What's making headlines...
-Around Oregon:
Eugene-According to an article from The Associated Press on April 29, a group of researchers at Oregon State University are honing the design of a new electricity-generating ocean buoy that can turn the water's waves into power.
The researchers are working on harnessing the nation's first offshore wave energy park, the article said.
Engineers estimate, according to The Associated Press, that by utilizing .02 percent of the ocean's energy, the entire globe's power needs would be met.
The OSU researchers are working on a type of generator to convert the motion of the ocean waves into electricity.
The model, according to The Associated Press, is based on a linear-magnetic generator that allows a buoy stationed offshore to produce electricity without having its main parts in contact, reducing the effects of wear and corrosion.
According to the article, a pilot project could be up and running in about two years.
-Around the Nation:
New York City, NY-Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of New York City on Sunday, April 30, protesting the Iraq war, demanding an immediate withdrawal of U.S. Troops, reported The Associated Press.
Among the masses was Cindy Sheehan, an adamant protestor against the war who lost her soldier son in Iraq; the Rev. Jesse Jackson and actress Susan Sarandon.
Approximately 300,000 people marched Sunday afternoon, according to the protest's organizers.
According to The Associated Press, the march was also a protest to any sort of military action against Iran-a hot topic in the media of late.
The death toll in Iraq for April was the largest for any single month in 2006, The Associated Press said. At least 2, 399 U.S. military members have died since the war began, 70 of the deaths from April 2006 alone.
-Around the World:
Tehran, Iran -On Sunday, April 30, The Associated Press reported that Iran's Deputy Oil Minister said he did not believe the United Nations (U.N.) would impose any sort of sanctions on his country because that would boost oil prices even higher.
The statement came in response to the United States and its European allies' push for possible sanctions.
The push for sanctions, according to The Associated Press, came after the U.N. nuclear monitor confirmed that Iranians had successfully produced enriched uranium and defied the Security Council's Friday, April 28, deadline to stop the process.
M.H. Nejad Hosseinian, Iran's deputy oil minister, told The Associated Press and other reporters that "any action like that will increase oil prices very high. And I believe that the U.N. or its bodies will not put any sanctions on oil or the oil industry."
On Saturday, April 29, Iran offered to allow U.N. inspectors to resume snap inspections of its nuclear facilities if the Security Council left the dispute to the U.N. nuclear monitor, according to The Associated Press. Iran reportedly will not budge on the enrichment program.
The White House rejected the offer, The Associated Press said, stating that Iran must give up its nuclear ambitions and the debate must move to the Security Council.