World – Page 48 – praag.org

Al Qaida takes crucial airport in Syria

Rebel wearing an Al Qaida shirt — Wearing an al Qaida shirt

Syrian rebels spearheaded by al Qaida in Iraq took control Tuesday of a crucial military airport in northern Syria, opening a vital supply line between the rebel-held north and Turkey.

The end of the siege that had clamped down the airport since last October began Monday, when two non-Syrian nationals drove an armored personnel carrier, loaded with explosives, into a position manned by defenders of the regime of President Bashar Assad. The explosion devastated the Assad troops and allowed rebels to overrun the Mannagh Air Base in Idlib province.

Those rebels included multiple units affiliated with the Syrian Military Council, an umbrella group with U.S. backing. That poses an uncomfortable pairing of a group supported by U.S. resources with Islamist organizations Washington has labeled as terrorist.

The Syrian Opposition Coalition, the political component of the SMC, announced that the airbase had been “liberated’ by a mixture of nine rebel groups. They included the al Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, or ISIS, and its Syrian sister organization, the Nusra Front.

Taking the airbase was critical because the facility had been used by Assad’s forces to target rebel supply lines and positions with artillery and air strikes.

In a series of unverifiable but credible videos released online by several rebel groups, the base appeared to hold significant amounts of military equipment. That will be welcomed by the supply-poor rebels.

Along with opening a new supply line from Turkey, the fall of the base helps the rebels in a potentially more significant way.

“This frees up some of the best rebel fighters from the Jihadist elements to help push offensives in Aleppo and Latakia,” said a European military attaché closely following the fight from neighboring Lebanon who spoke only under the condition of anonymity. “They now have the luxury to push men out to either help take the airport (in Aleppo) or help push down the coast (in Latakia.) Or both.”

Charles Lister, who has been closely monitoring the fight for the London-based military analysis group IHS Janes, agreed that the rebel seizure of the airbase could prove in the fighting to come.

“(The) capture will undoubtedly allow participating groups to re-distribute their forces further south in Aleppo to two main battlefronts: the ongoing siege of Aleppo International Airport and the governorate capital itself,” he said in a statement. “The ongoing militant Islamist-led offensive on the Alawite heartland of Latakia could also benefit.”

Within hours of the announcement, photos began appearing across social media sites often used by jihadist groups that showed the flag of ISIS flying over the airbase.

Those images highlighted the Islamist nature of the final assault.

Several sites praised the role of Jaish al Muhajireen, or the Army of the Immigrants, an offshoot of al Qaida. It’s composed of mostly foreign fighters recruited to fight alongside the primarily Iraqi Islamic State and the mostly Syrian Nusra Front.

The group is apparently led by Abu Omar al-Shishani, who appears to be either Chechen or Georgian.

Lister points to the expanded role for both Jais al Muhajireen and the Islamic State as a sign of the effectiveness of the more radical Islamist groups – both in the siege and in the overall fighting in Idlib Province.

“The victory again underlines the leading strategic impact being played by militant Islamists, particularly in northern Syria,” Lister said. “Every major offensive in northern Syria this year has been announced, led, and coordinated by Islamists.” – McClatchy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/06/198675/al-qaida-groups-lead-syrian-rebels.html#storylink=cpy

Oldest Zim voter was 135 years old

Various allegations of rigging have been levied against Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF following their victory in last week’s elections one of the allegations being that the oldest person who voted in Zimbabwe’s 31 July poll is 135 years old and still serves in the Zimbabwe National Army.

This particular allegation was levied by Zimelections13.com in a tweet.

“The oldest person who voted in Zimbabwe’s July 31 poll is 135 years old and still serves in the Zimbabwe National Army”, it tweeted.

The allegation comes as the outcry over the outcome of the just ended disputed elections in Zimbabwe continues to rattle the country and the international community, with the US saying it noted a “number of serious concerns”.

Zimbabwe’s incumbent president Robert Mugabe won overwhelmingly in the polls which have been dismissed as a ‘sham’ by his long-time arch rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement Democratic Change.

Tsvangirai and his MDC party are preparing to mount a legal and political challenge against the vote that looks set to extend Mugabe’s 33-year rule.

