bananas
bananas's JournalShell: Port lease is valid, so drill rigs coming to Seattle despite pleas for delay, protests
Source: Associated Press
Royal Dutch Shell is forging ahead with plans to park two Arctic oil drilling rigs in Seattle, despite the city saying it could issue fines in the case and port commissioners asking Shell to wait.
Shell's plan to move the two rigs to Seattle in coming days sets up a showdown between environmentalists and oil exploration advocates and touches off a wider debate about climate change and whether the nation should tap oil and gas reserves in the icy, remote Arctic Ocean off Alaska's coast.
A Shell spokesman said Tuesday it has a valid lease to use about 50 acres of terminal space on Seattle's waterfront and a tight timeline to prepare its fleet for exploratory oil drilling this summer in the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska, so it is sticking to plans to park its drilling fleet on Seattle's waterfront.
"Should Shell bring the rigs to Terminal 5 before the appropriate permits are in place, Seattle's Department of Planning and Development will evaluate the situation and could issue a notice of violation," said Jason Kelly, a spokesman for Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said in an email Wednesday.
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Read more: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/shell-says-it-has-valid-lease-will-move-drill-rigs-to-seattle-despite-delay-request-303564191.html
Mexico Says Bacteria Contaminated Vaccine Blamed in 2 Deaths
Source: Associated Press
Mexico's public health system says a localized bacterial contamination appears to have been responsible for infant vaccine causing the deaths of two babies and the sickening of 31.
The Mexican Institute for Social Security said late Tuesday that 14 babies remain hospitalized, with four of them in grave condition.
The vaccinations for tuberculosis, rotovirus and hepatitis B were administered at a clinic in the impoverished Indian village of La Pimienta in the township of Simojovel in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas.
The agency said tests revealed the presence of several bacteria in the vaccine used, but it did not identify them. It said the bacteria were consistent with the babies' illnesses.
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexico-bacteria-contaminated-vaccine-blamed-deaths-31023599
Iran warns Saudis could "spark a fire" over alleged aid ship
Source: CBS/AP
A senior Iranian military official has warned the Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemeni rebels that blocking an Iranian aid ship bound for Yemen will "spark a fire," as a five-day humanitarian cease-fire appeared to hold early Wednesday after going into effect the day before.
"I bluntly declare that the self-restraint of Islamic Republic of Iran is not limitless," Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, the deputy chief of staff, told Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam state TV late Tuesday.
"Both Saudi Arabia and its novice rulers, as well as the Americans and others, should be mindful that if they cause trouble for the Islamic Republic with regard to sending humanitarian aid to regional countries, it will spark a fire, the putting out of which would definitely be out of their hands."
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In Washington, U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren said the American military is monitoring the cargo ship and warned Iran against "planning some sort of stunt." He said the Iranian naval escort is unnecessary and that Iran should send the ship to Djibouti, where humanitarian efforts for Yemen are being coordinated.
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Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/yemen-iran-saudi-arabia-spark-a-fire-aid-ship/
In exclusive interview, Obama says Iran is a 'state sponsor of terror'
Source: Al Arabiya News
Gulf countries are right to be concerned about Iran as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday, talking exclusively to Asharq al-Awsat, which marks his first ever interview with an Arab newspaper.
“Iran clearly engages in dangerous and destabilizing behavior in different countries across the region. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. It helps prop up the Assad regime in Syria. It supports Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It aids the Houthi rebels in Yemen. So countries in the region are right to be deeply concerned about Iran’s activities, especially its support for violent proxies inside the borders of other nations,” Obama told the newspaper.
The president was speaking ahead of the Camp David on Thursday, in which he will host GCC leaders.
“The countries in the region are right to be deeply concerned about Iran’s activities, especially its support for violent proxies inside the borders of other nations”
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Read more: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/05/13/Obama-says-Iran-is-a-state-sponsor-of-terrorism-.html
Exclusive: Czechs stopped potential nuclear tech purchase by Iran: sources
Source: Reuters
The Czech Republic blocked an attempted purchase by Iran this year of a large shipment of sensitive technology useable for nuclear enrichment after false documentation raised suspicions, U.N. experts and Western sources said.
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Some details of the attempted purchase were described in the latest annual report of an expert panel for the United Nations Security Council's Iran sanctions committee, which has been seen by Reuters.
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A Czech state official and a Western diplomat familiar with the case confirmed to Reuters that Iran had attempted to buy the shipment from Howden CKD in the Czech Republic, and that Czech authorities had acted to block the deal.
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"Such compressors can be used to extract enriched uranium directly from the cascades," Olli Heinonen, former deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a nuclear expert currently at Harvard University, told Reuters.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/13/us-iran-nuclear-czech-exclusive-idUSKBN0NY2K720150513
Nepal quake: Death toll rises; US chopper still missing
Source: NPR
mergency officials in Nepal say at least 76 people have died in Tuesday's earthquake, which hit as the small country is still coping with a prior quake that killed more than 8,000. A U.S. Marine helicopter that had been aiding relief efforts remains missing.
On April 25, a magnitude-7.8 temblor devastated swaths of Nepal. The most recent quake was measured at 7.3, followed by a 6.3 quake half an hour later. Aftershocks continued to strike Wednesday, including at least two that hit shortly after noon, each around magnitude-5.
