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Thursday, December 13, 2007

On Wednesday at 12:40 p.m. CET (UTC+1), Norwegian authorities were alerted to an oil spill in the Statfjord oil field. The spill originated from the oil platform “Statfjord A”, one of three platforms in the field, operated by StatoilHydro.

Kristin Hoffmann of Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (Petroleumtilsynet) told Dagens Nyheter: “This is the second largest in Norwegian history.” The amount of oil released into the sea is believed to be at least 3840 cubic metres, 25,000 barrels, or approximately 4,000 metric tons. This amount would rank the spill low on the list of oil spills.

“It is a significant amount and we are taking it seriously,” said Vegar Stokset, a spokesman for StatoilHydro, though he said the spill was “very far from land.”

The accident occurred in rough seas while tanker Navion Britannia was loading oil from a storage buoy, StatoilHydro said. Christian Sletner of the Norwegian Coastal Administration said, “StatoilHydro has a good preparedness plan, and a satisfactory system for handling this.” He added, “StatoilHydro is responsible for cleaning up. This is the ‘polluter pays’ principle.”

“The amount of damage could range from completely marginal to relatively large if substantial amounts reach land,” Sletner said. “The chances of it reaching land, at the moment, seem to be relatively small.”

No one was injured at the time of the accident and the platform will continue work as usual Thursday, said StatiolHydro Information Director Kai Nielsen. In a press release, StatiolHydro announced that four vessels are on their way to begin the clean-up, though they will have to wait for calmer seas to begin work.

Petroleum Safety Authority Norway said in a press release that it is demobilizing disaster teams and beginning to prepare for its investigation of the incident. It will also closely follow StatoilHydro’s clean-up.

Statfjord is 200 km (124 miles) off the coast of Norway, located to the east of Bergen. It is an oil and gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, though approximately 15% of it is in the United Kingdom’s waters. At peak production, it produces over 700,000 barrels of oil per day. The field is one of the largest known under-sea oil fields in the world.

Friday, September 9, 2016

Monday, June 18, 2007

The spread of Creationist doctrines within the education systems of Council of Europe member states “could become a threat to human rights”, according to a report which will be discussed and voted on by the Council of Europe on 26th June.

The text written by the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Council, firmly challenges the belief in a creator and a world which was created, to the exclusion of accepted theories of evolution. Although Creationist doctrines were for a long time an American phenomenon and not too widespread within the European countries, the report suggests that they are tending to spread to Council of Europe member states.

According to the document, Creationism – fundamentalist doctrine of the origin of the world based on the Bible – is not based on facts and does not rely on any scientific grounds.

The report notes that children currently study predominantly evolutionary theories with a scientific basis, and suggests that there is a consequential risk of introducing confusion for them when presented with alternatives based on “convictions, beliefs and ideals” with no scientific basis.

The Parliamentary Assembly urges member states and their education authorities, inter alia, to “firmly oppose the presenting of creationism as a scientific discipline on an equal footing with the theory of evolution by natural selection and in general resist presentation of creationist doctrines in any discipline other than religion”.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Interpol on Friday evening arrested Abdul ‘Bhola’ Rehman in Bangkok, Thailand. Rehman, 46, is accused of starting a 2012 garment factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan that killed over 250.

Initially thought to be accidental, the fire is now believed to have been set deliberately by an extortion group targeting the factory’s owners. Rehman is accused of receiving an order to start the fire. He is expected to be extradited to Pakistan where he is facing charges under terrorism legislation.

The Pakistani Interior Ministry was ordered by a court to arrest Rehman and another suspect, Hammad Siddiqui, with assistance from Interpol. A third accused, Zubair alias Lala, is detained in Pakistan. Around a dozen further suspects are under investigation.

The Ali Enterprises factory fire in Karachi’s Baldia Town area was among the worst industrial disasters in Pakistan. A judicial enquiry found insufficient emergency exits, insufficient safety training, overcrowding due to bulky equipment, and insufficient regulatory oversight all contributed. German firm KIK, the facility’s main customer, paid compensation to victims.

Once facing now-abandoned murder charges, the factory’s owners are now being treated as witnesses. Papers lodged before Sindh High Court in February last year suggested an extortion plot. A reinvestigation commenced the following month, and earlier this year police confirmed they too believed an extortion gang to be responsible.

Rehman was arrested at the Royal Garden Home Hotel, where he was staying alone. He is alleged by some reporters to have connections with the Pakistani Pak Sarzameen Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement, something both organisations deny. He is also alleged to have worked for Karachi’s local government.

Rehman’s wife said he was innocent.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

United States defense officials acknowledged that Iraqi insurgents successfully intercepted live video feeds from U.S. MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles with widely available software. The story broke on Thursday in the Wall Street Journal with a defense official, anonymously, informing them it is an old problem, which has already been fixed.

