(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Sunday continued cleanup of a pipeline spill that spewed thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude in Arkansas as opponents of oil sands development latched on to the incident to attack plans to build the Keystone XL line.
Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said on Sunday that crews had yet to excavate the area around the pipeline breach, a needed step before the company can estimate how long repairs will take and when the line might restart.
"I can't speculate on when it will happen," Jeffers said. "Excavation is necessary as part of an investigation to determine the cause of the incident."
Exxon's Pegasus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Pakota, Illinois to Nederland, Texas, was shut after the leak was discovered late Friday afternoon in a subdivision near the town of Mayflower. The leak forced the evacuation of 22 homes.
Exxon also had no specific estimate of how much crude oil had spilled, but the company said 12,000 barrels of oil and water had been recovered - up from 4,500 barrels on Saturday. The company did not say how much of the total was oil and how much was water.
Exxon said it staged the response to handle 10,000 barrels of oil "to ensure adequate resources are in place."
Fifteen vacuum trucks remained on the scene for cleanup, and 33 storage tanks were deployed to temporarily store the oil.
The pipeline was carrying Canadian Wabasca Heavy crude at the time of the leak. An oil spill of more than 1,000 barrels into a Wisconsin field from an Enbridge (Toronto: ENB.TO - news) pipeline last summer kept that line shuttered for around 11 days.
The Arkansas spill drew fast reaction from opponents of the 800,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry heavy crude from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast refining centre.
Environmentalists have expressed concerns about the impact of developing the oil sands and say the crude is more corrosive to pipelines than conventional oil. On Wednesday, a train carrying Canadian crude derailed in Minnesota, spilling 15,000 gallons of oil.
"Whether it's the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, or ... (the) mess in Arkansas, Americans are realizing that transporting large amounts of this corrosive and polluting fuel is a bad deal for American taxpayers and for our environment," said Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.
Supporters of Keystone XL and oil sands development say the vast Canadian reserves can help drive down fuel costs in the United States. A report from the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, put together by oil and gas consultancy Penspen, argued diluted bitumen is no more corrosive than other heavy crude.
CLEANUP
Exxon said that by 3 a.m. Saturday there was no additional oil spilling from the pipeline and that trucks had been brought in to assist with the cleanup. Images from local media showed crude oil snaking along a suburban street and spewed across lawns.
Twenty-two homes in the affected subdivision remained evacuated on Sunday, though Mayflower police were providing escorts for residents to temporarily return to retrieve personal items.
Jeffers said a couple of homes "appear to have small amounts of oil on their foundations," but he had no information on damage estimates or claims. Exxon had established a claims hotline for affected residents and said about 50 claims had been made so far.
Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration were deployed to the scene.
Exxon said no oil had reached nearby Lake Conway, known as a fishing lake stocked with bass, catfish, bream and crappie. The company said it deployed 3,600 feet of boom near the lake "as a precaution."
(Reporting by Kristen Hays in Houston, Matthew Robinson in New York and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Bernard Orr)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea warned Seoul on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula was entering "a state of war" and threatened to shut down a border factory complex that's the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.
Analysts say a full-scale conflict is extremely unlikely, noting that the Korean Peninsula has remained in a technical state of war for 60 years. But the North's continued threats toward Seoul and Washington, including a vow to launch a nuclear strike, have raised worries that a misjudgment between the sides could lead to a clash.
North Korea's threats are seen as efforts to provoke the new government in Seoul, led by President Park Geun-hye, to change its policies toward Pyongyang, and to win diplomatic talks with Washington that could get it more aid. North Korea's moves are also seen as ways to build domestic unity as young leader Kim Jong Un strengthens his military credentials.
On Thursday, U.S. military officials revealed that two B-2 stealth bombers dropped dummy munitions on an uninhabited South Korean island as part of annual defense drills that Pyongyang sees as rehearsals for invasion. Hours later, Kim ordered his generals to put rockets on standby and threatened to strike American targets if provoked.
North Korea said in a statement Saturday that it would deal with South Korea according to "wartime regulations" and would retaliate against any provocations by the United States and South Korea without notice.
"Now that the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK have entered into an actual military action, the inter-Korean relations have naturally entered the state of war," said the statement, which was carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Provocations "will not be limited to a local war, but develop into an all-out war, a nuclear war," the statement said.
Hours after the statement, Pyongyang threatened to shut down the jointly run Kaesong industrial park, expressing anger over media reports suggesting the complex remained open because it was a source of hard currency for the impoverished North.
"If the puppet group seeks to tarnish the image of the DPRK even a bit, while speaking of the zone whose operation has been barely maintained, we will shut down the zone without mercy," an identified spokesman for the North's office controlling Kaesong said in comments carried by KCNA.
South Korea's Unification Ministry responded by calling the North Korean threat "unhelpful" to the countries' already frayed relations and vowed to ensure the safety of hundreds of South Korean managers who cross the border to their jobs in Kaesong. It did not elaborate.
South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said the country's military remains mindful of the possibility that increasing North Korean drills near the border could lead to an actual provocation.
"The series of North Korean threats ? announcing all-out war, scrapping the cease-fire agreement and the non-aggression agreement between the South and the North, cutting the military hotline, entering into combat posture No. 1 and entering a 'state of war' ? are unacceptable and harm the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula," Kim said.
"We are maintaining full military readiness in order to protect our people's lives and security," he told reporters Saturday.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Naval skirmishes in the disputed waters off the Korean coast have led to bloody battles several times over the years.
