California and more than two dozen other states require oil and gas producers to disclose the chemicals they use during hydraulic fracturing activities, enabling scientific and public scrutiny of the environmental and human health hazards these substances may pose. But all existing disclosure regulations cover chemical use only in hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, and, in California, two other types of well-stimulation treatments. Many of the same chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing go undisclosed when they are used in numerous routine, unregulated oil- and gas-field activities such as the drilling, cleaning and maintenance of wells, according to a study published in PLOS ONE today (April 19).

The study, conducted by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of the Pacific and the California-based energy science and policy institute PSE Healthy Energy, is the first published research to investigate chemicals used in unregulated routine oil- and gas-field activities, including the overlap between chemicals used in both regulated and unregulated activities.

Analyzing publicly available data of chemical use in oil and gas production operations in the Los Angeles Basin, researchers found that the number of the chemicals used for routine activities is as high or higher than the number used for hydraulic fracturing, and those chemicals are used frequently and in high quantities. Further, the disclosure data showed that the same chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing were also used in more than half of recorded routine activities, which are unregulated. For example, they found common use of biocides, a class of hazardous chemicals that includes formaldehyde, and acidizing agents including hydrofluoric acid, in both regulated well-stimulation activities and unregulated routine activities. These findings have major implications for chemical disclosure policies and risk assessments of oil and gas development in California and across the nation, the researchers concluded.

German carmaker Volkswagen will pay a $2.8 billion criminal penalty for cheating on diesel emissions test, in a negotiated settlement with the US Justice Department.

US District Judge Sean Cox ordered the fine on Friday, following the terms of the deal in which Volkswagen pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Nearly 600,000 diesel cars in the US were programmed to turn on pollution controls during testing, but turn it off while on the road, the company admitted.

Russia's Supreme Court has banned the Jehovah's Witnesses, declaring it an "extremist organization" and ordering to hand over its property to the state. The Christian group says it is planning to appeal the decision.

Delivering the verdict on Thursday, Judge Yury Ivanenko ruled that all 395 branches of the religious group on Russian territory are subject to disbandment and the property is to be forfeited to the state.

In the run-up to the ruling on its liquidation, based on a lawsuit filed by the Russian Justice Ministry, the Jehovah's Witnesses group has repeatedly found itself in trouble with Russia's anti-extremism legislation. In October last year, a lower court notified the organization of a looming ban if it did not stop engaging in what it considered extremist activity. In January this year, the warning was upheld by the Moscow City Court.

Jehovah's Witnesses leaflets promoting information "posing a threat to health" were provided as evidence by the Ministry of Justice during the hearings, Svetlana Borisova, the ministry's representative said, as cited by RIA Novosti. More than 90 printed booklets of the organization have been found to contain extremist materials.

One of Jehovah's Witnesses strict beliefs - a complete ban on blood transfusions - can potentially endanger the life of a child, argued Borisova. She cited a case when devout followers of the group refused to give consent for the procedure needed by their child.

The present lawsuit was revolving around Jehovah's Witnesses' chief managing organization in Russia, based in St. Petersburg, which is in charge of all its outfits scattered on the Russian territory.

The state of Arkansas has executed an inmate for the first time since 2005, and plans to execute several more convicts before its supply of a lethal chemical expires in late April.

Ledell Lee, who was sentenced to death for murdering his neighbor, Debra Reese, in a Little Rock suburb in 1993, was pronounced dead at 11:56pm central time at the Cummins Unit prison in southern Arkansas. He received three lethal injections, including midazolam, to render him unconscious, vecuronium bromide to halt his breathing, and potassium chloride to stop his heart.

On Thursday, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for Arkansas to execute its first inmate since 2005 by removing holds on its lethal injection procedure, which was carried out just 30 minutes before the death warrant expired, according to Reuters.

Arkansas authorities plan to execute eight more death row inmates in the next two weeks.

Dashcam footage shows Berkeley County deputy James Vansant's cruiser hitting a speeding suspect's motorcycle twice, at speeds near 90 miles per hour. The suspect then crashed and died, a result of being in the wrong gear, the sheriff's office claims.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office posted a video to their YouTube page on Thursday, showing a Wednesday night police pursuit lasting at least five minutes in Summerville, South Carolina. The chase that reached speeds of at least 111 miles per hour (178km/h) ended in a fatal crash for the suspect, 30-year-old Robert Lee Clark, Jr. of Goose Creek.

Violent scenes have erupted during demonstrations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Photos and videos shared on social media appear to show show protesters and police clashing on the streets in Caracas, the country's capital.

Huge crowds gathered in cities across the country following weeks of violent demonstrations that have left a total of eight people dead and inflamed tensions between anti-government activists and security forces.

Riot police fired tear gas at protesters on the western side of Caracas, according to AFP.

A Mai Khao resident believed to be suffering from a mental illness reportedly shot himself in his home this morning in what turned out to be one of the worst scenes Phuket police say they have encountered recently.

Lt Col Watcharin Jirattikanwiwat of Tah Chat Chai Police received reports of the incident at about 8:45am.

"The house was located within a private area. Inside, 53-year-old Chanit Pruksaprasert lay dead near the entrance, with the top half of his head splattered all over the floor. His face was unrecognizable," the policeman told the Phuket Gazette.

A Native American tribe is suing the six largest drug distributors and pharmacies in the country, charging the companies with flooding their community with hundreds of millions of highly addictive pain pills.

Lawyers for the Cherokee Nation filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the three largest drug distributors - McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen - which control 85 to 90 percent of all prescription drug distribution in the country.

A father in Germany has been accused of raping his two-year-old daughter multiple times while streaming it online.

The father and another male, both from the Schleswig-Holstein city of Lübeck, are set to go before a court next week on multiple charges of severe sexual abuse of a small child.

The father, 28, and his 47-year-old acquaintance have also been accused of filming parts of the abuse and broadcasting live to chat rooms on the dark net. At times the girl had been gagged.

A man who had met the father through an online dating site alerted child protection services in November 2016 to the incident after the father sent him photos and videos of the alleged crime through WhatsApp.

Protection services got in contact with the police, who arrested the father three days later.

Turkish police on Thursday detained a news website editor, Ali Ergin Demirhan, of opposition news website Sendika.org, on charges of portraying the country's Sunday constitutional referendum outcome as illegitimate, as well as for staging protests and stirring up hatred.

On Sunday, Turkey held a referendum on the transition from a parliamentary to presidential system of governance. Preliminary results of the vote indicate a victory for supporters of the governance shift. The referendum was followed by a series of protests throughout the country, which have resulted in the detention of dozens of anti-referendum protesters.

The state's police seized Demirhan's phone and computer hard drive during the raid of the web portal's offices, conducted in the morning, the Turkish Minute newspaper said.