Forget waiting around a mere few days for an iPhone. Two sisters are in the midst of an 11-day vigil for this summer’s hottest, ”must have” low-tech phenomenon: the latest Harry Potter book. Chloe and Sydney Bostian started camping out on Tuesday in front of Gulliver’s Books in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Japan said on Tuesday it was pushing ahead with its controversial plan to hunt humpback whales after key powers refused a compromise offer. Japan wants to kill 50 humpbacks this summer, from stocks that migrate along the coasts of Australia and New Zealand into the tropical Pacific.
Japan offered a compromise on Monday to break an impasse over its controversial plan to lift a 20-year moratorium of commercial whale hunting, but it was flatly rejected by the other key powers. The failure to end the deadlock threw the already polarised 75-nation International Whaling Commission into disarray.
Officials from 75 nations on Monday begin talks critical to whale conservation amid pressure — notably from Japan — to lift a 20-year ban on commercial hunting of the gentle giants. The United States is reportedly under increasing pressure to compromise with Japan, which together with Norway and Iceland wants to end the moratorium.
The underwater sonar images of a black shape against a grainy, monochrome background are the biggest clues in more than 60 years to the fate of a United States submarine lost during World War II. For decades, relatives of the USS Grunion‘s 70 lost crewmen had no information beyond fragmented US navy records, and a few rumours, about where and why the sub went down.
Oil company BP has indefinitely shut down the United State’s biggest oilfield after finding a pipeline leak, removing about 8% of US oil production and stoking fears that already high oil prices will shoot up further. Steve Marshall, president of BP Exploration Alaska, said on Sunday night that the eastern side of Prudhoe Bay would be shut down first, an operation anticipated to take 24 to 36 hours.
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/ 31 December 2005
Unbearable cold, stormy winds and never-ending darkness at the Arctic Circle: these are just a few of the clichés about the Alaskan winter. But aside from a few particularly uninviting weeks in December and January, the largest American state offers impressive opportunities for recreational tourists.
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/ 24 December 2005
Norman Vaughan, who as a young man explored Antarctica and spent much of his life seeking adventure, died on Friday just a few days after turning 100 years old. Vaughan died at about 10.30am local time at Providence Alaska medical centre surrounded by family and friends, said nursing supervisor Martha George.
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/ 10 October 2004
An overweight elephant in the Anchorage zoo — the only of its species in the northernmost American state — will soon have her own personal training apparatus to help her shed kilos. The zoo is investing up to 000 dollars to build a custom elephant treadmill.