The case could delay 89-year-old Mugabe’s inauguration for another five-year term. – nairaland.com

US men accused of illegally lobbying for Mugabe

Federal prosecutors announced charges Tuesday against two Chicago men who they accuse of illegally lobbying US lawmakers to lift sanctions against longtime Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and members of his regime in exchange for a promise of $3.4-million.

Prince Asiel Ben Israel, 72, and C. Gregory Turner, 71, tried to persuade unnamed US state and federal lawmakers, including four from Illinois, to oppose the sanctions against the leaders of the southern African nation, according to the charges unsealed Tuesday in US District Court in Chicago.

The complaint says the men met with Mugabe, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gov. Gideon Gono and other officials “multiple times” in the US and Africa, and allegedly agreed to lobby US federal and state officials on Zimbabwe’s behalf in exchange for the promised payments, which the defendants apparently weren’t able to collect in full.

No lawmakers have been accused of wrongdoing, although the investigation is ongoing, the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago said in a news release. It’s not illegal for public officials to meet with sanctioned Zimbabweans, but individuals cannot provide lobbying services to those subjected to US sanctions, prosecutors said.

Mugabe’s government has been under sanctions since 2003 for alleged democratic violations.

Ben Israel appeared in a federal courtroom in Chicago Tuesday, where the terms of his bond were changed to require him to remain in contact with the court’s pretrial services department. His wife, Hattie Brown, also appeared in court, promising US Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys that she would turn in her husband if he attempts to flee.

The complaint alleges that the defendants violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The violation carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1-million fine.

Ben Israel’s attorney, Viviana Ramirez, said Tuesday that it’s too early to address the merits of the case. Turner, a Chicagoan, is believed to be currently living in Israel. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

According to the complaint, Ben Israel and Turner began talking with Mugabe and other Zimbabwe leaders in early November 2008 regarding the influence they could exert to lift the sanctions originally imposed by President George W. Bush.

The defendants allegedly discussed with Mugabe, Gono and others their ties to several public officials who supposedly had close connections to then-President-elect Barack Obama.

The complaint states that Ben Israel and Turner engaged in public relations, political consulting and lobbying efforts and had a Nov. 26, 2008, “Consulting Agreement” that called for an initial payment of $90,000 and three subsequent equal installments of $1,105,000.

The defendants allegedly arranged for Ben Israel to travel to South Africa with two Illinois lawmakers – referred to as “Illinois State Senator A” and “Illinois State Representative A” in the complaint – in early December 2008. Travel records show the two lawmakers traveled to Israel, but did not return as scheduled and extended their overseas stay, the complaint states.

Three days after the lawmakers’ return in mid-December, a scheduler for President-elect Obama’s transition team sent an email to another transition team member stating that State Representative A “wants a phone call from (transition team officials) regarding a meeting he had last week in Zimbabwe. I am not sure who to pass this on to but it’s the second time they have called.”

The transition team forwarded the email to the FBI based on its concerns that the state representative may have violated sanctions by traveling to Zimbabwe, according to the complaint.

Obama has decided each year of his presidency to keep the Zimbabwe sanctions in place, most recently in March.

Mugabe, 89, has been president of Zimbabwe for 33 years. He was re-elected by a wide margin last week, although his political opponents say voting wasn’t free or fair and was marred by widespread irregularities. – Sapa

Tens of thousands march against government in Tunisia

by Antoine Lambroschini

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of the Tunisian capital to demand the resignation of the government as the political crisis in the north African nation deepened.

The country has been wracked by political unrest since the July 25 murder of opposition lawmaker Mohamed Brahmi and Tuesday’s protests marked the biggest anti-government demonstration since the assassination.

A police official estimated that 40,000 people crowded the streets of Tunis to call for the government led by the moderate Islamic movement Ennahda to step down. Opposition leaders cited in local media put the figure at 100,000-200,000.

Earlier on Tuesday, the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) — a body elected in 2011 to forge consensus on drafting a new constitution — was suspended.

Brahmi’s murder, as well as that of another opposition politician, Chokri Belaid, have been blamed on radical Islamists, with the Ennahda-led cabinet criticised for not doing enough to prevent them.

The demonstration attracted a mixed bag of opposition parties, ranging from extreme left to centre-right, and was timed to mark six months since Belaid was gunned down outside his home.

