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Earlier this year, the governors of Rhode Island and Washington also asked the DEA to reschedule marijuana.
The DEA has in the past rejected similar requests to reclassify the substance.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or [email protected]
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Rapidly spreading lawlessness as Somalia collapses in the worst fighting for two nearly decades is fuelling a wave of piracy that increasingly threatens one of the world’s most important waterways.
South Korean ship Maputo 9 (L), which was hijacked by Somali pirates, is escorted by a Yemeni coast guard boat at Aden November 13, 2007.
REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah Although shipping costs have not been affected so far, it is forcing Western navies to take action to protect shipping.
Some suspect that ransom payments to pirates could be helping Islamist insurgents fight the weak interim government.
The piracy is also hampering aid shipments to Somalia and thereby worsening a humanitarian crisis that encourages the anarchy.
Heavily-armed pirates from Somalia have hijacked at least 30 ships so far this year in the Gulf of Aden — last week seizing a record four vessels in 48 hours.
“All the shipping companies are taking this very seriously and are very concerned.
This is an unprecedented rise in attacks,” said Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Maritime Bureau, a global piracy watchdog.
The waters between Somalia and Yemen are a major artery used by nearly 20,000 vessels a year heading to and from the Suez Canal.
The 700 million tons passing through the canal in 2007 was over 9 percent of an estimated 7.7 billion tons carried by global shipping.
Merchant shipping carries more than 90 percent of the world’s traded goods by volume.
In May, the advisory Joint War Committee of Lloyd’s Market Association designated the strategic channel at high risk of “war, strikes, terrorism and related perils”.
“But it’s just a recommendation, and some underwriters may not follow it for their very important clients,” Mukundan told Reuters.
“Costs have not gone up.
Of course, if you are hijacked they go up quite significantly.
But there is no contingent cost to piracy.” Somali pirates are currently holding about 130 crew members hostage on at least seven vessels, including huge chemical tankers and bulk-carriers.
Gunmen are holding vessels from Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Nigeria, Germany and Iran.
REBELS BEHIND ATTACKS?
Attacks at sea have boomed as lawlessness increased in Somalia, where there has not been a working government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Since the start of last year, more than 8,000 civilians have been killed in fighting between allied Somali government and Ethiopian soldiers and Islamist rebels.
Another 1 million have been driven from their homes.
There are many theories about who exactly is behind the latest spate of hijackings.
Most captured ships bring ransoms of more than $10,000, and in a few cases much more.
Some security experts say there are signs insurgents may receive some of the ransoms and use them to fund attacks on the government.
Last week, the rebels seized the key southern port of Kismayu.
The United States says they have links to al Qaeda.
Other experts point to ties forged between Somali pirates, most of whom are based in the northern Puntland region, and criminal networks in Yemen during years of people-smuggling.
The Islamists deny masterminding the recent attacks at sea, and other analysts say the insurgents get most of their money from wealthy Somalis abroad, as well as backers in Arab nations.
Analysts say some members of the interim government, many of whom are former warlords, may also profit from piracy.
All agree that the inability of Puntland’s administration to crush organized crime has fed the chaos offshore.
When the mineral-rich region declared itself semi-autonomous in 1998, it hoped to provide a model for a future, stable Somalia — clan-based federal governance with free elections and an effective parliament.
“Now we are seeing Puntland essentially breaking down as an entity,” said Rashid Abdi, Somalia expert at the International Crisis Group thinktank.
“You’re seeing a gradual takeover of the state by criminal gangs.” COALITION TASK FORCE Puntland officials have been powerless in the face of sophisticated pirates equipped with speed boats and heavy weapons.
Onshore, the authorities have also failed to stop money counterfeiters and kidnapping gangs.
That has created a climate where the pirates’ new homes, lavish weddings and flashy cars attract more and more young men desperate for work in the one of the poorest countries on Earth.
Locals say recruitment is also fed by resentment at European fishing fleets harvesting tuna from Somali waters, and what they say is regular dumping of toxic waste on their shores.
“The problem of piracy has to be looked at in the broader context of the failure of Puntland,” the ICG’s Abdi said.
“It cannot be dealt with separately” The insecurity has also put a choke on the ability of the United Nations to get food aid to the fast-growing numbers of needy.
That figure has leapt 77 percent this year to more than 3.2 million — more than a third of Somalia’s population.
Canadian naval ships are escorting World Food Program shipments to Mogadishu until September, and U.N. officials say it is hoped that French and then German forces will take over.
Further north in the Gulf of Aden, the recent attacks have also stung the anti-terrorist Combined Task Force 150 into action.
The multinational unit, part of Washington’s Operation Enduring Freedom, is based in neighboring Djibouti and has come to the aid of many ships attacked by pirates.
This week, it announced a string of waypoints marking a Maritime Security Patrol Area or safe corridor, which navy warships will patrol while coalition aircraft fly overhead.
“It focuses our longer-term efforts to improve security and counter destabilizing activity in the region,” Lieutenant Stephanie Murdock, spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, told Reuters by telephone from Bahrain.
Spread the love Pocatello, ID — There is a saying among law enforcement when they are questioned for writing asinine tickets for non-crimes and arresting well-meaning people who may be in possession of a plant to treat their child — ‘Just doing my job.’ This phrase is uttered countless times a day as police officers write tickets for everything from window tint to license plate lights — as they somehow think it justifies this level of extortion.
