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Crop residue removal from corn, wheat and grain sorghum can adversely impact soil and environmental quality, a new study suggests.

Removal of more than 50 percent of crop residue can have negative consequences for soil structure, reduce soil organic carbon sequestration, increase water erosion, and reduce nutrient cycling and crop production, particularly in erodible and sloping soils, according to the study published in the March-April issue of Agronomy Journal.

Crop residues, perennial warm season grasses, and short- rotation woody crops are potential biomass sources for cellulosic ethanol production.

While most research is focused on the conversion of cellulosic feedstocks into ethanol and increasing production of biomass, the impacts of growing energy crops and the removal of crop residue on soil and environmental quality have received less attention, said the study conducted by researchers at the American Society of Agronomy.

Moreover, effects of crop residue removal on soil and environmental quality have not been compared against those of dedicated energy crops, the study noted.

Residue removal at rates of less than 25 percent can cause loss of sediment in runoff relative to soils without residue removal. To avoid the negative impacts on soil, perhaps only a small fraction of residue might be available for removal. This small amount of crop residue is not economically feasible nor logistically possible, according to the study.

"Crop residue removal can make no-till soils a source rather than a sink of atmospheric carbon" even at rates lower than 50 percent, said lead researcher Humberto Blanco.

Blanco recommended developing other alternative biomass feedstock sources for cellulosic ethanol production.

An alternative to crop residue removal is growing warm season grasses and short-rotation woody crops as dedicated energy crops, according to the study.

The study drew the conclusion after reviewing the impacts of crop residue removal, warm season grasses, and short-rotation woody crops on critical soil properties, carbon sequestration, and water quality as well as the performance of energy crops in marginal lands.

Source: Xinhua

A Taliban commander was captured and four others sustained injuries in Afghanistan\’s northern peaceful Faryab province on Sunday, police said.

"Police encountered militants in Shordarya village of Daulat Abad district at 2:30 p.m. today. As a result a Taliban commander Mullah Qahir was captured and four of his armed men were injured in a firefight lasting four hours," Deputy Provincial Police Chief Mohammad Afzal Imamazada told Xinhua.

He also said that police later arrested two injured militants.

However, Taliban fighters are yet to make any comment.

Faryab has been considered as peaceful province in north Afghanistan and Taliban insurgents rarely surface there.

[i]Source: Xinhua

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, together with leaders of countries of the so called new Europe, will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in Prague next Thursday, government spokesman Pawel Gras said on Friday..

Apart from Tusk, the meeting is also to be attended by leaders of Bulgaria, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Gras told the Polish news agency PAP that participants in the meeting are to focus on security issues. European leaders will also discuss with the U.S. president the future of NATO.

The goal of the U.S. president is reportedly to assure new NATO members from Eastern and Central Europe that a new disarmament treaty, to be signed in Prague by the Russian and U.S. presidents, is not a threat to the region.

The Thursday meeting is expected to take place in the U.S. embassy in Prague.

Source: Xinhua

Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior has resumed his duty after arrested by mutineers earlier in the week, local media reported on Saturday morning.

Guinea Bissau\’s Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, pictured in March 2010, emerged from urgent talks with President Malam Bacai Sanha on Friday, saying he would not resign after an army mutiny.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)
The soldiers who entered the office of the prime minister and detained him on Thursday left the building the next day. Gomes Junior then went to meet with President Malam Bacai Sanha, who expressed trust in him and asked him to remain on the post, according to local press and radio.

The resumption of Gomes Junior\’s work as the prime minister was reportedly the most important topic in the talks.

Reports also said the former chief of defense staff, General Jose Zamora Induta, was still confined to the air base near the capital Bissau.

Induta and 40 other officers were also arrested in Thursday\’s mutiny, in which deputy army chief Antonio Indjai replaced him.

Despite the rebellious move which was denounced by many as a coup, Indjai on the same day declared the army was still submissive to political powers.

The detention went parallel with the release of the former head of marines, the rear admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchute, who had been accused of plotting a coup in August 2008. The ex-chief of Guinea-Bissau\’s marines took refuge at the UN office in Guinea-Bissau known as UNOGBIS after returning to Guinea- Bissau in a canoe from Gambia on Dec. 28, 2009.