But on the streets of Seoul on Saturday, South Koreans said they were not worried about an attack from North Korea.
"From other countries' point of view, it may seem like an extremely urgent situation," said Kang Tae-hwan, a private tutor. "But South Koreans don't seem to be that nervous because we've heard these threats from the North before."
The Kaesong industrial park, which is run with North Korean labor and South Korean know-how, has been operating normally, despite Pyongyang shutting down a communications channel typically used to coordinate travel by South Korean workers to and from the park just across the border in North Korea. The rivals are now coordinating the travel indirectly, through an office at Kaesong that has outside lines to South Korea.
North Korea has previously made such threats about Kaesong without acting on them, and recent weeks have seen a torrent of bellicose rhetoric from Pyongyang. North Korea is angry about the South Korea-U.S. military drills and new U.N. sanctions over its nuclear test last month.
Dozens of South Korean firms run factories in the border town of Kaesong. Using North Korea's cheap, efficient labor, the Kaesong complex produced $470 million worth of goods last year.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Kenya's Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's next president, ending an election season that riveted the nation amid fears of a repeat of the 2007-08 postelection violence.
Outside the Supreme Court, police fired tear gas at Odinga supporters, the second time that has happened in this post-election period.
Outbreaks of violence by angry Odinga supporters were reported in some Nairobi slums and truckloads of police were called in to quell the demonstrations, according to reports on a police radio heard by an Associated Press reporter.
But jubilant Kenyatta supporters flooded the streets of downtown Nairobi, honking horns, blowing the noisy plastic horns known as a vuvuzelas and chanting.
Saturday's verdict ? following a drawn-out court case that raised tensions across the nation ? means that Kenyatta will be sworn in as president on April 9. He will become the second sitting president in Africa to face charges at the International Criminal Court. Kenyatta and Deputy President-elect William Ruto both face charges that they helped orchestrate the 2007-08 postelection violence in which more than 1,000 people died. Both deny the charges. Ruto's trial is set to begin in late May; Kenyatta's is to start in July. Kenyatta has promised to report to The Hague.
Lawyers for challenger Raila Odinga, who finished second, had argued before the Supreme Court that the election was marred by irregularities and that Kenyatta did not win enough votes to avoid a runoff election.
According to official results, Kenyatta won 50.07 percent of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff election against Odinga, who said his case before the Supreme Court would put Kenya's democracy on trial.
But the Supreme Court's unanimous verdict, read out by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, said the election was "conducted in compliance with the constitution and the law" and that Kenyatta and Ruto were legally elected.
"It is the decision of the court that (Kenyatta and Ruto) were validly elected," the ruling said. The reasons behind the judges' decision were not given Saturday. The chief justice said a detailed judgment would be delivered within two weeks.
Unlike after the 2007 election, which degenerated into tribe-on-tribe violence that killed more than 1000 people, this time Odinga said he had faith in the judiciary's ability to give him a fair hearing. Odinga, who said he would respect the court's decision whether it favored him or not, was set to address reporters in Nairobi later on Saturday. As Kenyatta's supporters celebrated outside the court premises, police fired tear gas to break up a crowd of Odinga supporters.
The court's ruling ends days of anxiety since March 9, when Kenyatta was declared the winner of the March 4 vote that many described as the most complex in Kenya's history. More than 12 million Kenyans participated in the election. Some observers had expected a low registration of voters because of apathy following the 2007-08 violence, but hyped up campaigns by Kenyatta, Odinga and other presidential candidates led to the highest registration in the country ever. Kenya's electoral commission registered 14.3 million people.
Election day, though, did not go as planned. An electronic voter ID system intended to prevent fraud failed for reasons yet to be explained by the electoral commission. Vote officials instead used manual voter rolls.
After the polls closed, results were to be sent electronically to Nairobi, where officials would quickly tabulate a preliminary vote count in order to maximize transparency after rigging accusations following the 2007 vote. But that system failed, too. Election officials have indicated that computer servers overloaded but have yet to fully explain the problem.
As the early count system was still being used, election results showed more than 330,000 rejected ballots, an unusually high number. But after the count resumed with the arrival in Nairobi of manual tallies, the number of rejected ballots was greatly reduced, and the election commission said the computer was mistakenly multiplying the number of rejected ballots by a factor of eight.
Odinga's lawyers told the Supreme Court this week that the switch from electronic voter identification to manual voter roll was stage managed to allow inflation of Kenyatta's votes to take him past the 50 percent threshold. That accusation was vehemently denied by the electoral commission and Kenyatta's legal team.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? The U.N. Security Council authorized a new "intervention brigade" for Congo on Thursday with an unprecedented mandate to take military action against rebel groups to help bring peace to the country's conflict-wracked east.
The resolution, which the council adopted unanimously, gives the brigade a mandate to carry out offensive operations alone or with Congolese army troops to neutralize and disarm armed groups.
The intervention brigade is unprecedented in U.N. peacekeeping because of its offensive mandate.
The resolution however states clearly that it would be established for one year "on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent" to the principles of U.N. peacekeeping.
Guatemala's U.N. Ambassador Gert Rosenthal, expressed concern about getting the United Nations into "peace enforcement" which could compromise U.N. neutrality.
