Rising Up Against COVID Inoculations and the Health Pass

 

By: Stewart Brennan

Over the past few months, people around the world have been rising up and pouring onto the streets of their nations to protest their governments enforcement of a health passport that only allows the vaccinated to participate in society.  See (Here 01, Here 02, Here 03, and Here 04)

People are waking up as their freedoms disappear under a wash of government dictatorship. The threat is very real as nation after nation invokes a mandatory health pass and inoculations that violate ones’ personal sovereignty.

Governments around the world are either coercing or forcing their citizens to take dangerous inoculations which take away the peoples rights and freedoms while also punishing those who do not comply.  (See Here 05, Here 06 and Here 07) Human rights, which western countries claim to champion, have all been destroyed.

Disturbing but not surprising is that the mainstream news continues to back the totalitarian government narratives while refusing to carry out real investigative journalism; and as such, both the government and mainstream media continue to lose public trust as governments continue to bear down on the public with totalitarian and sometimes violent force (08).

Two of the major reasons why there is a rise in public awareness about the dangers of these COVID inoculations are, the rise in state brutality on protesters and the large numbers of vaccine injuries and the sudden death of people around the world after receiving these dangerous COVID inoculations.

Reports have been flooding social networks of sudden heart attacks after being inoculated, as the “Covid Vaccine Sudden Death Syndrome” continues to unfold on the public around the world. We are also seeing a huge uptick in heart attacks in very fit athletes 09a (many of whom are soccer players 09b) and game officials who are all in public view. The one thing these athletes and officials all have in common is that to work and travel in their sport they had to take the unnecessary COVID inoculations. And so, it becomes increasingly difficult for governments to trivialize or declare these sudden deaths as coincidence, especially with the deaths of so many athletes, who are in the best physical shape of their lives. They certainly shouldn’t be dying of heart attacks.

The news of athletes having heart problems is becoming a daily occurrence. Soccer players have been going through intensive cardio workouts for years without problems, with the exception of a rare case like an undetected birth defect, so why are we seeing so many heart problems now? (10) There is no way all these heart problems are a coincidence as some would have you believe. A full transparent investigation and dialog is required, but that will not happen will it, judging by our government's insane position.

Alarm bells are also ringing with pregnant mothers as we are now seeing a rise in stillbirths (See Here 11 and Here 12) which of course is also supposed to be a rare occurrence in this day and age. Could this huge uptick in stillbirths have something to do with pregnant mothers receiving the COVID shot?! Yes, it seems very, very likely.

These deaths are only the beginning because the dangerous inoculations they are calling vaccines, not only change your DNA but they compromise your immune system (13) and there’s nothing that can change that fact with the exception of never taking these dangerous covid inoculations (14) in the first place.

All this is happening right in front of everyone’s eyes while governments continue to censor and suppress information by doctors and scientists who are warning the world of the harmful effects from these dangerous COVID inoculations! Wouldn’t you want to at least listen to what these doctors and scientists have to say instead of them being censored, before you blindly play the establishments rigged roulette game? A game where the shot makes every player’s immune system a loser?!

Around the world, governments are continuing to ramp up a war on their own populations under the guise of a health emergency, and wouldn’t you know it, just as people are standing up against their governments health pass and mandatory inoculations, a new variant called “Omicron” (See Here 15 and Here 16) has popped up in Botswana and then South Africa, to close down society and potentially lock us all down, ending protests, while covering up the massive deaths attributed to the COVID shots.

An interesting twist to this story is that a Majority of South African’s refused the COVID inoculations and so the S.A. govt has delayed / cancelled shipments of these mRNA inoculations (17). So, why do the South African people refuse COVID inoculations? Well because they have had very bad experiences with inoculations and sociopathic governments in the past (18), that's why, and so they don’t trust those connected to the Global economic cartel, and nor should you.

