Headlines October 6, 2022 from Democracy Now!

A new report warns that one out of every eight species of birds on Earth is threatened with extinction. In its flagship State of the World’s Birds report, the conservation group BirdLife International finds half of all species are in decline, primarily due to habitat destruction and the increasing use of machinery and chemicals in agriculture. BirdLife CEO Patricia Zurita said, “Birds tell us about the health of our natural environment — we ignore their messages at our peril.”   Animal Rights

A Michigan judge has thrown out felony criminal charges against former state officials accused of playing key roles in the Flint water crisis. The ruling ends a criminal probe of Eden Wells and Nick Lyon, two former leaders of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services who faced nine counts of involuntary manslaughter for failing to promptly report an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease which killed 12 people and sickened dozens. Also avoiding prosecution are former Cabinet members of Republican ex-Governor Rick Snyder, who are accused of knowingly exposing Flint’s residents to dangerous levels of lead in the water supply.

Nayyirah Shariff, a community organizer and director of Flint Rising, tweeted, “We have many people’s lives that have been upended … including my own, and there are no consequences. Justice looks like someone going to jail, held criminally accountable.” This follows a decision in June by Michigan’s Supreme Court to throw out charges against former Governor Rick Snyder and other former officials for their complicity in Flint’s public health emergency. Flint Rising organizer Melissa Mays spoke to Democracy Now! after that ruling.

Melissa Mays: “No one is being held accountable. No one is seeing justice. No one is seeing reparations in Flint. Our homes, our bodies, our lives are still damaged and destroyed, and the people responsible are getting away with it, because, like Nayyirah said, they have a — rich white folk and government have a whole different justice system than the rest of us.”

In Thailand, at least 35 people were killed earlier today when a former police officer went on a murderous rampage. Police say the 34-year-old suspect shot and stabbed children at a child care center in northeastern Thailand, killing 19 boys, three girls and two adults. Thai authorities say the assailant then fled the scene, opening fire randomly from his car; he then returned home, killed his wife and child, and turned the gun on himself. It’s Thailand’s bloodiest mass shooting since 2020, when a soldier with an assault rifle killed 29 people and wounded nearly 60 others.   Thailand

In Greece, at least 15 migrants have died and dozens more remain missing after a pair of boats capsized off the coast of Greece. In the first incident, a boat carrying about 40 asylum seekers sank off the eastern island of Lesbos. So far, 15 bodies have been recovered from the shipwreck — all of them women. Elsewhere, authorities are searching for survivors after a sailboat carrying about 100 migrants sank off an island in southern Greece late Wednesday.

Japan’s government has condemned another series of missile tests by North Korea. On Thursday, Japan’s military said it detected two short-range ballistic missiles fired from North Korea into waters separating the two countries. This follows four other launches from North Korea in the past two weeks, including Tuesday’s launch of an intermediate-range missile that flew over Japan. Japan’s defense minister spoke earlier today.

Yasukazu Hamada: “These actions by North Korea are a threat to the peace and security of our country, region and the international community. It’s absolutely unacceptable.”

Today North Korea condemned the United States Navy after it redeployed a carrier battle group led by the USS Ronald Reagan to the Sea of Japan, saying U.S. actions were “posing a serious threat to the stability of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.”   Nuclear Weapons

The French writer Annie Ernaux has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Nobel Committee cited Ernaux for the “courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.” Her books include “Happening,” about a young woman student who has an abortion. Last year it was made into an award-winning film. On Friday, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced.   Books

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