May
30
2013
A Japanese firm has stopped selling luxury pet food made from endangered fin whales, following a campaign by conservation groups.
Michinoku Farm, based in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo, had advertised jerky-like snacks for dogs made from North Atlantic fin whales imported from Iceland. The treats were removed from its website hours after protests from four groups, including the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) in the US.
Michinoku’s president, Takuma Konno, …
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May
30
2013
LAX’s runway expansion plans were already facing legal action by community groups and even neighboring governments (Culver City, for one). Now comes the Service Employees Union United Service Workers West, which says it will file a California Environmental Quality Act challenge in court this afternoon.
The expansion, mainly a 260 foot taxiway that will split the airport’s northern runways and put air traffic just a little closer to residents in Westchester and Playa del Rey, is …
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May
30
2013
The nation’s largest private student lender, Sallie Mae, is cleaving itself into two companies — a move that will create a new home for more than $100 billion of student loans amid broad concerns from federal authorities and consumer advocates that graduates hobbled by debt are increasingly falling behind on their payments.
The overhaul by Sallie Mae is playing out as college students, facing persistent unemployment and a sluggish economy, are defaulting on their loan payments …
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May
30
2013
A group of about a 100 college students and activists gathered to protest at the annual shareholders meeting of Christiana-based Sallie Mae this morning.
As of 10:30 a.m., the group gathered outside the front gates of the company headquarters and were sitting behind a line of Delaware state troopers.
Demonstrators said they believe the nation’s largest provider of student loans has saddled recent college students with too much debt, and they also take issue with the company …
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May
30
2013
PHOENIX (AP) — A mother from Arizona has a Wednesday court appearance where her family said lawyers will question key witnesses in an attempt to prove she did not smuggle marijuana on a passenger bus.
The arrest of Yanira Maldonado, 42, has prompted outrage in the U.S. among politicians and her family members, who say she was set up when her bus was stopped at a military checkpoint last week and authorities found nearly 12 pounds …
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May
30
2013
Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus will take a new job with investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. as he attempts to rebuild his reputation after an extramarital affair with a biographer triggered his resignation as CIA director last fall.
Petraeus, 60, will serve as chairman of the New York firm’s newly created KKR Global Institute. He was CIA director from September 2011 until last November. Before that, Petraeus served more than 37 years in …
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May
30
2013
What led an FBI agent, or some other law enforcement official, to shoot and kill an unarmed man in Orlando, Florida? The man, Ibragim Todashev, was being questioned about the Boston bombing, as well as an unsolved 2011 triple murder that he may or may not have confessed to committing. Does that sound sketchy? Don’t blame me. Once he died, law enforcement started releasing anonymous, conflicting explanations so dubious that they warrant an inquiry all …
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May
30
2013
Beginning at 10:30 PM Pacific Time Wednesday, workers at dozens of Seattle fast food locations began striking, launching the nation’s seventh work stoppage by fast food employees in eight weeks. Organizers expect workers from chains including McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, Arby’s, Chipotle, Qdoba and Jack in the Box to participate in the walkout, which will last roughly twenty-four hours.
“I’m sick of seeing my co-workers and me essentially get pushed and pushed and barely …
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May
29
2013
(Reuters) – Kenya’s power grid failed on Tuesday, plunging east Africa’s biggest economy into a nationwide power blackout, sole power distributor Kenya Power said.
Kenya Power supplies 1,250 megawatts of power to over 2 million customers connected on the national grid, against a demand of 1,700 megawatts, with most of the fuel generated from hydro power stations run by KenGen.
The company said two transmission lines failed carrying 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity from a …
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May
29
2013
WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department said Wednesday that a non-approved strain of genetically engineered wheat has been discovered in an Oregon field, a potential threat to trade with other countries that have concerns about genetically modified foods.
Dr. Michael Firko of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said a farmer discovered the genetically modified plants on his farm and contacted Oregon State University, which notified USDA early this month.
There is no genetically engineered wheat …
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