The resolution says the "intervention brigade" must have "a clear exit strategy." It says the council will consider its continued presence based on its performance and whether Congo has made sufficient progress in reforming its security sector and creating a Congolese "rapid reaction force" that can take over responsibility for neutralizing armed groups and reducing the threat they pose to civilians and the government's authority.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current council president, told a news conference before the vote that the resolution will reconfigure the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, "recognizing the necessity of decisively countering the destructive" violence that has left eastern Congo in turmoil since the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
The resolution, sponsored by France, the United States and Togo, would give the brigade a mandate to operate "in a robust, highly mobile and versatile manner" to ensure that armed group can't seriously threaten government authority or the security of civilians.
The brigade will be part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, within its troop ceiling of 19,815. The United Nations currently has more than 17,700 U.N. peacekeepers and more than 1,400 international police in Congo.
The resolution extends MONUSCO's mandate until March 31, 2014. The "intervention brigade" headquarters will be in the key eastern city of Goma. The resolution says the brigade will consist of three infantry battalions, one artillery company and one special forces and reconnaissance company. U.N. officials say it will probably include between 2,000 and 3,000 troops and the U.N. peacekeeping department will now ask U.N. member states to contribute troops.
The resolution says the "intervention brigade" must have "a clear exit strategy." It says the council will consider its continued presence based on its performance and whether Congo has made sufficient progress in reforming its security sector and creating a Congolese "rapid reaction force" able to take over responsibility for neutralizing armed groups and reducing the threat they pose.
Mineral-rich eastern Congo has been engulfed in fighting since the 1994 Rwanda genocide, in which at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered by Hutu militias before a Tutsi-led rebel army took power in Rwanda. More than 1 million Rwandan Hutus fled across the border into Congo, and Rwanda has invaded Congo several times to take action against Hutu militias there.
The exploitation of Congo's mineral resources continues to exacerbate conflict and instability on the ground.
In late February, 11 central Africa leaders and the United Nations signed an agreement to try to establish peace in eastern Congo.
The resolution demands that Congo and the 10 other African nations implement the peace accord "in good faith" and expresses the council's intention "to take appropriate measures as necessary" against any party that doesn't comply with its commitments.
Under the peace deal, the signatories pledged not to interfere in the internal affairs of neighboring countries or provide any support to armed groups. The Congolese government pledged to reform its army and police, consolidate its authority in the volatile east and promote reconciliation, tolerance and democratization.
The signatories include Rwanda and Uganda, which were accused in a U.N. report last year of helping aid the M23 rebel group, which swept through eastern Congo in 2012 and captured Goma in November but pulled out under international pressure. Both countries denied the allegations.
Rwanda's U.N. Ambassador Eugene Gasana told the council after the vote that his government supports the peace deal and is committed to peace in the region.
U.N. peacekeepers were unable to protect civilians from the M23 rebels, whose movement began in April 2012 when hundreds of troops defected from the Congolese armed forces.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report in February recommending an "intervention brigade" that the M23 rebellion underscored the continuing fragility of the situation in eastern Congo. But he said he is convinced the peace accord offers an opportunity for key nations to collectively address the underlying causes of the conflict in the east and the surrounding Great Lakes region and end the recurring violence.
The resolution strongly condemns the continued presence of the M23 in the immediate vicinity of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and its attempts to establish "an illegitimate parallel administration in North Kivu."
It demands that the M23 and other armed groups, including those seeking the "liberation" of Rwanda and Uganda, immediately halt all violence and "permanently disband and lay down their arms." It also strongly condemns their continuing human rights abuses including summary executions, sexual and gender-based violence and large-scale recruitment and use of children.
Besides disbanding armed groups, the resolution says the intervention brigade will monitor an arms embargo along with a panel of U.N. experts and observe and report on flows of military personnel, weapons and equipment across the border of eastern Congo including by "surveillance capabilities provided by unmanned aerial systems."
In January, the Security Council gave approval for deployment of unarmed surveillance drones for eastern Congo that would provide intelligence for the peace enforcement brigade as well as the larger U.N. peacekeeping force. U.N. officials expect them to be deployed at the beginning of the summer.
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Associated Press Writer Maria Sanminiatelli contributed to this report from the United Nations.
Mar. 28, 2013 ? Concrete plans for a one-way ticket to Mars have been forged. Food will have to be grown on location. Is this a distant future scenario? Not for Wieger Wamelink, ecologist at Alterra Wageningen UR, for whom the future will begin on 2 April. He will be researching whether or not it is possible to grow plants on the moon.
We have been to the moon several times. Next time, we may go back for a considerable period. And concrete plans for a one-way ticket to Mars have already been forged. Food will have to be grown on location. Is this a distant future scenario? Not for Wieger Wamelink, ecologist at Alterra Wageningen UR, for whom the future will begin on 2 April. He will be researching whether or not it is possible to grow plants on the moon.
Will plants survive in Martian soil or moon dust? This question was initially prompted by Dutch plans to establish a colony on Mars. As the plan does not include a return trip, the basic necessities would have to be satisfied on location. "Mars is still a long way off," says Wieger Wamelink, explaining his plans. "But the moon is closer, so it would be more realistic to establish a colony there. What's more, we already know the mineral composition of the soil on the moon, and of moon dust. So what I'm aiming to find out now is whether plants will grow in moon substrate, or whether certain essential elements are lacking. This has never been done before. We are gradually discovering more about Mars, which is why the planet has been included in this research."
