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(NaturalNews)
A ban on the growing of all genetically engineered plants appears to be
a landslide victory in Jackson County, Oregon. With 100 percent of the
precincts reporting and a huge voter turnout of over 50 percent, nearly 66% of voters elected to ban all genetically engineered crops from being grown in the county.
The
vote ran 39,489 to 20,432 in favor of the ban, and it sends a clear
signal that the People of Jackson County, Oregon -- a largely
agricultural area of the country -- absolutely do not want genetically
engineered crops to be growing anywhere near them. (Click here to see county election results.)
This is on top of the recent victory in Vermont where lawmakers passed a mandatory GMO labeling law
that requires foods to be honestly labeled with their GMO content. (The
evil biotech industry and its Grocery Manufacturers of America front
group plant to sue Vermont to keep consumers in the dark.)
"Destroy all genetically engineered plants"
This
ordinance in Oregon requires everyone to "destroy" all genetically
engineered plants except those grown under indoor laboratory conditions
(i.e. those which are safely isolated from the wild). This will allow
scientists to continue to study GMOs without risking the lives of
everyone else in the process.
Published time: May 21, 2014 16:37 Edited time: May 22, 2014 11:18
Despite
the flood of corporate money poured into two small Oregon counties,
local residents voted on Tuesday to ban genetically engineered crops
from being planted within their borders.
Although Jackson County
itself is home to less than 120,000 registered voters, the measure to
ban genetically modified crops (GMOs) made headlines around the nation
when it was revealed that large biotech companies like Monsanto were
pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the area in order to
affect the vote’s outcome.
As RT reported
previously, Monsanto and five other corporations spent at least
$455,000 in an attempt to defeat the initiative, and opponents of the
GMO ban had gained an eight-to-one spending advantage as of April.
According to the Associated Press, nearly $1 million of the $1.3 million
spent during the campaign was used by opponents.
When the results were tallied, however, 66 percent of Jackson County residents voted in favor of the ban. "We fought the most powerful and influential chemical companies in the world and we won," local farmer and anti-GMO advocate Elise Higley told the Oregonian. "It's a great day for the people of Oregon who care about sustainability and healthy ecosystems," added the group GMO Free Oregon on its Facebook page.
Abdel Fatah al-Sisi supporters in Cairo. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
\
Abdel Fatah al-Sisi moved one step closer to Egypt's
presidency on Sunday as nominations closed, leaving the retired army
chief and the leftist Hamdeen Sabahi as the only two high-profile
candidates in the race.
Sisi is widely expected to easily win the election, which will take place on 26-27 May. He has more support than any other candidate, as well as an explicit mandate from the army, and he receives favourable coverage from most state and private media.
Egypt's
interim government, installed by Sisi last July, has portrayed the
presidential race as a sign that the country is back on the road to
democracy. "It is a very important step," Egypt's foreign minister,
Nabil Fahmy, told the Guardian, calling the electoral process "extremely
free and fair".
"Once we get it done, we will then move into the
parliamentary elections which will help us finish the roadmap [to
democracy] – and we look forward to rebuilding our future," Fahmy said.
But
among rights activists and opposition politicians there are concerns
about the integrity of the poll. By the most conservative estimate at
least 16,000 mainly Islamist dissidents have been arrested in an ongoing
crackdown on dissent. At least three high-profile candidates from the
2012 presidential campaign have boycotted the race, complaining about
the absence of free expression in Egypt, while the ousted president
Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood was banned by court order this week
from taking part.
A late challenger – the flamboyant football-club chairman Mortada Mansour – dropped out on Saturday citing a divine vision, after a brief and bizarre campaign in which he promised to rip up the Camp David accords and to force non-believers to practise atheism in their bathrooms.
Khaled
Ali, a labour lawyer, the Islamist Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, and Hosni
Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, all dropped out in recent
weeks – with Aboul Fotouh highlighting the impossibility of campaigning
in an environment where opposition is portrayed as treason.
Dozens of activists campaigning against Egypt's new constitution in January were arrested while putting up campaign posters,
and colleagues complained they were ignored by most media networks.
Withdrawn candidates said they feared a similar scenario in the
presidential poll.
When Sisi announced his intention to run for
office last month, state television gave him a prime-time television
slot to make a speech directly to camera.
