On 1 May, a bomb was discovered in a car in Times Square. Faishal Shahzad, a naturalized US citizen born in Pakistan, is charged with the terrorist attempt.
On 1 May, a bomb was accidentally found in a car in Times Square, the well-known and crowded spot of New York. Lance Orton, a T-shirt salesman and a Vietnam veteran, noticed the smoke coming from the SUV and alerted the police on Saturday. At the same time, another street vendor Duane Jackson found the car suspicious and called the police as well. NYPD discovered in the car a crude firebomb: three propane tanks, two full gasoline containers, M-88 firecrackers, and two alarm-clock detonators. The bomb could have had caused several casulties if not found on time.
In 72 hours, the officials caught the major suspect Faishal Shahzad, a 30 yeas old, naturalized US citizen born in Pakistan, now living in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Although initially officials claimed that there was no evidence that this attempt was linked to any terrorist group, after the discovery of Shahzad, it seems that the Pakistani Taliban are behind this terror plot. There are strong evidences suggesting that the terrorist group, which is closely related to the al-Qaeda, helped facilitate and finance the attack. Shahzad was arrested two days after the incident at the JFK Airport when he wanted to leave the country to fly to Dubai. Officials investigate further the case and try to determine what might have motivated Shahzad.
After an explosion on the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico 5,000 barrels of raw oil gush every day in the sea endangering seriously the environment of the region.
On 22 April, the drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, the rig sank and the rupture of the line is bringing 5,000 barrels of raw oil every day into the seawater. The 2.6 million gallons of oil is floating in the sea, coming dangerously close to the U.S. shore. The States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida could face a major natural disaster if the oil reaches the coast. The poisoned area might be substantial and the effects can last for years as at the mostly marshy coast, the tidal action is weak and soil is oxygen poor.
For the past 12 days, the authorities tried to stop the leaking without much success. President Obama visited the area on Monday and Pentagon promised to send 17,000 National Guard troops to the area. Meanwhile, there were attempts to halt the gush of oil but so far, all of them were ineffective. On Tuesday, BP announced that they would attempt to drown a four-story, 100-ton, 40 foot-tall metal container to the leaking pipe to collect the flowing oil. This method has been used in shallow water but now the depth is 5,000 feet, at the bottom of the ocean.
This catastrophe is already affecting the local businesses. In the gulf in many communities, fishing and oyster production constitute a substantial part of the local’s income. BP announced that they would take full responsibility for what happened and the company in a press release stated that “BP is committed to pay legitimate and objectively verifiable claims…loss and damage caused by the spill.”
The air traffic is seriously diverted in Northern Europe after a volcano has erupted in Iceland for the second time in a month.
After a volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier erupted on Wednesday, several Northern European countries closed their airports to avoid serious damages in the aircrafts. Until now, around 6,000 flights were cancelled directly affecting more than half a million of people in UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, France and Poland. Moreover, as Heathrow is the second largest airport in the world the volcanic ash had a global effect on air-travel. So far, officials do not know when the chaotic situation is going to redress as the volcano is still continuing to erupt and to spew ash which has a movement in the atmosphere dependent on the meteorological conditions and the direction of the wind.
When a volcano is emplacing ash to the altitude that commercial aircraft fly, at 30,000 feet, and the upper-level wind is very lame, the ash cloud became slow and dense causing a serious hazard to aviation. It damages flight controls, reduces visibility and in the worst case jams jet engines that become full of molten glass if small, fine particles of heated sand and rock reach them. In this situation, only emergency flights are allowed to use the closed airspace and passengers are advised to contact the airports for further information. After the air travel is going to resume further complications are expected due to the vast number of cancelled flights.
On 27 March 2010, in the cadre of Earth Hour organized by WWF, more than 3000 cities in 83 countries all around the world switched off the light for an hour.
At 20 30 local time the normally vibrant night view of Sydney went dark for an hour. Earth Hour, organized for the fourth time by the WWF, started in Sydney in 2007, when more than two million people turned their lights off to express their opinion about climate change. After just four years, the initiative has grown into a worldwide support for the green planet.
WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), the world's largest and immensely respected, independent conservation organization, wants to raise the awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. This global phenomenon is seen as a vote for Earth and a livable future. "We think we are going to have 100 million people around sending message that climate change is real and we need to take action now", said WWF CEO Carter Roberts. Organizers also hope that their message will be taken seriously by the world leaders at the climate change summit in December in Copenhagen, Denmark.
With more than 3000 cities in 83 countries, this initiative seems to convince numerous people and companies that switched off their lights and other electric appliances for one hour. Landmarks like the Sydney Opera House, the Empire State Building, Big Ben, Egyptian Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, the Acropolis, St. Peters Basilica or the Bird's Nest Sadiom and the Water Cube in Bejing are among the most well know participants this year. the widespread attention gave a good opportunity to some vigilants restaurants to organize candlelight dinners for their customers.
Earth Hour is a unique innitiative showing the hope for a better future and the force of unity and cooperation.
Earth Hour SlideShow:
