By MATTHEW DALY - Associated Press | AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has ordered the developer of a pipeline that would carry oil from western Canada to Texas to reroute it from environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska, possibly delaying a final U.S. decision until after the 2012 election.

The decision, described to The Associated Press by two senior State Department officials familiar with the project, will require an environmental review of the new section. That review probably would take at least a year.

Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. is seeking to build the $7 billion pipeline to carry oil derived from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Part of the 1,700-mile pipeline would pass through Nebraska's Sandhills region and the massive Ogallala aquifer, which supplies water to eight states.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the decision before an official announcement.

The heavily contested project has become a political trap for President Barack Obama. He risks angering environmental supporters if he approves the pipeline and could face criticism from labor and business groups for thwarting job creation if he rejects it.

Some liberal donors have threatened to cut off contributions to Obama's re-election campaign if he approves the pipeline.

The project has become a focal point for environmental groups, which say it would bring "dirty oil" that requires huge amounts of energy to extract. They also worry that the pipeline could cause an ecological disaster in case of a spill.

Thousands of protesters gathered across from the White House on Sunday to oppose the pipeline, and celebrities including "Seinfeld" actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus have made videos urging Obama to reject the pipeline. The State Department has authority over the project because it crosses a U.S. border.

The Keystone XL pipeline would carry as much as 700,000 barrels of oil a day, doubling the capacity of an existing pipeline operated by TransCanada in the upper Midwest. Supporters say the pipeline to Texas could significantly reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil while providing thousands of jobs.

TransCanada has said any delay in the approval process could cost it millions of dollars and keep thousands of people of from getting jobs.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Wednesday that deliberations over whether to reroute the pipeline were part of a broad review of issues that include environmental concerns, energy security, jobs, economic impacts and foreign policy.

The department's inspector general has begun a review of the administration's handling of the pipeline request. That examination follows complaints from Democratic lawmakers about possible conflicts of interest in the review process.

The inspector generator will look at whether the State Department and others involved in the project followed federal regulations.

Source: 

http://tinyurl.com/bumcw4h

By Krittivas Mukherjee and Bryson Hull - REUTERS

VILLINGILI ISLAND, Maldives (Reuters) - The prime ministers of India and Pakistan said on Thursday that their next round of talks should further improve ties between the two countries.

Lasting peace between the nuclear-armed foes is seen as key to stability in the South Asian region and to helping a troubled transition in Afghanistan as NATO-led combat forces plan their military withdrawal from that country in 2014.

"The next round of talks will be more positive, more constructive and will open a new chapter in the history of both countries,"Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told reporters after an almost hour-long discussion with his Indian counterpart,Manmohan Singh, on the sidelines of a meeting of South Asian leaders in the Maldives.

India and Pakistan resumed a peace dialogue this year which was derailed after a militant attack in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008.

Progress has been slow, but ties appeared to warm last week after Pakistan said it would grant India most-favored nation status for trade.

The two leaders last met in March at an international cricket match in India.

Source:  http://tinyurl.com/76hcuss

(Reporting by Krittivas Mukherjee and Bryson Hull; Writing by Nick Macfie)

Emergency teams in central China have rescued the remaining 45 miners who were trapped underground following a cave-in.

Chinese media say they were trapped for 36 hours in the Qianqiu colliery in the city of Sanmenxia in Henan province.

Eight miners were rescued on Friday while 14 escaped soon after the accident late on Thursday.

Officials said eight miners were killed in the cave-in, which occurred after a minor earthquake.

Lax safety standards

On Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV showed images of miners being pulled out on stretchers with towels wrapped around their eyes to protect them from the sun's glare.

The authorities said the initial rescue operation had been hampered by coal dust following an explosion.

They said that 75 miners had been working in the pit 480m down when a "rock burst" occurred - an explosion caused by the sudden release of built-up pressure.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.9 hit the area shortly before the rock burst.

According to one report, rescuers dug a long tunnel in order to reach the trapped men.

Luo Lin, head of the State Administration for Work Safety, praised the rescuers but said the "alarm bell of work safety must keep ringing".

"Enterprises should pay attention to work safety when the coal demand is high. They should not allow any operation that violates rules or regulations," he said.

This rescue will be cause for celebration in China, but the country's mines remain the deadliest in the world, the BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says.

Officials recorded more than 2,400 deaths in China's coal mines last year, down from nearly 7,000 in 2002.

The industry is notorious for its lax safety standards.

Last week a gas explosion at a mine in neighbouring Hunan province killed 29 people.

But officials insist the country's record is improving, and say they have taken action by closing many illegal mines.

Source: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-15604288

Qantas will give away 100,000 tickets worth $20 million as its way of saying "sorry" to passengers affected by the grounding of its entire fleet last weekend.

