Last November, the oil company British Petroleum (BP) plead guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a $20 million fine for violating the Clean Water Act related to a massive oil spill that occurred at BP's Prudhoe Bay operations in Alaska's North Slope two years earlier.
A federal judge also placed the company on probation for three years and said the 201,000 gallon oil spill was a "serious crime" that could have been prevented if BP had spent more time and funds investing in pipeline upgrades and a "little less emphasis on profit."
Earth Changes
A typhoon has killed at least six people in Taiwan, the Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, floods and landslides caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi destroyed homes, roads, and cut electricity and water supplies to thousands of people on the island late on Thursday.
According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, floods and landslides caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi destroyed homes, roads, and cut electricity and water supplies to thousands of people on the island late on Thursday.
A brown bear killed two geologists in the northeast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in Russia's Far East, a local emergencies spokesman said on Friday.
The incident occurred in the Olyutor Range, in Kamchatka's Koryak Autonomous Area.
"According to preliminary information, both victims were specialists based with a geological field party working for [local mining company] KoryakGeolDobycha," the spokesman said
The incident occurred in the Olyutor Range, in Kamchatka's Koryak Autonomous Area.
"According to preliminary information, both victims were specialists based with a geological field party working for [local mining company] KoryakGeolDobycha," the spokesman said
A cow trapped on a cliff ledge has been airlifted to safety by a military helicopter two weeks after a bullock owned by the same farmer had to be rescued in a similar operation.
The Hereford-cross heifer was believed to have slipped while trying to escape dogs and ended up 150 feet below the cliff top at Gwennap Head, near Lands End, Cornwall.
It was winched to safety by the crew of a Sea King helicopter from the Royal Naval air station at Culdrose. Two weeks ago a Charolais steer belonging to the same farmer Andrew Flower was rescued from a spot only feet away.
On that occasion the mission was delayed for three days due to a dispute between Ministry of Defence and RSPCA officials over who would pay the £5,000 rescue bill. The MoD eventually agreed to waive the fee, saying it was treating the rescue as part of an exercise.
The Hereford-cross heifer was believed to have slipped while trying to escape dogs and ended up 150 feet below the cliff top at Gwennap Head, near Lands End, Cornwall.
It was winched to safety by the crew of a Sea King helicopter from the Royal Naval air station at Culdrose. Two weeks ago a Charolais steer belonging to the same farmer Andrew Flower was rescued from a spot only feet away.
On that occasion the mission was delayed for three days due to a dispute between Ministry of Defence and RSPCA officials over who would pay the £5,000 rescue bill. The MoD eventually agreed to waive the fee, saying it was treating the rescue as part of an exercise.
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| ©AFP |
Irene LoBaido has never hunted and has never shot an animal, but today, she packed a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum in a holster on her left hip.
LoBaido was among local residents alarmed by a reports of an African lion on the loose.
"I feel I'm going to be carrying this until it's (found)," LoBaido said. "I hope I never have to use it, but I care about my horses and dogs."
LoBaido, 49, said she loaded her gun with hollow-point bullets to make certain she could take down a lion if needed.
LoBaido was among local residents alarmed by a reports of an African lion on the loose.
"I feel I'm going to be carrying this until it's (found)," LoBaido said. "I hope I never have to use it, but I care about my horses and dogs."
LoBaido, 49, said she loaded her gun with hollow-point bullets to make certain she could take down a lion if needed.
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| ©El Paso County Sheriff's OFfice |
| The creature was large and shaggy, but only photographed at a distance. |
"These kinds of changes in the Kinneret are not an encouraging sign," said a Kinneret expert about an unidentified weed that appeared in the lake. Signs of this worrisome phenomenon appeared about a week ago. It took the form of greenish patches with a foamy train. All those who saw this strange apparition were convinced it was some kind of sewage. What else would one think if one saw a greenish liquid with foam on it? The green patches were sighted on the Kinneret's western shores, from the Tiberias hot springs to the Sapir site.
Scientists have found that many of the best management practices used to reduce traditional stresses on our environment -- such as restoring vegetation along streams -- also increases the ecosystem's resilience to the impact of climate change, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
"Considerable presence" of skeptics
The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming "incontrovertible."
The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming "incontrovertible."
Magnitude 5.0
Date-Time
* Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 12:48:44 UTC
* Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 12:48:44 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 28.354°S, 175.771°W
Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region Kermadec Islands Region
Date-Time
* Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 12:48:44 UTC
* Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 12:48:44 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 28.354°S, 175.771°W
Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region Kermadec Islands Region
Xining -- A moderate earthquake measuring 5.3on the Richter scale jolted Tanggula region in northwestern Qinghai Province at 6:58 a.m. Thursday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
