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A leader in precision power conversion solutions, Advanced Energy Industries, today announced that Swinerton Renewable Energy has awarded the company 325 MW of solar projects.

It is expected that the installation and commissioning of the portfolio of projects will begin in 2015 and continue through the middle to end of 2016.

Swinerton Renewable Energy, being one of the largest solar contractors in the nation and the top solar contractor in California, is specialized in installing utility-scale solar projects throughout North America.

Online retailer Amazon. com Inc has come up with a new hotel-booking service with an aim to entice shoppers who may be browsing for books or music to reserve a hotel stay.

The new hotel-booking service has been launched in three major metros areas. The new service known as Amazon Destinations, lists hotels, inns and bed-and-breakfast spots. On the Amazon site, about 150 properties are posting available rooms.

According to analysts, the move reflects Amazon's rising interest in the profitable travel market. About $458 billion has been generated by the travel and tourism industry in the US last year. Amazon Destinations shows users a collection of available hotels according to area. Presently, it is limited to the Pacific Northwest, Southern California and the Northeast.

According to the Oklahoma Geological Survey, there is a possibility that the majority of the state's latest earthquakes were caused because of the subsurface injection of wastewater from oil and natural gas drilling operations.

Geologists said that they have been putting efforts to examine the cause of hundreds of earthquakes that have shaken the homes and the nerves of people in central and north-central Oklahoma. At central and north-central Oklahoma, the speed of oil and gas drilling has sped up in recent years.

On Wednesday, a New York judge allowed two Stony Brook University lab animals the right to have their day in court. The university, which is supposed to be holding the chimps, could be asked to release the primates.

This decision appears to recognize chimpanzees as legal persons for the first time. The ruling marks the first time in the Unites States that an animal has been covered by a writ of habeas corpus that normally enables human prisoners to challenge their detention. There is a possibility that the judicial action might sway additional judges to do the same with other research animals.

On Tuesday, Portland City Council permitted ride-sharing companies to operate in the city. Approval has been given for a four-month-long project that includes certain regulations and also requires firms to provide access to disabled riders.

The meeting took place for more than four hours in which the council has voted 3-2 to allow app-based ride services, including Uber and Lyft to operate in Portland. Mayor Charlie Hales is in the favor of the plan and has voted in the favor.

"This is a change that none of us wanted. The cab companies didn't want it. I didn't want it. It's a change that - like a lot of change that is all around us right now - is coming pretty fast", affirmed Hales.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is urging lawmakers to allow troops to carry personal firearms on military bases for protection.

In an interview Tuesday, Cruz said, "Now, I will acknowledge, I may have misspoken in New Hampshire when I said that I had been pressing John McCain, and what I had been pressing was the Armed Services Committee. John McCain is the new chairman of it, so I sent a letter to the previous chairman".

In a gathering in Litchfield, New Hampshire on Sunday, Cruz said he has spoken to Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican and chairman of the committee and asked him for a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing. He wants to have the hearing so that the issue of denying soldiers the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights can be discussed.