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President class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Barack Obama said on Saturday that he will outline a climate change plan on Tuesday centered around reducing pollution from carbon emissions as he attempts to make good on a pledge for his second term. "This Tuesday, I'll lay out my vision for where I believe we need to go - a national plan to reduce carbon pollution, prepare our country for the impacts of climate change and lead global efforts to fight it," he said in a White House class="mandelbrot_refrag"> video .   Obama made tackling climate change a top priority in his inaugural address in January when he began his second term. His speech will be at Georgetown University, the day before he goes on a three-nation tour of Africa. In his class="mandelbrot_refrag"> video message, Obama outlined what would be a major national effort to address climate change. He said scientists will be needed to design new fuels, farmers to grow them, e

Some residents began returning to damaged homes on Saturday after record-breaking floods in southern Alberta that killed at least three people, displaced more than 100,000 and will leave the core of Canada's oil capital, Calgary, without power for days. Communities to the south and east of Calgary were on high alert as flood waters washed across the region. And even as Calgary lifted some evacuation orders, officials warned people not to become complacent.   "We have a situation across southern and particularly south-west Alberta of intense saturation, which means 20 millimeters (0.8 inch) of rain that would typically be absorbed could cause massive flooding and run-off," Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths told a news conference. "Please do not assume because the clouds have cleared and the streets are not flooded with water it is perfectly safe to move back into your community." The floods followed 36 hours of unusually heavy rainfall which

President class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Barack Obama said on Saturday that he will outline a climate change plan on Tuesday centered around reducing pollution from carbon emissions as he attempts to make good on a pledge for his second term. "This Tuesday, I'll lay out my vision for where I believe we need to go - a national plan to reduce carbon pollution, prepare our country for the impacts of climate change and lead global efforts to fight it," he said in a White House class="mandelbrot_refrag"> video .   Obama made tackling climate change a top priority in his inaugural address in January when he began his second term. His speech will be at Georgetown University, the day before he goes on a three-nation tour of Africa. In his class="mandelbrot_refrag"> video message, Obama outlined what would be a major national effort to address climate change. He said scientists will be needed to design new fuels, farmers to grow them, e

Malaysia declared a state of emergency in two parts of the southern state of Johor on Sunday, as smoke from land-clearing fires in Indonesia pushed air pollution above the level considered hazardous. _0"> The illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia's Sumatra island, to the west of peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, to clear space for palm oil plantations is a chronic problem during the June-September dry season. The "haze" caused by fires in Riau province on Sumatra has also shrouded neighboring Singapore but air quality in the city state improved over the weekend after reaching hazardous levels. "Prime Minister Najib Razak has agreed to declare emergency status in Muar and Ledang with immediate effect," Malaysian Natural Resources and Environment Minister G. Palanivel said in a Facebook post. Palanivel said the air pollution index in the two districts had exceeded 750. A reading above 300 indicates that air pollution is hazardous.

Before President Barack Obama unveils a plan to lower carbon emissions from thousands of existing U.S. power plants, stakeholders on all sides of the issue have attempted to make their mark on the regulations. Electric utilities, environmental groups, large electricity consumers, and states have been working furiously behind the scenes for months to have a say in new rules that will be laid out by the Environmental Protection Agency.   Obama, in a video released by the White House on Saturday, confirmed that he will deliver a major speech on climate change on Tuesday. "I'll lay out my vision for where I believe we need to go - a national plan to reduce carbon pollution," Obama said. Administration officials have said the White House will use the Clean Air Act to tackle power plants, which account for nearly 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. This comes as no surprise to the companies and states that will have to either comply with or carry out the regulations.

The remains of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of sci-fi fantasy television series "Star Trek," will head for the final frontier next year. Scotty will be going along with him. _0"> Rodenberry's cremated remains, along with those of his wife, Majel, and actor James Doohan, who played starship engineer Scotty in the original 1960s "Star Trek" series, will be launched into deep space in November 2014 by the memorial spaceflight company Celestis.   They will be part of a cargo that will include other cremated remains, written messages and samples of DNA in capsules sent by the general public, Celestis said on Thursday. "What's very cool about this is that it's science fiction meeting reality," Celestis spokeswoman Pazia Schonfeld said. The messages and remains will be placed on a spacecraft called a solar sail, which is powered by sunlight and made to withstand high temperatures, and headed for orbit around the sun, Celestis said. The

