molotov cocktails supposedly confiscated from them. (In my experience, the people with such weapons in Egypt are usually plainclothes police officers.) The women were paraded before cameras and told that they faced charges of prostitution — leaving them terrified at the thought of the accusations being broadcast on state television.

Ms. Gouda was extraordinarily strong in telling her story. But at one point she broke down in tears. “They know that the way they can harm a woman the most is by accusing her of prostitution,” she said.

Later, the detainees were taken to a military prison. Ms. Gouda said that the women were strip-searched by a female guard, but — perhaps to add to the humiliation — the search was conducted in a room with doors and windows wide open. She said she did not know if anybody looked in.

Then the unmarried women were subjected to a forced “virginity exam,” conducted on a bed in a prison hallway, by a man. When the women pleaded to be examined by a woman instead, they were threatened with cattle prods, Ms. Gouda said.

“I was shattered,” she recalled. “My whole body was shaking.” Her legs were covered with a blanket, but a half-dozen military men stood behind her as she was examined, Ms. Gouda said.

“I was ready to be beaten,” she added. “But the worst moment was when I was stripped and examined.”
Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch said that such exams were not customary in prisons and that the point was to humiliate female activists. “In this context, they’re sexual assaults,” she noted — but added that the military is above the law.

Ms. Gouda and the other women were all released after a few days, and in the end none were actually charged with prostitution. But many male democracy activists have been sentenced to prison terms.

A Cairo human rights lawyer, Ragia Omran, estimates that perhaps 1,000 Egyptians who have been arrested by the military since the protests began remain in detention today. Some have been sentenced to five years in prison after military trials lasting 30 minutes or less, without any right to choose their own lawyers, she said.

Ms. Omran is accustomed to representing other detainees. But during a referendum on constitutional changes this month, she herself was seized by soldiers while observing the polls. By her account, she was roughed up, strip-searched, shouted at and detained for hours until her well-connected family and friends managed to get her released.

All this is a huge letdown from the triumph when “people power” toppled President Mubarak. The lesson may be that revolution is not a moment but a process, a gritty contest of wills that unfolds painstakingly long after the celebrations have died and the television lights have dimmed.

“The revolution isn’t over yet,” Ms. Omran told me. “Freedom isn’t for free.”

UN Report Says 'Urgent' Supplies of Food Needed - NKorea

The Australian (AP)
March 25, 2011

The UN says more than 6 million North Koreans are in urgent need of international food assistance.

The world body reported today that North Korea had suffered a series of shocks including summer floods and then a harsh winter, "leaving the country highly vulnerable to a food crisis".

It said the worst affected include children, women and the elderly, and recommended providing 430,000 tonnes of aid.

The report was based on an assessment conducted in February and March by agencies including the World Food Program at North Korea's request.

The US is considering resuming food aid to the North, which has continued to advance its nuclear programs despite its chronic problems in feeding its people.

UN Rights Council Seeks Access for Aid Agencies to NKorea

The Telegraph (AU)
March 25, 2011

The UN Human Rights Council yesterday urged North Korea to allow relief agencies to have unimpeded access, as it voiced alarm at the "precarious humanitarian situation'' in the Stalinist state.

Thirty countries on the 47-member council voted for the resolution tabled by the European Union and Japan that also extended the mandate of a UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, and called on Pyongyang to grant him access to the country.

Three countries - China, Cuba and Russia - voted against and 11 abstained.

The resolution urged the North Korean leadership to "ensure full, rapid and unimpeded access of humanitarian assistance that is delivered on the basis of need, in accordance with humanitarian principles, coupled with adequate monitoring.''

Cuba, which called for a vote on the issue, dismissed the resolution as "politically motivated against the DPRK.".

"It is a denial of the right to self determination of the North Korean people,'' its envoy added.

 

China also opposed the resolution, saying Beijing is against ``exerting pressure on specific country issues'' as it only served to complicate the situation.

North Korea meanwhile angrily rejected the resolution, dismissing it as ``complete lies and fabrications,'' and "politically motivated.''

