Author: Himalaya Post

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said Saturday that he condemned racism as the nation marked the anniversary of deadly unrest triggered by a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. “The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!” Last year’s protests began August 11 and saw hundreds of neo-Nazi sympathizers, accompanied by rifle-carrying men, yelling white nationalist slogans while wielding flaming torches in scenes eerily reminiscent of racist rallies held in America’s South before the Civil Rights movement. They had gathered to protest efforts to remove statues of Confederate leaders, including one of the Confederacy’s top general, Robert E Lee. When the demonstrations continued on August 12, fighting broke out between neo-Nazi supporters and anti-fascists from a black-clad group called Antifa. The violence culminated with a man driving a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman and injuring 19 people. In the immediate aftermath, Trump drew broad criticism when he initially appeared to establish a moral equivalence between the two groups of protesters and refused to criticize the far rightwingers. He did eventually yield to immense political pressure and condemn white nationalism. But just a day later, Trump said there was “blame on both sides” for the violence,...

SAN FRANCISCO – A California jury ordered chemical giant Monsanto to pay nearly $290 million Friday for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that its weed killer Roundup might cause cancer. Jurors unanimously found that Monsanto — which vowed to appeal — acted with “malice” and that its weed killers Roundup and the professional grade version RangerPro contributed “substantially” to Dewayne Johnson’s terminal illness. Following eight weeks of trial proceedings, the San Francisco jury ordered Monsanto to pay $250 million in punitive damages along with compensatory damages and other costs, bringing the total figure to nearly $290 million. Johnson, a California groundskeeper diagnosed in 2014 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a cancer that affects white blood cells — says he repeatedly used a professional form of Roundup while working at a school in Benicia, California. “I want to thank everybody on the jury from the bottom of my heart,” Johnson, 46, said after the verdict. “I am glad to be here; the cause is way bigger than me. Hopefully this thing will get the attention it needs.” Johnson, who appeared to fight back sobs while the verdict was read, wept openly, as did some jurors, when he met with the panel afterward. The lawsuit built on 2015 findings by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the UN World Health Organization, which classified Roundup’s main ingredient glyphosate as...

MANILA – The US military said it had launched a search and rescue operation after reports a marine may have fallen overboard from an American warship as it sailed through Philippine waters. The US 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit said a member, who was not named, may have gone overboard Thursday morning. Aircraft on board the USS Essex are searching waters off the Sulu Sea and the Surigao Strait while multiple searches are also being made inside the ship itself, the unit said. The ship was conducting “routine operations in the Sulu Sea” at the time, the California based unit said in the statement, which was posted on its social media sites.”We remain committed to searching for and finding our marine,” the statement quoted its commander, Colonel Chandler Nelms as saying. “All of our sailors, marines and available assets aboard the USS Essex have been and will continue to be involved in this incredibly important search and rescue operation,” added the search commander, US Navy Captain Gerald Olin. In Manila, Philippine authorities said on Saturday they authorised US ships and aircraft to enter Philippine territory to join in the search, while dispatching their own military search aircraft.”A US marine fell from a US ship while traversing Philippine waters. We allowed the entry of rescue ships and aircraft,” Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters. “As of now there has been no...

DAMASCUS –  Syrian air defences engaged an “enemy target” near the border with Lebanon west of Damascus overnight, state news agency SANA reported on Saturday. “Our air defences confronted an enemy target that penetrated airspace above the area of Deir al-Ashair in the Damascus countryside,” SANA said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air defences reacted to “targets aiming at regime and loyalist positions in Deir al-Ashair” near the Lebanese border. The Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information, did not specify who was reponsible for the attack It said Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which has been backing the Damascus government in Syria’s seven-year civil war, was present in the area.The Russia-backed government often accuses Israel of targeting its military positions. Israel has carried out numerous raids in recent years, targeting government forces and their allies from Iran and Hezbollah. Last week, Syrian air defences confronted another “enemy attack” west of Damascus. Then too the Observatory said it was unable to determine who was responsible.Last month, Syria accused Israel of bombing a military post in the northern province of Aleppo, where the Observatory reported at least nine pro-regime fighters...