Doctors at a Rome hospital battled for 40 minutes to try to save the life of James Gandolfini, best known for his Emmy-winning role as a mob boss in the TV series "The Sopranos," before pronouncing him dead, the emergency room chief said on Thursday. Gandolfini, 51, whose performance as Tony Soprano made him a household name and help usher in a new era of American television drama, was vacationing in Rome and had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday.   He was taken from his Rome hotel to the city's Umberto I hospital late on Wednesday, according to a hospital spokesperson. The actor's 13-year-old son, Michael, had found him collapsed in the bathroom of his Rome hotel room, Gandolfini's manager, Mark Armstrong, said in an email. "The resuscitation maneuvers, including heart massage, etc., continued for 40 minutes and then, seeing no electric activity from the heart, this was interrupted and we declared

In front of a screaming crowd of fans, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez was honored for her musical accomplishments on Thursday when she received the 2,500th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. _0"> Lopez, a New York City-native born to Puerto Rican parents, gave an emotional speech to the crowd gathered to see her receive the terrazzo and brass star along Hollywood Boulevard, saying she was overwhelmed.   "This all feels, I don't know, kind of surreal, but so real. It's awesome," Lopez said, fighting back tears as she received her star in front of the W Hotel in Hollywood. Lopez, 43, who began her career acting in the 1986 film "My Little Girl" and gained recognition for her portrayal of late singer Selena in the 1997 biopic "Selena," has built a multi-faceted career as an actress, singer, fashion designer and reality television judge on Fox's talent show "American Idol." Lopez has sold more than 70 million albums worl

French actor Gerard Depardieu was banned from driving for six months on Friday, after he was found to be three times over the alcohol limit when he fell from his scooter last year. _0"> The 64-year-old star of films such as Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac was not in the Paris court to hear its decision to suspend his driving license and fine him 4,000 euros ($5,300). Drink-driving can be punishable by up to two years' jail.   The flamboyant actor, who owns a vineyard in the Loire valley, injured his elbow but nobody else when he fell from the scooter in the capital in mid-afternoon last November. With top roles in more than 100 movies, one of the country's best-known actors has made the headlines on many occasions for reasons other than his film career. The scooter fall came a few months after a car driver filed a suit against Depardieu for assault and battery following an altercation in Paris. The year before, Depardieu outraged passengers by urinating in the

South Korea has rejected preliminary casino licenses for two international bidders - a class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Caesars Entertainment Corp and Lippo Limited consortium, and Kazuo Okada's Universal Entertainment Corp - in a surprise move that could stall the government's casino development plans. _0"> The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism told Reuters on Friday that both requests for licenses were rejected. A ministry spokeswoman give no reason for the decision.   class="mandelbrot_refrag"> South Korea is one of several Asian countries considering building casino resorts to lure high-spending tourists after Singapore's success with two large properties that opened in 2010. Taiwan plans to allow class="mandelbrot_refrag"> casinos to set up shop on offshore islands and the Philippines is developing four large casino resorts. The Caesars-Lippo consortium and Universal had applied to build large integrated resort

Musician Andrew W.K., the self-described "party king," set a new world record after playing drums nonstop for 24 hours during MTV's O Music Awards this week. _0"> The O Music Awards, which give out accolades in a variety of fan-voted categories to musicians who make a significant impact online through social media, was streamed solely online as a 24-hour virtual concert. The 34-year-old American, who was born Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier, drummed for 24 hours from Wednesday to Thursday, earning the world record for Longest Drum Session in a Retail Store, MTV said in a statement. A message left seeking confirmation from Guinness World Records, which verifies official records, was not immediately returned. Artists such as the Jonas Brothers, Hanson, Atlas Genius and Kate Nash performed from the MTV studios in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville during the 24-hour live music festival that MTV billed as the largest online-only event of its kind. The network sai

Billboard's weekly music chart will not include the 1 million copies of rapper Jay Z's upcoming album that were sold to electronics maker Samsung as part of a promotion, the U.S. trade magazine said on Friday. _0"> Jay Z, 43, announced last weekend that his album "Magna Carta Holy Grail" could be downloaded for free on July 4 - three days before its public release - to the first 1 million users of Samsung smartphones who had downloaded a special app.   Bulk album sales that are give away for free are not counted in total sales and not eligible to be included on the music charts even if an artist and a record label are paid for them, according to Billboard's rules. The magazine's editorial director, Bill Werde, said Billboard rejected Jay Z's request that the Samsung promotional sales be counted toward the Billboard 200 chart because "in the context of this promotion, nothing is actually for sale." "The ever-visionary Jay Z pull

