Check out the video for Jennifer Lopez’s new song, “Papi”! In the video, a series of suitors follows the 42-year-old entertainer, and they do whatever it takes to try and win her heart! PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Jennifer Lopez Over the weekend, Jennifer joined her estranged husband, Marc Anthony, to celebrate his birthday at a Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Just Jared Discovery Date : 19/09/2011 19:30 Number of articles : 4
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Tens of thousands join Fukushima protest march in Tokyo amid continuing fears over radiation Tens of thousands of people marched in Tokyo on Monday in the biggest show of public opposition to nuclear power since the start of the Fukushima Daiichi crisis in March. The protesters, who included residents of Fukushima prefecture, called for the immediate closure of all of Japan’s nuclear reactors and a new energy policy centred on renewables. The demonstration was the biggest the country has seen in years. Police said 20,000 people had taken part, while media reports put the number as high as 60,000. Among the protesters were the Nobel literature laureate Kenzaburo Oe, musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and actor Taro Yamamoto, who was forced to leave his production company earlier this year because of his opposition to nuclear power. “We already have enough electricity, even without nuclear plants,” Yamamoto said. “If we don’t act, Japan will become a disposal site for nuclear waste.” Almost three-quarters of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors are inoperative due to emergency safety checks and regular maintenance. Pro-nuclear groups, including Japan’s biggest industry lobby, Keidanren, have warned that the country faces power shortages unless idle reactors are brought back online. Oe told protesters: “We need to let leaders of major parties and the Japan Business Federation know that we intend to resist [nuclear power].” Before the Fukushima accident, Japan depended on nuclear for just under a third of its power supply. The government has abandoned plans to increase its share to 50%. The prime minister at the time of the disaster, Naoto Kan, came out in favour of phasing out nuclear power. In recent media interviews he said that at the height of the crisis he had feared Japan would cease to function as a nation and that 30 million people would have to be evacuated from Tokyo. His successor, Yoshihiko Noda, has hinted that reactors that pass newly introduced stress tests will go back on line, although he accepts that Japan must also look to other sources of energy. According to a poll by Associated Press and the market research firm GfK, 55% of Japanese want to reduce the number of reactors, while 35% believe the number should be kept the same. Only 4% wanted an increase, while 3% supported abolition. Six months after three of Fukushima Daiichi’s six reactors suffered core meltdowns, the plant continues to release radiation. The leaks have contaminated the water supply and food chain, and forced the evacuation of 100,000 people living in or around a 12-mile radius of the plant. Residents of towns closest to the facility have been told it could be years, perhaps decades, before radiation levels are low enough for them to return . Japan’s environment minister, Goshi Hosono, said on Monday that the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) would stabilise the reactors earlier than planned. Tepco, which has been heavily criticised for its handling of the crisis, had said it would bring the reactors to a safe state known as “cold shutdown” by mid-January. “We will move up the existing target period and endeavour to achieve cold shutdown by the end of this year,” Kyodo quoted Hosono as telling an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference in Vienna. Hosono, who oversees the government’s response to the crisis, confirmed Japan would accept a team of IAEA inspectors due to arrive next month to advise on how to clean up the area surrounding the plant. Japan disaster Japan Energy Nuclear power Renewable energy Pollution Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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Celebrations after high court grants emergency order restraining Basildon council from clearing site Residents due to be evicted from the Dale Farm Traveller site won an 11th-hour reprieve on Monday after being granted an emergency injunction restraining Basildon council from clearing structures on the site pending a further hearing at the high court on Friday. There were cheers from the barricade shortly after 5pm when the news arrived that bailiffs, who were due to begin evicting 86 families from the site built on a former scrapyard, would not be able to enter legally until after the hearing. The council will also not be able to cut off utilities to the site, something that had concerned residents, who argued that the lives of sick people of on the site could be endangered. Speaking at the high court in London, Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart granted the order because there were concerns that measures