All posts tagged: blast

UK Conservatives Blast Labour North Sea Ban As ‘Utter Madness’

UK Conservatives Blast Labour North Sea Ban As ‘Utter Madness’

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com, The current UK government’s policy of not allowing new drilling in the UK North Sea is “utter madness” as billions of barrels of untapped oil could benefit the UK industry and reduce Britain’s reliance on imports, Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, has said. The ruling Labour government of Sir Keir Starmer has recently moved to permanently ban new oil and gas licenses in the UK section of the North Sea, drawing criticism from the UK offshore industry associations and from the Tories. The Conservatives’ Badenoch commented this week on a new study by the University of Aberdeen, whose researchers said on Wednesday that it would be “economically, environmentally, and strategically beneficial for the UK to prioritise domestic oil and gas production rather than increasing reliance on imports.” The University of Aberdeen’s peer-reviewed study found that significant untapped potential remains in the West of Shetland basin, which is estimated to contain about 4.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) yet to be discovered. The study highlights that the remaining potential …

When Claude changed, everything changed: Managing AI blast radius in production

When Claude changed, everything changed: Managing AI blast radius in production

Published by skeptic

Our system did one thing, and it did it well: It turned natural-language questions into API calls. The users were analysts, account managers, and operations leads. They knew what data they needed, but assembling it manually meant pulling from four dashboards, two BI tools, and a Salesforce report builder. With our system, they typed the request in plain English. A request like “Compile a report on sales volume for January through March 2026 for the Northeast region, broken down by city” was translated into an API call that the system could act on: json {   “description”: “User requested sales volume for the given date range, here is the API call to get the response”,   “api_call”: “/api/sales_volume”,   “post_body”: {     “start_date”: “2026-01-01”,     “end_date”: “2026-03-31”,     “region”: “northeast”   } } The rest of the pipeline was conventional engineering. The system dispatched the call to the right backend — we had integrations with internal reporting portals, Salesforce, and several homegrown services — applied a large language model (LLM)(-generated JSON query to filter and shape the response, and delivered it via …

At least 5 die in horror blast at South Korean defence company plant | World | News

At least 5 die in horror blast at South Korean defence company plant | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

Five people have died and two others were injured on Monday after an explosion and fire at a defense company in South Korea, official said. The incident took place on production line at a factory for rocket propellant operated by Hanwha Aerospace 012450.KS, located in the city of Daejeon. The cause of the explosion is not currently known. Emergency official Yoon Seong-su said that the area is a government-designated security facility. At least one of the people injured is in critical conditions, medical official Kim Ju-yeon said. It is understood the victims have not been identified yet. The five dead included two temporary workers in their 20s and all were employed by Hanwha, the company said. The company’s chief executive officer Son Jae-il said “we bow our heads in apology to the victims and their bereaved families”. Seoul immediately stopped operations at the security facility and deployed a massive Level 1 emergency response to the incident. The site is one of Hanwha Aerospace’s key facilities where it develops large-sized propellants and surface-to-surface weapons systems, according …

Hidden tunnels, fake doors: China probes mining tragedy that killed 82

Hidden tunnels, fake doors: China probes mining tragedy that killed 82

Published by Sam Flores

BEIJING: Unmarked tunnels, missing trackers and fake doors have been uncovered during an initial probe into the deadliest mining tragedy in China in over 15 years, with the government vowing to leave no stone unturned, state media reported on Tuesday (May 26). At least 82 people were killed by a gas explosion late on Friday at the Liushenyu mine in the coal-rich province of Shanxi in northern China. Two remained unaccounted for with a further 128 hospitalised, state media said. The blast is the deadliest mining accident in China since 2009, ​when a gas explosion at the Xinxing Mine in Heilongjiang province ⁠killed 108 people. While the cause of Friday’s incident remains under investigation, the official Xinhua news agency on Tuesday said concealed mining tunnels, falsified drawings and outsourced and unregistered miners, who had not been provided with required life-saving location trackers, were contributing factors to the deadly incident. “YIN-YANG DRAWINGS” The mine, controlled by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal Coking Group, maintained two separate sets of plans and surveillance systems, Xinhua said. One set matched actual …

