1kg of Radioactive Material Seized

Reuters - Slovaks seize 1 kg of radioactive material

Slovak and Hungarian police seized a kilo (2.2 lbs) of radioactive material and arrested three people in a joint operation on Wednesday, a spokesman said.

Slovak police spokesman Martin Korch said the material was being examined and did not confirm a report carried by the Slovak news agency SITA that it was enriched uranium.

"This one kilogram should have been sold for one million U.S. dollars," spokesman Martin Korch said.

The spokesman said the police raid took place along the eastern part of the two central European countries' common frontier, near their borders with Ukraine.

"Three people have been taken into custody, two in Slovakia one in Hungary," he said. "Further information will be provided tomorrow."

Uranium enrichment can yield either fuel for nuclear power stations, or be used for nuclear warheads.

Anti-torture Activist Banned from YouTube

UPDATE - December 28, 2007. 6:44 pm: I noticed today that his account has been restored by YouTube. It can be seen at: http://youtube.com/user/waelabbas

Reuters - YouTube stops account of anti-torture activist

The video-sharing website YouTube has suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of what he said was brutal behaviour by some Egyptian policemen, the activist said.

Wael Abbas said close to 100 images he had sent to YouTube were no longer accessible, including clips depicting purported police brutality, voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations.

YouTube, owned by search engine giant Google, did not respond to a written request for comment. A message on Abbas's YouTube user page, http://youtube.com/user/waelabbas, read: "This account is suspended."

"They closed it (the account) and they sent me an email saying that it will be suspended because there were lots of complaints about the content, especially the content of torture," Abbas told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Abbas, who won an international journalism award for his work this year, said that of the images he had posted to YouTube, 12 or 13 depicted violence in Egyptian police stations.

Abbas was a key player last year in distributing a clip of an Egyptian bus driver, his hands bound, being sodomised with a stick by a police officer - imagery that sparked an uproar in a country where rights groups say torture is commonplace.

That tape prompted an investigation that led to a rare conviction of two policemen, who were sentenced to three years in prison for torture. Egypt says it opposes torture and prosecutes police against whom it has evidence of misconduct.

YouTube regulations state that "graphic or gratuitous violence" is not allowed and warn users not to post such videos. Repeat violators of YouTube guidelines may have their accounts terminated, according to rules posted on the site.

Rights activists said by shutting down Abbas's account, YouTube was closing a significant portal for information on human rights abuses in Egypt just as Cairo was escalating a crackdown on opposition and independent journalists.

The internet has emerged in Egypt as a major forum for critics of the Egyptian government.

"The goal is not showing the violence, it is showing police brutality. If his goal was just to focus on violence without any goal, that is a problem. But Wael is showing police brutality in Egypt," said Gamal Eid, head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

This year, for the first time, an Egyptian court convicted and jailed a blogger over his internet writings.

A string of court rulings since September has seen at least 12 Egyptian journalists ordered jailed on charges from defaming President Hosni Mubarak to misquoting the minister of justice.

Elijah Zarwan, a prominent blogger and activist in Egypt, said he thought it was unlikely that YouTube had come under official Egyptian pressure, and was more likely reacting to the graphic nature of the videos.

"I suspect they are doing it not under pressure from the Egyptian government but rather because it made American viewers squeamish," he said. "But to shut them down because some people might find the truth disturbing is unconscionable."

Taser Death Video

My previous post: Witness Disputes RCMP Version of Airport Taser Death, RCMP Won't Show Video

The video has been released.

Google Video - Polish Man Tasered to Death by RCMP at Vancouver Airport

Homeless Veterans

AP - Study: 1 out of 4 homeless are veterans

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

Terrorist Watch List

USA Today - Terror watch list swells to more than 755,000

The government's terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list's effectiveness.

The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004. Some lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that it will become useless if it includes too many people.

USA Today - 15,000 want off the U.S. terror watch list

More than 15,000 people have appealed to the government since February to have their names removed from the terrorist watch list that delayed their travel at U.S. airports and border crossings, the Homeland Security Department says.

John Anderson of Minneapolis, who turned 6 on July 4, is among those who have been inconvenienced.

Pakistan Turned into Police State

Reuters - Musharraf tries to stifle outcry over emergency rule

Police detained hundreds of Pakistani opposition figures and lawyers on Sunday as military ruler President Pervez Musharraf tried to stifle the outcry over his imposition of a state of emergency.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said national elections, due in January, might be rescheduled because of General Musharraf's decision on Saturday to announce emergency rule, which was condemned by the United States and other Western allies.

