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After 20 Years of Protection, Owl Declining but Forests Remain
Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:50:19 -0400
by Les Blumenthal
WASHINGTON
— Twenty years after northern spotted owls were protected under the
Endangered Species Act, their numbers continue to decline, and
scientists aren't certain whether the birds will survive even though
logging was banned on much of the old-growth forest in the Pacific
Northwest where they live in order to save them.
read more
Mozambique's Food Riots — the True Face of Global Warming
Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:07:42 -0400
by Raj Patel
It has been a summer of record temperatures — Japan had its hottest summer on record, as did South Florida and New York.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and Niger are flooded and the eastern US is mopping
up after hurricane Earl. None of these individual events can
definitively be attributed to global warming.
read more
The True Cost of the Iraq War: $3 Trillion and Beyond
Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:32:51 -0400
by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes
Writing in these pages
in early 2008, we put the total cost to the United States of the Iraq
war at $3 trillion. This price tag dwarfed previous estimates, including
the Bush administration's 2003 projections of a $50 billion to $60
billion war.
read more
Israeli Raids Claim Lives in Gaza
Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:14:38 -0400
Two Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air raids in the Gaza
Strip, medics and security sources say. Another person has been
critically injured.
The Israeli army launched three raids in the south of Gaza on
Saturday after Palestinian fighters fired a rocket over the border.
The flare-up of violence on the Israel-Gaza border came just two days after the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the US.
read more
UN to Hold Crisis Talks on Food Prices as Riots Hit Mozambique
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 12:03:03 -0400
by David Smith and agencies
The UN has called an urgent meeting on rising global food prices in an attempt to head off a repeat of the 2008 crisis that sparked riots around the world.
read more
Tony Blair Pelted with Eggs and Shoes at Book Signing
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:46:13 -0400
by Henry MacDonald and agencies
DUBLIN - Violent skirmishes broke out between protesters and police at the first public signing for Tony Blair's memoirs, with shoes and eggs hurled at the former prime minister.
Three
men were arrested after they broke through a security barrier at around
10.45am today outside Eason's bookshop on O'Connell Street in Dublin,
Ireland.
read more
BP: Let Us Drill — or We May Not Have Cash to Pay Gulf Claims
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:24:14 -0400
by Rupert Cornwell
With the permanent sealing of its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico perhaps just days away, BP is warning that it may not have the money to pay the colossal clean-up bill if Congress passes a law that would stop it obtaining permits for offshore drilling in US waters.The new confrontation emerged yesterday as BP announced that total costs arising from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig on 20 April, in which 11 workers died in one the worst environmental disasters in US history, rose by a further $2bn last month to around $8bn.
read more
The Great Jobs Depression Worsens, and the Choice Ahead Grows Starker
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:17:19 -0400
by Robert Reich
The Great Jobs Depression continues to worsen.
The Labor Department reports this morning that companies created ony 67,000 new jobs in August. That's down from the 107,000 they created in July. And because the government laid off temporary Census workers, the economy as a whole lost 54,000 jobs.
To put this into perspective, we need 125,000 net new jobs a month just to keep up with the growth of the population and the potential workforce.
read more
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill's 30-Year Legacy
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:02:50 -0400
by Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON - A surprisingly small number of scientists have studied the impacts of the oil spill resulting from the 1979 blowout at the Ixtoc I oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Wes Tunnell, who first studied the spill's effects in July and August of 1980 and has returned many times since, is one of the few exceptions.
read more
Screening Out the Empathy: The Impact of Screen Culture on Our Brains
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:23:43 -0400
by Bridie Smith
The impact of screen culture on the human brain merits the same public debate and funding for research as climate change, says one of the world's most eminent neuroscientists.As the online world continues to expand, Oxford University's Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield has warned excessive screen culture may be changing the way our brains are wired.