Protesters carried pictures of both Belaid and Brahmi and shouted slogans such as “The people want the regime to fall” and “The government will end today”.

The march passed off peacefully.

Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar said the ANC’s work would be halted until the government and opposition opened negotiations to break the deadlock “in the service of Tunisia”.

Brahmi’s killing had already prompted several opposition members to boycott the ANC and its suspension was a key demand of the protesters on the street.

The stalemate showed no sign of ending, however, with the opposition refusing to hold talks with the government until it steps down and Ennahda ruling out any dialogue conditional on its ouster.

Larayedh has refused to quit, offering instead to broaden the coalition.

Ben Jaafar criticised the country’s politicians for failing to find a compromise as Tunisia also battles mounting terror threats.

“Despite the gravity of the situation and instead of working towards unity, unfortunately party leaders have gone in the opposite direction, towards division, by mobilising” street protests, he said.

Since the ANC was elected in October 2011, political leaders have failed to find a consensus on a new constitution following a revolution that ousted longtime president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

And the suspension of the assembly’s work throws into question Prime Minister Ali Larayedh’s target of the ANC adopting a new constitution and electoral law by October 23 ahead of a December 17 election.

‘Excessive demands’

Ennahda chief Rached Ghannouchi, quoted in La Presse newspaper on Tuesday, said the government will not step down under pressure from the street, while Larayedh charged that demonstrators were hampering efforts by security forces to root out gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda.

“There are excessive demands at protests for the dissolution of the elected government,” Ghannouchi told La Presse.

“In democratic regimes, protests don’t change governments. It’s under dictatorial regimes that a demonstration is able to topple a regime.”

Earlier Tuesday, before its work was suspended, the ANC had gathered to discuss the “terrorist crisis” as security forces pressed on with a vast operation to hunt down militants holed up in the rugged Mount Chaambi region near the Algerian border.

Speaking to the assembly, Larayedh had harsh words for the demonstrators, saying their activities meant security forces “are obliged to be in the streets when they should be participating in the battle against terrorism”.

Defence Minister Rachid Sabbagh told the ANC that the armies of Tunisia and Algeria would “reinforce their cooperation, particularly to arrest the Chaambi terrorists.”.

“We will continue our operations until all the terrorists have been killed or arrested,” said the minister.

Ghannouchi also dismissed the criticism that authorities are being soft on radical Islamists, who have grown in influence since the popular uprising that toppled Ben Ali two years ago.

“There are 500 to 600 terrorist suspects imprisoned in jails,” he noted. – AFP

Large fire forces Nairobi airport closure

A massive fire engulfed the arrivals hall at Kenya’s main international airport early Wednesday, forcing East Africa’s largest airport to close and the rerouting of all inbound flights.

Dark black smoke that billowed skyward was visible across much of Nairobi as emergency teams battled the blaze. Stranded passengers stood on sidewalks outside the airport with their luggage in hand.

The Kenya Airports Authority said the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has been closed until further notice so that emergency teams can battle the fire.

Associated Press reporters at the scene said the fire had gutted the international arrivals hall, where passengers pass through immigration and retrieve their luggage.

As in many countries in East Africa, public sector services like police and fire units are hobbled by small budgets and outdated or no equipment. A British passenger, Martyn Collbeck, said he was surprised that the airport wasn’t shut down sooner so that emergency vehicles could respond.

“When I arrived there were one or two fire engines parked outside the international arrivals. It spread very fast,” said Collbeck, who had been scheduled to fly back to London on an early morning KLM flight. “There were a couple of explosions which I think were a couple of gas canisters.”

But, he added: “I would have expected more fire engines to respond faster.”

The Nairobi airport is the busiest airport in East Africa, and its closure is likely to affect flights throughout the region. – AP

US global terror warning inconsistent with weak al Qaida

The Obama administration’s sweeping response to an alleged al Qaida plot – closing diplomatic posts in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia – suggests a terrorist organization that’s capable of striking virtually anywhere, not the one U.S. officials have depicted as a group that’s near defeat.

