US will take action on Syrian chemical attacks if UN doesn’t
US will take action on Syrian chemical attacks if UN doesn’t
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned Wednesday that the Trump administration will take action against chemical attacks in Syria that bear “all the hallmarks” of President Bashar Assad’s government if the U.N. Security Council fails to act.
Haley urged the council at an emergency meeting to immediately approve a resolution drafted by the U.S., Britain and France that condemns and threatens consequences for the use of chemical weapons, especially in Tuesday’s attack that killed dozens of people in rebel-held Idlib province.
“There are times at the United Nations when we are compelled to take collective action,” she said. “When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action.”
“For the sake of the victims, I hope the rest of the council is finally willing to do the same,” she added.
Haley spoke after Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced Moscow’s opposition to the draft resolution. She called it “categorically unacceptable” because “it runs ahead of the investigation results and names the culprit, Damascus.”
Will Bill O’Reilly survive advertiser defections?
NEW YORK (AP) — The rapid defection of advertisers this week from Bill O’Reilly’s show because of sexual harassment allegations raises what once seemed an unthinkable question: Can O’Reilly survive at Fox News Channel?
In just the few days since The New York Times reported that Fox News’ most popular prime-time host and his employer have paid $13 million to five women to settle allegations he mistreated them, some 20 advertisers have said they don’t want their products associated with O’Reilly’s show, drugmaker Eli Lily and Coldwell Banker among the latest. Others include Mercedes-Benz, Bayer and Allstate.
The companies appeared to be acting on their own, to the surprise of advocacy groups that usually orchestrate such campaigns.
“This is a surprisingly quick and strong exodus of advertisers,” said Jane Hall, a professor at American University’s School of Communication and a former Fox media analyst.
The key will be whether the advertisers that backed out will stand their ground. It’s not uncommon for a company to abandon a show at the first sign of controversy, then slip back a few weeks later when things quiet down.
Thousands of defects found on oil train routes
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — When a freight train derailed in the Montana town of Culbertson, spilling 27,000 gallons of crude oil, investigators blamed the 2015 accident on defective or missing fasteners used to hold the tracks in place.
The previous year, cracks in a track that went unrepaired caused a train hauling oil to come off the rails and explode along the James River in Lynchburg, Virginia. Broken bolts were cited in another oil train derailment and fire last year in Mosier, Oregon.
Data obtained by The Associated Press shows that tens of thousands of similar safety defects were found when government inspectors checked the rail lines used to haul volatile crude oil across the country. The defects included rails that were worn, bolts that were broken or loose or missing, and steel bars that had cracks.
Such flaws are not uncommon across the nation’s 140,000-mile freight rail network. But these nearly 24,000 imperfections drew heightened attention because of a surge in recent years of domestic energy production that has increased rail shipments of oil and the number of major derailments.
The inspectors also noted failures by railroads to quickly fix problems identified through inspections.
Warnings but no action preceded deadly flood in Colombia
MOCOA, Colombia (AP) — People were caught off guard when a devastating flash flood surged through a small city in southern Colombia, but not everyone was surprised.
Government agencies, land use experts, and environmental organizations had said for years that Mocoa could face dangerous flooding. Many who lived in the most vulnerable areas were aware of the warnings, even if they didn’t heed them. And yet the city continued to spread into the floodplains west of downtown.
“Unfortunately, in Colombia we don’t have a good assessment of risk, or good land use policies to prohibit people from settling in areas like these,” said Marcela Quintero, a researcher with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, one of the organizations that raised the alarm about deforestation in the area.
Mocoa was vulnerable because of its location, amid a confluence of rivers in the wet subtropical Amazon region of southern Colombia. The danger had grown worse as trees were cut for cattle ranching and other agriculture, removing protection against flooding and landslides. Then came an influx of new residents, many fleeing violence from the government’s long fight with guerrilla forces.
When a month’s worth of rain fell in a single night late Friday and early Saturday, the long-predicted disaster had arrived.
Dems elevate attacks as Supreme Court showdown nears
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats elevated their attacks against President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Wednesday, portraying him as an ally of the powerful and an enemy of the weak as an explosive showdown loomed on the Senate floor. Republicans defended Judge Neil Gorsuch, accusing Democrats of trying to block him out of frustration over Trump’s election victory.
“Democrats would filibuster Ruth Bader Ginsburg if President Donald Trump nominated her,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., naming one of the more liberal sitting justices. “There is simply no principled reason to oppose this exceptional, exceptional Supreme Court nominee.”
Democrats begged to differ, returning again and again to McConnell’s decision last year to deny consideration to then-President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, who was ignored for nearly a year by Senate Republicans after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Instead McConnell kept Scalia’s seat open, a calculation that is now paying off hugely for Republicans and Trump, who will be able to claim the biggest victory of his presidency to date if Gorsuch is confirmed on Friday as expected.
“For the first time in history, we are considering a nominee for a stolen Supreme Court seat, and that alone should be reason for everyone who cares about this institution to turn down this nominee,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said on the Senate floor as he wrapped up a 15-and-a-half-hour overnight talk-a-thon to underscore his party’s opposition to Gorsuch. “This is an extreme nominee from the far right who doesn’t believe in the fundamental vision of ‘We the People.’”