Ships

Targeting one of the biggest sources of air pollution, federal and state regulators moved forward Wednesday with plans to slash emissions from big diesel-powered ships entering U.S. coastal areas. Under rules that took effect Wednesday, the roughly 2,000 ocean-going vessels that enter California ports each year must switch to fuel with lower sulfur content before coming within 24 nautical miles of the state's coast.

They can spot the smile on a suspected smuggler's face from 10,000 feet in the air, record full-color video of his run for shore and simultaneously track 5,000 ships spread over hundreds of miles of ocean. Flying above the Atlantic about halfway between Florida and the Bahamas, the latest addition to the government's anti-smuggling arsenal can track the trajectory of a boat leaving Cuba and compare it -- in seconds -- to every filed course plan for vessels on the water.

The freed captain of a merchant ship attacked by pirates near Somalia last month called Thursday for military protection and armed crew members to thwart attacks in dangerous waters. Capt. Richard Phillips, skipper of the Maersk Alabama, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that it was the "responsibility of the U.S. government" to protect any ship flying an American flag, through military escorts or onboard squads of highly trained security forces.

The Spanish government will receive detailed information about a shipwreck site where a Florida company found $500 million worth of coins and artifacts last year, a federal judge ruled Thursday. Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. will reveal the location of the shipwreck and items found onboard, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo said. The company will also disclose the locations of two other wrecks, he said.

Diesel-powered ships and trains must cut soot emissions by as much as 90% by 2030, under regulations signed Friday by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen Johnson. "Today EPA is fitting another important piece into the clean diesel puzzle by cleaning emissions from our trains and boats," Johnson said by telephone from the Port of Houston, where he made the announcement. "This will help America's economic workhorse become its environmental workhorse as well."

California regulators adopted the world's toughest pollution rules for oceangoing vessels Thursday, vowing to improve the health of coastal residents and opening a new front in a long battle with the international shipping industry. The rules, which take effect in 2009, would require ships within 24 nautical miles of California to burn low-sulfur diesel instead of the tar-like sludge known as bunker fuel.

A U.S. destroyer and a Russian warship headed Saturday for a possible confrontation with pirates who hijacked a cargo ship carrying battle tanks, machine guns and a crew of 21. Though pursued by ships from two of the world's biggest naval powers, the pirates showed no sign of surrendering the Ukrainian vessel Faina, which they boarded Thursday off the Somali coast as it headed to Kenya.

A hard-line environmentalist group chasing Japanese whalers near Antarctica said it had found the Japanese fleet and had attempted to attack one of the vessels with stink bombs. In a statement on its website, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said the attack by a boat launched from its ship the Steve Irwin was called off because of blizzard conditions.

Insisting there is no other way to meet looming federal deadlines to clean up the nation's dirtiest air, Southern California air regulators will seek greater authority to regulate ships, trains and other large sources of air pollution. "We're at the end of our rope," said William Burke, chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District board. "The state and federal governments simply have not acted quickly enough to address the public health crisis."

A damaged ship grounded off England has leaked more than 200 tons of oil, leaving a five-mile sheen on the surface of the water and threatening the nearby coastline, officials said. Salvage teams battled rough weather to try to secure the stricken ship after containers of battery acid and other hazardous materials also slipped off. But their efforts were hampered by gale force winds that struck the English coast late Saturday.