We begin with the obvious from United Press International:
No charges for Ferguson officer in death of Michael Brown
The officer could have faced one of five charges ranging from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter
A grand jury decided Monday not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black teen Michael Brown in August.
St. Louis County, Mo., prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced the 12-member grand jury made its decision after two days of deliberation.
“They determined that no probable cause exists to file any charge against Officer Wilson,” McCulloch said.
The announcement was made at 9:25 p.m. as crowds gathered outside the Ferguson Police Department, at McCulloch’s offices in the county seat of Clayton and on West Flourisant Street, where Brown died.
The New York Times covers the inevitable:
From Plains to Both Coasts, Fury Boils Over
Months of anger and frustration, in the end, led only to more anger and frustration.
There were smoke bombs, tear gas and random gunshots. But in Ferguson, the aftermath of the shooting death of Michael Brown was almost as bitter and hollow as his killing itself.
Brien Redmon, 31, stood in the cold watching a burning police car and sporadic looting after the announcement that there would be no indictments for Mr. Brown’s death at 18.
“This is not about vandalizing,” he said. “This is about fighting a police organization that doesn’t care about the lives they serve.”
More from Al Jazeera America:
Gunfire and flames after officer cleared in Ferguson teen’s shooting death
Police, protesters clash in Ferguson after grand jury does not not indict white policeman who killed unarmed black teen
[W]ithin minutes of the announcement, crowds began pouring into Ferguson streets to protest the decision. Some taunted police, shattered windows and vandalized cars. As many as 15 gunshots were also heard, though it’s unclear whether they came from law enforcement authorities or protesters. Officers released smoke and pepper spray to disperse the gatherings. The storefront glass of at least two businesses were also broken on South Florissant Road. Fires erupted.
Well before the grand jury decision was announced, hundreds of protesters were already massed near the Ferguson police department. Shortly after McCulloch said Wilson would not be indicted, police streamed out of the station wearing riot helmets, and carrying batons and shields. Some of the protesters began throwing plastic bottles at the officer. Police fired what differing reports have described as either smoke or tear gas.
Thousands of protesters also gathered in downtown Manhattan, where they marched from Union Square to Times Square.
Closer to home with the San Francisco Chronicle:
Ferguson ruling sparks Oakland protest that shuts down freeway
Sorrow and anger over the decision by a grand jury in Missouri not to indict a white police officer in the killing of an unarmed black man sent demonstrators into the streets in the Bay Area, with hundreds of people shutting down Interstate 580 in Oakland for hours.
From Oakland and Berkeley to San Francisco and San Jose, crowds massed to denounce the lack of criminal charges in the shooting in Ferguson, Mo., marching and chanting slogans against what they considered racial injustice. Civic leaders echoed President Obama’s call for peaceful demonstrations, but the mood of the crowds gave the gatherings the air of a tinderbox.
The most tense and disruptive action unfolded in Oakland, where hundreds of protesters marched downtown, blocking intersections before surging onto I-580 via the Lakeshore Avenue offramp around 8 p.m. There they played cat-and-mouse with police for hours, stopping traffic in both directions before being forced off the freeway by lines of officers in riot gear.
Another California story, via the Los Angeles Times:
Michael Brown protesters scatter as LAPD uses nonlethal
Demonstrators protesting the killing of Michael Brown were dispersed shortly near downtown Los Angeles after midnight Tuesday by Los Angeles police officers using non-lethal projectiles.
The demonstrators, who at one point numbered more than 300, marched across Los Angeles on Monday night, briefly closing the 110 Freeway as they protested a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer in the controversial shooting of the black teenager.
The main group marched to USC and then towards the Staples Center, where confrontations with police grew tense. A group of protesters pushed at a fence that blocked off a hill that led to the 110 Freeway and knocked it over. People streamed over the fallen gate and climbed onto the freeway and sat down, shutting down traffic on the freeway. About 150 protesters gathered on the road and chanted “No justice, no peace. No racist police!”
And before the verdict, an abysmal quotation, from teleSUR:
St. Louis Cop Association: It’s Like ‘Night Before Christmas’
The head of the St. Louis County Police Officers’ Association has been criticized for comparing the situation to Christmas.
While many observers have warned the situation Monday is tense in St Louis County ahead of the widely anticipated grand jury decision on police officer Darren Wilson, one man thinks a little differently.
