Israel Says It Tracked Down the Ship Linked to Recent Oil Spill
Israel accused Iran on Wednesday of being linked to a recent oil spill off its shores that caused major ecological damage, calling the incident environmental terrorism.The spill was caused by an oil tanker that was carrying pirated cargo from Iran to Syria last month, Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said.The vessel sailed through the Gulf and the Red Sea without radio contact, switching its tracking devices back on before passing through Egypt's Suez Canal, Gamliel told reporters.It turned the devices off again before entering Israeli waters in the eastern Mediterranean, and dropped oil into the sea between Feb.
APL Antes Up in DoD False Claims Case
APL Ltd. to Pay $9.8 Million to Resolve Alleged False Claims Under the Department of Defense Shipping Contract. APL Limited has agreed to pay the government $9.8 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act in connection with a contract to provide GPS tracking of shipping containers in Afghanistan, the Justice Department announced today. APL, an ocean carrier based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a wholly-owned American subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Limited. The Department of Defense contract required APL to affix a satellite tracking device to each shipping container transported from Karachi, Pakistan to U.S. military bases in Afghanistan when the Department of Defense (DOD) requested the tracking services.
Coast Guard, Navy Busy off U.S. Atlantic Coast
The Coast Guard, with the assistance of the Navy, saved four lives and responded to a total of five sailboats in distress off the Atlantic Coast Thursday and Friday. Coast Guard assets and personnel involved in Thursday and Friday's search, rescue and vessel assists were crews aboard two HC-130 Hercules airplanes and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Block Island, a 110-foot patrol boat homeported in Atlantic Beach, N.C., a 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew from Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet, N.C., and the command center personnel of the 5th Coast Guard District and Sector North Carolina.