BBC - Musharraf targets key opponents

Pakistani opposition leaders and activists have been detained in the wake of President Pervez Musharraf's decision to declare emergency rule.

The acting head of the party of exiled former PM Nawaz Sharif was arrested, senior lawyers have been detained and the country's chief justice sacked.

BBC - Musharraf takes on Pakistan's judges

The proclamation of emergency in Pakistan has made one big difference. All the nearly 30 TV news channels have gone off the air. And with them has gone all the cacophony about the political, judicial and military crisis in the country.

Pakistan's military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, suspended the constitution and proclaimed emergency rule in a televised address on Saturday evening.

Soon afterwards, TV cable operators said they were asked by the government to stop beaming all local and foreign news channels, except the official Pakistan Television Corp (PTV).

Meanwhile, resentment is brewing among the judges of the higher judiciary. More than 60 judges, out of a total of 97, have declined to take oath under the new Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

Their homes have been placed under strict security, presumably to prevent them from going to the courts on Monday, as some of them plan to do.

In a hurriedly-called sitting on Saturday evening, seven Supreme Court judges issued an order barring the government from proclaiming emergency rule, and advising the state functionaries not to carry out emergency orders, if issued.

AP - Pakistani police detain 500 activists

Police and soldiers emboldened by state of emergency powers swept up hundreds of activists and opposition members on Sunday, dragged away protesters shouting "Shame on you!", and turned government buildings into barbed-wire compounds.

Witness Disputes RCMP Version of Airport Taser Death, RCMP Won't Show Video

UPDATE - November 15, 2007. 6:15 pm: The video has been released. It can be seen in my new post by clicking here.

CanWest - Witness disputes RCMP version of airport taser death

The young man who filmed the final minutes of 40-year-old Robert Dziekanski's life has given a disturbing account of what he believes was a preventable Taser death.

Paul Pritchard, 25, was on his way home to Victoria when he happened to witness an RCMP officer Taser Dziekanski to death in the arrivals section of Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 13.

Pritchard, an English teacher in China, says he was waiting in the arrivals lobby when he noticed Dziekanski acting strangely as he paced back and forth. After watching for a few minutes, he decided to use his cellphone camera to film Dziekanski.

While others in the waiting area called for security, it took some 25 to 30 minutes before security and police arrived, recalled Pritchard.

But upon their arrival, it was clear that the police had decided to use a Taser gun before they even got near Dziekanski, said Pritchard.

"I heard 'Can I or should I Taser him?' before they even got to Mr. Dziekanski," says Pritchard. "Right away they Tasered him."

Three police officers then struggled to handcuff Dziekanski, who by now was on the floor. Dziekanski was unconscious about a minute later, said Pritchard.

Police immediately called "Code Red" and medics arrived about five to eight minutes later - a time period that Pritchard believes was too long.

Pritchard said that in the 25 minutes prior to security and RCMP officers arriving on scene, at least five people - including women - went up to Dziekanski to offer help.

Although he was clearly distressed and behaving strangely "none of us felt threatened at any time. We weren't scared, women were going right up to him," said Pritchard.

Pritchard's account is in stark contrast to that given by the RCMP, who said Dziekanski had been behaving violently and erratically in the international arrivals area and they were unable to calm him.

Pritchard had turned over his video footage to police on the understanding it would be returned to him within 48 hours.

But police have since changed their minds, saying the release of Pritchard's footage may taint other witness testimony.

Investigators told Pritchard it could be a year to two years before he gets the footage back.

Now Pritchard is suing the Mounties to get the video back in a bid to show the public what actually happened and put to rest the questions surrounding Dziekanski's death.

"I'm watching all these interviews and all these press conferences and there's all this guesswork. . . But there's a clear image of what happened - why are they hiding it?" said Pritchard at a Victoria news conference.

Pritchard's lawyer, Paul Pearson, will be arguing in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday for the return of the video footage.

"The police have not cited any legal authority for holding onto the footage," said Pearson. "They've been generally stating that it's an investigation. . .To us, that is not a legal reason."

Pearson added that when police seize personal items, they typically write a report to the justice.

"Those, as I understand it, have not been followed," said Pearson. "Effectively, they are people who are holding onto my client's property."

Dziekanski, who spoke no English, flew to Vancouver Oct. 13 to immigrate to Canada and join his mother in Kamloops, B.C.

The Taser death at Vancouver Airport has caused international repercussions - Poland's embassy in Ottawa has sent a diplomatic note to Canada expressing concern over the death.

Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, was too distraught to comment publicly on Thursday.

"She buried her only son yesterday," said a friend. "She's devastated, absolutely devastated."