Reality television star Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West have named their baby daughter North West, according to a copy of the birth certificate released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Friday. _0"> Kardashian, the 32-year-old star of the TV show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," gave birth in Los Angeles on Saturday morning, weeks before her expected due date in July. West was with her for the delivery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. People magazine said the couple had been considering directional names. Representatives for Kardashian and West could not immediately be reached for comment. Kardashian, who also has a clothing line and endorsement deals, started dating the Grammy-winning rap star in April 2012. She married her second husband, NBA basketball player Kris Humphries of the Brooklyn Nets, in an elaborate ceremony filmed for the reality TV show in August 2011. But the union lasted only 72 days.   (Reporting by Eric Kelsey

The Food Network said on Friday it would drop celebrity chef Paula Deen after the Southern food doyenne was sued for racial discrimination and admitted in a legal deposition to using a racial slur in the past. The impending loss of Deen's broadcast deal represents a potentially huge setback for a television personality who has built an empire on high calorie food, with cookbooks and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> restaurants in her native Georgia and other states.   The Food Network said in a statement it "will not renew Paula Deen's contract when it expires at the end of this month." A spokeswoman declined further comment but the network, which is owned by Scripps Network Interactive Inc, said on Thursday it "does not tolerate any form of discrimination and is a strong proponent of diversity and inclusion." The network's decision to drop Deen was announced hours after she failed to make a scheduled appearance on the NBC television mornin

Palestinian cities erupted in joy after Gazan singer Mohammed Assaf won the "Arab Idol" song contest final held in Beirut on Saturday night, providing a welcome break from the grinding conflict with Israel. _0"> The fresh-faced 22-year-old from humble roots in a refugee camp endeared millions of voting television viewers with his Palestinian patriotic anthems and folk songs.   After watching Assaf's victory from giant screens in the Gaza Strip and Israeli-occupied West Bank, tens of thousands of Palestinians set off fireworks, danced in the streets and blasted his music from cars idling in frantic traffic jams. "This shows that Palestinians don't just fight and struggle, but we rejoice and make great art," beamed Awad Najib, a government employee, after a mass viewing outside the Ramallah presidential palace in the West Bank. Some Muslim clerics in Friday sermons had dismissed the pageant, saying its title encouraged idolatry and that people

"Monsters University," the prequel to Pixar's 2001 animated blockbuster "Monsters, Inc.," scared up $82 million in weekend ticket sales to easily outdistance the week's other new movie, the big-budget apocalyptic thriller "World War Z," which came in with an impressive haul of $66 million. "World War Z,", the story of a zombie pandemic starring Brad Pitt, was Pitt's biggest opening weekend ever, easily outpacing the $50.3 million for "Mr. And Mrs. Smith."   Last week's top movie, the Superman reboot "Man of Steel", was third with ticket sales of $41.2 million. "Monsters University," featuring the voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman as monsters who flunk out of the college's scare program, continued the tradition of hugely successful films produced by Pixar, a unit of the Walt Disney Co. It was Pixar's 14th consecutive film to head the box office for the weekend it premiered in theat

Bobby "Blue" Bland, a pioneer of the modern soul-blues sound, died on Sunday, according to Memphis media reports. He was 83. _0"> Local television stations cited the Memphis Music Foundation, which could not be reached for comment.   Bland was a member of the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His hits included "Turn on Your Love Light," "Further on Up the Road" and "I Pity the Fool." Bland, known as "The Lion of The Blues," was born in 1930 in Rosemark, Tennessee. He moved to Memphis in 1947 where he began mixing sounds from gospel, blues and R&B music, joining the Beale Streeters, a group that included Johnny Ace, B.B. King and Junior Parker, according to Bland's biography on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website. "His hallmark was his supple, confidential soul-blues delivery," the website said. Bland received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. (Reportin

The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. _0"> * A global cat-and-mouse game involving the admitted leaker of National Security Agency secrets exploded into a diplomatic scramble, as U.S. authorities sought to catch Edward Snowden before he reached what supporters say is his next goal: political asylum in Ecuador. () * Federal officials are cracking down on fraud in student-aid programs, responding to evidence that a growing number of recipients are pocketing federal loans and grants without any intent of going to school. ()   * Banks have floated to federal regulators a proposal on how to pay for a restructuring of the nation's largest financial institutions in the event of a future crisis. () * Chinese companies are under growing financial pressure as the country's economic growth slows. So industries ranging from airlines to steel to consumer appliances increas

