Islamic State truck bomb kills at least 60 people south of Baghdad

2 hours ago

Residents gather at the site of a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, March 6, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani View gallery People gather at the site of a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, M … View gallery A member from the Iraqi security forces stands guard at the site of a bomb attack at a checkpoint in … View gallery Residents gather at the site of a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad … View gallery A man reacts at the site of a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, Ma … View gallery Residents carry the body of a victim of a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the city of Hilla, south of … Related Stories Islamic State claims responsibility for Baghdad blasts that killed 31 Reuters IS suicide truck bomb kills 47 south of Baghdad AFP Truck Bomb Kills Or Wounds At Least 60 South Of Baghdad Huffington Post Suicide bombings kill 40 in eastern Iraq, eight west of Baghdad Reuters Islamic State claims bomb attacks in Damascus suburb Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack with an explosive-laden fuel tanker on an Iraqi police checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 70, medical and security officials said.

Responsibility was claimed in a posting on the website of the Amaq news agency, which supports the ultra-hardline Sunni group.

"A martyr's operation with a truck bomb hit the Babylon Ruins checkpoint at the entrance of the city of Hilla, killing and wounding dozens," the statement on the Amaq website said.

Hilla is the capital of Babylon province, a predominantly Shi'ite region with some Sunni presence.

"It's the largest bombing in the province to date," Falah al-Radhi, the head of the provincial security committee, told Reuters. "The checkpoint, the nearby police station were destroyed as well as some houses and dozens of cars."

A provincial hospital official confirmed the number of casualties. Many had suffered burn injuries.

(Reporting by Ali al-Rubaie and Saif Hameed; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by David Goodman and Susan Thomas)

Report: Israeli intel prompts Russia to freeze missile delivery to Iran

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Hezbollah had managed to smuggle advanced Russian-made SA-22 missiles into Lebanon as well as Yakhont surface-to-sea precision missiles, a violation of an Iranian pledge, according to 'Al Jarida'.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended the transfer of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran in light of Tehran’s violation of an earlier pledge not to provide sophisticated Russian-made weaponry to the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, according to a report Saturday in the Kuwaiti daily Al Jarida.

A senior source told the newspaper that the Russian leader elected to punish the Iranian regime after Israel supplied him with clear-cut evidence that Tehran had given its proxy Hezbollah SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.

The intelligence information was corroborated by reports from Russian pilots flying their fighter jets over Lebanon and Syria.

The Russian air force anti-missile radars were able to detect SA-22 systems stashed in regions of Lebanon that are under the control of the Shi’ite militia.

During his speech before the United Nations General Assembly this past fall, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed a number of new details regarding Hezbollah’s re-stocking of its weapons arsenal with the help of Iran and Syria.

The premier said that Hezbollah had managed to smuggle advanced SA-22 missiles into Lebanon as well as Yakhont surface-to-sea precision missiles.

Foreign media reports from April of last year indicate that Israel’s air force attacked Hezbollah bases in Lebanon that were outfitted with SA-22.

The Israeli military is hardly concerned about the older SA-5 model surface-to-air missile that is currently rusting in Hezbollah’s stockpiles, for these are considered unreliable and ineffective.

SA-22 missiles, however, could pose a threat to Israeli fighter jets who enjoy relative freedom of operation in the skies over Lebanon.

The senior source told the Kuwaiti newspaper that the Kremlin has been adamant that Iran withdraw its forces backing President Bashar Assad from Syria.

According to the report, Moscow has told the Iranians that it has no need for their support given its interest in reaching a political settlement that would put an end to the five-year civil war in Syria.

The Russians have reportedly told Iran that their interests are not identical when it comes to Syria.

Russia canceled a contract to deliver the S-300 advanced anti-missile rocket system to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West following UN sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.

Tehran agreed to the deal on curbing its nuclear work in July last year and international sanctions were lifted in January. But tensions with Washington have remained high as Tehran continues to develop its military capabilities.

High cancer rates occur near St. Louis creek contaminated with nuclear waste; government says no connection, blames cancer on 'poverty'

Saturday, March 05, 2016 by: Julie Wilson staff writer

(NaturalNews) Unfortunately, when the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs over Japan, the Japanese weren't the only ones that suffered immediate and long-term adverse health effects. During the early 1900s, atomic bomb production took place at more than 30 sites across the U.S., the United Kingdom and Canada.

In the 1940s, St. Louis, Missouri became home to the largest war industry plant in the U.S., which at its peak employed 35,000 St. Lousians and produced more than $1 billon rounds of ammunition each year. In 1942, Mallinckrodt Chemical Company, located in the northern part of the city, began refining uranium used in the Manhattan Project, coordinated by a group of scientists committed to developing a viable atomic bomb.

Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. extracted uranium and radium from ore before processing the elements. From 1946 through to the 1950s, radioactive byproducts were disposed of in a 22-acre open storage site near the midwestern city's airport. In 1973, some of the waste was illegally dumped at the West lake Landfill.

