Silver Scorpio - International News | Spot News | Top News | Flash News | Live News
(Reuters) – A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska on Sunday, but no widespread threat of a tsunami was seen, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
The earthquake was centered 27 miles west of Nikolski in the Aleutian island chain at a depth of 21.7 miles.
“A widespread destructive tsunami threat does not exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data,” the Center said in an email.
(Reporting by Alan Elsner)
(Reuters) – U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said on Sunday he expected the company to offer a plan later in the day to capture more of the gushing crude.
Politics
Speaking on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Allen said: “We were concerned because if you look at the new flow rate numbers the amount of oil that’s going to be potentially out there at risk, we wanted them to give us a faster plan with greater redundancy and greater reliability to move forward.
“We hope to get an answer on that later on today, in fact we will get an answer.”
Allen also said government scientists would be placing pressure-reading sensors on the seabed on Sunday to more accurately measure the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
“We think we need some independent pressure readings to validate the estimates that have been made by the scientists,” he said.
The latest estimate of the partly contained leak is as high as 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) a day. Allen said the true figure was probably a little less, perhaps around 35,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) a day.
He said he expected BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward to attend a White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday.
“I would expect Tony Hayward to be there,” Allen said.
(Reporting by Alan Elsner; Editing by Eric Walsh)
June 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the BP (BP.L) (BP.N) Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said on Sunday he expected the company to offer a plan later in the day to capture more of the gushing crude.
Speaking on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Allen said: “We were concerned because if you look at the new flow rate numbers the amount of oil that’s going to be potentially out there at risk, we wanted them to give us a faster plan with greater redundancy and greater reliability to move forward.
“We hope to get an answer on that later on today, in fact we will get an answer.”
Allen also said government scientists would be placing pressure-reading sensors on the seabed on Sunday to more accurately measure the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
“We think we need some independent pressure readings to validate the estimates that have been made by the scientists,” he said.
The latest estimate of the partly contained leak is as high as 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) a day. Allen said the true figure was probably a little less, perhaps around 35,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) a day.
He said he expected BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward to attend a White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday.
“I would expect Tony Hayward to be there,” Allen said. (Reporting by Alan Elsner; Editing by Eric Walsh)
WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the BP (BP.L) (BP.N) Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said on Sunday he expected the company to offer a plan later in the day to capture more of the gushing crude.
Speaking on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Allen said: “We were concerned because if you look at the new flow rate numbers the amount of oil that’s going to be potentially out there at risk, we wanted them to give us a faster plan with greater redundancy and greater reliability to move forward.
“We hope to get an answer on that later on today, in fact we will get an answer.”
Allen also said government scientists would be placing pressure-reading sensors on the seabed on Sunday to more accurately measure the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
“We think we need some independent pressure readings to validate the estimates that have been made by the scientists,” he said.
The latest estimate of the partly contained leak is as high as 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) a day. Allen said the true figure was probably a little less, perhaps around 35,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) a day.
He said he expected BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward to attend a White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday.
“I would expect Tony Hayward to be there,” Allen said. (Reporting by Alan Elsner; Editing by Eric Walsh)
June 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the BP (BP.L) (BP.N) Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said on Sunday he expected the company to offer a plan later in the day to capture more of the gushing oil.
Speaking on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Allen said: “We hope to get an answer on that later on today, in fact we will get an answer.”
(Reporting by Alan Elsner; Editing by Eric Walsh)
June 4 (Reuters) – The Pentagon is prepared to help in any way to stop the BP oil spill in the Gulf but has no expertise to do so, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.
“The truth of the matter is we don’t have any expertise in this area,” Gates told reporters on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore.
“We have offered to provide planners with the Coast Guard. We have authorized the mobilization of the National Guard in the four states. Anything, any capabilities that we have, that will help, we are fully prepared to commit to this endeavor.”
“But the truth is… we don’t have any specialized capabilities,” Gates said. (Reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Alan Elsner)
May 31 (Reuters) – The United States said on Monday it deeply regretted the deaths and injuries caused when Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships leading to 10 deaths.
“The United States deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained, and is currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy,” said White House spokesman William Burton. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, editing by Alan Elsner)
WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama will have a joint dinner with 11 heads of state from eastern and central Europe next week while he is in Prague to sign a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, the White House said on Friday.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs did not give the names of the countries or leaders who were invited to attend the dinner.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, editing by Alan Elsner)
WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) – The United States is troubled by comments by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in which he accused the West of trying to weaken him, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Friday.
Gibbs told reporters Washington was seeking clarification from Karzai about his remarks which were a cause for genuine concern. (Reporting by Jeff Mason, writing by Alan Elsner)
WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama intends to “rachet up pressure” on Iran over its nuclear program and believes Tehran is becoming increasingly isolated, he said in an interview aired on Friday.
