Judge orders restraining order against sheriff who arrested man serving him a subpoena

© Facebook
Sheriff Tracy Carter

    

North Carolina sheriff called on his deputies to arrest a man trying to serve him with a subpoena to testify in a federal lawsuit filed by a man who suffered broken bones and other injuries during an arrest.

A judge granted a temporary restraining order against Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter preventing the three-term Republican and his deputies from interfering with attempts to serve subpoenas in the lawsuit filed five years ago.

U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle found in his order that Carter and other members of the sheriff's department were "obstructing or otherwise interfering" with attempts to call witnesses in the trial, which is scheduled to start June 2.

Robert Wade was hired to serve a subpoena to Carter at his home, but the 71-year-old man said the sheriff yelled at him and blocked him from leaving until deputies arrived to arrest him.

Wade was charged with trespassing and carrying a concealed weapon.

The 48-year-old Carter has been dropped as a defendant in the lawsuit filed by Steven Wayne Thomas, who claims that Lee County deputies kicked him in the head and shocked him 11 times with a Taser during a 2009 arrest.

One deputy shocked him eight times in less than three minutes, according to the suit.

Thomas said he became disoriented after working with chemicals in a tobacco field at his farm, jumped out of a pickup, and destroyed a woman's decorative fence.

The suit claims that Thomas suffered a broken jaw and lost a tooth after asking deputies for help.

Thomas is seeking $3 million in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.

His attorney said there was no way to ensure that Carter and other key witnesses would testify unless they were served with subpoenas.

"In the environment we live in now where police are under scrutiny for acting out and misbehaving you would think that a sheriff in North Carolina would comply with the law and accept simple service of a piece of paper," said attorney Kieran Shanahan.

Read More

California considering usage of recycled sewage water as source of drinking water amid drought

© Reuters / Lucy Nicholson
A man fills a tank with water at the local fire station, in East Porterville, California

    

Potable water reuse - or converting sewage effluent to heavily-treated, purified drinking water - is receiving renewed attention in California in the midst of the state's four-year drought.

According to a report by the , "California water managers and environmentalists"are pushing the idea of recycled sewage water. Yet past efforts in the state to employ similar systems have stalled, as opponents have dubbed the concept "toilet to tap."

This spring, California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a 25 percent cut in urban water usage based on ongoing drought conditions across the state.

Proponents of potable water reuse say that the system could convert the hundreds of billions of gallons of treated sewage that is already directed into the Pacific Ocean into drinking water.

"That water is discharged into the ocean and lost forever," Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, told the . "Yet it's probably the single largest source of water supply for California over the next quarter-century."

A potable reuse system would mean effluent would be sent to an advanced treatment plant for a three-step purification process.

According to the newspaper, the water is first sent through a microfilter to block particles or bacteria of a certain size. Then the water is filtrated by reverse osmosis, in which it is "forced through a membrane" that blocks pharmaceuticals, viruses, and other materials. Finally, ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide break down pathogens or organic compounds that eluded the two initial steps.

The water would then be sent to a traditional water treatment facility to integrate with other water sources after further processing.

The system results in cleaner water than most bottled waters, according to water reuse advocate WateReuse California.

According to an economic analysis of such a system by George Tchobanoglous, a water treatment expert and professor emeritus at UC Davis, potable reuse could result in up to 1.1 million acre-feet of water annually by 2020.

Besides the "yuck factor," opponents of potable reuse say they are also concerned of trace amounts of drug compounds, hormones, and personal care products in wastewater.

"Personally I would not drink water that has been recycled through the toilet to tap process," Steven Oppenheimer, a biology professor at Cal State Northridge, told the .

Supporters of potable reuse point out that more than 200 wastewater treatment plants currently discharge sewage effluent into the Colorado River, the primary source of drinking water in Southern California.

Even if potable reuse is accepted by the public, such a system may not come to fruition for years given the lack of regulatory framework. A panel is working to offer a report on the subject to the state legislature by 2016.

Around the globe, solutions aimed at helping those forced to depend on low-grade sanitation systems could also help a drought-ravaged area like California. At least a billion people have no toilet at all and must openly defecate in areas of the world that lack First World sanitation standards, according to a magazine profile of The Blue Diversion Toilet.

The toilet "separates urine, feces, and water with a simple hydraulic system powered by a small solar panel. Urine is first pumped into a treatment tank containing a membrane bioreactor that converts the traces of organic matter and ammonia into harmless compounds and recovers safe water," according to . It also provides "recycled water for hand washing and anal cleansing."

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is active in funding projects aimed at improving global water and sanitation access. Bill Gates was recently filmed drinking water cleaned by a project his foundation funds, the OmniProcessor.

The OmniProcessor, designed and built by Seattle engineering firm Janicki Bioenergy, burns human waste to produce electricity and water. The processor powers itself through the use of a steam engine and does not emit an odor. The machine could handle 14 tons of waste from 100,000 people, producing up to 86,000 liters of drinkable water a day, and net 250 kw of electricity.

