Was a mistake the release of Lockerbie Killer,..[ 1475 ]

Release of Lockerbie bomber was a mistake, British government says

It was a mistake to release convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, Britain's ambassador to the United States said Friday.

 

CNN, July 16, 2010 | 4:31 a.m.

LONDON, England -- It was a mistake to release convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, Britain's ambassador to the United States said Friday.

The British government believes it was wrong to let Al Megrahi out of prison and return home to Libya in August 2009, Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald said in a statement. The government at the time also felt the same way, he said.

The decision to release Al Megrahi, however, was up to the devolved Scottish executive and the British government therefore had no power to stop it, Sheinwald said.

S.E. Iran, Deadly Suicide Bombing ..[ 1474 ]

Twin Suicide Bombings Kill 21 in Southeast Iran

In this picture released by Iran's official IRNA news agency, a man helps a victim who was wounded in a bomb blast in the city of Zahedan, 1,570 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, 15 July 2010(Photo AP)

VOA.,July 16th,2010

Twin suicide bombings outside a prominent Shi'ite mosque in southeastern Iran have killed at least 21 people, including worshippers and members of the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The attacks late Thursday wounded more than 100 others at the main mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, and came as Shi'ites celebrated the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein. The day is also set aside each year to honor the Revolutionary Guards.

The Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the bombings on its website, saying it had carried them out in retaliation for Iran's execution in June of the group's leader, Abdolmalek Rigi. Iran had convicted the militant leader of terrorism.

Jundallah said the bombings were carried out by relatives of Rigi, Mohammad Rigi and Abdulbaset Rigi, and warned of more explosions to come.

Sistan-Baluchistan province, an impoverished area bordering Pakistan, is the base for an insurgency led by the Sunni militant group. Shi'ites in the province, home to a large Sunni Baluch minority, have been the target of numerous attacks.

Jundllah, or Soldiers of God, said it carried out a similar mosque attack two months ago that killed 25 people in Zahedan. The group also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack last October that killed 57 people, including several top Revolutionary Guard commanders.

Jundallah members say they are fighting to secure rights for the Sunni Baluchis in Shi'ite-dominated Iran. Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi told the semiofficial Fars news agency Thursday's incident was a terrorist act.

Abdolmalek Rigi was detained in February by Iranian intelligence on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. He was later charged with 79 counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, bombing operations and being the founder and leader of Jundallah.  The militant leader's younger brother, Abdolhamid Rigi, was executed by hanging in Zahedan two months ago.

Iran has accused the United States of funding Jundallah militants in an effort to destabilize the Iranian government. Iran says Jundallah is based in Pakistan. The U.S., Britain and Pakistan all have denied backing Jundallah.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.

Tropical Storm hits Philippines ..[ 1473 ]

Philippines tropical storm death toll rises

By the CNN Wire Staff

Filipinos make repairs to a shanty home after it was damaged by Tropical Storm Conson in Manila Bay on Thursday.

(CNN) -July 15th, 2010- 

The death toll from a tropical storm that tore through the Philippines this week has doubled.

The country's National Disaster Coordinating Council reported Thursday that 36 people died from Tropical Storm Conson. 

-The previous death toll, reported Wednesday, was 18.

-More than 40 people remained missing as of late Thursday, the council said.

The tally of damaged houses also increased from 500 to 11,230. More than 900 houses have been destroyed.

Conson, known locally as "Basyang," started as a typhoon before weakening to a tropical storm and making landfall late Tuesday.

At least four children died from the storm, including three who were struck by falling trees, authorities said.

The storm is expected to move northwest of the Philippines by Friday morning. Conson is likely to move into southern China on Friday, but the Joint Typhoon Warning Center is predicting little or no intensification before landfall there.

Heavy rain and flooding will be a concern for southern China.

The latest news for the oil leak from Gulf well..[ 1472 ]

BP says test shuts off oil leak from Gulf well

Oil spill

1 / 19

A combination photo shows the BP oil leak in images taken from BP live video on May 26, 2010 (top L), June 1, 2010 (top R), July 13, 2010 and on July 15, 2010 (bottom R) after the leak was contained.

Credit: Reuters/BP/Handout

By Kristen Hays

 

HOUSTON | Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:59pm EDT

 

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc said on Thursday it stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from its deep-sea well for the first time since it ruptured in April, prompting hope that the leak can be plugged for good.
BP conducted a test in which it closed valves and vents on a tight-sealing containment cap installed atop its the well earlier this week. BP said results early in the test showed the cap had completely contained the flow of oil.
"It's a great sight but it's far from the finish line," Doug Suttles, a senior BP executive, told reporters.
President Barack Obama, who has seen his U.S. public approval ratings drop as the crisis dragged on, called it a "positive sign" but noted that the latest effort was still in the testing phase. BP's huge oil spill has caused an economic and environmental disaster along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The British energy giant's U.S. shares initially jumped 10 percent on the news and posted strong gains for the day.

The Coast Guard said BP likely will release the flow of oil again after the test is done -- siphoning it to ships on the ocean surface in an improved system able to handle up to 80,000 barrels a day until a relief well seals the well permanently.

As the company pushed ahead on the spill-control effort, U.S. energy company Apache Corp was moving forward on a possible $10 billion deal for some BP properties, including major assets in Alaska, CNBC reported.

