Sunday, November 26, 2017

World

Japan Wants to Push A Million Tons Of Radioactive Water Into the Pacific Ocean

NewsweekNovember 25, 2017

Japan has still not come to a consensus on what to do with a million tons of nuclear water six years after their primary nuclear power plant in Fukushima was rocked by a tsunami.

The water stored in 900 large, dense, packed tanks on site could spill if another major natural disaster should strike, The Japan Times reported.

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The government has been urged by experts to gradually release the water to the Pacific Ocean, as all the radioactive elements of the water except tritium—which has been said to be safe in small amounts—have been removed through treatment. But if the tank breaks, the contents may not be able to be controlled.

Local fishermen are extremely hesitant to this solution because many consumers are still uncertain to eat fish caught off Fukushima, despite tests that say the fish is safe to eat.

“People would shun Fukushima fish again as soon as the water is released,” Fumio Haga, a drag-net fisherman, told The Japan Times.

When a magnitude 9 earthquake struck Japan and triggered a tsunami that killed 18,000 people, the quake and massive flooding knocked out the power to the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing six reactors to have partial meltdowns. Radiation was launched into the air and highly contaminated water spewed into the Pacific Ocean.

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Despite the fish being tested and scientists saying it is safe to eat, 1 in 5 residents still refuse to eat fish and other foods from Fukushima. Many people believe the water is stored because it’s not safe to release, and they think Fukushima fish is not available because it’s not safe to eat.

Currently, the amount of radioactive water at Fukushima is still growing by 150 tons a day.

Storage tanks for contaminated water stand at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima. The government has still not decided what to do with the water. Getty Images

The volume of contaminated water grows because it mixes with groundwater that has seeped in through cracks in the reactor buildings. After treatment, 210 tons is reused as cooling water, and the rest of the 150 tons is sent to tank storage.

And it’s expensive. The water has been causing headaches for the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., the utility that owns the plant. In order to reduce the flow of the water, the company has dug dozens of wells to pump out groundwater before it reaches the reactor buildings. A questionable, underground “ice wall” was also built underground by partially freezing the ground around the reactors.

Some experts have proposed to move the tanks to an intermediate storage area, or delay the release of the water until 2023, when half the tritium that was present at the time of the disaster will have disappeared

Friday, September 22, 2017

Is it the Kremlin’s turn to get WikiLeaked?

Fred Weir

Christian Science MonitorSeptember 21, 2017

It’s been seven years since WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange threatened to drop an information bombshell on the Kremlin that would show Russians the inner workings of their government and business world.

That threat never materialized, though a handful of fairly tame Russia-related documents were published.

WikiLeaks went on to publish hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables and, more recently, a huge trove of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager. That appearance of lopsidedness has led some to accuse WikiLeaks of being in the Kremlin’s pocket, and CIA director Mike Pompeo to denounce the group as “a hostile intelligence service.”

But Russia might now be back in WikiLeaks’ sights.

This week WikiLeaks uncovered Spy Files, the first of what it says will be a revealing series of document dumps on the nature and workings of Russia’s surveillance state. Most of what is contained in the 34 base documents from Peter-Service, a private St. Petersburg digital company that provides “solutions” for Russian telecom giants and state agencies, has long been known and appears to be within the framework of Russia’s fairly draconian national security legislation.

Still, it represents a significant departure for WikiLeaks, and experts say it casts a timely spotlight on the vast surveillance operations mounted by Russian security services.

“It’s mostly technical stuff. It doesn’t contain any state contracts, or even a single mention of the FSB [security service], but there is some data here that’s worth publishing,” says Andrei Soldatov, co-author of “The Red Web,” a history of the Soviet and Russian internet. “Anything that gets people talking about Russia’s capabilities and actions in this area should be seen as a positive development.”

RUSSIA’S NEW CYBERSCAPE

According to WikiLeaks, Peter-Service was founded as a billing service in 1992. But it has since grown into a major provider of software and equipment that includes exotic gear for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. “The technologies developed and deployed by Peter-Service today go far beyond the classical billing process and extend into the realms of surveillance and control,” WikiLeaks wrote. “Although compliance to the strict surveillance laws is mandatory in Russia, rather than being forced to comply Peter-Service appears to be quite actively pursuing partnership and commercial opportunities with the state intelligence apparatus.”

