Senator McCain Meets Ukrainian Protest Leaders Amid Rival Rallies

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/ANDRII SKAKODUB/POOL

Photo Credit: REUTERS/ANDRII SKAKODUB/POOL

U.S. Senator John McCain met Ukrainian opposition leaders in Kiev on Saturday and voiced support for protesters camped out for weeks in the capital, a move sure to anger Moscow for what it sees as Western meddling in its backyard.

The street protests started after the November 21 decision by President Viktor Yanukovich – seeking the best possible deal for Ukraine to stave off bankruptcy – to walk away from a trade pact with Europe at the last minute and seek closer ties with its old Soviet master.

The movement has since grown in size and vehemence, bringing tens of thousands onto the streets in a series of rallies, becoming an all-out protest against the president and his cabinet.

McCain is the latest of a string of European and American dignitaries to tour the sprawling protest camp set up behind tall barricades – prompting Russia to accuse the West of excessive involvement.

McCain was due to be joined by the chairman of the Senate’s Europe subcommittee, Chris Murphy, on Sunday.

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Toxic ‘E-Waste’ Dumped in Poor Nations, Says the UN

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Photo Credit: Anthony Upton/Rex Features

Photo Credit: Anthony Upton/Rex Features

Millions of mobile phones, laptops, tablets, toys, digital cameras and other electronic devices bought this Christmas are destined to create a flood of dangerous “e-waste” that is being dumped illegally in developing countries, the UN has warned.

The global volume of electronic waste is expected to grow by 33% in the next four years, when it will weigh the equivalent of eight of the great Egyptian pyramids, according to the UN’s Step initiative, which was set up to tackle the world’s growing e-waste crisis. Last year nearly 50m tonnes of e-waste was generated worldwide – or about 7kg for every person on the planet. These are electronic goods made up of hundreds of different materials and containing toxic substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and flame retardants. An old-style CRT computer screen can contain up to 3kg of lead, for example.

Once in landfill, these toxic materials seep out into the environment, contaminating land, water and the air. In addition, devices are often dismantled in primitive conditions. Those who work at these sites suffer frequent bouts of illness.

An indication of the level of e-waste being shipped to the developing world was revealed by Interpol last week. It said almost one in three containers leaving the EU that were checked by its agents contained illegal e-waste. Criminal investigations were launched against 40 companies. “Christmas will see a surge in sales and waste around the world,” says Ruediger Kuehr, executive secretary of Step. “The explosion is happening because there’s so much technical innovation. TVs, mobile phones and computers are all being replaced more and more quickly. The lifetime of products is also shortening.”

According to the Step report, e-waste – which extends from old fridges to toys and even motorised toothbrushes – is now the world’s fastest growing waste stream. China generated 11.1m tonnes last year, followed by the US with 10m tonnes, though there was significant difference per capita. For example, on average each American generated 29.5kg, compared to less than 5kg per person in China.

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Chinese Naval Vessel Tries to Force U.S. Warship to Stop in International Waters

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Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.

The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.

“On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision,” a Navy official said.

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Following High Profile Execution in North Korea: Will Mass Purges Follow?

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Photo Credit: Lee Jin-man/AP

Photo Credit: Lee Jin-man/AP

The execution of the man once perceived as North Korea’s most influential figure may portend a growing purge of critics of the shaky rule of Kim Jong-un.

A 2,740-word statement by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency on the anti-state crimes of Jang Song-thaek may indicate as much about the regime’s insecurity, in the view of many analysts, as it does about Mr. Kim’s ability to consolidate his power since the death of his long-ruling father, Kim Jong-il, on Dec. 17, 2011.

“They are afraid of any possible reaction by the forces of Jang,” says Kim Tae-woo, a North Korea military specialist formerly with the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. “More executions are inevitable.” Jang is believed to have been executed by a firing squad.

Although Kim Jong-un “outwardly is in control,” says Mr. Kim, the statement on Mr. Jang’s trial by the military tribunal that ordered his death makes clear the regime’s fear that Jang – once vice chairman of the powerful national defense commission and a member of the politburo of the Workers’ Party – was plotting a coup d’etat with the support of his own group within the armed forces and Workers’ Party.

“I was going to stage the coup by using army officers who had close ties with me or by mobilizing armed forces under the control of my confidants,” the statement, in English, quotes Jang as saying. The quotes, which the tribunal presumably wrote under his name regardless of whether or not he actually uttered them, make Jang a scapegoat for failures that have brought the economy close to collapse.

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Russian Minister: We May Respond with Nukes to US Global Strike Program

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Russia May Answer Conventional Attack With Nukes

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press.

Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional strike and sees them as a “great equalizer” reducing the likelihood of aggression, a senior Russian official said Wednesday.

While Russia amended its military doctrine years ago to allow for the possibility of using nuclear weapons first in retaliation to a non-nuclear attack, the statement by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin reflected Moscow’s concern about prospective U.S. conventional weapons.