After a delay to fix a leak, BP began the test on Thursday afternoon on the cap that could stop all or most of the flow of crude that has been polluting the ocean and coastline since April 20 in the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The test, which could last up to 48 hours, gauges pressure in the well -- which extends 2.5 miles under the seabed -- to assess its condition. Officials said it will show whether the cap can safely shut off the flow from the well if oil-capture vessels at the surface must disconnect.
The Coast Guard calls the containment cap at best a temporary fix to the leak while BP finishes two relief wells it is drilling. BP intends for a relief well to intersect the blown-out well and permanently seal it next month.

The test is intended to determine whether the structure of the lengthy well is damaged or intact. Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the U.S. government's point man on the spill, compared the test to placing one's thumb over the end of a garden hose -- if the pressure does not increase that means there is a leak somewhere.
Regarding the BP well, a build-up of pressure would signal that the well is intact, which would make it easier to seal it with the relief wells.

The cap is a crucial step toward a multi-vessel oil-capture system that is hurricane-ready and can collect up to 80,000 barrels per day.
That should be more than enough to capture the whole well output, as estimates put the spill rate between 35,000 barrels (1.47 million gallons/5.56 million liters) and 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons/9.5 million liters) a day.

There appeared to be fresh hope in Gulf Coast communities reeling from the spill. "It's a great thing, it's a wonderful thing," said Jerome DeGree in Larose, Louisiana when he heard that BP had at least temporarily stopped the flow.
"This has been hurting this whole area," the shallow-water oil driller said. "I couldn't buy my shrimp, I couldn't buy my oysters, I couldn't take my boat out."

BP STOCK

Reports that Apache was seeking $6 billion to $7 billion for the purchase helped boost BP's U.S. shares from midday. The shares then rose further on the initial test results and ended up 7.6 percent at $38.92.
"It's been one of those headline things we've heard for 87 days, lots of people waiting for some good news," said John Massey, portfolio manager at Sunamerica Asset Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters Insider predict that BP will spend between $63 billion to $100 billion over the next 15 years in fines, cleanup costs and legal costs.
BP's shares have been ravaged since the well rupture, with $100 billion in market value being knocked off at one stage, before a three-week rally sparked by takeover talk, speculation about investment by a sovereign wealth fund and hopes that the well would be capped.

The news that BP had finally stopped the leak -- at least during the test -- was a bit of good news for the British company, which has seen its share value plummet and reputation battered since the April rig explosion that killed 11 workers and led to the spill of millions of gallons of oil.
BP also faced new measures in the U.S. Congress. Lawmakers are mulling a range of new laws that could require tougher safety regulations on offshore drilling or bar companies like BP from new offshore exploration leases.

The U.S. government, which has vowed to make BP pay for fixing the well and all cleanup efforts, told the oil giant that it was responsible for paying all royalties on the oil it is collecting from the ruptured well.

Currently, energy companies pay the government a royalty rate of up to 18.75 percent of the value of the oil and gas drilled in offshore tracts.

Through its containment systems, BP has collected or burned more than 800,000 barrels of oil.
The Gulf spill has soiled hundreds of miles (km) of shoreline, shut down about a third of Gulf fisheries and hurt tourism and fishing in all five U.S. Gulf states. It has also created problems for Obama as the government works to respond to the crisis while area residents struggle financially.

In an issue unrelated to the spill, but illustrating the pressure BP faces in the United States, the company confirmed on Thursday that it had lobbied the British government to speed up a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya in late 2007.

In August 2009, Britain released a Libyan convicted of blowing up a U.S. plane, angering the United States. Many of the 270 dead in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing were American.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said it would hold a hearing on the issue on July 29

18th century ship unerthed in New York's WTCenter..[ 1471 ]

Old ship hull unearthed at World Trade Center site in New York City

Gallery

18th-century boat uncovered at World Trade Center site

Workers at Ground Zero found the 32-foot-long boat Tuesday, and now archaeologists are excavating for clues into Manhattan's past.

Click and » LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

  

By Associated Press

Friday, July 16, 2010

NEW YORK -- Workers at the World Trade Center site are excavating a 32-foot-long ship hull apparently used in the 18th century as part of the fill that extended lower Manhattan into the Hudson River.

It was hoped that the artifact could be retrieved by the end of the day Thursday, archaeologist Molly McDonald said. A boat specialist planned to look at it.

McDonald said she wanted to at least salvage some timbers; it was unclear whether any large portions could be lifted intact. "We're mostly clearing it by hand because it's kind of fragile," she said, but construction equipment could be used later in the process. 

McDonald and archaeologist A. Michael Pappalardo were at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when the discovery was made Tuesday morning.

"We noticed curved timbers that a backhoe brought up," McDonald said Wednesday. "We quickly found the rib of a vessel and continued to clear it away and expose the hull over the last two days."

The two archaeologists work for AKRF, a firm hired to document artifacts discovered at the site. They called the find significant but said more study was needed to determine the age of the ship.

"We're going to send timber samples to a laboratory to do dendrochronology that will help us to get a sense of when the boat was constructed," McDonald said. Dendrochronology is the science that uses tree rings to determine dates and chronological order.

A 100-pound anchor was found a few yards from the ship hull Wednesday, but the archaeologists are not sure if it belongs to the ship. It is three to four feet across, McDonald said.

The archaeologists are racing to record and analyze the vessel before the delicate wood, now exposed to air, begins to deteriorate.

"I kept thinking of how closely it came to being destroyed," Pappalardo said