The 750-foot-long "Overseas Reymar," sailing under a Marshall Islands flag, was leaving the bay amid heavy fog on Monday morning when its starboard hull scraped one of the towers supporting the Bay Bridge.

Officials played down the incident, which occurred about 5 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, where the San Francisco Bay opens into the Pacific Ocean.

There were no injuries reported, according to officials.

None of the channels or ports in the San Francisco Bay were listed as shut as of Monday afternoon, and the Bay Bridge, the busy span that links San Francisco and Oakland, remained open.

The tanker struck a fender at the foot of a support tower in the bridge's western span but did not appear to otherwise damage it.

"This was basically a scrape," said Bart Ney, a California Department of Transportation spokesman. "The fender system performed as was designed. There's no damage to the bridge."

Still, the incident harked back to a similar collision in 2007, when the tanker Cosco Busan spilled more than 200,000 liters of heavy fuel oil after striking the Bay Bridge, also in the midst of heavy fog.

Coast Guard Lt. Commander Shawn Lansing said it was unclear why the Overseas Reymar veered into the bridge, but he noted that the morning fog had reduced visibility to a quarter-mile.

The collision failed to breach the hull of the vessel, which remain anchored in the bay near Alcatraz Island as of Monday afternoon as it underwent inspections.

On Sunday night, the Overseas Reymar, owned by Norton Lilly International, had safely offloaded 350,000 barrels of crude oil at Royal Dutch Shell PLC's refinery in Martinez, said Erin Hallissy, a Shell spokeswoman.

The busy waters of the San Francisco Bay are a vital conduit for California's energy market.

Nearly two-thirds of California's oil comes from out-of-state and is processed in coastal refineries. The Bay Area's five refineries represent almost half of the state's total capacity.

(Reporting by Gerry Shih, Erwin Seba and Braden Redall; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Gary Hill, M.D. Golan and Joseph Radford)

LOME, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Emmanuel Adebayor will play in the African Nations Cup after being persuaded to go back on his decision to boycott the tournament by Togo's president Faure Gnassingbe in meetings over the last two days, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

"Adebayor was received yesterday in Accra by the head of state," Cleo Petchezi, director of communications for the presidency, told Reuters.

"Discussions continued this morning in Lome. Following them Adebayor has said he will return to his club and join the national team in a week."

The Tottenham Hotspur striker had previously said he was boycotting the tournament in South Africa, which starts on Jan. 19, because of a row over bonuses for the players.

The developments open the likelihood that Adebayor will play for his club in the Premier League away against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday before joining his teammates one week ahead of the tournament kick off.

Adebayor, who has now made three returns after self-imposed 'retirements' from the national side, has missed Togo's pre-tournament preparations, including international warm-up games in Oman and Niger over the last 10 days.

The 28-year-old is at the centre of yet another row over bonus payments to the squad following their qualification to the finals.

The Togolese side has been in constant turmoil over money with Adebayor using his status in the small west African country to force the issue.

On Tuesday, Togo press reports said coach Didier Six was also seeking to be paid outstanding wages and had not joined up with the team, who are preparing for the tournament in neighbouring Ghana.

The absence of the French-born coach from the team training camp in Accra was confirmed by Herve Agbodan, communications officer of the Togolese Football Federation (TFF), but he said Six would return to work on Wednesday.

Agbodan told Reuters on Tuesday the dispute over money was not being handled by the TFF but instead by the government.

The state has stepped in before to pay money over to the team, notably ahead of the 2006 World Cup in Germany when Adebayor and team mates refused to train for several days before receiving promised qualification bonuses.

Togo's opening game at the Nations Cup is in Rustenburg against the tournament favourites Ivory Coast on Jan. 22. (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; editing by Tom Pilcher)

[More from Mashable: ]

As the holiday season and the year itself drew to a close this week, Mashable readers were reflective about the innovations and complications we've seen in the tech world in 2012. Thethis week showcase the excitement and frustration that surround top products and services like ,and .

