Why Investors Shun Nigeria’s Oil Industry

BY SEBASTINE OBASI

VANGUARD, AUGUST 22, 2017

Ibe Kachikwu

FOREIGN investors appear to be finding Nigeria’s oil industry unattractive due to the high cost of production, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, stated.

Speaking at the 2017 annual conference of National Association Energy Correspondents, in Lagos, Kachikwu decried the high cost of oil production in the country which has made cost of foreign direct investment, FDI, very expensive.

 The minister, who put the cost of producing a barrel of oil at $32, however, said that government is expediting action to bring down cost of production to $15 per barrel to significantly bring down cost of FDI. The minister noted that the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, has been structured to fully turn around the petroleum sector and make it attractive to investors.

 Kachikwu deplored the challenging security issues and funding gap in the area of refinery which according to him have delayed takeoff of refinery projects even after licenses have been issued. He regretted that after the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has issued about 40 licenses only two projects are currently being developed.

The minister was however optimistic that the PIGB will bring about fiscal regime that is flexible, promote gas utilisation and enhance local content as well as restructure the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, for enhanced productivity.

 Also speaking, the Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru explained that the PIGB largely reflects the aspirations of the industry for the emplacement of an effective policy, commercial and regulatory framework that promotes growth and efficient operations.

 Baru however observed that there other issues in the bill that need to be immediately addressed before it is finally sent to the President for assent. 

For that to happen he urged stakeholders to take advantage of the opportunity to seek clarity and where possible propose changes to ensure that what is signed into law accomplishes the main purpose of reforming the industry for the collective good.

At Least 600 Mssing In Deadly Sierra Leone Mudslides

Crowds gather outside the Connaught Hospital waiting for loved ones outside a mortuary in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Mudslides and torrential flooding killed more than 300 people in and around Sierra Leone's capital early Monday following heavy rains, with many victims trapped in homes buried under tons of mud. (Society 4 Climate Change Communication-Sierra Leone via AP)

FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE (AP) — The death toll from massive mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital was certain to rise Tuesday as bodies washed up on a beach and workers searched for an untold number of people buried in their homes. The Red Cross estimated that 600 people were still missing.

Authorities have said more than 300 people were killed in and around Freetown on Monday following heavy rains. Many were trapped under tons of mud as they slept. The Connaught Hospital mortuary in central Freetown was overwhelmed on Tuesday with more than 300 bodies, many spread on the floor.

"The magnitude of the destruction as a result of the disaster is such that the number of victims in the community who may not come out alive may likely exceed the number of dead bodies already recovered," said Charles Mambu, a civil society activist and resident of one affected area, Mount Sugar Loaf.

In a sign of hope, he said, "two bodies were brought out alive from the debris last evening." Government spokesman Cornelius Deveaux said rescue operations began early Tuesday to remove people still believed to be buried in the rubble. Heavy equipment was deployed to dig into the piles of red mud.

Deveaux said definitive death figures were unknown "as the mortuary is overwhelmed with corpses — men, women and children." Many bodies were in a horrible state, missing arms, heads or legs, Deveaux said, adding that proper burials will be vital in keeping disease at bay. "Contingency plans are being put in place to mitigate the outbreak of disease like cholera," he told a local radio station, FM 98.1.

Sulaiman Parker, the environmental protection officer in the Freetown City Council, said bodies will be buried in the next 48 hours. Some rescue workers and volunteers dug overnight through the mud and debris with their bare hands in a desperate search for missing relatives. Military personnel have been deployed to help with the operation in the impoverished West African nation.

"I have never seen anything like it," said Abdul Nasir, program coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "A river of mud came out of nowhere and swallowed entire communities, just wiped them away. We are racing against time, more flooding and the risk of disease to help these affected communities survive and cope with their loss."

An estimated 9,000 people have been affected, Nasir told The Associated Press. The Sierra Leone National Broadcasting Corp. showed people carrying the dead to the morgue in rice sacks. Many of the impoverished areas of Sierra Leone's capital are close to sea level and have poor drainage systems, exacerbating flooding during the rainy season. Freetown also is plagued by unregulated building of large residential houses in hilltop areas.