North Korea will "hold fast to the socialist system, the cradle of life and guarantee of happiness for our people,'' said the envoy.

Darusman told the council last week that the international community should provide relief aid to the impoverished communist state, saying that support should not be dependent on political conditions.

However, the special rapporteur also stressed that with any help should come with a requirement for access.

Myanmar Struck by Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake; 5 Facts About the Former Burma

Aol News
March 24, 2011

The impoverished Southeast Asian country of Myanmar, known as Burma under British rule, is somewhat off the beaten path in terms of American news consumption and rarely makes headlines. So when it was struck by a powerful earthquake today, AOL News thought it would take a moment to offer up a quick list of key facts about the resource-rich but harshly ruled nation.

It was struck by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake today. There were no reports of deaths or major destruction in the country, but in Myanmar, where a repressive government restricts virtually every source of news, accurate information can be hard to come by, and multiple news organizations reported that residents hundreds of miles away in Thailand and even Vietnam felt shaking.

The U.S. Geological Survey said today the initial earthquake hit in the eastern part of Myanmar, near the Thai border, just before 10 a.m. EDT, and was quickly followed by two aftershocks, one of 4.8 magnitude and the other 5.4. Don Blakeman, a geophysicist for the USGS, told AOL News today by phone that the earthquake was too far inland to cause a tsunami.

It's run by a military junta. Myanmar, which gained independence from England in 1948, has been ruled by a brutal military junta since 1962, when the democratically elected government was overthrown.

The junta has retained power through corrupt elections in 1990 and 2010, along with the brutal repression of democratic movements and assassination of political enemies. Gen. Than Shwe and newly elected President Thein Sein are believed to be in charge.

It's home to Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel laureate is the internationally known head of Myanmar's leading pro-democracy opposition party, the National League for Democracy. She lived under house arrest for 20 years until her release in November. Check out her Facebook page.

It has oil. Myanmar is oil rich and attracts investment by foreign oil companies from around the world. Those investments came under scrutiny in 2007, when the Myanmar regime waged a violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists, and a number of foreign oil companies, including U.S.-based Chevron, refused to stop operating. Chevron said it sponsored humanitarian programs in the country, but critics accused the company of supporting the military junta.

... But its people are desperately poor. More than 30 percent of the country's 54 million people are living in poverty, according to the CIA. It's also suffering from a burgeoning HIV/AIDS crisis. An estimated 240,000 people in the country are thought to be infected with HIV, according to Doctors Without Borders.

South Sudan Says North Bombs its Territory

The Star
23 March 2011

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - South Sudan's army (SPLA) on Wednesday accused the north of bombing its territory, violating a 2005 peace deal ahead of the oil-producing region's independence.

Sudan's north-south conflict raged for all but a few years since 1955 and claimed 2 million lives in Africa's longest running civil war.

The south voted this year to secede and will become the world's newest nation on July 9.

SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer said the north dropped bombs on March 21 between a village and an SPLA base causing no casualties in Raja County in Western Bahr al-Ghazal, which borders the north's war-torn Darfur region.

Sudan's northern army denied it had carried out any bombing raids near the area.

"Strategically it does not make military sense for us to bomb an empty area," spokesman al-Sawarmi Khaled said.

The north-south U.N. peacekeeping mission (UNMIS) said it had reports from the SPLA of bombing raids and had sent a patrol to investigate.

Last year the north bombed the south while chasing Darfur rebels they said were being supported by the semi-autonomous southern government.

The south accused the north of arming rebels in its territory with clashes killing hundreds of people this year alone.

While both sides cannot afford a return to all-out war, arming proxy militias was a tactic used during the conflict, fought over religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology.

On Wednesday, the Satellite Sentinel Project, set up by actor George Clooney and other activists to monitor troop movements, released satellite images of Abyei -- a central region claimed by both north and south -- which they said showed the north had sent further troops into the flashpoint region.

Sudan's Interior Ministry denied reports by the south that it had sent 1,500 extra police to Abyei but the group said it had images confirming otherwise.