Wamelink's research will compare the requirements of certain species of plants with the mineral composition of the soil on the moon and Mars. Alterra has a database that can analyse 25 abiotic preconditions per species and calculate whether a plant species will survive or not. The database also stores information about heavy metals and minerals, although as yet, there are no fixed preconditions for these elements. Using this data, he will be able to determine which plant species would theoretically be capable of growing in moon dust or Martian soil.
Wieger Wamelink: "We will then allow certain species of wild plants and agricultural crops to germinate in pots of artificial moon and Martian soil supplied by NASA. The growth of these plants will be compared with that of the same species in ordinary soil from the Earth. Preconditions relating to heavy metals and minerals will be derived from our findings. Our research is based on the premise that an atmosphere will be available to the colony, perhaps in domes or buildings. We are also assuming the presence of water, either from the moon or Mars or transported from Earth. The plants would produce oxygen and recycle carbon dioxide, ultimately creating a kind of ecosystem."
At a later stage, Wamelink also wants to look into the food safety of agricultural crops grown in human-made conditions on the moon in moon soil. The first trial crops will be planted in greenhouses on 2 April.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Across North Korea, soldiers are gearing up for battle and shrouding their jeeps and vans with camouflage netting. Newly painted signboards and posters call for "death to the U.S. imperialists" and urge the people to fight with "arms, not words."
But even as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is issuing midnight battle cries to his generals to ready their rockets, he and his million-man army know full well that a successful missile strike on U.S. targets would be suicide for the outnumbered, out-powered North Korean regime.
Despite the hastening drumbeat of warfare, none of the key players in the region wants or expects another Korean War ? not even the North Koreans.
But by seemingly bringing the region to the very brink of conflict with threats and provocations, Pyongyang is aiming to draw attention to the tenuousness of the armistice designed to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula, a truce North Korea recently announced it would no longer honor as it warned that war could break out at any time.
It's all part of a plan to force Washington to the negotiating table, pressure the new president in Seoul to change policy on North Korea, and build unity at home ? without triggering a full-blown war if all goes well.
In July, it will be 60 years since North Korea and China signed an armistice with the U.S. and the United Nations to bring an end to three years of fighting that cost millions of lives. The designated Demilitarized Zone has evolved into the most heavily guarded border in the world.
It was never intended to be a permanent border. But six decades later, North and South remain divided, with Pyongyang feeling abandoned by the South Koreans in the quest for reunification and threatened by the Americans.
North Korean army officers punch the air as they chant slogans during a rally at Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, March 29, 2013. Tens of thousands of North Koreans ... more? North Korean army officers punch the air as they chant slogans during a rally at Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, March 29, 2013. Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for the mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin) less? In that time, South Korea has blossomed from a poor, agrarian nation of peasants into the world's 15th largest economy while North Korea is struggling to find a way out of a Cold War chasm that has left it with a per capita income on par with sub-Saharan Africa.
The Chinese troops who fought alongside the North Koreans have long since left. But 28,500 American troops are still stationed in South Korea and 50,000 more are in nearby Japan. For weeks, the U.S. and South Korea have been showing off their military might with a series of joint exercises that Pyongyang sees a rehearsal for invasion.
On Thursday, the U.S. military confirmed that those drills included two nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers that can unload the U.S. Air Force's largest conventional bomb ? a 30,000-pound super bunker buster ? powerful enough to destroy North Korea's web of underground military tunnels.
It was a flexing of military muscle by Washington, perhaps aimed not only at Pyongyang but at Beijing as well.
In Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un reacted swiftly, calling an emergency meeting of army generals and ordering them to be prepared to strike if the U.S. actions continue. A photo distributed by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency showed Kim in a military operations room with maps detailing a "strike plan" behind him in a very public show of supposedly sensitive military strategy.
North Korea cites the U.S. military threat as a key reason behind its need to build nuclear weapons, and has poured a huge chunk of its small national budget into defense, science and technology. In December, scientists launched a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket using technology that could easily be converted for missiles; in February, they tested an underground nuclear device as part of a mission to build a bomb they can load on a missile capable of reaching the U.S.
However, what North Korea really wants is legitimacy in the eyes of the U.S. ? and a peace treaty. Pyongyang wants U.S. troops off Korean soil, and the bombs and rockets are more of an expensive, dangerous safety blanket than real firepower. They are the only real playing card North Korea has left, and the bait they hope will bring the Americans to the negotiating table.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said North Korea's "bellicose rhetoric" would only deepen its international isolation, and that the U.S. has both the capability and willingness to defend its interests in the region.
Narushige Michishita, director of the Security and International Studies Program at Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, isn't convinced North Korea is capable of attacking Guam, Hawaii or the U.S. mainland. He says Pyongyang hasn't successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.
But its medium-range Rodong missiles, with a range of about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers), are "operational and credible" and could reach U.S. bases in Japan, he says.
More likely than such a strike, however, is a smaller-scale incident, perhaps off the Koreas' western coast, that would not provoke the Americans to unleash their considerable firepower. For years, the waters off the west coast have been a battleground for naval skirmishes between the two Koreas because the North has never recognized the maritime border drawn unilaterally by the U.N.
As threatening as Kim's call to arms may sound, its main target audience may be the masses at home in North Korea.
For months, the masterminds of North Korean propaganda have pinpointed this year's milestone Korean War anniversary as a prime time to play up Kim's military credibility as well as to push for a peace treaty. By creating the impression that a U.S. attack is imminent, the regime can foster a sense of national unity and encourage the people to rally around their new leader.