Thousands of makeshift settlements in and around the capital were severely affected. "The government has been warning people not to construct houses in these areas. When they do this, there are risks," Nasir said. "People don't follow the standard construction rules, and that is another reason that many of these houses have been affected."

Deforestation for firewood and charcoal is one of the leading factors of worsening flooding and mudslides.

Exec Resigns From President's Council, And Trump Lashes Out

President Donald Trump, left, speaks during a meeting with manufacturing executives at the White House in Washington, including Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, center, and Ford CEO Mark Fields. Frazier is resigning from the President’s American Manufacturing Council citing "a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism." Frazier's resignation comes shortly after a violent confrontation between white supremacists and protesters in Charlottesville, Va. Trump is being criticized for not explicitly condemning the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville.

NEW YORK (AP) — The CEO of the nation's third largest pharmaceutical company resigned from a manufacturing council that advises President Donald Trump days after racially tinged clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, citing "a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism."

Trump, who is under increasing pressure to explicitly condemn the white supremacist and hate groups involved, lashed out almost immediately Monday at Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier on Twitter, saying that because of the resignation, the pharmaceutical executive "will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!"

Drugmakers have come under closer scrutiny because of rising drug prices, though Merck has not been one of the companies targeted by lawmakers or watchdog groups. Frazier, who is African American, said in a tweet on Monday that the country's leaders must "honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy."

One person was killed in the protests after a car slammed into a crowd and multiple people were injured in that incident and in running clashes between white supremacists and those opposing them. Frazier is not the first executive to resign from advisory councils serving Trump.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk resigned from the manufacturing council in June, and two other advisory groups to the president, after the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger resigned from a White House advisory council for the same reason.

The manufacturing jobs council had 28 members initially, but it has shrunk since it was formed earlier this year as executives retire, are replaced, or, as with Frazier, Musk and Iger, resign.

Will NKorea's Kim Pull The Trigger? Possible Signs To Watch

Provided by South Korean Defense Ministry, U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, top, and second from top, and South Korean fighter jets F-15K fly over the Korean Peninsula, South Korea. Tensions between the United States and North Korea tend to flare up suddenly and then fade away almost as quickly, but the latest escalation won't likely go away quite so easily. (South Korean Defense Ministry via AP, File)

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Tensions between the United States and North Korea tend to flare suddenly and fade almost as quickly — but the latest escalation won't likely go away quite so easily. Events closer to home, including deadly violence at a white nationalist rally in Virginia, could demand more of President Donald Trump's attention in the days ahead and cut into the volume and frequency of his fiery North Korea rhetoric.

But North Korea has yet to back away from its biggest threat: a plan to lob missiles toward U.S. military bases on the island of Guam that Pyongyang says should be ready for leader Kim Jong Un to review anytime now.

Will it all stop there? Or, despite the extremely high risks, will Kim really give the go order? And, regardless of what Kim does or doesn't do, will the tough-talking Trump feel compelled to take matters into his own hands?

Unpredictable as the situation is, some potential flashpoints to watch for:

BOMBER FLIGHTS

This could be the biggest trigger.

North Korea says it was compelled to put the Guam plan together because it feels threatened by a squadron of B-1B bombers on the island that the U.S. has increasingly sent to fly in Korean airspace in symbolic shows of force during times of particular tension.

But that may be only a pretense.

North Korea is certainly sensitive to the bombers, which could cause a lot of devastation if a war did start. But it also might just want an excuse to fully test the capabilities of its new Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missiles.

Either way, it's a cagey tactic: If Trump orders the B-1Bs to stay on the ground, Pyongyang can claim victory. If he orders them to fly, North Korea has its excuse to launch. If, of course, that's what it really wants to do — Pyongyang wisely left itself a lot of wiggle room and hasn't committed itself one way or the other.

LIBERATION DAY

Aug. 15 is the anniversary of the end of World War II in 1945 and the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

Pyongyang likes to use big anniversaries to make high-profile statements with military activity or political provocations. It launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, for example, on July 4 — Independence Day in the United States.