Tens of thousands of people were stranded in Australia and around the world when the airline grounded all flights for two days, as the result of an ongoing industrial dispute with its staff.

Flights have since returned to normal after Fair Work Australia terminated all industrial action between the airline and unions and ordered them back to the negotiating table.

All passengers whose flights were disrupted in the stoppage from 5pm on October 29 to 11.59pm on October 30, will be offered a free return economy flight to any destination within Australia, or a trans-Tasman flight to New Zealand and back.

Chief executive Alan Joyce says Qantas will also offer a bonus to all frequent flyers, although the airline has not yet finalised exact details.

"We know that we have disrupted a huge amount of customers and we are wanting to go above and beyond to say we are sorry," Mr Joyce told News Ltd and Fairfax.

Passengers who bought tickets on other airlines to make up for the missed flights will also be reimbursed for the difference between the new flight and their original Qantas flight.

The free flight offer brings the total cost of Qantas's grounding to $50 million, including about $30 million for the two days that flights were cancelled.

It comes on top of the airline's decision to reimburse people whose flight's were cancelled, and pay for their accommodation.

An advertisement running in major newspapers this morning says the airline will contact people who are eligible.

ABC/AAP

Source: 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-06/qantas-says-sorry-with-free-tickets/3637764

By SARAH DiLORENZO - Associated Press | AP

PARIS (AP) — Palestine became a full member of UNESCO on Monday in a highly divisive breakthrough that will cost the agency a fifth of its budget and that the U.S. and other opponents say could harm renewed Mideast peace efforts.

Soon after the vote, the United States cut funding to the organization because of a U.S. law that bars funding an organization that has Palestine as a member before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached.

That decision will have an immediate effect: The United States won't make a $60 million payment scheduled for November, according to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

UNESCO depends heavily on U.S. funding — Washington provides 22 percent of its budget or about $80 million a year — but has survived without it in the past: The United States pulled out of UNESCO under President Ronald Reagan, rejoining two decades later under President George W. Bush.

Monday's vote is a grand symbolic victory for the Palestinians, but it alone won't make Palestine into a state. The issues of borders for an eventual Palestinian state, security troubles and other disputes that have thwarted Middle East peace for decades remain unresolved.

Huge cheers went up in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization after delegates approved the membership in a vote of 107-14 with 52 abstentions. Eighty-one votes were needed for approval in a hall with 173 UNESCO member delegations present. In a surprise, France voted "yes" — and the room erupted in cheers and applause — while the "no" votes included the United States, Israel, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.

"Long live Palestine!" someone shouted in the hall, in French, at the unusually tense and dramatic meeting of UNESCO's General Conference.

Even if the vote's impact isn't felt right away in the Mideast, it will be quickly felt at UNESCO, which protects historic heritage sites and works to improve world literacy, access to schooling for girls and cultural understanding, but it also has in the past been a forum for anti-Israel sentiment.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova welcomed the decision, but said that she worried it could put the agency in a precarious position.

"It is my responsibility to say that I am concerned by the potential challenges that may arise to the universality and financial stability of the organization," said Bokova, who has led a drive to reform the institution. "I am worried we may confront a situation that could erode UNESCO as a universal platform for dialogue. I am worried for the stability of its budget."

Before the State Department announcement, White House spokesman Jay Carney called UNESCO's decision "premature" and said it undermines the international community's goal of a comprehensive Middle East peace plan. He called it a distraction from the goal of restarting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Democrats and Republicans in Washington also criticized the vote. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement, "Today's reckless action by UNESCO is anti-Israel and anti-peace."

Aside from the U.S. funding cut, Israel's Foreign Ministry said it "will consider its further ... cooperation with the organization" after Monday's vote.

Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the United Nations, but that effort is still under examination and the U.S. has pledged a veto unless there is a peace deal with Israel. Given that, the Palestinians separately sought membership at Paris-based UNESCO. All the efforts are part of a broader push by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas for greater international recognition in recent years.

"Joy fills my heart. This is really an historic moment," said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki. "We hope that today's victory at UNESCO marks but a beginning. Our admission to UNESCO is not an alternative, is no substitute for something else."

In the Gaza Strip, Abbas' rival, the militant Hamas government, also praised the UNESCO decision, saying that Hamas' confrontational approach toward Israel was behind the vote.

"It also indicates that the Palestinian cause is getting more support while American policy is regressing," said Hamas official Salah Bardawil.

UNESCO, like other U.N. agencies, is a part of the world body but has separate membership procedures and can make its own decisions about which countries belong. Full U.N. membership is not required for membership in many of the U.N. agencies.

Monday's vote is definitive, and the membership formally takes effect when Palestine signs UNESCO's founding charter.

Israel's outspoken foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said before the vote that if it passed, Israel should cut off ties with the Palestinian Authority. It was not clear whether he was voicing an individual opinion or government policy. He has a history of making comments embarrassing to the prime minister.

