North Korea could respond to Donald Trump’s threats of military action by testing a powerful nuclear weapon in the Pacific Ocean, the country’s foreign minister has said, hours after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, said the US president would “pay dearly” for threatening to destroy the regime.
Ri Yong-ho, who is due to address the UN general assembly at the weekend, told reporters in New York: “It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific. We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong-un.”
Ri was speaking after Kim said that he was considering retaliating at the “highest level” after Trump warned that the US would “totally destroy North Korea” if it was forced to defend itself or its allies.
Trump's pick for chemical safety chief called 'voice of the chemical industry'
Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee chemical safety at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) faces questions over his history as a close ally to the chemical industry and suitability to be its chief regulator.
Michael Dourson, the nominee, founded a consultation group in 1995, the Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, a private evaluation nonprofit organization that tests chemicals and produces reports on which chemicals are hazardous in what quantities. […]
Dourson’s views toward industry are consistent with others Trump has selected as top federal regulators. Among them is the EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, who in March overruled the findings of his agency’s own scientists to reverse an effort to ban chlorpyrifos, one of the nation’s most widely used pesticides.
Puerto Rico battered by Hurricane Maria: 'Devastation – it's everywhere'
After hours of hurricane-force winds and torrential rain, Puerto Ricans emerged from hurricane shelters on Thursday morning to find that their island was still under threat from landslides, flash floods and crippled water and electricity systems.
Hurricane Maria – the worst storm to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years – felled trees, smashed buildings and tore roofs from homes. Chest-deep floodwaters forced people to use boats, paddleboards or jetskis to seek medical help or reach family and friends.
“Devastation – it’s everywhere,” Carlos Mercader, a spokesman for Puerto Rico’s governor, told the Guardian. “It’s total devastation.”
The Washington Post
Roy Moore disrupts U.S. Senate race in Alabama — and prepares for new level of defiance in Washington
With the thunder and fire of an old-time revivalist, U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore rose before the assembled souls at the Redemption Baptist Church, a front-runner in the polls days out from an election that could rattle the rickety structures of the Republican Party.
“You think that God’s not angry that this land is a moral slum?” asked Moore, 70, reciting a rhyming poem he had written years earlier during a 50-minute address before several dozen believers. “How much longer will it be before his judgment comes?”
Republican primary voters across the country have been trying since 2010 to elect angry outsider candidates who promise to disrupt the ways of Washington. But no one in recent history has promised to be quite as disruptive as Moore, a former chief justice of Alabama who was twice removed from the bench for defying judicial orders.
Tens of millions of Americans could lose Obamacare tax credits because thousands of Alaskans won’t
American politics is always a math problem. If you have a group of xpeople, you need (x/2) + 1 votes to win the most votes. That holds true for most elections pitting two candidates against each other, and it holds true for passing legislation.
In the case of Cassidy-Graham, the clumsily named bill that is the latest and last iteration of Republican efforts to gut the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, the x is 100 — the number of votes in the Senate. Thanks to two quirks of the process, the legislation would pass with just (x/2) votes, with the +1 being added by VPOTUS-ex-machina Mike Pence. (The other quirk is that, under the rules that only apply until Sept. 30, the bill can’t be filibustered.) […]
“New AARP Public Policy Institute projections find that the per enrollee cap proposal in [the bill] will cut between $4.5 billion and $11 billion from total (federal and state) Medicaid spending in Alaska over the 20-year period between 2017 and 2036,” it reads — clearly hoping that Murkowski would read those words and decide to cast a no vote.
Administration unlikely to brief senators on Iran deal until after certification decision
The Trump administration is unlikely to brief senators about the Iran nuclear deal until the president has decided whether Tehran is complying with its terms, according to correspondence cited by a senior congressional aide.
Senior Senate Democrats have been urging the administration to send the secretary of state, the director of national intelligence, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and potentially the energy and treasury secretaries, to Capitol Hill sometime before Oct. 6 to brief senators about Iran’s behavior under the nuclear deal. That is the last day senators will be in Washington before President Trump’s Oct. 15 deadline to certify whether Tehran is compliant.
But in correspondence with congressional leaders, senior National Security Council officials said it would be “highly unlikely” that they could orchestrate such a briefing before late October, or even early November.
