BP Prudhoe Bay Closure: Part Of Alaska Oil Field Closed

BP workers, in the background, remove insulation from an oil transit pipeline at the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope Aug. 18, 2006 as other workers use ultrasound to test for weakness in the pipe due to corrosion. BP PLC on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, said internal "F" ratings of pipeline sections it operates in Alaska's North Slope are signs the company's corrosion monitoring program is working and not an indicator of failure. BP spokesman Steve Rinehart was responding to a report by

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- BP PLC has closed a small portion of the Prudhoe Bay oil field following a judge's ruling that federal regulators didn't get approval from the land owners.
Friday's shutdown of the Raven unit affects less than 1 percent of production from the nation's largest oil field, but it represents a victory for the Inupiat Eskimo family that has battled BP and the Bureau of Indian Affairs over use of the land.
In November, federal claims court Judge Nancy Firestone said the Oenga family is owed millions in unpaid rent because the BIA improperly allowed BP to tap three offshore oil deposits from the family's allotment.
In her 168-page ruling, Firestone said the BIA approved BP's expanded use of the allotment without the family's consent and violated the family's contract with the oil company, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The federal agency told BP a week ago to shut down production from the Raven unit, which produced about 25,000 barrels of oil in November. The unit is the only one of three disputed offshore deposits that BP was still accessing from the allotment, the newspaper reported. BP is still tapping the Niakuk field.
BP Alaska spokesman Steve Rinehart told the Daily News on Tuesday that the company is evaluating a potential appeal. He noted that the closed unit represented only a fraction of Prudhoe's output.
Oenga family member Tony Delia said last week that the family is willing to renegotiate the lease.

Afghanistan Marine Surge: U.S. Sending 1,400 More Troops To War

Sgt. Freddia Cavasos, of Visalia, California, with India company, 3rd Battalion 5th Marines, First Marine Division , returns fire during a patrol, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010 in Sangin, Afghanistan. (AP

The United States plans to send 1,400 additional Marines to Afghanistan to boost its combat forces ahead of the spring fighting season, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The United States, which led a 2001 invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban, has about 100,000 troops in the country, and President Barack Obama is under pressure to show results so he can begin a promised withdrawal this year.
"The Marine battalion could start arriving on the ground as early as mid-January. The forces would mostly be deployed in the south, around Kandahar, where the U.S. has concentrated troops over the past several months." the paper said. It cited unnamed officials.
The Taliban are at their strongest since they were ousted form power, although operations against the insurgency have intensified since 2008. More than 700 foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan last year, and civilian casualties were at record levels.

Diet, exercise help heart patients

A new study has found that an intervention delivered in a primary care setting aimed at getting patients at risk for heart disease to increase their physical activity and improve their diet improves quality of life and is highly cost-effective compared with standard care.

"Extensive and intensive lifestyle intervention programs delay the onset of diabetes mellitus and reduce cardiovascular risk by increasing physical activity, reducing overweight and making changes in dietary habits," the authors said.

Researchers assessed the effect on quality of life and the cost-effectiveness of a three-year lifestyle intervention program among 151 men and women at moderate to high risk of cardiovascular disease visiting a primary care center in northern Sweden.

After six patients withdrew, 71 were randomly assigned to the intervention, which included progressive exercise training three times a week, diet counseling and regular group meetings. After an initial three-month intervention period, participants were invited to attend group meetings at regular intervals and encouraged to maintain at least 30 minutes per day of physical activity. The control group (74 individuals) was given verbal and written information about exercise and diet at one group meeting.

Differences between the two groups, intervention group and control group, over the three-year period were observed on most of the quality-of-life measurements taken.

The average number of visits to the family physician decreased by 0.28 per six months among individuals in the intervention group, whereas individuals in the control group made an average of 0.10 more visits per six months. This resulted in a savings of 384 dollars for health care use and a net savings of 47 dollars per intervention participant.

"These results should be viewed in the context of the favorable impact on physical activity, fitness, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure and smoking cessation over the three-year period," says the research.

