Fox News
is reporting that the authorities in Israel plan to deport
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney after taking the ship she and 20 others
were using in an attempt to deliver humanitarian air to the people of
Gaza. The article implies that Israel intends to keep the ship,
registered in Greece.
The article quotes Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
“Nobody wants to the keep them here. They will be released as soon as they are checked.”
The article says that McKinney and the others, including 1977 Nobel
Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, are being held at Ben Gurion
International Airport and will be deported from there. McKinney and the
others were on board the Spirit of Humanity, operated by the Free Gaza Movement
Referring to their captivity, Free Gaza Movement founding member Greta
Berlin told Ynet news, an online publication based in Israel:
They simply kidnapped the passengers. I call on the
Israeli occupation forces to release our people immediately. It’s
funny. What are they going to do? Deport us? The last place we wanted
to reach was Israel.
In an earlier report Fox News reported that Congresswoman McKinney was demanding the immediate release of the the crew of the seized ship.
“This is an outrageous violation of international law
against us,” said McKinney. “Our boat was not in Israeli waters and we
were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip. President Obama just
told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and
that’s exactly what we tried to do. We’re asking the international
community to demand our release so we can resume our journey.”
First, I got a return call from the Israeli consulate in Atlanta and the consulate employee told me that the Israeli Defense Force and Israeli Foreign Affairs office has released information he read which says that Cynthia McKinney is not being detained by the Israeli government. He said that she “had done this sort of thing before” and that she does so “to get in the papers”.
He said that the humanitarian aid onboard the ship will be delivered to Gaza via a land route. He explained that delivery via water was forbidden but land routes have been authorized. He said the ships were boarded without any shots fired and taken to an Israeli port.
Israeli forces have boarded a ship trying to carry aid and pro-Palestinian activists to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel’s blockade of the territory.
The 20 passengers include former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney [2008 Green Party presidential candidate] and Nobel Prize winner Mairead Maguire.
Ms McKinney described it as “an outrageous violation of international law”, as the boat was on a humanitarian mission and was not in Israeli waters.
The Israeli military said the boat was trying to enter Gaza illegally.
The US-based Free Gaza Movement has breached the blockade five times since August 2008.
Two other attempts by the activist group were stopped by Israeli warships during Israel’s three-week military offensive in Gaza in December and January.
Israel keeps a tight hold on Gaza, which has been ruled by militant group Hamas since June 2007, having seized control of from its rival, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority.
The Israeli military said the passengers and crew of the Greek-registered ship Arion would be handed over to immigration authorities in Ashdod, and its humanitarian aid cargo would be taken to Gaza by road after a security check.
“An Israeli navy force intercepted, boarded and took control of the cargo boat Arion … as it was illegally attempting to enter the Gaza Strip,” a military spokesman said.
Reconstruction
The mission is the latest by the Free Gaza Movement, which has renamed the ferry boat Spirit of Humanity.
Cynthia McKinney via Wikipedia
“This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,” said Ms McKinney in a statement.
“President [Barack] Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We’re asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey.”
On Monday, a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross described the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza as people “trapped in despair”, unable to rebuild their lives after Israel’s offensive.
Donors have pledged $4.5 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation in Gaza following the 22-day offensive which left more than 50,000 homes, 800 industrial properties and 200 schools damaged or destroyed, as well as 39 mosques and two churches.
Used in gardens, farms, and parks around the world, the weed killer Roundup contains an ingredient that can suffocate human cells in a laboratory, researchers say
Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells.
The new findings intensify a debate about so-called “inerts” — the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States. About 100 million pounds are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year, according to the EPA.
Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate, rather than the mixture of ingredients found in Roundup. But in the new study, scientists found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells—even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.
One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself – a finding the researchers call “astonishing.”
“This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in Roundup formulations are not inert,” wrote the study authors from France’s University of Caen. “Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels” found on Roundup-treated crops, such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or lawns and gardens.
The research team suspects that Roundup might cause pregnancy problems by interfering with hormone production, possibly leading to abnormal fetal development, low birth weights or miscarriages.
