President Obama says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering rerouting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, amid months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and members of more than 200 other Native American nations and tribes from across the Americas. “My view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans,” Obama said. “And I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline in a way.” Meanwhile, on Wednesday, police deployed pepper spray and tear gas against dozens of Native American water protectors during a standoff at Cantapeta Creek, north of the main resistance camp. At least two people were shot with nonlethal projectiles. Video and photos show police firing the pepper spray and tear gas at the water protectors, who were peacefully standing in the creek. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had ordered police to arrest the Native Americans and destroy a bridge that members of the camp had constructed over the creek in order to protect a sacred burial ground they say is being destroyed by construction and law enforcement activity.
Democracy Now
4: John Podesta Was Warned in 2008 to Start Encrypting Sensitive Emails
JOHN PODESTA, THE Clinton campaign chairman whose hacked emails have exposed countless Democratic secrets to the world, was warned in 2008 to start protecting sensitive documents “by at least encrypting them.”
The warning came in an unencrypted email chain forwarded by Denis McDonough, then a top Obama campaign aide and currently the White House chief of staff, to Podesta, who at the time was running Obama’s transition team.
McDonough initially sent the warning to Obama economic adviser Daniel Tarullo in an email on November 3, 2008, the day before President Obama’s election victory, presumably in response to a detailed November 2 memo Tarullo sent around about the upcoming G-20 meeting President Bush had called to discuss the ongoing financial crisis.
The Intercept
3: Afghan civilians killed in NATO air strike in Kunduz
At least 30 civilians, including women, children and babies, have been killed and dozens wounded in a NATO air strike in the northern province of Kunduz, Afghan officials have said.
The air raids on Thursday were in support of US and Afghan forces during an attack targeting senior Taliban commanders, according to provincial spokesman Mahmood Danish.
“Afghan forces and coalition troops conducted a joint operation against the Taliban insurgents. In the bombardment 30 Afghan civilians were martyred and 25 others were wounded,” Danish told AFP news agency.
Kunduz civilians told Al Jazeera the death toll was even higher than the figure given by officials.
Aljazeera
2: Sheriff’s deputies fire rubber bullets at Dakota Access Pipeline protesters
Police wearing riot gear pepper-sprayed and fired rubber bullets at protesters attempting to cross a creek near the planned route of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota Wednesday afternoon.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department said police arrived on the scene to dismantle an “illegal” wooden bridge the protesters — who call themselves land protectors — had constructed across the Cantapeta Creek, and to arrest anyone who crossed the river for criminal trespassing.
Vice News
1: Aleppo braces for Russian assault as rebels vow to defy ultimatum
Syrian rebel groups in east Aleppo are planning to defy an ultimatum from Vladimir Putin to abandon the city by Friday night, insisting that promised safe passages out of besieged areas do not exist and that an imminent Russian blitz will not change the course of the war.
As the Russian carrier group expected to take part in the attack moved into their final positions in the eastern Mediterranean, opposition fighters made fresh forays into west Aleppo, the latest in a series of attempts to break a four-year siege of the rebel -held east, which is surrounded by Iranian-backed militias that support the Syrian leader.
Moscow has said that corridors for fighters and civilians will remain open until sunset on Friday, ahead of what it has warned will be a bombardment that will level what remains of east Aleppo. As the deadline drew near, however, opposition groups said they had little to fear, and could not escape even if they wanted to.
The Guardian
