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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 2017)
Page 10 The Skanner August 23, 2017 News Navy Dismisses 7th Fleet Commander After Warship Accidents TOKYO (AP) — The commander of the Navy’s Asia-based 7th Fleet was dismissed Wednesday after a series of warship accidents raised questions about its operations in the Pacific. A two-sentence statement issued by the Navy said Adm. Scott Swift, com- mander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, had relieved Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.” The move follows four Navy acci- dents in the Pacific since late January, including two collisions that left sail- ors dead and missing. “While each of these four incidents is unique, they cannot be viewed in isola- tion,” Swift said late Tuesday. He said the Navy will carry out a “deliberate re-set” of all its ships in the Pacific, focused on navigation, me- chanical systems and bridge resource management. It will include training and an expert assessment of each ship. Trump Revisits His Charlottesville Comments in Angry Speech PHOENIX (AP) — President Donald Trump opened his political rally in Phoenix with calls for unity and an assertion that “our movement is about love.” Then he erupted in anger. He blamed the media for the wide- spread condemnation of his response to violence at a Charlottesville, Vir- ginia, protest organized by white su- premacists. And he shouted that he had “openly called for healing, unity and love” in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy and had simply been misrepre- sented in news coverage. He read from his three responses to the racially charged violence — getting more animated with each one. He with- drew from his suit pocket the written statement he’d read the day a woman was killed by a man who’d plowed a car through counter-protesters, but he skipped over the trouble-causing part that he’d freelanced at the time — his observation that “many sides” were to blame. That, as well as his reiteration days later that “both sides” were to blame for the violence that led to the death of Heather Heyer and two state troopers, led Democrats and many Republicans to denounce Trump for not unmistak- ably calling out white supremacists and other hate groups. “You know where my heart is,” Trump told the crowd of thousands shoehorned into the Phoenix conven- tion center. “I’m only doing this to show you how damned dishonest these peo- ple are.” North Korea Photos Suggest New Solid-Fuel Missile Designs TOKYO (AP) — North Korea’s state media released photos Wednesday that appear to show the designs of one or possibly two new missiles. Concept diagrams of the missiles were seen hanging on a wall behind leader Kim Jong Un while he visited a plant that makes solid-fuel engines for the country’s ballistic-missile pro- gram. One of the photos clearly showed a diagram for a missile called “Puk- guksong-3,” which appears to be the latest in its Pukguksong, or Polaris, series. The other was harder to dis- cern, though it carried a “Hwasong,” or Mars, designation name. The photos were carried in the morn- ing edition of the Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party’s newspaper, and released ROYAL MALAYSIAN NAVY VIA AP World News Briefs In this photo released by the Royal Malaysian Navy, a Royal Malaysian Navy sailor scans the sea for missing sailors from the USS John S. McCain off the Johor coast of Malaysia, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017. The commander of the Navy’s 7th Fleet will be removed after a series of warship accidents in the Pacific this year, two U.S. officials said Wednesday. by the Korean Central News Agency just two days after the United States and South Korea began annual mili- tary exercises that the North claims are a rehearsal for war. Tensions on the peninsula generally ratchet up during the maneuvers and a series of larger exercises held each spring. Police: DNA of Headless Torso Matches Swedish Journalist COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A headless torso found on a beach off Copenhagen has been identified as that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who is believed to have died on an amateur-built submarine earlier this month, Danish police said Wednesday. Wall, 30, was last seen alive on Aug. 10 on Danish inventor Peter Madsen’s submarine, which police believe he in- tentionally sank off Denmark’s eastern coast the following day. Madsen, 46, who was then arrested on preliminary manslaughter charges, denies having anything to do with Wall’s disappearance. Her family says that she was working on a story about Madsen. The torso was found on a beach by a member of the public who was cycling on Copenhagen’s southern Amager is- land Monday, near where she was be- lieved to have died. Copenhagen police said Tuesday that her head, arms and legs had “deliberately been cut off ” her body. The cause of the journalist’s death is not yet known, police said, adding they were still looking for the rest of her body. Saudi Police Arrest Teenage Boy for Dancing in the Street DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi police have arrested a 14-year- old boy who was filmed dancing at an intersection in the Red Sea city of Jid- dah. The video, which went viral on so- cial media, shows the boy with head phones and wearing grey sweat shorts, a striped T-shirt and neon green and yellow Crocs on his feet. He is swaying his hips and arms to the 90s hit song “Macarena,” and appears to be smiling and giggling throughout the dance The state-linked Sabq news website quoted Col. Aati bin Attiyah al-Qurashi as saying police arrested the young man and were preparing to refer him to prosecutors for disrupting traffic. Western music and dancing is taboo in Saudi Arabia but such incidents in the past have not necessarily led to lengthy imprisonment or serious pun- ishment.