Discovery
Niagara Falls board cited: A public water board under scrutiny for a discharge that turned the water below Niagara Falls black and smelly violated quality standards for another discharge 17 days later, state officials said Friday.
The Department of Environmental Conservation said it cited the Niagara Falls Water Board for the Aug. 15 discharge caused by a sewer overflow. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos told The Associated Press the sewage discharge of more than 3.3 million gallons turned the water of the Niagara River "a very murky gray."
The board said in a statement that the overflow resulted from heavy rain that overwhelmed outdated infrastructure and that it was reported promptly as required under the state's Sewage Pollution Right to Know Law.
On July 29, a daytime discharge from a different part of the system at the treatment plant caused a black plume to spread around the dock for Maid of the Mist tourist boats, below the falls on the U.S. side of the river. The water discoloration, clearly visible to tourists viewing the falls on a sunny day, drew national and international attention. (AP) OK for Amazon mining slammed: When most of the world talks about the riches of the Amazon they mean the unique rainforest and so-called lungs of the planet.
But Brazilian President Michel Temer has given the nod to a more literal sense of riches -- mineral extraction -- leaving environmentalists and activists including Gisele Bundchen up in arms.
Temer's decision issued Wednesday scrapped a national reserve in the northern Para and Amapa states that had protected a 17,800 square mile (46,000 square km) area since 1984, when Brazil was still run by a military dictatorship.
The Reserva Nacional del Cobre y Asociados is bigger than Denmark and home to virgin forest, as well as indigenous territories of the Aparai, Wayana and Wajapi tribes.
But it also contains important reserves of gold, manganese, iron and copper -- and Temer believes cash-strapped Brazil should start digging.
Until now, state-owned companies had a right to exploit the resources, but rarely did. Temer's measure will open the door to private business. (AFP) SpaceX launches Taiwan’s sat: SpaceX on Thursday launched the first satellite designed and built entirely in Taiwan, a spacecraft that aims to boost disaster forecasts and mapping, environmental observation and space research.
The satellite, called FORMOSAT-5, weighs nearly 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) and blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:51 am (1851 GMT).
"Falcon 9 has lifted off," SpaceX engineer Lauren Lyons said as the rocket soared into the sky over the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, leaving billowing clouds of smoke in its wake.
About 10 minutes after launch, SpaceX confirmed that FORMOSAT-5 had been successfully deployed into orbit.
The satellite is designed to operate for five years, and will orbit the Earth once every 100 minutes. (AFP)
Egypt finds Roman era tombs: Egypt's Antiquities Ministry says that archaeologists have uncovered five tombs from the Roman era, dating back to more than 2,000 years.
Thursday's statement says the discovery was made in a western desert area known as Beir al-Shagala near the Dakhla oasis, southwest of Cairo
The archaeological mission uncovered a range of artefacts, including the remains of a funerary mask, a set of pottery vessels, a clay incenses burner, a small sandstone sphinx and two ostraca, or ink-in-clay pottery shards.
One ostracon bears hieroglyphic texts while the other is scripted in hieratic, a cursive writing system used during pharaonic times. (AP)