Obama’s interview with CBS was taped earlier this week. (Reporting by Alan Elsner)
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama intends to “ratchet up pressure” on Iran over its nuclear program and believes Tehran is becoming increasingly isolated, he said in an interview aired on Friday.
Barack Obama
Obama’s interview with CBS was taped earlier this week.
“The idea is to keep turning up the pressure,” Obama said.
He reiterated that if Iran obtained the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons, even if it did not actually make them, this would destabilize the Middle East and trigger a regional arms race.
“We’re going to ratchet up the pressure and examine how they respond but we’re going to do so with a unified international community,” Obama said.
He said the Iranian government had become increasingly isolated internationally since he took office in January 2009.
Obama discussed Iran and other issues with Chinese President Hu Jintao for about an hour on Thursday.
“President Obama underscored the importance of working together to ensure that Iran lives up to its international obligations,” the White House said in a statement after the telephone call.
Officials will begin discussing a new round of sanctions against Iran at the United Nations next week.
Iran says its nuclear program is designed to produce electricity and is entirely peaceful.
(Reporting by Alan Elsner)
(Reuters) – The use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by militant and hate groups grew by almost 20 percent in the past year, a report by the Simon Wiesenthal Center found on Monday.
World | Technology | Media | Natural Disasters
The study, using research by the center and tips from the public, found more than 11,500 social networks, websites, forums and blogs promoting violence, anti-Semitism, homophobia, hate music and “terrorism,” an increase from 10,000 last year.
“The numbers are probably, at the end of the day, multiples of that,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s associate dean who has been researching hate on the Internet since 1995. “That should be taken as a low ball figure.”
Extremists also were heavily promoting online the idea of operating as so-called “lone wolves” rather than as part of a group, the human rights group named after the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal said.
Cooper told a news conference examples of hate on the Internet included videos of extremists appealing for recruits and showing how to make improvised explosive devices. Online games ranged from bombing Haitian earthquake survivors to shooting illegal immigrants and gays. Facebook groups included “national kick a ginger day” and “I love curry bashing.”
“While children are taught that ‘sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you,’ it’s not always true,” Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, from New York, told reporters. “Terrorism and intolerance start with words, but they grow into actions.”
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Alan Elsner)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The dramatic rescue of U.S. cargo ship captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates on Sunday fueled calls for aggressive action to stop attacks off the Horn of Africa, including the arming of merchant vessels.
Others called for called for changes to international law that would make it easier to pursue and try pirates.
“We remain resolved to halt the rise of piracy in this region,” President Barack Obama said in a written statement after the rescue.
“To achieve that goal, we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks, be prepared to interdict acts of piracy and ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes,” he said.
The U.S. Navy ended the five-day ordeal of Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship, by killing three pirates who held him captive on a lifeboat. A fourth pirate was taken into custody.
Phillips was the first American taken captive in a wave of piracy that is rampant off the Horn of Africa, where Somali civil conflict has let the practice flourish for nearly two decades in an atmosphere of poverty and lawlessness.
“We’ve got to figure out a way in an international community to … arm the crews, increase the number of warships that are there on scene (and) reduce the abilities of the Somalis to have ships that are anchored off the coast in a safe haven,” Adm. Rick Gurnon, president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy where Phillips was trained, told a news conference.
ARMING CREWS UNPOPULAR WITH SHIPPING COMPANIES
A military operation may be needed to clear out the pirate bases on land, he said, “I think the international community needs to seriously look at that.”
Republican U.S. Senator Tom Coburn said, “we’re going to have to be much more aggressive” against pirates. Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” he said “a tremendous increase in resources” would be needed and other countries must share the burden.
U.S. military officials expressed caution.
U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen said arming crews remains unpopular with shipping companies, who are concerned about liability or an arms race with pirates.
“That’s not what these mariners are trained to do,” Allen said shortly before the rescue on ABC television’s “This Week.”
He called instead for new international legal agreements to fight piracy, which often involves multiple questions of national jurisdiction.
“What you really have to have is a coordinating mechanism that ultimately brings these pirates to court,” Allen said.
The U.N. Security Council over last year authorized navies to chase pirates into Somalia’s territorial waters and later allowed land operations against pirate havens.
The United States, Britain and the European Union have struck agreements with Kenya for prosecuting captured pirates there, but Kenya has warned that it cannot be the only place for trials.
Vice Admiral William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said the successful U.S. strike could possibly escalate violence. He said the conditions that give rise to piracy — failed governments, lawlessness and poverty — must be wiped out to end the threat.
“The ultimate solution to piracy is on land,” Gortney said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.
(Editing by Alan Elsner)
Copyright © 2013 · eleven40 theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in