TORONTO

Foreign minister asks for end to ‘limbo’ on pipeline

Canada’s foreign minister said Thursday it’s time for the Obama administration to make a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline even if the answer is no.

“The time for a decision on Keystone is now, even if it’s not the right one,” John Baird said during a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. “We can’t continue in this state of limbo.”

TransCanada’s pipeline would carry 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta and the U.S. Bakken across six U.S. states to refineries in the Texas Gulf Coast.

Concerns have been raised about the increasing use of rail to transport oil throughout North America. Several recent derailments have worried both officials and residents close to rail lines.

CAIRO

Gen. El-Sissi likely planning a run for Egypt’s presidency

Having secured victory in a referendum on a relatively liberal constitution that he championed, Egypt’s military chief is turning his attention to the country’s overwhelming array of domestic problems, insiders said Thursday. The revelations offer the latest indication that Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is planning a run for president.

He was widely seen as an obscure and acquiescent subordinate a year and a half ago when then-President Mohammed Morsi promoted him to defense minister in what has emerged as a colossal political miscalculation.

In swift succession, el-Sissi threw Morsi in jail along with hundreds of his Islamist cohorts, his Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist group with membership in it banned, and a carefully orchestrated personality cult appears to have been successfully engineered for the general.

UNITED NATIONS

Report: Act now to limit impacts of climate change

U.N. experts are warning that the level of global warming gases is rising rapidly, and delaying action will reduce options for dealing with the worst impacts of climate change. The findings were in the final draft of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

– From news service reports