After Frustrating Primary, Millions of Ballots in California Remain Uncounted

Common Dreams | 10 June, 2016

While the results are unlikely to impact Clinton’s win in the state, Bernie Sanders said Thursday he expected the final tally would show a closer race. (Photo: hjl/flickr/cc)

More than 2.5 million ballots from California’s June 7 primary are still uncounted, sparking questions about the results of the presidential contest in which Hillary Clinton emerged the winner and leaving the fate of local races in the air as poll workers continue to grapple with reports of voter difficulties.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the uncounted ballots would put the total voter turnout at around 8.5 million, or around 47 percent of all registered voters. While the results are unlikely to impact Clinton’s win in the state, Bernie Sanders said Thursday he expected the final tally would show a closer race—one more in keeping with polls that predicted a nail-biter.

What’s Next After Sanders? Seeds of Political Movement Building

telesur | 09 June, 2016

Hope has deflated among Bernie Sanders supporters after the California primary that the upstart Democratic president hopeful could still overcome all odds and surpass Hillary Clinton’s delegate count ahead of the Democratic National Convention next month. But despite the defeat, the Sanders campaign has been unprecedented, and the question must now turn to whether the groundswell of progressive fervor can be harnessed to build a lasting movement based on his so-called “political revolution.”

Some seeds have already been planted through new electorally-focused initiatives such as the United Progressive Party, Grassroots Select, and Brand New Congress, among others, and time will tell whether they can offer a way to keep millions of inspired Sanders supporters from letting their hankering for political change fall by the wayside.

Hope Rekindled

Research shows CO2 can be turned into stone in Climate Change Breakthrough

A Journal of People Report

Researchers have discovered a new way to tackle climate change by pumping Carbon di Oxide (CO2) underground and turning into stone, international media reports.

Efforts have been made for quite sometimes for capturing and storing CO2, but there are potential threats of leakage and these projects demands a high cost. Whereas the newly discovered way is cheaper and less prone to risk.

The research was conducted in Iceland by The CarbFix Project and led by Professor Juerg Matter of the University of Southampton in the UK.

Argentine government to pull teleSUR off air

Granma | 09 June, 2016

The Latin American multi-state network, teleSUR, is included in packages of more than 90 cable operators and has agreements with five provincial Argentine television stations. Photo: TELESUR

BUENOS AIRES.—Following a decision by the government of President Mauricio Macri, in two weeks time Argentines will no longer be able to view teleSUR on the over-the-air Open Digital Television system.

The President of the multi-state network, Patricia Villegas, took to social media Twitter and Facebook this Wednesday, June 8, to condemn this example of censorship by the Macri government.

Villegas shared a letter from Argentine officials noting that the decision was “based on the need to renew the program listings for our Experimental System of Digital Terrestrial Television and Satellite Television System.

MI6 Rendition Victims ‘Lose Faith in British Justice’ After CPS Decision

REPRIEVE | 10 June, 2016

WASHINGTON – A family who were rendered to Gaddafi’s Libya in a joint MI6-CIA operation have spoken of their disappointment at a decision by British prosecutors, announced yesterday, not to bring charges against UK officials implicated in their kidnapping.

Abdul-Hakim Belhaj, a prominent Gaddafi opponent, and his then-pregnant wife, Fatima Boudchar, were kidnapped in March 2004, forced onto planes, and taken to Libya in a joint MI6-CIA operation. Another dissident, Sami al-Saadi, and his four children were abducted shortly afterward. Speaking to the Daily Mail in an interview published today, Mr Belhaj described the torture he went on to suffer in Gaddafi’s prisons. 

Petition Launches: “Let It Bern. Continue to the Convention.”

RootsAction | 10 June, 2016

WASHINGTON – RootsAction.org has launched a petition today urging Senator Bernie Sanders not to end his campaign. The petition with a count of signers, and comments added by many of them, is here:http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12302

After SCOTUS Gutted Voting Rights, An Explosion of Democratic Suppression

by Nadia Prupis, staff writer

Common Dreams | 09 June, 2016

Disenfranchisement is growing around the country, a new report finds. (Photo: Bryan Bruchman/flickr/cc)

State and local threats to voting rights have exploded in the three years since the U.S. Supreme Court attacked a critical constitutional protection for minority voters, despite overwhelming evidence of discrimination, a new report by the NAACP reveals.

Democracy Diminished (pdf), released by the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF), looks at disenfranchisement around the country since the Supreme Court effectively blocked Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act—which requires certain jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination against voters to submit proposed voting changes to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) or a federal court in Washington, D.C. for pre-clearance—in its 2013 ruling on Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder.

On Rain Water Harvesting In Hyderabad

by Mayank Ale

Frontier | 05 June, 2016

[This is a  revised version of a talk given by the author at the Rain Water Harvesting Workshop held at La Makaan, Hyderabad on 15. 05. 2016 organized by Ecologise Hyderabad.]

Water Situation in Hyderabad Today
There is an acute shortage of water in Hyderabad. Today Hyderabad  receives water from 4 rivers-Musi, Krishna, Godavari and Manjeera. With 2 of the 4 rivers, Manjeera and Musi, drying up due to over usage we are facing acute water shortage and are getting water from farther and  farther away to quench people’s thirst.

Today Hyderabad receives ALL its water either from the distant rivers, or from deep tube wells or from tankers bringing water from outside Hyderabad. In case of a power and petrol crisis, Hyderabad has NO water. The city  therefore, will be dead!