Weapons that have been developed in the United States under the so-called “prompt global strike” program would be capable of striking targets anywhere in the world in as little as an hour with deadly precision. Russia, which has lagged far behind in developing such weapons, has described them as destabilizing.

Without naming the U.S., Rogozin told lawmakers in comments carried by Russian news agencies said that those who “experiment with non-nuclear strategic weapons” should remember that “if we come under attack, we will undoubtedly use nuclear weapons in certain situations to defend our territory and state interests.”

He said that it should discourage any potential aggressor.

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Photo Credit: RIA Novosti/Sergei Kazak

Photo Credit: RIA Novosti/Sergei Kazak

Russia Warns of Nuclear Response to US Global Strike Program

By RIA Novosti.

A senior government minister warned Wednesday that Russia could retaliate with a nuclear strike if a new US military strategy threatened its security.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia was “preparing a response” to plans by the United States to develop a new fast-strike weapons platform capable of hitting high-priority targets around the globe.

He told the State Duma that the development of a global strike program was “the most important new strategy being developed by the United States today.”

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Pope Attacks Mega-Salaries and Wealth Gap in Peace Message

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Photo Credit; REUTERS/GIAMPIERO SPOSITO

Photo Credit; REUTERS/GIAMPIERO SPOSITO

Pope Francis said in the first peace message of his pontificate that huge salaries and bonuses are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap.

In his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, marked around the world on January 1, he also called for sharing of wealth and for nations to shrink the gap between rich and poor, more of whom are getting only “crumbs”.

“The grave financial and economic crises of the present time … have pushed man to seek satisfaction, happiness and security in consumption and earnings out of all proportion to the principles of a sound economy,” he said.

“The succession of economic crises should lead to a timely rethinking of our models of economic development and to a change in lifestyles,” he said.

Francis, who was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year on Wednesday, has urged his own Church to be more fair, frugal and less pompous and to be closer to the poor and suffering.

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North Korea Executes Kim Jong Un’s Uncle

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Photo Credit: AP/XINHUA

Photo Credit: AP/XINHUA

North Korea announced Thursday it had executed the uncle of leader Kim Jong Un, declaring him a traitor who tried to overthrow the state.

The announcement came only days after Pyongyang announced through state media that Jang Song Thaek — long considered the country’s No. 2 power — had been removed from all his posts because of allegations of corruption, drug use, gambling, womanizing and leading a “dissolute and depraved life.”

State news agency KCNA said a tribunal examined Jang’s crimes, including “attempting to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state.”

The report called him “a traitor to the nation” and “worse than a dog.”

National Security Council spokesman Patrick Ventrell said that there was no reason to doubt the report of Jang’s death and if true, it illustrated North Korea’s “extreme brutality.”

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Officials: Air Strike Kills 15 Civilians in Yemen by Mistake

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Fifteen people on their way to a wedding in Yemen were killed in an air strike after their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday.

The officials did not identify the plane in the strike in central al-Bayda province, but tribal and local media sources said that it was a drone.

“An air strike missed its target and hit a wedding car convoy, ten people were killed immediately and another five who were injured died after being admitted to the hospital,” one security official said.

Five more people were injured, the officials said.

The United States has stepped up drone strikes as part of a campaign against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the most active wing of the militant network.

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U.S. Suspends Aid to Syrian Rebels

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Mideast Syria_660_APThe Obama administration is cutting off aid to rebels in northern Syria amid concerns that it could fall into the hands of Al Qaeda-tied militants.

The White House confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. has suspended delivery of non-lethal assistance to rebels in the north. Britain reportedly has followed suit.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest cited concerns about reports that Islamist fighters seized buildings belonging to Syria’s Supreme Military Council.

“We’re obviously concerned by those reports,” he said.

Earnest said the U.S. government is consulting with the Supreme Military Council, and humanitarian aid will continue. Earnest stressed that the administration’s policy is to support “elements of the opposition that are moderate, that are committed to respecting basic human rights.”

He said: “That has been a challenge from the very beginning, both to identify the moderate elements of the opposition and to provide them the support that they need.”

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Romanian State TV Airs Christmas Carol About Burning Jews

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Photo Credit: photo credit: www.dortransilvan.startr.ro

Photo Credit: photo credit: www.dortransilvan.startr.ro

A Romanian public broadcaster aired a Christmas carol celebrating the Holocaust.

TVR3 Verde, a television channel for rural communities, presented the carol on December 5 during its maiden transmission.

Sung by the Dor Transilvan ensemble, it featured the lyrics: “The kikes, damn kikes, Holy God would not leave the kike alive, neither in heaven nor on earth, only in the chimney as smoke, this is what the kike is good for, to make kike smoke through the chimney on the street.”

In a statement, TVR3 (Romanian Public Television Channel 3) distanced itself from the broadcast, saying it did not select the carol but only broadcast songs that were chosen and compiled by the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture, which belongs to the eastern county of Cluj.

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