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The 7-1 ruling shifts the focus of the environmental dispute to the Agriculture Department, which under today’s ruling now can consider allowing limited planting. That would be an interim measure while the USDA finishes an environmental impact statement that ultimately might clear the way for unrestricted planting.

The justices said a federal judge in San Francisco went too far when he placed a nationwide ban on so-called Roundup-ready alfalfa seeds because of the possibility they would contaminate other plants.

“An injunction is a drastic and extraordinary remedy, which should not be granted as a matter of course,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. Justice John Paul Stevens was the lone dissenter.

Today’s decision may affect a similar fight being waged over Monsanto’s Roundup-tolerant sugar beet seeds.

Alfalfa, the fourth-most-planted U.S. crop behind corn, soybeans and wheat, is worth $9 billion a year, with annual seed sales valued at $63 million, according to a USDA study. Dairy cows are the primary consumers of alfalfa hay.

Foxconn Technology Group, Nissan Motor Co.’s Chinese venture and VTech Holdings Ltd. said they are investing in factory equipment to reduce their reliance on labor. Wages in the region called the world’s factory floor increased 17 percent in the past six months, according to a survey by the government- backed Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

There has been rampant speculation about WikiLeaks’ next revelation following its recent release of a top secret military video showing an attack in Baghdad which killed more than a dozen people, including two employees of the Reuters news agency.

Bradley Manning, a US military intelligence officer based in Iraq, has been arrested on suspicion of leaking the video but it is also claimed that Manning bragged online that he had handed WikiLeaks 260,000 secret US State Department cables.

In an interview with the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, Mr Assange said cryptically of WikiLeaks’ current project:

“I can give an analogy. If there had been mass spying that had affected many, many people and organisations and the details of that mass spying were released then that is something that would reveal that the interests of many people had been abused.”

The profile in Rolling Stone magazine, titled the “Runaway General,” is certain to increase tension between the White House and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

It also raises fresh questions about the judgment and leadership style of the commander Obama appointed last year in an effort to turn around a worsening conflict.

McChrystal and some of his senior advisors are quoted criticizing top administration officials, at times in starkly derisive terms. An anonymous McChrystal aide is quoted calling national security adviser James Jones a “clown,” who remains “stuck in 1985.”

Referring to Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s senior envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, one McChrystal aide is quoted saying: “The Boss says he’s like a wounded animal. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he’s going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous.”

On one occasion, McChrystal appears to react with exasperation when he receives an e-mail from Holbrooke, saying, “Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke. I don’t even want to read it.”

U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, a retired three-star general, isn’t spared. Referring to a leaked cable from Eikenberry that expressed concerns about the trustworthiness of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, McChrystal is quoted as having said: “Here’s one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, ‘I told you so.'”

Investigators at federal agencies charged with scrutinising cyber crime are concerned about the $187.5m acquisition of ICQ by Moscow-based Digital Sky Technologies, which has been rapidly expanding its holding of internet companies.

Digital Sky, led by physicist-turned-banker Yuri Milner, the 47-year-old chief executive, already owns Russia’s largest e-mail provider and three of the country’s leading social networking sites. In 2009, it bought stakes in Facebook, the world’s largest social network, and Zynga, the online games developer.

ICQ is the leading instant messaging service in Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic and, according to law enforcement investigators, is one of the main avenues of communication for criminal groups in eastern Europe, some of whom never meet in person.

ICQ’s headquarters remained in Israel after AOL acquired it for $400m in 1998. Israel and the US are close allies and in some cases US investigators have gained access to the chat transcripts on ICQ of criminal suspects.

The situation highlights how the line between law enforcement and national security has blurred with the rise of cyber warfare.

The current fear is that ICQ’s computers might move to Russia, where co-operation with western law enforcement is far more difficult to obtain. “Every bad guy known to man [is on] ICQ,” one investigator said in an interview.

The objections have reached the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, a secretive panel known as CFIUS and led by the US Treasury. The committee can recommend that transactions be blocked or modified on the grounds of national security, people familiar with the matter said. The panel also has representatives from the departments of defence, justice and homeland security.

