Jury: Exxon owes $236 million for polluting groundwater in N.H.

Jason McLure , Reuters ? ? ? 2 hrs.

LITTLETON, N.H. - A New Hampshire jury on Tuesday found Exxon Mobil liable for $236.4 million in a civil lawsuit that charged the oil company had polluted groundwater in the state with a gasoline additive used to reduce smog in the 1970s and 1980s.

Following a three-month trial, jurors deliberated less than two hours before finding that the world's largest publicly traded oil company acted negligently in contaminating the groundwater with the additive MTBE, said Jessica Grant, a lawyer who represented the state.

"We're very pleased that the jury held Exxon accountable for the harm its defective product caused to the state's groundwater resources and that they also held Exxon responsible for its negligence," she said.

Originally filed in New Hampshire court in 2003, the state charged that Exxon and other major oil companies knew that the additive was likely to contaminate groundwater and was more difficult to clean up than other pollutants. Some damages from the suit will help pay for the costs of testing and cleaning affected water supplies.

Exxon vowed to appeal.

"MTBE worked as intended to improve our air quality and the benefits of its use substantially outweighed the known risks," said spokeswoman Rachael Moore. "MTBE contamination in New Hampshire is rapidly decreasing and the state's current system for cleaning up gasoline spills ensures safe drinking water."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today considers the additive a potential human carcinogen, though much of the research on the chemical has focused on the health effects of inhaling it rather than drinking it. New Hampshire banned the substance in 2007.

Exxon was the only one of the 22 original defendants in the original suit to go to trial. Other defendants either had the suits against them dismissed or agreed to settlements.

Those included Canada-based Irving Oil, which agreed to pay $57 million last year, and Venezuela's state-owned Citgo Petroleum, which struck a $16 million agreement as the trial began.

The three-month trial on the suit, filed in state court, was moved to the state's federal courthouse in Concord to accommodate the large number of witnesses, lawyers and exhibits. The jury found that contamination had caused $816 million in damages in the state. Exxon's market share of 29 percent was used to compute damages, Grant said.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a86fd1a/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cjury0Eexxon0Eowes0E2360Emillion0Epolluting0Egroundwater0En0Eh0E1C9285282/story01.htm

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Yen still in focus, US earnings seen aiding Asian shares

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO (Reuters) - The yen fell to new multi-year lows on Tuesday, pressured by the Bank of Japan's aggressive reflationary campaign, while Asian equities looked for support from a solid start to the U.S. quarterly earnings season.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 percent in early trade.

Australian shares were 0.2 percent higher while South Korean shares opened nearly flat, pressured by tensions in the Korean peninsula.

North Korea suspended its sole remaining major project with the South on Monday, the Kaesong industrial park, amid speculation that it will take some sort of provocative action - another nuclear weapons test or missile launch - in what has become one of the most serious crises on the peninsula since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

Alcoa Inc, the largest U.S. aluminium producer, reported an increase in quarterly profit on Monday, easing concerns about corporate results in the first three months of 2013.

Earnings forecasts have been scaled back heading into the first-quarter reports, with S&P 500 company earnings seen up just 1.6 percent from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data, down from a 4.3 percent forecast in January.

Japan's Nikkei stock average opened up 0.9 percent, after jumping as much as 3.1 percent to its highest since August 2008 earlier on Monday.

Early in Asia on Tuesday, the dollar hit its highest since May 2009 of 99.65 yen while the euro climbed as far as 129.72 yen, its highest since January 2010. The Aussie dollar soared to 103.78 yen, the highest since July 2008.

Traders expect the dollar to trade at 100 yen, as soon as this week, as the effects of the BOJ's latest move continue to spread globally.

"Markets are increasingly focused on the notion that larger JGB purchases at longer maturities by the BOJ could push Japanese domestic long-term investors elsewhere," said Vassili Serebriakov, strategist at BNP Paribas.

The BOJ conducted its first government bond buying operation on Monday since announcing monetary stimulus on an unprecedented scale last week, saying it will buy 1.2 trillion yen of Japanese government bonds.

A sharp decline in Japanese government bond yields across the curve has stirred speculation Japanese investors will turn to higher-yielding assets in a global scale, pushing sovereign bond yields lower in the United States and the euro zone.

Concerns over the euro zone were heightened when Portugal's constitutional court rejected some of the austerity measures introduced as a condition of the country's bailout, but a jump in euro zone bond yields were contained by sharp falls in yields of Spain and Italy due to demand for higher-yielding euro zone bonds from Asia after the BOJ plan.

"The global market reaction to the BOJ stimulus has been more positive for duration in fixed income than equities so far," said Barclays Capital in a research. "We think markets are not giving the BOJ enough credit for its support. We continue to favour equities."