"Satellite imagery confirms reports of the deployment of large numbers of northern forces as well as newly fortified encampments," Charlie Clements, director of human rights documentation of the project, said in a statement.

China Urges Quick End to Airstrikes in Libya

The New York Times
March 23, 2011

BEIJING - China escalated its opposition to American-led airstrikes on Libya on Tuesday, joining Russia and India in calls for an immediate cease-fire and suggesting that coalition forces were imperiling civilians by exceeding the United Nations-mandated no-fly zone.

The rising criticism among the so-called BRIC group - Brazil, Russia, India and China - came amid allegations by the Libyan government that allied bombings had killed or wounded scores of civilians, a claim rejected by American military officials.

On Monday, hours after the departure of President Obama, Brazil issued a statement condemning the attacks and urging “the start of dialogue.”

China’s response to the campaign has been the most forceful, warning that the assault could bring about a “humanitarian disaster.” In a news briefing Tuesday, Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, called for an end to hostilities. “We’ve seen reports that the use of armed force is causing civilian casualties, and we oppose the wanton use of armed force leading to more civilian casualties,” she said.

China was one of five countries to abstain from the United Nations resolution that authorized the allied airstrikes against the forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, which have been seeking to crush a rebellion against his four-decade rule. Russia, Brazil, India and Germany also abstained, while South Africa joined nine other Security Council members in supporting the resolution approved last week.

In its decision to abstain rather than block the resolution through its veto power, China said it was heeding the wishes of the Arab League and the African Union.

During a meeting with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Tuesday, Russia’s defense minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, added his voice to those calling for a cease-fire, saying it was the best way to avoid civilian casualties, according to The Associated Press. On Monday, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin was unsparing in his criticism, comparing the allied campaign against Libya to the invasion of Iraq and likening it to a “medieval call for a crusade.” In a rare expression of dissent between the country’s two leaders, President Dmitri A. Medvedev later criticized the remarks as unacceptable.

On Tuesday, Indian officials joined those calling for a cease-fire. Pranab Mukherjee, the country’s finance minister and a leader of the lower house of Parliament, told lawmakers that the coalition had no right to oust the ruler of a sovereign nation.

The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Tuesday that Turkey supported providing humanitarian aid to Libya but that it would “never be the party that points weapons at the Libyan people.” Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO, had opposed an alliance plan for the no-fly zone.

The Chinese news media, meanwhile, have been vociferous in expressing opposition to the military campaign against the Libyan government, with articles and commentaries depicting the assault as an attempt to grab that country’s oil resources and expand American influence in the region.

A front-page article in People’s Daily on Tuesday said the United Nations resolution characterizing the Libyan army’s attack on civilians as a possible “crime against humanity” was simply cover for what it called the West’s hegemonic intentions.

“Historical experience has shown that humanitarian intervention is only an excuse for military intervention into other countries’ domestic affairs,” wrote the author, Tang Zhichao, a scholar at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. “They claim to be motivated by morality but in fact they are driven by narrow political and economic interests.”

An editorial in Global Times, owned by People’s Daily, went further, saying that Western nations should be penalized for “abusing” the Security Council resolution that paved the way for the attack. “Just let them agonize there in Libya,” the paper said, referring to the United States and its partners. “No matter what happens to Qaddafi, a chaotic Libya will become an unshakable burden for the West forever.”

Six Protesters Killed in Syria

The New York Times
March 23, 2011

DAMASCUS, Syria - At least six people were killed early Wednesday when Syrian security forces attacked protesters who had taken refuge in a mosque in the center of the southern city of Dara’a, Reuters reported.

On Tuesday, antigovernment protests had continued for a fifth day in Dara’a, before hundreds of demonstrators sought protection from the army in the Omari mosque. The protesters were calling for political freedoms and an end to corruption, and they had said they would remain in the mosque until their demands were met, Reuters reported.

 

“They are shooting,” a person at the mosque said by telephone, referring to the soldiers and other security forces. “Killing and killing and more killing.”