The immediate response by the global economic cartel to South Africa’s request for a delay in delivering US pharma jabs on November 24th, 2021, was to declare a new COVID variant from South Africa 48 hours later and then isolate the country from the rest of the world. This has a significant economic consequence on the people of South Africa and other African nations (19) of course…it’s a punishment, or retaliation for not towing the economic cartels big pharma line it would seem.

Will this new so called COVID variant, “Omicron” be used as the reason and excuse to lockdown the World in December, cancel family Christmas celebrations and then use their new variant as a reason to force their mRNA & DNA poisoned shots on the entire global population? They are certainly moving in that direction.

In Austria, Hungary and other European countries, they are already declaring mandatory COVID inoculations on the public with severe punishments to those who resist, and that was before “Omicron”.

The one shining light in this episode of the twilight zone is that the tyrannical push by our governments is also waking up more people to the insane sociopathic narrative that politicians, tied to the W.H.O. (World Health Organization) are pushing on the world.

The Next Battle in the War on Information

Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter resigned today (20).

Although it’s true that Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have been using censorship to suppress information on the Internet, Twitter was the only one of the three major networks that did not completely stomp out information on COVID and alternative voices even with a shadow ban in place. However, as Jack Dorsey steps down as Twitter’s CEO, to make way for…someone else (21), there are no guarantee’s that we will have any freedom of speech left on Twitter. The timing of Dorsey’s departure is very suspect as we all know instinctively what’s coming, “More Censorship”, especially now that the establishment has unveiled their new fear monster “Omicron”.

Will the new order that arises at Twitter be corporate puppets with a pro-censorship attitude? Or will they be free speech inclined? Count on more censorship…

Last Word

People around the world need to continue standing up and uniting against the mandatory inoculations, the health pass and societal segregation. The future is in our hands yet we are now at a crossroads that will define the future governance of the human race. We either stand against fascist totalitarianism now and emerge with our rights and freedoms in tact or we perish under the boots of tyranny. The direction we go depends upon you, be brave, be determined and Rise up!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Stewart Brennan is a Geo-political and economic analyst, activist, blogger and author. He’s worked in the Aviation, Packaging, Transportation and Logistics Industries and is the author of “The Activist Poet”, two books of political activism and poetry, and several blogs including World United News and World United Music.

Links:


01 Australia – Thousand’s flood streets to decry vaccine mandate
02 Zagreb, Croatia Rises Against COVID Mandates
03 Vienna Austria Rises Against COVID Mandates
04 Rome Italy Rises Against COVID Mandates
05 Austria Imposes Lockdowns for Everyone
06 Greece Bans Unvaccinated Indoors
07 France continues to force health pass
08 Police fire rubber bullets at anti-vax protesters in Melbourne 
09a Compilation of News reports of Athletes Having Heart Attacks
09b What’s Going On! Compilation video of Athletes suffering heart attacks
10 British Dr. John Campbell warns of a huge increase of heart attacks
11 Canada - Stillbirths Exploding Across Canada in Fully Vaccinated Mothers

12 Scotland - Investigation Launched into Abnormal Spike in Newborn Baby Deaths
13 Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi's Explains the Immune System (Video)
14 Dr. Ryan Cole on Dangerous Vaccine Effects
15 Omicron
16 Omicron Over Reaction
17 Nov 24th, 2021 - South Africa wants Delivery of COVID Inoculations Delayed
18 This is why Africans are not taking the Gates led vaccines
19 Growing list of countries with curbs over 'super mutant' strain
20 Jack Dorsey Resignation Letter
21 Jack Dorsey Leaves Twitter Board


This article was also published on "Global Research"

2013 - What's in Store? (Op-Ed)

 

By: Adrian Salbuchi

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/2013-global-politics-trends-150/

World Government stepping onto sovereign Nation-States, puppet politicians unable to cope with social challenges, chaos in the Middle East and ever increasing global crises – all this awaits us in 2013. Is it time for ‘We the People’ to wake up?