It was a privilege not afforded to Sabahi, who was allowed only a short
state-made documentary about his career – a taste of what may be to
come, analysts said.
"If we are talking about these elections
really being fair and free, all the candidates should have access to
equal representation within the media," said HA Hellyer, Egypt analyst
at the Royal United Services Institute. "And I just don't think that's
going to happen unless things drastically change in the next four or
five weeks."
On Saturday a privately-owned channel announced that
it would not air any shows by Egypt's best-known political satirist
Bassem Youssef, a prominent Sisi critic, until after the election – in
order "to avoid influencing Egyptian voters' orientation".
Egyptian presidential candidate reportedly vows to put Sisi on trial
Egyptian
presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi's campaign denied remarks
attributed to him in an audio recording in which a person with a voice
that sounds like his says he would put former army chief Abdel Fattah
Sisi on trial for the deaths of hundreds of protesters. (Ahmed Gomaa / Associated Press / April 22, 2014)
By Amro Hassan
April 26, 2014, 12:41 p.m.
CAIRO
-- The only candidate running for president against Egypt’s former
military chief, Abdel Fattah Sisi, has reportedly said that if elected
he would put Sisi on trial in connection with the deaths of hundreds of protesters.
"I
don't treat Sisi as a criminal, but I plan to bring him to court ….
When I do this, I aim to heal wounds without opening up new
confrontations," candidate Hamdeen Sabahi was quoted as saying by the
Egyptian news outlet Youm7 on Friday.
Sabahi’s campaign denied the
comments were his. But Youm7 posted an audio recording of a voice that
sounded much like the candidate. According to Youm7, Sabahi was
responding to a question over transitional justice in case he wins the
presidency. He also said anyone proven responsible for demonstrators'
deaths since the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak should be held accountable.
Leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi to challenge Sisi in Egypt election
Lobna Tarek/El Shorouk/AP
Sabahi has received several political endorsements but his chances of beating the powerful Sisi are slight
April 19, 20145:45PM ET
Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi officially submitted his bid Saturday to run for Egypt's presidency, making him the second candidate for next month's election alongside former army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who is widely expected to win. The election is due to take place on May 26-27.
Sabahi,
who heads a political alliance called the Popular Current, created
after the 2012 presidential elections, was a member of parliament during
ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak's years in office and came third in the
election won by Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2012.
Sabahi
submitted the required documents to the presidential election committee
after gathering 31,100 signatures. The required number is 25,000.
A
third candidate, controversial figure Mortada Mansour, announced
Saturday that he would not run in the upcoming elections, after having
declared his candidacy less than a week ago, Egyptian media reported.
Egypt presidential candidate bows out, predicts Sisi victory
CAIRO
— An Egyptian lawyer and TV personality who declared days ago that he
was running for president pulled out of the race Saturday, and state
media quoted him as saying he had received a sign from God that victory
belonged to former army chief Abdel Fattah Sisi.
Mortada Mansour,
known for his outspoken style and sometimes eccentric views, also took a
parting swipe at the only Sisi opponent left in the race, leftist
politician Hamdeen Sabahi, the Ahram website reported.
Mansour,
who had announced his candidacy last weekend, has called for the
abrogation of the Camp David accords that led to peace between Egypt and
Israel, has threatened to go to war with Ethiopia over water rights,
and has urged a ban on Facebook and Twitter.
Sisi, leader of the
popularly supported military coup that ousted Islamist President Mohamed
Morsi nearly 10 months ago, is heavily favored to win the presidential
poll, to be held May 26 and 27.
By Suttinee Yuvejwattana and Anuchit NguyenFeb 1, 2014 8:24 PM CT
Photographer: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Anti-government protesters take cover before the elections, February 1, 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people to cast their vote in the nation’s
general election today, as thousands of protesters seeking her
ouster took to the streets in Bangkok to disrupt the poll.
“I want to persuade people to come out to vote to protect
democracy,” Yingluck told reporters after voting near her home
in Bueng Kum in Bangkok’s north-west. Polling stations
nationwide are scheduled to close at 3 p.m.
Voting was abandoned in the northern Bangkok district of
Laksi after seven people were injured in a gun-battle yesterday,
the Election Commission said. As many as 62 of Thailand’s 77
provinces will be unaffected, including Yingluck’s strongholds
in the north and northeast, according to the commission.