“It’s just like the night before Christmas,” said St. Louis County Police Officers’ Association president, Gabe Crocker.
“We all get a little excited, we all get a little impatient, and so on, and so forth,” Crocker told CNN.
On to another “police action” also generating outrage, via the Guardian:
41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed: US drone strikes – the facts on the ground
New analysis of data conducted by human rights group Reprieve shared with the Guardian, raises questions about accuracy of intelligence guiding ‘precise’ strikes
A new analysis of the data available to the public about drone strikes, conducted by the human-rights group Reprieve, indicates that even when operators target specific individuals – the most focused effort of what Barack Obama calls “targeted killing” – they kill vastly more people than their targets, often needing to strike multiple times. Attempts to kill 41 men resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,147 people, as of 24 November.
Reprieve, sifting through reports compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, examined cases in which specific people were targeted by drones multiple times. Their data, shared with the Guardian, raises questions about the accuracy of US intelligence guiding strikes that US officials describe using words like “clinical” and “precise.”
The analysis is a partial estimate of the damage wrought by Obama’s favored weapon of war, a tool he and his administration describe as far more precise than more familiar instruments of land or air power.
“Drone strikes have been sold to the American public on the claim that they’re ‘precise’. But they are only as precise as the intelligence that feeds them. There is nothing precise about intelligence that results in the deaths of 28 unknown people, including women and children, for every ‘bad guy’ the US goes after,” said Reprieve’s Jennifer Gibson, who spearheaded the group’s study.
From the Los Angeles Times, the deplorable:
Jordan sending refugees back into Syria, Human Rights Watch says
Jordan has sent Syrian refugees, including wounded civilians and unaccompanied minors, back across the border in violation of international responsibilities, Human Rights Watch said Monday.
The New York-based monitor issued a statement accusing Jordan of ignoring long-accepted principles forbidding governments from returning people back to areas where their lives may be in danger.
There was no immediate response from officials in Jordan, now home to more than 600,000 Syrian refugees.
And from South China Morning Post, we always like a pun in the headline:
It’s time to chuck Hagel: Obama pressures Pentagon chief into stepping down
Pentagon chief resigns under pressure, paving way for first female defence secretary
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure from President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, senior administration officials said, following a tenure in which he has struggled to break through the White House’s insular foreign policy team.
Hagel is the first senior Obama adviser to leave the administration following the sweeping losses for Obama’s party in the midterm elections. It comes as the president’s national security team has been battered by multiple foreign policy crises, include the rise of Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
At a White House ceremony Obama said Hagel had been an “exemplary” defence secretary, adding: “Last month, Chuck came to me to discuss the final quarter of my presidency and determined that, having guided the department through this transition, it was an appropriate time for him to complete his service.”
From New York Times, delayed again:
U.S. and Allies Extend Iran Nuclear Talks by 7 Months
A yearlong effort to reach an enduring accord with Iran to dismantle large parts of its nuclear infrastructure fell short on Monday, forcing the United States and its allies to declare a seven-month extension, but with no clear indication of how they plan to bridge fundamental differences.
In a news conference hours before a deadline on Monday night, Secretary of State John Kerry said a series of “new ideas surfaced” in the last several days of talks. He added that “we would be fools to walk away,” because a temporary agreement curbing Iran’s program would remain in place while negotiations continued. In return, Iran will receive another $5 billion in sanctions relief, enabling it to recover money frozen abroad — something that is likely to add to the threat of new sanctions from the newly-elected Republican Congress.
But the fundamental problem remained: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has yet to signal that he is prepared to make the kind of far-reaching cuts in Iran’s enrichment capability that would be required to seal an accord. And it is unclear that his view will change before a March 1 deadline for reaching a political agreement, the first phase in the seven-month extension.
From the Guardian, Chuckie’s missives:
Prince Charles letters: minister’s veto of publication was lawful, court told
Supreme court hears QC James Eadie open the government’s latest effort in its nine-year campaign to keep the letters secret
The prince has gained a reputation for writing private letters to government ministers promoting his views. The letters have been called “black spider memos” because of his scrawled handwriting.?
At issue in the supreme court hearing are 27 letters exchanged between the heir to the throne and ministers in seven Whitehall departments between September 2004 and April 2005.?
