Reports that two protesters shot in the head. A day before Israeli media reports quoted Israeli police as saying they would allow protests, but not violence. Since early May 15, it is clear that Israeli police and military have instigated mass violence on protesters.
May 15, journalists reporting that Israeli Apache copters and F-16s flying over Gaza. Live video shows ambulances arriving at scene of Israeli shootings in Ramalla. Israel imposes 24 hour lockdown on Palestinian territories, Israeli tanks have opened fired on Gaza. A Palestinian teenager has been killed in Gaza, at least 65 people wounded. Violence in Ramalla, West Bank, Israeli troops shooting at people, at least 30 people wounded including a journalist, streets full of debris and tire fires.
Protesters include people from Europe and North America, and even from Japan. One Japanese was interviewed live, she said the plight of the Palestinians has become “the” symbol of injustice for the whole world.
Israeli media reporting that 10,000 police are being used for the expected Nakba protests. Officials say they will allow protests, but not violence.
But already Israeli military forces have committed violence by attacking a funeral precession, for a teenager that was killed by them a few days earlier.
The police units are being focused around Jerusalem (where the funeral was attacked), and northern Israel. This is probably because Egypt and Jordan are blocking protesters from reaching the Israeli border, but Lebanon, to Israel’s north, has not indicated that they will do the same.
In a suppossedly “leaked” United Nations report, Iran is accused of dealing with North Korea, for nuclear missile technology. That violates UN sanctions against North Korea.
The report also suggests the deals were made through a third party, possibly China.
The report infers that Iran is trying to get nuclear weapons technology as well. It points out that North Korea’s nuclear program is mainly for weapons. The report is to be submitted to the UN Security Council.
This is obviously going to be used by the U.S. as the “smoking gun” reason for taking military action against Iran.
The problem with the accusations is that North Korea has a lousy record of ballistic missile tests, while Iran has enjoyed success with its own missile program. So it’s probably not a case of Iran trying to get missile technology, but North Korea.
The other problem is that it doesn’t make sense that Iran and North Korea were going through China to do the deals. China has much better missile technology, so why not deal directly with China? It’s possible that China did not want to share its missile technology.
Also, if Iran was trying to get nuclear weapons technology, again, why not deal with the more reliable Chinese?
The panel of “experts” who put together the UN report included a representative from China, who reportedly refused to sign the report.
Just days after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster began, in March, mysterious radioactive substances have been detected, and are still being detected, at sewage plants and incinerators around Japan.
The first case involves an incinerator in east Tokyo. Ashes were found to be highly radioactive. Unfortunately most of the ashes have already been recycled as building materials. The radioactive isotope has not been identified.
Almost at the same time, sludge from sewage treatment plants in Tokyo also tested positive for radiation contamination. Again, the isotope has not been identified.
Just this past week, in Maebashi, cesium contamination was found in incinerator ashes, sludge and molten slag, that were being processed at a water treatment plant.
Sony announced on May 12, that its PlayStation blog was hacked. On top of that, their new security system is actually blocking users from the United States.
Sony apologizes for inconveniencing their customers, but they admit that everytime they planned to restart their online services they discover another hack job.
Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 3 is still pouring massive amounts of contamination into the Pacific Ocean.
Since Friday, cesium-134 and 137 have being detected at levels thousands of times above government safe limits.
So far Tokyo Electric Power Company says they can only monitor the radiation levels coming from Reactor 3. It seems their hands are full with the meltdown of Reactor 1.
In a clear case of obsession, Tokyo Electric Power Company announced they will resume water injection in Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 1.
TEPCo officials say the water level is far too low, and they have confirmed that holes and cracks have formed in the reactor vessel, as a result of the meltdown.
A couple of days ago the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told TEPCo that it’s a waste of time to keep pumping in massive amounts of water, now that the reactor has melted down. TEPCo continues to insist that if they pump in enough water, and connect a new cooling system, they can control the situation.
TEPCo will monitor their water injection plan for the next two days.
Japan has ordered the mandatory evacuations of two towns in Fukushima Prefecture, 15 May, almost three days after it was reveled that Reactor 1, of Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, was melting down.
Families with children kindergarten age or younger, and pregnant women, are the first to be evacuated. At least 7,700 people will be evacuated from the small towns. Local officials claim they have secured places for the families to stay.
Farmers are being given extra time so they can move their livestock. The evacuation was ordered because of increased radiation levels in the towns.
Many U.S. media reports about President Obama’s push to increase U.S. oil production, blame it on the people’s demand for lower gas prices.
The problem with that argument is that world demand for oil products is so high that even if the U.S. can increase oil production, it will never be able to increase it enough to bring down prices. That means the real reason for increasing U.S. oil production is to take advantage of high oil prices.
Is it possible that Obama is going back on his clean energy promise, because the United States is in so much debt, that he’s had to make a deal with the oil companies to give them access to oil rich areas, in exchange for bailing out the U.S. government?