Monsanto, Roundup’s manufacturer, contends that the methods used in the study don’t reflect realistic conditions and that their product, which has been sold since the 1970s, is safe when used as directed. Hundreds of studies over the past 35 years have addressed the safety of glyphosate.
“Roundup has one of the most extensive human health safety and environmental data packages of any pesticide that’s out there,” said Monsanto spokesman John Combest. “It’s used in public parks, it’s used to protect schools. There’s been a great deal of study on Roundup, and we’re very proud of its performance.”
The EPA considers glyphosate to have low toxicity when used at the recommended doses.
“Risk estimates for glyphosate were well below the level of concern,” said EPA spokesman Dale Kemery. The EPA classifies glyphosate as a Group E chemical, which means there is strong evidence that it does not cause cancer in humans.
In addition, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture both recognize POEA as an inert ingredient. Derived from animal fat, POEA is allowed in products certified organic by the USDA. The EPA has concluded that it is not dangerous to public health or the environment.
The French team, led by Gilles-Eric Seralini, a University of Caen molecular biologist, said its results highlight the need for health agencies to reconsider the safety of Roundup.
“The authorizations for using these Roundup herbicides must now clearly be revised since their toxic effects depend on, and are multiplied by, other compounds used in the mixtures,” Seralini’s team wrote.
Controversy about the safety of the weed killer recently erupted in Argentina, one of the world’s largest exporters of soy.
Should President Obama have the power to shut down domestic Internet traffic during a state of emergency?
Senators John Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) think so. On Wednesday they introduced a bill to establish the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor—an arm of the executive branch that would have vast power to monitor and control Internet traffic to protect against threats to critical cyber infrastructure. That broad power is rattling some civil libertarians.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (PDF) gives the president the ability to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” and shut down or limit Internet traffic in any “critical” information network “in the interest of national security.” The bill does not define a critical information network or a cybersecurity emergency. That definition would be left to the president.
The bill does not only add to the power of the president. It also grants the Secretary of Commerce “access to all relevant data concerning [critical] networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access.” This means he or she can monitor or access any data on private or public networks without regard to privacy laws.
Rockefeller made cybersecurity one of his key issues as a member of the Senate intelligence committee, which he chaired until last year. He now heads the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which will take up this bill.
“We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs—from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records—the list goes on,” Rockefeller said in a statement. Snowe echoed her colleague, saying, “if we fail to take swift action, we, regrettably, risk a cyber-Katrina.”
But the wide powers outlined in the Rockefeller-Snowe legislation has at least one Internet advocacy group worried. “The cybersecurity threat is real,” says Leslie Harris, head of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), “but such a drastic federal intervention in private communications technology and networks could harm both security and privacy.”
The bill could undermine the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), says CDT senior counsel Greg Nojeim. That law, enacted in the mid ’80s, requires law enforcement seek a warrant before tapping in to data transmissions between computers.
“It’s an incredibly broad authority,” Nojeim says, pointing out that existing privacy laws “could fall to this authority.”
Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that granting such power to the Commerce secretary could actually cause networks to be less safe. When one person can access all information on a network, “it makes it more vulnerable to intruders,” Granick says. “You’ve basically established a path for the bad guys to skip down.”
The bill’s scope, she says, is “contrary to what the Constitution promises us.” That’s because of the impact it could have on Internet users’ privacy rights: If the Commerce Department uncovers evidence of illegal activity when accessing “critical” networks, that information could be used against a potential defendant, even if the department never had the intent to find incriminating evidence. And this might violate the Constitutional protection against searches without cause.
“Once information is accessed, it can be used for whatever purpose, no matter the original reason for accessing something,” Granick says. “Who’s interested in this [bill]? Law enforcement and people in the security industry who want to ensure more government dollars go to them.”
Nojeim, though, thinks it’s possible the bill’s powers could be trimmed as it moves through Congress. “We will be working with them to clarify just what is needed and how to accomplish that,” he says. “We’re hopeful that some of the very broad powers that the bill would confer won’t be included.”
Steve Aquino is a senior editorial fellow at Mother Jones’s Washington bureau.
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