Counterterrorism analysts said Monday that the U.S. government’s global response to a threat emanating from Yemen, home to al Qaida’s most active affiliate, was at odds with how dismissive President Barack Obama was in a speech in May, when he said that “not every collection of thugs that labels themselves as al Qaida will pose a credible threat to the United States.”

That was only one of a series of public statements by Obama and his Cabinet members that played down the capabilities of al Qaida-linked groups. For at least the past two years, the administration has sought to reassure Americans that al Qaida is “on the run,” while counterterrorism experts were warning about the semiautonomous affiliates that have wreaked havoc in North Africa, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

“The actions the administration is taking now are deeply inconsistent with the portrait of al Qaida strength the administration has been painting,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism specialist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington research institute.

U.S. officials have been secretive about what precise information led to the worldwide travel advisory and embassy closings, but a Yemeni official told McClatchy on Sunday that authorities had intercepted “clear orders” from al Qaida leader Ayman Zawahiri to Nasir al Wuhayshi, the head of the affiliate in Yemen, to carry out an attack.

On the campaign trail last fall, Obama touted the killing of Osama bin Laden during a covert U.S. raid in 2011 as a sign that, while the U.S. would have to maintain vigilance, “the truth, though, is that al Qaida is much weaker than it was when I came into office.” In his State of the Union address last February, the president called al Qaida “a shadow of its former self” and said the threat posed by its affiliates wouldn’t require large-scale U.S. military deployment.

In July 2011, Obama’s then newly appointed defense secretary, Leon Panetta, said he was “convinced in this capacity that we’re within reach of strategically defeating al Qaida.” – mcclatchydc.com

Zim defends fairness, transparency

Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF party has defended the fairness of its victory in last week’s elections. The latest challenge to the polls comes from Botswana, which says it will urge regional body Southern African Development Community (SADC) to audit the vote in its neighbouring state.

Botswana Foreign Affairs Minister, Phandu Skelemani, addressing journalists in Gaborone on Monday, said they are concerned that the vote failed to measure up to SADC guidelines.

Western countries have also questioned the polls, while Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC has slammed the polls as fraudulent and plans to challenge them in court.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo dismisses all the complaints saying that it is nonsense to talk of rigging because all sorts of structures were set up to ensure that voting was tight and water-proof.

Gumbo says: “The reality on the ground was that everything was done transparently, people voted in peace and tranquillity, the elections were free and fair, and quite credible as far as we are concerned.”

US unlikely to lift Zim sanctions

The United States (US) has reiterated its long held position that any easing or lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe would happen only in the context of a credible election.

At the weekend, Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement that in light of substantial irregularities they did not consider the election to be a credible expression of the will of Zimbabweans.

While at the United Nations (UN) in New York, there were no words of congratulations, only to say they are watching developments closely. There has been no ringing endorsement of President Robert Mugabe’s electoral victory, not from the US or UN.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson, Martin Nesirky says: “Obviously the SG continues to follow this closely and as we said at the time and it still holds true, and concerns that have been raised about certain aspects of the electoral process should be pursued through established channels and these concerns should then be considered transparently and fairly.”

The US State Department hinted that lifting of sanctions were unlikely. Spokesperson Marie Harf says: “We do not believe the results announced represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people in light of the substantive electoral irregularities reported by domestic and regional observers.”

She says voter rolls had some irregularities in them that were not credible as stated by preliminary reports from the African Union and Southern African Development Community. Harf says: “Domestic observer missions also noted some serious concerns, so we’ve been clear that any easing of sanctions will only occur in the context of credible, transparent and peaceful elections.”

“So I don’t want to get ahead of the process here but the Secretary made clear that we do not believe that these were a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people,” she says.

While the UN is waiting and watching to see how opposition concerns are handled by the ‘established channels’, the US has been absolutely frank that it does not accept the poll results placing it at odds with President Jacob Zuma who endorsed the process and has long held that sanctions be lifted against Zimbabwe, something that now seems increasingly unlikely.

Benghazi: CIA sent missiles to jihadis

Despite evidence showing the Benghazi attack was staged by a State Department hired jihadist security outfit in connection with an arms transfer to al-Qaeda mercenaries in Syria, the US MSM is pretending it does not know what happened in Libya on September 11, 2012.