This week's World War II anniversary isn't linked so closely to veneration of North Korea's ruling Kim family, the primary days for demonstrating national power. But it's a national holiday just the same and could be an opportune moment for the North to make some kind of a move.

So far, however, there haven't been any telltale signs of anything brewing in Pyongyang. The day could just be marked with small celebrations and the distribution of free treats — or maybe more rhetoric about the Guam missile plan.

WAR GAMES

This is another likely trigger, if Pyongyang is going to actually do anything.

Tens of thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops are expected to kick off the annual Ulchi-Freedom Guardian military exercises on Aug. 21. North Korea sees these exercises and larger ones held every spring as a rehearsal for invasion. Getting Washington to halt them has long been one of Pyongyang's key demands, and it regularly stirs the pot around the time they're held.

North Korea carried out its biggest nuclear test just after last year's UFG drills ended and fired four Scud ER missiles into waters off Japan to coincide with the spring exercises this past March.

This year's UFG exercises are expected to last around 10 days.

Eric Talmadge is the AP's Pyongyang bureau chief. Follow him on Twitter at EricTalmadge and Instagram @erictalmadge.

AP Explains: How Robert E. Lee Went From Hero To Racist Icon

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUGUST 14, 2017

Workers prepare to take down the statue of former Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which stands over 100 feet tall, in Lee Circle in New Orleans. Lee monuments, memorials and schools in his name erected at the turn of the 20th Century are now facing scrutiny amid a demographically changing nation. Their removals are sparking heated clashes around the country just as the United States is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Reconstruction, the era when the United States tried to rebuild itself after the bloody Civil War.

Confederate Army Gen. Robert E. Lee was vilified during the Civil War only to become a heroic symbol of the South's "Lost Cause" — and eventually a racist icon. His transformation, at the center of the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, reflects the changing moods in the United States around race, mythology and national reconciliation, historians say.

Lee monuments, memorials and schools in his name erected at the turn of the 20th Century are now facing scrutiny amid a demographically changing nation. But who was Robert E. Lee beyond the myth? Why are there memorials in his honor in the first place?

THE SOLDIER

A son of American Revolutionary War hero Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, Robert E. Lee graduated second in his class at West Point and distinguished himself in various battles during the U.S.-Mexico War. As tensions heated around southern secession, Lee's former mentor, Gen. Winfield Scott, offered him a post to lead the Union's forces against the South. Lee declined, citing his reservations about fighting against his home state of Virginia.

Lee accepted a leadership role in the Confederate forces although he had little experience leading troops. He struggled but eventually became a general in the Confederate Army, winning battles largely because of incompetent Union Gen. George McClellan. He would win other important battles against other Union's generals, but he was often stalled. He was famously defeated at Gettysburg by Union Maj. Gen. George Meade. Historians say Lee's massed infantry assault across a wide plain was a gross miscalculation in the era of artillery and rifle fire.

A few weeks after becoming the general in chief of the armies of the Confederate states, Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865.
THE SLAVE OWNER

A career army officer, Lee didn't have much wealth, but he inherited a few slaves from his mother. Still, Lee married into one of the wealthiest slave-holding families in Virginia — the Custis family of Arlington and descendants of Martha Washington. When Lee's father-in-law died, he took leave from the U.S. Army to run the struggling estate and met resistance from slaves expecting to be freed.

Documents show Lee was a cruel figure with his slaves and encouraged his overseers to severely beat slaves captured after trying to escape. One slave said Lee was one of the meanest men she had ever met.

In a 1856 letter, Lee wrote that slavery is "a moral & political evil." But Lee also wrote in the same letter that God would be the one responsible for emancipation and blacks were better off in the U.S. than Africa.
THE LOST CAUSE ICON

After the Civil War, Lee resisted efforts to build Confederate monuments in his honor and instead wanted the nation to move on from the Civil War.

After his death, Southerners adopted "The Lost Cause" revisionist narrative about the Civil War and placed Lee as its central figure. The Lost Cause argued the South knew it was fighting a losing war and decided to fight it anyway on principle. It also tried to argue that the war was not about slavery but high constitutional ideals.

