THE GUARDIAN– Oil from a ruptured ExxonMobil pipeline on the famed Yellowstone spread at least 15 miles beyond the initial leak – further than the oil company’s original estimates.

Clean-up crews have yet to reach the break in the 12-inch pipeline because of historic flooding on the river, which is projected to peak on Tuesday.

Montana’s governor, Brian Schweitzer, who was due to visit areas near the spill site on Tuesday, has called for a safety inspection of all pipelines crossing the state and a review of the company’s emergency response plans.

In its latest update, ExxonMobil said it was expanding its clean-up effort, deploying 280 people to help contain the damage. It was also conducting aerial searches for oil as far as 140 miles downstream.

But the firm said on its website that flooding, and swift river currents, meant it was still unsafe to send crews out in boats or to walk the banks in search of oil. It’s not clear whether the break was caused by heavy rains and extreme flooding.

“The river is well over its banks, very turbulent,” Gary Pruessing, head of ExxonMobil’s pipeline company, told a news conference on Monday. “I’ve never seen the river like this in my life.”

Read the full article about Yellowstone River Oil Spill Spreads.

© 2011 The Guardian

Photo by Flickr user usnationalarchives

HAARETZ– The Greek government issued a statement on Friday, saying that the departure of ships with Greek and foreign flags from Greek ports to the maritime area of Gaza has been prohibited. The statement explained that this is in a bid to prevent a breach of Israel’s naval blockade.

The Greek government stressed that local Hellenic Coast Guard Authorities must take all appropriate measures to implement the decision. It also warned that the broader maritime area of the eastern Mediterranean Sea will be continuously monitored by electronic means for tracking the movement of ships trying to participate in the flotilla.

Naval authorities have already implemented the order, blocking both an American and Canadian ship planning to participate in the pro-Palestinian Gaza flotilla set to take place next week.

However, in light of Greece’s decision to block all ships heading to the strip, the flotilla has been delayed further.

American activists attempted to set sail from Greece toward Gaza on Friday aboard a boat dubbed “The Audacity of Hope”, defying calls from Israel to cancel and the ban by Athens.

Read full article about  Greece Blocks Departure of all Gaza-bound Ships.

© 2011 Haaretz

Photo by Flickr user Poster Boy NYC

(Video below)

  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC– Officials from Brazil’s Indian affairs agency, FUNAI, say they have confirmed the existence of a previously unknown indigenous group in the rugged folds of the western Amazon. The tribe, believed to number as many as 200 people, was initially discovered through the examination of satellite images of rain forest clearings and confirmed by aerial reconnaissance flights earlier this year.

The overflights revealed three separate clearings and four large communal dwellings, known as malocas, clustered in the dense jungles of the Javari Valley Indigenous Reserve in far western Brazil. Specialists in matters pertaining to isolated Indians estimate the population of uncontacted tribes by examining the size and number of dwellings, as well as any gardens the inhabitants might have under cultivation. The recently discovered tribe is reported to have planted tracts of corn, banana, and low-to-the-ground bushes that might be peanuts or cassava.

Into the Jungle

The Javari — a sprawling rain forest reserve half the size of Florida — is home to the largest concentration of uncontacted tribes in the entire world. There are at least eight uncontacted indigenous communities, and perhaps as many as fourteen, inhabiting the upland forests in the headwaters of the rivers that drain the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land. It’s an area with which I have more than a passing familiarity. In 2002, I accompanied a team from FUNAI’s elite unit, the Department of Isolated Indians, on a three-month expedition through the reserve’s primeval forest to track a mysterious indigenous tribe known as the flecheiros — the Arrow People.

Read full article about Uncontacted Tribe Discovered in Brazilian Amazon.

© 2011 National Geographic

New footage of one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes living in the Brazilian rainforest.

Jose Carlos Meirelles works for FUNAI, a government agency that protects Brazil’s indigenous people. Because of the threat posed by illegal logging and mining, he believes that the fight to protect these people depends on proving and publicising their existence. This aerial footage was shot from 1km away using a stabilised zoom lens.

Brazil is thought to be home to around 70 isolated tribes.

© 2011 BBC

Photo by Flickr user The Journey 1972

CBS– Unemployment improved a bit last month but it is still nearly nine percent and the trouble is job creation is so slow, it will be years before we get back the seven and a half million jobs lost in the Great Recession. American families have been falling out of the middle class in record numbers. The combination of lost jobs and millions of foreclosures means a lot of folks are homeless and hungry for the first time in their lives.

One of the consequences of the recession that you don’t hear a lot about is the record number of children descending into poverty.

The government considers a family of four to be impoverished if they take in less than $22,000 a year. Based on that standard, and government projections of unemployment, it is estimated the poverty rate for kids in this country will soon hit 25 percent. Those children would be the largest American generation to be raised in hard times since the Great Depression.

Read full article about Child Poverty in US Nears 25%

© 2011 CBS

Photo by Flickr user Boasorte Careca

ALMASRYALYOUM– The government has declined a loan from the World Bank because it found the terms of the loan incompatible with the national interest, Egyptian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga said on Monday.

The minister added that the government would not accept conditions dictated by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, especially since the 18-day uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

However, Abul Naga said the Saudi government has granted Egypt a loan of US$200 million to be directed to small and medium enterprises.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal said Egypt was wary of the United States’ recent offer of financial support, doubting possible ulterior motives behind it.

Read more about Egypt Declines World Bank Loan.

© 2011 ALMASRYALYOUM

Photo by Flickr user Acameronhuff