The Keystone Oil Pipeline is pictured under construction in North Dakota in this undated photograph released on January 18, 2012.

WASHINGTON/LEMONT, Illinois | Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:02pm EDT

WASHINGTON/LEMONT, Illinois (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers in both chambers of Congress said Friday they are moving forward with bills introduced this week to pluck the power of approving the Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Canada's oil sands to Texas, from the hands of the Obama administration.

Republican Representative Lee Terry from Nebraska introduced a bipartisan bill on Friday to approve TransCanada Corp's 800,000 barrels per day pipeline, which has been held up in the review process for more than four years.

Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, said he expects the House will vote on the bill by the end of May.

The House measure is a companion to a bipartisan bill introduced on Thursday by Senators John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, and Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat.

Hoeven said he believes the Senate bill currently has more than 50 votes of the 60 needed for passage in the 100-seat chamber, and said he expected the bill would easily get more supporters.

If lawmakers don't force Obama's hand early, the president is expected to make a decision around August or later, after the State Department finalizes an environmental assessment of the project.

The Keystone decision is one of the first big tests for Obama in his second term on energy and environmental issues.

Proponents say the decision will show whether Obama supports the North American energy boom and the jobs it creates.

Opponents from environmental groups say it will show whether Obama is sincere in his promises to take steps to curb climate change.

The pipeline will carry crude oil from Canada's oil sands, a type of oil production environmental groups argue could accelerate climate change.

About 20 people holding soggy protest signs stood in the rain outside the compound housing the research laboratory near Chicago where Obama gave his first energy speech of his second term on Friday.

The White House has steadfastly declined to comment on the approval process, but on Friday a spokesman sought to downplay the importance of the decision.

"There have been thousands of miles of pipelines that have been built while President Obama has been in office, and I think the point is, is that it hasn't necessarily had a significant impact one way or the other on addressing climate change," spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

Earnest said there was "no question" that targeted investments to spur production of green energy or cut oil consumption would be more meaningful in the long term to cutting climate-changing greenhouse gases.

Obama on Friday proposed a $2 billion, 10-year research fund for cars and trucks that run on fuel other than gasoline.

"It's going to require some significant investments like the investments that we're talking about today for us to make progress on this," he said.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Peter Galloway and Leslie Adler)

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NEW YORK | Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:00pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rare bronzes, contemporary masterpieces, museum-quality furniture and antiquities dating back more than 3,000 years are among thousands of art objects hitting the auction block in New York next week during Christie's and Sotheby's Asia week sales.

The four days of auctions, estimated to take in anywhere from $74 million to $106 million, begin on Tuesday with Sotheby's sales of contemporary Indian art and Chinese ceramics and art, and Christie's Indian and Southeast Asian sale, which includes some of its higher-priced works.

The semi-annual sales of Asian works of art have become an important driver in the global market, with strong activity in recent years. But a recent report found art spending by Chinese collectors fell 24 percent last year because of slowing economic growth and a lack of availability of top-quality works.

"Just as we've seen in the overall market, we're seeing a focus on quality" within Asian art collecting, Christie's international director of Asian art, Hugo Weihe, told Reuters.

"And there's a deeper level of scholarship now, so we have been selective in what we offer," he said.

This season, Christie's has more extensive offerings, with eight sales over four days expected to take in between $44 million and $62 million. Sotheby's four auctions over three days should total from $30 million to $44 million.

Among highlights is a towering, Tibetan bronze figure of a bodhisattva from around the ninth or 10th century that reaches nearly 4 feet and is expected to fetch about $2.5 million at Christie's.

"Buddhist art in general has become an increasingly big focus," Weihe said.

"The old collection pieces have become incredibly desirable, especially for Chinese collectors who are seeking to acquire these cultural objects back."

Sotheby's sales include its first private collection of Indian art in over a decade, consigned by the owner, Amrita Jhaveri.

Featuring Sayed Haider Raza's 1982 canvas "Rajasthan I," estimated to fetch $600,000 to $800,000, and an untitled Tyeb Mehta work expected to sell for $800,000 to $1.2 million, the sales proceeds will underwrite a project at New Delhi's Khoj International Artists' Association.

At its classical Chinese paintings sale, Tang Dai's "Stream-Laced Mountain After Snow" is likely to fetch about $500,000.

Top offerings at Christie's include a 12th/11th century B.C. Chinese bronze ritual wine vessel ($800,000 to $1.2 million), and a 17th/18th century painters table nearly 15 feet long, which is expected to fetch as much as $2 million.

Officials said another top lot, a large-scale, intricate Tibetan Buddha painting estimated at $600,000 to $800,000, would likely sell for much more, given the results for a similar work last year and interest generated by the previously unseen work.

Sales of Japanese and Korean art, jade carvings, Chinese snuff bottles and rare porcelain round out the auctions.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

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WASHINGTON | Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:30pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. environmental regulators will likely delay finalizing rules to limit carbon emissions from new power plants, a measure that has been one of President Barack Obama's top strategies to fight climate change, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

The rules were proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nearly a year ago. They are expected to be revised to set a separate standard for coal-fired plants, as opposed to natural-gas-fired plants, the newspaper said.

The administration had been expected to tackle emissions from existing power plants, which are responsible for a much larger volume of U.S. emissions, up to 40 percent, after finalizing the rules on new plants.

An administration official said the report was not accurate because the EPA was still working on the rule. The official did say that sifting through the massive volume of comments was time-consuming.