As The Lost Cause narrative grew in popularity, proponents pushed to memorialize Lee, ignoring his deficiencies as a general and his role as a slave owner. Lee monuments went up in the 1920s just as the Ku Klux Klan was experiencing a resurgence and new Jim Crow segregation laws were adopted.

The Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, went up in 1924. A year later, the U.S. Congress voted to use federal funds to restore the Lee mansion in the Arlington National Cemetery.

The U.S. Mint issued a coin in his honor, and Lee has been on five postage stamps. No other Union figure besides President Abraham Lincoln has similar honors.
A NEW MEMORY

A generation after the civil rights movement, black and Latino residents began pressuring elected officials to dismantle Lee and other Confederate memorials in places like New Orleans, Houston and South Carolina. The removals partly were based on violent acts committed white supremacists using Confederate imagery and historians questioning the legitimacy of The Lost Cause.

A Gen. Robert E. Lee statue was removed from Lee Circle in New Orleans as the last of four monuments to Confederate-era figures to be removed under a 2015 City Council vote.

The Houston Independent School District also voted in 2016 to rename Robert E. Lee High School, a school with a large Latino population, as Margaret Long Wisdom High School.

Earlier this year, the Charlottesville, Virginia, City Council voted to remove its Lee statue from a city park, sparking a lawsuit from opponents of the move. The debate also drew opposition from white supremacists and neo-Nazis who revered Lee and the Confederacy. The opposition resulted in rallies to defend Lee statues this weekend that resulted in at least three deaths.

Associated Press writer Russell Contreras is a member of the AP's race and ethnicity team. Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

Iran lawmakers Raise Missile, Guard Spending To Challenge US

BY JON GAMBRELL

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

An open session of the Iranian parliament in Tehran, Iran. Iran's parliament voted overwhelmingly Sunday to increase spending on its ballistic missile program and the foreign operations of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, chanting "Death to America" in a direct challenge to Washington's newest sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

TEHRAN, IRAN (AP, AUGUST 13, 2017) — Chanting "Death to America," Iran's parliament voted unanimously Sunday to increase spending on its ballistic missile program and the foreign operations of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, part of a sanctions bill mirroring a new U.S. law targeting the country.

While offering hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding, the lawmakers' bill offered a tactic as old as the slogan shouted since the 1979 Islamic Revolution — using America's own tactics against it.

The vote salves public anger in Iran over U.S. President Donald Trump's constant threats to renegotiate or abandon the nuclear deal struck by world powers under his predecessor. While lawmakers stressed the bill wouldn't violate that agreement, it ensures those both home and abroad know Iran will continue confronting America either in the Persian Gulf or legislatively, analysts say.

"They want to show that the pressure that the U.S. is exerting on Iran, they can respond with similar measures," said Adnan Tabatabai, an Iran analyst based in Germany who is the CEO of the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient. "It's not that important that those measures may not hurt the U.S. in the same way. ... They want to show they are not just standing still and watching this happening."

In the session Sunday, 240 lawmakers voted for the bill, with only one abstention from the 247 legislators on hand, Iran's state-run news agency IRNA reported. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani after the vote described the measure as just the first step the country could take.

The bill now heads to an oversight committee called the Guardian Council, which is expected to approve it. Abbas Araghchi, a deputy foreign minister and senior nuclear negotiator on hand for the vote, said moderate President Hassan Rouhani's government supported the bill.

"The bill has very wisely tried not to violate the (nuclear deal) and also gives no chance to the other party to manipulate it," he said in comments reported by IRNA. "This bill is an astute response to the enmity and wickedness of the United States against Iran."

Under terms of the bill, some $800 million will be put toward several projects, including the Defense Ministry and its intelligence agencies. Among the agencies receiving money would be the Revolutionary Guards' Quds force, an expeditionary force run by Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who has been advising forces in Syria and Iraq.

The Guard, separate from Iran's conventional military forces, answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The bill also imposes financial sanctions, as well as a visa and travel ban, on U.S. military and security organizations and their commanders who have provided financial, intelligence, military, logistic and training support to terrorists in the region, naming the Islamic State group and the Syrian branch of al-Qaida. Lawmakers gave government authorities three months to give them names of people to put on a sanctions list, which will be updated every six months.

