The Raw Story

Sunday, 17 May 2015

35,000 rally against US military base on Japan's Okinawa

© AFP Photo
An estimated 35,000 protesters raise placards saying "Do not yield to authority" during a rally to protest against a controversial US airbase in Naha in Japan's southern island of Okinawa on May 17, 2015

Thousands of people rallied in Okinawa in southern Japan on Sunday in protest against a controversial US airbase on the island, as a two-decade-old bitter row over the relocation of the site drags on.

Okinawa is home to more than half of the 47,000 US service personnel stationed in Japan as part of a defence alliance, a proportion many islanders say is too high.

Futenma airbase has become emblematic of that ill-will since Washington announced plans to move it in 1996, hoping to ease tensions with the host community after the gang-rape of a schoolgirl by servicemen.

But locals have blocked the move to relocate the base, insisting the facility should go off-island instead, queering relations between Tokyo and Okinawa -- a once independent kingdom that was annexed by Japan in the 19th century.

"The government says we are to blame that the issue has stalled for 19 years and they tell us to find an alternative place (for the base relocation). That's outrageous," shouted the anti-US base mayor of Nago, Susumu Inamine.

"The government is thrusting their responsibility on us," Inamine told a packed 15,000-seat baseball stadium.

© AFP Photo
Okinawa governor Takeshi Onaga delivers a speech at a rally in Naha to protest against a controversial US airbase on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa on May 17, 2015

Organisers estimated that about 35,000 people also turned up for a rally in Naha, Okinawa's capital.

Deadlock has deepened recently after preparatory building work on the coast begun in the face of vehement opposition from the local government in Okinawa.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month insisted the current re-location plan was "the only solution," while anti-base Okinawa governor Takeshi Onaga hit back saying that three recent popular votes in Okinawa all showed overwhelming opposition to the move.

"The current government is pushing the plan. Is it really a democratic country?" said protester Kiku Nakayama, 86, who as a teenager worked as a nurse for soldiers towards the end of World War II.

"We have to remove the risks of exposing Okinawa to war again," she said.

a sizable proportion of Okinawans want a dramatic reduction in their numbers.

A 16-year-old girl has been gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park while posing for a picture near the animal.

The National Park Service says the unidentified girl's injuries were serious but not life-threatening.

The agency described her as an exchange student from Taiwan who was visiting the park with her host family.

The incident occurred shortly after noon Friday in the Old Faithful area.

The Park Service says she and others were between 3 and 6 feet from the bison when she turned her back to the bison to have her picture taken. The bison took a couple steps and gored her.

The girl was airlifted to an area hospital.

The Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison in the park.

The author of a controversial new book claims a comet struck the Earth nearly 13,000 years ago and wiped out a highly advanced ancient civilisation.

When Graham Hancock wrote , it was derided by academics but became a commercial sensation.

He argued an ancient culture in Antarctica was obliterated - but subjects such as astronomy and mathematics were passed to later civilisations.

Despite selling an estimated 3m copies, a BBC programme sought to demolish his theory.

Paul V Heinrich, a US geologist, wrote: "Rather than stumbling upon an archaeological mystery, he has merely created one."

Now, 20 years later, he is set to publish a 500-page sequel - - that he believes will prove his critics wrong.

Citing scientific and archaeological research, Hancock, a former journalist, told the : "In 1995, I wrote a book about all the clues — the fingerprints — that pointed to the existence of this lost civilisation.

"But what I lacked was a smoking gun. Now we have it.

"A series of papers in geophysics and geological journals have been bringing forward evidence that the Earth was indeed hit by a comet 12,800 years ago, which is exactly what I proposed in my book."

Hancock argues that the existence of the comet has been masked because it struck ice and did not leave a crater.

But he acknowledges that many will ridicule his new book, which is to be published in September.

The International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE) has written to officials of the EU Parliament and Commission asking for an immediate ban on glyphosate herbicides and four insecticides judged by the World Health Organisation's cancer agency, IARC, to be probable carcinogens.

The letter states that glyphosate herbicides are associated with health problems such as birth defects, infertility, damage to the nervous system, Parkinson's disease and several forms of cancer.

