Headlines for Wednesday, June 1, 2011

NATO extends Libya mission

With NATO’s initial 90-day mission in Libya technically ending at the end of June, the military alliance announced today it will extend its mission for another 90 days. In a video statement from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the extension sends a message to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his regime that NATO intends to keep up pressure and fulfill its United Nations mandate.

“Our decision also sends a clear message to the people of Libya: NATO, our partners, the whole international community, stand with you. We stand united to make sure that you can shape your own future. And that day is getting closer.”

NATO’s mission in Libya has not been without criticism. Several accusations of NATO stretching its mandate in the country have surfaced over the past months. The Libyan government claims more than 700 civilians have been killed in air strikes, a number which has not been independently verified. The Guardian and Daily Mirror in the UK both report that former British military personnel are on the ground in Libya, serving in an advisory role to NATO. The Prime Minister’s office has denied any of its combat troops are on the ground.

Japanese PM faces no-confidence vote

Less than 3 months after the March 11 earthquake, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s political career is in trouble. He’s facing a no-confidence motion and political revolt over his handling of the post-tsunami crisis and Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Prime Minister spoke to reporters yesterday in Tokyo.

“We will consider what action to take after the vote on the resolution and then consider how the Party can improve and manage better.”

As FSRN’s Claudia Cragg reports, the vote is scheduled for tomorrow.

The No Confidence Motion could trigger a general election and the Prime Minister’s ousting. It is supported from within Naoto Kan’s own party by a rival politician. Only 80 Democrats need to support the vote, which challenges Kan on his “inept” tsunami, earthquake and nuclear disaster management. But the Mayor of the tsunami-devastated coastal town has attacked the censure vote as unnecessary political opportunism.

Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Japan's response to the Fukushima disaster has been “exemplary,” but that there is a need for an independent nuclear regulator in the country. The IAEA’s preliminary findings, released today, state disaster risks were underestimated, and that plant-owner TEPCO lacked a sufficient tsunami barrier around the Fukushima plant, despite warnings from scientists and government agencies.

Adding to the ongoing catastrophe, two Fukushima workers are now considered to have exceeded the "safe" radiation levels put forward by the government, and 150 others need to be checked for exposure. Claudia Cragg, FSRN.

NY sues Feds over fracking approval
The state of New York has filed suit against the federal government, accusing it of approving hydraulic fracturing operations, or fracking, in the Delaware River Basin without fully reviewing the potential environmental impacts. For FSRN, Community News Production Reporter Jaisal Noor has more.

The lawsuit charges that federal authorities had not fully examined the environmental impacts prior to authorizing natural gas drilling - including fracking- in the Delaware River basin. More than 10,000 wells may be drilled in the basin, which spans from southern New York and runs along the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border to Delaware. The basin provides water to 15 million people.

Many communities worry the industrial process could lead to contaminated ground water supplies. The suit demands that a complete environmental impact assessment be conducted before any wells are approved for drilling. Wes Gillingham is the program director at Catskill Mountain Keeper, a New York-based environmental advocacy group.

”Community groups, environmental organizations, farming organizations, health organizations have been calling for the last 2 years, for a look at the cumulative impacts. What will really be the impact to these communities and the environmental to allow this to go forward? They haven’t done it and they need to do it, it’s plain and simple.”

Proponents of the drilling say it will bring money and jobs into economically depressed regions. Jaisal Noor, FSRN, New York

WHO links cell phone usage to brain cancer, but still more study needed

And finally a World Health Organization working group says the electromagnetic fields produced by cell phone are “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” This classification means the WHO advises health officials to keep a close watch on possible links between cell phone use and cancer. The working group chair says steps need to be taken to reduce exposure around the world.