GovernmentNews
Flashback: The Tamar Rescue Mission
New York Air National Guard Airmen from the 103rd Rescue Squadron jumped from an HC-130 search and rescue plane of the 102nd Rescue Squadron 1,300 miles east into the North Atlantic on April 24, 2017 to aid two badly burned crewman on board the Slovenian-owned ship the Tamar. The incident on board the Tamar began early in the morning of April 24 when an explosion in a storeroom on the ship, which was built in 2010, killed one seaman and...
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UN Program Organizes Crackdown on Containerized Smuggling
According to the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, a recent international operation to crack down on containerized drug shipments netted 5,800 kilos of cocaine in 14 separate seizures around the globe. 44 countries and 52 seaports participated in the two-week enforcement operation, "Sports Bag-2," which was held under the UNODC-World Customs Organization (WCO) Container Control Programme (CCP). In particular, the sting targeted "rip on and rip off" trafficking - the contamination of legitimate containerized shipments with drugs, often packed...
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Rand: Navy's Shipboard Posts May Have Higher Risk of Sexual Assault
In 2014, the Rand Corporation launched a comprehensive survey of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the U.S. military. Over the intervening years, it has released additional details from the survey, and on Friday it disclosed command-level statistics. The new report reveals a striking pattern: almost all of the U.S. Navy commands with the highest estimated risk of sexual assault against women are aboard ship. "Of the 15 highest-risk installations for Navy women, 13 are ships or clusters of ships ....
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Photos: Coast Guard Intercepts Smugglers off Puerto Rico
On Thursday, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Joseph Tezanos turned over three suspected smugglers and about $3.5 million in cocaine to the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The mission started Saturday night when an HC-144 patrol aircraft spotted a go-fast vessel moving towards Puerto Rico without any lights on. The Tezanos diverted to intercept the boat and deployed its small boat to chase down the craft. During the chase, the HC-144 aircrew saw the...
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Video: U.S. Coast Guard Rescues Injured Sea Turtle
A U.S. Coast Guard boat crew rescued an injured sea turtle on Tuesday about two miles off Plantation Key, Florida. Watchstanders with Coast Guard Station Islamorada received a call at about 1400 reporting an injured sea turtle in the water. The station launched a 24-foot shallow water boat to respond to the scene. The boat crew arrived at about 1430 hours and took the turtle on board, with assistance from a Florida Fish and Wildlife boat crew. They brought the turtle to shore and transferred it to...
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Japan Conducts Submarine Drill in South China Sea
Japan has conducted its first peace-time submarine drill in the South China Sea. The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force submarine Kuroshio, commanded by Captain Yasuteru Ueta, along with the helicopter carrier Kaga and two destroyers, Inazuma and Suzutsuki, conducted the drill last Thursday and then made a port call at Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay earlier this week. It was the first call by a Japanese submarine at the strategically important port since World War II. In response to the drill, China...
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U.S. Industry Groups Organize to Oppose Tariffs
The American Petroleum Institute, the American Association of Port Authorities, the National Retail Federation and a wide array of business associations are banding together to voice their opposition to the Trump administration's escalation of tariffs on Chinese goods. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the imposition of 10 percent tariffs on an additional $200 billion in imports from China, including consumer goods like electronics, food, toys and furniture. The tariff rate on this list is set to expand to...
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U.S. Accuses Russia of Violating Sanctions on N. Korea
On Monday, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused Russia of deliberately flouting U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea's nuclear program, then working to hide its actions. "Russia is actively working to undermine the enforcement of the Security Council’s sanctions on North Korea. Its violations are not one-offs. They are systematic," she alleged in an address to the Council. "Russia has not simply looked the other way as its nationals and entities engage in activities explicitly prohibited...
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Bill to Address Trafficking in Seafood Supply Chain Introduced in U.S.
U.S. Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam) introduced the “Human Trafficking and IUU Fishing Act” (H.R.6834) on Monday. The bill, with Representatives Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS), and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) as original cosponsors, would add the Secretary of Commerce (NOAA Fisheries) to the President’s existing Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, in response to the growing prevalence of human trafficking, forced labor and human rights...
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Canada to Assess Shipping's Impact on Coastal Marine Ecosystems
Transport Canada has awarded a contract to ESSA Technologies to look at ways of assessing the cumulative impacts of marine shipping on coastal marine ecosystems. The $95,000 initiative will involve collecting data from six pilot sites: Northern British Columbia, Southern British Columbia, the St. Lawrence River (Quebec), the Bay of Fundy (New Brunswick), the South Coast of Newfoundland, and Cambridge Bay (Nunavut). In August, Canada's Minister of Transport Marc Garneau announced an investment of over $175 million in seven measures...
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