More violence in the Middle East; increased protests and commotion on the streets of Europe and America; a banking/debt crisis spinning faster and faster out of control with panicky governments running to save the bankers and kill the workers. That’s 2012’s legacy, so… thank God it’s (almost) over!

But – barring the Mayan Prophecies coming true, which is most unlikely – regrettably 2013 threatens us with even darker clouds on its horizon.

­We’re not into “predictions” or futurism, however understanding what really makes this world tick allows rational projections of tendencies on the basis of concrete facts. That can serve to give us an idea of what’s in store for 2013, so we can better prepare for what’s coming our way.

Let’s look at half a dozen Key Issues:

Where’s the pilot?

Glaringly visible on today’s global political stage is that leaders in just about every country are unable to tackle and solve the overwhelming swarm of growing crises and challenges affecting society; at least not in the West. Whether it’s political, social or military conflict; increasing ecological threats; on-going financial and economic collapse; mass cultural and intellectual dumbing-down; or obscene government corruption, everywhere you look things seem to be taking a turn for the worse.

Even the leaders of powerful countries as the United States, Britain and the European Union fail dismally when addressing these crises highlighting their mediocrity, lack of vision and creativity. This becomes more obvious when comparing today’s leaders with those of yesteryear.

Take France, for instance: having given the world a true statesman like Charles de Gaulle, today they’re run by political midgets like Hollande and Sarkozy. Worse still is the US, which had a great president like John F Kennedy but today is misgoverned by puppets like Bush junior and Obama. Even Britain, Italy and Germany once led by inspirational figures like Churchill, De Gaspari and Adenauer, today can only muster grey mediocrities like Blair, Cameron, Berlusconi, Monti or Merkel.

Is it all just coincidence, or does it reflect a monolithic political system that ensures that not the best and brightest, but the worst and dimmest rise to become presidents and prime ministers?

Is this the result of the Global Power Masters’ preferred system of control over entire nations through “money-powered democracy”? This is in stark contrast with what “We the People” are clamouring for in every country. In fact, “We the People” have instinct and are neither stupid nor cowardly. Unfortunately though, their political leaders for the most part are.

Is there a “superior will” making sure that growing national problems remain unresolved, and get worse and worse as presidents and prime ministers come and go?

Is it just “bad financial judgment” that’s made all national debts with the Mega-banker Over-world balloon way out of control? Just bad luck that pension funds are massively broke and health systems are in shambles?

Just bad luck that; Orwell-like, peace-making has turned into warmongering?

Is it just bad luck that basic human decency, ethics and solidarity are scorned by that moral cesspool known as the “entertainment industry”, which is the prime driver or the dumbing-down of populations everywhere?

We don’t think so…

Is all of this a way of telling the world in no uncertain terms just who’s really in charge, by “proving” that Sovereign Nation-States can no longer cope, and “a thing of the past” to be thrown into the dustbin of history? That certainly ties in with the Global Power Masters’ fundamental long-term objective geared on dissolving the nations of the world so their power can be sucked up into the coming World Government organisations?

But look again: it’s not Nation-States that are failing, but rather the “democratically elected” politicians who run them! Let’s not thrown the baby away with the bath water…!

World Government needs to do away with sovereign Nation-States because they’re the only social institution that can hold the Global Corporate and Mega-banker Over-world in check. In fact, the Sovereign Nation-State is the Over-world’s Public Enemy No. 1!

Back in 1974, the Elite think-tank Council on Foreign Relation’s journal “Foreign Affairs” suggested that “the house of world order will have to be built from the bottom up… It will look like a great "booming, buzzing confusion," …but an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault.” That was written over 38 years ago… Now that’s what I call long-range planning!

So, get ready: 2013 will bring ever increasing crises as all Nation-States are weakened more and more. In Orwellian newspeak, this is “democracy”. However, “We the People” are waking up to the fact that such a “democracy” is nothing but a prison of the mind.

In 2013 more people will be asking themselves “Where’s the pilot?” They will want to know who’s really running this ghastly global show. You can bet your bottom dollar that “the pilot” is definitely not in the White House, or the Palais d'Elysee, or 10 Downing Street. Clearly, we need new pilots!