The most commented upon story this week was was the op-ed "," in which Mashable editorelaborated on the problems he has with the new OS. Our readers largely agreed with Pachal's assessment of 's shortcomings, though several readers provided well-reasoned rebuttals of some of his points. The second-hottest story was about the rumored "" that Apple may be developing. Our community was split over whether or not this watch was something they wanted, or that anyone needed.

[More from Mashable: ]

Readers also flocked to stories this week that looked at the intersection of human interaction and technology. 's sister Randiwhen a picture she posted onwas reposted to Twitter, inciting a global online conversation about Facebook's privacy settings. Our commenters sounded off on everything from Randi Zuckerberg's reaction to Facebook's settings themselves.

What was the topic on Mashable that you were most excited about this week? Don't forget to let your voice be heard in the comment sections and next week you could be featured in the .

It's been a wonderful year for the Mashable community, and we want to thank all of our readers for making it fantastic. See you in 2013!

Image courtesy of ,

This story originally published on Mashable .

But as the year draws to a close, a dour Bettman is painting a much gloomier portrait of a league bleeding cash in the midst of a labor dispute with locked-out players that could wipe out the entire 2012-13 season.

At a lavish New Year's Eve party in Philadelphia, the good times rolled as the NHL celebrated a $2 billion television deal, record revenues, attendance and TV ratings along with a feeling that the league had finally arrived on the U.S. sporting scene.

There were still a few nagging trouble spots to consider, like trying to unload the league-owned team in Phoenix, but the problems appeared small as the NHL prepared to open the second half of the season with its signature Winter Classic between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers.

Even as 50,000 chilled fans exited Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park after a 3-2 Rangers win, Bettman was meeting with the media, singing the praises of the outdoor game that has scooped more sports marketing and business awards than Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky in his prime.

More good news followed in March when Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, the face of the NHL, returned to the ice after missing most of two seasons recovering from concussion like symptoms.

Concussions and a lockout have robbed fans of watching one of hockey's best players in his prime, the 25-year-old Canadian playing in 28 games since absorbing two hits to the head in successive games in early 2011.

The NHL would cap the season in glorious fashion, watching the seeds of the southern expansion planted decades ago finally bear fruit with the Los Angeles Kings beating the New Jersey Devils 4-2 in a best-of-seven series for their first Stanley Cup championship since entering the league in 1967.

After qualifying for the playoffs as the last seed from the Western Conference, the Kings upset the top-three seeded teams, the Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues and Phoenix Coyotes, en route to becoming the first eighth seed to win a Stanley Cup.

A team that played in obscurity for many years, overshadowed by the Staples Center's more celebrated tenants, the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, the Kings were suddenly the talk of Tinsel Town.

RECORD REVENUE

But in a city built on celebrity, fame is fleeting and there is concern that hard won fans may have already moved on as the Kings' Stanley Cup banner that was to be raised to the rafters at their home opener in October gathers dust.

In his state-of-the-league address during the Cup finals, Bettman again gushed about the NHL's success, boasting that teams played to 96 percent of capacity in the regular season, pulling in nearly 21.5 million fans while generating a record $3.3 billion in revenue.

Despite Bettman's glowing report card, the NHL has not played a game since, owners locking out players in mid-September when the previous labor agreement expired with the two sides demanding concessions from the other.

Having endured four work stoppages in 20 years, including one that wiped out the entire 2004-05 season, frustrated hockey fans are all too familiar with the tedious tug-of-war as owners and players squabble over how to split $3.3 billion in revenue.

While it is not the kind of hockey fight fans are used to seeing on the ice, the lockout has produced a heavyweight scrap between Bettman and NHL Players' Association chief Donald Fehr.

The standoff between has already cost both sides millions of dollars with 526 regular season games, or 42.8 percent of the season, lopped from the schedule. Among the list of casualties are the All-Star Game and 2013 Winter Classic.

The NHL had been planning to ring in 2013 with a week-long hockey festival in Detroit culminating with an Original Six game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs in front of record crowd of over 110,000 fans at Michigan Stadium.

Instead, the New Year will likely begin with a whimper and plenty of uncertainty that will be felt all the way to corridors of International Olympic Committee headquarters in Switzerland with the NHL's decision to remain part of the Olympic program a bargaining chip in the ongoing negotiations.

