World/Nation
Rail spill prompts evacuation of thousands
MARYVILLE, Tenn. - A CSX train car carrying hazardous material derailed and caught fire in the middle of the night in eastern Tennessee, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people and sending dozens to the hospital with respiratory issues and nausea.
The fire was still burning around noon Thursday, and officials said firefighters had been unable to get close to the burning car because of the heat. Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell said there were also concerns that the fumes contained cyanide, a byproduct of burning the chemical acrylonitrile, which was leaking from the train car. The smoke had stopped by 6 p.m., however, Mitchell said.
About 5,000 people in the area were being evacuated, along with several businesses. A manufacturing plant, Denso Manufacturing, closed down Thursday morning because of its proximity to the derailment, Blount County firefighter Kermit Easterling said.
Officials said firefighters had been trying to hose down neighboring rail cars and keep them cool while also trying to move them away from the flames.
The damaged car was carrying liquid acrylonitrile, which officials said is a hazardous material used in multiple industrial processes including making plastics. It's flammable and it's dangerous if inhaled. The EPA said some effects of breathing acrylonitrile include headaches, dizziness, irritability and rapid heartbeat.
BP agrees to huge settlement in Gulf oil spill
NEW ORLEANS - Trying to close the books on the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, BP agreed Thursday to provide billions of dollars in new money to five Gulf Coast states in a deal the company said would bring its full obligations to an estimated $53.8 billion.
Federal and state government officials touted the record-breaking $18.7 billion agreement as a historic milestone in the Gulf Coast's recovery. The Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 rig workers and spewed millions of gallons of crude that stained beaches, coated wildlife and polluted marshes.
BP also gets a valuable return: Much of the payments, to be made over the next 18 years, could be tax-deductible. And by finally providing shareholders with a clearer cost picture, the London-based oil giant will be freer to embark on new ventures.
"This allows us to manage BP as an oil company," BP CEO Bob Dudley said, noting BP could launch as many as 20 major new projects by 2020, depending on oil prices.
The Justice Department said Thursday's agreement would be the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history as well as the largest-ever civil settlement with a single entity. Civil claims by the five Gulf states and the federal government were, by far, the largest unresolved piece of BP's financial obligations for the spill.
Counterterrorism strategy coming under criticism
WASHINGTON - At the CIA's Counter-terrorism Center, it was a cause for celebration: Meticulous intelligence analysis backed by Hellfire missiles had paid off, once again.
The CIA launched a drone strike last month on a Yemeni beach at three men it determined were al-Qaida militants. One of them turned out to be Nasser al-Wahishi, about as important a figure as agency man-hunters could hope to eliminate. He had been both al-Qaida's second in command and the leader of the group's dangerous Yemeni affiliate.
American officials touted the death as a big victory. But did the demise of another senior extremist, the latest in a long line to be taken off the battlefield, make the United States and its allies any safer?
To many experts, including a growing number of former Obama administration national security advisers, that proposition is less convincing by the day.
With al-Qaida and the Islamic State group enjoying safe havens across parts of Yemen, Syria and Iraq, and with terror attacks on the rise worldwide, doubts are growing about the effectiveness and sustainability of the administration's "light footprint" strategy against global extremist movements. A template predicated on training local forces and bombing terrorists from the air is actually making the situation worse, some say. Many are arguing for deeper U.S. involvement, if not with regular ground troops, then at least with elite advisers and commandos taking more risks in more places.
Catholic leaders call for courage from GOP field
ANKENY, Iowa - Roman Catholic leaders in the early voting state of Iowa implored candidates for president Thursday to take up Pope Francis' call for "profound political courage" by focusing their campaigns as much on improving the environment and income inequality as they have on opposing gay marriage and abortion in past elections.
The vocal pivot from such traditional social issues marks the first time U.S. Catholic bishops have publicly asked those seeking the White House to heed the admonitions of Francis' June encyclical, said Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines.
In Francis' major teaching document, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics called for a "sweeping revolution" to correct a "structurally perverse" economic system that allows the rich to exploit the poor and has turned the Earth into an "immense pile of filth."
"These are going to be difficult decisions that have to be made," said the Rev. Bud Grant of Davenport, joined at a news conference by bishops from central and eastern Iowa. "Politicians have to have the courage to do the right thing, and not necessarily the politically expedient thing."
- The Associated Press