Read More

Gunman in shooting at North Dakota Walmart an active airman in military

© Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

    

A US airman is suspected of being the gunman responsible for a Tuesday morning shooting in a North Dakota branch of Walmart. The man entered the store, killed one employee and injured one other, before killing himself.

The suspected gunman, Marcell Willis, 21, is an active airman at the Grand Forks Air Force Base.

Police said the shooting occurred a few minutes after 1 am , that left one Walmart employee dead and another injured, may have been random, with no link yet found between Willis, the store or the employees.

"We've not been able to find any linkage to him and any of the victims. That's not to say that can't change," police Lt. Derik Zimmel said during an afternoon news conference, reported by the Associated Press. "There's no apparent motive that jumps out at this time."

The sequence of events had Airman Willis entering the Walmart early Tuesday morning and opening fire with a handgun, killing one worker and injuring a second, and missing a third employee, before turning the gun on himself.

Andy Legg, who was in the store at the time of the shooting, told WDAZ-TV that he heard "popping sounds" shortly before authorities herded him and other customers to a safe section of the store.

"I saw people running. At that time, we heard people screaming, one yelling for help," he said.

The workers have not been identified. Willis was given medical treatment at the store before being taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Air Force Base is about a dozen miles away from the city of Grand Forks where the Walmart is located.

According to police, Willis was the only person with a gun and no police officers fired a weapon. A SWAT team responded to the scene, and searched a car in the parking lot but found no threats.

Read More

Chinese state paper warns of war with U.S. over South China Sea dispute

© REUTERS/U.S. NAVY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015.

    

Whereas over the past year, ever since the outbreak of the hostilities over the fate of Ukraine following the Victoria Nuland orchestrated presidential coup, relations between Russia and NATO have devolved to a Cold War 2.0 state as manifested by countless interceptions of Russian warplanes by NATO jets and vice versa as depicted in the following infographic...

    

... at least China was mercifully allowed to stay out of the fray between the Cold War enemies.

This all changed this month when first the Pentagon's annual report to Congress this month cast China as a threat to regional and international peace and stability, followed several weeks ago when, with China aggressively encroaching into territories in the South China Sea claimed by US allies in the region such as Philippines, Vietnam and Japan, the US decided to get involved in yet another regional spat that does not directly involve it, and started making loud noises about China's territorial expansion over the commodity-reach area.

China promptly relatiated by threatening a US spy plane during a routine overflight, while immediately thereafter the US retaliated at China's escalation, and warned that building sea "sandcastles" could "lead to conflict."

Far from shutting China up, earlier today China said it had lodged a complaint with the United States over a U.S. spy plane that flew over parts of the disputed South China Sea in a diplomatic row that has fuelled tension between the world's two largest economies.

Quoted by Reuters, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday China had lodged a complaint and that it opposed "provocative behaviour" by the United States.

"We urge the U.S. to correct its error, remain rational and stop all irresponsible words and deeds," she said. "Freedom of navigation and overflight by no means mean that foreign countries' warships and military aircraft can ignore the legitimate rights of other countries as well as the safety of aviation and navigation."

China had noted "ear-piercing voices" from many in the U.S. about China's construction on the islands and reefs.

In other words, China just imposed an effective "no fly zone" for US spy planes, a dramatic shift from its recent posture when it tolerated and turned a blind eye to US spy plane overflights. Going forward, the US has been explicitly warned not to fly over China or risk the consequences.

And just to confirm that if the US had hoped it could threaten Beijing into submission and force the Politburo into curbing its expanionist appetit, it was dead wrong, the nationalist , a paper owned by the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, the , said in a Monday editorial that war was "inevitable" between China and the United States unless Washington stopped demanding Beijing halt the building of artificial islands in the disputed waterway.

PressTV has more details:

A war between the United States and China is "inevitable" unless Washington stops demanding Beijing halt its construction projects in the South China Sea, a Chinese state-owned newspaper warns.

"If the United States' bottom line is that China has to halt its activities, then a US-China war is inevitable in the South China Sea," , an influential newspaper owned by the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper the , said in an editorial Monday.

"We do not want a military conflict with the United States, but if it were to come, we have to accept it," said , which is among China's most nationalist newspapers.

Beijing last week said it was "strongly dissatisfied" after a US spy plane defied multiple warnings by the Chinese navy and flew over the Fiery Cross Reef, where China is reportedly building an airfield and other installations. "The intensity of the conflict will be higher than what people usually think of as 'friction'," it warned.

The paper also asserted that China was determined to finish its construction work in the South China Sea, calling it Beijing's "most important bottom line."

Such commentaries are not official policy statements, but are sometimes read as a reflection of government thinking.

More importantly, they serve as populism-timestamped warnings that US demands for a Chinese retreat over what the world's most populous nation considers its own national interest, will backfire dramatically and the next time a US spy plane flies over the Spratly Islands, or Beijing's smog for that matter, a very serious diplomatic incident may ensue.

