SAN FRANCISCO – An underwater expedition along the California coast has revealed for the first time a sunken World War II-era aircraft carrier once used in atomic tests in the Pacific.
The expedition led by famed oceanographer Robert Ballard captured on Tuesday the wreckage of the USS Independence, located half a mile under the sea in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.
Scientists aboard the ocean research ship Nautilus lowered two unmanned submersibles to the ocean floor to find a Hellcat fighter plane, anti-aircraft guns, hatches and the ship’s name on the hull.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California lawmakers voted Wednesday to extend the state’s landmark climate- change law – the most aggressive in the nation – by another 10 years, resisting fierce opposition from oil companies and other business interests to keep the program alive at least through 2030.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, a strong advocate of the state’s climate initiatives, has said he’ll sign the bill when it comes to his desk.
The move keeps alive the legal framework that underpins California’s wide-ranging efforts to fight climate change, from a tax on pollution to zero-emission vehicle mandates and restrictions on the carbon content of gasoline and diesel fuel.
In 2006, California set an ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
KABUL, Afghanistan – Militants attacked the American University of Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one person and wounding another 18, officials said.
AP photographer Massoud Hossaini was in a classroom with 15 students when he heard an explosion on the southern flank of the campus.
“I went to the window to see what was going on, and I saw a person in normal clothes outside. He shot at me and shattered the glass,” Hossaini said, adding that he fell on the glass and cut his hands.
The students then barricaded themselves inside the classroom, pushing chairs and desks against the door, and staying on the floor. Hossaini said at least two grenades were thrown into the classroom, wounding several of his classmates.
TALLINN, Estonia – Germany’s leader has urged Britain to file a formal request to leave the European Union soon, even though the member states are prepared to give the U.K. time to decide its future ties with the bloc.
Chancellor Angela Merkel says the EU is otherwise busy and “can bide the time” that Britain needs “to decide for its part what relationship it wants to have with the European Union.”
But she cautioned that until Britain requests to start EU exit talks, “we can’t reply and say what kind of relationship we envisage with Great Britain, (which is) the only thing we can negotiate.”
Associated Press
