user: Q: America's most dangerous jobs

Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 127.8

Loggers work with heavy loads, often in bad weather and on steep slopes. One of the biggest dangers they face are "widow makers," the dead branches snagged in tree tops that can work loose during cutting.

Fatality rates rose this year nearly 25%, probably because a lot of inexperienced new workers were hired to meet greater demand from the housing industry, where building of new homes is up. The first year on the job is the most dangerous one.

Over the long term, though, logging has been getting safer thanks to mechanical felling, in which loggers sit in a protective cab while a steel arm holding a chain saw reaches out to cut the trunk. After 11 companies in West Virginia switched from manual chain saws to mechanical tree fellers, injury rates dropped 73%, according to a study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

In the past, "the biggest exposure for loggers was men on the ground hit by falling trees or chain saw kickback," said Neil Ward, vice president of the Forest Resources Association. "Now, manual chain saws are hardly ever used, only on, for example, steep slopes."

Hazards still remain when loads of logs are dropped. To improve safety, companies are encouraging workers to wear more visible clothing and to use a signal system to alert loggers of imminent dangers.

Source: Injury and wage data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

A: The workplace got safer last year, but workers in these jobs suffered the highest rates of fatal injuries.


Q: Ahmet Davutoğlu's future as Turkish prime minister in balance

The future of Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, was hanging in the balance on Wednesday as the ruling justice and development party (AKP) prepared to hold an extraordinary congress that could signal his exit.

Related: European commission faces challenge to grant visa-free travel to Turks

Davutoğlu, who is also party chief, had earlier held a meeting that lasted more than an hour and half with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that media described as critical for the prime minister’s future, amid reports of a split between the two leaders in key policy areas.

Davutoğlu, a former foreign minister, has sought to defeat predictions that he would be a puppet when he became prime minister in August 2014 by carving out his own profile.

No official statement was released after the meeting at Erdoğan’s presidential palace in Ankara. However CNN-Turk and NTV news channels reported that the congress is to be held later this month. Calling this meeting would allow the election of a new party leader. According to AKP convention the posts of party boss and head of government go to the same person.

Davutoğlu will hold a news conference on Thursday following a gathering of the party’s central executive committee beginning at 0800 GMT, the official Anatolia news agency said. The executive committee will take a formal decision whether to hold an extraordinary congress which would then decide on the new party leader, reports said.

Abdulkadir Selvi, who writes for the Hurriyet daily newspaper, told CNN-Turk that according to his information Davutoğlu would not be a candidate for the party leadership at the congress. If this is true it would mean that Turkey is heading for a change of prime minister at a time when Ankara is implementing a deal on refugees with the EU and battling Kurdish as well as Islamist militants.

The possibility of tumult at the top of Turkish politics unnerved financial markets, with the lira losing 3.7% in value against the dollar.

Since becoming president in August 2014 after more than a decade as prime minister, Erdoğan has sought to tighten his grip on the levers of power, leading critics to accuse him of authoritarianism. The appointment of a more pliable prime minister would allow Erdoğan to further consolidate his powers.

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research programme at the Washington Institute, said the move was the next stage in a “hollowing out” of Turkish institutions by Erdoğan who already controls the army and parliament. “It shows how much power has been massed in one person’s hands,” he told AFP, adding that Erdoğan was now exercising more control than anyone in Turkey’s modern democratic history.

The departure of Davutoğlu would “allow Erdoğan to distance himself from some of his failed policies that can be attributed to Davutoğlu,” he added.

Tension had reportedly been building between the men for months, even if the speed with which it burst into the open took many by surprise. Davutoğlu has championed a deal with the EU to stem the flow of refugees while the president has shown little interest in the accord.

By coincidence the EU commission announced on Wednesday that it was recommending giving Turks visa-free travel as part of the deal.

Davutoğlu has said there is no need for haste in Erdoğan’s drive to create a presidential system in Turkey, a pet project of the president that risks diminishing Davutoğlu’s own standing. He has also clashed with Erdoğan over whether journalists should be held in pre-trial detention. A decision last week by the executive committee of the AKP to remove Davutoğlu’s right to appoint regional party officials was also seen by commentators as a severe blow to the authority of the prime minister.

Potential prime ministerial successors if Davutoğlu steps aside include the transport minister and ally of Erdoğan, Binali Yıldırım, and the youthful energy minister, Berat Albayrak, 38, who is married to the president’s eldest daughter, Esra.

A: Critics of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, say Davutoğlu’s departure would allow a further consolidation of Erdoğan’s power


Q: Attorney General Loretta Lynch: Don't Consider Me for Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch asked not to be considered as a nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Lynch, 56, was rumored to be under consideration by Democratic President Barack Obama. She is held in high regard within the administration, received bipartisan support for her nomination as attorney general and would be the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

“Given the urgent issues before the Department of Justice, she asked not to be considered for the position,” the department said in a statement.

In recent weeks, other names have emerged on Obama’s short list, including Sri Srinivasan, Jane Kelly and Paul Watford, all of whom serve as federal appeals court judges.

In an interview with Fox News last week, Lynch responded to speculation she was being vetted for the job.

“I haven’t had those conversations. I’m very happy with my job,” Lynch said.

Justice Department spokeswoman Melanie Newman said that while Lynch was deeply grateful for the support of those who suggested her as a high court nominee, “she is honored to serve as attorney general, and she is fully committed to carrying out the work of the Department of Justice for the remainder of her term.”

The process of filling the spot that was held by Scalia, one of the court’s most conservative justices, has ignited a partisan battle in Washington.

Republicans who control the U.S. Senate do not want to see the court shift ideologically to the left and have said they will not hold a vote on Obama’s nominee.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the next Supreme Court justice should be chosen by the winner of the Nov. 8 presidential election.

A:

assistant: The nomination process has ignited a partisan battle.