The letter adds, "for safeguarding the health of European populations, ISDE states that the rational basis is already strong enough" to justify an immediate and permanent ban.

The ISDE's Board includes doctors from Europe, North and South America, Pakistan, and Kenya. ISDE has national and regional member organisations in over 25 different countries.

The European Commission, for its part, has formally asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to give its opinion on IARC's verdict on glyphosate herbicides, according to an article in EU Food Policy (available by subscription only).

EU Food Policy says that the full IARC monograph study on which the conclusion is based will not be published until 2016, but the IARC has agreed to provide to EFSA a list of all the studies it used this month.

Ladislav Miko, the acting director general of the Commission health division, DG SANTE, told EU Food Policy, "Furthermore, EFSA should establish to which extent IARC's assessment was based on information on the active substance glyphosate versus on formulated plant protection products containing glyphosate and co-formulants."

This is a good question, as the complete herbicide formulations are well established to be more toxic than the isolated active ingredient glyphosate.

However, there are signs that Mr Miko is also asking the wrong questions to protect public health. According to EU Food Policy, he wants EFSA to consider whether "firm causality" has been established between the health effects observed in IARC's assessment and the application of glyphosate herbicides, consistent with good practice and having regard to "realistic conditions of use".

In the wording of this question, Mr Miko has given far too much wriggle room to industry. It is difficult to see how "firm causality" could ever be established between ill health effects and the use of any pesticide, let alone how it could be proved that any health effects seen resulted from good practice and realistic conditions of use.

EU Food Policy notes that EFSA is already peer reviewing conclusions on glyphosate with a deadline of August as part of the renewal of the EU authorisation procedure. The Commission wants it to deliver its analysis of the IARC findings by that date.

The open letter from the ISDE is here:
http://bit.ly/1HoreZ0

You can subscribe to EU Food Policy here:
http://bit.ly/1HamIrE

© BCFS photo
Efforts are underway to battle the wildfires in B.C., which has claimed roughly 17,000 hectares, west of Prince George.

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. -- Crews are responding to five new wildfires in British Columbia's Central Interior, as a massive blaze continues to burn about 70 kilometres southwest of Prince George.

B.C.'s Wildfire Management Branch says all of the new fires were sparked by Friday's lightning activity in the Cariboo region.

The largest fire is raging four hectares west of Anahim Lake, where a three-person attack crew, airtankers and a helicopter are on site with 16 additional firefighters on the way.

The branch says crews are also working on three small fires in the Big Bar area and one small fire southwest of Quesnel.

Meanwhile, the aggressive Little Bobtail Lake blaze has destroyed about 17,000 hectares since it was first discovered last Saturday.

Some 240 firefighters, 11 helicopters, eight air tankers and 23 pieces of heavy machinery have been brought in and 20 per cent of the fire has been contained.

Jill Kelsh with the Prince George Fire Centre says crews have been working around the clock since last Sunday.

"It's not very often that we have crews working day and night. They have been working as hard with all of the resources they have to get this fire under containment," she says.

"It was our first and only extremely large fire burning in the province so it was definitely a high priority for us."

She says an evacuation order remains in place for about 80 people and it's too soon to say when they could return to their homes.

Kelsh says the area is finally seeing cooler temperatures and although winds have picked up, they are currently in crews' favour as they are moving away from larger communities.

Officials are hoping the gusty winds will not cause any immediate threat to structures, she says.

Unseasonably dry, hot weather has brought wildfire season early in B.C.

One wildfire that destroyed about 83 hectares near Clearwater was 100 per cent contained as of Saturday morning.

Another blaze near Pelican Lake was about 164 hectares in size and only 50 per cent contained.

Many Guam residents were left without power or water yesterday while hundreds remained in island storm shelters.

More than 3,300 Guam Waterworks Authority subscribers experienced water outages and 40 percent of Guam Power Authority customers experienced power outages that lasted through yesterday, according to GPA and GWA spokeswoman Heidi Ballendorf.

Ballendorf said more than five of the emergency generators used to power water wells experienced malfunctions, which left about 8.2 percent of the agency's 41,000 customers without water.