U.S. crude futures were up 0.1 percent to $93.46 a barrel.

(Additional reporting by Ian Chua in Sydney; Editing by Eric Meijer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yen-still-focus-us-earnings-seen-aiding-asian-001642641--finance.html

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The ethics of resurrecting extinct species

Apr. 8, 2013 ? At some point, scientists may be able to bring back extinct animals, and perhaps early humans, raising questions of ethics and environmental disruption.

Within a few decades, scientists may be able to bring back the dodo bird from extinction, a possibility that raises a host of ethical questions, says Stanford law Professor Hank Greely.

Twenty years after the release of Jurassic Park, the dream of bringing back the dinosaurs remains science fiction. But scientists predict that within 15 years they will be able to revive some more recently extinct species, such as the dodo or the passenger pigeon, raising the question of whether or not they should -- just because they can.

In the April 5 issue of Science, Stanford law Professor Hank Greely identifies the ethical landmines of this new concept of de-extinction.

"I view this piece as the first framing of the issues," said Greely, director of the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences. "I don't think it's the end of the story, rather I think it's the start of a discussion about how we should deal with de-extinction."

In "What If Extinction Is Not Forever?" Greely lays out potential benefits of de-extinction, from creating new scientific knowledge to restoring lost ecosystems. But the biggest benefit, Greely believes, is the "wonder" factor.

"It would certainly be cool to see a living saber-toothed cat," Greely said. "'Wonder' may not seem like a substantive benefit, but a lot of science -- such as the Mars rover -- is done because of it."

Greely became interested in the ethics of de-extinction in 1999 when one of his students wrote a paper on the implications of bringing back wooly mammoths.

"He didn't have his science right -- which wasn't his fault because approaches on how to do this have changed in the last 13 years -- but it made me realize this was a really interesting topic," Greely said.

Scientists are currently working on three different approaches to restore lost plants and animals. In cloning, scientists use genetic material from the extinct species to create an exact modern copy. Selective breeding tries to give a closely-related modern species the characteristics of its extinct relative. With genetic engineering, the DNA of a modern species is edited until it closely matches the extinct species.

All of these techniques would bring back only the physical animal or plant.

"If we bring the passenger pigeon back, there's no reason to believe it will act the same way as it did in 1850," said co-author Jacob Sherkow, a fellow at the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences. "Many traits are culturally learned. Migration patterns change when not taught from generation to generation."

Many newly revived species could cause unexpected problems if brought into the modern world. A reintroduced species could become a carrier for a deadly disease or an unintentional threat to a nearby ecosystem, Greely says.

"It's a little odd to consider these things 'alien' species because they were here before we were," he said. "But the 'here' they were in is very different than it is now. They could turn out to be pests in this new environment."

When asked whether government policies are keeping up with the new threat, Greely answers "no."

"But that's neither surprising nor particularly concerning," he said. "It will be a while before any revised species is going to be present and able to be released into the environment."

Greely and Sherkow recommend that the government leave de-extinction research to private companies and focus on drafting new regulations. Sherkow says the biggest legal and ethical challenge of de-extinction concerns our own long-lost ancestors.

"Bringing back a hominid raises the question, 'Is it a person?' If we bring back a mammoth or pigeon, there's a very good existing ethical and legal framework for how to treat research animals. We don't have very good ethical considerations of creating and keeping a person in a lab," said Sherkow. "That's a far cry from the type of de-extinction programs going on now, but it highlights the slippery slope problem that ethicists are famous for considering."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University. The original article was written by Thomas Sumner and Bjorn Carey.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. J. S. Sherkow, H. T. Greely. What If Extinction Is Not Forever? Science, 2013; 340 (6128): 32 DOI: 10.1126/science.1236965

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/KzHo9LXWg1o/130408165955.htm

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'Avatar' Sequels Will Use Underwater Performance Capture

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and other 'Avatar' stars to perform 'in a tank' for underwater scenes, according to the longtime James Cameron collaborator.

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/04/08/avatar-sequel-underwater/

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Union workers at Y-12 agree to contract extension

Union workers at Y-12 agree to contract extension
April 06, 2013 10:41 EDT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Union workers at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge have ratified a one-year contract extension that includes a 2.5 percent wage increase.

Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, confirmed to the Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/XvyoVj ) that the contract was ratified on Friday night, but he declined to release the vote totals. The agreement was reached with B&W Y-12, the managing contractor at Y-12.

Although the current labor agreement wasn't due to expire until June 22, the federal National Nuclear Security Administration authorized the management to negotiate an extension earlier to avoid problems with an upcoming change of management at the plant.