carried out by Basildon borough council “may go further” than the terms of the enforcement notices. The case hinges on the argument that residents have not been sufficiently informed about what is allowed on each pitch, and what must be removed. Despite the scale of the operation by Basildon council, which includes a camp to accommodate bailiffs, police, council staff and the hundreds of journalists from around the world covering the case, it took three individuals, without the aid of a lawyer, to put a stop to their plans. Candy Sheridan, vice-chair of the Gypsy Council of North Norfolk, resident Mary Sheridan and volunteer Stuart Carruthers appeared at three courts on Monday, including the high court, before the injunction was granted. Speaking after the decision, Sheridan said: “This is a victory for residents who have been shown a glimmer of respect today from a judge who listened to our reasoned arguments.” The leader of the council, Tony Ball, said he was “extremely disappointed and frustrated” by the judge’s decision. “I am absolutely clear that on this issue, on Friday, the court will find in the council’s favour and that the site clearance will be able to continue,” he said. “But until then, as always, this council will comply with the law and we will comply with the judgment that has been put before us.” The judge ruled that Basildon council must tell residents on a plot-by-plot basis what enforcement measures are proposed. Residents must respond to the proposals by noon on Thursday. The judge will then decide at 11.30am on Friday if there are any remaining legal issues that could extend the injunction further. Physical structures including cars and caravans will not be able to be moved by bailiffs and electricity and water will not be cut off unless they pose a danger “to life and limb”. But the judge said further protest – which has included several protesters chained to the gates, to concrete blocks and to each other – should be discouraged and that the 20ft (6m) high barricade, festooned with banners of support, should be taken down. “It is in nobody’s interests that we have a riot on this site,” he said. “There’s got to be a bit of give and take over a limited timeframe to see if the problems can be dealt with in an orderly rather than disruptive way.” Council representatives should be allowed on site to discuss the arrangements with individual residents, he said. He told the Dale Farm representatives: “I appreciate it is a deeply unpleasant situation but unfortunately this is a road which is reaching its end and there is sadly no mileage in prolonging the agony.” Some protesters were not in favour of bringing down the barricade. “I think it’s tactical on their side and therefore it needs to be tactical on ours,” said Carol Stuart McIvor, a writer on the site. “But the decision must be the Travellers’. It’s their gig – we are only here to support them.” The council’s barrister, Reuben Taylor, told the judge a lengthy delay to the eviction could cause losses to the public purse “running into millions”, he said. Any damages granted would not come “anywhere near” meeting the council’s costs for the thousands of police officers on special duty, compounds, plant hire and bailiffs, he said. “The consequences would be enormous.” The judge responded that there was “a lack of clarity” as to which properties would be affected and to what extent. He said: “They are entitled to know whether their home is on the list for permanent removal or not, or whether just a little bit of their plot is to be removed.” There was delight at Dale Farm as the news came through after a tense day that saw bailiffs jeered as they issued a final warning to protesters and residents. Bailiffs were called “scum” and “fascists” as they told residents the council was concerned for their safety as a result of the blocking of the site gate. Tom Berry, a resident at the site, said the injunction was a stay of execution and a relief for families. “I’m over the moon. Especially for my family and the other residents on here. At the end of the day, we’ve got another week for them to sort something out for us or somewhere to go to.” He had a personal message for the leader of the council who had, earlier in the day, insisted that delaying tactics from residents were unacceptable. “Tony Ball should go back to school,” he said. Meanwhile, it has emerged that the government refused help from the United Nations to help broker an agreement between the Travellers and the council. Jan Jarab, the European representative of the UN high commissioner for human rights, said the UN had offered to help negotiate a “less dramatic” solution. “There was communication between the British government and our headquarters, but it was made clear to us that we would receive a letter that that offer was rejected,” he said. Dale Farm Roma, Gypsies and Travellers Protest Housing Communities Human rights Local politics Alexandra Topping Johnny Howorth guardian.co.uk
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Backstage at her show, Vivienne Westwood gives style advice, whilst celebrity guests Pamela Anderson and Paloma Faith discuss why they love her clothes. (19 Sept.)
