Rain, tornado threat don’t deter hundreds of protesters in Ferguson
Rain, tornado threat don’t deter hundreds of protesters in Ferguson
FERGUSON, Mo. — Pounding rain and tornado watches didn’t deter hundreds of protesters Monday outside Ferguson police headquarters, where they stayed for almost four hours to mark how long 18-year-old Michael Brown’s body was left in a local street after he was fatally shot by police.
Nearly 20 people were arrested — including scholar and civil rights activist Cornel West — and some protesters used a bullhorn to read the names of people killed by police nationwide. The rally was led by clergy members on a third straight day of protests in the St. Louis suburb where Brown was unarmed when he was fatally shot on Aug. 9.
Protests have been common since Brown, who was black, was killed by a white police officer. But tensions escalated last week when a white police officer in nearby St. Louis shot and killed another black 18-year-old, Vonderrit Myers Jr., who police say shot at officers before he was killed.
Turkey: No new deal with US on using air base against Islamic militants
ANKARA, Turkey — NATO allies Turkey and the United States differed Monday on where they stand on the use of a key air base, with Turkish officials denying reports from the United States that there was a new agreement on its use for operations against Islamic State militants.
The impasse suggests that major differences remain between the two sides. Turkey has said it won’t join the fight against the extremists unless the U.S.-led coalition also goes after the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, including establishing a no-fly zone and a buffer zone along the Turkish border.
The United States has been pressing Turkey to play a larger role against the Islamic militants, who have taken control of large swaths of Syria and Iraq, including territory on Turkey’s border, and sent refugees fleeing into Turkey.
U.S. officials said again Monday that Turkey would let U.S. and coalition forces use its bases, including Incirlik air base, which is within 100 miles of the Syrian border, for operations against the Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
Pentagon chief warns that climate change could bring big challenges for military
AREQUIPA, Peru — Rising sea levels and other effects of climate change will pose major challenges for America’s military, including more and worse natural disasters and the threat that food and water shortages could fuel disputes and instability around the world, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday.
Addressing a conference of military leaders as the Pentagon released a new report on the issue, Hagel said, “Our militaries’ readiness could be tested, and our capabilities could be stressed.”
U.S. military officials have long warned that changes in climate patterns, resulting in increased severe weather events and coastal flooding, will have a broad and costly impact on the Defense Department’s ability to protect the nation and respond to natural and humanitarian disasters in the United States and around the globe.
Tirole wins Nobel Prize for showing how best to regulate industry giants
U.S. consumers might be paying less than they are for cable and Internet access if regulators had followed the guidance of Jean Tirole in promoting industry competition.
So say experts in assessing the work of Tirole, a 61-year-old Frenchmen who won the Nobel Prize in economics Monday for showing how to encourage better products and competitive prices in industries dominated by a few companies.
“He has given us an instruction manual for what tool to use in what market,” said Torsten Persson of the prize committee. “Politicians would be stupid not to take his policy advice.”
They haven’t always listened.
Joshua Gans, management professor at the University of Toronto, says U.S. regulators didn’t follow Tirole’s advice to require cable and phone companies to sell competitors access to “the last mile” of cable connecting homes to telecommunications networks. Instead, giants such as Comcast and Time Warner now control the last mile.
By wire sources