Coast Guard may set oil slick on fire
HOUSTON, April 28 (UPI) -- An oil slick in the Gulf Mexico has come with 20 miles of the coastline and Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they are considering setting the slick on fire.
The slick resulted from last week's oil rig explosion near Louisiana, which left 11 workers missing and presumably dead. Oil was leaking from a Deepwater Horizon well in the gulf, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, at a rate of 42,000 gallons a day, officials said.
The slick threatens environmentally sensitive areas in the Mississippi River Delta, Coast Guard officials said.
"If we don't secure the well, this could be one of the most serious oil spills in U.S. history," Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said at a news conference Tuesday.
The April 20 spill, though smaller than a huge 1979 spill near Mexico, is already worse than the 1979 Ixtoc 1 leak, if for no other reason than that 11 oil workers' lives were lost, the Houston Chronicle said Tuesday.
However, the 1979 spill released far moil oil into the environment than last week's disaster. The Ixtoc well poured about 140 million gallons of oil into the gulf for 295 days before it was capped. At its current rate, it would take nine years for the Deepwater Horizon spill to match the 1979 spill, the Chronicle reported.
The current oil spill is closer to the U.S. Gulf coast shores, and there is concern it could damage the coastline more than the 1979 spill did, scientists said.
But marine biologists say the clean-up system is better now than it was more than 30 years ago.
"We're better prepared now. If they're able to clean it up out there in the open water, that's the best thing they can do," said Wes Tunnell, a marine biologist with the Corpus Christi Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico studies.
The Deepwater Horizon oil slick is about 80 miles long and 48 miles wide, the Chronicle said. For the most part, the current slick is a thin layer on the water's surface, CNN reported.
A controlled burn, using fireproof booms and conducted only in daylight, could began Wednesday, CNN said.
Administration defies Fort Hood subpoenas
WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- The Obama administration said it would provide Congress information about the Fort Hood, Texas, shootings but hasn't honored a subpoena for witness statements.
In a letter, the Defense and Justice departments told a Senate committee they would not comply with subpoenas to share investigation records into the November 2009 shooting in which 13 people died because they said revealing the material could jeopardize their case against alleged gunman Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The Pentagon said it would give the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs access to Hasan's personnel file and part of the Army report examining why no one stepped in to question Hasan's career as an Army psychiatrist despite his less-than-stellar performance as a soldier and indications of religious zealotry.
The Pentagon made "a good faith effort to find a middle ground ... to satisfy their interest," Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said. "This is as far as we are prepared to go."
While the committee appreciates the documents provided, more should be made available, Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind-Conn., committee chairman, said in a statement issued with the committee's ranking Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, McClatchey Newspapers reported.
"(They) still refuse to provide access to their agents who reportedly reviewed Major Hasan's communications with radical extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and to transcripts of prosecution interviews with Hasan's associates and superiors, which DOD already provided to its internal review."
Up in the air was whether the senators would go to court to enforce the subpoena, McClatchey reported.
Ex-student admits to aiding al-Qaida
NEW YORK, April 28 (UPI) -- A former college student in New York admitted in court he conspired to help al-Qaida get what prosecutors described as military gear.
The admission by former Brooklyn College student Syed Hashmi, 30, was part of a plea agreement reached the day before he was to go to trial Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New York on charges of conspiring with others to provide the terrorist group with military items to be used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan, The New York Times reported.
Under the agreement reached Tuesday, prosecutors said the government agreed to allow Hashmi, a Pakistani who became a U.S. citizen, to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida and dropped three other charges. In a letter to the court, the government said the two sides agreed a 15-year sentence was reasonable.
"He made the best deal that was available under the circumstances," David A. Ruhnke, one of Hashmi's attorneys, said after the hearing. "He stepped up and accepted responsibility."
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Hashmi admitted his guilt and will have to "face justice for giving aid to terrorists he knew full well were dedicated to harming Americans."
Protesters, security forces clash
BANGKOK, April 28 (UPI) -- Thailand's anti-government protesters and Thai security personnel clashed Wednesday outside Bangkok, as police tried to keep protesters from a rally site.
CNN reporter the situation as quite tense with a large deployment of riot police at the scene.
A rescue agency reported at least eight protesters known as Red Shirts were injured in the clashes while police were quoted as saying one soldier died in friendly fire.
The clashes began after security forces took up positions along a major highway outside the capital to prevent a protester convoy from reaching a rally site. The protesters in turn tried to stop security forces from proceeding to Bangkok.
The protesters have been conducting their activities since last month from their base in Bangkok's main business district, demanding the dissolution of parliament by the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva but the government so far has been firm in rejecting the demands. Most of the protesters are supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006.
Prime Minister Abhisit told the BBC Tuesday his government wants a political solution to the current crisis.
"There is a clear threat that if we hold elections too soon, with the mood running as high in terms of divisions and in terms of tension, elections would turn violent and they would solve nothing and we could be back into this vicious cycle of demonstrations," he said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations of which Thailand is a member warned the protests could lead to economic and political instability in the region, the Voice of America reported.
Since the start of the protests, more than two dozen civilians and security forces have been killed and several hundred injured in explosions and clashes between police and the protesters in Bangkok. The protests also have severely affected businesses and tourism in Thailand.
Bullock adopts baby, files for divorce
LOS ANGELES, April 28 (UPI) -- Sandra Bullock has adopted a baby boy and filed for divorce from Jesse James, the Hollywood actress told People magazine exclusively.
Bullock, 45, has been keeping a low profile since allegations became public last month that James, her husband of five years, cheated on her with several different women. The claims were made shortly after Bullock won her first Oscar for her work in "The Blind Side."
The actress told People she and James started the adoption process four years ago and brought now 3 1/2-month-old Louis home to California from New Orleans in January.
Bullock told the magazine she and James decided to keep the baby news quiet until after the Oscars, but then weren't able to announce it as planned because of the salacious stories emerging about their marriage. She now describes herself as a single parent, an excerpt from the magazine's interview said on its Web site.
Although the Web site doesn't feature quotes from the actress regarding the meltdown of her marriage, it does show a photo of the magazine's cover depicting Bullock gazing lovingly at her new son. A pull quote on the cover attributed to her says, "I have filed for divorce."
"He's just perfect, I can't even describe him any other way," Bullock said of little Louis in the excerpt on People.com. "It's like he's always been a part of our lives."