Hence, the study concludes that high-intensity and long-lasting interventions can produce sustainable improvements in quality of life and can obviously be cost-effective.

The report appears in the September 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine , one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Sreesanth fined for showing dissent of umpires’ decision

Cape Town: Indian pacer S Sreesanth was on Wednesday fined 10 per cent of his match fee for breaching ICC Code of Conduct by kicking boundary ropes after his two LBW appeals were turned down by umpires during the fourth day’s play in the third Test against South Africa here.

Sreesanth pleaded guilty to contravening Level 1 offence (Section 2.1.2) of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Team Officials which relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings”.

As Sreesanth accepted the decision without contest, there was no need for a hearing, an ICC statement said.

The incident took place when the India fast bowler kicked the boundary rope after his two LBW appeals were turned down in the previous over.
All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee.

The charge was brought by Ian Gould and Simon Taufel of the Emirates Elite panel of ICC Umpires, third umpire Brian Jerling and fourth umpire Shaun George.

We have enough overs to bowl India out: Boucher

Cape Town: South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on Wednesday said that his side have handled the pressure very well to come out on top and they have enough overs to bowl India out to win the series-deciding third Test here. “Feels so good when you handle the pressure and come out on top. At lunch if you’d said we’d get to 340 at the end of the day we’d have taken it. We’ve done it in the past too,” Boucher said. “We’re comfortable that there are enough overs to bowl them out and win the game. Over the moon. This is the reason why we play this game. The mood in the camp is very good at the moment and we want to get at the Indian batting line-up,” he said at the press conference after the fourth day’s play. Injured batsman Jacques Kallis (109 not out) was mainly responsible for setting a daunting target of 340 to win for India and Boucher said his colleague had to be given injections to bat in the second innings. “I don’t think anyone understands the pain he’s in at the moment. The doctor told me that this is like someone breaking your rib. A lot is said about different cricketers around the world. In my opinion, we have one of the greatest cricketers of all time living in our own country and it would be nice if people realised it. I know he had about 4-5 injections,” said Boucher. “I don’t think there’s anyone that loves to play under pressure. Some people handle it better. I know Jacques’ game inside out and he knows mine and we helped each other,” he said. On the condition of the Newlands wicket, Boucher said, “We saw at the end of the day’s play that after the heat wave and the wind the wicket is drying out a bit. Our bowlers have to run in and hit the deck hard.” “We have two guys who bowl at 145k and that could be nasty on a wicket that is up and down. In Durban they showed a lot of aggression, body language, now it’s our turn to dish it out and see how they (Indians) handle it.”

Kallis surpasses Ricky Ponting in century-makers list

Cape Town: South Africa’s Jacques Kallis on Wednesday scored his 40th Test hundred to surpass Australia’s Ricky Ponting in the list of batsmen with most centuries in the longer format of the game.

Kallis is now second only to Sachin Tendulkar, who is leading the chart with an incredible figure of 51 hundreds.

Kallis defied pain in a rare exhibition of determination to go past Ponting, with whom he was tied on 39 hundreds after scoring 161 in the first innings of third Test match against India here.

Kallis took a single off Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh in the 94th over of the South African second innings to get to the three-figure mark.
Kallis also became only the sixth South African to score centuries in both the innings of a Test match and first to do so at home. He has now achieved the feat twice as he had earlier scored 155 and 100 not out in Karachi in 2007.

It was Kallis’ eight century at Newlands ground.

Court upholds CBI plea in Bofors case

New Delhi: Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav on Thursday upheld the CBI plea that the tax notice served on Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi was not linked with the criminal aspect of the Bofors kickbacks scam.

The magistrate dismissed an application asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the central government to state whether there was any change in their stand seeking closure of criminal cases against Quattrocchi, one of the alleged recipients of bribes from Sweden's Bofors company.

The ruling came three days after the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ruled sensationally that Quattrocchi and his Indian partner Win Chadha did take commissions of over Rs 412 million in the 1986 Bofors gun deal.

The court said it was satisfied with the CBI stand that the IT order dealt with a tax issue and not the criminal aspect of the case.