The most recent case of extortion for non-crimes is getting a lot of attention in Idaho because police extorted a man who was actually providing a community service.
When it snows in his community, Mitch Fisher is ready to help.
“I take care of the neighbors.
They’re all elderly and I like to help them out,” Fisher said.
Fisher’s community service of plowing streets and sidewalks — for free — is so highly regarded that he was featured in a segment on a local news station in December.
“I try to clean my spot and all the neighbors around me so we have a nice area to park and pull in,” Fisher said las month.
“Also, hopefully, so no one gets stuck in front of my house.” But his good deed did not go unnoticed by the revenue collectors.
On Wednesday, a Pocatello police officer came prowling and issued Fisher a citation for ‘depositing material on a public right of way.’ Fisher will now be extorted for over $200 for helping the city clean the roadways.
Naturally, according to Local 8 News, Fisher was baffled.
“I tried to talk (the officer) out of it and tell him what I was doing, that I was trying to get it out of the street because (the street) hasn’t been plowed since the beginning of snow season,” he said.
“Of course, he was doing his job, wrote the citation and went on his way.” The law used to extort Fisher was Chapter 9 of Pocatello’s city code which states, “It is unlawful for any person to deposit, place or allow to remain in or upon any public right of way any material or substance injurious to persons or property.” Obviously depositing trash, debris, or anything else that would obstruct the street is a dangerous practice.
However, Fisher was doing the opposite of this as he moved the snow into a pile right next to his curb.
“I didn’t want it in front of (my neighbors’) houses because they can’t park.
I don’t care if it’s in front of mine,” Fisher explained of his community service.
Fisher’s ticket received heavy backlash after he posted it on Facebook in the group “You know you grew up in Pocatello when…” However, the administrator took it down after the conversation apparently got too heated.
To highlight how caring of a man he is, Fisher posted to the group yesterday — apologizing for sharing his ticket in it and didn’t mean for it to start any controversy.
Within that post, Fisher was praised by his neighbors and community for providing the service and the overwhelming majority of people are on his side.
“Sounds like they should fire a cop with too much time on his hands and use that money to hire a snowplow contractor,” said one neighbor.
“Inept city hacks hate competition.
I saw a neighbor with a plow accomplish more in our neighborhood in 1/2 an hour than the city has all year,” said Facebook user Brad.
“The city refuses to clear the street, but punishes a good citizen for doing their jobs for them?
Proof that in a police state, it is about collecting revenue.
And NOT about protecting public safety,” said Scott.
Also, there is good news to this story as Fisher says he will not back down.
“I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.
I don’t care about the city,” he said.
According to Local 8, Fisher plans on fighting the ticket.
However, even if he loses — he will continue to help.
“If it cost me 206 dollars a year so be it, I’ll have peace of mind knowing it helps them out,” Fisher said in the Facebook group.
It is quite heartening to hear of such resistance to petty tyranny.
Unjust laws will remain unjust until they are disobeyed by good people like Fisher.
Had brave individuals throughout history not risked imprisonment or worse to challenge tyrannical, racist, and immoral laws, society today, would be much less free.
Thank you, Mitch Fisher, for standing up for what is right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbP28sImWfQ
Carlos Tevez says he will snub Chelsea interest to stay at Boca Carlos Tevez won Premier League titles with Manchester United and Manchester City Carlos Tevez claims he will snub interest from Chelsea this summer to see out his career with Boca Juniors.
The Argentina forward says Chelsea and Italian side Napoli want to bring him back to Europe, where he spent nine years with West Ham, both Manchester clubs and Antonio Conte's Juventus.
Tevez returned to Buenos Aires and first club Boca in 2015, and the message to interested European clubs is clear: 'I'm not coming back'.
"I'm fine at Boca," said the 32, year-old, quoted in Italy's Corriere dello Sport.
"Indeed my idea, my dream is to finish my career as a player in this wonderful club.
"Europe?
Yes, it's true Napoli and Chelsea seek me, but I repeat what I said before.
My desire is to stay at Boca until I retire."
West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan revealed earlier this month he had explored the possibility of re-signing Tevez, claiming the deal broke down over the player's wage demands.
Tevez became a cult hero in east London when he helped save the club from relegation in 2007, and Premier League successes with United and City followed.
He left for Juve in 2013 when new Chelsea boss Conte was in charge and went on to win back-to-back Serie A titles.
Posted 6 years ago on Sept. 23, 2012, 4:08 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt Tags: police, s17, bloomberg, nyc The first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street was a joyous affair for the 99%.
Yet regrettably, it was also a day that illustrated how Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ‘private army’ has been increasingly unleashed to beat, arrest, imprison, and broadly suppress OWS.
Please post your videos, photos, and stories about how your rights were infringed on the Occupy Bloomberg’s Army Facebook page.
Occupy is a nonviolent movement, but this has not prevented Bloomberg’s Army from engaging in targeted arrests of specific organizers as well as random street ‘snatch and release’ intimidation tactics.
On September 17th not even the constant drone of helicopters overhead could drown out the screams of ‘I’m a journalist’ from the reporters who were arrested merely for practicing their and our right to freedom of the press.
And not even a cry of ‘I’m a City Councilmember’ was enough to staunch the established policy of brutality within the Mayor of Wall Street’s Police Department.
The message being sent by Bloomberg’s Army is being heard loud and clear.