The documents shed some light on SORM, the technical infrastructure used by security services to keep tabs on electronic communications and internet traffic, and to store masses of data for future reference.

Russia has been investing heavily in a vision of cyber-democracy that will link the public directly with government officials in an effort to increase feedback and official responsiveness. But it is also enforcing some of the toughest enabling laws, to grant law enforcement access to just about any communications, require companies to maintain all data on Russian citizens on servers within the country, and to ban use of encryption technologies or services such as VPNs that could be used to evade surveillance.

The so-called Yarovaya Law, which vastly expands the powers of security services, now allows authorities to monitor and even ban almost any organization deemed to be “extremist,” including groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In line with public attitudes in most countries, 58 percent of Russians said they don’t think the government should have access to their private communications, according to a survey done last year by the state-funded Public Opinion Foundation. Twenty-five percent said such state surveillance was permissible to fight terrorism and crime.

One of the documents published by WikiLeaks is a slide show produced by Peter-Service which appears to be a market promotional for its services. The video has been in the public domain for some time, WikiLeaks admits.

“That slide show provides a very good illustration of the mindset of these people,” says Mr. Soldatov. “It’s quite eye-opening. The tone of it is ‘we are under attack, and we can’t let the Anglo-Saxons win this war. Our enemies are Facebook and Google. We need to promote national operators and solutions to protect ourselves.’ They are openly discussing the need to control all national communications.”

The company at the center of this storm has denied doing anything illegal. But most large Russian media outlets have yet to cover the story.

“Everyone is getting caught up in this information war, and we already knew that WikiLeaks is no white knight,” says Sergei Strokan, international affairs columnist for the Moscow daily Komersant. “Russian authorities might best ignore this. It’s unlikely they will want to respond, and might just hope it will go away.”

News

Aid to North Koreans? The idea has roots.

The Monitor's Editorial Board

Christian Science MonitorSeptember 21, 2017

In a surprise move that seems at odds with Washington’s threatening stance toward North Korea, the government of South Korea announced Sept. 21 that it plans to resume humanitarian aid to its neighbor. This comes despite the North’s rapid-paced testing of longer-range missiles and stronger nuclear weapons. It also seems to contradict the ratcheting up of sanctions by the United Nations Security Council against the Kim regime in Pyongyang.

Yet South Korea’s move is not out of line with a global trend toward the idea that even enemies must recognize the innocence of noncombatants in a conflict and provide them with lifesaving care and immunity from harmful neglect.

The $8 million of assistance offered by President Moon Jae-in is aimed at helping close to a million children and pregnant women who are suffering from a recent drought in North Korea. The food and medicine will be delivered by international aid groups that are well practiced in making sure outside aid reaches those it is intended to help.

North Korea’s dictators have a long history of ignoring the extreme hardship of their people, such as a mass famine in the 1990s, in order to pay for a military buildup. But that cruelty should not diminish the rest of the world’s compassion to save innocent North Koreans. “Humanitarian action cannot be held hostage to political ends,” said Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, recently.

Providing aid to civilians across enemy lines sends a subtle message that what unites people, such as a desire to protect the innocent, is far more important than what divides them.

A similar sentiment can be found in Israel, which revealed in July that its military has been assisting thousands of Syrian civilians fleeing war in their country. Called Operation Good Neighbor, the aid program is seen by Israel as a “moral imperative” even though Syria and Israel have been in conflict for decades. The Israeli army has given food and other supplies to Syrian refugees while hundreds of Syrian children have been treated at Israeli hospitals.

The world may be seeing a similar example soon in Venezuela, where the regime’s economic neglect and harsh crackdown on dissent have left millions desperate for food and other basic goods. International aid groups and members of the country’s political opposition are in talks on how to deliver foreign aid despite the regime’s resistance. President Trump even hinted at providing aid during a recent speech at the UN: “The Venezuelan people are starving, and their country is collapsing. Their democratic institutions are being destroyed. The situation is completely unacceptable, and we cannot stand by and watch.”

