The European Union Times |
- Putin Orders Saudi Arabia “Destroyed” After Volgograd Terror Strikes
- Homeless people used in Japan nuclear plant clean-up
- LAPD deploys drug detection swab test at sobriety checkpoints
- DR Congo army kills 40 people taking part in uprising
- Russia’s Volgograd hit by Second suicide bomber, kills at least 14
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Posted: 30 Dec 2013 09:33 AM PST
 A grim memorandum circulating in the Kremlin today written by Federal Security Services (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov outlining the new security measures being put into place throughout Russia ordered by President Putin a few hours ago in response to the deadly Volgograd terror attacks further warns that Russia’s leader has, in effect, vowed to “destroy” Saudi Arabia as he personally is blaming them for this horrific crime against humanity. Of the terror attacks themselves, Russian Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Stepanov is reporting to the Kremlin that the two Volgograd explosions have hurt 104 people, of which 32 were killed. Volgograd (formerly known as Stalingrad) is located 650 kilometers (400 miles) from Sochi which is the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and the twin explosions hit a crowed trolleybus and train station.  This FSB memo reports that the trolleybus suicide bomber has been identified as Pavel Pechyonkin [photo 2nd left], born in the Mari El region and who joined resistance forces in 2012. According to this FSB information, Pechyonkin, aged 32, is a former paramedic. In 2012, he joined the bandit underground, having left a note for his mother on his lap top computer. Pechyonkin has since communicated with his parents two or three times via the Internet. Of particular concern about Pechyonkin for Putin, this memo continues, was this suicide bombers location this past year which the FSB confirms was in Islamic rebel held territories of Syria controlled and funded by Saudi Arabia. Critical to note, and as we had reported on in our 27 August report Putin Orders Massive Strike Against Saudi Arabia If West Attacks Syria, Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, this past August, secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia’s gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria. When Putin refused Prince Bander’s “offer,” however, and as reported by London’s Telegraph News Service, this Saudi Prince stated to Putin, “I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us.”  Barely over a fortnight ago, this FSB memo says, Prince Bandar, again, came to the Kremlin and in a secret meeting with Putin reiterated his threat to cause terror in Russia to which Putin suggested to the Saudis that they abandon “sectarian instigations and supporting terrorism, because it is a double edged sword that will rebound inside Saudi Arabia and gather momentum in a manner that you will not be able to control.” Top political scientist Dr. Sergei Markov writing on the pro-Kremlin site Vzglyad.ru stated earlier today too that, “The explosions are preparation for terrorist attacks on the Olympics and an attempt to provoke other countries to refuse to take part of the Sochi Olympic Games” and added about US Senator John McCain, “the Russian terrorists and radical opposition have found themselves in the same camp. That is no accident, they are all united by Russo phobia.”  Equally critical to note, and as we had, likewise, reported on in our 30 August report Saudis Go On Full Alert As Putin War Threat Stuns Muslim World, this FSB memo warns that Putin’s previous orders to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to prepare for a “massive military strike” against Saudi Arabia are still in effect. This FSB memo further states that both Russia and Iran are outraged over Saudi Arabia’s latest “donation” of $3 billion to the Lebanese army (twice the national military budget of Lebanon) made by Saudi King Abdullah while the Volgograd attacks were occurring and described as “a bid to cover up its bloodstained hands in violence hitting the Middle East and beyond.” To the fears of the Saudis themselves, FSB Director Bortnikov notes in his memo, was evidenced this past week by Ahmed al-Ibrahim, an adviser to some of Saudi Arabia’s royals and officials, who stated: “The bond of trust between America and Saudi Arabia has been broken in the Obama years, we feel we have been stabbed in the back by Obama.” And in his grim summation, Bortnikov notes that with Saudi Arabia now a “pariah nation” with both Russia and the US seeking retribution against them, Putin’s angry desire to see the Saudis totally destroyed is a wish that will, indeed, come true much sooner than later. Source           |
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Posted: 30 Dec 2013 08:36 AM PST
 An inquiry has revealed that contractors at Japan’s crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima recruit homeless people for clean-up operations. The investigation found that the contractors use homeless people to work in the dangerous decontamination project with salaries below the minimum wage of about USD 6.50 per hour. “We are an easy target for recruiters,” said 57-year-old homeless man Shizuya Nishiyama, who has been recruited to scrub down radioactive hotpots at Fukushima. He said that some labor brokers “say to us, ‘Are you looking for work? Are you hungry?’ And if we have not eaten anything, they then offer to find us a job.” Yasuhiro Aoki, a Baptist pastor and leader of homeless support group Sendai Night Patrol Group, said, “Without any information about potential dangers, many homeless people are just put into dormitories – and the fees for lodging and food automatically docked from their wages. Then, at the end of the month, they are left with no pay at all.” A 2011 law that regulates decontamination puts the Japanese Environment Ministry in charge of managing the clean-up mission. However, the same law loosely controls contractors, making it possible for them to win radiation removal contracts without observing the basic rights of the workers. Top contractors, including Kajima Corp, Taisei Corp and Shimizu Corp are responsible for monitoring the hiring, safety records and suitability of hundreds of small firms involved in Fukushima’s decontamination. Officials say the clean-up operation at Fukushima plant is slow due to a shortage of workers. The Fukushima plant has leaked radiation into air, soil and the Pacific Ocean ever since it was hit by a nine-magnitude earthquake and a devastating tsunami on March 11, 2011. The tremor triggered a nuclear crisis by knocking out power to cooling systems and reactor meltdowns at the nuclear power plant on Japan’s northeast coast. More than 18,000 people were left dead or missing in the disaster. Source      |