Three judges in a freedom of information tribunal ruled in 2012 that the letters should be disclosed, on the basis that the public was entitled to know how and when the prince sought to influence government.?
Grieve, however, used his power of veto to overrule the tribunal, arguing that publication would seriously damage Charles’s future role as king. He said the letters had to be kept secret to preserve the prince’s political neutrality.?
From the Guardian again, the past returns to haunt:
Amnesty urges Ireland to reopen hooded men case against UK
European court of human rights cleared UK of torture in 1978 but recent film alleges some evidence was withheld
Amnesty International has challenged the Irish government to take the UK back to the European court of human rights (ECHR) over the British security forces’ alleged torture of suspects during the Troubles.
The court ruled in 1978 that five interrogation techniques used on 14 men who were detained without trial in the early 1970s constituted inhuman and degrading treatment but not torture.
The techniques included hooding suspects, putting them into stress positions, sleep deprivation, food and water deprivation and the use of white noise. The 14 became known as the hooded men.
In June this year an RTE documentary alleged that the UK withheld evidence from the court, which Amnesty argues may have affected the outcome of the case. It also called on the UK to launch an independent investigation.
While Network World looks an panopticon enhancements coming:
UK plans to introduce new Web snooping law
A U.K. counterterrorism bill would require ISPs to retain IP addresses in order to identify individual users of Internet services.
The proposed law is meant to bridge a “capabilities gap” that authorities face when trying to obtain communications data, said U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May, who introduced the bill, in a speech on Monday.
The measures will build on emergency legislation that the U.K. introduced during the summer, May said, who added that “it is not a knee-jerk response to a sudden perceived threat.”
From Network World, closer to home panopticon posturning closer to home:
NSA privacy director defends agency’s surveillance
The U.S. National Security Agency’s surveillance programs are legal and under close scrutiny by other parts of the government, the agency’s internal privacy watchdog said Monday in an online Q&A.
NSA surveillance and data collection programs conform to the U.S. Constitution, Rebecca Richards, the agency’s first civil liberties and privacy director, wrote during an hour-plus Q&A on Tumblr.
The NSA operates under rules that “ensure that its activities fall within the parameters of the Constitution,” Richards wrote when asked why she believes the surveillance programs are constitutional.
Techdirt captures contradiction:
NSA Chief Warns Of Pending Cyberattack… Which He Wants To Make Easier With Backdoors
from the ridiculous dept
NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers has often seemed somewhat more reasonable than his predecessor, but he’s still not above spewing FUD. The latest is that, last week, he pulled out the favorite of surveillance state supporters everywhere: the pending cyberpocalypse, in which hackers take down the economy. Prepare for the “dramatic cyberattack” that is inevitably on the way:
The director of the National Security Agency issued a warning Thursday about cyberthreats emerging from other countries against networks running critical U.S. infrastructure systems.
Adm. Michael Rogers said he expects a major cyberattack against the U.S. in the next decade. “It’s only a matter of the ‘when,’ not the ‘if,’ that we are going to see something dramatic,” he said.
Of course, as venture capitalist/entrepreneur Marc Andreessen pointed out in response, the best way to stop that from happening would be to not require that software have backdoors that can easily be hacked.
After the jump, the Dutch get aggressive over privacy protection, Uncle Sam linked to the latest complex malware, malware in your E-cigs, more complications for the kidnapped Colombian general, incendiary institutionalized Israeli discrimination draws nigh, Pakistan’s nuclear program accelerates, Thai editor jailed for lèse majesté, cops prepare for Hong Kong Occupy eviction, Beijing ups the surveillance ante, Predictions of heightened tension in the insular Game fo Zones, hints of a Chinese supersonic drone, rising tensions over basing on a growing Chinese island with U.S. objections spurned, South Korea stages a challenge to a Japanese island claim, a clue as to some of what the island game is about, more criticism of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s militarization push, and a lawsuit over French nuclear tests in the Pacific. . .
Via DutchNews.nl, a damn fine notion:
Dutch privacy watchdog to get more powers to hand out fines
The Dutch privacy watchdog CBP is to be given greater powers to hand out fines, ministers said in a briefing to MPs on Monday.
Once MPs have approved the changes, the CBP will be able to fine companies which wrongly process private information, keep information longer than legally allowed and which fail to have proper security systems in place.
