Nation: In one of the most important and controversial decisions of his presidency, Barack Obama announced yesterday that after seven years of consideration he’s rejecting the giant Keystone XL pipeline that was to have transported crude oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. In saying “no” he is standing up to the Republican Congress that’s been demanding approval, but also to members of his own party.

Obama said at the White House, “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change. And, frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership.”

Republicans have said the pipeline would create jobs and feed economic growth.

The plan submitted by TransCanada was for a 1,600 mile $7 billion pipeline that would have pumped 800,000 barrels of oil a day. With oil selling for less than $50 a barrel the pipeline would not pay for itself if it existed today.

Environmentalists were steadfastly opposed because Canadian tar sands oil is a particularly “dirty” variety that would contribute to carbon pollution. The pipeline would have crossed environmentally sensitive areas and presented a lasting danger of breakage and spills.

Nyet: Russian President Vladimir Putin has stopped all passenger flights from Russia to Egypt until the cause is found for the crash of a Russian airliner in the Sinai desert. Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea is one of the most popular destinations for Russian vacationers.

Russia joins England in banning flights, leaving tens of thousands of Brits and Russians stranded in Egypt. The Russians have previously downplayed the theory that the plane was taken out by a bomb, but no obvious cause has been revealed.

China Syndrome: Leaders of China and Taiwan met and shook hands today for the first time since the island country split from the mainland in 1949 at the end of China’s civil war. It’s a major break in tensions between the two. Taiwan’s independence has always been a sore spot for China.

Econ 101: The economy added a healthy 271,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, presenting the possibility that the Federal reserve may inch up interest rates next month. A 5 percent unemployment rate is close to what economists consider to be a full-employment economy.

Serial Sequel: A judge has allowed the presentation of new evidence in the case of 35-year-old Adnan Syed, the Baltimore man whose case broke ground for new media when it was the focus of the podcast “Serial.” Syed was convicted of the 1999 murder of his former high school girlfriend when he was still in school.

Syed’s lawyers will be allowed to present new evidence on the reliability of mobile phone records and about a possible alibi.

The reporters who created “Serial” did a stunning job of digging into the details of Syed’s murder conviction, and flaws in the case, without reaching a definitive conclusion on his guilt or innocence.

Police Beat: Two Louisiana police officers have been charged with murder for shooting and killing a 6-year-old boy Tuesday while chasing the boy’s father in an SUV. They are also charged with attempted second-degree murder for critically wounding the father, Chris Few, who was not armed. Investigators have not said why the officers were chasing him.

The Candidate: Presidential candidate Ben Carson has been caught in a major fabrication published in his biography, that in 1969 he applied and was accepted to West Point. In response to an inquiry from Politico, West Point says there’s no record of Carson even applying and his campaign now admits that’s true. It never happened.

Carson’s life is now getting the scrutiny and vetting that a veteran politician would have had years earlier. CNN says it has found discrepancies in Carson’s stories about having been a violent teenager. Political pundits will have to decide whether Carson’s West Point yarn is worse than his belief that the pyramids were built for grain storage, not burying Egyptian kings.

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