Disasters

"Nine blackened tankers are scattered around the site. Part of the rail is mangled, warped, and burned black."

"SYDNEY -- Nearly a hundred wildfires burned across Australia's most populous state on Thursday, 18 of which were out of control, as unseasonably hot temperatures and strong winds fanned flames across the parched landscape, officials said."

"NEW ZEALAND -- "A Pacific Island man trying to flee rising seas and environmental risks caused by global warming in his home country of Kiribati asked a New Zealand court on Wednesday to let him pursue his claim as a climate change refugee."

"CEBU, Philippines (AP) — The death toll from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the central Philippine island of Bohol reached 110 Wednesday with only three people pulled alive from rubble."

A large Typhoon is tracking toward the Fukushima nuclear plant.

"Nuclear power plants: Some regions have many more safety violations than others, suggesting inconsistent enforcement of nuclear power plant regulations, according to a GAO study."

"Japanese authorities may have underestimated by 20 percent the radiation doses workers got in the initial phase of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, a Japanese newspaper reported on Saturday, citing a U.N. panel."

"The handling of an oil spill in North Dakota is raising questions, after a state agency waited to tell the public it had taken place. A wheat farmer was the first to recognize the spill had happened; it became public knowledge nearly two weeks later."

"A Tesoro Logistics LP pipeline has spilled more than 20,000 barrels of crude oil into a North Dakota wheat field, the biggest leak in the state since it became a major U.S. producer."

"South Korea has indicted 100 people, including a top former state utility official, of corruption in a scandal over fake safety certifications for parts in its nuclear reactors, authorities said on Thursday."