No matter how severe international conflicts may be, they have their limits when enough people and nations recognize the dignity of all innocent lives.

World

Scientist reveals the possible reason behind all the recent earthquakes

Yahoo7September 21, 2017

Hundreds have been killed and towns devastated by a spate of deadly earthquakes in countries including Mexico, New Zealand, Japan and Vanuatu.

While experts are unable to pin down the reason why 2017 has seen an unusual amount of earthquake action, a seismologist has suggested it could be due to travelling "body waves".

The theory is that the waves caused by one earthquake can shake up the fault line in other countries across the globe and cause a second event.

Rescuers worked throughout the night in search of survivors in Mexico. Source: AP

"Waves that travel throughout the globe might shake up faults and bring faults already stressed closer to failure," Senior Seismologist Phil Cummins from Geoscience Australia told 7 News Online.

"It's very difficult to determine."

Professor Cummins said alternatively, the earthquakes could just be part of a random clustering.

Mexico has been struck by two earthquakes in just 12 days, killing more than 230 people and bringing buildings to the ground.

Volunteers bring pieces of wood to help prop up sections of the collapsed school. Source: AP

Volunteers relay debris away from the quake hit school. Source: Reuters

The quake that hit the southern part of the country September 7 on had a magnitude 8.1 and Tuesday's event was measured at 7.1.

Vanuatu was also hit with a 6.1 magnitude earthquake on Thursday and a 5.7 magnitude quake struck off the coast of Bali hours later.

Professor Cummins said these earthquakes are relatively small in magnitude, but smaller quakes can cause more damage, depending on the fault line.

In Mexico, a desperate search and rescue effort is continuing.

At least 21 children have been killed after a three-storey wing of the Enrique Rebsamen school in Mexico City collapsed during the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Tuesday.

Search crews are frequently pausing for “moments of absolute silence” as they listen for trapped survivors’ cries and banging on walls.

Volunteers relay buckets filled with debris away from the school. Source: AP

News

Mexico quake's homeless gather in tent village, toll reaches 286

By David Alire Garcia

ReutersSeptember 22, 2017

Mexico quake's homeless gather in tent village, toll reaches 286

By David Alire Garcia

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Desperate residents left homeless by Mexico's deadliest earthquake in a generation gathered in a tent village in the south of the capital on Friday, as the death toll climbed to 286 and signs of exhaustion gripped rescuers three days after the tremor.

Tuesday's 7.1 magnitude quake leveled some 52 buildings in the sprawling Mexican capital, sparking a frenzied hunt for survivors and prompting political parties to outdo each other with pledges of donations to the rescue efforts ahead of next year's election.

Across the city of 20 million people, the extent of damage from the quake was becoming apparent, with many people whose dwellings had become uninhabitable seeking somewhere to call home, raising the risk of a housing shortage in coming weeks.

Despite dimming hopes of finding more survivors, President Enrique Pena Nieto insisted rescue operations would continue.

Local media reported that military officials pulled two people from the wreckage of a textile factory in the central Colonia Obrera neighborhood of the capital late on Thursday, though it was not immediately clear if they survived.

In the Girasoles complex in the south of the city, officials cordoned off large areas of the development after two of its roughly 30 apartment buildings collapsed. A handwritten sign across the street listed 14 people said to have died there.

Anguished residents, who were given a series of 20-minute blocks of time to collect belongings from their apartments, feared their homes could be turned to rubble once inspectors have determined which buildings are safe and which may need to be demolished if they are a risk to public safety.

"The building is very, very damaged. It moves. Everything moves," said Vladimir Estrada, a 39-year-old musical radio programmer, returning from a rushed trip to his fifth floor apartment with plastic bags stuffed with his belongings.

"Nobody here has insurance. Some have family members who can help them but others don't. Everything is in doubt."

Several removal vans were laden with mattresses and furniture as those who were able to leave packed up and did so.

But, with few places to go and concern for their largely uninsured properties, many chose to camp out, making the most of allotted windows of time to extricate their possessions. Others slept in their cars.