Inside Pyongyang, much of the military rhetoric feels like theatrics. It's not unusual to see people toting rifles in North Korea, where soldiers and checkpoints are a fixture in the heavily militarized society. But more often than not in downtown Pyongyang, the rifle stashed in a rucksack is a prop and the "soldier" is a dancer, one of the many performers rehearsing for a Korean War-themed extravaganza set to debut later this year.
More than 100,000 soldiers, students and ordinary workers were summoned Friday to Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang to pump their fists in support of North Korea's commander in chief. But elsewhere, it was business as usual at restaurants and shops, and farms and factories, where the workers have heard it all before.
"Tensions rise almost every year around the time the U.S.-South Korean drills take place, but as soon as those drills end, things go back to normal and people put those tensions behind them quite quickly," said Sung Hyun-sang, the South Korean president of a clothing maker operating in the North Korean border town of Kaesong. "I think and hope that this time won't be different."
And in a telling sign that even the North Koreans don't expect war, the national airline, Air Koryo, is adding flights to its spring lineup and preparing to host the scores of tourists they expect to flock to Pyongyang despite the threats issuing forth from the Supreme Command.
War or no war, it seems Pyongyang remains open for business.
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Lee is chief of AP's bureaus in Pyongyang, North Korea, and Seoul, South Korea. She can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean. Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stock indexes recouped most of the ground they lost and are closing mostly lower on Wall Street.
Traders are watching closely to see whether Cyprus successfully reopens its banks after a two-week shutdown. They're also unsettled by Italy's failure to form a government and get moving with economic reforms.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 33 points, or 0.2 percent, at 14,526 Wednesday. It was down as much as 120 earlier.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell just under a point to 1,562. It's a little more than two points away from the all-time high it reached in October 2007.
The Nasdaq composite rose four points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,256.
Rising stocks outnumbered falling ones on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was light at 2.8 billion shares.
By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...
Cooking up a frozen pizza is often a bit of a crapshoot. Sometimes you want the convenience of the microwave, but don't want to sacrifice the taste you get when you cook it in the oven. As it turns out, Consumer Reports suggests that if a frozen pizza has a "recommended method" that's the best way to cook it, even if that means the microwave.
It sounds like common sense that the recommended cooking method would be the best, but the surprise here is that the method isn't always the oven:
DiGiorno, for example, lists the microwave as the "recommended cooking method" on its Traditional Crust cheese and pepperoni pizzas, and that's definitely the best way to go. The pizzas cooked in the conventional oven were drier on the edges and a bit doughy inside.
Basically, if a manufacturer lists "recommended" or "for best results" on the directions on the box, that's usually the best way to cook it even if it defies common sense. If it doesn't, your oven is the best bet.
News from our labs: Best way to cook frozen pizza | Consumer Reports via The Consumerist
Building a small herb garden is a great way to get started with gardening. Vertical herb gardens don't take up much space, and they are fairly low-maintenance. If you start early enough, you can?start your herb garden from seeds. Don't worry if you get a later start on your vertical herb garden. You can still transplant starter plants, which you can buy at a nursery. I recently saw herb starter plants at my local farmer's market for about $3 per plant. That's more than the cost of seeds, but reasonable for a few plants. Remember that small containers need to be watered often. Since there is so little soil and water inside the containers, the sun can quickly dry out the plants. Be sure to water your small vertical herb garden daily. Ready to get started? Here are three ideas for vertical herb gardens that DIY-ers of any level can make.
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Mini kitchen herb garden with bunting: The lovely Dawn from?Creative Cain Cabin?posted this project, which is an attractive kitchen herb garden in an enameled metal tub. To make an herb garden like hers, thickly plant herbs in a rectangular trough, place the trough on a small plastic container in a large metal tub. That's it! Make sure that your garden gets plenty of sun. Rotate to expose all sides of the plants to equal amounts of sun.
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Shoe bag vertical garden: An over-door shoe rack or magazine holder makes a perfect "frame" for a vertical garden. Fill the pockets with potting soil, and tuck plants into the soil. This is a very space-efficient way to grow a garden, and the idea for using an over-door magazine holder comes from?Two Succulent Sisters via Crafts a la Mode.
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Whether you are?remodeling?your deck and want to create an herb garden on it, or if you are starting a garden on your kitchen windowsill, you can use these three ideas for small herb gardens to maximize your space while growing delicious herbs.
Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's vice president on Tuesday invited rebel groups to help prepare a new constitution, a sign of Khartoum's newly-relaxed stance toward the insurgents since signing border security deals with South Sudan this month.
Relations between Sudan and its southern neighbor have been tumultuous since the two split apart in July 2011 under a peace deal that ended decades of civil war - and both have accused the other of continuing to support rebels in their territories.
After the split, the two fell out over the position of their border, the status of disputed land, the division of national debt and how much the landlocked South should pay to export its oil through Sudan, among other issues.
Tensions compelled South Sudan to shut off its entire 350,000 barrel-a-day oil industry - the lifeblood of both economies - in January last year, and brought the two close to all-out war a few months later.
But Sudan's First Vice President Ali Osman Taha said on Tuesday the two were headed toward warmer ties since agreeing in African Union-brokered talks this month to a timeline for resolving some of their most bitter disputes.
He called on Malik Agar and Abdelaziz al-Hilu, leaders of rebels fighting in the border areas with South Sudan, to help prepare a new constitution, which Sudan had been supposed to draft after the South's secession.
"I invite all political and opposition forces and Malik Agar and Abdelaziz al-Hilu to join in preparing the new constitution," Taha said in a rare press conference in Khartoum.