On Tuesday, the CBI counsel was asked if they had got any fresh directive from the government in the light of the tribunal order.

The CBI had in 1999 charged former defence secretary SK Bhatnagar, Quattrocchi, Chadha, former Bofors chief Martin Ardbo and the company in the kickbacks case that played a key role in the defeat of the Congress party in the 1989 Lok Sabha election.

Bhatnagar, Ardbo and Chadha are dead. Quattrocchi - who has never appeared before any court in India - is the only surviving accused.

The CBI has failed on two occasions to get Quattrocchi extradited -- first from Malaysia in 2003 and then from Argentina in 2007. It then said there was no real purpose in going ahead with the case.

Massive oil spill could happen again: Panel

Washington: Decisions intended to save time and money created an unreasonable amount of risk that triggered the largest offshore oil spill in US history, a disaster that could happen again without significant reforms by industry and government, the presidential panel investigating the BP blowout concluded Wednesday.

The commission findings — the result of a probe requested by President Barack Obama after the April 20 rig explosion — described systemic problems within the offshore energy industry and government regulators who oversee it.

Poor decisions led to technical problems that the commission, and inquires by BP and Congress, have identified as contributing to the accident that killed 11 people and led to more than 200 million gallons of oil spewing from BP's well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico.

BP, Halliburton and Transocean, the three key companies involved with the well and the rig that exploded, each made individual decisions that increased risks of a blowout but saved significant time or money.

But ultimately, the Deepwater Horizon disaster came down to a single failure, the panel says — management. When decisions were made, no one was considering the risk they were taking.

In one example cited by the commission, a BP request to set an "unusually deep cement plug" was approved by the then-Minerals Management Service in 90 minutes. That decision is one of the nine technical and engineering calls the commission says increased the risk of a blowout.

"The blowout was not the product of a series of abberational decisions made by a rogue industry or government officials that could not have been anticipated or expected to occur again. Rather, the root causes are systemic, and absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur," the commission concluded in a 48-page excerpt of its final report, obtained by The Associated Press. A final report is due to the president Jan. 11.

Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the report focused on areas in which the agency in charge of offshore drilling has already made improvements.

"The agency has taken unprecedented steps and will continue to make the changes necessary to restore the American people's confidence in the safety and environmental soundness of oil and gas drilling and production on the Outer Continental Shelf, while balancing our nation's important energy needs," Barkoff said in a statement.

BP PLC in a statement issued Wednesday said the report, like its own investigation, found the accident was the result of multiple causes, involving multiple companies, but the company was working with regulators "to ensure the lessons learned from Macondo lead to improvements in operations and contractor services in deepwater drilling."

Transocean Ltd., which owned the rig being leased by BP to perform the drilling, said in response to the commission's findings that the "the procedures being conducted in the final hours were crafted and directed by BP engineers and approved in advance by federal regulators."

Halliburton Co., the cement contractor on the well, also said it acted at the direction of BP and was "fully indemnified by BP."

The panel underscores its central conclusion with a quote from an e-mail written by BP engineer Brett Cocales on April 16, just days before the disaster. The e-mail was first unearthed in an investigation conducted by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who at the time led the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Challenges of Nitish Victory

For Nitish Kumar there will be a little chance of adjustment at the cost of hegemonic classes as any such effort will spoil the whole game of his success formula.