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Posted: 30 Dec 2013 08:26 AM PST
 The Los Angeles Police Department has announced plans to ramp up use of a portable tool that checks for drug use, beginning with a New Year’s Eve crackdown on intoxicated drivers. Officials cited increased medical marijuana use as a main justification. A state grant supplied the LAPD with a swab testing tool that will be employed at DUI (driving under the influence) checkpoints and jails, Los Angeles officials said at a Friday press conference. The conference was held to highlight use of the tool alongside breathalyzers – which check for blood-alcohol content – at sobriety checkpoints during the New Year’s holiday. LAPD officers can ask a driver to consent to a voluntary portable oral fluids test of their gum line and cheeks. The tip of the tool is then put into a portable machine for immediate testing rather than requiring a blood test. Such blood tests have previously been necessary to verify an arrest made on the suspicion of drugged driving. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer pointed to the increased use of medical marijuana and the prevalence of dispensaries in the city as reason to step up enforcement of DUI policing. “There’s a growing recognition that driving under the influence of drugs is something we need to be clamping down on more effectively,” Feuer said at the press conference. The swabbing test is not completely untested, though it was only used 50 times in Los Angeles ahead of Friday’s announcement. City prosecutors said they have not used results from the test as evidence in any case thus far. The portable oral fluids test screens for amphetamines, cocaine, benzodiazepine (Xanax), methadone, methamphetamine, narcotic analgesics, and THC – which indicates that marijuana has been used the past several hours. “Traditionally, our office has focused on drunken driving cases,” Feuer said. “We’re expanding drug collection and aggressively enforcing all impaired-driving laws.” The city attorney’s office filed 598 DUI cases in the past year that involved drugs. In comparison, the city filed 577 drunken driving cases during the 2012 winter holiday alone. Thus far in the 2013 holiday season, over 1,500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles County on suspicion of DUI, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. It is yet unknown what other capabilities the testing method has, or how the LAPD will use biometric data gleaned from the swabbing results. In June, the US Supreme Court ruled to affirm law enforcement’s right to legally take DNA samples from those who are arrested – even if they have not been convicted for a crime or gone to trial. Los Angeles County has held the distinction of possessing one of the largest DNA-sample backlogs in the US, including an especially high number of unprocessed rape kits. Source      |
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Posted: 30 Dec 2013 08:09 AM PST
 Congolese security forces have killed at least 40 people involved in a violent uprising in the capital Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) army says. The army said it had regained control of the state television headquarters, RTNC, army headquarters and the international airport in Kinshasa following an attack by some 70 gunmen early Monday. The clashes reportedly broke out between supporters of pastor Joseph Mukungubila and army forces. According to government spokesman, Lambert Mende, 16 assailants had been killed at the airport in Ndjili, 16 at the Tshatshi military base, and eight more near the RTNC. “No civilian casualties have been reported and no victims in the security forces,” Mende added, noting that the attack was aimed at terrorizing citizens. Police officials said earlier that journalists at state broadcaster had been taken hostage by the gunmen. All channels reportedly went off air at one point. Reports say there have been similar clashes in the eastern city of Lubumbashi. On December 5, Mukungubila said in an open letter that he was unhappy with the way the country was being ruled, expressing hatred towards neighboring Rwanda. The pastor said President Joseph Kabila’s ties with Rwanda were too close. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), which includes around 3,000 troops from Tanzania, South Africa and Malawi, has been launched to return peace and stability to the country. Source      |
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Posted: 30 Dec 2013 08:01 AM PST
 A terrorist attack in the Russian city of Volgograd has killed at least 14 passengers on a trolley bus. The explosion comes a day after a suicide bombing in the city which killed 17 people and injured scores of others. Health officials reported 14 fatalities in Monday morning’s blast, two of whom died in hospital from the wounds they sustained. 41 survived the blast, with 27 being treated in hospital, according to the latest update. It is feared that the death toll will rise. An infant aged around five to seven months is among the survivors. Doctors are fighting to save the baby’s life, who is in a coma. The identity of the baby has not been established yet. It is feared that its parents were killed in the explosion. There is also a pregnant woman and two 16-year-olds among the survivors. The woman’s life is not in danger. She has been transferred to a prenatal center in Volgograd.  Agents of law enforcement and operative services work at the site of an explosion on a trolleybus near Kachinsky Market in Volgograd.