"There is no way to continue with partial solutions, and Agar and al-Hilu have a right like any other Sudanese citizen to participate in preparing the new constitution."
He said dialogue with the rebels, who are known as the SPLM-North, would aim at completing "popular consultations," a process supposed to define the relationship between people in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile border states and Khartoum.
Popular consultations were provided as part of the 2005 peace deal with the South, but they were halted when fighting broke out in the two states.
The rebels sided with the south during the civil war with Khartoum that led up to South Sudan's independence. But they were left inside Sudan after the partition.
Fighting between the SPLM-North and Sudan's government reignited around the time South Sudan seceded. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in the two states.
The rebels have said they are open to talks with the government but there is a long way to go before achieving peace.
OIL FLOWS SET TO RESUME
After months of tangled African Union-brokered negotiations in Addis Ababa, Sudan and South Sudan agreed this month to a timeline to withdraw troops from the roughly 2,000-km (1,200-mile) border and restart southern oil exports.
The two had agreed to many of these issues in September, but tensions over the war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile prevented them from carrying out the deal.
Taha said both presidents were committed to following the timetable and there would be more communication between the two countries in the future to make sure that happened.
He also expressed confidence southern petroleum would soon flow through Sudan's territory again - something both sides say they have given orders to oil companies to prepare for.
"This time when the pumping resumes we'll strive to use the returns of the oil coming from the South to build up our manufacturing and agricultural resources," Taha said.
Office workers carry biomarker of potentially harmful flame retardant, study findsPublic release date: 25-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa Chedekel chedekel@bu.edu 617-638-7721 Boston University Medical Center
(BOSTON) -- A flame retardant removed from children's pajamas 30 years ago but now used in polyurethane foam is prevalent in office environments, especially in older buildings, where urine testing of workers turned up widespread evidence of its biomarker, a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers has found.
The study, published in the journal Environment International, found that the chemical known as TDCPP -- chlorinated tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate, or 'chlorinated tris' -- was present in 99 percent of dust samples taken from participants' homes, vehicles and offices, "demonstrating the widespread presence of this flame retardant in the indoor environment." The research team recruited 31 adults who worked and lived in the Boston area for the testing.
The study found that the office environment was the strongest predictor of metabolized TDCPP in urine, with significantly lower concentrations of the chemical among workers in a new office building than in older buildings. Similarly, the average concentration of TDCPP in dust was significantly lower in the new office building than in the older office buildings.
Urine samples were collected during the workday, which may explain why an association was found between the quickly metabolized chemical and characteristics of the office, rather than the vehicle or home.
"Overall, our findings suggest that exposure to TDCPP in the work environment is one of the contributors to the personal exposure for office workers. Further research is needed to confirm specific exposure sources (e.g., polyurethane foam), determine the importance of exposure in other microenvironments such as homes and vehicles, and address the inhalation and dermal exposure pathways," the research team concluded.
TDCPP, an additive to polyurethane foam used in upholstered furniture, is found in dust, where it can likely lead to human exposure. Potential health effects remain a concern. In 2011, TDCPP was added to the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known by the State of California to cause cancer.
In vitro studies suggest TDCPP may be neurotoxic, and one study found that increased concentrations in dust were associated with decreased semen quality and reduced free thyroxine in men, suggesting possible effects on fertility and thyroid function. Animal studies show TDCPP is readily absorbed through both the skin and gastrointestinal tract.
The researchers said the high concentrations observed in dust from offices could reflect requirements by the City of Boston that office furniture meet California fire retardant standards, a rule that is not required of residential furniture in Boston. The state of California has proposed a draft furniture flammability standard that could reduce the need for flame retardant chemicals in polyurethane foam. However, the standard used for office furniture has yet to be revised.
"It is currently very difficult to avoid flame retardants. Hopefully, better options will become available in the near future," said Courtney Carignan, a doctoral candidate in environmental health who co-authored the study. "Currently, the best advice we have for people is to wash your hands, especially before eating. Dust control, good ventilation and air purifiers may also be useful for reducing personal exposure."
The low concentrations of TDCPP in the newer office building suggest that its newer furniture did not contain TDCPP, or that it had not yet had sufficient time to migrate out of the products, the researchers said. If the new furniture did not contain TDCPP, it likely contained a different flame retardant such as the controversial FireMaster 550. Other differences between exposures include the possibility of more efficient ventilation or HVAC systems or cleaning methods in the newer building.
The authors urged that "more research is needed to determine factors that influence TDCPP concentrations in dust, in relation to building contents and characteristics."
###
Besides Carignan, researchers on the study included: Michael McClean, Alicia Fraser, Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Thomas Webster and Deborah Watkins from the BU School of Public Health; and Ellen Cooper and Heather Stapleton from the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University.
The research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
The full text of the article is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412013000433
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Office workers carry biomarker of potentially harmful flame retardant, study findsPublic release date: 25-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa Chedekel chedekel@bu.edu 617-638-7721 Boston University Medical Center
(BOSTON) -- A flame retardant removed from children's pajamas 30 years ago but now used in polyurethane foam is prevalent in office environments, especially in older buildings, where urine testing of workers turned up widespread evidence of its biomarker, a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers has found.
The study, published in the journal Environment International, found that the chemical known as TDCPP -- chlorinated tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate, or 'chlorinated tris' -- was present in 99 percent of dust samples taken from participants' homes, vehicles and offices, "demonstrating the widespread presence of this flame retardant in the indoor environment." The research team recruited 31 adults who worked and lived in the Boston area for the testing.
