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Legal battles for Earth: Amazon defenders & James Cameron stall dam; Malaysian Judge gives lands back to rainforest community
Avatar director James Cameron played a part in halting an industrial development project that threatens indigenous people of the Amazon.
Palm oil plantation. Inset: deforestation by a logging company around a Penan village in the Middle Baram region in Sarawak.
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The Avatar director and one of its stars have played a part in halting an industrial development project that threatens indigenous people of the Amazon. Earlier this week, we brought you the story of James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver's trip to Brazil to raise awareness of the indigenous communities’ battles to stop the massive Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in the Amazon rainforest. We are now happy to report that the Dam Project Auctions have been canceled, and both stars are now in Washington DC for meetings with US Government officials.
Judge Antonio Carlos de Almeida Campelo granted a preliminary injunction (urgent) seeing “danger of irreparable harm” considering the imminence of the auction. The decision is the result of the assessment of one of two public civil actions filed by federal prosecutors dealing with irregularities of the enterprise. It focuses specifically on the lack of regulation of Article 176 of the Federal Constitution of Brazil, which requires the issuing of an ordinary law for the use of hydraulic potential on Indian lands. read more »
Oceans die, civilizations die. Defend sea, defend cultures. Jailed: Japanese Tokyo 2 & New Zealander Pete Bethune
Bottom L: “Tokyo Two” - Junichi Sato (left), Toru Suzuki (right), and their lead counsel, Yuichi Kaido (center) face reporters at a press briefing following their first pre-trial hearing at Aomori District Court in 2009. United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has already ruled that, in the defendants' attempts to expose a scandal in the public interest, their human rights have been breached by the Japanese government. Top R: New Zealander Peter Bethune boarded Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru No 2 in the Antarctic Ocean to serve a citizen’s arrest for destruction of his ship (Earthrace aka Ady Gil). He has been held by the whalers since then and was arrested on March 12 when the whaling ship docked in Tokyo.
US Navy Ship, USS Farragut, lets 11 Somali pirates go after sinking pirate ship in Indian Ocean
The guided missile destroyer USS Farragut passes by the smoke from a suspected pirate skiff it had just disabled in this March 31, 2010 photo. USS Farragut is part of Combined Task Force 151, a multinational task force established to conduct anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
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A U.S. Navy ship has sunk a pirate "mother ship" in the Indian Ocean and captured 11 pirates, and then promptly let them go. It was the second time within 24 hours that U.S. forces captured Somali pirates. Earlier Thursday, five pirates were taken into custody after they attacked a U.S. warship.
While those five pirates remain in custody, the 11 captured Thursday were allowed to leave in small skiffs after the mother ship was sunk. The action prompted a Pentagon spokesman to deny that the Navy had a "catch and release" policy regarding pirates.
A Naval official told ABC News that the practice of releasing pirates is not unheard of. While piracy is illegal according to international maritime law, it is considered a criminal issue, not a national security one.
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Photos courtesy of Wikipedia and U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Cassandra Thompson
NZ to honor law of citizen's arrest and denounce Japan's arrest of Pete Bethune? Experts: Bethune's boarding not illegal
Top L: killing whales. Top R: Arrested... New Zealander Peter Bethune is shielded from view. Bottom L: Japanese protesters rallied against Pete Bethune in Tokyo. Bottom R: Whale meat sashimi dish is served at a restaurant near Wada Port in Minamiboso, Chiba, Japan.
Pope Benedict XVI: "human dignity must be preserved", criticizing body scanners which Rabbis say violate Jewish women's rights
"Every action, it is above all essential to protect and value the human person in their integrity". "For you this reality represents an ever more task of complex organization and it is a labour that if often discreet and barely known, not always noted but which does not escape the eyes of God, who sees all of Man's works even those that are hidden."
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The Pope made his comments during an audience with airport workers held at the Vatican. Although the Pontiff did not mention the words body scanner it was clear what he meant as he told the 1,200 strong crowd: "Every action, it is above all essential to protect and value the human person in their integrity.
"Respecting these principles can seem particularly complex and difficult in the present context.
"The economic crisis has had problematic effects on the civil aviation sector, the international terrorist threat which, precisely, has in its line of fire airports and aircraft to realise its destructive schemes. read more »
Experts: Bethune's boarding not illegal under international law. Maritime law requires whaler to return him safely to NZ or AU
Legal expert said Bethune's boarding is not illegal under international law. Under marine law, the whaler, the one to accept or refuse citizen’s arrest, has obligation to see Pete Bethune safely back to land. Here are some questions: does the subject of a citizen's arrest have the right to imprison the citizen who delivers the arrest? The whaler did not allow journalist to speak to Pete Bethune. Does Bethune, victim of Jan. 6 collision and the one delivering citizen’s arrest, have the right to see or to speak to someone, such as an attorney for legal help, his chosen interpreter for language help, etc. etc.?
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Ocean crying for Justice: victims of slaughter. Mother & calf are killed so is Whale defender Ady Gil (Earthrace)
*update* Ady Gil rammed by Shonan Maru No. 2, view from MV Bob Barker, sitting parallel to the Ady Gil before the incident. Ady Gil rammed by Shonan Maru No. 2, view from MV Bob Barker, sitting parallel to the Ady Gil before the incident. 6 crewmembers, four from New Zealand, one from Australia, and one from the Netherlands, were immediately rescued by the crew of Bob Barker. Ady Gil skipper Pete Bethune told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that one of his crew had broken ribs but it was a “miracle” that no one had died. “When they were about 40 meters away they suddenly veered to starboard and cut off the front three or four meters of my boat and sheared it in half,” he said. “If anyone was in the forward sleeping quarters they would be dead.”
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Skipper Pete Bethune tells of 'murderous' brush with death read more »
