It is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site. And now federal budget cuts known as sequestration may interfere with the cleanup efforts being carried out by the 9,000 men and women who work there. Some Republicans have accused President Barack Obama of exaggerating the impact of recent budget cuts for political reasons, but the impact is real for the 244 Hanford workers who received pink slips on Monday. Another 2,000-plus received furlough notices, meaning they’ll …

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WASHINGTON — Facing budget cuts under congressional sequestration, the federal agency overseeing mine safety is planning to severely cut back its efforts to litigate cases against companies that have been charged with breaking mine safety laws.

A backlog of fines issued by the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has persisted for years, with coal and mineral companies still owing the feds some $70 million for health and safety violations on their properties. MSHA …

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After years of negotiation, the UN General Assembly is to vote on the first treaty to regulate the global trade in conventional arms.

Progress on the treaty, which is expected to be passed by a majority, was delayed by major arms exporters like the US, which only approved the idea in 2009 after Barack Obama was elected president.

Opposition from three states under existing arms sanctions – Iran, North Korea and Syria – prevented the treaty being …

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(Reuters) – Six New York politicians were arrested for their alleged role in a bribery scandal in which a prominent Democrat paid top Republicans for permission to run on their ticket in the city’s upcoming mayoral race, prosecutors said.

Democratic state Senator Malcolm Smith and five Republicans connected to the bribery scandal were arrested on Tuesday morning, an official at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan said.

Prosecutors described the scheme as an attempt to game the …

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Alan Hays, a Republican state senator in Florida, likened Sharia law to a “dreadful disease” requiring vaccination to protect Americans.

The Council on American Islamic Relations, a civil liberties advocacy organization for Muslims, posted a clip Friday of Hays invoking disease prevention when asked to provide an example of a foreign law that had stripped the rights of Americans in United States courts:

When you were a child, did your parents have you …

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CERRO RICO DE POTOSI, Bolivia — “There isn’t a man on this mountain who wants his children to work here,” Pablo Choque says as he prepares for his shift as a driller.

Above us towers 15,800-foot Cerro Rico — literally the “Rich Mountain” — the greatest silver deposit ever known.

Locals have another name for it: The Mountain that Eats Men.

In its 17th century heyday, armies of indigenous and African slaves died here as the ore they …

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Canada’s information commissioner has confirmed that her office will investigate allegations that the federal government is muzzling its scientists.

The office of Suzanne Legault has concluded that a complaint made by Democracy Watch and the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Clinic in February falls within its mandate, wrote Emily McCarthy, assistant information commissioner, in a letter released Monday by Democracy Watch, an Ottawa-based non-profit organization that advocates for government accountability.

The letter, dated March 27, added that …

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A deputy editor for the major establishment newspaper, the Washington Post, has written a column that belatedly marks the tenth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq while at the same time claiming he has learned a “lesson” that leads him to conclude there is a need for US intervention in Syria.

Jackson Diehl concedes he is like other Iraq War supporters, who now push for more US involvement in Syria, but he sociopathically argues:

…

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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said that he will release all political detainees, as tensions ease following recent agreements with South Sudan.

“Today, we announce a decision to free all the political prisoners and renew our commitment to all political powers about dialogue,” Bashir said in a speech opening a new session of parliament on Monday.

“We confirm we will continue our communication with all political and social powers without excluding anyone, including those who are armed, …

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Activists and relatives of around 90 Yemeni detainees held in Guantanamo Bay have protested outside the US embassy in the capital in Sanaa to demand the prisoners’ release after more than a decade in detention.

Rights activist and protester Abdel-Rahman Barman said during Monday’s demonstration that conditions at the prison were “very poor” and that at least two of the men there were on hunger strike.

Yemenis make up the largest contingent of the 166 detainees held …

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