BEIRUT

Syria’s deputy oil minister defects from Assad regime

Syria’s deputy oil minister announced in a video Thursday that he has defected from President Bashar Assad’s regime, acknowledging that he expects government forces to “burn my home” and “persecute my family.”

Abdo Husameddine, a 58-year-old father of four, became the highest-ranking civilian official to join the opposition, and urged his countrymen to “abandon this sinking ship” as the nation spirals toward civil war.

In the YouTube video, Husameddine seemed to address Assad directly, accusing him of vast crimes in the past year as government forces pummel the opposition with tanks and snipers. The U.N. estimates 7,500 people have been killed since the uprising began.

NEW YORK

Coke, Pepsi changing how they make caramel coloring

Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. are changing the way they make the caramel coloring used in their sodas as a result of a California law that mandates drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens come with a cancer warning label.

The companies said the changes will be expanded nationally to streamline their manufacturing processes. They’ve already been made for drinks sold in California.

A representative for Coca-Cola, Diana Garza-Ciarlante, said the company directed its caramel suppliers to modify their manufacturing processes to reduce the levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, which can be formed during the cooking process and, as a result, may be found in trace amounts in many foods.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, in February filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of ammonia-sulfite caramel coloring.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for almost 90 percent of the soda market, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest.

WASHINGTON

Marine Corps ad campaign stresses humanitarian side

They’ve long been known as devil dogs, leathernecks and “the first to fight.” But U.S. Marines, with their self-described expertise in “killing people and breaking things,” now want to promote their kinder side as well.

A new Marine Corps advertising campaign starting this weekend takes its cue from research showing today’s recruit-age generation is interested in helping people. The campaign is crafted to show Marines not only as warriors but as humanitarians and peacekeepers.

Photos and videos to be distributed on television, in American movie theaters, on YouTube and elsewhere show Marines talking with children; bringing food, water and medical supplies to Haitian earthquake victims, and clearing rubble from a tsunami-devastated Japanese village. These missions aren’t a new role for the Marines, but they are ones the force expects to do more of as it’s freed from a decade of fighting land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and returns to its seafaring, expeditionary roots.

Entitled “Toward the Sounds of Chaos,” the campaign seeks to explain that in an uncertain world, Marines “need to be ready to engage in whatever activity our country needs us to engage in,” said Brig. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, head of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command.

“That may go all the way from a combat-type environment, as we’ve been doing for the last 10 years, to what we did before … emergent chaotic situations … catastrophes … natural disasters or failed-state-type situations where people need help,” he said.

Solar storm engulfs Earth but causes few disruptions

One of the strongest solar storms in years engulfed Earth early Thursday, but scientists say the planet may have lucked out.

Hours after the storm arrived, officials said there were no reports of problems with power grids, GPS, satellites or other technologies that are often disrupted by solar storms.

But that still can change as the storm shakes the planet’s magnetic field in ways that could disrupt technology but also spread colorful Northern Lights. Early indications show that it is about 10 times stronger than the normal solar wind that hits Earth.

The storm started with a massive solar flare Tuesday evening and grew as it raced outward from the sun, expanding like a giant soap bubble, scientists said.

The storm struck about 6 a.m. EST in a direction that causes the least amount of problems, said Joe Kunches, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. 

— From news service reports