The CBP can currently only fine government organisations and companies which don’t inform people that their personal details are being processed. The changes mean the CBP can ‘act more effectively against government bodies and companies which are careless with citizen’s private information,’ the ministers said.
While the Guardian covers governments hacking away:
Malware spied on companies and governments in 10 countries since 2008
‘Nation state’ most likely behind development of stealth malware Regin, say antivirus experts
Almost half of all the infections occurred at the addresses of internet service providers, the report said. The targets were the customers of companies rather than the companies themselves. About 28% of targets were in telecoms, while other victims were in the energy, airline, hospitality and research sectors.
Symantec described the malware as having five layers, each “hidden and encrypted, with the exception of the first stage”. It said: “Each individual stage provides little information on the complete package. Only by acquiring all five stages is it possible to analyse and understand the threat.”
Regin uses what is called a modular approach that allows it to load custom features tailored to targets, the same method applied in other malware, such as Flamer and Weevil (the Mask). Some of its features were similar to Duqu malware, uncovered in September 2011 and related to a computer worm called Stuxnet, discovered the previous year.
More from the Intercept:
Secret Malware in European Union Attack Linked to U.S. and British Intelligence
Complex malware known as Regin is the suspected technology behind sophisticated cyberattacks conducted by U.S. and British intelligence agencies on the European Union and a Belgian telecommunications company, according to security industry sources and technical analysis conducted by The Intercept.
Regin was found on infected internal computer systems and email servers at Belgacom, a partly state-owned Belgian phone and internet provider, following reports last year that the company was targeted in a top-secret surveillance operation carried out by British spy agency Government Communications Headquarters, industry sources told The Intercept.
The malware, which steals data from infected systems and disguises itself as legitimate Microsoft software, has also been identified on the same European Union computer systems that were targeted for surveillance by the National Security Agency.
TechWeek Europe covers malware in your E-cigs:
E-Cigarette Malware Could Damage Your Computer’s Health
Chinese cybercriminals reportedly targeting ‘Vapers’ with malware spread through dodgy USB chargers
Touted as a “healthier” option for smokers, it seems that e-cigarettes could be doing more harm than their tobacco-filled cousins, following reports that the devices are being used to spread malware.
A post on Reddit over the weekend detailed how Chinese hackers were using chargers bundled with certain kinds of e-cigarettes to transfer malware onto a users’ computer. The cheap devices, ordered from sites such as eBay, connect to a PC via a USB cable to power up.
From BBC News, more complications for the kidnapped Colombian general:
Colombia’s Farc warns over General Alzate’s release
Colombia’s Farc rebels say they may cancel the release of a high-ranking general and other hostages because of heavy military presence in the area where they are being held.
In a statement, the rebels complained of massive troop deployments in the northern province of Choco.
The government suspended peace talks it had been holding with the rebels in Cuba after Gen Alzate was captured.
The rebels said they had been planning to free the hostages on Tuesday.
Incendiary institutionalized Israeli discrimination draws nigh, via the Associated Press:
Israel leader vows to pass nationality law
Israel’s prime minister vowed Monday to pass a contentious nationality law that has threatened the stability of his fragile coalition government, but he left the door open for negotiations to soften it.
The bill formally would identify Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. But language favored by hard-liners has drawn racism accusations, been questioned by Israel’s attorney general and prompted the justice minister to warn that the coalition could fall apart.
Addressing his Likud Party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was determined to pass it.
The bill is “expressing the fact that Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and only theirs, alongside preserving the rights of every single citizen of the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
Pakistan’s nuclear program accelerates, via the Express Tribune:
Pakistan has fastest growing nuclear weapons programme in the world: report
Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear weapons programme in the world and could have enough fissile material to produce more than 200 nuclear devices by 2020, an influential American think tank said in a report.
The special report by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) titled “Strategic Stability in the Second Nuclear Age”, also identified South Asia as the region “most at risk of a breakdown in strategic stability due to an explosive mixture of unresolved territorial disputes, cross-border terrorism, and growing nuclear arsenals.”