UNOGBIS had previously indicated willingness to settle the issue in a "peaceful and legal" way.

Na Tchute and Indjai are seen as the men behind the action by soldiers on Thursday.

Although President Sanha declared later in the day that "calm" had returned, the incident sparked an outcry from the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the United States.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Thursday called on the military and political leadership in Guinea-Bissau to "resolve differences by peaceful means and to maintain constitutional order and ensure respect for the rule of law."

The unrest in Guinea-Bissau is the latest in a series to hit West Africa, where Mauritania, Guinea and Niger have witnessed the military coup since 2008.

The regional bloc ECOWAS was wary of another coup in Guinea- Bissau after President Joao Bernardo Vieira was assassinated on March 2, 2009. ECOWAS kept watch on the country until the holding of elections on June 28, 2009, when Sanha was elected the new president.

ECOWAS has since warned that the military reform is critical to ensure the post-assassination stability in Guinea-Bissau.

Instability including the 1998-1999 civil war has haunted the country of 1.5 million population since its independence from Portugal in 1974. Coup attempts have repeatedly hit the headlines in Guinea-Bissau, especially since 2008.

The West African country foiled a mutiny after holding a legislative election in November 2008, when the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde won the victory.

The Interior Ministry reported another "coup attempt" in early June 2009, just days ahead of the June 28 presidential election.

The country is among the poorest in the world, being ranked the 175th out of 177 nations in the U.N. Development Program\’s Human Development Index.

With a jagged Atlantic coastline, Guinea-Bissau is chosen by traffickers as a major hub for the flow of cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

Source:Xinhua

FARDC, the national army of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has regained control of the northwestern city of Mbandaka, hours after Enyele insurgents claimed to have snatched it in a surprise attack, according to the military.

"The army controls the city and the situation is calm," the governor of Equateur, Jean-Claude Baende, declared late Sunday, adding the Enyele insurgents were routed by the government forces who were pursuing the disbanded elements.

The governor, who has stayed in the capital Kinshasa since last week, said the incursion caused a heavy loss of lives and that some assailants were captured in the fighting. He did not give details.

The slain included a blue casque of MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, who was killed near the Mbandaka airport. The rebels held the airport only briefly.

Provincial Minister of Communication Rebecca Ebale said about 100 insurgents had requisitioned the ship "Malaika" owned by a company GAP before landing at the River Congo port of Bankita. They then launched the raid on the capital city of the province.

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The Arab League condemned on Sunday a spate of deadly blasts hitting the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and claiming the lives of dozens of people.

The Arab League denounces these terrorist attacks which are a serious development that needs to be studied, said the head of the Arab League chief\’s office, Ambassador Hisham Yousef, in a statement.

"We are following the situation with deep concern through our diplomatic mission in Baghdad," he said.

"We urge the political leadership in the country to promptly form a new government to be able to bring the security situation under control as quickly as possible," Yousef said.

Earlier on Sunday, 30 people were killed and 224 others wounded in Baghdad car bomb attacks targeted at the Iranian embassy, Mansour-Melia Hotel and the consulate office of the Egyptian embassy.

Sporadic attacks, including deadly bombings, still common in Iraq about a month after the country held their landmark parliamentary election which is widely expected to shape the future of the war-torn country.

[i]Source: Xinhua

Nepal has cleared half the minefields laid during its 10-year conflict, helping the country secure lasting peace, local media reported on Monday.

According to The Kathmandu Post, the government with the support of United Nations (UN) and civil society actors had started demining operations two years ago as part of the commitment expressed by both the government and the then Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The agreement spells out clear commitments on the clearance of mines and other dangerous explosive items, and commensurate assistance to the victims.

"Mine action constitutes one of the priority areas in our peace building process," Minister of Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong said on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action on Sunday.

During the conflict, 53 minefields were planted by Nepal Army and more than 300 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) fields were laid by Nepal Army, the Police, and the Armed Police Force combined.

According to the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, an unknown number of IEDs were also produced by the UCPN-M army and left at different places during the decade-long war. As a result, these lost IEDs continue to pose a threat across the country.