The American UH-1Y Huey helicopter went missing Tuesday morning local time in a remote mountainous region near Charikot, Nepal, where it had been delivering humanitarian aid. Six Marines and two Nepali soldiers were aboard. Unconfirmed reports suggested the aircraft might have been having fuel problems.
The search for the helicopter has included at least nine flights by two Hueys from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 and two Ospreys from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262, according to a release from the U.S. joint task force in Nepal.
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Read more: http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/05/13/51664/nepal-quake-death-toll-rises-us-chopper-still-miss/
Nuclear regulators want more research on earthquake risk at West Coast plants
Source: Associated Press
Federal regulators Wednesday directed nuclear power plants in California and Washington state to conduct additional, in-depth research into earthquake risks by June 2017, part of a broad review of seismic threats following Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster.
Among commercial U.S. nuclear plants, the Diablo Canyon reactors near San Luis Obispo and the Columbia generating station in Richland, Washington, face "the highest ... hazard" when potential strong shaking is evaluated against the plants' designs, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found.
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Diablo Canyon, which sits within a web of earthquake faults on the California coast, one 650 yards away from the reactors, has faced questions for decades about its ability to withstand a strong earthquake. Last year, a former chief NRC inspector at the plant urged regulators to shut down the reactors until they can determine whether they can withstand shaking from nearby faults, a recommendation rejected by the NRC.
Last year, two Seattle-based groups, Heart of America Northwest and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, called for shutting down the Columbia plant, citing a report by a nuclear power critic on risk posed by a stockpile of spent nuclear fuel and a potential earthquake. Operator Energy Northwest said the report was marred by errors.
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Read more: http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/05/13/51681/nuclear-regulators-want-more-research-on-earthquak/
Doctors to withhold treatments in campaign against 'too much medicine'
Source: Guardian
Doctors are to stop giving patients scores of tests and treatments, such as x-rays for back pain and antibiotics for flu, in an unprecedented crackdown on the “over-medicalisation” of illness.
In a move that has roused fears that it will lead to the widespread rationing of NHS care, the body representing the UK’s 250,000 doctors is seeking to ensure that patients no longer undergo treatment that is unlikely to work, may harm them and wastes valuable resources.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges wants to bring an end to a culture of “too much medicine” in which “more is better” and doctors feel compelled to always “do something”, often because they feel under pressure from the patient, even though they know that the treatment recommended will probably not work.
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The academy – whose 21-member medical royal colleges represent different types of doctors such as GP, surgeons and hospital physicians – has decided to introduce a policy called Choosing Wisely, which is already used in the US, Australia, Germany and other countries. It aims to get doctors to “stop using various interventions that are not supported by evidence, free from harm, and truly necessary”.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/12/doctors-to-withhold-treatments-in-campaign-against-too-much-medicine
Mexico halts vaccines after 2 babies die, 29 sickened from bad vaccines in south Mexico
Just saw this in LBN:
May 12, 2015, 02:24 AM
2 babies die, 29 sickened from bad vaccines in south Mexico
Source: AP
Mexico's public health system has suspended infant vaccines and mounted an investigation after two babies died and 29 were sickened in an impoverished community in southern Mexico.
Six of the 29 babies are in grave condition after receiving vaccinations for tuberculosis, rotovirus and Hepatitis B, which are generally administered between 0 and 6 months, according to a national schedule. The cause of the adverse reactions is not known, the Mexican Institute for Social Security said Sunday.
The institute said it stopped vaccines nationwide on Saturday as a precaution.
The Rev. Marcelo Perez, a Roman Catholic priest, told The Associated Press that families of the babies said they became sick within hours. The adverse reactions started Friday and the babies were being treated in a hospital in Simojovel, Chiapas, where 93 percent of the people live in poverty, 69 percent in extreme poverty, according to government statistics.
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Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/medical/article/2-babies-die-29-sickened-from-bad-vaccines-in-6254645.php
[hr]
1. Locking thread
Story was published by AP on May 10:
http://news.yahoo.com/2-babies-die-29-sickened-bad-vaccines-south-001219314.html
Pentagon report: Chinese ballistic missiles can target nearly the entirety of the US
Source: Business Insider
China now has dozens of nuclear-capable missiles that could target almost the entirety of the US, according to the Department of Defense's 2015 report on the Chinese military.
The annual report to Congress focuses on China's military modernization, possible invasion plans for the self-governing and US-allied island of Taiwan, advances in space technology, and Beijing's rapidly advancing missile capabilities.
China's conventional capabilities are improving. But Beijing also now has what could be considered the ultimate military asset for a rising superpower: the ability to deliver nuclear warheads nearly anywhere on earth (outside of South America, at least).
The following map from the report highlights the maximum missile ranges of China's medium and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The longest-ranging of the missiles, the CSS-4, can target almost the entirety of the US (except for Florida).
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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.in/Pentagon-report-Chinese-ballistic-missiles-can-target-nearly-the-entirety-of-the-US/articleshow/47240874.cms
The report pdf is http://www.defense.gov/pubs/2015_China_Military_Power_Report.pdf
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