The effect of screen culture on the brain is not dissimilar to symptoms associated with attention deficit disorder, such as a shorter attention span and decline in empathy.
read more
Report: States Pass Staggering Array of Anti-Choice Laws, Policies and Ballot Measures
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:01:45 -0400
by Amie Newman, Managing Editor, RH Reality Check
Live in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arizona, Missouri or Louisiana? The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) wants you to know that, with the implementation of health care reform in 2014, you will not have access to abortion coverage in your state's health exchanges. These states have enacted insurance bans on abortion coverage. Five other states considered the bans and the CRR expects more to do so in 2011. But this is only the tip of the iceberg.read more
Enbridge Announces New Athabasca Oilsands Pipeline Expansion
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:58:50 -0400
by Dina O'Meara
Enbridge Inc. will be investing $185 million to expand its Athabasca oilsands pipeline in time to accommodate new volumes from Cenovus Energy's Christina Lake project, the pipeline giant said.
The announcement Thursday was the second in less than a week about projects in the northeast corner of Alberta.
The newest expansion will boost capacity of the Athabasca pipeline to 430,000 barrels per day when it comes online by the fall of 2013, Enbridge said.
read more
Gulf of Mexico Oil Platform Explodes, Fueling Debate Over Offshore Drilling
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:45:13 -0400
by Erika Niedowski and Ben Geman
An explosion Thursday on a Gulf of Mexico oil platform thrust the politics of offshore drilling back in the spotlight, as critics immediately seized on the accident to highlight what they called the industry's inherent dangers.
The explosion and fire happened Thursday morning at a production platform at Vermilion Block 380, about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast, according to its owner, Houston-based Mariner Energy, Inc.
read more
Israel Invited to Join Anti-Nuclear Pact
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:20:54 -0400
VIENNA - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has invited Israel to consider joining a global anti-nuclear arms pact and to place all its atomic facilities under his agency's inspections, an IAEA report said on Friday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said Director General Yukiya Amano met with Israeli leaders during a visit to Israel last month to discuss an Arab-led push for the Jewish state to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
read more
Big Oil Rallies to Save Big Oil
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:12:39 -0400
by Sue Sturgis
The organizer of the Rally for Jobs
events, The American Petroleum Institute (API), with help from other
industry groups including the Independent Petroleum Association of
America, the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association and the
International Association of Drilling Contractors.
read more
German Military Report: Peak Oil Could Lead to Collapse of Democracy
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:51:24 -0400
by Daniel Tencer
Peak oil has happened or will happen some time around this year, and
its consequences could threaten the continued survival of democratic
governments, says a secret Germany military report that was leaked
online.
According to Der Spiegel,
the report from a think-tank inside the German military warns that
shrinking global oil supplies will threaten the world's economic
foundations and possibly lead to mass-scale upheaval within the next 15
to 30 years.
read more
Feds Sue Ariz. Sheriff Arpaio, Call His Defiance 'Unprecedented'
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:00:26 -0400
by Jacques Billeaud
PHOENIX - The U.S. Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.
read more
Another Oil Rig in Gulf of Mexico Explodes
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:41:42 -0400
by Bob Warren
UPDATED...
NEW ORLEANS — A shallow-water production rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded this morning, causing the thirteen crew members aboard to abandon the structure.
Coast Guard rescuers are en route to the scene of the fire, 90 miles
south of Vermilion Bay, Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough said.
Twelve of the workers are in immersion suits, designed to protect them
from hypothermia. One is reported injured.
Once plucked from the Gulf, the injured will be taken Terrebone General Medical Center in Houma, Colclough said.
read more
Settlers Defy Peace Talks With New Construction Across West Bank
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:52:29 -0400
Hours before peace talks were set to begin in Washington, Jewish settlers defiantly announced plans on Thursday to launch new construction in their West Bank enclaves in a test of strength with Palestinian Islamists.
Naftali Bennett, director of the settlers' Yesha council, said settlers would begin building homes and public structures in at least 80 settlements, breaking a partial government freeze on building that ends on September 26.
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Further Victims Identified in DRC Mass Rapes Case
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:32:22 -0400
by Aprille Muscara
UNITED NATIONS - The number of women raped by rebel groups during last month's raid of more than a dozen villages centred around Walikale, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has risen to over 240, U.N. officials told reporters here today.
