Author: Sunfire

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Dow Chemical is pushing the Trump administration to scrap the findings of federal scientists who point to a family of widely used pesticides as harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species.

Lawyers representing Dow, whose CEO also heads a White House manufacturing working group, and two other makers of organophosphates sent letters last week to the heads of three Cabinet agencies. The companies asked them “to set aside” the results of government studies the companies contend are fundamentally flawed.   Continue reading “Pesticide maker tries to kill risk study”

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — No matter what variation of the ‘n-word’ is spoken, a Florida state senator is learning the term is still offensive as Democrats and Republicans admonish him for using it during an exchange with two African-American colleagues.

Republican Sen. Frank Artiles tried to say his use of the word was actually “niggas” and explained that’s the way people speak in Hialeah, the city near Miami where he grew up. Even as he apologized on the Senate floor Wednesday, he said that his intention in using it was benign.   Continue reading “No inoffensive way to say the “n-word,” Fla. senator learns”

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SEATTLE (AP) — Thursday marks marijuana culture’s high holiday, 4/20, when college students gather — at 4:20 p.m. — in clouds of smoke on campus quads and when pot shops in legal weed states thank their customers with discounts.

his year’s edition provides an occasion for pot activists to reflect on how far their movement has come, with recreational pot now allowed in eight states and the nation’s capital, as well as a changed national political climate that could threaten to slow or undermine their cause.   Continue reading “AP Explains: The origins of 4/20, marijuana’s high holiday”

RT

The US, unlike the UN, is the ultimate guarantor of human rights, says John Hajjar of the American MidEast Coalition for Trump. However, we see the bad results of US world policing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, argues investigative journalist Rick Sterling.

US military commanders are now being given free rein on the battlefield by the Trump administration.   Continue reading “Can US be policeman, judge, jury and executioner of the world?”

RT

The Iraqi unit targeted on Sunday in a chemical weapons attack in Mosul was hosting embedded foreign military specialists, according to officials and media reports. American and Australian troops were unharmed by the toxic agent used by Islamic State.

The attack in western Mosul was the second in two days. According to CBS News, 25 people required medical treatment in the aftermath, which is significantly larger than the figure voiced earlier by Iraqi officials. Earlier reports said six soldiers were sent to a field hospital after having breathing problems.   Continue reading “US, Aussie advisers caught in ISIS chemical attack against Iraqi troops in Mosul”

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YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) — From the wind-swept deck of a massive aircraft carrier, Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday warned North Korea not to test the resolve of the U.S. military, promising it would make an “overwhelming and effective” response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons.

Pence, dressed in a green military jacket, said aboard the hulking USS Ronald Reagan that President Donald Trump’s administration would continue to “work diligently” with allies like Japan, China and other global powers to apply economic and diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang. But he told the sailors, “as all of you know, readiness is the key.”   Continue reading “US VP Pence warns North Korea: ‘The sword stands ready’”

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BEIRUT (AP) — The evacuation of thousands of Syrians from four besieged areas resumed Wednesday, state media and activists said, days after a bombing killed more than 120 evacuees and delayed the widely criticized population transfer.

The Central Military Media says 3,000 residents of two pro-government villages, Foua and Kfarya, left Wednesday in 45 buses bound for government-controlled Aleppo. Another 11 buses carrying some 500 people, including opposition fighters, left Madaya and Zabadani, near Damascus, heading toward the northern rebel-held Idlib province.   Continue reading “Syria resumes reciprocal evacuations after deadly bombing”

RT

Despite a surge in US shale production, the average cost for a barrel of Brent crude may rise by $10 by the end of the year, according to US investment banking multinational Citigroup, as cited by Bloomberg.

Citi analysts say the increase in US shale production should be offset by extending production curbs agreed between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major exporters led by Russia.   Continue reading “Oil to reach $65 by year-end if OPEC sticks to production cuts – Citi”

RT

The leader of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) is in talks with Al-Qaeda about a possible alliance, Iraq’s Vice President Ayad Allawi said, citing information from Iraqi and other regional sources.

“The discussion has started now… There are discussions and dialogue between messengers representing Baghdadi and representing Zawahiri,” Allawi told Reuters, adding that it is currently unclear how exactly the two groups may operate together.  Continue reading “ISIS in talks with Al-Qaeda, Iraqi vice president warns”

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LEONARDTOWN, Md. (AP) — A Black Hawk helicopter crashed onto a golf course in Maryland during a routine training flight, killing one crew member and injuring the two others on board, the U.S. Army said.

