Latest News: Mass fish death fouls California marina

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – An estimated one million fish turned up dead Tuesday in a Southern California marina, creating a floating feast for pelicans, gulls and other sea life and a stinky mess for harbor authorities.

The sardines apparently depleted the water of oxygen and suffocated after getting lost in the marina, officials said.

"All indications are it's a naturally occurring event," said Andrew Hughan, a California Fish and Game spokesman at the scene.

The die-off was unusual but not unprecedented.

"In the world of fishing this is an afternoon's catch," he noted.

Boaters awakened to find a carpet of small silvery fish surrounding their vessels, said Staci Gabrielli, marine coordinator for King Harbor Marina on the Los Angeles County coast.

Authorities said there was also a 12- to 18-inch layer of dead fish on the bottom of the marina.

The scale was impressive to locals at King Harbor, which shelters about 1,400 boats on south Santa Monica Bay. More news at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110309/ap_on_fe_st/us_fish_die_off

Libya Worse

Latest News From Libya: BREGA, Libya – Rebels reinforced a key oil port Thursday while facing new regime airstrikes in eastern Libya, and thousands of angry mourners buried victims of a counteroffensive by Moammar Gadhafi's forces, shooting guns in the air, shouting "Down with Gadhafi!" and swearing to take vengeance.

Although there have been stirrings of a diplomatic effort to ease the crisis, an opposition spokesman flatly ruled out any negotiations with Gadhafi, saying "his hands are tainted with blood."

President Barack Obama insisted that Gadhafi leave office, declaring he had "lost the legitimacy to lead."

He pledged to hold Gadhafi and his loyalists accountable, saying the U.S. and the entire world were outraged by violence against the rebels, and he lauded U.N. sanctions meant to put international pressure on the longtime ruler.

Signaling he was digging in, Gadhafi's regime apparently has stepped up its recruitment of mercenaries from other African countries, with an official in neighboring Mali saying that 200-300 men have left for Libya in the last week.

The International Criminal Court in the Netherlands said it will investigate Gadhafi, his sons and his inner circle for possible crimes against humanity in the violent crackdown of the 17-day-old uprising that sought to topple the man who has ruled Libya for four decades.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court's top prosecutor, said Gadhafi and several commanders and regime officials had formal or de facto control over forces that attacked protesters, and he promised "no impunity in Libya."

Army units that have joined the rebels fanned out in the oil facilities and port at Brega, armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers and dressed in camouflage army uniforms with checkered keffiyehs. They were backed by at least a dozen pickup trucks with mounted machine guns or towing rocket launchers. Source from Yahoo News