The NNSA earlier this year awarded a $22 billion contract to Consolidated Nuclear Security to operate Y-12 and another plant in Texas.

Information from: Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com

Source: http://www.fox17.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.tn/32ed99b0-www.fox17.com.shtml

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Hampton University hopes to elevate 'Air Raid' attack

HAMPTON ??

Judging from spring drills, Hampton University is much closer to having quarterbacks and not just players who line up at the position.

Rising sophomores Jaylian "J.J." Williamson and Brian Swain have improved greatly since last fall, and junior-college transfer Najee Tyler has had moments, as HU held its annual Blue-White game Friday.

"The guys are understanding the concepts better," Pirates offensive coordinator Earnest Wilson said. "They're improving their football IQ, which we didn't have, especially with freshmen. I feel really good about them. We still have a long way to go, but they're getting there."

Williamson, from Chesapeake's Oscar Smith High, marched the Pirates' offense up and down the field Friday at Armstrong Stadium. Swain, a walk-on from Laredo, Texas, had a spottier showing that wasn't indicative of his body of work this spring.

"I understand the offense, my reads, my checks, everything," Swain said. "I've learned a lot from last year, when I was just kind of playing. This year, I'm playing as a quarterback."

Said Williamson, "I was still new to the offense, new coaches, new offense, 'Air Raid' offense, so I was just coming out trying to play. Now, this offseason, I'm more focused, more in the playbook, more watching film, I have more of a grasp of the offense, a good feel for it. I feel way more comfortable. I feel like I'm back in high school."

The Pirates' version of Wilson's "Air Raid" offense was mostly grounded last season, a prime contributor to a 3-7 record that was the program's worst going back to its Division II days.

Wilson, a disciple of Hal Mumme's and Mike Leach's pass-first offensive system, came to HU with big credentials after two years as coordinator at Jackson State. The Tigers were the No. 1 offense in the Football Championship Subdivision in 2011, averaging almost 491 yards per game. They were third in passing (348.09 ypg) and ninth in scoring (35.82 points per game).

Last season, however, the Pirates were sixth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in scoring (21.7), seventh in passing (169.1) and fifth in total offense (317.2). They were last in turnover margin (minus-19) and 10th in red-zone offense, with just 18 touchdowns in 36 trips and 12 red-zone possessions that yielded zero points.

Hampton's offense struggled for multiple reasons: a compressed timetable for Wilson to implement his system; restrictions on practice time levied by the NCAA because of chronic academic underperformance; injury and inconsistency at quarterback; true freshmen playing quarterback.

Travis Champion, the opening-game starter, was sidelined by a concussion at midseason. Tyler struggled, coming from junior college. Ideally, Williamson and Swain would have been redshirted, but the staff felt forced to play them in order to generate some offensive spark.

Champion chose to transfer, leaving the other three to learn and battle for the position. Tyler has prototypical size (6-5 and 235 pounds) and arm strength, but has been the least consistent of the three. Swain (5-11, 180) and Williamson (5-10, 170) use their feet, as well as their arms and noggins, to produce.

"Football is definitely a mental game," Williamson said. "I feel like now I'm more aggressive. I have a feel for the offense. I'm making checks better. I'm seeing things before they happen. That's a good feeling that any quarterback would want to have, when the game slows down. I feel like it's slowing down for me. I don't care how big you are, how physical you are, the game is mental."

Swain said chemistry among the offensive players and coaches has improved from last season.

Wilson maintains that smarts and quick decision-making are more important than a big arm to run his offense. Williamson, who admires undersized Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, is confident that he can succeed.

"If he can do it, I can do it," Williamson said. "Size doesn't matter at all. I'm out here every day with guys, (defensive) linemen who are 300 pounds chasing me, trying to kill me. All it is, is your heart."

Earnest Wilson is pleased with the players' effort and attention during the offseason and in spring drills, which conclude next week. He doesn't have to settle on a starter until the fall, and he has no reservations about playing Williamson and Swain.

"They're both capable," he said. "I don't care about rotating these two, these particular two. I think that they can grow. They've still got to settle down and relax. ? I have no problem with these two, because they can do some crazy things on the football field for this program."

Source: http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-hu-football-spring-game-20130405,0,7917268.story?track=rss

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Spain raises minimum age for marriage and sex

A family traveling from Denver to Baltimore on United claims that their flight was diverted by the captain because the parents requested that the in-flight movie, "Alex Cross," be turned off. The parents, thus far unnamed, wrote a letter to The Atlantic about the incident. According to the letter, after the flight took off, the [...]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spain-raises-minimum-age-marriage-sex-135553036.html

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