The Journal says U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered the problem late last year when they seized a Shi’ite militant’s laptop containing drone video feeds.

Senior defense and intelligence officials say insurgents were able to take advantage of an unprotected communications link in the systems of the remotely-piloted aircraft. The insurgents used software that is available online and costs about $26.

While U.S. defense officials say the issue has been fixed, the Journal quoted senior intelligence officials as saying it was not yet clear if the problem had been completely resolved.

U.S. officials say there is no evidence that militants had been able to take control of the drones. But the intercepted video feeds could show where the planes are operating.

The Journal also reported that U.S. drone feeds have also been intercepted in Afghanistan.

Officials say the U.S. government has known about a flaw in the drone communication system since the NATO intervention in Bosnia in the 1990s. At the time, the military assumed local adversaries would not know how to exploit it.

The report says fighters in Iraq used software programs such as one called “SkyGrabber” from the Russian company SkySoftware, which is designed to intercept data transmitted by satellite Internet.

The Journal quoted one of the program’s developers, Andrew Solonikov, as saying it was designed to download legal content — such as music and video — and that it was never intended to intercept military data. Solonikov said in a email to the paper, “It was developed to intercept music, photos, video, programs and other content that other users download from the Internet — no military data or other commercial data, only free legal content.”

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

NASA is scrambling to solidify plans to fix the broken down cooling systems on the International Space Station during two spacewalks, currently planned for Friday and Monday. The systems broke down late Saturday July 31, triggering alarms that woke the six astronauts (three Russian and three American) currently onboard the station. NASA’s flight controller said the astronauts are not in any danger, but that science experiments are on hold until the problem can be fixed.

The first spacewalk is set to begin Friday at 6:55 a.m. EDT, NASA officials said. The two planned spacewalks will be conducted by astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson. They will replace an ammonia pump module, which shut down Saturday. The pump’s failure prompted the astronauts to shut down several other systems as well. The spare pump had been delivered to the station in July 2006, during STS-121.

Normally, major repair spacewalks take weeks of preparation. An unrelated spacewalk had already been planned for this Thursday, which would have been conducted by Wheelock and Dyson, so the space suits and equipment are ready to go. NASA decided late Monday evening that the spacewalk would be postponed to Friday to allow for more preparation.

In October 2010 the space station is expected to break the record for the longest continuously inhabited space station, a record currently held by Mir.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Jane Faust, former Republican committeewoman once convicted of forging signatures, was a plaintiff yesterday in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court (state court). Her lawyer, Larry Otter, argued that Patrick Murphy should be thrown off the ballot for the Democratic primary election in the eighth congressional district of Pennsylvania. The eighth district is primarily located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Otter argued that during the period of election petition signature collection, Murphy had signed his name as the circulator on two petition sheets, but was not present for each signature that was signed on those sheets, and thereby breaking Pennsylvania state law. Pennsylvania law states that whoever signs a petition sheet as a circulator must be present for each signature and see each signature placed on the sheet.

Murphy admitted that he was not at the sheet for every signature, and he agreed that the 96 signatures on those two sheets should be invalidated. He also stated that he was unaware of that particular election statute. Otter argued that the candidacy should be thrown out because when Murphy presented his signatures he was required to sign an affidavit stating he would “not knowingly violate any election law.” It was Otter’s contention to Judge Robert Simpson, Jr., that it is unbelievable that Murphy would not know the law, as Murphy is a lawyer.

“Mr. Murphy is a member of the bar of this court. He can’t say he doesn’t know what the law was. He’s been campaigning over a year,” Otter said. He then continued, arguing that since Murphy knowingly falsified his name on those two circulation petitions, he also failed to fulfill his candidate affidavit, which according to state law is a criminal offense.

The campaign manager for the Murphy campaign, Josh Nanberg, said, “Under Otter’s argument, any candidate who has a meeting and puts a clipboard at the front table and … goes to the bathroom should be thrown out. That’s ridiculous.”

Monday, July 7, 2008

Hitler’s wax model is to return to the Madame Tussauds museum in Berlin, Germany after getting its head ripped off by a 41-year old man who was arrested but subsequently released.

At the grand opening of the museum, the man, currently only known as Frank L., pushed aside two officers who were protecting the exhibit. Yelling “No more war!”, he proceeded to rip off the wax sculpture’s head.

The man was arrested but later released pending investigation. He told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag he was angry about the exhibit. It has been reported that he had committed the act to win a bet started by his friends at a bar.

The waxwork was criticized around Germany where, generally, Nazi memorabilia or symbols are banned. Critics have argued that it is inappropriate to display a person who started a world war, but the museum has noted that Hitler was an important figure in German history.

The museum has announced its intentions to reinstate the €200,000 (£160,000) model after repairs, which could take weeks.