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The death toll in Reno, Nevada grows to 10, as another injured person died late Sunday. Authorities said 70 people were treated at hospitals, and that four remained in critical condition. (Sept. 19)
Continue reading …Dick Cheney Rewrites Iraq War History and Claims Disbanding Saddam’s Army Influenced Nothing
September 19, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media (h/t Heather at VideoCafe ) Dick Cheney is still on his book tour and Sunday he disgraced CBS with an appearance on Face The Nation . Not only has he proclaimed that he was the Decider in Chief of the Bush administration during the 9/11 attacks in his book and the military refused his order to shoot civilian planes down, but he had the audacity to lie about how the Iraq invasion escalated into a full blown civil war after the invasion was over. He responded to Colin Powell’s criticisms of the job he did as VP. COLIN POWELL: “He says that I went out of my way not to present my positions to the President but to take them outside of the administration. That’s nonsense. The President knows and I had told him what I thought about every issue of the day. Mister Cheney may forget that I’m the one who said to President Bush ‘If you break it, you own it, and you’ve got to understand that if we have to go to war in Iraq, we’ve to be prepared for the whole war, not just the first phase.’ And Mister Cheney and many of his colleagues were not prepared for what happened after the fall of Baghdad. Remember, Cheney was the one who kept telling America that the Iraq conflict was in its last throes (as far back as 2005) over and over again as the violence kept escalating. Schieffer actually asked the right question. SCHIEFFER: Let me just ask you this…was it a mistake to get rid of all the people in the army? To disband the army as they did? CHENEY: Well, it may have been a mistake. It wasn’t as though we had total control over everything. In effect, what happened for a large part of it was they just packed up and went home. They disappeared back into the countryside and went back to their private lives. So they weren’t there, it wasn’t as though they’d all found a place where they were waiting for us to come in and take command of the army. What was that? The army’s response to being disbanded by the Bush administration immediately destroyed what fragile peace there was and turned the Sunnis Muslims against the Shiite Muslims, leading to a horrifying blood bath. Probably the single decision that triggered the hostilities was when Paul Bremer was appointed in Iraq and he unceremoniously told Saddam’s former army members that they were not allowed to be part of the newly forming government . Sweeping away remnants of pre-war Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, on Friday dissolved the Iraqi Armed Forces, the ministries of Defense and Information, and other security institutions that supported Saddam Hussein’s regime. An American senior coalition official said the move effectively disbands the Army, the Republican Guard and the Revolutionary Command Council, among others, and cancels any military or other ranks conferred by the previous regime. — It also put an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 soldiers out of work, as well as an estimated 2,000 Information Ministry employees. A deal had been brokered to keep the fragile peace in Iraq by the military leadership and Bremer, who has a history of destabilizing countries by defaulting on their promises without even consulting them. Gen. Peter Pace, then the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations in February 2004 that the decision to disband the Iraqi Army was made without the input of the joint chiefs. “We were not asked for a recommendation or for advice,” he said. These troops were angry and didn’t take their Tonka trucks and go home as Cheney depicted here. They picked up their guns started the civil war. Director Charles Ferguson explained much in his excellent documentary “No End In Sight” The worst mistake, however, was the disbanding of the Iraqi Army in May 2003, two months after the invasion. This was a decision made by only a few men — specifically Bremer in his capacity as the head of the occupation authority, and his aide Walter Slocombe — and against the advice of just about everyone with any on-the-ground knowledge of the situation. (According to Ferguson, it’s unclear if President Bush approved of the idea.) Bremer and Slocombe apparently believed that the Iraqi Army had to be rendered powerless, though others explain to Ferguson that Bremer and Slocombe were confusing the army with the Republican Guard. The Guard consisted of Baath Party loyalists; the Iraqi military was a professional force that had always tried to keep its distance from the Hussein regime. When the war began, the army had faded into the countryside, leaving the Guard to do the bulk of the fighting. Once the Americans prevailed, according to Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s chief of staff, Iraqi military officers indicated their willingness to work with the occupiers, but instead they and their troops were stripped of their positions and careers. An estimated 500,000 to 800,000 men, 7 to 10 percent of the Iraqi work force, lost their jobs. And they had guns. “More than any other single action,” Ferguson says, the order to disband the army “created the Iraqi insurgency.” C&L had Charles Ferguson on for a live chat when his film was released in 2007.
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New video of the deadly air show crash in Reno, Nev. has emerged. The crash killed ten people and sent 70 to the hospital, according to Forbes. The AP reported the plane that plummeted to the ground had undergone “radical changes” to compete in the air show.
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Rep. Emanuel Cleaver has already made it abundantly clear that he’s not the biggest fan of some of President Obama’s policies, and the Congressional Black Caucus chairman isn’t done talking. Angry over the nearly 17% unemployment rate in the African-American community, Cleaver says, “If Bill Clinton had been in the…
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