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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2017
WORLD IN BRIEF
Associated Press
Pyongyang challenge: Should US
shoot Kim’s missiles down?
SEOUL, South Korea — With North Korea threatening to send
a salvo of ballistic missiles close to Guam, a U.S. military hub in
the Pacific, pressure could grow for Washington to put its multi-
billion-dollar missile defense system into use and shoot them out
of the air.
If U.S. territory is threatened, countermeasures are a no-brainer.
But if the missiles aren’t expected to hit the island — the stated
goal is to have them hit waters well offshore — should it? Could it?
It’s not an easy call.
North Korea claims it is in the final stages of preparing a plan
to launch four intermediate-range ballistic missiles over Japan and
into waters off the tiny island of Guam, where about 7,000 U.S.
troops are based and 160,000 U.S. civilians live.
Guam is a launching point for U.S. strategic bombers that
the North, virtually flattened by U.S. bombs during the 1950-53
Korean War, sees as particularly threatening. U.S. bombers have
flown over the Korean Peninsula several times to show American
strength after Pyongyang’s missile tests.
As North plans missile launch,
US, S. Korea ready war games
SEOUL, South Korea — Military officials said Friday they
plan to move ahead with large-scale U.S.-South Korea exercises
later this month that North Korea, now finalizing plans to launch
a salvo of missiles toward Guam, claims are a rehearsal for war.
The exercises are an annual event, but come as Pyongyang says
it is readying a plan to fire off four Hwasong-12 missiles toward the
tiny island, which is U.S. territory and major military hub. The plan
would be sent to leader Kim Jong Un for approval just before or as
the U.S.-South Korea drills begin.
Called Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, the exercises are expected
to run from Aug. 21-31 and involve tens of thousands of Ameri-
can and South Korean troops on the ground and in the sea and air.
Washington and Seoul say the exercises are defensive in nature and
AP Photo
In this image made from video, pedestrians walk beneath
portraits of Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, at Kim Il
Sung square in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday. Despite
tensions and talk of war, life on the streets of the North
Korean capital Pyongyang remained calm.
crucial to maintaining a deterrent against North Korean aggression.
The exercises were scheduled well before tensions began to
rise over President Donald Trump’s increasingly fiery rhetoric and
North Korea’s announcement of the missile plan, which if carried
out would be its most provocative launch yet. Along with a big-
ger set of maneuvers held every spring, the exercises are routinely
met by strong condemnation and threats of countermeasures from
North Korea.
While tensions typically spike around the dates of the exercises
— North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test just days after last
year’s maneuvers — the situation generally calms afterward as
the North needs to focus on its farms and the approach of the fall
harvest.
Poll: Most say time to end effort
to repeal Obama health law
WASHINGTON — Message to President Donald Trump and
congressional Republicans: It’s time to make the Obama health
care law more effective. Stop trying to scuttle it.
That’s the resounding word from a national poll released Fri-
day by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The survey was
taken following last month’s Senate derailment of the GOP drive to
supplant much of President Barack Obama’s statute with a dimin-
ished federal role in health care.
Around 4 in 5 want the Trump administration to take actions
that help Obama’s law function properly, rather than trying to
undermine it. Trump has suggested steps like halting subsidies
to insurers who reduce out-of-pockets health costs for millions
of consumers. His administration has discussed other moves like
curbing outreach programs that persuade people to buy coverage
and not enforcing the tax penalty the statute imposes on those who
remain uninsured.
Just 3 in 10 want Trump and Republicans to continue their drive
to repeal and replace the statute. Most prefer that they instead move
to shore up the law’s marketplaces, which are seeing rising premi-
ums and in some areas few insurers willing to sell policies.
Ominously for the GOP, 6 in 10 say Trump and congressional
Republicans are responsible for any upcoming health care prob-
lems since they control government. That could be a bad sign for
Republicans as they prepare to defend their House and Senate
majorities in the 2018 elections.
Google CEO Pichai cancels
‘town hall’ on gender dispute
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Google CEO Sundar Pichai has can-
celed an internal town hall meant to address gender discrimination
on Thursday after employee questions for management began to
leak online from the company’s internal messaging service.
Pichai said in an email to staff that several Google employees
became fearful for their safety and grew concerned about being
outed for speaking up at the town hall.
He said the company will aim to create several other forums
“where people can feel comfortable to speak freely.” Pichai’s
email was sent about an hour before the event was to start Thurs-
day afternoon.
The town hall was meant to hear out employee grievances over
a flareup that has consumed Google for much of the week. It began
last weekend after engineer James Damore circulated a memo that
claimed biological gender differences helped explain why women
are underrepresented at the company.