Iranian officials often accuse the U.S. of being involved with both extremist groups. The U.S. is actively involved in a massive military campaign against the Islamic State group and has struck the al-Qaida affiliate as well.

Perhaps more relevantly, the bill also includes banning visas for American officials involved with the Iranian exile group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. Prominent U.S. lawmakers and politicians have met with the group and spoken at its rallies. The MEK has paid one of Trump's Cabinet members and at least one adviser in the past for giving such speeches.

IRNA also said the bill referred to the money also being used to improve Iran's defense against a nuclear attack and develop nuclear propellers. In December, Rouhani ordered officials to draw up plans on building nuclear-powered ships, something that appears to be allowed under the nuclear deal, over an earlier dispute on U.S. sanctions under the Obama administration.

It's unclear what affect the additional money for Iran's missile program would have. In comments Sunday, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami of the Revolutionary Guard boasted that "the rate of our missile production is so high that we are faced with the problem of space" to keep them in, state television reported.

The number of current or former U.S. officials traveling to Iran remains minuscule as well, while the number holding bank accounts or assets in the country is even smaller. However, Trump signed a sanctions bill earlier this month that included new sanctions imposed on Iran that matched those lawmakers passed Sunday. Iran previously also has sanctioned a wide assortment of American companies when the U.S. targeted Iranian firms.

None of those new Iranian sanctions jeopardized the tens of billions of dollars in deals Iran has made with airplane manufacturers and others since the atomic accord. Rouhani himself warned Sunday in comments posted on his website that "if the U.S. intends to stand against the deal, the entire world will stand before the U.S."

"We need to really understand the importance for the Iranian government to send, internally and externally, the message they are able to respond," Tabatabai said.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

US Officials: Confrontation With North Korea Not Imminent

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, right, and United States Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks, second from right, greets a helicopter flight crew as he arrives at Osan Air Base, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2017, in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.

WASHINGTON (AP, AUGUST 13, 2017) — Senior U.S. national security officials say a military confrontation with North Korea's isn't imminent. But they're also saying that the possibility of war with the reclusive Asian nation is greater than it was a decade ago.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo (pahm-PAY'-oh) says there's "nothing imminent today." But Pompeo says on "Fox News Sunday" that North Korea's push to develop a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States "is a very serious threat and the administration is going to treat it as such."

President Donald Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, tells ABC's "This Week" that "we're not closer to war than a week ago, but we are closer to war than we were a decade ago."

Q&A: What Does The US Military Do On The Island Of Guam?

BY AUDREY MCAVOV

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUGUST 10, 2017

Guam: U.S. territory and military outpost in the western Pacific Rim

HONOLULU — The small U.S. territory of Guam has become a focal point after North Korea's army threatened to use ballistic missiles to create an "enveloping fire" around the island. The exclamation came after President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang of "fire and fury like the world has never seen." Here's a look at the U.S. military's role on the island, which became a U.S. territory in 1898.

WHAT INSTALLATIONS ARE ON GUAM AND HOW SIGNIFICANT ARE THEY?

There are two major bases on Guam: Andersen Air Force Base in the north and Naval Base Guam in the south. They are both managed under Joint Base Marianas. The tourist district of Tumon, home to many of Guam's hotels and resorts, is in between.

The naval base dates to 1898, when the U.S. took over Guam from Spain after the Spanish-American War. The air base was built in 1944, when the U.S. was preparing to send bombers to Japan during World War II.

Today, Naval Base Guam is the home port for four nuclear-powered fast attack submarines and two submarine tenders.

Andersen Air Force Base hosts a Navy helicopter squadron and Air Force bombers that rotate to Guam from the U.S. mainland. It has two 2-mile (3-kilometer) long runways and large fuel and munitions storage facilities.

Altogether, 7,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed on Guam. Most are sailors and airmen. The military plans to move thousands of U.S. Marines to Guam from Okinawa in southern Japan.

Guam's total population is 160,000.

