Nation & World Watch
vWashington: EPA delays chemical storage rule
The Trump administration is delaying a new rule tightening safety requirements for companies that store large quantities of dangerous chemicals. The rule was imposed after a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded in 2013, killing 15 people.
Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, delayed the effective date of the Obama-era rule until June.
Pruitt’s action this week came in response to complaints by business groups that the rule could make it easier for terrorists and other criminals to target refineries and chemical plants by requiring companies to make public the types and quantities of chemicals stored on site.
vWashington: Airlines post more flight delays
U.S. airlines are having trouble keeping flights on time this winter, and they are recording a sharp increase in long delays.
The Transportation Department said Tuesday that 42 flights in January were stuck on the ground so long that the airlines could face fines. That is the highest number of long ground delays in one month since February 2010, shortly before the rule allowing fines took effect.
Only 76 percent of flights on leading airlines arrived on time in January, down sharply from 81.3 percent a year earlier. The government defines on time as arriving within 14 minutes of schedule. Hawaiian, Delta and American had the best on-time ratings. Virgin America had the worst.
vWashington: Top Marine blasts nude photo sharing
Declaring “enough is enough,” the top U.S. Marine on Tuesday told senators that he intends to fix the problem that led to current and former Marines Corps members sharing nude photos of female Marines online and making lewd or threatening comments about them.
But angry and skeptical members of the Senate Armed Services Committee demanded more, saying the military hasn’t done enough to combat sexual assault and harassment despite years of complaints and problems.
Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, vowed to hold Marines accountable through whatever legal and other means possible. He said the scandal may hurt female recruiting and that changes must be made in the Corps’ culture, where some male Marines don’t accept women in the ranks.
vMexico: 250 skulls found in drug cartel burial pits
The top prosecutor in Mexico’s Gulf coast state of Veracruz confirmed Tuesday that more than 250 skulls have been found in what appears to be a drug cartel mass burial ground on the outskirts of the city of Veracruz.
State Prosecutor Jorge Winckler said the clandestine burial pits appear to contain victims of drug cartels killed years ago. In an interview with the Televisa network, Winckler did not specify when the skulls were found or by whom. But they appear to have been found over the course of months.
vSomalia: Pirates hijack freighter off coast
Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker off the coast of Somalia, local officials and an expert said Tuesday, the first such seizure of a large commercial vessel on the crucial global trade route since 2012.
The reported seizure Monday of the Aris 13 came as a surprise to the global shipping industry as patrols by the navies of NATO countries, as well as China, India and Iran, had suppressed Somali pirate hijackings for several years.
The Aris 13, manned by eight Sri Lankan sailors, was carrying fuel from Djibouti to Mogadishu.