ANTHROPOGENIC activities at Kandla Port are contaminating water in its creek which could affect the marine sanctuary and the national park there, a study by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has said.

Ethnic Uzbeks try to extinguish a fire in a burning residence torched by mob in Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan, on Sunday. PHOTO: AP

US President Barack Obama will press BP executives this week to set up an escrow account to pay damage claims by individuals and businesses hurt by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.

President Barack Obama wants BP Plc to set up an escrow account to pay the claims for damages caused by its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, White House advisor David Axelrod said.

As much as 40,000-plus barrels of oil per day are pouring from BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, a US official has said, more than doubling the previous government estimate.

The explosion that claimed 11 lives and sent the Deepwater Horizon, a billion-dollar oil rig, to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, was bad enough. But for the inhabitants of America

Christine Todd Whitman

Venice (Louisiana): US president Barack Obama heads to Louisiana on Sunday to rally faltering efforts to protect its vulnerable shores from a giant oil slick which is threatening environmental and economic catastrophe.

President Barack Obama planned to visit the US Gulf Coast on Sunday to assess the response to a massive oil slick that keeps growing and creeping toward American shores from Louisiana to Florida.

BERHAMPUR: Oil spill from a coal-laden ship at Gopalpur port on Monday night has triggered panic and environmental concern. Around nine tonnes of oil is spreading in the area. The slick has spread to Rushikulya mouth and there are apprehensions that it may enter Chilika posing danger to the marine life.