news20100607gdn

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[guardian > Business > Oil]
BP's Deepwater Horizon costs hit $1.25bn
｛ＢＰ社の石油掘削リグ”ディープウォーター・ホライゾン”のコスト、12.5億ドル（約1160億円）に達する｝

> Efforts to stop leak, clean-up costs and compensation costing tens of millions a day
｛流出封じ込め対策、原油除去費、補償費用で１日に数10億円｝
> BP shares rise 2.7% this morning on hopes for success and dividend pledge
｛ＢＰ社の株価、封じ込めの成功の兆しと配当補償で今朝2.7％上昇｝
> Chief executive vows to spend 'what it takes' to fix spill
｛ＢＰ社の最高責任者、封じ込めするための代償は厭わないと断言｝
Graeme Wearden
guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 June 2010 08.57 BST
Article history

{{Protesters yesterday outside a BP station in Florida. The company, and its chief executive Tony Hayward, have been much criticised over its response to the spill.}
{Photograph}: Dave Martin/AP}

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has now cost BP $1.25bn (£870m), as its much-criticised chief executive vows to spend "what it takes" to fix the Deepwater Horizon disaster that has caused growing anger across America.

The energy company continues to spend tens of millions of dollars a day trying to stop the leak, mopping up oil on the surface, and compensating some of the people affected by the spill. It has also been instructed by the US coastguard to pay the $360m cost of building six sand booms off Louisiana to divert oil from the coastline, taking its committed spending over the $1.6bn mark.

BP continues to insist that it can fix America's worst ever environmental disaster. Tony Hayward, BP's embattled chief executive, tweeted on Twitter this morning that "Our top priority is the Gulf. I will not be diverted away from that. We will spend what it takes to make it right."

Hayward, who was dubbed "the most hated – and most clueless – man in America" last week, is handing responsibility for running the clean-up operation to its American director, Bob Dudley. This may assuage some of the fury vented at the British company, which faces calls for its US assets to be seized.

Although BP is now managing to collect some of the leaking oil through the containment cap it installed last week, the spill is expected to continue until August when relief wells have been drilled.

Official estimates put the leak anywhere between 12,000 and 25,000 barrels of oil a day, and it is not clear how successful the containment cap will be. BP has said it collected around 10,000 barrels on Sunday and hopes to eventually capture most of the leak, but the US coastguard is being much more cautious.

"I'm hoping we catch as much oil as we can, but I'm withholding any comment until production is at a full rate," said Thad Allen, the US coastguard admiral.

Oil from the stricken wellhead has now reached the beaches of Alamaba and Florida, widening the environmental damage caused by the spill, despite 2.2m ft (6.7km) of containment boom being deployed. There are also 2,600 boats involved in the response effort.

BP said it has paid compensation totalling $48m to 18,000 individuals – out of a total of 37,000 compensation claims. President Barack Obama, who has also been criticised for his approach to the catastrophe, said yesterday it was "brutally unfair" that ordinary fishermen and shopkeepers were seeing their businesses damaged by the spill.

"If laws were broken, those responsible will be brought to justice," Obama said yesterday. "We will make sure they pay every single dime owed to the people along the Gulf coast."

The City continues to be reassured by BP's efforts, and its refusal so far to cut its dividend. The company's shares were the only risers on the FTSE 100 when trading began today, up 11p or 2.7% to 444p.


[guardian > Environment > Bhopal]
Bhopal disaster criminal court verdicts to be delivered
｛ボパール有毒ガス災害の刑事法廷、評決を下す見込み｝

> 12 Indian Union Carbide managers face possible jail sentences
｛１２人のユニオンカーバイド社の責任者、実刑の可能性高まる｝
> US chairman Warren Anderson still refuses to face trial
｛米国のウォーレン・アンダーソン前最高経営責任者、なおも出廷拒否｝
Jason Burke
The Guardian, Monday 7 June 2010
Article history

{{Bhopal residents demonstrate on the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster in December. A magistrate is set to deliver judgment on 12 criminal cases against senior managers.}
{Photograph}: Reinhard Krause/Reuters}

An Indian court is set to deliver a historic judgment on the Bhopal gas disaster, one of the worst modern industrial accidents.