WHAT ROLES DO THE BASES PLAY IN THE REGION

Guam is strategically located a short flight from the Korean peninsula and other potential flashpoints in East Asia. Seoul is 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) to the northwest, Tokyo is 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) north and Taipei is 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) west.

Because Guam is a U.S. territory, the U.S. military may launch forces from there without worrying about upsetting a host nation that may object to U.S. actions.

The naval base is an important outpost for U.S. fast-attack submarines that are a key means for gathering intelligence in the region, including the Korean peninsula and the South China Sea where China has been building military bases on man-made islands.

HOW HAS THE U.S. USED GUAM TO ADDRESS THE THREAT FROM NORTH KOREA?

The U.S. military began rotating bombers — the B-2 stealth bomber as well as the B-1 and B-52 — to Andersen in 2004. It did so to compensate for U.S. forces diverted from other bases in the Asia-Pacific region to fight in the Middle East. The rotations also came as North Korea increasingly upped the ante in the standoff over its development of nuclear weapons.

In 2013, the Army sent a missile defense system to Guam called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD.

It's designed to destroy ballistic missiles during their final phase of flight. A THAAD battery includes a truck-mounted launcher, tracking radar, interceptor missiles and an integrated fire control system.

WHAT'S THE HISTORY OF THE U.S. MILITARY ON GUAM?
The U.S. took control of Guam in 1898, when Spanish authorities surrendered to the U.S. Navy. President William McKinley ordered Guam to be ruled by the U.S. Navy. The Navy used the island as a coaling base and communications station until Japan seized the island on Dec. 10, 1941. The U.S. took back control of Guam on July 21, 1944.

During the Vietnam War, the Air Force sent 155 B-52 bombers to Andersen to hit targets in Southeast Asia. Guam was also a refueling and transfer spot for military personnel heading to Southeast Asia. Many refugees fleeing Vietnam were evacuated through Guam.

Postal Service: More Red Ink, Missed Payments As Mail Slumps

U.S. Postal Service letter carrier Jamesa Euler delivers mail in the rain in Atlanta. Buffeted by threats from Amazon drones and Uber to delivery by golf cart, the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service is counting on a different strategy to stay ahead in the increasingly competitive package business: more freedom to raise your letter prices.

WASHINGTON (AP, AUGUST 10, 2017) — The U.S. Postal Service warned Thursday that it will likely default on up to $6.9 billion in payments for future retiree health and pension benefits for the fifth straight year, citing a coming cash crunch that could disrupt day-to-day mail delivery.

The service said it expected cash balances to run low by October and to avoid bankruptcy would likely not make all of its payments as required under federal law. Postmaster General Megan Brennan stressed an urgent need for federal regulators to grant the Postal Service wide freedom to increase stamp prices to help cover costs, citing continuing red ink due to declining first-class mail volume and the expensive mandates for retiree benefits.

The Postal Service has already defaulted on $33.9 billion in health benefit pre-payments. Left unresolved, the rapidly growing debt means that American taxpayers eventually could be forced to cover the massive costs when future postal retirees seek to cash in on the benefits to which they are legally entitled.

The Postal Regulatory Commission is making a decision on stamp pricing next month. "Our financial situation is serious, but solvable," Brennan said, citing an unreasonable rate cap that restricts stamp price increases to the rate of inflation. "We're clearly looking for the PRC to establish a new pricing system for us."

The Postal Service on Thursday reported a quarterly loss of $2.1 billion, compared to a $1.6 billion loss in the same period ending June 30 last year. That came after double-digit growth in package delivery was unable to offset drop-offs in letter mail, which makes up more than 70 percent of total postal revenue.

Quarterly revenue came to $16.7 billion, a decline of $1 billion from the same period last year. After a 10-year review, the regulatory commission appears likely to give the Postal Service more flexibility to raise rates, marking the biggest change in its pricing system in nearly a half-century. The commission might limit how high prices could go, but the cost of a first-class stamp, now 49 cents, could jump. It's not known how much.