The cause of the Monday crash is under investigation, the Army Military District of Washington said in a statement. One witness described pieces falling from the aircraft and another said it was spinning before it went down.   Continue reading “Army helicopter crashes into golf course; 1 dead, 2 injured”

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VARNER, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas officials vowed to carry out a double execution later this week after the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a setback to the state’s plan to resume capital punishment for the first time in nearly 12 years with a ruling sparing an inmate just minutes before his death warrant was set to expire.

The court’s decision was the second time Don Davis has been granted a reprieve shortly before execution — he came within hours of death in 2010. It capped a chaotic day of legal wrangling in state and federal courts Monday as Arkansas tried to clear obstacles to carrying out its first executions since 2005.   Continue reading “Arkansas vows to keep pushing for executions despite setback”

RT

The US army has deployed dozens of troops to Somalia to train forces fighting Al-Shabab Islamist militant group in the largest deployment of troops to the country since 1993, when 18 US soldiers died in a battle dramatized in the movie Black Hawk Down.

A US military official told Voice of America that the team will train-and-equip Somali and AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) forces, with the mission expected to last until the end of September.   Continue reading “US army makes largest deployment of troops to Somalia since ‘Black Hawk Down’”

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PANMUNJOM, South Korea (AP) — Viewing his adversaries in the distance, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the tense zone dividing North and South Korea and warned Pyongyang that after years of testing the U.S. and South Korea with its nuclear ambitions, “the era of strategic patience is over.”

Pence made an unannounced visit to the Demilitarized Zone at the start of his 10-day trip to Asia in a U.S. show of force that allowed the vice president to gaze at North Korean soldiers from afar and stare directly across a border marked by razor wire. As the brown bomber jacket-clad vice president was briefed near the military demarcation line, two North Korean soldiers watched from a short distance away, one taking multiple photographs of the American visitor.   Continue reading “Pence calls US commitment to South Korea ‘iron-clad’”

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — The journalist arrested at a Tax Day protest at President Donald Trump’s signature Las Vegas hotel has been released from jail. KLAS Vice President and General Manager Lisa Howfield said photojournalist Neb Solomon was freed Saturday night, hours after he was arrested while covering the off-Strip protest.

Las Vegas police said Solomon was uncooperative and refused to provide his personal identification information at the scene. He was then booked into Clark County jail on two misdemeanors, including trespassing and obstructing an officer.   Continue reading “Vegas journalist arrested at Trump rally released from jail”

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Authorities in several states were on the lookout Monday for a man police say shot a Cleveland retiree collecting aluminum cans and then posted video of the apparently random killing on Facebook.

“He could be nearby. He could be far away or anywhere in between,” FBI agent Stephen Anthony said on Day 2 of the manhunt for Steve Stephens, a 37-year-old job counselor for teens and young adults. Police said Stephens killed Robert Godwin Sr., a 74-year-old former foundry worker, on Sunday.   Continue reading “Manhunt expanded for suspect in Facebook video killing”

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BEIJING (AP) — Beijing is willing to work with Washington on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program but wants a peaceful solution to the escalating conflict, Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump in a phone call Wednesday.

Xi’s comments came after Trump tweeted that China should do more on an issue that Washington sees as an increasingly urgent threat, or else the U.S. would go it alone. China’s calls for calm come as tensions have risen with the dispatch of a U.S. aircraft carrier to the area and the deployment of thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry for their biggest-ever joint military exercises.   Continue reading “Xi stresses China’s North Korea concerns in talk with Trump”

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CHICAGO (AP) — After people were horrified by video of a passenger getting dragged off a full United Express flight by airport police, the head of United’s parent company said the airline was reaching out to the man to “resolve this situation.”

Hours later on Monday, his tone turned defensive. He described the man as “disruptive and belligerent.” By Tuesday afternoon, almost two days after the Sunday evening confrontation in Chicago, CEO Oscar Munoz issued his most contrite apology yet as details emerged about the man seen on cellphone videos recorded by other passengers at O’Hare Airport.   Continue reading “United pledges to review policies on removal of passengers”

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine troops battling militants on a central resort island killed a young Abu Sayyaf commander who was involved in the beheadings of two Canadians and a German and who had sailed far from the extremists’ southern jungle hideouts to capture more hostages, the military chief said Wednesday.

Military chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Ano said that troops recovered and identified the remains of Moammar Askali at the scene of the battle in a coastal village on Bohol island. Five other Abu Sayyaf gunmen, three soldiers and a policeman also were killed in Tuesday’s clashes.   Continue reading “Philippines: Militant chief involved in beheadings is killed”