United States of America

Had Republican candidate Mitt Romney won November’s presidential elections, today we’d be in global doldrums on a range of important issues. The Global Power Masters would have had to wait until Romney is inaugurated in late January 2013, and then give him the privileged “100 days’ honeymoon” as new White House tenant, before they actually began pressing and coaxing him to do their bidding. That would have given the world four, maybe five, months’ respite.

However, Romney lost the elections, and Barack Obama will be president four more years. No waiting; no honeymoon.

Time is of the essence and Big Brother Bwana is already shouting orders at Boy Obama demanding him to move… and fast! The Big Bosses in AIPAC, Wall Street, Tel-Aviv, Goldman Sachs, the FED, JPMorganChase, and the Lodges have lots of plans for the US… Obama had been dragging his feet on certain issues: Time to act!

But one may even wonder whether Obama’s staying “at the helm” might be so he oversees “Mission Transformation”: the controlled collapse of the US. Will Obama turn out to be America’s Mikhail Gorbachev?

Over a decade ago, Russian Ministry of Foreign Relations academic Igor Panarin pointed to the coming dismemberment of the US due to growing internal political, social and cultural centrifugal forces, overcoming the increasingly weak centripetal forces holding America together.

Right now, we see secessionist movements in just about every state in the US. Texas, North & South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio have gathered the 25,000 petition signatures needed to make it mandatory for the Federal Government to address their request.

By the end of the 1980’s, the 'Powers That Be' decided it was time for “Globalisation” to go into full gear: a chaotic, horizontal, transitory and transitional process that has greatly weakened national sovereignties. But they needed to liquidate the then formidable Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that was getting in their way. That was Mikhail Gorbachev’s job and he certainly played his role magnificently even if power brokers in New York and London like him far more than citizens in Moscow or St Petersburg.

Now the Global Power Masters are wrapping up “Globalisation” and moving on towards something far more ambitious: outright World Government which, contrary to globalisation, will be vertical, authoritarian, disciplined and highly centralised. To achieve this new stage, they now need for the other superpower nation-state to go into the waste bin of history. Soon they won’t need a powerful America.

In fact, a powerful US is a potential danger to them because, whilst so far their trillions have ensured the White House always stays in "friendly hands” – Reagan, Bush Senior, Clinton, Bush junior, Obama – can you imagine what would happen if a True Patriot were to make it to the Oval Office? Someone who would say “Enough with the FED!”, “Enough with unrestricted and irrational support for Israel!”, “Enough engineering chaos in Libya, Afghanistan, Mali, Syria, Egypt, Latin America!”

So – yes! – Perhaps our American Gorbachev’s true mission is to kick-off the controlled demise of the US.

War and more war in the Middle East

From the Global Master’s viewpoint, the more chaos the better. The more Libya’s and Syria’s, the better; and the more Egypt-style social chaos, the better; all massively fed by their multimedia PsyWar. Why? Because, irrespective of whether things turn out “well” or “not so well” for them in Palestine, Syria, Iran or Egypt, they always make headway on one permanent overriding objective: weakening Nation-States. In addition, this all ties in with a key Fundamentalist Zionism goal in the region: the destruction of Iran.

In addition, all this “experience” renders useful lessons, knowledge, “case studies” and rules of engagement for designing future “Springs” in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, even the US.

Stay tuned: this may be coming in 2013 to a country near you.

Israel’s bad temper

As we all know when Israel gets up in a bad mood, they cheer up by going into Palestinian-bashing mode, knowing Big Brother Homer will look the other way. That just occurred in Gaza, as it did in 2009; as it did in Southern Lebanon in 2006.

Now we’ll see a lull as Benjamin Netanyahu campaigns for re-election in January 2013, which may be why he’s pushed aside his embarrassing extreme right-wing ally and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. This may be linked to trying to accommodate – not Obama – but the American military, which is growing increasingly weary of America’s imperial overdrive and resource stretch, as a consequence of fighting too many of Israel’s proxy wars.

