HONOLULU – Federal regulators are proposing to ban swimming with dolphins in Hawaii, a move that could imperil one of the Aloha State’s most popular tourist activities and the industry that has sprung up around it.
The National Marine Fisheries Service says spinner dolphins – the playful nocturnal species that humans in Hawaii routinely frolic with – are being deprived of rest during the day and becoming stressed out.
Swimming with dolphins is popular with visitors and some locals, with dozens of companies on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and the Big Island operating dolphin tours daily.
The proposed rule could shut down or greatly disrupt the industry as it now operates.
WASHINGTON – The FBI is investigating cyber intrusions targeting reporters of The New York Times and is looking into whether Russian intelligence agencies are responsible for the acts, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
The cyberattacks are believed to have targeted individual reporters, but investigators don’t believe the newspaper’s whole network was affected, according to the official, who was briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey signaled Tuesday it would step up its engagement in the Syrian war, as Turkish-backed Syrian rebels massed along the border to assault one of the last Syrian frontier towns held by Islamic State militants.
Foreign Minister Mevlet Cavusolgu pledged “every kind” of support for operations against ISIS along a 62-mile stretch of Syrian frontier, putting the NATO member on track for a confrontation with U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, who have been the most effective force against IS and who are eyeing the same territory.
UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called on the international community to renew its commitment to eliminate weapons of mass destruction as technological advances make it cheaper and easier for terrorist groups to produce and deliver materials for making the weapons.
Ban, speaking at a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council, said much good work has been done to curb the production of WMDs.
But he said technological advances have made it easier for terrorist groups to gain access to the materials needed for making such weapons.
Associated Press
