Troubled waters

October 28, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

A US Navy warship pushes back against China’s redistricting of the South China Sea.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

To read this post and thousands more articles, subscribe today!

A US Navy warship sailed past one of China's artificial islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday, in a challenge to Chinese sovereignty claims that drew an angry protest from Beijing, which said the move damaged US-China relations and regional peace. China's Foreign Ministry said authorities monitored and warned the USS Lassen as it entered what China claims as a 12-mile territorial limit around Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands archipelago, a group of reefs, islets, and atolls where the Philippines has competing claims.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday that the United States plans to step up its attacks against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, possibly escalating American action on the ground. The US has done some special operations raids in Syria. Carter did not say under what circumstances the US might act on the ground on its own, but said "once we locate them, no target is beyond our reach." Carter's testimony described a changing approach to the fight against the Islamic State group, focusing largely on Raqqa, the militants' declared capital in Syria, and Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq.

For the third time in seven years, General Motors is recalling cars that can leak oil and catch fire, in some instances damaging garages and homes. The recall, which covers 1.4 million vehicles dating to the 1997 model year, is needed because repairs from the first two recalls didn't work. More than 1,300 cars caught fire after they were fixed by dealers, the company said. The latest recall, mainly in North America, includes: the 1997-2004 Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Regal; the 2000-2004 Chevrolet Impala; the 1998 and 1999 Chevrolet Lumina and Oldsmobile Intrigue; and the 1998-2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. All have 3.8-liter V6 engines.

Aware of the influence of the gun lobby, and inaction in Congress, police chiefs from across the United States are demanding universal background checks for firearms purchases, citing support from the majority of American people in opinion polls. Senior law enforcement officials at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago link access to firearms to an uptick in homicide rates across urban areas in the US this year.

For thousands of years, a large percentage of the world’s carbon stores have been safely locked in permafrost, the frozen layer of soil and organic matter that covers much of the planet’s northernmost latitudes. But as temperatures rise and some permafrost melts, that carbon is being released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide at an alarming rate. For some ancient permafrost, about half its carbon could decompose in just one week after a thaw, according to a new study by the US Geological Survey, which analyzed 35,000-year-old permafrost soils found in Alaska and Siberia known as yedoma.

On what would have been his 157th birthday, Theodore Roosevelt got a statue. The 7-1/2-foot likeness of the 26th president of the United States was installed outside the mansion in Buffalo, N.Y., where he was sworn into office in 1901, following the assassination of President William McKinley. The statue was unveiled Tuesday.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

Are you sure?

Forgot to add folder?

Tags Error