Salmon: Environmental groups call the request a publicity stunt
Continued from Page 1
The irrigators association
is frustrated with court rulings
it says favor fish over people,
claiming the committee could
end years of legal challenges
over dams on the Columbia
and Snake rivers and bring
stability for irrigators, power
generators and other busi-
nesses that rely on the water.
Environmental groups call
the request a publicity stunt
and say it could hurt fishing
companies and others that
rely on healthy runs of fed-
erally protected salmon and
steelhead.
Hope in Trump
The association sees hope
in a series of pro-industry
environmental decisions by
President Donald Trump. His
administration has rescinded
an Obama-era rule that would
shield many small streams and
other bodies of water from
pollution and development,
enacted policies to increase
coal mining on federal lands
and proposed giving West-
ern states greater flexibility
to allow development in hab-
itat of sage grouse, a threat-
ened bird.
Darryll Olsen, association
board representative, said the
irrigators requested the com-
mittee during former Pres-
ident Barack Obama’s ten-
ure but got nowhere. He said
the Trump administration
has been encouraging during
talks, leading to a formal
request last month for a meet-
ing with Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke.
“What we’re asking for is
that the secretary give direc-
tion to the (Interior) Depart-
ment to work with us to review
the steps for implementing the
God squad,” Olsen said.
Zinke can gather the com-
mittee, which he would chair
and would include other natu-
ral resource agencies, such as
the U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency. It also would
include representatives from
Washington state, Oregon,
Idaho and Montana.
If five of the federal com-
mittee members agree, they
could exempt federal agen-
cies from Endangered Spe-
cies Act requirements for one
or more of the thirteen species
of salmon and steelhead listed
since the early 1990s.
Meeting soon
The irrigators group, which
has 120 members growing
food crops in Washington state
and Oregon, expects to meet
with Zinke soon, Olsen said.
Interior
spokeswoman
Heather Swift said in an email
that the agency could not com-
ment on a committee that had
not been formed and that she
had no information about Zin-
ke’s meetings.
Joseph Bogaard, executive
director of a coalition of con-
servation, commercial, sport
fishing and business groups
called Save Our Wild Salmon,
blasted the irrigation associa-
tion’s request.
“It’s a terrible idea that
will deliver great harm to
the people and businesses of
the Pacific Northwest,” said
Bogaard, whose coalition
relies on the fish to produce
millions of dollars of revenue.
A federal judge ruled last
year that the government had
not done enough to improve
salmon runs despite spend-
ing billions of dollars and
urged it to consider removing
four dams on the lower Snake
River.
Todd True, a lawyer with
the environmental law firm
Earthjustice who represented
some plaintiffs in that 2016
ruling, said the God squad
request should go nowhere.
“There isn’t any basis
to convene the commit-
tee because there are reason-
able alternatives to save the
fish,” he said, pointing to the
dam removal option. “Their
removal would be a big step
forward.”
Fish counts
This year, fish counts at
dams on the Columbia and
Snake rivers have been well
below the 10-year average,
which biologists blame on
droughts in 2014 and 2015 and
warming ocean conditions.
Various
results
have
emerged the three times the
God squad has convened. It
refused to grant an exemp-
tion for a Tennessee dam in
the 1970s over a fish called
the snail darter. Regarding
crane protection in the Mid-
west, a settlement was reached
before the panel offered a
decision.
In 1992, it voted to side-
step protections for the north-
ern spotted owl and allow the
Interior Department to sell
timber on land in Oregon.
September 9, 2017
www.racetothebar.com
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A competitor goes diving for a dig during an 18 and under match at the Seaside beach
volleyball tournament on Thursday.
Seaside: Brothers will be back next year
Continued from Page 1A
“I feel like we have more
chemistry because we know
each other,” said Erik, who
started playing volleyball in
his high school physical edu-
cation class.
“It’s pretty fun because
we see each other every day,”
Max said.
But sometimes it is harder
for family members to control
their emotions when mistakes
are made.
“As brothers we get more
on each other,” Max said.
However, the two learned to
work well together and move
on after errors to get ready for
the next play, Erik said.
They said they have learned
a lot during the beach volley-
ball tournament and will be
back next year.
Who: You (walker or runner)
What: 5K walk/run or 10K run, followed by a bonfire on
the beach
When: 5:30 p.m., Sept. 9, 2017
Where: Peter Iredale Shipwreck at Fort Stevens State Park,
Warrenton, Oregon
How: Register online at www.RaceToTheBar.com.
Cost: $40 before Aug. 24, includes a shirt. $45 on Aug.
24 or later
Help to provide hospice care for those in need.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Seaside beach volleyball tournament kicked off this
week as teams from across the country gathered to com-
pete in what is billed as the largest tournament of its kind
in the world.
2111 Exchange Street, Astoria, Oregon • 503-325-4321
www.columbiamemorial.org • A Planetree Designated ® Hospital