An oil platform exploded and caught fire off the Louisiana coast on Thursday triggering fears of a repeat of the BP Deep Horizon oil spill in the same region earlier this year. All 13 crew members aboard the platform were rescued. The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long 1.6 kilometres and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast about 200 miles west of the site of BP’s massive spill. But hours later, the Coast Guard’s Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill.
The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, said it did not know what caused the blast.Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said Mariner officials told him there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly after the fire broke out.The Coast Guard said Mariner Energy reported the oil sheen.But the company said in a public statement that an initial flyover of the platform did not reveal any spilled oil.Photos from the scene showed at least five ships floating near the platform.
Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery.
World Bobby Jindal, Coast Guard, Crew Members, Deepwater Horizon, dispersants, Louisiana, oil sheen, oil spill, rig, US
A measure that would have banned the use of plastic bags at grocery stores, convenience stores and drug stores has been rejected by California’s Senate, reports CNN.com. The vote from late Tuesday came in at 21 to 14.The legislation was passed in June and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would have signed the measure into law had it passed. The California Grocers Association had also agreed to back the bill.
World California's, Plastic Bags
A delegation of senior Pakistani military officials visiting the US was deboarded from a plane, detained, “interrogated and rudely treated” by security officials after one of them made a comment to a flight attendant, prompting the team to head home in protest.The nine-member delegation of high-ranking Pakistani officers boarded United Airlines Flight 727 from the Dulles International Airport in Washington to Tampa yesterday, but were pulled off the plane, Mike Trevino, spokesman for the Airlines, was quoted as saying by ‘The Washington Post’.
He said they were deboarded from the plane after one of them “made a comment to a flight attendant.”The delegation was to travel to Tampa, a Gulf Coast Bay city in the state of Florida, to attend the annual conference of the US-Pakistan Military Consultative Committee.Though the spokesman refused to provide details, Pakistani officials said the remark came from a General in the delegation.The General, weary of a long day of travel that began in Islamabad, said “I hope this is my last flight,” or words to that effect.That sparked a call to Dulles law enforcement officials, who “detained the delegation for two-and-a-half hours and refused to allow the officials to contact their embassy or the US military officials who had invited them to visit”, the Post quoted an unnamed Pakistani military official as saying.
World Pak military men, Pakistani officers
Garmin Ltd. said Wednesday it is recalling roughly 1.3 million Nuvi GPS devices worldwide because their batteries have the potential to overheat and create a fire hazard.About 796,000 of the GPS units were sold in the U.S.Garmin said that certain batteries provided by a separate company have overheated in some Nuvi models. The company said it has identified fewer than 10 cases of overheating, none of which produced any property damage or injury.
Garmin said the battery supplier has agreed to share the cost of replacing the battery packs and that the recall will not have a material affect on its financial results.
World Battery Replacement, Devices, Fire Hazard, Garmin, Garmin Gps, Garmin nüvi GPS Recalls, Garmin Recalls, Gps, Gps Devices, Gps Garmin, Navigation Devices, Nuvi, Nuvi Gps, Nuvi GPS Devices, nüvi GPS Recalls, nüvi GPS Units, Overheating Batteries, Party Manufacturer, Personal Navigation, Printed Circuit Board, Recalls, Replacement Batteries, Replacement Battery, Serial Number, Spacer, Third Party, United States
The Pentagon has recently reported that China has moved lethal medium-range Ballistic Missiles closer to the Indian border.The potential Chinese military threat has been anticipated by India, which has now deployed a couple of strategic missile units in the East.These units under the Strategic Forces Command that control India’s nuclear arsenal have been moved under the Eastern Command recently.
The Indian Air Force, which first deployed its best fighter jets, the Sukhois, in Tezpur in Assam last year, has increased the number of planes in the area. The Air Force has also stepped up the pace of work on seven advance landing-grounds in Arunachal Pradesh which will soon be capable of handling bigger, fixed-wing transport planes.