John Kerry and Chuck Nagel will probably become Obama´s new secretaries of State and Defence. Both are friendly towards Israel, however not irrationally fanatic, which is what Israel and AIPAC demand. This explains the Jerusalem Post’s 17th December article pointing out that both are “hardly Israel’s preferred choices”.

Fiscal cliff

Like the naked Emperor that no one dared to point that interesting fact out to him, the truth is that the American Emperor is nakedly broke, as is the UK. Now, when weak countries like Argentina, México, Thailand or Iceland collapse, they painfully discover that their local currencies (or lack thereof in the cases of Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland) are backed by nothing. That’s when chaos marches in and the locals suffer all sorts of dreadful economic and social hardship, as seen on TV decade after decade.

When the US, UK or EU go broke, however, they still have an ace up their sleeves: their currencies – Dollar, Pound or Euro – are backed by their formidable, powerful and hugely expensive military forces. In practice, those currencies are backed by supersonic stealth bombers, drones, aircraft carriers, Tomahawks, Blackhawks and public (and private!) armies of highly trained and vicious troops.

But if worse comes to worse, they can always tap into their “Final Solution”; their “Samson Option” so to speak: unleash World War Three in which case who’ll care about the collapse of the Dollar, or the banks, or social upheavals even in New York or London.

World War Three means forcefully fleeing forwards. The Global Power Masters know this only too well: “we pulled this off with the first and second world wars… and it worked!” they seem to say.

Might this be one of 2013’s wild cards?

Watch out with Russia and China

Particularly now that Vladimir Putin is really back in town, Russia is clearly showing that it’s not for turning its back on traditional ally Syria; even less on Iran.
Not so much out of principle, but for defence and survival. If Syria and Iran fall to the US/UK/Israeli hegemon, who do you think is next? And those NATO missiles in Poland, what are they there for?

China, in turn, just named Xi Jinping as new Communist Party Secretary General and soon-to be President. Depending on a wide array of interests and goals, China shrewdly works together with Russia, Iran, India, Latin America or Africa; even with historical foe, Japan.

The Chinese know what they want and need in the medium and long terms. Maybe that’s why they seem paradoxical and difficult to fathom to us short-term thinking Westerners.

Long terms planners at the Pentagon and Western think-tanks, however, know this and they’re preparing for war. So, 2013 will see Russia, China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Brazil, South Africa move closer together to tackle common goals and confront common threats.

As the Western geopolitical serpent tries to tighten its hold on planet Earth, time is not on their side: key Castles and Bishops will move on the Global Grand Chessboard. Watch China and Russia….

Adrian Salbuchi for RT

Australia refuses to host US nuclear carrier strike group

Ohio-class guided missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN 727) arrives at HMAS Stirling (file photo).

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/02/254126/australia-turns-away-us-nuclear-carrier/

A Pentagon-commissioned report on repositioning US forces in the region had suggested relocating a carrier from the US East Coast to an Australian naval base south of Perth as part of a shift in the US military’s overseas deployment to the Asia-Pacific region. The report had been drafted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith said on Thursday that Australia's Indian Ocean base, HMAS Stirling would never become a US military base, although, negotiations were underway to increase the US Navy’s access to the outpost.

"We have made it crystal clear from the first moment - we don't have United States military bases in Australia. We don't see the need for that," The Associated Press quoted Smith as saying on Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.

"It's a suggestion by an independent think tank. It's not one we're proposing to take up," he said.

Hugh White, the head of Australian National University's Strategic and Defense Studies Center, said Chinese objections were the major reason why Australia was unlikely to ever allow US bases on its territory.

UN raises alarm on antibiotic resistance

Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary general

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173380.html

The UN secretary general has warned against antimicrobial resistance, stressing the need for the 'urgent' addressing of the issue through concerted international efforts.