Authorities investigate safety lapses after China coal mine blast kills at least 82

Authorities investigate safety lapses after China coal mine blast kills at least 82

Published by Sam Flores

Authorities in northern China were investigating a coal mine operator with a focus on safety lapses, as rescuers searched for those missing in the country’s deadliest coal mine explosion in recent years that killed at least 82 people. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. An Associated Press reporter witnessed police and security guarding the entrance to the mining facility located in Qinyuan county in the city of Changzhi as emergency vehicles were on site. Hundreds of emergency responders and medical personnel were sent to help with rescue efforts, state media reported. Rescuers were taking turns to go down the mine shaft, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, facing hurdles including flooded tunnels. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a thorough investigation and accountability of those responsible following the explosion Friday evening at the Liushenyu coal mine in the northern province of Shanxi. Two were missing and dozens of miners were hospitalized, local officials said late Saturday. The death toll was revised down from 90, with …

1 Person Has Died After Blast at New York City Shipyard That Also Injured 36 People, Officials Say.

1 Person Has Died After Blast at New York City Shipyard That Also Injured 36 People, Officials Say.

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (AP) — One person has died after a fire and two explosions Friday at a New York City shipyard, officials say. Officials said 36 people were injured, most of them firefighters and other first responders, and one civilian died at the scene. A firefighter and a fire marshal were inside the structure when a second explosion happened, and both were seriously injured by the shock wave from the blast. “This was a complex, fast-developing emergency situation,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a news conference Friday evening. Multiple people called the fire department around 3:30 p.m., reporting smoke and two workers trapped in the basement of a 150-foot by 150-foot (46 meters by 46 meters) metal structure at the back of the shipyard, Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said. Firefighting and EMS crews were on the scene within six minutes. But shortly after they arrived, an explosion occurred, causing serious injuries to multiple fire department members and a couple of civilians, Bonsignore said — including one who died at the scene. Five firefighters …

Democrats blast DNC over handling of 2024 autopsy

Democrats blast DNC over handling of 2024 autopsy

Published by Sam Flores

A slate of Democrats are airing their frustrations over the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) handling of an autopsy report of the party’s defeat in the 2024 presidential election. DNC Chair Ken Martin initially chose to keep the autopsy private, but he decided to release it Thursday after pushback. Former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg called… Source link

Scientists Scan Gruesome Crystal Formed by Nuclear Blast, Find Something Bizarre

Scientists Scan Gruesome Crystal Formed by Nuclear Blast, Find Something Bizarre

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech The US Army’s Trinity test in 1945, the first-ever demonstration of a nuclear weapon, was a grim inflection point in human history: the prelude to the deadly attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a remaking of the global order, the apocalyptic shadow of which we all now live beneath. In the irradiated crater it left behind, scientists discovered a glassy remnant later dubbed trinitite, a byproduct of New Mexico desert sand and leftover test site like a tower and coaxial cables, fused together and transformed by the unimaginable heat and force of the blast. Most of the stuff is a greyish-green material, but a rare variation, which takes the form of a red crystal, has long been a source of fascination due to its nightmarish visage, which features bulbous protrusions vaguely evoking the horror of exposed flesh. Now, a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences used CT and X-ray scans to probe the …

Streeting quits Starmer’s Cabinet with blast at leadership ‘vacuum’ — live updates – POLITICO

Streeting quits Starmer’s Cabinet with blast at leadership ‘vacuum’ — live updates – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from Keir Starmer’s government Thursday — but is so far keeping his powder dry on a leadership challenge to the embattled British prime minister. Starmer, whose Labour Party swept to power on a landslide win less than two years ago, is reeling from disastrous election results in England, Wales and Scotland last week. More than 90 of his MPs have called for him to go — either now or at a later date. Streeting — widely expected to launch his own bid for the top job, although not immediately doing so as he quit the government Thursday — said in an open letter to the PM that it is now “clear” that Starmer will not lead Labour into the next general election and called for a “battle of ideas” about the party’s future. Under Labour rules, any leadership contender would need the explicit support of 80 colleagues to spark a contest. But Streeting’s exit message Thursday conspicuously left out an immediate challenge to the leadership — in what may be sign his …