Read More

South Front Crisis News 26 May 2015: Yemeni troops destroy tanks in Saudi Arabia, fighting continues in Palmyra, Syria

    

The Yemeni army, backed by popular committee forces, has destroyed four Saudi battle tanks after storming a base in Saudi Arabia's southwestern city of Jizan. Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah satellite television network reported the development late on Monday. It also reported that the Yemeni army targeted three Saudi vehicles in the southwestern Saudi city of Najran, which is located near the border with Yemen, with rockets and artillery shells. Meanwhile, at least six people were killed and a woman sustained injuries in the US-backed Saudi airstrikes on a village in the district of Harad in Yemen's western province of Hajjah early on Tuesday. We remember, Saudi Arabia is continuing its US-backed military aggression against Yemen since March 26, 2015.

The Syrian army has launched a major offensive against the ISIL Takfiri terrorists who recently overran the city of Palmyra in central Homs province. According to the military sources, the air force struck more than 160 Islamic State's targets, killing and wounding terrorists and destroying weapons and vehicles equipped with machine-guns. Moreover, various military operations are also being carried out in the areas around the al-Suknah, the Arak, and al-Hail gas fields and all the roads leading to Palmyra. Over 50 ISIS militants have been killed during the offensive aimed at regaining the city from terrorists' control, the Syrian state television reported.

[embedded content]

Moscow has condemned the massacre of civilians in the city of Palmyra, urging the international community to denounce double standards in its approach to fighting terrorists, and unite against Islamic State aggression. "Once again, we urge international and regional parties to abandon the vicious practice of using double standard approaches to fighting against terrorism, and launch efficient cooperation with the governments of Middle East countries, which are directly repelling the ISIS offensive," the ministry said in a statement. Moscow believes that US-led airstrike campaign against Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria have not done enough to impede the jihadists' advance in the two Middle Eastern states.

Monitors of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have confirmed that Russian representatives at the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination came under fire in Donbas on May 23. "The Russian Federation Armed Forces Colonel-General said to the SMM that, on 23 May, his vehicle had come under AK47 fire. All passengers escaped unharmed but the vehicle suffered considerable damage and was abandoned on site," the Monday's SMM daily update reads. On Sunday, spokesman for the defense ministry of the DPR Eduard Basurin told a briefing that a group of JCCC monitors had been attacked by Ukrainian subversives on May 23.

Read More

Moscow and Tokyo preparing Putin's visit to Japan

© www.rferl.org
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will lay the groundwork for President Putin's visit to Japan.

    

A visit of Japanese FM Fumio Kishida to Moscow could be considered a stage of preparation for the visit of Vladimir Putin to Tokyo.

Moscow and Tokyo are discussing Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Japan, but dates have not been set yet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Tuesday.

"Already last year we agreed on a schedule of political contacts, which includes the visit of Japanese Foreign Minister [Fumio] Kishida for a meeting of the bilateral intergovernmental commission, and for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov," Morgulov told RIA Novosti.

According to the politician, "this schedule has not yet been implemented, and this is not our fault." Russia adheres to the agreements and waits for Kishida to visit Moscow, he said.

"And of course this visit could be considered a stage of preparation for the visit of the Russian president to Japan, which has been discussed between the parties, but the dates for which have not been set so far," Morgulov added.

Read More

Russian MPs suggest prison sentences for selling unmarked GMO products

© Reuters / Jim Young

    

A number of Russian MPs have suggested altering the current legislation and introducing criminal responsibility for illegal trade in GMO products. The idea is to mete out prison terms of up to two years for repeated offenders.

The bill tightening the rules for selling genetically modified products has been prepared by lawmakers representing the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, known for its nationalist stance. The draft has already been forwarded to the government and Supreme Court for assessment, and it will then be submitted to parliament.

If passed the bill would amend the existing article of the criminal code that orders punishment for concealing any information about potential hazards for human life and health. It would include violation of the rules for marking goods containing GMO material. Those found guilty would face fines of up to 300,000 rubles (about $6000), or up to two years in prison or penal labor. The bill specifies that, depending on the crime's circumstances, the punishment could be applied to the head of the company and the workers involved in the violations.

Currently, improper labeling of GMO products is punished by fines ranging between 20,000 and 50,000 rubles ($400 - $1,000) for individual entrepreneurs and between 100,000 and 500,000 rubles ($2,000 - $10,000) for companies. The law regulating the turnover of GMO was first introduced in Russia in 2007. It requires clearly visible indication on all goods containing 0.9 percent of genetically modified organisms by weight.

One of the sponsors of the new bill, MP Kirill Cherkasov, said in comments to the daily that the document was necessary until experts release full scientific research on the effects of GMO on human health. He added the current practice could lead to abuse, as sometimes the profits from selling unmarked GMO products can potentially cover even heavy fines.

Experts who took part in developing the bill also said that producers often sent "clean" products for government evaluation, but sold cheaper products with GMO content on the mass market.

According to the government statistics overview released in 2014, the share of GMO in the Russian food industry has declined from 12 percent to just 0.01 percent over the past 10 years, and currently there are just 57 registered food products containing GMO.

In February 2014, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held a government session dedicated to the problem. He said Russia will create its own research base for genetically modified organisms that would provide the authorities with expert information and allow for further legislative measures and executive decisions.

Medvedev also warned against perceiving GMO products as "absolute evil," but said the government didn't support their use in the food industry.

Read More