Study links quakes in California to drilling
SAN FRANCISCO – A 2005 spate of quakes in California’s Central Valley almost certainly was triggered by oilfield injection underground, a study published Thursday said in the first such link in California between oil and gas operations and earthquakes.
Researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Southern California and two French universities published their findings Thursday in a publication of the American Geophysical Union. The research links a local surge in injection by oil companies of wastewater underground, peaking in 2005, with an unusual jump in seismic activity in and around the Tejon Oilfield in Kern County.
In Oklahoma and other Midwestern states, the U.S. Geological Survey and others have linked oilfield operations with a dramatic surge in earthquakes.
UN panel: WikiLeaks founder held illegally
LONDON – A United Nations human rights panel has sided with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his long-running battle with Swedish and British authorities, saying he should be freed immediately and compensated for the years he has lost.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which falls under the offices of the UN human rights chief, said Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” by Britain and Sweden since December 2010, when he was first sought for questioning on allegations of sexual misconduct.
The panel’s recommendation was immediately rejected by Swedish and British officials who said Assange’s legal situation is unchanged. He remains in the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where he sought refuge more than three years ago.
Egypt holds service for slain Italian man
CAIRO – Friends, family and diplomats held a memorial ceremony Friday at a Cairo church for an Italian student whose body was found this week, nine days after he disappeared from the streets of the Egyptian capital.
The circumstances of the killing of 28-year-old Giulio Regeni remained murky. He disappeared on Jan. 25, the anniversary of Egypt’s 2011, uprising, a day when security forces were on high alert and out on the streets in force to prevent any demonstrations by activists to commemorate the occasion.
He was found this week with multiple stab wounds, cigarette burns and other signs of torture on a roadside on the outskirts of Cairo, Egyptian officials said.
Regeni’s parents, who came to Egypt to search for him, and his friends attended the memorial held Friday.
Associated Press