Over 25 years after a leak from a chemical plant owned by Union Carbide Corporation, a US company, killed up to 25,000 people and harmed hundreds of thousands more in the central Indian city, the city judicial magistrate of Bhopal will today decide whether a dozen senior managers and directors of the plant should go to jail. The verdict will be the first in a criminal prosecution connected to the tragedy.

Those in the dock are all Indian. The trial was split following the refusal of the then chairman Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, who is American, to return to India to face charges.

Those in the dock are now accused of causing death by criminal negligence and face a sentence of up to two years' imprisonment if found guilty.

Original charges of culpable homicide, which carries a potential 10-year sentence, were controversially downgraded by the supreme court in 1996. Anderson remains charged with the more serious offence.

The trial has involved 178 witnesses and over 3,000 documents. The prosecution has sought to show that the accident was a result of the Bhopal plant's defective design and poor maintenance. Groups representing the survivors of the disaster have criticized the prosecution case, brought by the state through India's Central Bureau of Investigation, which they say has been poorly prepared.

The disaster was caused when late in the evening of 2 December 1984, safety systems failed, allowing methyl isocyanate, a key ingredient for pesticide, to mix with water at high temperatures. Poorly trained and ill-equipped local staff were unable to prevent the subsequent release of clouds of highly toxic gas. Worst hit were the densely-populated slum areas which had grown up around the plant since its construction in 1969.

Groups representing the survivors of the tragedy say that those responsible should face more serious sanctions.

"Justice will be done in Bhopal only if the individuals and corporations responsible are punished in an exemplary manner," said Rashida Bee, who lost six family members in the disaster. "Union Carbide's disaster was foreseeable and foreseen and still allowed to happen."

One defendant, Vijay Gokhale, who was managing director of the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation at the time, told the local Sunday Mid Day newspaper that the accused were not "nervous" about the end of the trial. "We all hope there is some kind of closure," he said.

The number of casualties caused by the disaster remains disputed. The Madhya Pradesh government has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths. Campaigners say more than six times as many were killed and nearly 250,000 harmed. A 2004 Amnesty International report said around 100,000 people in Bhopal continue to suffer "chronic and debilitating illnesses". Many have received little compensation. A deal struck by the Indian government with Union Carbide was based on an early estimate of victims that proved extremely low.

Defendants will be able to appeal today's verdict.

news20100607nn/bbc

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[nature > Nature News]
Published online 7 June 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.282
News
Crocodiles go with the flow
｛クロコダイル（ワニの総称）、流れに乗る｝

Surfing currents allows crocodiles to travel long distances.
By Natasha Gilbert
｛クロコダイル、流れに乗って長距離の移動ができる｝

{Crocodiles may surf ocean currents to reach distant shores.}
｛クロコダイル、潮流に乗って遠く離れた沿岸まで到着する｝

Crocodiles are bad long-distance swimmers. Instead, their talents lie in surfing, according to a study published today in the Journal of Animal Ecology^１.
｛今日発刊のＪＯＡＥ（動物生態学ジャーナル）によると、クロコダイルは長い距離を泳ぐのは苦手である。その代わりに、その能力は波乗りの技術にある。｝

Estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) have the largest geographical range of any crocodile species, spanning more than 10,000 square kilometres of the southeast Pacific Ocean.

That wide distribution suggests that they can cross the ocean to reach distant locales, but until now only three estuarine crocodiles had been tracked on transoceanic voyages. Zoologists didn't know how the reptiles travelled such long distances given the sustained level of swimming required.

The answer is that the crocodiles ride surface currents, says a group led by Craig Franklin, a zoologist at the University of Queensland in Australia. The reptiles only travel when the current flows in the direction of their desired journey, the researchers report. When the tide turns, the crocodiles either climb onto the riverbank or dive to the bottom of the river to wait for the current to reverse.