The Los Angeles Times
In Mexico, scenes of both desolation and hope as death toll reaches 274
Mexico’s larger tragedy continued to unfold as rescuers in three states, battling grinding fatigue and mountains of rubble, raced against time, keenly aware of ever-dwindling odds of finding people alive beneath the debris after Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 temblor.
The overall confirmed fatality count was expected to climb as more bodies were recovered. Rescuers at sites across the sprawling metropolis of Mexico City used search dogs and calls to the cellphones of those trapped to try to pinpoint the location of anyone who had survived two nights under the remains of damaged buildings. […]
Shows of solidarity were everywhere. On Thursday morning, volunteers armed with shovels lined up near the rescue site to relieve those who had been moving rubble all night. Other volunteers handed out coffee, sandwiches and chilaquiles — a popular Mexican breakfast dish — to dust-covered rescuers.
Mexicans aren't counting on the government to rescue them. They're saving themselves
In the moments after the earthquake, they didn’t cower, they mobilized.
By the tens of thousands, volunteers streamed toward the Mexico City neighborhoods most damaged by Tuesday’s violent temblor. Some carried shovels, others hauled donations of food and water. Many simply offered up two good hands.
They weren’t public authorities or professionals. They were ordinary Mexicans who knew from experience that during a crisis such as an earthquake, it’s better to do things yourself than to rely on the government for help.
Facebook will provide ads bought by Russian company to congressional committees investigating Trump ties
Responding to mounting pressure to reveal details about Russian-paid propaganda on its platform, Facebook said it would share more than 3,000 ads linked to Russia with congressional panels investigating foreign meddling in the 2016 election.
The move announced Thursday is a reversal for Facebook, which previously only showed staffers on Capitol Hill snippets of the ads before taking them back, citing user privacy. Facebook had given the ads and other information to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is also looking into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. But the company has been facing growing calls to assist congressional investigators after first publicly acknowledging on Sept. 6 that it had accepted at least $100,000 in Russia-linked ads.
Reuters
Hack of Wall Street regulator rattles investors, lawmakers
Wall Street’s top regulator came under fire on Thursday over its cyber security and disclosure practices after admitting hackers had breached its database of corporate announcements in 2016 and may have used it for insider trading.
The breach involved the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR filing system, which houses market-moving information with millions of filings ranging from quarterly earnings to statements on acquisitions.
The SEC said on Wednesday evening it discovered in August that cyber criminals might have used a hack detected in 2016 to make illicit trades.
State funding changes in spotlight in Republican healthcare bill
Republican leaders sought to nail down the final votes needed to pass what U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday called their “last best chance” to repeal Obamacare while a new analysis underscored how Democratic-leaning states stand to lose large amounts of federal funding under the legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to bring the bill introduced by fellow Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy to a vote next week, as his party seeks to make good on seven years of promises to erase Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement.
With no Democratic support for the bill, Republicans remain a handful of votes short in the Senate, needing 50 votes in a 100-seat chamber they control 52-48, with Pence casting a potential tie-breaking vote. Senator Rand Paul opposes it and at least six others are undecided: John McCain, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan, Rob Portman and Jerry Moran.
Asked whether the legislation will pass, Pence said, “We’ll see. We’re close.”
Russia says will target U.S.-backed fighters in Syria if provoked
Russia warned the United States on Thursday it would target U.S.-backed militias in Syria if Russian troops again came under fire, as the United States disclosed an unusual face-to-face meeting between U.S. and Russian generals meant to avoid such clashes.
The Russian warning underscored growing tensions over Syria between Moscow and Washington. While both oppose Islamic State (IS), they are engaged, via proxies, in a race for strategic influence and potential resources in the form of oilfields in eastern Syria’s Deir al-Zor province.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had taken up positions on the eastern banks of the Euphrates with U.S. special forces, and twice had opened fire with mortars and artillery on Syrian troops who were working alongside Russian special forces.
BBC News
Brexit: PM bids to break deadlock with two-year deal offer
Theresa May will tell EU leaders there is a shared responsibility to make Brexit work "smoothly" as she attempts to break the deadlock in negotiations.
In a major speech in Florence on Friday, she will say history will judge Brexit "not for the differences we faced, but for the vision we showed".