Ajeet Kumar After the poll outcome in Bihar there is a huge hue & cry hovering over the political arena of the state. The entire uproar is that the era of sectoral politics is on the verge of dying. Claims are also that Bihar has completely come out from its antecedent of casteist politics and is riding on the wave of post-modern neo liberal political aesthetics devoid of so called grand narratives like, social equality, pluralism & secularism. But in that hovering context, two basic points need to be debated. First point is directly related to sectoral politics and the other one is concerned with neo liberal politics. Has Bihar really emerged out from the long lasting dominancy of castiest politics? The poll outcome statistics clearly go against the prevalent euphoria. Rashtriya Janta Dal and its alliance are still intact with their base, rejoicing a solid support of nearly 26 per cent voters. The NDA has also been able to garner 39 per cent votes against last tally of around 37 per cent. But the seats’ outcome is not in tandem with vote statistics. It appears that the entire game is all about etymology rather than that of epistemology. It tells a different story of seat disparity which neither goes in favour of any national or regional parties except NDA. The real difference in seats goes only in favour of tactical and bipartisan voting. In last assembly election, certain segment of electorates had shifted from Left, Congress and other camps. But this election battle saw only two camps - ruling and RJD alliance- negating minimum room for Congress and Left parties. Others, however, got a significant share of around 27 percent votes. It is also very clear they jolted RJD & alliance candidates in maximum number of seats. On the other hand, others who were contesting elections as a rebel of ruling alliance totally failed to lure electorate. Furthermore, Congress’ total vote share of around 8 per cent is not a show in uniform pattern, but mainly the gain of few of the powerful candidates which have strongholds over their constituencies. These candidates bagged a certain number of votes due to their own appeal rather than riding on the support of party or party’s charismatic figures like Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. However, the severest blow was suffered by the Left which got only one seat in Bachhwara (Begusarai). Areas like Arrah, Jahanabad, Siwan, Begusarai, and Balia which were considered as bastion of Red threw up pathetic results for them. Rejection of Left parties-- mainly CPI ML-- has sent a clear message that its’ cadres mainly comes from newly coined Mahadalit have shifted their loyalty towards NDA. Those who know Bihar politics keenly should recall that in post Mandal politics, ML had emerged as a most emphatic voice of subaltern and marginal classes which were victims of both forward and neo emerged Backward caste (Sanskritized) feudocracy. Moreover, shifting of class oriented ML cadres towards NDA has tightened the ghetto of caste rhetoric in a new shape of Mahadalit rather than loosening its bond. This is really the writing on the wall and simply narrates that the sectoral politics has gripped and rather over/tightened its rope albeit in its new avatar of social engineering. Alienation of Left cadres towards Janata Dal United appears somewhat reasonable but shifting of ML cadres towards rightist BJP is most challenging message for Left politics. More or less it is a victory of Fukuyama‘s and Keynes neo liberal politics over ideology or history based politics. Nitish’s social management can also be treated as the extension of Lalu’s politics of social engineering. His administration has the similar amalgamation of neo liberal aesthetics of political economy. But the most pathetic aspect of this new engineering is that it is the nexus of all rightist and pro rightist elements. This might affect the plight of marginal classes in the name of development. Those who don’t see any wider difference in outcome of both the caste management should appreciate certain things here. Coupling both Dalit and Backward class’ identity, Lalu had broken the long lasting dominancy of ‘Forward class’ and had produced a shift in power paradigm. But a new form of Nitish engineering will only strengthen the pro feudal and neo sankritized forces as in the new camp, the forward as well as Backward, Dalit and Mahadalit are gathered only for their protection and revival of identity politics. Here it should be cleared that neo Backward, Dalit & Mahadalit forces have same sociological pattern of Brahmanical identity like its predecessors. Simply, we can say that Nitish camp will remain safe for the protection and preservation of dominant identity politics which is feudal in nature. Currently, development is lucriating everyone but no development pattern has its own remedy and moves on his merit but its political economy has been always controlled and guided by Hegemonic forces. Those who are only voicing the euphoria of development and are saying that Nitish has got the mandate for development should well know about the fact that Forward Class has been opposing pro-Lohia forces since its inception in power in 1989, when Bihar had moved on the way of social transition. Backward class’ emergence had however incepted in 69-70s in the leadership of Karpoori Thakur but this could not move ahead due to lack of Dalit support. Also it was not the reflection of mass emergence but was only the appearance in line with shifting of power in Centre. In 1977, Karpoori and his team again gained power and indicted Backward class reservation in Bihar. But it was mostly the pan India (mainly northern India) revolt against Congress and Indira Gandhi’s autocracy and totalitarianism. In late 80s and 90s, development was not in the agenda of Forward class opposition. The main agenda was of retaining supremacy that was severely ruined by the pro Mandal and Dalit forces. Coincidently at this juncture all the three Jayprakash and Lohia’s followers Lalu, Paswan and Nitish were in same camp. Also it should be reminded that Bihar was derailed from the path of development not just after Mandal politics, this had started in late 70s. Though it didn’t become an agenda in next 10-15 years, it came into the limelight after Lalu’s arrival. For the last 14 years, Forward classes have been opposing Lalu but were not successful in dethroning him. Nitish too remained sidelined by electorates despite of trying his best. He became successful only after the hara-kiri of Lalu himself. In lack of development oriented visionary politics, his magic of social change got trapped in the mess of ‘jungle raj’ mainly coined by elite and pro feudal media. Excessive identity of a particular caste added to Lalu’s debacle. Due to excessive hegemony of Yadavs, he got more or less isolated in society. Heavy socio-political transformation of this caste during Lalu’s regime has also spread opportunistic politics in his men which later converted into infighting. For Lalu it was not practically possible to satisfy each and every section of society. And the last nail came from the separating of Mahadalit from Dalit. The pro feudal English media which is now projecting Nitish as a development icon under a deep conspiracy of exploitative tags of hegemonic agenda of Antonio Gramsci’s a prison notebook should also be questioned. This is the same Brahman class which has been in power for its language superiority and always remains successful in setting agenda in the name of absurdity vs. cultured. They are always opposing the Backward and Dalit forces mainly indulged in setting aesthetics not in line with their exploitative pattern. In the name of development, same forces are now exploiting their hidden agenda. Lalu never tried to adjust in the elite domain but developed an aesthetics of his own compulsion fit for marginal voices though the hegemonic English media playing in the hand of pro feudal forces always tried to reject his charisma by coining him a ‘Joker’ and his tenure as ‘Jungle Raj’. The most significant contribution of Lalu in post emergency period to the Indian politics is his own political aesthetics. In independent India he was the only politician who challenged the Centre in his own marginal voice devoid of hegemonic norms and parameters well aware of the conspiracy and risks of Sankritization. So any development agenda will have a demand of certain political economy that will ensure its pattern to be remain more nearer to equality and plurality .But the current get- together of pro development forces in the leadership of Nitish will only protect the interest of hegemonic class devoid of margin voices. For Nitish Kumar there will be a little chance of adjustment at the cost of hegemonic classes as any such effort will spoil the whole game of his success formula.