A doctor at the city’s main hospital, Ali Nassab al-Mahameed, was shot and killed as he was trying to rescue others, the witness said. It was not known how many people were wounded in the attack.

“It seems that security forces may be trying to storm the complex,” a resident told Reuters. “It is not clear because electricity has been cut off. Tear gas is also being used.”

The mosque’s preacher, Ahmad Siasneh, told Al Arabiya television on Tuesday that Syrian forces were close to the building’s grounds, where protesters had erected tents.

WHO Warns of "Serious" Food Radiation in Disaster-hit Japan

Hartford Courant
March 22, 2011

TOKYO (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Monday that radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was more serious than previously thought, eclipsing signs of progress in a battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in its reactors.

Engineers managed to rig power cables to all six reactors at the Fukushima complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, and started a water pump at one of them to reverse the overheating that has triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

Some workers were later evacuated from one of the most badly damaged reactors when smoke briefly rose from the site. There was no immediate explanation for the smoke, but authorities had said earlier that pressure was building up at the No. 3 reactor

Smoke was also seen at the No. 2 reactor.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami left more than 21,000 people dead or missing and will cost an already beleaguered economy some $250 billion, making it the world's costliest ever natural disaster.

The head of the U.N. atomic agency said the nuclear situation remained very serious but it would be resolved.

"I have no doubt that this crisis will be effectively overcome," Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told an emergency board meeting.

"We see a light for getting out of the crisis," a Japanese government official quoted Prime Minister Naoto Kan as saying.

But news of progress at the nuclear plant was overshadowed by mounting concern that radioactive particles already released into the atmosphere have contaminated food and water supplies.

"Quite clearly it's a serious situation," Peter Cordingley, Manila-based spokesman for the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office for the Western Pacific, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"It's a lot more serious than anybody thought in the early days when we thought that this kind of problem can be limited to 20 to 30 kilometers ... It's safe to suppose that some contaminated produce got out of the contamination zone."

However, he said there was no evidence of contaminated food from Fukushima reaching other countries.

Fukushima is the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, but signs are that it is far less severe than the Ukrainian disaster.

"The few measurements of radiation reported in food so far are much lower than around Chernobyl in 1986, but the full picture is still emerging," Malcolm Crick, secretary of the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, told Reuters.

TAP WATER

Japan's health ministry has urged some residents near the plant to stop drinking tap water after high levels of radioactive iodine were detected.

Cases of contaminated vegetables and milk have already stoked anxiety despite assurances from officials that the levels are not dangerous. The government has prohibited the sale of spinach from all four prefectures near the plant and also banned selling of raw milk from Fukushima prefecture.

There were no major reports of contaminated food in Tokyo, a city of about 13 million people. City officials however said higher-than-standard levels of iodine were found in an edible form of chrysanthemum.

"From reports I have heard so far, it seems that the levels of radioactive iodine and caesium in milk and some foodstuffs are significantly higher than government limits," said Jim Smith, a specialist in earth and environmental sciences at Britain's Portsmouth University.

"This doesn't mean that consumption of these products is necessarily an immediate threat, as limits are set so that foodstuffs can be safely consumed over a fairly long period of time. Nevertheless, for foodstuffs which are found to be above limits, bans on sale and consumption will have to be put in place in the affected areas."

Japan is a net importer of food, but has substantial exports -- mainly fruit, vegetables, dairy products and seafood -- with its biggest markets in Hong Kong, China and the United States.

China will monitor food imported from Japan, the Xinhua news agency said, citing the country's quality control watchdog. South Korea will expand radioactivity inspection to processed and dried agricultural Japanese food, from just fresh produce.

In Taipei, one of the top Japanese restaurants in the city is offering diners the use of a radiation gauge in case they were nervous about the food.

UN Civilian Protection Officials Voice Alarm over Violence in Abyei

United Nations Press Release
March 18, 2011

Displaced people fleeing fighting in Abyei, in Agok, Sudan. Two United Nations civilian protection officials today voiced grave concern over rising tension in the disputed Sudanese territory of Abyei, where recent clashes between rival communities have claimed the lives of more than 100 people and caused the displacement of at least 20,000 others.