In a country synonymous with larger-than-life mining tycoons and Outback heroes, the geeks are quietly inheriting the earth. As coal magnate Nathan Tinkler, the poster boy for Australia's fading 10-year minerals boom, publicly battles against bankruptcy, software entrepreneurs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar are riding high. The former college buddies behind fast-growing software firm Atlassian unceremoniously bumped Tinkler off the top of Australia's "young rich list", leading a charge in the country's blooming technology industries.   The tech start-up and biotech sectors are at the forefront of a push to transform Australia from an exporter of iron ore to an exporter of ideas. "It's a pretty primitive economy," said internet entrepreneur Matt Barrie. "We basically dig stuff up out of the ground, put it on a boat and ship it." As part of ambitious plans to change that, the government has announced millions of dollars in new

Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening flat to 4 points higher, or up 0.07 percent, on Monday, according to financial bookmakers. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on _0"> * The UK blue chip index fell 43.34 points, or 0.7 percent, to 6,116.17 points on Friday, the lowest seen since January. The index recorded a fifth straight weekly loss, hit by the prospect of a curbing of U.S. monetary stimulus.   * ENRC - The billionaire founders of ENRC are close to finalising a buyout bid for the London-listed Kazakh miner, valuing the troubled group at just over 3 billion pounds ($4.7 billion), below the value of a tentative proposal made in May. * Trading in shares of Kazakhmys was suspended on Monday afternoon pending a statement on inside information, according to a filing on the Hong Kong exchange. The company is also listed in London. * Rio Tinto Ltd has scrapped the proposed sale of its $1.3 billion diamonds business, a setback for its

European stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Monday, adding to last week's sharp losses, as investors fretted about the prospect of reduced U.S. monetary stimulus and worries over China's banking sector. _0"> At 0602 GMT, futures for Euro STOXX 50, for UK's FTSE 100, for Germany's DAX and for France's CAC were down 0.2-0.9 percent.

Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc was ramping up production at its Indonesian unit on Monday, a company spokeswoman said, six weeks after a deadly tunnel collapse at the world's No.2 copper mine halted operations.   Trade union workers at the Grasberg mine in remote West Papua were also returning to production work, while postponed pay talks with the Arizona-based firm have been resumed, a union official added. Freeport Indonesia employs about 24,000 workers, of which three-quarters belong to the union. Freeport stopped production at Grasberg on May 15, a day after a training area in a tunnel caved in, killing 28 people. Planned pay talks were also put on hold last month. On Saturday, the company said it had slowly resumed open-pit mining after receiving approval from the Indonesian government, although underground production remained closed. "We herewith confirm that we have started to ramp up production since Saturday," Freeport Indonesia spokeswoman Daisy Prim

Sandoz, the generics unit of Novartis, has launched a late-stage trial with its biosimilar version of Amgen's Enbrel, consolidating its leading position in developing cheaper copies of complex biotech drugs. _0"> With the start of the major study of its version of Enbrel, or etanercept, Sandoz now has seven Phase III clinical trials across five biosimilar molecules - more than any other company in the industry.   Sandoz said on Monday the new trial aimed to confirm the biosimilarity of its product versus Enbrel in patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque-type psoriasis. Results will be used to support U.S. and European regulatory filings. Unlike traditional chemical drugs, biotech medicines consist of proteins derived from living organisms that cannot be replicated exactly. Generic copies, therefore, are more difficult to develop and market. IMS Health, a provider of data for the healthcare industry, expects global spending on biosimilars to increase to between

Chinese shares dragged Asian bourses to a fresh 9-1/2-month low on Monday as investors worried about Beijing's economic and financial stability and markets scrambled to price in the Federal Reserve's plan to slow its stimulus drive later in 2013. European stocks were seen consolidating after last week's losses, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX would open little changed. But a 0.6 percent drop in U.S. stock futures pointed to a weak Wall Street open. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.8 percent to its lowest since early September, after posting its worst week since May 2012 with a drop of 4.5 percent last week. Most of the region's stock indexes are now well into oversold territory. China bank shares led the downward spiral after official news reports at the weekend suggested Beijing would continue to address the risks of shadow banking, which was behind t