Pakistan, the report said, has deployed or is developing 11 delivery systems for its nuclear warheads, including aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
Thai editor jailed forLèse majesté, via the Guardian:
Thai news website editor jailed for ‘defaming king’
Nut Rungwong, who edited Thai E-news website, falls foul of lese-majesty law and sentenced to four and a half years in jail
A military court in Thailand has sentenced a web editor to four and a half years in jail for publishing an article five years ago that it said defamed the nation’s king.
An official in the army’s Judge Advocate General’s department said the sentence issued on Monday against Nut Rungwong was cut in half because the editor pleaded guilty to the charge.
Rungwong edited the Thai E-News website, which is now blocked by censors.
The article, published in 2009, was written by Giles Ji Ungpakorn, a radical Thai intellectual and former university political scientist who fled to Britain that year.
From South China Morning Post, cops prepare for Hong Kong Occupy eviction:
Operation Mong Kok: 3,000 police on standby
Officers to give their ‘fullest support’ to bailiffs reclaiming protest site today, but do not expect violence as most protesters say they will retreat
About 3,000 police officers will be on standby this morning to help bailiffs enforce an injunction order to reopen the area of Argyle Street in Mong Kok occupied by democracy protesters.
The operation, which may last two days or more, will also include clearance of blockades set up along Nathan Road, a police source said yesterday.
The force foresaw little likelihood of violence and officers would not get directly involved unless protesters resisted bailiffs’ enforcement of injunctions or more hands were needed to carry away obstacles, the source said.
Beijing ups the surveillance ante, from Global Times:
Beijing trains to fight terrorism with cameras
Trains managed by the Beijing Railway Bureau will be equipped with surveillance cameras in all train carriages to help fight terrorism.
Each end of every carriage has been equipped with one camera able to record consecutively for 30 to 60 hours, according to the Beijing Railway Bureau.
“We just installed them very recently. This is the first time that trains [managed by the Beijing Railway Bureau] have had surveillance cameras installed,” a publicity department director with the Beijing Railway Bureau surnamed Sun told the Global Times.
Predictions of heightened tension in the insular Game fo Zones, via the Diplomat:
Troubled Skies Above the East China Sea
In its 2014 Report to Congress, the USCC underscores China’s challenge to the U.S. position in East Asia
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (the “Commission” or “USCC”) recently issued its 2014 Annual Report to Congress. The Commission’s mandate is ‘’to monitor, investigate, and report to Congress on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.’‘
In developing its report, the Commission traveled from South Korea to Australia, but its request for an official visit was denied by Chinese government authorities. Despite this limitation, the USCC was able to effectively investigate a wide range of issues, from China’s role in global issues like weapons proliferation and energy consumption to bilateral concerns like disputes before the World Trade Organization and access to U.S. capital markets. Of particular interest to the Asia-Pacific region is the Commission’s findings regarding Beijing’s attempt to expand China’s sphere of influence by aggressively advancing its security interests in East Asia.
According to the Commission, Beijing has concluded that the U.S.-led East Asia security architecture does not benefit China’s core interests. Instead, Beijing promotes a vision of regional security that marginalizes the United States in favor of an Asian-based order with China at its center. President Xi Jinping appears to have tightened his grip on foreign policy and is actively seeking to link China with its continental and maritime neighbors. In this vein, Xi has proposed regional trade corridors based on the precedent of the historic ancient Silk Road and Java trade routes, a campaign designed to project China’s image as a “responsible stakeholder” while increasing access to markets and natural resource
Upping the stakes in the Game of Drones, via Want China Times:
Dark Sword could become world’s first supersonic drone
China’s mysterious “Dark Sword” combat drone could become the world’s first supersonic unmanned aviation vehicle, reports the website of the country’s national broadcaster CCTV.
The Dark Sword — known in Chinese as “Anjian” — made quite a stir in 2006 when a conceptual model of the unusually shaped triangular aircraft made its debut at the Zhuhai Airshow in southern China’s Guangdong province.
The model was subsequently exhibited at the Paris Air Show but has disappeared from future airshows, with no official word on the development of the UAV. Some claim the project has already been scrapped due to insufficient funding or other reasons, while others believe the development of the drone is now being kept secret as it is undergoing further research and testing.
Chinese aviation expert Fu Qianshao told CCTV that while he does not know the status of the Dark Sword project, the drone could become the world’s first supersonic UAV if it proves a success. He said he would not be surprised if the project is still ongoing in secret as a lack of transparency is nothing new for the aviation industry and is an approach commonly taken by the Americans.