"Crocodiles ride the currents to cut the energy costs of travelling. They get a free ride," says Franklin.

Surf's up

The group, which included the late Steve Irwin, better known as 'The Crocodile Hunter', spent a year studying 20 adult crocodiles in the Kennedy River in North Queensland, Australia. Implanted with acoustic devices that emit pulses through the water, the reptiles' movements were tracked by 20 receivers placed along a 63-kilometre stretch of the tidal river. The signals allowed the team to identify the crocodile, and determine its body temperature.

{{Transmitters attached to the crocodiles recorded their location and temperature.}
Australian Zoo}

The researchers compared their data with estimates of surface water currents from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency. They found that eight crocodiles undertook a total of 42 long-distance journeys of more than 10 kilometres per day. In 96% of these trips, the reptiles travelled with the current flow. In contrast, the crocodiles were equally likely to travel with and against the current flow when making short journeys.

When the tide was against the crocodiles' direction of travel, their recorded body temperatures rose to around 32 ºC, suggesting they were basking in the sun on the riverbank. When the tide turned in their favour, their body temperatures dropped to 25 ºC, indicating that they were back in the water.

"They know when the current is flowing in the direction they want to travel," says Franklin. "It is like they are purposeful. They seem to be making a decision prior to the journey that they will travel with the current."

Magnetic attraction

It is not clear whether this behaviour is learned or inherited, says Franklin. He says that correlations can be drawn between the migratory behaviour and cognitive abilities of crocodiles and birds, because the former are more closely related to the latter than to other reptiles. Previous studies have shown that both animals use magnetic cues to navigate.

The latest study indicates that surfing the ocean currents is an effective migration method for estuarine crocodiles. Surfing also provides a way for individuals from distant populations to cross ocean barriers and breed, helping to explain why estuarine crocodiles have not diversified into different species.

But James Perran Ross, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville, is not convinced that the crocodiles' ocean travels are intentional, but instead says that they are more likely to be "occasional mishaps". "Just heading off blindly downstream isn't much of a strategy," he says.

"That would be quite some mishap," counters Franklin. "And if it is a mishap, why have other crocodile species not also made the same mistake?" His team plans to track the crocodiles over the next ten years or so, to shed light on why the reptiles travel long distances and how this behaviour arose.

References
1. Campbell, H. A. et al. Journal of Animal Ecology advance online publication doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01709.x (2010).


[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[BBC > Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 22:10 GMT, Monday, 7 June 2010 23:10 UK
By Katia Moskvitch
Science reporter, BBC News
Crocodiles 'surf' long distance on ocean currents

{Estuarine crocodiles are poor swimmers}

Saltwater crocodiles enjoy catching a wave and can travel hundreds of kilometres by "surfing" on ocean currents, a study suggests.

Australian researchers used sonar sensors and satellite transmitters to monitor 20 reptiles' movements.

They found the crocodiles undertook numerous trips of over 10km (6.2 miles), but only when a current flowed in their direction of travel.

The results of the research appear in the Journal of Animal Zoology.

The TV personality Steve Irwin, who was nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", but died in 2006, took part in the study.

Estuarine or saltwater crocodiles are the world's largest reptiles and can grow up to five-and-a-half metres in length.

They are poor swimmers and mainly live in salt water - but their "home" spans over 10,000sq km of the South-East Pacific, from Sri Lanka to Fiji and from Thailand to northern Australia.

Researchers have long been puzzled by how crocodiles managed to spread themselves so widely.

"Of all the amazing things animals can do, the ability of certain species to migrate significant distances across formidable geographical barriers is one of the most remarkable," write the authors of the recent study.

Although the crocodiles spend most of their life in salt water, they are not considered marine animals as they rely on land for food and water.

The open sea

During the research, a team led by Dr Hamish Campbell, from the University of Queensland, captured 20 crocodiles living in the North Kennedy tidal river in Queensland, northern Australia, and tagged them with satellite transmitters.

They found that during the period of study, eight of them ventured out into the open ocean. One travelled from the river mouth all the way to the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula, in Queensland's far north. That amounts to a total of 590km covered over 25 days.