“We’ve raised the concerns,” said another law enforcement official.

But CFIUS insiders said they did not expect the panel to stop the sale. It has 30 days after the companies formally notify CFIUS of the transaction to warn them that it plans to investigate further. More than 30 days have passed since the transaction’s announcement on April 28 without any such warning being issued, said Alexander Tamas, a Digital Sky partner in London.

It is possible that the formal deadline triggered by a filing has not yet elapsed, but law enforcement concerns rarely rise to the level that prompts CFIUS to intervene, according to those who have worked for the body.

Tim Levene of Augmentum Capital, a fund backed by Lord Rothschild’s RIT Capital Partners, said the investment was not a bet on the gold price but on “the future growth of the BullionVault platform”, which stores physical gold for private clients in London, New York and Zurich. RIT currently has 9pc of its assets in physical gold.

Investment demand for the metal has risen on concerns that sovereign debt problems could spread and the value of currencies plunge. The gold price hit a new nominal all-time high above $1,260 on Friday and analysts expect the price will continue to rise.

In return for the £12.5m investment, the World Gold Council and Augmentum will receive an equity stake in BullionVault.

Marcus Grubb, managing director of investment at the World Gold Council, said taking the BullionVault stake was part of the Council’s strategy of “increasing its portfolio of successful platforms for gold investment”. Mr Levine and Mr Grubb will join BullionVault’s board.

BullionVault has about $800m (£540m) of gold under management for 20,000 customers from more than 90 countries. The average holding is around £30,000.

You may have seen this story in today’s Daily Telegraph:

http://bit.ly/c4uQJA

We are delighted to welcome the World Gold Council and Augmentum
Capital, which is backed by Rothschild Investment Trust, as minority
investors in BullionVault.

The outlook for long-term growth in physical gold demand is
considerable. BullionVault now has two additional and knowledgeable
investors to help us progress the safe and profitable expansion of
our service.

** The World Gold Council (WGC) **
The WGC is a true global force in gold. Founded 23 years ago,
its mandate is to promote the marketing of physical bullion. It
is owned by 15 of the world’s largest gold mines, who between them
are responsible for about 60% of world gold-mining output.

For many years the WGC has also been the main producer of gold-market
research, data and analysis. It brings a significant amount of
marketing clout to BullionVault. You can visit the WGC’s website
here:
http://www.gold.org/

** Augmentum Capital (AC) **
Augmentum is one of Jacob, Lord Rothschild’s investment vehicles. He
is, as you may know, one of London’s pre-eminent financiers of
the last 30 years, controlling Rothschild Investment Trust Capital
Management. It has £1.6 billion ($2.4bn) under management, and has
set up AC with a specific focus on technology businesses like ours.

Run by Tim Levene – who led the Asian and European development of
peer-to-peer betting exchange Betfair – AC has just one client,
which is Rothschild Investment Trust. The Rothschild family name
has of course long been associated with gold, going back to the
Napoleonic era.

The World Gold Council and Augmentum Capital are, quite simply,
the most suitable investors BullionVault could wish for.

** BullionVault’s Management **
As equal parties in this new investment, worth £12.5 million
($18.5m), both Tim Levene of AC and Marcus Grubb, Managing
Director of Investment at the WGC, are joining me on the Board
at BullionVault.

** How Will This Investment Affect You? **
This is not an exit, either for myself or indeed for any
existing shareholder. I remain the Chief Executive and the
major shareholder. Together with everyone here at BullionVault,
I continue to be dedicated to providing you with secure, low-cost
and transparent access to physical gold & silver bullion.

This investment by the World Gold Council and Augmentum will in due
course enhance the BullionVault service, providing greater depth to
the BullionVault market and a broader choice of trading currencies
and vaulting locations.

Kind regards,

The currency advanced 0.42 percent to 6.7976 per dollar as of 5:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, the biggest gain since July 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 12-month non- deliverable yuan forward rose 1.1 percent to 6.6425, implying traders are betting on a 2.3 percent appreciation.