Coast Guard: Fire extinguished on platform in Gulf of Mexico ADVERTISING Coast Guard: Fire extinguished on platform in Gulf of Mexico A fire broke out on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico early Thursday, forcing four workers
Coast Guard: Fire extinguished on platform in Gulf of Mexico
A fire broke out on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico early Thursday, forcing four workers to evacuate by lifeboat before the blaze was extinguished. There were no injuries and inspectors found no sign of pollution, authorities said.
The blaze was reported about 2:30 a.m. on a platform about 80 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and was extinguished nearly four hours later, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The four workers were rescued by the crew of the 130-foot Mary Wyatt Milano, a supply vessel, the Coast Guard said. They were flown to a hospital in Houma to be evaluated, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said in a statement.
The company that owns the platform, Renaissance Offshore LLC, has suspended oil production on it and a second platform it owns, the statement said, adding that 17 oil wells associated with the two platforms were similarly “shut in” before the workers were evacuated.
Company and government inspectors confirmed that no oil is leaking into the water from either the platform or the wells, said Renaissance spokesman Oliver Marsh.
2 killed in car bombing in Turkish city; 2 attackers dead
IZMIR, Turkey (AP) — Suspected Kurdish militants on Thursday opened fire at police who stopped them at a checkpoint in the western city of Izmir before detonating their explosives-laden vehicle, the province’s governor said. A policeman and a courthouse employee were killed in the attack while two assailants were shot dead.
Gov. Erol Ayyildiz said preliminary indications pointed to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has carried out a string of attacks in the past year and a half, mainly targeting Turkey’s security forces. Islamic State militants have also carried several deadly attacks in the country.
“The information so far suggests it is the PKK. Such a conclusion was reached after we assessed the attack and ID’d the people,” Ayyildiz said.
The governor did not refer to earlier reports that a third attacker was on the run.
Ayyildiz said the attackers were carrying two automatic rifles, rocket launchers and eight hand grenades.
Despite Syria truce, car bomb kills 10 in Assad stronghold
BEIRUT (AP) — A large explosion rocked a Syrian government-held coastal town on Thursday, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens — an attack that was a stark remainder of the prevailing insecurity in the war-torn country despite a nearly week-old cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey.
The explosion shook a main street in Jableh, in the coastal Latakia province, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad and the heartland of Syria’s Alawites, a Shiite offshoot to which Assad’s family also belongs.
It was the first such large-scale bombing since the cease-fire was agreed on last week, to prepare the way for peace talks between Assad’s government and opposition in Kazakhstan later this month.
Videos from the scene of the blast, which state media said was a car bomb, show extensive damage to shops lining a commercial street near the town’s municipal stadium. Blood pooled on the pavement and several cars lay charred or overturned as fire fighters scrambled to put out fires.
Qusay al-Khalil, the head of the local hospital, said the blast also severely wounded at least 30 people. “The explosion shook the town,” he told state TV, adding that it prompted a state alert at his hospital.
Hate-crime charges filed in attack on mentally disabled man
CHICAGO (AP) — Four black people were charged with hate crimes Thursday in connection with a video broadcast live on Facebook that showed a mentally disabled white man being beaten and taunted, threatened with a knife and forced to drink from a toilet.
The assault went on for hours, until Chicago police found the disoriented victim walking along a street, authorities said.
The suspects, who were jailed, can be heard on the video using profanities against white people and President-elect Donald Trump.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said investigators initially concluded that the 18-year-old man was singled out because he has “special needs,” not because he was white, although Guglielmi acknowledged the suspects made “terrible racist statements.”
It’s also possible that the suspects were trying to extort something from the victim’s family, police said.
Trump selects former Sen. Coats for top intelligence post
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a role that would thrust him into the center of the intelligence community that Trump has publicly challenged, a person with knowledge of the decision said Thursday.
Coats served as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee before retiring from Congress last year. If confirmed by the Senate, he would oversee the umbrella office created after 9/11 to improve coordination of U.S. spy and law enforcement agencies.
The person with knowledge of Trump’s decision was not authorized to discuss the pick publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Since winning the election, Trump has repeatedly questioned intelligence officials’ assessments that Russia interfered with the election on his behalf. On Friday, senior intelligence officials will brief Trump on the findings of a full report into the Russian hacking of Democratic groups. The report was ordered by President Barack Obama, who was briefed on the conclusions Thursday.
Vice President Joe Biden said an unclassified version will be released next week and will show evidence that the Russians tried to hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump’s campaign rival. In an interview with “PBS NewsHour,” Biden said the report will also show “there was wider hacking than some people thought.”
Trump is using campaign-style name-calling on Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is shifting the name-calling that helped drive his campaign victories over “lyin,’” “low energy” and “crooked” opponents to the legislative arena, where he’s now mocking Democrats as “clowns” trying to escape blame for a troubled health care law.
“The Democrats, led by head clown Chuck Schumer, know how bad Obamacare is and what a mess they are in,” Trump tweeted Thursday. The GOP-led Congress is seeking to overturn President Barack Obama’s signature policy but is far from unified behind a replacement.
It was the second time in as many days that Trump directed the insult at Democrats, and a clear sign he doesn’t intend to conform to the often, but not always, polite decorum of Washington-speak.
Democratic Senate leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, an adept message crafter and negotiator in his own right, retorted:
“Republicans should stop clowning around with America’s health care. Don’t #MakeAmericaSickAgain.”