[embedded content]

According to Ballendorf, crews installed the emergency generators before Dolphin's approach when they discovered more than five generators would not start.

In response, GWA electricians were deployed yesterday while the island was still in Condition of Readiness 1 to fix the downed generators.

GWA and Guam EPA lab technicians also were out yesterday at some of the 400 points along a 700-mile-long GWA water line to test water quality.

All residents, particularly those who lost water, are being advised to boil tap water used for cooking and drinking.

[embedded content]

At 3 a.m. yesterday, GPA crews were deployed to restore power to scattered areas.

"Our crews are working in 12-to-14-hour shifts day and night to solve the outages," Ballendorf said.

Ballendorf said the crews' priorities were "feeder" lines, which she said service the most customers.

Prior to the storm hitting the island, Ballendorf said GPA is able to detect the locations of outages as they occur and the moment they happen through smart grids and a remote operating system called SCADA.

"We know where the outages are and we're working diligently to get those back up," Ballendorf said.

Deanne Criswell, a senior federal official from Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters said the agency didn't receive any reports of fatalities or injuries on Guam or in the CNMI.

Criswell said, once the team from Region 9 and the 35-person Incident Management Assistance Team finish their assessments, FEMA will know what types of assistance will need to be provided. FEMA's Region 9 serves Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Pacific islands.

More than 100 people were moved yesterday from the Maria Ulloa Elementary School shelter to the Astumbo shelter, which housed about 336 residents. The Machananao Elementary School shelter, which housed 199 residents, also remained open.

The other six shelters used during the typhoon were closed.

Once people are situated, officials will work out the next plan of action, governor's spokesman Julius Santos said. Priorities are set on trying to find solutions for these residents, and opening schools by Monday.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chip Guard said Guam was well prepared for Dolphin.

"It was unusual to see a small storm like that expand at the last minute," Guard said. "Regardless, I think the island got by really well because of the preparations people made."

Guard added: "This was probably the strongest storm we've had in 10 years."

Many Guam residents were left without power or water yesterday while hundreds remained in island storm shelters.

Ballendorf said more than five of the emergency generators used to power water wells experienced malfunctions, which left about 8.2 percent of the agency's 41,000 customers without water.

[embedded content]

According to Ballendorf, crews installed the emergency generators before Dolphin's approach when they discovered more than five generators would not start.

In response, GWA electricians were deployed yesterday while the island was still in Condition of Readiness 1 to fix the downed generators.

GWA and Guam EPA lab technicians also were out yesterday at some of the 400 points along a 700-mile-long GWA water line to test water quality.

All residents, particularly those who lost water, are being advised to boil tap water used for cooking and drinking.

[embedded content]

At 3 a.m. yesterday, GPA crews were deployed to restore power to scattered areas.

"Our crews are working in 12-to-14-hour shifts day and night to solve the outages," Ballendorf said.

Ballendorf said the crews' priorities were "feeder" lines, which she said service the most customers.

"We know where the outages are and we're working diligently to get those back up," Ballendorf said.

Deanne Criswell, a senior federal official from Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters said the agency didn't receive any reports of fatalities or injuries on Guam or in the CNMI.

The other six shelters used during the typhoon were closed.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chip Guard said Guam was well prepared for Dolphin.

"It was unusual to see a small storm like that expand at the last minute," Guard said. "Regardless, I think the island got by really well because of the preparations people made."

Guard added: "This was probably the strongest storm we've had in 10 years."

The Raw Story

Focused on providing independent journalism.

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Sunday, 17 May 2015

35,000 rally against US military base on Japan's Okinawa

Student gored by bison in Yellowstone Park

A comet 'wiped out highly advanced ancient civilisation after smashing into Earth nearly 13,000 years ago'

Doctors demand immediate ban on glyphosate herbicides

Lightning sparks new wildfires in British Columbia as massive blaze continues

Thousands on Guam without water, power after Typhoon Dolphin strikes island, destroys homes

Thousands on Guam without water, power after Typhoon Dolphin strikes island, destroys homes

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