The corporate media has yet to point out that the Obama administration attempted to cover-up the real reason for the murder of ambassador Stevens – U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and the State Department initially pointing to a lame anti-Muslim video – and has consistently downplayed the incident and characterized it as a non-event not requiring congressional investigation and the impeachment of President Obama.

A number of guests appearing on the Alex Jones Show following the attack have built an indisputable case that the CIA was shipping arms from U.S.-controlled facilities located at the U.S. mission in Benghazi to its mercenaries in Syria and the murder of ambassador Stevens was carried out by an al-Qaeda affiliated group as part of a turf war between the CIA and elements in the Pentagon.

In May, former government insider Steve Pieczenik explained how a Pentagon effort to derail a CIA operation may have occurred.

All the evidence points to the Pentagon doing nothing to stop the attack on the compound. Martin Dempsey, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted during a Senate hearing in June that highly trained Special Forces were stationed a few hours away from Benghazi on the night of the attacks but were not deployed.

This contradicts comments made by Gregory Hicks, the former top U.S. diplomat in Benghazi, who told Congress in May that officials from Special Operations Command-Africa ordered the units to stand down.

In May, Infowars.com posted an article reporting the fact the Benghazi attack and the murder of ambassador Stevens had nothing to do with an absurd anti-Islam video, as the establishment media and the Obama administration insisted, but was directly connected to the shipment of arms from Libya to the mercenaries in Syria.

Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, appearing on the same show, alleged that Turkey partnered with the CIA to take down Bashar al-Assad in Syria and, hours before the compound was attacked and Stevens and others lost their lives, the Turkish Consul General Ali Sait Akin met with the U.S. ambassador.

According to Egyptian security officials, Stevens was instrumental in recruiting jihadists for the CIA’s war in Syria and “served as a key contact with the Saudis to coordinate the recruitment by Saudi Arabia of Islamic fighters from North Africa and Libya. The jihadists were sent to Syria via Turkey to attack Assad’s forces,” writes Aaron Klein.

It has been widely reported that the Syrian mercenaries belong to the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate.

It was learned after the attack that the February 17th Martyrs Brigade was paid by the State Department to protect the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. The group had “clear al-Qaida sympathies, and had prominently displayed the al-Qaida flag on a Facebook page for months before the deadly attack,” Max Rosenthal reported for Newsmax in May. The February 17th Martyrs Brigade, it was latter learned during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, are in league with Ansar al-Sharia, said to be linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Part of the operation involving Stevens included sending surface-to-air missiles to al-Qaeda in Syria. “Speculation on Capitol Hill has included the possibility the U.S. agencies operating in Benghazi were secretly helping to move surface-to-air missiles out of Libya, through Turkey, and into the hands of Syrian rebels,” CNN also reported late last week.

The Obama administration announced in late September that “it planned to expand a program to secure and destroy Libya’s huge stockpile of dangerous surface-to-air missiles” and that “the U.S. State Department has one official on the ground in Libya, as well as five contractors who specialize in ‘explosive ordinance disposal,’ all working with the rebel Transitional National Council to find the looted missiles,” ABC News reported.

In fact, the State Department, under the guidance of ambassador Stevens, was moving to round up the missiles and send them to al-Qaeda in Syria. Prior to this, in December, 2011, the U.S. claimed to have secured 5,000 surface-to-air missiles and destroyed them outside of the village of Sidi Bin Nur in Libya. Doubtless, instead, they became part of the CIA’s cache destined for Syria.

‘Conflict in Syria could end soon’

The armed conflict in Syria could be over in a few months if the local population actively helps government troops to restore peace and prevent violence, President Bashar Assad said in an interview broadcast throughout the Arab world.

According to Assad, the anti-terror campaigns are most successful in those regions with strong public support for the army.

He also said that some of the rebels are continuing to surrender to government forces to try and return to peaceful life or join the fight on the government’s side.

Since the armed conflict began in Syria in March 2011 over 100,000 people have been killed according to UN estimates.

Besides the internal opposition the government forces are fighting a large number of radical Islamist groups such as al-Nusra Front and increasing numbers of foreign mercenarie.

Al-Assad issued a decree Sunday banning the use of foreign currency in commercial transactions, state news agency SANA said.