In his message for the World Health Day on 7 April, Ban Ki-moon warned of the increase in microbial resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medications across the globe.

The UN chief praised the health improvements caused by the discovery of the antibiotics and the availability of antibacterial medications for poorer communities over the past two decades, which have helped fighting major killers, including TB, HIV, malaria, pneumonia and diarrheal diseases.

However, he expressed great concern about threats caused to these improvements due to the emergence of drug-resistant organisms.

“Antimicrobial resistance is a natural phenomenon, but it is exacerbated by the widespread use, overuse and misuse of medicines, and the spread of resistant infections in healthcare and agriculture. Trade, travel and migration are increasing the spread of these organisms across communities and borders,” ban said.

“Some of the medicines that saved our parents and grandparents are already unusable today. Drug resistance imposes huge costs on health systems and is taking a growing - and unnecessary - toll in lives, threatening to roll back much of the progress we have made towards the health-related Millennium Development Goals,” he added.

Moreover, the current problem may undermine the gains of other modern medicines and technologies used to fight non-communicable diseases. Perhaps most disturbing is that the pipeline for new antimicrobial medicines to replace those that have been lost has nearly dried up, Ban further warned.

“The World Health Organization has selected "Combat Antimicrobial Resistance: No Action Today, No Cure Tomorrow" as the theme for this year's World Health Day.

“Today, WHO is calling for action to raise accountability and halt the spread of drug resistance through a six-point policy package: joint planning; surveillance; drug regulation; rational use of medicines; infection prevention and control; innovation and research,” the UN chief urged, adding “Governments, industry and all stakeholders must answer the call. Global health and untold millions of lives are at risk.”

Aussie flood creates war-like disaster

Floods slash $13 billion off Australian economy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159932.html


Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh says Australia's flood-devastated state faces a reconstruction and cleanup similar to an effort following a war.

"This is going to be a long recovery. This morning as I look across not only the capital city (Brisbane), but three-quarters of my state, we are facing a reconstruction effort of post-war proportions," Bligh told Australian radio on Thursday.

Although flood waters peaked bellow feared catastrophic levels on Thursday, Australia's third largest city, Brisbane, and other devastated regions face years of rebuilding and even the threat of fresh floods in the weeks ahead.

Flooding has smashed infrastructure inundating roads and railways in Brisbane. The sewage leaked and spread into the water that remained one meter bellow the feared level.

The city center remained shuttered, more than 12,000 homes were flooded in the city of two million and some 118,000 buildings had their power cut.

Brisbane airport survived the swell and remains open, with almost all flights unaffected.

Forecasters say water levels are expected to slowly recede over the weekend. So far, the death toll from Queensland's flooding stands at least 23 with dozens more are reported missing.

The Queensland floods may end up costing the economy $13 billion because of lost productivity and damage to key infrastructure.

Australia's Brisbane stricken by flood

Police patrol a flooded Limestone Street in the Ipswich city centre, some 40 kms southwest of the Queensland city of Brisbane on January 12, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159771.html


Australia's third-largest city, Brisbane, has been surrounded by water as flooding across the waterlogged state of Queensland turns violent.

Brisbane mayor Campbell Newman warned on Wednesday that the number of homes expected to be affected by the flood is to reach about 19,700 as Brisbane River overflows its banks in the city's worst deluge since 1893, AFP reported.

"We are bracing for a one-in-a-hundred-year flood. We are bracing for a massive amount of water coming into this river system and it will flood thousands of properties," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.

More evacuation centers have been opened in Brisbane, which is the latest place stricken by the flood. Hundreds of people had to be rescued by helicopter.

However, helicopters dispatched to save people in flood-stricken areas of the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, had to cease their operation due to lashing rain.

Also the city center is expected to be submerged when the rising waters reach their highest on Thursday. There would be a massive power outage for safety reasons.

At least 10 people have been reported dead and more than 90 missing as the flashfloods smashed high through towns in the Great Dividing Range to the city's west on Monday and at least 15 more are feared to have been killed.

