The Obama administration is reportedly using a secret channel of communication to warn Iran that closing the Straits of Hormuz, through which more than a fifth of sea-borne oil passes, is a “red line” that would provoke a response from Washington. Claiming that Iran has always kept the Straits open to international shipping, Iran allowed the USS Abraham Lincoln, on a routine visit, to pass through the Straits of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf last week.

Even bad times have their uses sometimes. One of the positive fallouts of the recent oil price rise was its impact on oil exploration. The oil industry has been trying hard for a while to get oil from the deep ocean. But the procedure was expensive, not to speak of the risks involved. Oil prices soared at the end of 2007, and deepwater drilling became a worthwhile exercise.

Atul Aneja

The grand American neoconservative enterprise of controlling Iraqi oil is facing its most serious crisis.

New approach: Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain Al Shahristani

Human activities are affecting every square mile of the world's oceans, according to a study by a team of American, British and Canadian researchers who mapped the severity of the effects from pole to pole. The analysis of 17 global data sets, led by Benjamin S. Halpern of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, Calif., illustrates the extent to which humans are reshaping the seas through overfishing, air pollution and commercial shipping. The study, published in the journal Science, examines the impacts on nearly two dozen marine ecosystems, including coral reefs and continental shelves. "For the first time we can see where some of the most threatened marine ecosystems are and what might be degrading them,' said Elizabeth Selig, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a co-author, in a statement. "This information enables us to tailor strategies and set priorities for ecosystem management. And it shows that while local efforts are important, we also need to be thinking about global solutions.' The team of scientists analysed factors, including warming ocean temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient runoff and fishing. They found that the areas under the most stress included are "the North and Norwegian seas, South and East China seas, Eastern Caribbean, North American eastern seaboard, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, Bering Sea, and the waters around Sri Lanka.' Some marine ecosystems are under acute pressure, the scientists concluded, including sea mounts, mangrove swamps, seagrass and coral reefs. Almost half of all coral reefs, they wrote, "experience medium high to very high impact' from humans. Overall, rising ocean temperatures represent the biggest threat to marine ecosystems.

SIXTEEN British ex-servicepersons, who served in the 1991 Gulf War, have tested positive for depleted uranium contamination, according to the National Gulf Veterans' and Families' ssociation (ngvfa).