Texas. Faced with hundreds of lawsuits and a deep need for experts, BP has been offering some Gulf Coast scientists lucrative consulting contracts that bar them from releasing their findings on the company's massive oil spill for three years. Some scientists say the contracts constrain academic freedom. A few signed the agreements, then changed their minds.

Washington, The Obamas' have changed their vacation plans and will now "spend the weekend" in the Gulf Coast the weekend of August, 14th, the White House announced Thursday. Both President Barack Obama and US First Lady Michelle Obama have made a big public pitch, encouraging people to vacation on the region's beaches that have not been directly impacted by oil spill.

Beijing. Improper desulfurizer injections into the oil pipeline that exploded in the northeast China port city of Dalian on July 16 caused its explosion, results of a State Administration of Work Safety and Ministry of Public Security investigation showed Friday. The 0.9-meter-diameter oil pipeline exploded at 6 p.m., triggering a smaller adjacent pipeline to also explode.

Washington. Congressman Chaka Fattah(D-PA), a member of the House Appropriations Committee's Energy and Water Subcommittee, issued this statement concerning an oil spill containment system announced by four major oil companies.