According to the EPA's regulatory tracker, the so-called greenhouse gas "New Source Performance Standard" for new power plants was projected to be finalized by the end of this month.

But EPA Administrator nominee Gina McCarthy, who was in charge of EPA rules as assistant administrator for the agency's office for air and radiation, hinted last month that finalizing the proposal may take extra time since it had received nearly 2 million comments on the rules.

McCarthy will face a Senate confirmation hearing in April, Capitol Hill sources said, and is expected to get pushback from lawmakers from states that are heavily reliant on coal.

The EPA proposal says new plants can emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour, a standard that effectively blocks construction of new coal-fired plants.

David Doniger, policy director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate and air program, said he has no evidence that the EPA plans to weaken the current proposal but warned that a deadline to finalize the rule is less than one month away.

"If they don't meet the deadline, environmental organizations will start taking the legal steps to get a court to force the deadline," he said.

He added that the EPA holds regular, informal consultations with various stakeholders including green groups and electric utilities to hear proposals for setting an emissions standard from existing power plants.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by John Wallace and Dale Hudson)

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NEW DELHI | Thu Mar 14, 2013 4:08am EDT

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Shazaf Fatima Haider was always interested in how it happened. How strangers met in contrived settings, were expected to like each other and get married.

Eventually, the 30-year-old teacher from Karachi saw the funny side of arranged marriages and cultural backgrounds in Pakistan and decided it was the perfect subject for her debut novel, "How It Happened."

The book, recently launched in India and Pakistan, is the story of Dadi, the matriarch of the Bandian family in Karachi, and her quest to find the perfect Shia Muslim groom for her granddaughter Zeba. Told from the point of view of Zeba's younger sibling Saleha, the novel explores how negotiating ancient marriage traditions in the 21st century could stretch a family to the end of its tether.

Haider spoke with Reuters about her book, Pakistani culture and writing.

Q: How much of "How It Happened" is inspired by real life?

A: Well, some of it was inspired by what I saw around me. I grew up listening to stories of my mother's home town in India and so the fictional town of "Bhakuraj" was born as this vital, bizarre place full of eccentric people. My grandparents died before I was born and I yearned to have a grandmother to be the kind of force that Dadi in "How It Happened" was to Saleha, so I think the yearning gave birth to the narrator and the grandmother, who are my two favourite characters in the novel. Soon after, the Bandians were born and they are quite unlike my actual family. After that, the story took shape and the rest is what is in the pages before you.

Q: Tell us a bit about your research for the novel.

A: No research, what you read is what popped up in my head. I was always very interested in what men and women went through in the process of arranged marriages and had been at the listening end of many a rant by an irate person of eligible age and status. I also had a few suitors grace my drawing room with their presence and I witnessed their discomfort with considerable amusement. And then, one day my friend called me and told me that a prospective mum-in-law had told her that she was interested in my friend because she was an American citizen (her son wanted a passport-holder) I thought, what a perfect subject-matter for satire. So off I went to write and out came "How It Happened".

Q: Did your family know that you were writing the novel?

A: It was a secret. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to finish it, or that it wouldn't be good enough. One of my closest friends, Sameer Khan, was my only reader and critic - he was a med student but he still read each chapter I wrote and gave detailed feedback. The book wouldn't have been written without his constant encouragement.

Q: Sectarian violence is threatening Pakistan's stability at the moment. The Shia-Sunni rivalry is also a dominant thread in the novel. Do you see things changing any time soon?

A: Oh things are changing, of course, but it's different for different families. Never make the mistake that what is happening on the political scene is a representative of what the ordinary citizen thinks or wants -- people desire unity, peace and stability, not violence and bloodshed. In my family specifically, the Shia-Sunni thing isn't such a big deal any more -- many Zebas have come before us. But I know that some other families would like to stick together with the same religious flock.

Q: Through this novel, what is it that you wanted to say about marriages and cultural backgrounds in Pakistan? Was a humorous novel your first choice?

A: I didn't want to write a didactic novel and I hope I haven't. Humour was the natural choice because it's such a bizarre arrangement, getting strangers to meet in contrived settings and expecting them to like each other. Even animals have difficulty with breeding in captivity! I hope people will read the book and have a good laugh. Because to survive this system with grace, a good sense of humour is vital.

Q: Which is your favourite compliment yet for "How It Happened"?

A: I was very happy to learn that my male readers were enjoying it as much as my female readers. The cover seems to imply that women are the primary audience for this novel, but don't men suffer the rigours of the arranged marriage? One of them tweeted to me and said that he had loved it and that I rocked. And I think he rocked for saying that."

Q: What next after "How It Happened"? Is there scope for a sequel or a novel about education in Pakistan?

A: I am half-way through my second novel but I realize that I'm going to have to change the tone of the story completely which involves a complete re-write. It has nothing to do with "How It Happened". There is certainly scope for a sequel, though I'm not sure I want to visit the world of the Bandians any further. I've lived with them intimately and enjoyed my time with them. It's time for them to go their way and for me to go mine.

Q: Any advice for aspiring writers?

A: Submit as much as you write. Don't reject your own work when there are a thousand other people, agents and publishing houses to do that for you. And don't think your words are sacred - they are not - be open to changing tone or voice or anything such to serve the cause of your story telling. Don't show your work to everyone because everyone will have a different idea of what constitutes good writing. Find that one person whose opinion you trust and show your work to them.

(Reporting by Tony Tharakan; Editing by)

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