From Want China Times, reefer madness:
PLA base on Fiery Cross Reef could tip balance in South China Sea
China appears to be building a military base on the newly expanded Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands in an attempt to tip the balance of territorial disputes in the South China Sea in Beijing’s favor, reports Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao.
Over the past year, Beijing has been particularly aggressive in conducting reclamation activities on Chinese-controlled reefs and islets in the Spratlys, parts of which are which are also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.
Following the most recent period of construction, China is said to have essentially “created” five new islands from existing reefs, including Fiery Cross Reef, which has reportedly become the largest island in the Spratlys.
More from RT:
‘Biased US won’t affect construction’: China counters criticism of artificial island project
China has cautioned that US warnings to halt construction of a massive artificial island and airfield will not deter it from completing the project in disputed waters of the South China Sea. This is the fourth such undertaking in the last 12-18 months.
China’s top general has defended the construction of the 3,000-meter island as “justifiable” in a scornful response to swift American criticism that followed evidence of large-scale military construction on the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands area.
China currently claims almost all of the South China Sea, with some claims being leveled by Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines. However, its land reclamation projects have been causing the West and its strategic partners in the area a headache, owing to the already-tense political situation in the region.
From Jiji Press, a symbolic gesture:
S. Korea Conducts Military Drill near Takeshima
South Korea conducted a military drill around the disputed Takeshima Islands in the Sea of Japan on Monday.
The exercise was carried out by naval ships, such as destroyers and escort vessels, under the assumption that external forces came close to the islet chain, called Dokdo in South Korea and also claimed by Japan, according to the National Defense Ministry.
The ministry canceled initially planned participation of air force planes and landing training by marines, citing bad weather. But possibilities cannot be ruled out that Seoul refrained from provoking Japan much, informed sources said.
From Nikkei Asian Review, a clue as to some of what the island game is about:
Seabed offers brighter hope in rare-earth hunt
Mud rich in rare-earth metals in the seabed near an isolated Japanese coral atoll is widely distributed and not as deep as initially thought, researchers have discovered, increasing the possibility of commercial mining.
Rare earths include dysprosium, a material for powerful magnets used in motors of hybrid vehicles, and yttrium, used to build lasers.
University of Tokyo professor Yasuhiro Kato had found in 2012 high concentrations of rare earths in mud sampled from beneath the ocean floor near Minami-Torishima, roughly 1,900km southeast of Tokyo. And in a study last year by the university and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or Jamstec, researchers had discovered that the concentration exceeds 5,000 parts per million — more than 30 times that of major Chinese mines.
This time, Kato and researchers from Jamstec and elsewhere studied the seabed about 250km south of the island in Japan’s exclusive economic zone from mid- to late October. Mud containing high concentrations of rare earths was found widely distributed just 2 to 4 meters under the seabed. This makes extraction easier than if the mud were more than 10 meters down as initially believed.
More criticism of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s militarization push, from the Mainichi:
DPJ pledges U-turn on collective self-defense Cabinet decision
A Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) government would retract a July Cabinet decision permitting Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, according to details of the party’s House of Representatives election platform that emerged on Nov. 23.
The platform is to be officially announced on Nov. 24.
Opinion on collective self-defense itself is divided within the DPJ. However, the party has united to declare that the Cabinet decision — passed at the behest of incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — violates the very principle of constitutional government, as the Cabinet took it upon itself to fundamentally reinterpret the Constitution.
And from the Independent, sins-of-the-past blowback:
South Pacific islands prepare to sue French government for $1billion over nuclear tests
Tests were conducted from mid-1960s and saw government approved detonated of nearly 200 nuclear tests off atolls in French Polynesia
The French Polynesia Assembly is preparing to ask Francois Holland’s government for nearly a billion dollars in compensation for damage caused to the islands by nuclear weapons tests.
Conservative anti-independence Tahoera’a Huiraatira party committee has apparently taken issue with the French testing regime that saw 210 nuclear tests conducted from 1966 to 1996 off secluded atolls in the south Pacific.
The committee, which is acting independently of Polynesian President Edouard Fritch, is asking for 930 million US dollars for environmental damage, according to daily Polynesian newspaper La Depeche de Tahiti.