“Cynically planned on the eve of New Year celebrations, this strike is another attempt by terrorists to open an internal front, spread panic and chaos, cause inter-religious hatred and conflict in Russian society,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website. The explosion was set off by a suicide bomber and not triggered remotely, spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, confirmed. “The investigation believes that the timing and place of the terrorist attack was selected because the trolley bus line is used by many people, including students from nearby colleges,” Markin said. Investigators believe that Monday’s blast and the previous day’s terrorist attack are connected. Both bombs were coated with identical metal fragments, which made the devices more deadly. Investigators said they are questioning blast witnesses and collecting footage from CCTV cameras around the scene. The trolley bus itself was not equipped with a camera, they said. Police are offering witness protection to anyone if needed when offering information on the perpetrators of the terrorist attack. The blast wave was powerful enough to shatter some windows in nearby buildings. The Investigative Committee estimated that the power of the blast was equal to ate least 4 kg of TNT. “I woke up because of an enormous blast I heard. I heard the glass shattering in the first two stories of the building. I looked out of the window, it was still dark, and I saw a bus that was ripped by a blast and people were running away from it screaming,” Alina Averyasova, an eyewitness, told RT. The bus was near one of the city markets when the explosion happened. The site has been cordoned off, with traffic diverted to other streets. Soldiers from a nearby military base and local residents were among the first responders to the disaster, a Volgograd resident told RT. “Young men from our entrance who were at home rushed out. There was much shouting as they and the soldiers were helping,” she said. In a sign of grim irony, the location of the bombing is not far from a hospital, where the victims of Sunday’s attack had been taken. This was fortunate for the survivors of the latest attack, who were able to receive medical attention very quickly. First images from the scene showed a damaged vehicle partially reduced to its metal carcass and dead bodies scattered around. All the people injured by the blast are in serious condition, Health Minister, Veronika Skvortsova, said. “They have burns, multiple traumas, blast-injuries. If needed, they will be airlifted to Moscow,” she told Rossiya24 TV. Overall the survivors of Monday’s blast are in worse condition that those, who survived Sunday’s bombing. The Emergencies Ministry has sent a plane equipped with five medical transportation units. Each of them has four beds and relevant medical equipment needed to fly a patient. The aircraft is also carrying two special ambulances and medical personnel, which will assist with the relief effort in Volgograd. Earlier on Sunday, a similar plane flew seven survivors of the railway station bombing to Moscow.  An explosion on a trolleybus near Kachinsky Market in Volgograd.“It’s scary. Everybody left buses and trams and are walking. People won’t use public transport,” a resident told Ria Novosti. Less than an hour after the news of the blast broke, Russian twitter post started spreading reports of a new explosion at a tram station. The rumor was not confirmed. Journalists called on social media to stop spreading panic. The tension is affecting not only common people by also professionals, whose duty is to respond to emergencies. “It’s difficult psychologically. People have been on overdrive since yesterday. There is much grief among the people, among the victims, their families. This takes its toll,” Andrey Akramovsky, chief of an emergency crew involved in the rescue operations told RT. The government of the Volgograd region canceled an all-state-sponsored New Year mass celebration for children on Tuesday, citing security concerns and the lack of appropriateness such rejoicing may have. Many private companies organizing similar events followed the lead. The Volgograd region has declared a period of mourning, starting on Monday for the victims of the two latest bombings. This is a 48 hour extension of the commemoration, which was originally intended to run from Wednesday to Friday. Moscow is beefing up security in the wake of the Volgograd bombings, head of the regional security department of the mayor’s office, Aleksey Mayorov, reported. This comes in addition to increased police presence ahead of the planned New Year celebrations in the city. “We will recheck our focus on the approaches to the sites of mass gatherings, both for pedestrians and for surface and underground transport,” he said. A similar security ramp-up was ordered by the Antiterrorist Committee all across Russia. The new deaths in Volgograd come just a day after a suicide bomber targeted the city’s railway station, killing 14 people on the spot and injuring more than 30 others. Three of those injured succumbed to their wounds in hospital. And in October the city witnessed yet another terrorist attack, when a suicide bomber set off an explosion in a bus heading to Moscow, killing 6 people and injuring almost 40. Despite the terrorist attacks, the Sochi Olympic Games will not require any extra security measures to be taken, the president of Russia’s National Olympic Committee stated. “Everything needed has already been done,” he said. Volgograd was chosen as the target for the series of bombings due to its proximity to the troubled region of North Caucasus, believes Gordon Hahn from the Center of International Strategy. “Suicide bomb attacks are carried out in Russia by mujahidin. It’s very likely that a group affiliated with the ‘Caucasus Emirate’ could be involved and we talked about ethnic Russian suicide bombers, which these organizations try to recruit,” he told RT. The attacks in Volgograd are part of a terrorist campaign to derail the Olympic Games in Sochi, believes Aleksey Popov, former member of the Alpha special forces unit. “Terrorists are trying to spread fear ahead of the Winter Olympics so that people become scared to go to Sochi. No wonder they have chosen the holiday season to make it even more painful for the people and to draw plenty of world attention,” he told RT. He added: “I believe it won’t have any effect on the Olympics and the people who were planning to come will still do it. They are safe because almost $2 billion was allocated to security measures; that’s even more than the sum for the London Olympics.”  Law enforcement agents at the site of an explosion on a trolleybus near Kachinsky Market in Volgograd.     |