WWII nuclear production linked to rare cancers in Missouri

The nuclear production also contaminated areas surrounding Coldwater Creek, which runs from St. Ann to the Missouri River through Florissant, Hazelwood, Black Jack and Spanish Lake.

Today, surveys conducted by the Missouri health department reveal high rates of cancers, many of them rare, in north St. Louis County, an area close to where nuclear production took place.

Gail Vasterling, director of the state's health dept., is asking the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to "explore the possibility of a connection between cancer rates and environmental hazards in North County," reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A 2013 survey [PDF] by the state health dept. concluded there weren't higher risks of cancer types related to radiation exposure among people living near the creek, and instead blamed any higher cancer rates on "poverty and poor health."

However, the 2014 state report [PDF] documents high rates of leukemia, breast, colon and other cancers in the areas surrounding Coldwater Creek, which was contaminated by nuclear waste after World War II.

The latest survey added seven years of cancer data through 2011, more rare types of cancer and two ZIP codes nearest the radioactive West Lake Landfill. Newly added data identified 455 cases of leukemia reported in the area from 1996 to 2011, 44 more cases than would be expected in the population over that time period, according to reports.

Ionizing radiation exposure causes DNA damage, which can lead to cancer, particularly leukemia

Leukemia is one of the most common cancer types to develop after radiation exposure, which typically occurs within two to five years, however, other types like myeloma, can take up to 15 years to develop.

High rates of brain and nervous system cancers among kids 17 and younger were found in the 63043 ZIP code near the landfill. Seven cancers of these types in that age group were reported from1996-2001, compared with an expected two and half cases based on the state's estimated average.

Children's parents in an elementary school in the 63043 ZIP code say cancer among students and staff has recently increased, pushing the state to perform a separate disease investigation at the school.

After noticing a cancer spike among classmates now in their 30s and 40s, alumni from a nearby high school began their own survey, which found more than one-third of 3,300 current and former residents of north St. Louis County have developed cancers; more than 40 of which are rare appendix cancers.

While state health department investigators were unable to conclude if radiation exposure caused the cancer spikes, the CDC may conduct a more thorough examination, hopefully providing answers for St. Louis residents, and ideally, introduce safety mechanisms to keep future generations safe.


Additional sources:

http://www.stltoday.com

http://health.mo.gov

http://health.mo.gov

http://www.mvs.usace.army.mil

http://lymphoma.about.com

http://www.rerf.jp/radefx/late_e/leukemia.html

http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/atomic_bomb.htm

http://www.stl250.org/crash-course-depression-war.aspx

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/053199_St_Louis_nuclear_waste_cancer.html#ixzz429MWhnPF

Saturday, March 5, 2016

FDA Finally Admits Chicken Meat Contains Cancer-Causing Arsenic

According to the Associated Press, the FDA finally confirmed that chickens given the drug do indeed test positive for inorganic arsenic.

After years of sweeping the issue under the rug, the FDA has now finally admitted that chicken meat sold in the USA contains arsenic, a cancer-causing toxic chemical that’s fatal in high doses. But the real story is where this arsenic comes from: It’s added to the chicken feed on purpose! As far back as 2006, the IATP’s report Playing Chicken: Avoiding Arsenic in your meat estimated that more than 70 percent of all U.S. chickens raised for meat are fed arsenic. It is added to induce faster weight gain on less feed, and creating the perceived appearance of a healthy color in meat from chickens, turkeys and hogs.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found that nearly half of all chickens tested have absorbed inorganic arsenic, the most toxic form, in their liver. Based on that finding, the agency asked Pfizer to stop manufacturing Roxarsone, the arsenic-containing drug that’s added to feed to fatten chickens and give meat a bright pink hue.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

“The agency said it recently conducted a study of 100 broiler chickens that detected inorganic arsenic at higher levels in the livers of chickens treated with 3-Nitro compared with untreated chickens … Pfizer said sale of 3-Nitro would be stopped by early July in order to allow animal producers to transition to other treatments.”

But even as its arsenic-containing product is pulled off the shelves, the FDA continues its campaign of denial, claiming arsenic in chickens is at such a low level that it’s still safe to eat. This is even as the FDA says arsenic is a carcinogen, meaning it increases the risk of cancer.

But what the industry is hiding from you is the fact that arsenic is extremely toxic to human health. The University of South Carolina Department of Environmental Health Sciences warns that arsenic, along with lead and mercury, are known to produce horrible neurological effects on developing fetuses and young children. Arsenic in general is said to be about four times as poisonous as Mercury. The trivalent Arsenic As+3 is considered 60 times more toxic than the pentavalent As +5.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that individuals who consumed large quantities of arsenic-tinged rice, in the absence of other known arsenic exposure, showed significant cellular changes linked to cancer development.

Numerous reports have since confirmed that ingested arsenic can cause Bowen disease (squamous cell carcinoma in situ); invasive squamous cell carcinoma; basal cell carcinoma of the skin; and (less frequently) internal cancers of the lung, the kidney, the bladder, and the liver.^[

What’s astonishing about all this is that the FDA tells consumers it’s safe to eat cancer-causing arsenic but it’s dangerous to drink elderberry juice!