“It is prohibited to make payments, reimbursements, commercial transactions and any other commercial operation in foreign currency or in precious stones,” SANA quoted the decree as saying.

“The Syrian lira is the only currency” allowed in business and commerce, it added.

Those breaking the law risk jail sentences from between six months to 10 years of hard labour, depending on the sum involved, and will be fined.

The US dollar is the preferred foreign currency in Syria where the lira has lost three quarters of its value against the greenback since the outbreak of the anti-regime uprising more than two years ago.

At the start of the conflict in March 2011 one dollar fetched 50 liras. while a dollar today is worth more than 200 liras.

Dollars have been used in the sale of land, namely in the upscale Damascus suburbs, and by importers who trade in goods such as rice, sugar, textile and electronic equipment.

Breivik moved to most liberal prison

Mass killer Anders Breivik is to be moved to Skien prison, which has one of Norway’s most liberal regimes, local media reported.

Breivik has long requested a transfer back to Skien, where he stayed while his quarters at Oslo’s Ila prison were under construction.

He complained that his isolation at Ila amounted to torture.

Prison authorities said the decision was taken in June and had nothing to do with Breivik’s petitioning.

Jan Erik Sandlie, deputy director of Norway’s probation service, said prisoners are sometimes “moved between different institutions.”

It is not clear when Breivik will be moved. – RT

The future of food: Stem cell burgers

A Dutch scientist is offering the world’s first cultivated beef made of stem cells to taste. He believes the lab-grown meat will feed the world and help save the environment. The tasting event happens amid UN calls to invest more in food innovation.

The 5-ounce burger which costs $332,000 to produce will be fried in a pan and tasted by volunteers at an event in London on Monday, Bloomberg quotes the creator of the burger scientist Mark Post of Maastricht University. The research has been funded by an anonymous individual, he said.

The muscle stem cells, taken by a harmless biopsy of living cows, are fed and nurtured so they multiply to create muscle tissue, Bloomberg quotes the scientist as saying. One sample of cells is enough to create up to 20,000 tons of meat in the lab, he said.

“People might think this is a crazy way to produce meat. But it’s inevitable. Because the way we produce meat right now from livestock is not sustainable. It is not good for the environment, it is not good for animals, and we actually are not going to produce,” Prof Mark Post said in an interview to BBC.

Commercial production could begin in a decade or two, Bloomberg quotes Post, whose work on cultured beef began in 2008. The cost is currently the main obstacle to mass production, Bloomberg quotes experts.

“For it to succeed it has to look, feel and hopefully taste like the real thing,” Post says, adding that any association with genetically modified foods is unwarranted.

“Cultured beef is normal beef,” Bloomberg quotes the professor. “It consists of cow cells.”

Post is among scientists who believe lab-grown meat is an alternative to raising livestock, which contributes to 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and uses 30 percent of the world’s ice-free land, Bloomberg quotes an Oxford University study. – RT

Children banned from discussing fracking in their lifetime

frackingwater — Frack gag: No discussion about water contamination

The 7- and 10-year-old children of a Pennsylvania couple that reached a settlement following a lawsuit involving health issues brought on by fracking have been barred from discussing details of the case for the rest of their lives.

Though a gag order is not unusual in itself when large corporations reach a settlement with plaintiffs in court, the August 2011 case of a family that went to court with Range Resources Corporation, Williams Gas/Laurel Mountain Midstream, and Markwest Energy due to the environmental and health impact caused by gas fracking operations has raised eyebrows for its inclusion of the couple’s young children.

The Pennsylvania family reached a $750,000 settlement with the gas companies, and have used the award to relocate. In exchange, however, Chris and Stephanie Hallowich agreed that no member of their family could comment on the case “in any fashion whatsoever.”

Details of the case only emerged recently when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette managed to get court transcripts released. The paper’s reporters were originally barred from attending the settlement hearing, and had to wait until a three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that a lower court had erred in blocking the unsealing of the records.

Court records, which should have included details of the settlement but did not, paint a confusing picture for Chris and Stephanie Hallowich as they tackled the significance of their gag order.

“We know we’re signing for silence forever, but how is this taking away our children’s rights being minors?” Stephanie Hallowich asked the judge.

“I mean, my daughter is turning 7 today, my son is 10.”