The study found that the office environment was the strongest predictor of metabolized TDCPP in urine, with significantly lower concentrations of the chemical among workers in a new office building than in older buildings. Similarly, the average concentration of TDCPP in dust was significantly lower in the new office building than in the older office buildings.
Urine samples were collected during the workday, which may explain why an association was found between the quickly metabolized chemical and characteristics of the office, rather than the vehicle or home.
"Overall, our findings suggest that exposure to TDCPP in the work environment is one of the contributors to the personal exposure for office workers. Further research is needed to confirm specific exposure sources (e.g., polyurethane foam), determine the importance of exposure in other microenvironments such as homes and vehicles, and address the inhalation and dermal exposure pathways," the research team concluded.
TDCPP, an additive to polyurethane foam used in upholstered furniture, is found in dust, where it can likely lead to human exposure. Potential health effects remain a concern. In 2011, TDCPP was added to the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known by the State of California to cause cancer.
In vitro studies suggest TDCPP may be neurotoxic, and one study found that increased concentrations in dust were associated with decreased semen quality and reduced free thyroxine in men, suggesting possible effects on fertility and thyroid function. Animal studies show TDCPP is readily absorbed through both the skin and gastrointestinal tract.
The researchers said the high concentrations observed in dust from offices could reflect requirements by the City of Boston that office furniture meet California fire retardant standards, a rule that is not required of residential furniture in Boston. The state of California has proposed a draft furniture flammability standard that could reduce the need for flame retardant chemicals in polyurethane foam. However, the standard used for office furniture has yet to be revised.
"It is currently very difficult to avoid flame retardants. Hopefully, better options will become available in the near future," said Courtney Carignan, a doctoral candidate in environmental health who co-authored the study. "Currently, the best advice we have for people is to wash your hands, especially before eating. Dust control, good ventilation and air purifiers may also be useful for reducing personal exposure."
The low concentrations of TDCPP in the newer office building suggest that its newer furniture did not contain TDCPP, or that it had not yet had sufficient time to migrate out of the products, the researchers said. If the new furniture did not contain TDCPP, it likely contained a different flame retardant such as the controversial FireMaster 550. Other differences between exposures include the possibility of more efficient ventilation or HVAC systems or cleaning methods in the newer building.
The authors urged that "more research is needed to determine factors that influence TDCPP concentrations in dust, in relation to building contents and characteristics."
###
Besides Carignan, researchers on the study included: Michael McClean, Alicia Fraser, Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Thomas Webster and Deborah Watkins from the BU School of Public Health; and Ellen Cooper and Heather Stapleton from the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University.
The research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
The full text of the article is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412013000433
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Today we compare two of the most powerful next generation smartphones announced in the mobile market. We have the flagship device of Huawei, the Huawei Ascend D2 going one on one against the flagship device of Samsung, the Samsung Galaxy S4. This is going to be one tough battle of specs, as both these smartphones have an extremely high profile configuration. It will be the minor differences and enhancements that will decide the winner in this battle. Let us compare the specs of these two smartphones.
Huawei Ascend D2
Samsung Galaxy S4
DISPLAY The Huawei Ascend D2 has a 5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display. It has a screen resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels with a pixel density of 441 ppi. The display supports 16M colors and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and pixel density of 441 ppi (pixel per inch). The display will be protected by the all new Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
HARDWARE The Huawei Ascend D2 has the Huawei K3V2 chipset. This smartphone is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor. It has a standard GPU and a 2 GB RAM. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has two quad-core processors. The device is powered by a 1.6 GHz quad-core Cortex A15 processor and a 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex A7 processor. The device has 2 GB of RAM and the powerful PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU takes care of the crisp clear graphics.
OPERATING SYSTEM The Huawei Ascend D2 runs on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. The company might soon announce updates so that this smartphone can be upgraded to the latest Android 4.2 version. The Samsung Galaxy S4 runs on the latest version of Android operating system ? Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The Galaxy S4 also has the latest version of TouchWiz UI as a part of the system.
STORAGE The Huawei Ascend D2 has an in-built storage space of 32 GB. There is not other option available apart from the 32 GB version and also there is no micro SD card support. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has in-built storage space options of 16, 32 and 64 GB. The smartphone has a micro SD card that supports cards of up to 64 GB.
CAMERA The Huawei Ascend D2 has a high quality 13 MP Primary Camera with autofocus and LED flash. This camera supports a resolution of up to 4032 x 224 pixels. Other features include geo-tagging, face detection and HDR. This smartphone also has a 1.3 MP Secondary Camera. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a high quality 13 MP Primary Camera with autofocus and LED flash. This camera allows you to shoot videos at full resolution ? 1080p HD. The Secondary Camera on the Galaxy S4 is a standard 2 MP camera.
BATTERY The Huawei Ascend D2 has a very powerful 3000 mAh Li-Ion battery. It gives a stand by time of up to 144 hours and a talk time of up to 8 to 10 hours. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a very powerful 2600 mAh battery. We do not have the official data about the talk time and stand by time offered by the Galaxy S4 as of now.
DIMENSIONS The dimensions of the Huawei Ascend D2 are 140 x 71 x 9.4 mm whereas the dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy S4 are 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm.
WEIGHT The Huawei Ascend D2 weighs about 170 grams whereas the Samsung Galaxy S4 weighs about 130 grams.