World Chinese military, India's new military plans, Indian Air Force
Between them, they swallowed 75 small packets’ worth of diamonds. Then, the four foreigners headed to the Mumbai airport and boarded a flight to Dubai.The gang – which includes a woman – arrived in Mumbai, the police believes, with the intention of pulling off a major robbery at an international jewellery exhibition.
The three Mexicans and a Venezuelan strolled into the stall of an Israeli jewellery company on Monday afternoon. While the men engaged the sales person on duty in conversation, the woman picked up a box stuffed with packets of diamonds.
By the time the group boarded the Mumbai-Dubai-Hamburg flight, the city police had scanned security camera footage and identified them. The plane had taken off. “The Mumbai police then got in touch with Interpol after which the Dubai Airport was alerted,” said Himanshu Roy, the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, in Mumbai.
World foreigners, jewellery, Mumbai, robbery
Flooding killed four people and forced the evacuation of 94,000 in the north China port city of Dandong after heavy rains caused the Yalu river to breach its banks, state media said on Sunday. Rain continued to fall on Sunday in the region, which borders North Korea, but the official Xinhua News Agency reported that water levels along the Yalu and its tributaries dropped below flood warning levels.
Xinhua said four people died, including a couple in their 70s and a mother and son, after their homes were swept away by flash floods. An official at Flood Control Headquarters in Dandong said three people were missing. Transport links to some villages in remote mountainous areas have been cut, with helicopters brought in to airlift people to safety. On Saturday, floodwaters punctured a dike between the river and an economic development zone in Dandong, inundating many neighbourhoods. The river’s water level had fallen since then but remained dangerously high, Xinhua said, without giving specific measurements.
World china floods, China mudslide, natural disasters
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tops Newsweek Magazine’s list of 10 world leaders who have won respect and is described as “the leader other leaders love” though India figures at 78th place in the list of 100 best countries.
77-year-old Singh, who is into his seventh year in office, has played a “key role in India’s emergence as one of the rising powers of the 21st century.”
In an article titled “The Leader Other Leaders Love”, the magazine said the economist-turned-politician Singh, engineered the transition “from stagnant socialism to a spectacular takeoff in the global economy. But it’s Singh’s unassuming personal style that really inspires awe among his fellow global luminaries, who praise him for being modest, humble, and incorruptible,” the magazine said in the article.It also quotes former International Atomic Energy Agency director-general and Egyptian presidential challenger Mohamed ElBaradei as saying that “the soft-spoken Singh is the
model of what a political leader should be.” Besides Singh, British Premier David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud also figure in the list.
World Manmohan Singh, Prime MInister, Top 10 Leaders, world leaders
The New Orleans Saints were guests of President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday. Saints owner Tom Benson, head coach Sean Payton and other members of last year’s Super Bowl champions were congratulated by the President at a ceremony in the East Room. Obama mentioned Payton’s daring decision to open the second half of the Super Bowl against Indianapolis with an onside kick.
World Barack Obama, Comtex, market, Netwrok, New Orleans Saints, Nfl, President Obama, Shares, Smartrend, Sports, Stocks, The New Orleans Saints, Update, White House
Parliament is likely to witness another Commonwealth-Games-related storm on Monday. The Opposition has already demonstrated that it will again unite to take on the UPA government on the alleged Commonwealth Games scam, and fresh media reports on Suresh Kalmadi have provided more fodder. A report in the newspaper Times of India claims that after his earlier denial, there is evidence now to prove that CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi himself cleared payments to UK-based firm AM Films.
The newspaper report alleges that more emails and faxed documents unearthed point towards the involvement of Kalmadi, suggesting that he was aware of all payments made to the UK-based firm AM films and its sister concern AM Car and Van Hire, run by businessman Ashish Patel.AM Films and AM Car and Van Hire received 247,000 pounds for what Ashish Patel and CWG say was work done for the Queen’s Baton ceremony in London last year. There was no written contract or tender process. This was unearthed recently causing huge embarrassment to the CWG.
World CWG corruption, CWG organising committee, CWG scam, suresh kalmadi