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Newsdepth - Yellow Sea Oil Spill, Shuttle Atlantis Delay
Newsdepth
 
 
 
Freezing rain blanketed the Midwest this week with ice. Roads were extremely dangerous. More than half a million people are still without power in Oklahoma - the biggest outage in the state's history. State officials have requested that no one leave their home unless absolutely necessary.

About 10,000 tons of oil has spilled into the Yellow Sea and onto South Korea's western coast in what the government calls the worst oil spill ever. Hundreds of volunteers spend endless hours shoveling oil from formerly beautiful sands of Mallipo Beach.

Federal lawmakers met this week in California to discuss the emergency preparedness of the region after the raging wildfires earlier this fall. During the wildfires, every resource available to fight them was used. But soon, firefighters will have another tool - gigantic water balloons. Aerospace engineer William Cleary works on advanced projects for Boeing in Long Beach, California. An encounter with a water balloon led to an idea that may revolutionize the use of military air transports for firefighting. Cleary and other Boeing engineers developed gigantic water balloons filled with 250 gallons each - a ton of water - that are deployed in cardboard boxes and shoved out the back of cargo jets.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis' take-off has been delayed until 2008. The mission has been pushed back a month because a fuel sensor in the shuttle's liquid hydrogen tank wasn't working properly.

The average price of durum wheat, an essential ingredient to produce one of Italy's most loved staples, has gone up 60% in just the last five months. This means that for producers like Massimiliano Giovannotti, a third generation pasta maker, production costs have gone up as well. Analysts say the skyrocketing price of wheat and other grains is generated by stronger than usual demand on the world markets. Bad weather is partly to blame. So are environmental concerns as durum wheat is increasingly sold to produce bio-fuel. But Italians are not willing to give up their favorite food so far for any price.
December 17, 2007