The Secretary-General's Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect, Francis Deng and Edward Luck, said in a joint statement that there are reports that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and allied fighters of the Popular Defense Forces, as well as the Sudan People's Liberation Army of the southern Government, have deployed forces in Abyei.

The Missireya Arabs, a nomadic herder community, are pitted against members of the Ngok-Dinka ethnic group in a conflict exacerbated by the controversy over a referendum that would give residents of Abyei a chance to decide whether to remain part of the north or join the south, which voted in January to secede.

The inhabitants of Abyei were due to hold a separate referendum simultaneously with the rest of Southern Sudan in January, but attempts to create a referendum commission remain deadlocked, amid feuds between communities in the area over the right to vote.

"Given the perception that the SAF supports the Missireya Arabs and the SPLA supports the Ngok-Dinka, a standoff between the two armies is very dangerous," said Mr. Deng and Mr. Luck, adding that the animosity "could easily trigger further ethnic-based violence in Abyei."

"We urge both parties to refrain from any actions that could put the lives of civilians in danger and risk a return to full scale hostilities," they said.

According to the Abyei Protocol of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the war between the North and the South in 2005, the Ngok-Dinka are dual citizens of the North and the South during the interim period before the referendum in the area.

Mr. Deng and Mr. Luck reminded the Government of Sudan and the Government of Southern Sudan of their responsibility to protect all people in Abyei, irrespective of their ethnicity or religion.

"The parties have a shared responsibility towards these populations and must protect them. We call on both parties to initiate a thorough and impartial investigation into the recent incidents of violence in Abyei and to hold those responsible accountable in order to discourage further acts of violence, including forced displacement, which is a crime against humanity," they said.

They urged both parties to ensure the free, unhindered and expeditious movement of the peacekeepers and staff of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in Abyei to carry out its mandate, which include protecting civilians, internally displaced persons and other vulnerable groups.

Meanwhile, the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) today dispatched a human rights team to the South Darfur village of Amar Jadeed to investigate recent allegations of widespread rape.

UNAMID also announced that its gender advisors will on Friday begin a series of workshops for community leaders and police officers in South and West Darfur on the impact of sexual and gender-based violence.

Participants will also learn the proper procedures for reporting cases of rape and for caring for victims of the crime.

Kitzhaber Declares Disaster Following Tsunami

Daily Tidings (Ashland)
March 16, 2011

SALEM -- Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber declared a state of emergency Tuesday for coastal Curry County, which was ravaged by a tsunami that buckled docks and sank boats when water surged in last week.

 

Kitzhaber is sending disaster teams today to begin assessing the damage to the county's three ports and determine whether there is enough destruction to trigger federal assistance.

The tsunami rolled in Friday morning following an earthquake in Japan. It caused the most severe damage in Oregon to the port in Brookings, taking out much of its infrastructure. "There is a real sense of urgency to get the dock facilities back up so the recreational and commercial fleets can continue to operate," Kitzhaber said at a Salem news conference Tuesday.

Port of Brookings-Harbor manager Ted Fitzgerald said he had not completed a detailed estimate of the damages but felt it would be a year before the harbor was repaired after the tsunami.

About 80 percent of the docks have been destroyed, some 80 pilings broken off or bent over, a public hoist for unloading fishing boats was severely damaged and a seawall made of sheets of steel driven into the harbor bottom now is gone, ripped out and possibly lying somewhere on the ocean bottom, he said.

The port remained closed until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could survey the port entrance at the Chetco River Bar with sonar for obstructions left behind by the surges, Fitzgerald said.

Kitzhaber said he's focused on reopening the port as soon as possible to minimize economic damage to the county. He said the state has found temporary floating docks at the Port of Arlington on the Columbia River and a tug boat from the Port of Portland that could be used in Curry County if needed. State housing officials were looking for temporary homes for about 20 people whose houseboats were damaged.

