Category Archives: planetkillers

Pope Francis at the United Nations: “Any harm done to the environment…is harm done to humanity.”

Source: Pope Francis at the United Nations: “Any harm done to the environment…is harm done to humanity.”

Countries Using Child Soldiers Join UK Arms Fair

Credit: Stop the Arms FairBy a Global Information Network correspondentLONDON, Sep 15 2015 (IPS)Human rights and citizen activist groups are criticizing one of the world’s largest arms bazaars, which opened at London’s Docklands Tuesday.Participants in what is officially known as the Defense and Security International (DSEI) include 61 countries that violate human rights, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Angola and Algeria. According to the website, some 30,000 visitors are expected.More than 1,500 companies will exhibit their military wares, including the U.S. and UK giants Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and BAE Systems. Forty foreign governments will have pavilions. Sponsors and co-sponsors of the event include Turkey, South Africa, Northrup Grumman and Hewlett Packard.The four-day fair has drawn furious debate between human rights activists and those who say the arms industry provides thousands of jobs and valuable exports.Citizen activist groups using Twitter and other social media have jumped into action to condemn the fair. Traders at previous arms fairs, they note, have been able to buy and sell equipment used for torture including electric shock stun guns and batons, leg-irons, and belly-, body- and gang-chains. There has also been a range of illegal cluster-munition weaponry advertised at the fair.Nine, companies which have attended the DSEI fair between 2005 and 2013, have breached UK law, according to human rights campaigner Amnesty International.This year’s DSEI comes as the UK government ramps up its effort to sell weapons to countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, by far its most lucrative single arms market.Ryvka Barnard, senior military and security campaigner for the activist group War on Want, took issue with organizers giving Israel a national pavilion where Israeli arms companies exhibit ‘battle tested’ military technology used on Palestinians.The UK headquarters of Amnesty also spoke up: “In the past, torture equipment has been on offer right on our doorstep. Things like illegal leg irons and electric-shock batons have been shamelessly advertised and it’s blindingly obvious the law needs tightening up.“We need strengthened laws – and crucially we need proper enforcement – to stop Britain being used as a showroom for torturers to advertise their disgusting wares…” the group said.Groups organizing on Twitter against arms sales include Stop the Arms Fair!, Stop DSEI, Pax Christi and the Campaign Against Arms Trade, among others.

Source: Countries Using Child Soldiers Join UK Arms Fair

Britain braced for long, snowy winter as strongest El Nino since 1950 expected – Telegraph

Winter is coming, and it could be colder and snowier than normal after forecasters predicted that this year’s El Nino weather phenomenon could be the strongest since 1950.Met Office meteorologists said conditions could mirror those of the 2009/2010 winter which was so long and chilly it was dubbed ‘The Big Freeze.’That winter, heavy snowfall brought transport chaos to much of the country with airports closed and train services suspended. In parts of Scotland temperatures dropped to -8.1F (-22.3C) as record 19 inch snowfall fell in the highlands. In December that year, the average UK temperature was just 30F (-1C) the coldest since records began.

Source: Britain braced for long, snowy winter as strongest El Nino since 1950 expected – Telegraph

Senator McCain to Photograph Seeker Holding “Protect Oak Flat” Sign: “Get Out of Here, Now!”

“I LISTENED TO THE MANY LEADERS THAT SPOKE. AFTER MR. MCCAIN SPOKE I APPROACHED HIM AND I ASKED FOR A PHOTO. THEN WHEN I SHOOK HIS HAND, I IMMEDIATELY PULLED OUT MY ‘PROTECT OAK FLAT’ CARD. WHEN HE SAW THE CARD HE SAID, ‘GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!’” TSINIGINE TOLD NATIVE NEWS ONLINE.

As he walked away from Senator McCain (R-Arizona), Tsinigine thought about how disrespectful the senator was to him and his Apache relatives.

McCain is the U.S. senator who pushed for the land exchange of Oak Flat, a land held sacred by Apaches and other American Indians, that was tucked into last December’s $585 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 that was passed by Congress.

“I respect Mr. McCain for his service in the war and the sacrifices he has made for us all, but I have no respect for him as a senator in the state of Arizona,” Tsinigine continued.

via Senator McCain to Photograph Seeker Holding “Protect Oak Flat” Sign: “Get Out of Here, Now!”.

Dubai (ROTFLOL) to build world’s largest indoor ski resort as part of Meydan City project | World news | The Guardian

Dubai to build world's largest indoor ski resort as part of Meydan City project | World news | The Guardian

(The added cost of your gasoline this summer is paying for this!) Dubai, the Gulf emirate known for extravagant projects and scorching temperatures, has announced it will build the world’s largest indoor ski resort, with a 1.2-kilometre run.

Dubai’s current indoor ski resort, opened in 2005 in the Mall of the Emirates, remains the largest in the world, according to the Guinness World Records website, boasting a 400-metre slope.

The slope runs year-round despite summer temperatures in Dubai that can top 45C (113F).

The new covered ski resort comes as part of a scheme dubbed Meydan One, also to include the world’s tallest residential tower at 711metres (2,333ft), a dancing fountain sweeping up to 420m (1,378ft), a vast shopping centre, 350-room hotel and marina, according to a government statement.

via Dubai to build world’s largest indoor ski resort as part of Meydan City project | World news | The Guardian.

Palestinian Vigilante Effort Marks Stark Change in West Bank – The New York Times

“Can we explode against the occupation, without exploding against the authority?” asked Mohammad Dawabsheh, 32 (most residents of the hamlet share the same family name). “No. You don’t fix your garden before fixing the house,” he said.

But this shift to lashing out, to vigilante patrols, to vociferously condemning Palestinian governance, it is a shift that is bleeding out across the West Bank amid rising frustration. Weary of conflict after the violence of their second intifada, Palestinians speak of deep unease over the future, and despair with their present.

Peace talks have been stalled for years, and Palestinian efforts to hold Israel to account in international forums — particularly the International Criminal Court — are unlikely to bring results in the near future. The Palestinian government, led by Mr. Abbas, 10 years into what was supposed to be a five-year term, is increasingly seen as neglectful and corrupt.

via Palestinian Vigilante Effort Marks Stark Change in West Bank – The New York Times.

Japan’s Lower House Passes Bills to Give Military Limited Combat Powers – The New York Times

“The Fourth Reich grabbing Greece and now Japan embracing militarism again!”

The vote was the culmination of months of contentious debate in a society that has long embraced pacifism to atone for wartime aggression. It was a significant victory for Mr. Abe, a conservative politician who has devoted his career to moving Japan beyond guilt over its militarist past and toward his vision of a “normal country” with a larger role in global affairs.

via Japan’s Lower House Passes Bills to Give Military Limited Combat Powers – The New York Times.