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

Unofficial tallies say nearly two-thirds voted in favor of the draft constitution, but turnout was so low that opponents are arguing that the vote should be discounted.

Hamdeen Sabahi, who placed third in the nation's first free presidential race over the summer, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the majority of Egypt's people are not Islamists.

He argued that the string of election triumphs by President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group are the result of unfair electoral practices and key mistakes by the liberal opposition, particularly a lack of unity and organization.

"The Muslim Brotherhood is a minority this is for sure. They get majority votes because of division within the opposition," he said. "If there is transparency (in voting) and unity among civil groups, then surely the majority will turn from the Brotherhood."

Sabahi said the Islamist groups in the country "for sure have tried to steal" the revolution that toppled authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak neat two years ago "but we will prevent them."

Sabahi said the National Salvation Front a union of key opposition forces that coalesced in the fight against the draft constitution is not calling for civil disobedience in rejection of the Islamist-drafted constitution, but for a new constitution through peaceful means.

The path toward such an outcome appears uncertain at best especially as Sabahi rejected the notion, somewhat plausible in Egypt, of the military stepping in to undo the inconvenient outcomes of politics.

In a sign of the opposition leadership's efforts to coalesce, Sabahi said the grouping would be led in the interim by Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the Vienna-based United Nations nuclear agency.

No confirmation of that was immediately available from ElBaradei.

In the interview, the silver-maned, charismatic former journalist seemed to embody the frustrations of liberal Egyptians today: While championing the democracy and lauding the 2011 revolution that felled Mubarak, they reject the outcome of that revolution, yet seem at something of a loss to cause a change of course.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets weeks before the referendum to demand a new assembly with greater diversity write the charter. Instead, an Islamist-dominated assembly hurriedly passed it before a court could rule on the body's legitimacy, and Morsi himself issued decrees, later rescinded, that gave him near absolute powers to push the constitution to a referendum.

Backers of the Brotherhood and others Islamist parties also rallied in support of the charter, leaving the country split and leading to violent clashes between the two camps that killed 10 outside the presidential palace in Cairo this month. That created the impression that street protests can be conjured up to support either side in the current divide.

But only around 30 percent of eligible voters participated in the referendum on the divisive charter. Of that number, unofficial figures estimate that 64 percent voted in support of it.

Sabahi said the low voter turnout shows people were not convinced by the Brotherhood's slogans nor with the opposition's.

"This means that the battle for politics is concentrated on survival, food, jobs and prices daily struggles that are the priority of all Egyptians," he said.

Under such circumstances, he said, it was illogical to enshrine the document as a constitution that can be amended only by supermajorities in parliament.

Critics say the new constitution seeks to entrench Islamic rule in Egypt and that the charter does not sufficiently protect the rights of women and minority groups.Morsi and his supporters say the constitution is needed to restore stability in the country, install an elected parliament, build state institutions and renew investor confidence in the economy.

In a reflection of the complex nuances at play, Sabahi refused to describe the current conflict roiling Egypt as a clash between secularism and theocracy, saying that in the Arab world, religion and public life could never be distinct in accordance with the Western model.

Rather, he said, the issue was preventing the Brotherhood from establishing a "tyranny" as a political movement not unlike that of the previous authoritarian regime.

He likened Morsi to the ousted leader, Mubarak, saying the Brotherhood is after absolute power.

"He (Morsi) reached power democratically, but is not exercising power democratically," he said, adding that the Brotherhood "wants to establish a system of tyranny in their benefit."

Regarding the fears of theocracy, Sabahi said, "We are against separation of religion and state ... The intellect of the Arab region, and Egypt, is built essentially on religion and specifically the Islamic religion."

Nonetheless, Sabahi said the opposition would continue to fight the constitution, arguing that the low turnout made it illegitimate.

"From the beginning the National Salvation Front said this constitution does not represent the people," he said. "This constitution is not one of national consensus, but of national division."

He said the NSF would now try to remain united in preparation for possible participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

He said the front has no immediate plans to unite under one party, but that as a coalition they could win a majority of seats if electoral laws mandated an end to political proselytizing in mosques and placed a limit on the funds used for political campaigns.