Curry County Commissioner Dave Itzen said sport and commercial fishing took on new importance for the county's economy after the timber industry dwindled in the 1980s because of logging cutbacks on federal lands. Unemployment in Curry County has been running at 13 percent throughout the Great Recession.

Echoing statements from state health officials, Kitzhaber downplayed the threat of radiation leaking from nuclear reactors in Japan, saying radiation poses no risk to the West Coast of the United States. Oregon has radiation equipment in Portland and Corvallis that are monitoring air quality.

Kitzhaber urged Oregonians to make donations for disaster relief in Japan, where a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the resulting tsunami killed thousands and left thousands more homeless.

(Local Expert Predicts Oregon Tsunami http://kezi.com/news/local/206823)

Bahrain's King Declares 3-month State of Emergency

The New York Times
March 16, 2011

Bahrain's king imposed a three-month state of emergency today and gave the country's military chief wide authority to battle a pro-democracy uprising that has threatened the ruling monarchy and drawn in forces from around the Gulf.

The martial law-style order — read on Bahrain state TV — comes a day after more than 1,000 Saudi-led troops arrived to help prop up the U.S.-backed regime in the first major cross-border action against the revolts that have erupted across the Arab world.

A security official in Saudi Arabia said a Saudi sergeant was shot and killed by a protester today in Bahrain's capital, Manama. No other details were immediately given on the death of the soldier, identified as Sgt. Ahmed al-Raddadi.

But, if true, it would mark a dramatic shift in the tactics by the opposition, which has displayed no weapons and has adopted the chant of “peaceful” as a main slogan. The Saudi official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The dispatch of troops from Gulf allies on Monday highlighted the regional worries about possible spillover from Bahrain, where members of a majority Shiite population have led a month of relentless protests against the Western-backed Sunni dynasty to try to break its monopoly on power.

Other Gulf leaders fear that concessions by Bahrain's rulers could embolden more protests against their own regimes, which have already confronted pro-reform cries in Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. There are also fears that gains by Bahrain's Shiite Muslims could offer a window for Shiite power Iran to expand its influence on the Arab side of the Gulf.

The emergency law statement said the head of Bahrain's armed forces has been authorized “to take necessary steps to restore national security.”

Hours before the announcement, Bahrain's capital was in lockdown mode with stores and schools shuttered and main highways blocked by police.

In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, denounced the presence of foreign troops in Bahrain as “unacceptable” and predicted it would complicate the kingdom's political crisis. Iran holds no deep political ties to Bahrain's Shiite groups, but some Iranian hard-liners in the past have hailed their efforts for greater rights.

Bahraini opposition groups also have strongly condemned the military move, calling it an occupation that pushes Bahrain dangerously close to a state of “undeclared war.”

The United States — which relies on Bahrain as a pillar of its military framework in the Gulf — has urged Americans to avoid travel to the island nation due to “the potential for ongoing political and civil unrest.” The State Department statement also advised Americans currently to consider leaving Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Thousands of protesters held their ground in Manama's Pearl Square, the symbolic center of their revolt. But opposition leaders have not yet announced their next move.

Mansoor al-Jamri, editor of the main opposition newspaper, Al-Wasat, said pro-government mobs stormed the paper's printing facilities early Tuesday and smashed equipment with metal pipes, clubs and axes. The paper is now using presses from other papers to publish.

Shiites account for 70 percent of Bahrain's population of some 525,000, but are widely excluded from high-level political or security posts. The protesters also demand the repeal of a government policy to offset the Shiite demographic advantage by giving citizenship and jobs to Sunnis from other Arab nations and South Asia.

The protests began last month with calls for the monarchy to give up most of its powers to the elected parliament. But as violence has deepened, many protesters now say they want to topple the entire royal family.

A statement Monday on the state-run Bahrain News Agency said troops from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council's Peninsula Shield Force have been deployed “in line with the principle of common destiny bonding.” The bloc is made up of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have announced roles in the Bahrain force, but the contributions from the other countries were not immediately clear.

The reason for the mission was “the common responsibility of the GCC countries in maintaining security and stability,” the statement said.