Three special squads at the Nepal Army are carrying out demining operations across the country. The Nepal Army demining platoons, with support from the UN Mine Action Team (UNMAT) have now cleared 26 of the 53 minefields with plans to complete clearance of the remaining half by the end of 2011.

Regarding the explosives possessed by the UCPN-Ms, UNMAT carried out a final demolition of all the explosive items held at UCPN-M cantonments in December 2009 in coordination with UCPN-M combatants.

A total of 52,617 IEDs and other dangerous items have been destroyed by UNMAT since the beginning of these demolitions in 2007, read the statement issued by the ministry.

However, the ministry concedes that despite the progress made in minefield and IED stockpile clearance, Nepalis are still being killed by explosive remnants of war. "It is impossible to clear all these devices systematically, as they litter the countryside in unknown locations," said the ministry.

In 2009, there were 70 casualties from victim-activated explosions–children made up 54 percent of the casualties. This gives Nepal one of the highest child casualty rates in the world.

Source: Xinhua

Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein will attend the 16th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Hanoi, Vietnam, an official announcement from Nay Pyi Taw said Monday.

At the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung, Thein Sein is to attend the summit slated for Thursday-Friday.

Vietnam stands the 2010 ASEAN chairmanship.

According to Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dao Viet Trung, three major issues will be discussed at the meeting, which include promoting efforts in building the ASEAN Community and implementation of the ASEAN Charter, enhancing cooperation in response to global challenges affecting the region and boosting the external relations of the ASEAN with a focus on maintenance of the central role of the ASEAN in regional cooperation process.

The summit will also give priority to discussions on concrete measures in building ASEAN economic community, one of the three major pillars of the ASEAN community. The other two are political security community and socio-culture community.

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Leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand have already arrived at Hua Hin, in Thailand, on Sunday for the first Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit and related meetings.

Hua Hin, a seaside resort town about 200 km south of the capital Bangkok, welcomed the four state leaders and delegates amid tight security, while the anti-government movement of red- shirt protesters are staging a major rally in Bangkok.

Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan has been at the Summit\’s venue in a bid to supervise operations of the security measures.

At least 8,000 security men have been deployed to maintain peace and order around the Summit venue.

The MRC Summit will be held Sunday and Monday after its related meetings were hosted here from April 2 to April 3.

The security operations have been managed under the enforcement of the Internal Security Act, which is enforced in four sub- districts of Hua Hin district in Prachuab Khiri Khan province and two other sub-districts of Cha Am district in Petchburi province until April 6.

[i]Source: Xinhua

In a departure from voter attitudes in the past, Californian voters are much more conflicted about whether to deny taxpayer-supported social services to illegal immigrants, according to a new poll published on Sunday.

The poll results reveal important shifts in public attitudes toward illegal immigrants in California, a bellwether U.S. state for the debate over immigration policy.

Among registered voters, more than 47 percent oppose proposals to deny social services such as public schooling and emergency room care to illegal immigrants, while 45 percent support the proposals, the poll showed.

A majority of Democratic voters (55 percent) and decline-to- state voters (53 percent) would not deny illegal immigrants social services, compared to 31 percent of Republican voters. In support of denying illegal immigrants social services are 37 percent of Democrats, 40 percent of decline-to-state voters and 61 percent of Republicans.

However, among Republican voters, more oppose denying undocumented immigrants access to taxpayer-funded social services (31 percent) than oppose creating a path to citizenship (29 percent). Seventy-five percent of Republicans favor temporary worker programs and 65 percent of Republicans favor creating a path to legalization, according to the poll.

Of the three immigration policy options provided in the poll, all of which included stronger border enforcement, denying undocumented immigrants social services was the least popular option for Democratic voters and independent voters. About two- thirds of both Democratic voters and decline-to-state voters support temporary worker programs and creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Overall, almost 70 percent of registered voters support temporary worker programs that do not grant legal citizenship; 67 percent support a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants that includes learning English and paying fines and back taxes; and 45 percent support prohibiting illegal immigrants from using social services.

The poll, conducted by the University of Southern California ( USC) College of Letters, Arts & Sciences and the Los Angeles Times, is the largest statewide sample of registered voters in California this year.

Source: Xinhua