Six In The Morning Monday March 24

What Happens if the Keystone XL Pipeline Isn't Built?

BY LISA RIORDAN SEVILLE

After five years, it appears the Obama administration will soon issue a decision on whether to build the long-delayed and controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would cross an environmentally sensitive area of the Great Plains and move nearly a million gallons of oil a day to Gulf Coast refineries.

Backers of the project say it would stimulate the U.S. economy and enhance energy security, stressing that a new pipeline is the cheapest, safest way to transport dirty tar-sands crude from Canada’s booming oil fields to U.S. refineries.

Environmentalists, who earlier this month chained themselves to the White House fence in protest, counter that it would endanger the water supply in several states and exacerbate climate change. They want to stop or slow the exploitation of an energy source the Sierra Club calls “the most toxic fossil fuel on the planet.”

Australian companies accused of jeopardising conservation in Indonesia

WA mining firm to fast-track development of ‘high-potential’ holding bordering on Sumatra’s crucial Leuser ecosystem

Oliver Milman

Monday 24 March 201407.57 GMT

A trio of Australian companies have been accused of making decisions that could hamper attempts to protect Indonesian rainforests where threatened species, including elephants, tigers and orangutans, live.

Western Australia-based mining firm Prosperity Resources has been granted a 41,000-hectare area to explore for gold and copper on the edge of the prized Leuser ecosystem in Sumatra.

Conservation groups are fighting an increasingly bitter battle against a plan to strip protection from a vast area of the 2.2m hectare Leuser ecosystem, which is the last place on Earth where tigers, elephants, tigers and orangutans are found within the one area.

World Cup 2014: Fifa to help improve workers' rights in Qatar

Conditions in Qatar have been described as “modern slavery”.

JACK PITTS

 

 

Monday 24 March 2014

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is meeting with Fifa today to consider a recent report on workers conditions in Qatar.

The report, The Case Against Qatar, has revealed that at the current rate 4000 workers will die before a ball has been kicked at the 2022 World Cup.

At least 1200 Indian and Nepalese workers have already died since the £138 billion project began, compared to 60 during the entire construction of Sochi.

According to the report other problems include: “salty water being provided to workers in camps for cooking and washing; employers demanding deposits of US$275 are paid by workers before they are allowed to leave for holidays; over 2500 Indonesian maids a year fleeing from abusive sponsors; and workers in squalid accommodation at the Al Wakrah Stadium.”

Napoleon’s nightshirt withdrawn from auction

Descendants of emperor’s servant obtain injunction preventing sale of souvenirs

Kim Willsher

As Napoleon lay dying on St Helena cursing the British who had sent him into exile on the remote volcanic island, his loyal stable master was never far from the bedside.

Achille Thomas Archambault would later hold the emperor’s head while his death mask was made. He attended the autopsy, where witnesses would report that he was the only one of Napoleon’s entourage to appear upset.

Yesterday, souvenirs that Archambault brought back to France – including the sweat-stained nightshirt worn by the ailing Napoleon just before he fell into a coma, as well as bandages, a small walking stick and a lock of the emperor’s hair – were due to go under the hammer on the outskirts of Paris.

24 March 2014 Last updated at 09:07

Egypt court sentences 529 Morsi supporters to death

A court in Egypt has sentenced to death 529 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

They were convicted of charges including murdering a policeman and attacks on people and property.

The group, members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, are part of a larger trial of more than 1,200 Morsi supporters.

Authorities have cracked down harshly on Islamists since Mr Morsi was removed by the military in July. Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested.

The Muslim Brotherhood's general guide Mohammed Badie was among those convicted.

The group is expected to appeal.

Japan to turn over nuclear material to US

 By JULIE PACE and MARI YAMAGUCHI

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Japan plans to turn over to the United States more than 700 pounds of weapons grade plutonium and a supply of highly-enriched uranium, a victory for President Barack Obama's efforts to secure nuclear materials around the world.

American and Japanese officials confirmed the plan Monday, ahead of a formal announcement at a Nuclear Security Summit set to get underway in the Netherlands.

A Japanese foreign ministry official said the two countries had been discussing the transfer for some time as part of efforts to resolve concerns over Japan's large stockpile of spent nuclear fuel and plutonium. The U.S. and Japan also are discussing ways to reduce the quantity and toxicity of the radioactive material, the official said.