The Postal Service, an independent agency, is trying to stay financially afloat as it seeks to invest billions in new delivery trucks to get packages more nimbly to American homes. Mail volume is dropping and demand for package shipping is surging due to the growth of online retailers such as e-commerce giant Amazon. With the holiday season approaching, Brennan said the Postal Service planned additional temporary hiring and was looking to expand its package deliveries in the mornings, evenings and on Sundays.

"The competition is most intense," she said. The Postal Service is also urging Congress to provide relief from the mandate to pre-fund retiree health benefits. Legislation in 2006 required the Postal Service to fund 75 years' worth of retiree health benefits, something that neither the government nor private companies are required to do.

"Today's financial report shows the underlying business strength of the U.S. Postal Service while also indicating the need to address external matters beyond USPS control," said Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. "Congress should address the pre-funding burden it imposed in 2006."

To avoid bankruptcy, the post office has defaulted on the multibillion dollar health prepayments each year since 2012.

Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hopeyen1

Trump Continues Taunts Of Senate GOP Leader Over Health Care

President Donald Trump, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump resumed his taunts of his party's Senate leader, expressing disbelief that McConnell couldn't persuade a Republican majority to pass a health care bill.

WASHINGTON (AP, AUGUST 10, 2017) — President Donald Trump resumed his taunts of the Senate's top Republican on Thursday, expressing disbelief that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn't persuade a GOP majority to pass a health care bill.

"Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn't get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!" Trump tweeted Thursday. The president bristled this week after McConnell, R-Ky., told an audience in his home state that Trump had "not been in this line of work before" and had "excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process." Both before and after taking office, Trump spoke often about passing the massive health care overhaul quickly.

"Obviously, there's some frustration," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Trump's tweets. She said the two men spoke by phone Wednesday and that the conversation included talk of health care. Sanders said she didn't know how long they talked.

Asked to respond to Trump's statement, McConnell spokesman David Popp said, "The leader has spoken repeatedly about the path forward regarding Obamacare repeal and replace on the Senate floor, at media availabilities and in Kentucky."

The Senate rejected three attempts by McConnell last month to approve legislation annulling and rewriting much of President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law. Nursing a 52-48 majority, McConnell needed support from 50 GOP senators to prevail because of unanimous Democratic opposition, but there were enough Republican "no" votes on each tally to sink the effort. Vice President Mike Pence would have broken cast a tie-breaking vote.

McConnell spelled out his view of the path forward in his Monday remarks to the Rotary Club in Florence, Kentucky. "If people can show me 50 votes for anything that would make progress on that, I'll turn back to it. But in the absence of that, we're going to be moving on. We have a number of things to do in September," he said.

McConnell cited must-pass bills that would prevent a government shutdown and a federal default, plus a GOP desire to turn to tax cuts. But he also kept the door open for a narrower health care effort aimed at stabilizing individual health insurance marketplaces around the country.

"I think no action is probably not going to work, because you've got a lot of private health insurance markets imploding," McConnell said. "So exactly what form that takes is unclear right now." A small handful of online exchanges created by Obama's law may have no insurers offering coverage next year, but many may have just one company selling policies. Many insurers around the country are proposing to raise premiums, often citing worries that the Trump administration will take steps to undermine the markets, such as halting federal subsidies they receive to lower costs for millions of people.

In Trump's shot at McConnell on Wednesday, he wrote on Twitter, "Senator Mitch McConnell said I had 'excessive expectations,' but I don't think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?"

AP reporter Jonathan Lemire in Bridgewater, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

Guam's Residents Concerned But Have Faith In US Military

A B-1B Lancer bomber, left, taxies past a B-52 shortly after landing at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The small U.S. territory of Guam has become a focal point after North Korea's army threatened to use ballistic missiles to create an "enveloping fire" around the island. The exclamation came after President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang of "fire and fury like the world has never seen" on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. (Masako Watanabe/Pacific Daily News via AP, File)

HAGATNA, GUAM (AP, AUGUST 10, 2017) — The tiny U.S. territory of Guam feels a strong sense of patriotism and confidence in the American military, which has an enormous presence on the Pacific island. But residents are increasingly worried over Washington's escalating war of words with North Korea.