Another key issue for the opposition has been enabling people to vote outside their home district. The absence of this has aided the Islamists, who have the money to bus supporters back home to vote. The opposition, though, has also warned that rigging could be made easier if people vote from any location and point to the current use of Brotherhood-manned buses to transport poor voters.

"I am sure that the non-Islamists are the real majority in Egypt. But the Muslim Brotherhood enjoys strong organization, and the forces that oppose them do not have the same organization or finances," he said.

The Brotherhood emerged as the country's strongest political force after the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak nearly two years ago. They won the most seats in parliament, before it was dissolved by the courts, and won the presidency. Liberal and secular groups have consistently failed to beat the Brotherhood at the polls since.

That was until Sabahi, a charismatic populist, appeared as a surprise presidential contender against Morsi and his rival, Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, an ex-military man who lured voters with promises of stability.

Sabahi had a last-minute surge after campaigning on promises to help the poor and harkening back to the nationalist, socialist ideology of Gamel Abdel-Nasser, Egypt's president from 1956 to 1970.

Would Sabahi known as a fervent opponent of Israel cancel the landmark 1979 peace treaty if he one day ascended to power?

No, he said. The main issues facing Egypt today are resolving internal problems, especially endemic poverty and he would not risk that priority issue by courting war with a neighbor.

In contrast to the Brotherhood, which has several offices in every Egyptian governorate, Sabahi spoke from the office of a famous Egyptian movie director, who lent him the space.

"The Brotherhood is losing every day. Mohammed Morsi is losing every day," Sabahi insisted, sitting among black and white pictures of Egyptian cinema actors emblematic of the 1960s a time of resurgent Arab nationalism less complicated by the politics of religion.

That's what German scientists are now working on: They are searching a way to ensure that the sensitive saplings of the popular Nordmann fir species grow into impressive specimens.

The fir is native to the Caucasus, but is often cultivated on massive plantations in Germany.

Biologist Kurt Zoglauer of Berlin's Humboldt University said Friday 40 percent of trees don't make the cut when they mature after 10 to 14 years. Some are stunted by frost, while others turn out the wrong shade of green.

Zoglauer's team therefore hopes to refine a method to clone particularly hardy and beautiful trees by 2016.

The project is supported by a German government grant.

The 31-year-old returned to the major leagues for one at-bat in October, more than seven years after he was beaned in his debut. He agreed to a minor league contract with the Orioles and will have a chance to earn a job at their Triple-A farm team in Norfolk, Va.

"To get the opportunity with the Orioles means everything to me," he said Saturday.

He had contacted Baltimore manager Buck Showalter at the winter meetings this month in Nashville, Tenn.

"I just walked up to him, introduced myself," Greenberg said. "I've always kind of looked at Buck and said that would be the guy that I would love to play, that type of hard-nose mentality."

Showalter put him in touch with Orioles special assistant Brady Anderson and general manager Dan Duquette.

"I'm going to spring (training) with the opportunity to make the Triple-A squad," he said. "Being 31, they said I'm not going to be going to Double-A and taking away a prospect's spot. It's Triple-A, big leagues obviously I'm not going to make the big league team out of camp it's Triple-A, big leagues or nothing, and that's great."

Selected by the Chicago Cubs in the ninth round of the 2002 amateur draft, Greenberg made his big league debut as a pinch hitter on July 9, 2005, and was hit on the back of his head with the first pitch from the Marlins' Valerio de los Santos. Greenberg sustained a concussion and was removed for a pinch runner.

Released by the Cubs in June 2006, he had minor league stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City Royals, the speedy outfielder signed a minor league deal with the Cincinnati Reds and was cut at the end of spring training, hampered by a rotator cuff injury. He spent 2009, '10 and '11 with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League.

After a petition on Change.org urged a big league team to give him another chance, the Marlins signed him and sent him up as a pinch hitter on Oct. 2 against New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Greenberg struck out on three pitches against the eventual NL Cy Young Award winner.

"The last few years have been very, very difficult and challenging, but I got myself physically where I need to be and more important than anything, mentally I'm at a point in my career where I'm able to commit 110 percent back to the game," he said.