In an address to parliament, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly criticized the Palestinians move.

"Unfortunately, the Palestinians continue to refuse to negotiate with us. Instead of sitting around the negotiating table, they have decided to form an alliance with Hamas and take unilateral steps at the U.N., including today," Netanyahu said. He warned his government would "not sit quietly."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it is up to member states "to ensure the United Nations system as a whole a consistent political and financial support."

"As such, we will need to work on tactical solutions to preserve UNESCO's financial resources," he said. He urged a negotiated solution to Mideast peace.

Ghasan Khatib, spokesman for the Palestinian government in the West Bank, urged the United States to keep UNESCO funding.

"We look at this vote as especially important because part of our battle with the Israeli occupation is about the occupation attempts to erase the Palestinian history or Judaizing it. The UNESCO vote will help us to maintain the Palestinian traditional heritage," he said.

Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, called the vote a tragedy. "They've forced a drastic cut in contributions to the organization," he said.

"UNESCO deals in science, not science fiction," he said. "They forced on UNESCO a political subject out of its competence."

Source: 

http://news.yahoo.com

By Dave Warner | Reuters

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A longtime former assistant to celebrated Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno was charged with sexually abusing eight boys, a state prosecutor said on Saturday.

Former defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, 67, faces charges including seven counts of first-degree involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, all of which are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said.

"This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys," Kelly said.

Sandusky, who was defensive coordinator for 23 years at the State College, Pennsylvania, school and was once considered a likely successor to Paterno, allegedly targeted boys from 1994 to 2009, agrand jury report said.

He was also charged with aggravated indecent assault, eight counts of corruption of minors and four counts of unlawful contact with a minor.

Two university officials, Athletic Director Timothy Curley, 57, andGary Schultz, 62, senior vice president for finance and business, were each charged with failing to report the crimes, and perjury. Paterno, the all-time winningest coach in major U.S. college football, was not charged in the case.

Sandusky was arraigned on Saturday and released after posting $100,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

His attorney, Joe Amendola, told reporters on Saturday that Sandusky, who left Penn State coaching in 1999, was shaken by the charges but knew they were coming.

"He's maintained his innocence. He's been aware of these allegations now for over three years," Amendola said.

Penn State President Graham Spanier said in a statement on Saturday that Curley and Schultz had his "unconditional support" and that the allegations against both men would be proven "groundless."

Attorneys for Curley and Schultz issued statements on the university's website on Saturday saying the two men were innocent and that they would fight the charges against their clients in court.

PROSECUTOR CITES TESTIMONY FROM ALLEGED VICTIMS

According to the report from the grand jury investigating the case, Sandusky met the victims through his Second Mile organization, a statewide nonprofit organization devoted to "helping troubled young boys."

"Through the Second Mile, Sandusky had access to hundreds of boys, many of whom were vulnerable due to their social situations," the grand jury report said.

Kelly said testimony from numerous victims and witnesses led to the criminal charges that were filed on Saturday.

The alleged sexual assaults came to light after a graduate assistant witnessed Sandusky "sexually assaulting a naked boy who appeared to be about 10 years old" at the Lasch Football Building on the Penn State campus late one night in March 2002, the grand jury report said.

The graduate assistant told Paterno, who alerted Curley, according to the report. Curley and Schultz later met with the graduate assistant and told Sandusky not to bring boys to the football building, but did not alert police, the report said.

"The failure of top university officials to act on reports of Sandusky's alleged sexual misconduct, even after it was reported to them in graphic detail by an eyewitness, allowed a predator to walk free for years -- continuing to target new victims," Kelly said.

(Writing by Eric Johnson; Editing by Greg McCune and Peter Cooney)

Source: 

http://news.yahoo.com/ex-penn-state-assistant-coach-charged-abuse-000807703.html

Kounteya Sinha, TNN

NEW DELHI: The elusive wheat genome - the most important crop globally - will be cracked within the next three years. Indian scientists have joined 16 other nations - the US, the UK, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic,Norway, Israel, Turkey, Russia, China, Japan, Australia and Argentina - in the initiative. 

The department of biotechnology (DBT) has sanctioned about Rs 34 crore for over four years to three institutes - Punjab Agriculture University, ICAR and Delhi University - for the project. 

Prof Nagendra Kumar Singh from ICAR's National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnologyin New Delhi said, "The project is likely to be completed in five years. But, we will crack the code within three years." 

Wheat has 21 chromosomes of which one will be decoded by the 21 Indian scientists. The wheat genome is 42 times bigger than rice genome. 

" India had bumper wheat production of 84 million tons this year. Once we have cracked itsgenetic code, we can develop disease-resistant wheat faster. Brown and yellow rust diseases are a big threat to wheat," Prof Singh said. 