The Peninsula Shield Force was created in the 1980s. Military units under a GCC command have been sent to Kuwait, including during the 1991 U.S.-led campaign to oust Saddam Hussein's force and in 2003 before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The current action marks a significant shift to help a government quell internal unrest.

Jane Kinninmont, a senior research fellow and Bahrain expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said Monday's operation “changes the role of the GCC,” which has always had collective defense pacts.

“The idea of gathering together to protect a government against its own people seems to be quite another thing,” Kinninmont said.

Gaddafi Tells West to Stay Out of Libya

Al Jazeera
March 16, 2011

Muammar Gaddafi has denounced backers of plans for a no-fly zone over his country and urged Libyans to take up arms and prepare to confront a possible invasion by Western powers.

Addressing selected supporters late on Tuesday, Gaddafi called the rebels "rats" and denounced Western nations. "They want Libyan oil," he said.

"France now raises its head and says that it will strike Libya," Gaddafi told the gathering at his Bab al-Azizia fortified compound in central Tripoli.

"Strike Libya?" he asked. "We'll be the one who strikes you! We struck you in Algeria, in Vietnam. You want to strike us? Come and give it a try."

His speech came as world powers wrangled over a draft resolution on imposing a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Gaddafi's advancing forces from using their air superiority to take the rebel capital, Benghazi, in the east.

The draft was distributed by Britain and Lebanon at a closed-door UN security Council meeting, on Tuesday, after the Arab League called on Saturday for the Council to set up the no-fly zone.

Nawaf Salam, Lebanese ambassador and Arab League representative, said a no-fly zone would not qualify as foreign intervention in Libya.

However, the military action faced resistance from other nations, including Russia and China.

"Some members have questions and they need clarifications before a decision is made," Li Baodong, China's ambassador, told reporters. But he added: "We are very concerned about the deteriorating situation in Libya".

Concerns Raised

The United States was also being cautious about implementing the no-fly zone. However, Mansour El Kikhia, a political analyst from the University of Texas, told Al Jazeera that the US and president Barack Obama needed to assume more responsibility as a world power.

"[Obama] heightened expectations and didn't follow through ... [this situation] requires an American leader who can actually follow up his words with actions," El Kikhia said.

Opponents of the no-fly zone want to know who will take part in it and how it will be patrolled. Hardeep Singh Puri, India's envoy, raised questions about the ban on "all flights".

Portugal, Germany and South Africa have also raised doubts about the idea of a no-fly zone for Libya.

New "paragraph by paragraph" talks on the draft resolution are to be held on Wednesday, Mark Lyall Grant, Britain's envoy, said. But diplomats said no vote was likely before Thursday.

In his short, emotional speech on Tuesday, Gaddafi attacked Britain for calling for a no-fly zone. "What right do you have? Do we share borders? Are you our tutor?" he said.

Libyans would fight to the death to defend their country, he said.

He criticised the Arab League, which has backed a no-fly zone, saying it was "finished", and the Gulf Co-operation Council, which he said had lost its legitimacy.

"The Arab League is finished. There is no such thing as the Arab League," Gaddafi said.

"The Gulf Co-operation Council is finished. It's actually the 'Gulf Unco-operative Council' ... The Arab  people [however] remain."

Regaining Control

During his appearance, a crowd watching on a TV projection on a wall in Benghazi shouted curses and threw shoes at the image.

As before, Gaddafi played down the scope of the conflict in his country. "They said thousands have died, but only 150 have died," he said.

Libyan state television aired calls for the opposition to stop fighting, apparently hoping to sway populations in the east away from support of the rebels.

"Those who are asking you to put down your arms want peace for you, so please help them and stop shedding blood," the broadcaster said.

"Libya is for everyone and by everyone. So let God's word be the highest and the word of evil be the lowest."

Meanwhile, a Libyan official said the government hoped to regain control over all rebel-held territories soon.

"We hope [it will be done] as soon as possible. I hope it will be in a matter of days," Khaled Kaim, the deputy foreign minister,  told Reuters in Tripoli.