The people of Guam woke up Thursday to another pointed threat from Pyongyang, which vowed to complete a plan to attack waters near the island by mid-August — adding a timeline to a threat from a day earlier that North Korea would create an "enveloping fire" around Guam.

Like other U.S. territories, Guam has a sometimes complicated relationship with the U.S. mainland but many across the island say despite the threats and concerns they feel reassured and protected by the military — especially in times of tense, geopolitical sparring.

About 160,000 people live on the island, which extends about 12 miles (19.31 kilometers) at its widest. The American military presence on Guam consists of two bases — Andersen Air Force Base in the north and Naval Base Guam in the south — which are home to 7,000 U.S. troops.

"I feel that the presence of the military on Guam will help us a lot," said Virgie Matson, 51, a resident of Dededo, Guam's most populated village. "They are here to protect the islands, just in case something happens."

The possibility of a nuclear confrontation is considered remote but international alarm has been escalating in recent days. In the latest development, Gen. Kim Rak Gyom, who heads North Korea's rocket command, said in a statement carried by state media that his country was "about to take" military action near Guam. He said the North would finalize a plan by mid-August to fire four mid-range missiles hitting waters 19 to 25 miles (30 to 40 kilometers) away from the island.

It's not the first time North Korea has threatened Guam, which is a crucial, strategic hub for U.S. forces in the Pacific. Andersen Air Force Base houses a Navy helicopter squadron and Air Force bombers that rotate to Guam from the U.S. mainland, including the B-2 stealth bomber, B-1 and B-52. Their location in a U.S. territory means its military is just hours from potential flashpoints in the western Pacific.

Naval Base Guam is an important outpost for U.S. fast-attack nuclear powered submarines that are a key means for gathering intelligence in the region, including off the Korean peninsula and in the South China Sea where China has been building military bases on man-made islands that have stirred tension across Asia.

The U.S. military has said it plans to increase its presence on Guam and will move thousands of U.S. Marines currently stationed in Japan to the island between 2024 and 2028. "I'm pro military buildup," said resident Gus Aflague, 60, whose grandfather and brother both joined the U.S. Navy.

"North Korea has always threatened other countries. They threatened U.S., other countries, and they threaten Guam. It's a propaganda, that's how I feel," he said but added that the military offered an extra reassurance. "I feel safe with our military presence here — Andersen and the Navy."

There's a sense of patriotism among those who cite the island's history of Guam residents serving in the U.S. military. The U.S. took control of Guam in 1898, when Spanish authorities surrendered to the U.S. Navy.

During the Vietnam War, the Air Force sent 155 B-52 bombers to Guam to hit targets in Southeast Asia. Guam was also a refueling and transfer spot for people heading to Southeast Asia, and many refugees fleeing Saigon were evacuated through Guam.

But there's also some resentment about not being able to vote in the general election for U.S. president. Guamanians have served in all major U.S. wars since World War II and see military service as a source of pride. A huge red, white and blue ribbon is outside the airport terminal.

Resident Isaac Camacho, 19, says he feels Guam's relationship with the U.S. mainland is "a little misunderstood on their part." "They believe that we are not true U.S. citizens, when we do have plenty of Chamorro people going into the U.S. military and serving for their country and dying for their country," he said. Chamorros are the indigenous people of Guam. "And not a lot of Americans know that."

Guam is about 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers) southeast of Pyongyang and 3,800 miles (6,115 kilometers) west of Honolulu in the Pacific Ocean. For years, North Korea has claimed Guam is within its missiles' striking distance, making furious statements each time when the U.S. flew powerful bombers from the island's air base to the Korean Peninsula.

In August last year, the North's Foreign Ministry warned that all U.S. military bases in the Pacific including Guam would "face ruin in the face of all-out and substantial attack" by the North's military. In 2013, state media cited leader Kim Jong Un as having ordered his military to prepare plans on launching strikes on U.S. military bases in Guam, Hawaii and South Korea as well as the American mainland.

Guam is armed with the U.S. Army's defense system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, which can intercept missiles.

McAvoy reported from Honolulu. Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco contributed reporting.