His agreement was reported by several media outlets on Thursday.

NOTES: Baltimore assigned OF Steve Pearce outright to Norfolk on Friday.

The victory at Valladolid's Jose Zorrilla stadium was Barca's 16th in 17 league matches this term and restored their nine-point advantage over second-placed Atletico Madrid, who won 1-0 at home to Celta Vigo on Friday.

Barca have a La Liga record 49 points for this stage of a campaign and are 16 ahead of champions and arch rivals Real Madrid who are third ahead of their game at fourth-placed Malaga later on Saturday.

Valladolid kept a dominant Barca at bay until two minutes before halftime when Messi, who earlier shook the frame of the goal with a free kick, played Jordi Alba through on the left and Xavi turned his low cross into the net.

Messi uncharacteristically fluffed a simple chance early in the second half but the Argentine World Player of the Year doubled Barca's lead in the 59th minute with a trademark run and finish.

Xavi's clever back heel set the Argentine on his way and Messi dinked the ball between a defender's legs before firing a low shot into the far corner.

It was his 26th La Liga goal of the campaign and his 91st of 2012, extending the calendar year record he broke earlier this month when he overhauled Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old mark of 85.

Javi Guerra pulled a goal back for Valladolid in the 89th minute before Cristian Tello added a third for Barca in added time moments after coming off the bench.

The Catalan club were without coach Tito Vilanova, who had surgery on his saliva glands on Thursday and was released from hospital only hours before Saturday's game.

Assistant coach Jordi Roura has taken charge on a temporary basis until Vilanova is well enough to return. (Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Ken Ferris)

The company's Nasdaq-listed shares were last up 8 percent at $15.25, extending a 3.6-percent gain in regular trading hours. They are also on track to close with a fourth straight month of gains.

The stock has more than doubled since the start of September, including a more than 46 percent gain in November, but was still negative for the year at the close on Thursday.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos)

While the final report from France's air accident investigators, released earlier this year, cited human error and technical malfunctions of a set of the plane's sensors, theunderscored the difficulty pilots on transoceanic flights have of knowing where storms will be given the limitations of current systems for monitoring storms far out over the ocean. The crash was one of the factors that spurred researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., to develop a better system to forecast such storms and help planes avoid them.

Thunderstorms are well-monitored over land areas, where radar can keep an eye on their sometimes- quick development. But there is no similar radar system over the ocean. Instead, pilots on transoceanic flights are briefed on the weather before they take off, but storms can arise quickly; if storms do arise, the pilots may get in-flight updates every four hours, but those briefings are based on satellite data, and those satellites cannot peer into clouds. They also have onboard radar, but it is limited in scope and cannot see through dense clouds.

The new prototype system, which NCAR developed with NASA, MIT, the Naval Research Laboratory and the University of Wisconsin, can provide up to eight-hour forecasts that are updated hourly. It uses satellite data and weather models and is based on a system NCAR developed to keep pilots and air traffic controllers , such as turbulence and lightning, over the continental United States, according to an NCAR statement.

"These new forecasts can help fill an important gap in our aviation system," said NCARs Cathy Kessinger, the lead researcher on the project, in the statement. "Pilots have had limited information about atmospheric conditions as they fly over the ocean, where conditions can be severe. By providing them with a picture of where significant storms will be during an eight-hour period, the system can contribute to both the safety and comfort of passengers on flights over the ocean."

Right now, pilots have to use the limited information at their disposal to decide whether to detour potential hundreds of miles around a storm system or fly into a potentially storm region, which could have hazardous conditions and turbulence. , and the developers of the system are hoping that the forecasts can help pilots avoid it and make more informed flight decisions.

The system identifies areas in the atmosphere that have high cloud tops and water vapor at high elevations signs of a strong updraft, which canand is associated with strong storms. Researchers can use particular techniques to analyze that data along with simulations of wind fields to project storm locations at hourly intervals for up to eight hours in the future.

Tests forecasts were verified with observations from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.

Reach Andrea Thompson at athompson@techmedianetwork.com and follow her on Twitter . Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter. We're also onand .