Appeals court refuses to stop oil in Dakota pipeline

Appeals court refuses to stop oil in Dakota pipeline

BISMARCK, N.D.

An appeals court on Saturday refused a request from two American Indian tribes for an “emergency” order that would prevent oil from flowing through Dakota Access pipeline.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit means the $3.8 billion pipeline to move North Dakota oil to a distribution point in Illinois could be operating as early as Monday, even as the tribes’ lawsuit challenging the project moves forward.

The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes have challenged an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg not to stop final construction of the pipeline, and they wanted the appeals court to halt any oil flow until that’s resolved.

Death toll rises to 72 in Peru rains, flooding, mudslides

LIMA, Peru

The intense rains, overflowing rivers, mudslides and flooding being experienced in the country are the worst seen in in two decades, Peruvian authorities said Saturday, affecting more than half the nation as the death toll since the beginning of the year hits 72.

Prime Minister Fernando Zavala on Saturday updated the number of dead to 72 in comments to local radio station RPP.

The government says 374 people were killed in 1998 during a similar period of massive rains and flooding caused by rains blamed on the El Nino climate pattern.

The rains have overwhelmed the drainage system in the cities along Peru’s Pacific coast, and the health ministry has started fumigating around the pools of water that have formed in the streets to kill mosquitoes that carry diseases such as dengue.

Somalia blames Saudi-led coalition for deadly strike

MOGADISHU, Somalia

Somalia’s government on Saturday blamed the Saudi-led coalition for Friday’s attack on a boat that killed at least 42 Somali refugees off the coast of war-torn Yemen, calling the assault by a military vessel and a helicopter gunship “horrific.”

Somalia urged the United States-supported coalition to investigate. The boat was packed with dozens of refugees, some of them women and children.

“What happened there was a horrific and terrible problem inflicted on innocent Somali people. The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen is responsible for it,” Somalia’s foreign minister, Abdisalam Omer, said on state-run radio.

No-protectionism pledge dropped by top economies

BADEN-BADEN, Germany

The world’s top economic powers dropped a pledge to oppose trade protectionism amid pushback from the Trump administration, which wants trade to more clearly benefit American companies and workers.

Finance ministers from the Group of 20 countries meeting in the southern German town of Baden-Baden issued a statement Saturday that said only that countries “are working to strengthen the contribution of trade” to their economies.

By comparison, last year’s meeting called on them to resist “all forms” of protectionism, which can include border tariffs and rules that keep out imports to shield domestic companies from competition.

The statement from the G20 finance ministers and central bankers helps set the tone for further global economic cooperation.

Associated Press