CONCLUSION Let us start with the common part. The Ascend D2 and Galaxy S4 both have a 5-inc display with the same resolution and pixel density, 2 GB of RAM and a 13 MP Primary Camera. But the Galaxy S4 is better than the Ascend D2 in a lot of ways. It as a much better processor no matter which variant you consider, it also has one of the best GPU available for mobiles, it also has a micro SD card support which means you can always have 64 GB of extra space. There is also a significant difference between the weight and dimensions of these two devices, and the Galaxy S4 manages to be slimmer and lighter than the Ascend D2. The Ascend D2 also has its own set of advantages over the Galaxy S4. It has a better battery and has a body that is dustproof and water resistant. Here is a specifications chart of Huawei Ascend D2 and Samsung Galaxy S4:
LONDON (AP) ? Chemical and radiation experts found no hazardous materials in their search of the property where Boris Berezovsky's body was found, as British police on Sunday investigated the unexplained death of the self-exiled Russian tycoon who went from Kremlin kingmaker to fiery critic.
Berezovsky, who fled to Britain in the early 2000s after a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead Saturday at the property in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London. He was 67, and Thames Valley police say his death is being treated as "unexplained."
Police said Sunday that officers specially trained in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials have given the scene the "all clear."
"Officers found nothing of concern in the property and we are now progressing the investigation as normal," a statement from police said, adding that the majority of the cordon put in place around the property has now been lifted.
Berezovsky ? who had survived a number of assassination attempts ? amassed a fortune through oil and automobiles during Russia's chaotic privatization of state assets following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
Once a member of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle, Berezovsky fell out with Yeltsin's successor, Putin, and fled Britain in the early 2000s to escape fraud charges that he said were politically motivated.
He became a strident and frequent critic of Putin, accusing the leader of ushering in a dictatorship, and accused the security services of organizing the 1999 apartment house bombings in Moscow and two other Russian cities that became a pretext for Russian troops to sweep into Chechnya for the second war there in half a decade.
Putin's spokesman acknowledged Sunday that the Russian president considered Berezovsky an enemy with clearly stated intentions to fight.
"We know for certain that he spared no expense in support of processes, within Russia and beyond, that could be said to have been directed against Russia and Putin," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the independent cable television channel Rain. "He definitely was Putin's opponent, and unfortunately not only his political opponent, but most likely in other dimensions as well."
In recent years, Berezovsky fended off legal attacks that often bore political undertones ? and others that bit into his fortune.
Russia repeatedly sought to extradite on Berezovksy on a wide variety of criminal charges, and the tycoon vehemently rejected allegations over the years that he was linked to several deaths, including that of slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya and ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Berezovsky won a libel case in 2010 against a Kremlin-owned broadcaster that aired a show in which it was suggested he was behind the poisoning of Litvinenko, who had fled Russia with Berezovsky's help after accusing officials there of plotting to assassinate political opponents.
He took a hit with his divorce from Galina Besharova in 2010, paying what was at the time Britain's largest divorce settlement. The figure beat a previous record of 48 million pounds ($73.1 million) and was estimated as high as 100 million pounds, though the exact figure was never confirmed.
Last year, Berezovsky lost a multibillion-pound High Court case against fellow Russian Roman Abramovich and was ordered to pay 35 million pounds ($53.3 million) in legal costs.
Berezovsky had claimed that Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, cheated him out of his stakes in the oil group Sibneft, arguing that he blackmailed him into selling the stakes vastly beneath their true worth after he lost Putin's good graces.
But a judge threw out the case in August, ruling that Berezovsky was a dishonest and unreliable witness, and rejected Berezovsky's claims that he was threatened by Putin and Alexander Voloshin, a Putin ally, to coerce him to sell his Sibneft stake.
It also recently emerged that Berezovsky ran up legal bills totaling more than 250,000 pounds in just two months of a case against his former partner, Elena Gorbunova, with whom he had two children and who claimed the businessman owed her millions.
Earlier this week, The Times of London newspaper reported that Berezovsky was selling property ? including an Andy Warhol portrait of the former Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin ? to settle his debts and pay expenses owed to lawyers.
News of Berezovsky's death has prompted conspiracy theories along with speculation as to his state of mind, given his recent financial setbacks.
Ilya Zhegulev, a journalist with the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, said he spoke with Berezovsky the day before he died and discussed the tycoon's decision to flee Russia in 2000.
The journalist quoted Berezovsky as saying that during his years in London he had lost the meaning of life.
"I no longer want to be involved in politics," Zhegulev quoted Berezovsky as saying in a story published Saturday on the Forbes.ru website.
He said Berezovsky told him that he wanted nothing more than to return to Russia. The former oligarch said he had changed his views on Russia, saying he now understood that it should not look to Europe as a model.
"I had absolutely, idealistically imagined that it was possible to build a democratic Russia. And idealistically imagined what democracy was in the center of Europe. I underestimated the inertia of Russia and greatly overestimated the West. This took place gradually. I changed my understanding of Russia's path," he quoted Berezovsky as having said.
___
AP writer Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report. Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd
Cooking up a frozen pizza is often a bit of a crapshoot. Sometimes you want the convenience of the microwave, but don't want to sacrifice the taste you get when you cook it in the oven. As it turns out, Consumer Reports suggests that if a frozen pizza has a "recommended method" that's the best way to cook it, even if that means the microwave. 
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Public release date: 25-Mar-2013
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