To do that, the ocean-trotter hitched a ride on a current within the Gulf of Carpentaria (that separates Cape York from Arnhem Land, to the west). This current occurs seasonally, during the summer monsoon.

{20 crocodiles were tagged with satellite transmitters}

"[These crocodiles] can survive for long periods in saltwater without eating or drinking, so by only travelling when surface currents are favourable, they would be able to move long distances by sea," commented Dr Campbell.

It took another adventurer - a 4.84m-long male - just 20 days to go more than 411km from from the east coast of Australia's Cape York Peninsula through the Torres Strait (which divides Australia from New Guinea) to the Wenlock River on the west coast of Cape York.

When the crocodile arrived in the Torres Strait, strong currents were flowing in the opposite direction to where it was headed.

So the animal waited in a sheltered bay for four days and continued its trip when the currents changed direction.

Important clues

The scientists also tagged 27 crocodiles with sonar transmitters and spent a year tracking their every move inside the North Kennedy River with underwater receivers.

They found that both male and female crocodiles regularly travelled more than 50km from home, swimming to the river mouth and back.

But the team discovered that crocodiles would only set out on a long journey within an hour of the tide changing. This allowed them to "catch a wave".

They put their trips on hold when the tides reversed, moving out of the river and on to the banks.

Dr Campbell said that the results of the study gave important clues to understanding the evolution of the world's largest reptiles.

"This not only helps to explains how estuarine crocodiles move between oceanic islands, but also contributes to the theory that crocodilians have crossed major marine barriers during their evolutionary past," he said.

news20100607bbc

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[BBC > Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 12:07 GMT, Monday, 7 June 2010 13:07 UK
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News
Asteroid probe aimed toward Earth
｛小惑星探査機、地球を目指す｝

{Hayabusa will release its sample capsule for a landing on Earth}
｛「はやぶさ」、地球に帰還でサンプルの入ったカプセルを分離予定｝

The Japanese space probe Hayabusa, which was designed to return samples from an asteroid, has been placed on course for a landing in Australia.
｛小惑星「イトカワ」の表面の微粒子を採集して帰還する日本の宇宙探査機「はやぶさ」、オーストラリアの予定着陸コースを進行中｝

The spacecraft is returning home from its 2005 visit to the asteroid Itokawa

Hayabusa has achieved a crucial engine firing to aim the probe at Woomera Protected Area in southern Australia.

Its sample return capsule is scheduled to detach from its "mothership" and land at Woomera on 13 June, but there is no guarantee of mission success.

It remains doubtful whether the probe managed to grab any material from Itokawa; scientists will have to open the capsule to find out.

At the weekend, the Japanese Space Agency (Jaxa) announced that Hayabusa had successfully completed its third Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM), designed to guide the spacecraft towards a touchdown in the Australian outback.

The spacecraft now lies within about 3,600,000km of our planet.

Hayabusa returned astonishing images from its encounter with Itokawa Just one further, more detailed, correction manouevre is planned for the spacecraft before its sample capsule is returned to Earth at around 1400 GMT on Sunday.

The US space agency (Nasa) will deploy a DC-8 plane from California to observe the scheduled landing.

The aircraft is packed with imaging and spectrographic cameras to capture different aspects of the craft's re-entry.

Nasa will deploy its DC-8 plane to observe the return Even if Hayabusa failed to grab large samples at Itokawa, scientists hope the capsule may still contain small residues from the asteroid that could be analysed in laboratories.

Asteroids contain primordial material left over from the formation of the Solar System billions of years ago.

The mission has been beset with problems. Hayabusa made two "touchdowns" on Itokawa designed to collect rocks and soil, but apparently failed to fire a metal bullet designed to gather the samples.

A fuel leak in 2005 left Hayabusa's chemical propellant tanks empty, so engineers had to use the spacecraft's ion engines to guide the spacecraft home.

Ion thrusters are highly efficient but have a low acceleration. This means that each trajectory correction takes much longer to complete than it would with chemical engines.