Free Republic

Up to 95 per cent of plastic polluting the world’s oceans pours in from just ten rivers, according to new research. The top 10 rivers – eight of which are in Asia – accounted for so much plastic because of the mismanagement of waste. About five trillion pounds is floating in the sea, and targeting the major sources – such as the Yangtze and the Ganges – could almost halve it, scientists claim. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt flew in coach-class seats on at least two trips home to Oklahoma when taxpayers weren’t footing the bill, despite claims he...

Morocco and Russia are close to reaching a deal on the delivery of a Russian-made Amur-1650 (project 677E) submarine which would be the kingdom’s first submarine, World Tribune reported. The contract is expected to be signed during King Mohammed VI’s trip to Moscow later this year. The two countries have been in talks on the issue in several stages since 2013, according to the media outlet. The sum of the deal may be €300 million ($342 million), Afrik.com reported. During the DSA-2014 international arms forum in Malaysia, the Malaysian navy also expressed interest for the submarine. "Malaysian navy commander visited...

Russia offers Amur class submarines to India Published: Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010, 16:18 IST Place: Moscow | Agency: PTI Russia has offered its latest low-noise fourth generation Amur-1650 class submarines to India, which is on the verge of floating global tenders for an estimated $11 billion deal. India is vying to purchase six non-nuclear submarines to boost up its undersea warfare capability. The deal may be expanded by acquiring the know-how to build more such submarines at Indian shipyards. As part of project 751, Indian Navy proposes to have a undersea force of 24 submarines by 2015. India already has...

The world's largest cat, the Amur tiger, is down to an effective wild population of fewer than 35 individuals, new research has found. Although up to 500 of the big cats actually survive in the wild, the effective population is a measure of their genetic diversity. That in turn is a good predictor of the Amur tiger's chances of survival. The results come from the most complete genetic survey yet of wild Amur tigers, the rarest subspecies of tiger.