Heavy rainfall, coupled with strong winds, has forced residents of 30 suburbs of Brisbane to pack up and leave their homes to save their lives.

Tsunami-like floods race to NE Australia

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159603.html


Australia is bracing for more downpours after flashfloods claimed at least eight lives in a small town near the northeastern city of Brisbane, Queensland's capital city.

Tsunami-like flashfloods raced toward Australia's third-largest city of Brisbane on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents from its outskirts, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

After a surging two-meter wall of water killed at least eight people overnight in the town of Toowoomba in west Brisbane, a flood warning was issued for the financial district in Brisbane.

Australian authorities have also predicted that the death toll is likely to climb. Nearly 70 people have been reported missing after flood waters inundated Toowoomba.

Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh said four children lost their lives and there were "grave concerns" for at least 11 of the 72 missing.

The flood threat is expected to peak in the country's third largest city in the coming days.

Officials say some 6,500 properties are at risk of being submerged in Brisbane's worst flooding in 118 years, while, a further 16,500 properties would be partially affected. The country's prime minister has also warned of a grim situation ahead.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has warned Queenslanders that there are more dark days ahead as they try to deal with massive flooding across the South of the state.

Queensland has been in the grip of its worst flooding for more than two weeks, after tropical downpours across a vast portion of the state covered an area the size of France and Germany combined.

Entire towns have been swamped, with more than 200,000 people affected, and the coal and farming industries virtually shut down.

The state estimates the deluge will cost $5 billion and has earmarked $680 million for emergency repairs.

Facing prison for filming US police

The Rodney King case compounded anger at police who were
perceived as racist [AFP]


By: Chris Arsenault

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/08/201082214554232983.html


When police arrested Anthony Graber for speeding on his motorbike, the 25-year-old probably did not see himself as an advocate for police accountability in the age of new media.

But Graber, a sergeant with the Maryland Air National Guard, is now facing 16 years in prison, not for dangerous driving, but for a Youtube video he posted after receiving a speeding ticket.

The video, filmed with a camera mounted on Graber's motorcycle helmet designed to record biking stunts rather than police abuse, shows a plain clothes officer jumping out of an unmarked car and pointing a pistol at the motorcyclist.

It does not portray the policeman in a positive light.

After he posted the video on Youtube, police raided Graber's home, seized computers and put him in jail.

"The case is critical to the protection of democracy because I don't think you can have a free country in which public officials are able to criminally prosecute people who film what they are doing," David Rocah, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in Maryland who is representing Graber, said.

Wiretapping

Even though he had never been arrested before, Graber is being charged with illegal wiretapping and could face 16 years in jail.

"This is about shielding the policeman, a public servant, from journalistic scrutiny," Steve Rendall, a media analyst with Freedom and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), told Al Jazeera.

The arrest happened in April and the trial is expected to begin later this year.

Rocah said his client "was charged under the wiretapping statute which prohibits taping oral communications without consent".

The statute, which does not mention video recording, is not supposed to apply to "conversations in a colloquial context, but in a private context" Rocah told Al Jazeera.

The encounter happened on a public street and, according to Rocah, police officers - public officials tasked with protecting the public interest - should not be able to hide behind such rules to avoid scrutiny.

"The value of documenting what is happening cannot be over-stated," he said.

Threat to privacy?

Supporters of the crack-down on filming police argue that citizen journalists pose a threat to privacy.

That is the logic Joseph Cassily, the prosecutor handling Graber's case, is likely to make at the trial.

In media interviews, Cassily presented a scenario where police stopped someone on suspicion of drinking and driving, asking for a breath test, and a random passerby filmed the encounter, putting it on the internet without consent from the driver or the officer.

"Is there some interest in protecting private individuals who may be having a conversation with the police? Yes," Rendall said.

"But in the end, I think that is out-weighed by the public's right to know."

"[Furthermore] you can't walk through Washington Square [a public space in New York] without being in the view of dozens of video cameras run by the police."