Experts say in the past decade, global wheat production has dipped by 3.6% due to drought. It is also being threatened by tell-tale signs of climate change like rise in temperatures, less availability of water and reduced soil fertility. Besides, the micronutrient content, especially iron and zinc, in grains is lower than the required, causing anemia. 

On Wednesday, 31 Indian scientists also cracked the genetic code of arhar, the second most important pulse crop of India. This is the first plant genome sequenced indigenously. Now, this will help faster development of high yielding, disease and insect-resistant varieties of arhar for higher productivity and lower prices of pulses. 

The scientists have identified 47,004 protein coding genes in the arhar genome, of which 1,213 genes are for disease resistance and 152 genes for tolerance to drought, heat and salinity that make it a hardy crop. 

Average pulse crop productivity in India has remained low at about 650kg per hectare for the last six decades, leading to soaring dal prices on the back of increasing demands. 

Asha, the genome of popular arhar variety, was assembled using long sequence reads of 454-FLX second generation sequencing technology resulting in 511 million base pairs of high quality genome sequence information. About 85% pigeonpea or red gram ('Arhar' or 'Tur') of the world is produced and consumed in India. India imports pigeonpea from Myanmar, the second largest producer. The world acreage of pigeonpea is about 4.90 mha with annual production of about 4.22 mmt worth about $1.5 billion. India is the largest producer, consumer and importer of pigeonpea with annual production of 3.07 mmt, followed by Myanmar (0.72 mmt) and Malawi(0.15 mmt). India is importing about three million tones of pulses at an estimates cost of Rs 7,000 crore annually. 

The huge gap between demand and supply has led to soaring prices of dal and food inflation.

Source:  

http://www.samachar.com/India-joins-16-nations-to-crack-wheat-genome-in-3-yrs-llfbLpfeebi.html?utm_source=times_of_india&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=samachar_homepage

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan | Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli navy Friday boarded two boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists toward the Gaza Strip in a fresh challenge to Israel's blockade of the Islamist-controlled territory.

The military said in a statement that the Canadian "Tahrir" and Irish "Saoirse" vessels, which had 27 people on board, would be taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

"The Israel Navy soldiers operated as planned, and took every precaution necessary to ensure the safety of the activists onboard the vessels as well as themselves," the statement said. A military source said nobody was injured in the operation.

In May 2010, Israeli commandos boarded the Turkish Mavi Marmara aid vessel to enforce the naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave, and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists, some of them armed with clubs and knives.

Israel spurned Ankara's demand for an apology over the incident. Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador two months ago.

Carrying a small amount of medical supplies, the "Tahrir and "Saoirse" had sailed from Turkey Wednesday. The Israeli military said the boats were in international waters when they were stopped, between 40 and 60 miles from the coast.

The activists on board came from Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United States, and included Palestinians and at least one Arab citizen of Israel, organizers said.

The two boats had continued sailing toward Gaza, ignoring instructions to turn around or unload their supplies in Israel or neighboring Egypt, Israeli military officials said.

Citing the need to prevent weapons smuggling, Israel has blockaded Gaza since the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.

A U.N. report on Israel's interception of the 2010 Turkish ship said the blockade was a "legitimate security measure," adding that "its implementation complied with the requirements of international law." Turkey has rejected that ruling.

Pro-Palestinian groups behind the latest attempt to reach Gaza by sea condemn the blockade as illegal and inhumane.

DEPORTATION AWAITS

Paul Murphy, a socialist member of the European Parliament on board one of the ships, wrote in a blog posted earlier on the Internet that the mission was in "response to the call from people within Gaza to try to break the siege they suffer under."

Israeli authorities said that once the two boats had reached Ashdod, they would undergo security checks. Those on board would be questioned, then taken to prison service holding facilities where they will wait until booked on flights back home.

They have the right to a court hearing before being deported.

Israel allows humanitarian aid, food and some other supplies into Gaza for its 1.7 million people, many of them impoverished refugees, via land crossings it closely monitors. Gaza also has a border with Egypt over which goods are imported.

Gaza's Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh praised the attempt to break the blockade in a sermon at a mosque on Friday: "We appreciate highly those activists who came in solidarity and we stress that their goal is being achieved whether or not they arrived by exposing (Israeli) occupation (measures)."

Turkey had threatened to give naval protection to future aid flotillas following the 2010 violence, but Ankara has kept largely quiet about this latest operation.

Some of the activists, who dubbed their mission "Freedom Waves," had participated in a thwarted seaborne attempt in June to reach Gaza, which was blocked from setting sail from Greece.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: 

http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/israeli-navy-told-intercept-gaza-bound-boats-idf-132352824.html?back=%2Fworld%2F&.ts=1320434961&.intl=us&.lang=en&.tsrc=emul