Page 4 - aruba-today-20171202

A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 2 december 2017
Attack siren blares in Hawaii for first time since Cold War

By CALEB JONES includes a nuclear attack," sites and media stories.
JENNIFER KELLEHER Gov. David Ige said this The test comes the same
Associated Press week, adding that the pos- week that North Korea
HONOLULU (AP) — A siren sibility of a strike is remote. fired a powerful nuclear-
blared across Hawaii on Fri- Ige said the new test will en- capable intercontinental
day for the first time since sure the public knows what ballistic missile it calls the
the end of the Cold War in they should do in case of Hwasong-15, leading ana-
an effort to prepare tourists an imminent attack. If a lysts to conclude the na-
and residents for a possible missile is launched, resi- tion has made a jump in
nuclear attack from North dents and tourists would its missile capability. The
Korea. have less than 20 minutes weapon would have a
The state is the first to bring to take shelter, officials range of more than 8,100
back the Cold War-era said. miles (13,000 kilometers),
warning system, Hawaii easily reaching the U.S.
emergency management Vern Miyagi, administra- mainland.
officials said. The wailing A Hawaii Civil Defense Warning Device, which sounds an alert tor for Hawaii Emergency
siren sounded for a min- siren during natural disasters, is shown in Honolulu. The alert Management Agency, Hawaii is one of the clos-
ute after the usual testing system is tested monthly, but on Friday Hawaii residents heard said the state delayed the est states to North Korea,
of the steady alert for tsu- a new tone designed to alert people of an impending nuclear test for a month to let peo- and its large military pres-
namis and other natural attack by North Korea. ple know it would be hap- ence could make it more
disasters that Hawaii resi- (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) pening. Hawaii turned to of a target. The island of
dents are used to hearing. public service announce- Oahu is home to U.S. Pacif-
There was little reaction test sounded like a distant perative that we be pre- ments on TV and radio, ic Command, the military's
from people on famous siren. pared for every disaster, town hall meetings, infor- headquarters for the Asia-
Waikiki Beach, where the "We believe that it is im- and in today's world, that mation on agency web- Pacific region. q

Postal regulators move to let stamp prices jump higher

By HOPE YEN tually add millions more Service's stamp rates. It The commission's plan as upgraded information
Associated Press dollars to companies' ship- concluded that the post would give the Postal Ser- technology and new deliv-
WASHINGTON (AP) — ping rates from prescrip- office's mounting red ink vice freedom to raise the ery trucks.
Seeking to bolster the ail- tion drugs to magazine from declining mail volume price of its first-class stamp, The post office could also
ing U.S. Postal Service, subscriptions. and costs from its pension now at 49 cents, by an ad- tack on another 1 percent
federal regulators moved The Postal Regulatory and health care obliga- ditional 2 percent above to the stamp price if it met
on Friday to allow bigger Commission announced tions hamper the ability to the rate of inflation to help certain standards for "op-
jumps to stamp prices be- the decision as part of a provide reliable mail and avoid bankruptcy and erational efficiency" and
yond the rate of inflation, much-anticipated, 10- package service in the make needed multi-billion quality service.
a move that could even- year review of the Postal digital age. dollar investments, such In all, that could translate
to an increase of up to
a few cents each year,
depending on rates of in-
flation, compared with
roughly 1 cent per year
previously. The new pricing
system would be in place
for at least the next five
years.
Businesses immediately
voiced objections, calling
the regulatory plan "disap-
pointing."
"The more-than-doubling
over 5 years at current in-
flation rates proposed by
the commission would be
harmful to postal custom-
ers and the Postal Service,"
said Art Sackler, manager
of the Coalition for a 21st
Century Postal Service, a
broad trade group that
includes mailers such as
Amazon and the National
Retail Federation. He said
higher stamp rates could
drive more price-sensitive
consumers to online com-
munications, decreasing
postal revenue further.
"Once mail leaves, it rarely
comes back," he said.q