The BBC understands she will propose a two-year transitional deal, after March 2019, ahead of a permanent trade deal. It could include payments worth 20bn euros over the two years.
Justin Trudeau: Canada humiliated indigenous people
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his United Nations platform to address Canada's historic failings regarding indigenous people.
He said the country's legacy of colonialism and its lasting impact on First Nations Canadians was one of "humiliation, neglect and abuse". Mr Trudeau took power in 2015 promising to fix the country's relationship with aboriginal peoples. […]
The prime minister used his 30 minutes on Thursday at the General Assembly to reaffirm his commitment to reconciliation. "Canada is not a wonderland where the difficulties others face do not exist," Mr Trudeau said. "Canada is a work in progress."
Kenya election: Poll body delays re-run by nine days
Kenya's new presidential election has been delayed to 26 October, after the country's polls commission sought more time to reform voting processes.
The re-run had originally been scheduled for 17 October.
The move came as President Uhuru Kenyatta accused the country's Supreme Court, which annulled the first vote, of staging a "coup" against the people.
Observers fear Kenya's political temperature is rising, reviving fears of political violence.
The Seattle Times
Seismic Neglect: The earthquake nightmare public officials are failing to confront
By the early 1990s, Washington state officials knew the full scope of the Northwest's earthquake menace. It went from something like a magnitude 6.8 quake that shakes for up to 40 seconds to something 2,000 times more powerful, a potential magnitude 9.0 quake that would shake for up to five minutes…
Yet Washington lags nearly all other quake-prone states in policies to reduce the risk, with, for example, no seismic-safety laws for schools, hospitals and other vulnerable buildings, according to a policy analysis this year.
Magnitude 9.0 earthquakes strike the Northwest about every five centuries. But some were only 200 years apart – and it's been 316 years since the last one.
The Big One will shake the entire Pacific Northwest for four to five minutes, longer than the five biggest quakes in Washington's recorded history combined. Communities will lose power and remain dark for weeks. Some 14,600 people could perish in Washington and Oregon, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
It's likely to be one of the worst disasters the United States has ever faced.
Oregon geologists warn of potential landslides in wildfire-scarred Columbia Gorge
Geologists for the state of Oregon are warning of the risk of major landslides in parts of the Columbia River Gorge that were hit by wildfires this year.
A new report released Thursday focuses on areas of the Gorge that are highly susceptible to landslides — which also happen to overlap with some of the areas hit by this year’s wildfires.
“When an area like this has a wildfire, it actually increases the susceptibility,” said Bill Burns, an engineering geologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. He is one of Oregon’s top experts on landslides and the author of the new report.
Houston Chronicle
Sen. Ted Cruz says flood control will be a priority in Congress
Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that Congress will make flood control and mitigation a focal point of efforts to rebuild after Hurricane Harvey, citing the Addicks and Barker reservoirs as potential projects that could be targeted for upgrades.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan, who toured the Houston area with Texas Sens. Cruz and John Cornyn and other lawmakers, said the next round of funding for disaster relief could come as soon as next month.
But Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, did not commit to funding a long-sought coastal barrier that area officials say would protect the region from massive storm surges.
Mayor, council clash over Harvey debris removal questions
City Council members under pressure from constituents to remove the thousands of piles of Hurricane Harvey wreckage on Houston curbs spent Wednesday morning shouting over each other about the topic before delaying a proposal Mayor Sylvester Turner said is needed to meet the city's goal of trucking 150,000 cubic yards of that debris to landfills each day.
Houston had removed a total of 400,000 cubic yards of debris by Tuesday night, the mayor said, noting the ongoing struggle to draw enough trucks into service. The difficulty is partly because the region is competing with a similar cleanup in Florida and partly because the debris removal rate the city had received through competitive bidding before Harvey proved too low to attract subcontractors.
Miami Herald
We got through Irma. And now the king tides are coming.
On the heels of Hurricane Irma and just as Hurricane Maria began battering already ravaged islands in the Caribbean, South Florida is getting another meteorological reminder of the region’s vulnerability to rising tides.
Just a week after Irma littered streets, knocked out power and damaged properties, the initial round of this fall’s king tides rose this week. The debris from Irma challenged cleanup crews who had to pick up large loads of refuse and unclog storm drains to deal with the tides’ higher water, while scientists observed the flooding and gathered data.