Focus for the first section of this update is on Russia.
From ITAR-TASS: Bomb blast kills 2 people, injures 15 in South Ossetia
VLADIKAVKAZ, February 28 (Itar-Tass) — A terrorist act killed two people and injured another 15 at about 15.30 Moscow time on Thursday in Kokhat, South Ossetia, chief of the South Ossetian press and information committee Irina Gagloyeva cited these preliminary reports to Itar-Tass by phone from Tskhinvali.
“The blast went off at a police post, where South Ossetian policemen were on duty. The bomb was planted in the TV set left by some people passing through the police post allegedly to Georgia’s Eredvi,” Gagloyeva said. Casualties sustained among civilians and policemen on duty, she said.
Kokhat is situated 35-40 kilometers from Tskhinvali in the hard-to-reach highland area. Injured people receive only the first medical aid so far, republican operatives have not arrived at the blast site yet.
The road leading to Kokhat is very bad, the phone communication is weak, therefore all reports about the blast are preliminary.Meanwhile, according a source in the republican law enforcement agencies, the bomb exploded at the building in Kokhat, where a polling station was set up for the early voting at the Russian presidential elections. South Ossetian residents of Russian nationality participated in the early voting, a source in the republican law enforcement agencies told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
The preliminary reports said two policemen were injured, other blast victims are local residents, including two fatalities.
“The early vote was held at remote settlements in South Ossetia, including Kokhat on Thursday. This is why so many victims were reported. All of them were staying in one building,” the source said.
The story is still “developing” though I do not know if more will ever come out with all the other election news in Russia.
From The Associated Press via The International Herald Tribune: Bombings wound 2 in police convoy near Chechnya
MAKHACHKALA, Russia: Two bombings struck a police convoy Sunday in a town near Chechnya, wounding two people on the same day as Russia’s presidential elections, officials said.
The remote-controlled blasts came in quick succession in Khasavyurt, in the violence-plagued Dagestan region near the Chechen border, according to spokesman Mark Tolchinsky of the Dagestan police headquarters in Makhachkala.
He said the first bomb exploded as a police patrol truck passed by. No one was hurt in that blast, but when police reinforcements came to investigate, another bomb exploded, wounding one officer and one passerby, he said.
Initially, police said people had died, but Tolchinsky said only two were wounded.
The motivation for the bombings was unclear.
Dagestan suffers from violence linked to criminal activities and insurgent activity that has spread from Chechnya. But bombings against police convoys and other representatives of federal authority, once common, have diminished in recent years.
As is traditional in this area, the last sentence will be repeated until it can no longer be supported due to overt terrorist/criminal actions.
Next we move on to Italy
From The Associated Press via USA Today: Italians seize 30 tons of radioactive steel
ROME (AP) — Italian police said Monday they have seized 30 tons of Chinese-made steel that had been contaminated by a radioactive substance.
The environmental protection police squad said the steel was destined for the industrial production of chimneys and pulleys, and long-term exposure could have been dangerous for workers handling it.Police said in a statement that the shipment had come from China’s TISCO company and had arrived in the northern port town of La Spezia in May last year.
The steel had been accidentally mixed during production with cobalt-60, a radioactive isotope of cobalt, police said. Officers seized it last week after radiation turned up in tests on metal scraps at companies across Italy that had used part of the shipment.
China’s exports have come under intense scrutiny in the past year after potentially deadly chemicals were found in goods including toothpaste, toys and seafood.
It appears we are not the only ones who have issues with Chinese made products. Now the Italians must also locate the ship this steel came on and it must be decontaminated before hauling any more cargo. Good luck with that…..
The last section is from Japan.
From AHN Media Corp: Japanese Whaling Ship Attacked By Activists. This piggy backs on the attacks by ELF on homes in Washington State and ALF on U.C. Santa Cruz biomedical researchers in California.
Tokyo, Japan (AHN)– Four crew members were reportedly injured after militant activists pelted a Japanese whaling ship in Australia’s Antarctic waters with foul-smelling acid and “slippery” powder.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera broke the news at an international seminar for African and Asian delegates to the International Whaling Commission.
He said crew members of the Nisshin Maru were hurt on Monday after protesters from the Sea Shepherd vessel, the Steve Irwin, threw butyric acid and slippery powder onto the Japanese factory ship.
Butyric acid, found in rotten butter, has an unpleasant smell and can sting the skin and eyes.
Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson admitted to the attack but was quick to deny that any of the crew were hurt by it, because they used only organic and non-toxic materials. ( I guess he left his AKs and Bowie Knives in his cabin this time-CG)
He said the activists lobbed 2,000 bottles of butter acid – stink bombs – onto the ship as well as slippery powder to prevent the Japanese whalers from working on the deck.
Watson added that he has video footage to back the group’s claims.
The clash between anti-whaling protesters from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Japanese whaling vessels has been brewing since December.
Japanese whalers kill up to 1,000 of these mammals a year, claiming it part of their culture. They harpoon whales using a loophole in a 1986 global moratorium that allows “lethal research” on the giant mammals, although the meat often ends being eaten.
Australia’s new government, on the other hand, has ramped up pressure on Japan against its killing of whales, which are beloved by Australians and sustain a major whale-watching industry.
Whaling season in the Southern Ocean is likely to end later this month when rough weather and icy conditions make hunting impossible.
No pro-Sea Sheperd bias in this article…. nope… not one bit.. (/sarcasm)
Sea Shepherd “Conservation” Society. This organization and their pirate ship(s) are known for their violence and cruelty at sea. They could care less about conservation and revel in agression and piracy.
Not all terrorists are Islamic, however all terrorists place human life far below their insane goals.