LIVE: Gambhir, Dravid pass testing first session

Chayan Rastogi/Zeecric Bureau Cape Town: Indian batsmen battled the testing morning session, facing South African speed merchants with caution, as India went for lunch at 53 runs for the loss of Virender Sehwag on fifth and final day of the last Test of the 3-match series here at Newlands. Indian batsmen adjusted well to variable bounce and movement on weary fifth day pitch, with Gautam Gambhir dropping the anchor from one front and Rahul Dravid proving an able ally on another to guide India without much worries in a session which saw India batting to set their eyes for a draw rather than victory. After Indian openers saw off first hour of play without any damage, Morne Morkel struck for South Africa as he nailed Indian big fish Virender Sehwag to send some early concerns in Indian camp. Sehwag, who was being considered as the key-man for Indian chase, didn’t looked comfortable since start and was looking tentative against quality bowling attack of Dale Steyn and Morkel. Sehwag (11) scored two boundaries in his limited stay at the crease but edged a good-length ball to wicket-keeper Mark Boucher’s gloves as on-field umpire Ian Gould checked third umpire for no-ball. India face a daunting task on fifth and final day of the third Test here as South Africa riding on Jacques Kallis heroics on Wednesday set 340 run target to chase in the fourth innings on last day of the match. Earlier on fourth day of the match, Jacques Kallis told the world why he was the reigning king at Cape Town with his 40th Test century. Standing tall as the only survivor of the day (109*), his effort took the South African total to 341 runs all out at stumps on Day 4 of the final Test of the three match rubber.