Following the Jul. 30 to Aug. 3 raid, rebels are now believed to have continued pillaging in and around neighbouring areas of Mubi and Pinga: In addition to those previously reported, an additional 75 rape victims have been identified.
read more
Risks Remain With Gulf Well Cap Coming Off, Govt. Offers No Promises Oil Won't Gush
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:56:29 -0400
by Harry R. Weber
NEW ORLEANS — The cap that ended BP's three-month oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico
was set to come off Thursday as a prelude to raising a massive, failed
piece of equipment and preparing for a final seal on the broken seafloor
well.
Engineers and the government were not expecting crude to break out
again when the cap is lifted, but the government wasn't offering any
guarantees and oil collection vessels were set to be on standby on the
surface just in case.
read more
Feds Warn Residents Near Wyoming Gas Drilling Sites Not To Drink Their Water
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:24:42 -0400
by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica
The federal government is warning residents in a small Wyoming town with extensive natural gas development not to drink their water, and to use fans and ventilation when showering or washing clothes in order to avoid the risk of an explosion.
read more
NATO Probes Afghan Civilian Deaths Claims
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:52:47 -0400
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan - An Afghan official said Thursday that 10 election campaigners had been killed in an airstrike by international forces in the relatively peaceful north of the country.
Two other people, including a candidate in the September 18 parliamentary elections, were injured in the alleged air raid in Rustaq district, in Takhar province, provincial government spokesman Faiz Mohammad Tawhedi told AFP.
The men were travelling in a "caravan" of vehicles when raided by "aircraft and helicopter gunships," he said.
read more
Greenpeace Activists Arrested After Abandoning Occupation of Arctic Oil Rig
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:37:25 -0400
by Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
Four Greenpeace activists who halted drilling by a British-owned oil exploration rig off Greenland have been arrested after they abandoned their occupation because of severe weather.Greenlandic police arrested the four after high winds buffeted the Stena Don drilling rig overnight, forcing them to abandon mountaineering-style platforms they had suspended by ropes underneath the platform less than 48 hours earlier
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Overworked and Underpaid? Productivity Increases, But Wage Growth Declines
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:42:46 -0400
by Akito Yoshikane
Judge Rules Against US Government on Oil Drilling
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:23:06 -0400
HOUSTON - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the U.S. government's request to dismiss an industry lawsuit challenging its deepwater oil and gas drilling moratorium, dealing another blow to the Obama administration.
Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc and other drilling companies sued the administration on June 7 after it first ordered a halt to deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico following BP Plc's well rupture that killed 11 workers and caused the world's worst offshore oil spill.
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Afghan War Unwinnable Quagmire, Ex-CIA Man Says
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:20:30 -0400
by Dylan Welch
THE war in Afghanistan is an unwinnable quagmire and poor US intelligence is leading to the deaths of Australian soldiers, a visiting former CIA officer says.
Robert Baer, a decorated CIA field officer of two decades experience who had spent years in the Middle East, said any chances the US and its allies had of defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan had already been squandered. The Coalition was fighting an unwinnable war, he said, and this was the case because victory required reliable intelligence.
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Campaign Finance Reformers Facing Major Political, Legal Obstacles
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:26:03 -0400
by Andrew Kreighbaum
This has not been a kind year for campaign finance reformers.
Setting aside the now-famous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling from the Supreme Court, which allowed corporations and unions to spend freely on campaign advertisements, there has been a flurry of challenges to other campaign finance laws in the courts.
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Sweden Reopens Investigation Into Rape Claim Against Julian Assange
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:23:44 -0400
STOCKHOLM — A senior Swedish prosecutor reopened a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday, the latest twist to a puzzling case in which prosecutors of different ranks have overruled each other.
Assange has denied the allegations and suggested they are part of a smear campaign by opponents of WikiLeaks - an online whistle-blower that has angered Washington by publishing thousands of leaked documents about U.S. military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Army Downplays Depleted Uranium Risk on Hawaiian Island
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:51:38 -0400
by William Cole
The Army said yesterday that the results of a
depleted uranium study at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island show
radiological doses "well within limits" considered safe by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
The Army studied the potential health risk posed
by residual DU in Pohakuloa areas where past and current weapons firing
has taken place.
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