Recording ban

The wiretapping statute which bans "secret" recording of private conversations is legislated by the state of Maryland, not the US federal government.

Other US states, including Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts, have used similar laws against citizen journalists.

In 2007, police in Florida arrested Carlos Miller, after the journalist photographed the arrest of a woman.

"They [police] told me to leave the area, saying it was a 'private matter' and I said 'this is a public road'. They escorted me across the street and told me to keep moving. I had the right to be there and kept taking photos. They arrested me," Miller said.

He was charged with a series of misdemeanors and like many Americans arrested for filming police, Miller was eventually acquitted in court.

The arrest prompted the reporter to start the blog Photography is Not a Crimewhere he has documented more than eight similar incidents.

But the idea of winning court battles against journalists may not be the reason security forces prosecute journalists with wiretapping laws and other methods.

Intimidating journalists

"The whole reason for these laws is to intimidate people from filming," Rendall said.

And attempts to intimidate journalists into putting down their cameras reach far beyond the US.

In February the UK's Guardian newspaper ran the headline "Photographer films his own 'anti-terror' arrest"for a story and video about a man who was held by police for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in the small town of Accrington.


Rocah points to the example of the post-election protests in Iran. "The regime completely shut down the traditional media," he said.

"It was citizens' video posted on the web that allowed the world to see what was happening."

Barack Obama, the US president, went so far as to ask Twitter to hold-off on a maintenance operation because the social networking site was playing an important role in the protests.

Police assault

The most prominent US example of a citizen journalist filming police was arguably the case of Rodney King, a black man in Los Angeles who was assaulted by several police officers. His beating was filmed by a citizen standing at a nearby gas station.

Without video evidence, King, a convicted felon, may have stood little chance testifying against police officers in court.

But the video of King's beating flashed across news screens and helped spark the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which left more than 50 people dead and caused about $1bn in property damage.

The dynamics of video-tapping have fundamentally changed since then.

"I think that technology is making the issue [of arrests] arise with increasing frequency because the ability to record is more widely distributed than it ever has been," Rocah said.

The civil liberties lawyer, who believes the wiretapping law is unconstitutional and will eventually be struck down, says he is confident his client will be found not guilty.

Broader trends

But even if he is, this case is indicative of broader trends in media, and consequently, the exercise of power.

As technology outpaces the abilities of states to control the flow of information, governments in the US and beyond are cracking down on independent journalists.

"In the past, freedom of the press only really belonged to those who owned newspapers, TV stations or other major outlets," Miller said.

Now information is more diffuse; history easier to record and technology easier to afford.

Direct evidence, including video of police abuses, is the easiest way to hold the powerful to account. And that may be exactly why security forces do not want to be caught on tape.

New superbug blight on Britain

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138323&sectionid=3510210

A new superbug resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics has travelled back to the UK in patients who underwent surgery in India and Pakistan, experts warn.

According to a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, the multi-drug resistant bacteria has been tracked in patients returning to the UK after recieving cosmetic surgery, cancer treatment and transplants in Asia.

The NDM-1- (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1) making bacteria was found attached to strains such as Klebsiella pneumonia and E-Coli, making them highly resistant to nearly all antibiotics, even carbapenems -- the most powerful class of antibiotics.

"The fear would be that it gets into a strain of bacteria that is very good at being transmitted between patients," said David Livermore director of antibiotic resistance monitoring at the UK Health Protection Agency and a study co-author.

He also warned that NDM-1 may also attach to antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, making them harder to eliminate through conventional antibiotic treatment.

While only 50 cases have been diagnosed with the condition in the UK, officials fear it may spread worldwide as similar cases have been reported in the US, Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Netherlands.

Patient-to-patient transmission has been spotted in UK hospitals, raising fears of the rapid spread of the bacteria that would make the condition almost impossible to treat.

Scientists believe close international monitoring and surveillance as well as new drugs are needed to fight the disease and preventing it from becoming a global health concern.