Emergency services worker Ana Karen Almanza was helping coordinate the arrival of donated supplies in the park, where about a dozen tarp awnings had been erected. She said there was no official involvement in the tent village emerging around her.

"It's the residents, the neighbors," she said. "Lots of them don't have anywhere to live."

DISCONTENT

Tuesday's massive quake struck on the anniversary of the deadly 1985 tremor that killed some 5,000 people in Mexico City, spooking many residents. As the shock began to subside, exhaustion crept in, along with growing discontent and swirling speculation.

Late on Thursday, Mexico's Navy apologized for communicating incorrect information in the story a fictitious schoolgirl, supposedly trapped under a collapsed school in Mexico City.

The tale of the girl, dubbed Frida Sofia by local media, had captivated a devastated nation, and the high-profile televised blunder led to anger.

Officials also sought to quash rumors that the military would be bulldozing razed buildings deemed unlikely to harbor survivors. Across the city, thousands of rescue workers and special teams using sniffer dogs continued to comb the wreckage of buildings for survivors.

With signs of tensions bubbling under the surface, the country's deeply unpopular political class strove to shine.

Disaster relief is sensitive for politicians in Mexico after the government's widely panned response to the 1985 quake caused upheaval, which some credited with weakening the one-party rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

In a statement, the PRI said it would be donating 258 million pesos ($14.42 million), or 25 percent of its annual federal funding, to help those afflicted.

Meanwhile, the national human rights commission proposed changing the Mexican constitution to divert about 30 percent of political parties' funding to a federal disaster fund.

Calls for political penny-pinching gained momentum on social media following a powerful quake two weeks ago that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country.

After that temblor, current leftist presidential frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador suggested donating 20 percent of his party's federal campaign funds for victims.

On Thursday, though, after news of the PRI plans broke, Lopez Obrador upped the ante, proposing donating 50 percent of his National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party's 2018 federal funding to support victims.

Lorenzo Cordova, the head of the national electoral institute, said in a video posted to Twitter the body had no problem with parties choosing to divert funds to the needy.

The full scale of damage has not been officially calculated.

Citigroup's Mexican unit Citibanamex told clients it was lowering its 2017 economic growth forecast to 1.9 percent from 2.0 percent due to the earthquake.

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter and Daniel Flynn; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Jeremy Gaunt and Bernadette Baum)

Saturday, September 16, 2017

World

Iraq attack death toll rises to 84

AFPSeptember 15, 2017

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An Iraqi inspects the wreckage after gunmen and suicide bombers killed dozens of people near the southern city of Nasiriyah on September 14, 2017

An Iraqi inspects the wreckage after gunmen and suicide bombers killed dozens of people near the southern city of Nasiriyah on September 14, 2017 (AFP Photo/Haidar HAMDANI)

Nasiriyah (Iraq) (AFP) - Gunmen and suicide bombers killed at least 84 people in southern Iraq in the deadliest attack by the Islamic State group since it lost second city Mosul, according to a new toll released on Friday.

Many of the dead in Thursday's attack near the city of Nasiriyah were Shiite Muslim pilgrims, some of them Iranian, officials said.

"The death toll has risen to 84 after the discovery of 10 more bodies at the scene of the attack," said Jassem al-Khalidi, health director for Dhiqar province, which has largely been spared the violence that has plagued northern and central Iraq.

"Another 93 people were wounded, many of them seriously," Khalidi told AFP.

The assailants struck at midday, opening fire on a restaurant before getting into a car and blowing themselves up at a nearby security checkpoint, officials said.

They left a trail of destruction, with charred bodies scattered on the ground near the burnt-out wrecks of cars, buses and trucks, an AFP correspondent reported.

The attack was quickly claimed by IS, which appears to be switching to insurgent attacks after suffering a string of setbacks on the battlefield.

UN envoy Jan Kubis condemned the "cowardly twin attacks... which resulted in numerous civilian casualties, including many pilgrims."

Shiites have been the target of repeated attack by the Sunni extremists of IS who regard them as heretics.

The area targeted by Thursday's attack lies on a highway used by Shiite pilgrims from Iran and southern Iraq to travel to the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala further north.