According to the transcripts, Judge Polonsky, who oversaw the case, was unable to clarify. The family’s attorney, Peter Villari, questioned whether the order would be enforceable.

“I, frankly, your Honor, as an attorney, to be honest with you, I don’t know if that’s possible that you can give up the First Amendment rights of a child,” stated Villari.

Along with the gas companies, the Hallowich family also sued the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. In its ruling to unseal court records, the superior court also noted that the August 2011 hearing during which the record was sealed was held three days prior to schedule, without an official notification of the change of date, reports the New York Times.

According to Bruce Baizel, Energy Program Director at Earthworks, which focuses on mineral and energy development, the motives behind restrictive gag orders post-settlements is to conceal any evidence of adverse environmental impact from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

“The refrain in the industry is, this is a safe process. There’s no record of contamination. That whole claim would be undermined if these things were public,” Baizel told ClimateProgress.

Moreover, attempts to measure the number of settlements with non-disclosure agreements have failed.

“They don’t have to be registered, they don’t have to be filed. It’s kind of a black hole,” says Baizel.

Prior to the settlement the Hallowichs said that nearby gas drilling had caused “burning eyes, sore throats, headaches and earaches, and contaminated their water supply.”

Once the settlement was reached and the gag order enacted, however, a spokesman for Range Resources stated that the family had “never produced evidence of any health impacts,” and that the Hallowichs primary motive for moving was instead due to “an unusual amount of activity around them.” – RT

War criminal documents released online

Scholars, campaigners and lawyers can for the first time readily access more than 2,200 documents from a largely unknown archive housed at the United Nations that documents thousands of cases against accused World War II criminals in Europe and Asia.

The unrestricted records of the United Nations War Crimes Commission were put online in early July by the International Criminal Court after an agreement with the U.N., a move spurred by British academic Dan Plesch, who has been leading the push for greater access to the archive. The documents relate to more than 10,000 cases.

Plesch said Friday that following his research at the archive in New York he was invited to give a guest lecture on the War Crimes Commission at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in March 2012 by Hans Bevers, the head of the prosecutor’s research office. Bevers suggested the ICC might be interested in obtaining the archive and Plesch said he put him in touch with the U.N. office that manages the archives.

“It was a happy coincidence of him doing research here, him doing research there, and the ICC wanting to put as many archives as possible online,” U.N. chief archivist Bridget Sisk said Friday.

“Our goal is to make available as widely as possible open archives of the organization,” she said. “The collaboration with ICC adds to the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal the historical record in international criminal justice.”

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said putting the unrestricted part of the archive online “will greatly enhance the availability of these materials to those engaged in research into the development of international criminal law, as well as to researchers from other academic disciplines.”

The War Crimes Commission was established in October 1943 by 17 allied nations to issue lists of alleged war criminals – ultimately involving approximately 37,000 individuals – and examine the charges against them and try to assure their arrest and trial.

The commission was shut down in 1948, three years after the now 193-member United Nations officially came into existence. In 1949, the U.N. Secretariat drew up rules making the archive available only to governments on a confidential basis. In 1987, limited access was granted only to researchers and historians.

Plesch and his colleagues continue to seek access for researchers to the still restricted sections of the files, which he said contain some 30,000 sets of pre-trial documents submitted to the commission by national and military tribunals to judge whether the case should be pursued.

“These files contain details of many charges of crimes that are not being prosecuted extensively today, including rape and forced prostitution, and crimes by ordinary soldiers,” Plesch said.

He said that following representations by his team to the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which is a federal agency, is pursuing access to the commission’s entire archive – hundreds of thousands of pages in 400 boxes.

The International Criminal Court said more than 2,240 documents, totaling 22,184 pages, with search data for each document, have been added to the ICC Legal Tools Database.

The records include meeting minutes and other documents from the commission and its subordinate bodies as well as “a small but wide-ranging portion of the war crimes trial reports sent to the commission by national authorities” from Australia, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands and Norway, the ICC said.

Research on the War Crimes Commission conducted by Plesch and colleague Shanti Sattler will be presented at a conference Sept. 10-11 at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies where Plesch heads the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy. The conference is supported by the International Bar Association and will be chaired by South African Judge Richard Goldstone.