In the south, where the main opposition Democrat Party has
its power base, “demonstrators are still blocking post offices
in Chumporn, Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat,” Election
Commission Secretary-General Puchong Nutrawong said. The
Democrats are boycotting the election, and poll results may not
be certified for months because by-elections must be held in
districts where advance voting was disrupted last weekend, as
well as areas blockaded by demonstrators today, Puchong said.
A disputed poll will leave Yingluck’s administration in
caretaker mode, complicating its efforts to raise funds to pay
rice farmers under a state subsidy program. Suthep Thaugsuban, a
former Democrat powerbroker who has led a three-month street
campaign to oust Yingluck, said the election will be annulled
because his group blocked candidates from registering in some
provinces and shut down polling stations during advance voting.
Laksi Clash
A clash yesterday between pro- and anti-government groups
at Laksi intersection involved explosive devices and gunfire,
according to the Bangkok Emergency Medical Service’s website.
Seven people were injured and taken to the hospital, it said.
The army sent personnel to assist the police in Laksi,
Winthai Suvaree, the deputy army spokesman, told reporters
yesterday, urging “all groups to respect the law.”
Protesters have also occupied several major intersections
in the city since Jan. 13 in a bid to prevent Yingluck’s
government from functioning. Suthep said protesters won’t block
polling stations, while urging all voters to choose a side in
the country’s political conflict.
“We will not vote, but we will not criticize anyone for
casting their vote,” he told supporters late yesterday. “We
will not block anybody who wants to cast their ballot. You can
go to vote. We want to know who is on our side.”
Suthep says he speaks for a “silent majority” who don’t
want elections until Yingluck is replaced with an appointed
council that would erase what they call her family’s corrupting
political influence. Yingluck says such a council would be
undemocratic and an affront to the almost 16 million people who
elected her in 2011.
Soldiers Deployed
Yingluck is deploying 10,000 police in Bangkok alone,
having declared a state of emergency, as she seeks to avoid a
repeat of the violence that obstructed advance voting on Jan. 26
in the south and most of the capital. Ten people have been
killed and more than 500 injured since protests began Oct. 31.
Six people injured as gunshots and explosions break out on the streets of Bangkok on the eve of the general election
Prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is set to win re-election tomorrow
But protesters are trying to delay the poll by bringing violence to the streets
Masked gunmen fired weapons and explosion were heard at demonstrations
By
Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED:
12:17 EST, 1 February 2014
| UPDATED:
12:18 EST, 1 February 2014
Multiple people were injured today
as chaos broke out on the streets of Bangkok the day before a general
election which has divided Thailand. Gunshots
rang out while at least two explosions were heard at anti-government
protests, with six people wonded in front of a suburban shopping mall in
the north of the city. Sporadic
gunfire continued into the evening, with masked men openly firing
handguns as security forces used M-16 rifles to fire warning shots into
the air. Warning: graphic content
Gunman: A protester wielding a pistol on the streets of Bangkok ahead of the Thai general election
Masked: Many of the gunmen were wearing balaclavas to hide their identities as they sought to disrupt the election
Hurt: A bloodied man and a woman look around a wall as a gun battle rages in the Bangkok suburbs
Tomorrow's election is
almost certain to return prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to power,
despite efforts by some opposition supporters to disrupt the poll. The
violence came amid generally peaceful protests around Bangkok and
revived chilling memories of political unrest in 2010, when supporters
of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra - Ms Yingluck's brother - paralysed
Bangkok in protest against the Democrat Party.
Today's attack took place
in Bangkok's Laksi district, close to the Don Muang airport, where Ms
Yingluck's fans gathered in support of the election.
Ten people have died and at least 577 have been wounded in politically related violence since late November.
On the run: An injured protester attempts to get away from the violence after being caught in the crossfire
Agony: The man tries to stanch his wounds as blood covers his face while violence rages
Treatment: An injured protester who was shot by anti-government mobs is carried away by friends
The protests' leader,
opposition boss Suthep Thaugsuban, has called for a peaceful blockade of
roads, but has vowed not to stop people voting. 'The
people will not close the polling booths, but will demonstrate on the
roads,' he said yesterday. 'They will demonstrate calmly, peacefully,
without violence. We won't do anything that will hinder people from
going to vote.' Election
Commission secretary-general Puchong Nutrawong said the commission has
instructed staff to halt voting if there is rioting or other violence.
.....
