news20090918jt1

<[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
Cabinet's support rate 72%
Hot start, high expectations for coalition team
Kyodo News

The support rate for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's first Cabinet is 72 percent, the highest since the early '90s, a Kyodo News survey said Thursday.

The Cabinet's disapproval rating is 13.1 percent, the poll said.

The nationwide telephone survey, conducted Wednesday and Thursday, also said support for Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan has jumped to a record of 47.6 percent.

The Liberal Democratic Party meanwhile was polling at a lowly 18.8 percent.

The highest initial support rate for a Cabinet in recent times was 86.3 percent for the team selected by popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in April 2001. That's followed by 75.7 percent for the team set up by former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in August 1993.

The Cabinet of Hatoyama's predecessor, Taro Aso, garnered a support rate of 48.6 percent when it was formed in September last year.

The latest survey, which received valid responses from 1,032 voters, said 44.8 percent of respondents expect the Cabinet to put priority on administrative and fiscal reform and reduce wasteful government spending. About 37 percent want the team to address social security issues, including pension system reform.

Measures to improve the economy and employment were selected by 35.5 percent of respondents, who were allowed multiple responses.

Hatoyama's Cabinet was inaugurated Wednesday following the DPJ's historic landslide victory in the Lower House election on Aug. 30.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
Reversal of LDP policies begins
Kyodo News

A day after the formation of a historic government that ousted the Liberal Democratic Party from power, new Cabinet members started work Thursday on reversing government policies ranging from a controversial dam project to postal privatization.

In line with the party's campaign pledge to review wasteful public works projects, newly appointed transport minister Seiji Maehara said the government plans to scrap the Yamba Dam project in Gunma Prefecture and consider offering compensation to local residents by passing a new law.

Maehara also said the ¥265 billion Kawabe River Dam project in Kumamoto Prefecture also will be scrapped.

"The burden on the people who have been involved in this issue for more than 50 years is beyond our imagination," said Maehara, referring to the people who live near Yamba Dam.

"The first thing we have to do is consider how much they have suffered, and then we will listen to them and their requests to seek a direction for a solution," he said.

To do so, Maehara said he will visit the site during the five-day string of holidays starting Saturday.

The 460 billion dam project has been in the works since 1952 and was promoted by the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition.

Meanwhile, newly appointed Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi said he will review the privatization plan of the government-owned Japan Post Holdings Co. by urging the president to resign and freezing the planned sale of its stake in various postal entities.

Yoshifumi Nishikawa, president of Japan Post, was reappointed in late June despite a series of scandals, including an attempt to sell the Kampo no Yado resort inn network, which critics said was put up for sale under dubious contracts.

Nishikawa was originally appointed to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, which came up with the postal privatization plan.

"As for Nishikawa, we want him to resign as Prime Minister (Yukio) Hatoyama stated clearly," Haraguchi told a news conference, one day after he was named minister.

"We will first freeze the sale of the stake, which is to start next year," he said, adding that he will review the reforms, planned by the Liberal Democratic Party, in cooperation with Shizuka Kamei, state minister in charge of fiscal and postal issues.

Kamei is the minister in charge, but the internal affairs ministry also oversees postal services.

Under the current reform process, two of the four spinoffs from Japan Post - the postal banking and insurance units - must go entirely private by the end of September 2017 with the government selling off its entire stake in the two entities.

Haraguchi also said the new government should speed up reorganization of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., a telecommunication conglomerate that was partially privatized two decades ago.

Amid rising global competition, the telephone giant needs earlier discussion of reforms than the LDP and its partner New Komeito agreed to start in 2010.

As for diplomacy, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said early Thursday he ordered the ministry's top bureaucrat to investigate alleged secret pacts between Japan and the United States, including an accord on handling nuclear weapons, and to issue a report near the end of November.

"I think there is a high probability that the secret pacts exist, but I do not have clear evidence," Okada told reporters, adding that Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka said he will comply with the order and launch the investigation late next week.

Issues that could cast a shadow over Japan-U.S. ties include a possible proposal by Japan to revise the Status of Forces Agreement, and terminating the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.

New Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa reaffirmed that the administration has no plans to extend the mission in January, when the law authorizing it expires.

The U.S. has asked Japan to keep the operation going, saying the logistic support is important to U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan.

Kitazawa, echoing other Democratic Party of Japan leaders including Okada, said a relationship of trust between Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and President Barack Obama is important and that he will seek to create a "close and equal" bilateral relationship, as advocated by the DPJ during the recent campaign.

"There is no doubt in our recognition that Japan-U.S. relations remain the mainstay of our foreign policy," Kitazawa said.

He said he expects concerns in the United States regarding Hatoyama's political philosophy, unveiled in a recent opinion piece, will dissipate after the two leaders meet.

Kitazawa also said he plans to visit Okinawa as soon as possible to hear the views of Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima and various mayors on the planned relocation of the U.S. Marines' Futenma Air Station within the prefecture.

The defense chief said that although the DPJ thinks relocating the air station outside Okinawa or even outside Japan is "a good option," the new government needs to tackle the issue by looking at "the realities."

New health minister Akira Nagatsuma, best known as champion of the pension record debacle, promised at a news conference Thursday to tackle the issues in the DPJ's manifesto, but only after getting the facts on each issue.

Nagatsuma, who at 49 is the second-youngest member of the Cabinet, appeared eager to "reveal the problems (in his ministry)" but was careful when answering how long it will take to solve the issues at hand.

But one thing he said he would scrap is the controversial health care system for people aged 75 and older, which hikes medical fees for the elderly.

"I already asked a chief to swiftly discuss a plan on shifting the current system to a new one," he said.

Nagatsuma also said he will revive the allowance for single parents before December.

The allowance, which was terminated in April by the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition, provides about 23,000 a month, and many single parents on welfare claimed it would make it difficult to even send their children to high school.

"I told officers to discuss what kinds of hurdles or issues we will have and how to solve them if we revive the allowance in October or November," he said.

Education and culture minister Tatsuo Kawabata said he plans to cancel plans for a controversial national media arts center that was to exhibit "manga" (comic books) and "anime" (animated movies).


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
Doi takes U.N. desk post in Vienna

VIENNA (Kyodo) Astronaut Takao Doi became a section chief at the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna on Thursday, starting a two-year stint as the first astronaut to work at the office.

Doi, the first Japanese to exit a vehicle in space in 1997, was selected for the post through open recruitment. He will be involved in such work as developing a system to disseminate observational data collected from satellites to countries affected by natural disasters.

The 54-year-old Doi said he also wants to build a system through which scientists from countries around the world can take part in research on the International Space Station.

Doi was selected as an astronaut in 1985 together with Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai, and flew space shuttle missions in 1997 and last year.

news20090918jt2

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[BUSINESS NEWS]
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
JAL's quest for survival a tale of pros and cons
Delta deal promises cost cuts; American offers smooth tieup
By KAZUAKI NAGATA and HIROKO NAKATA
Staff writers

Since news broke last week that Japan Airline Corp. is seeking a capital investment from a foreign airline, speculation has been rife over which one would make the best fit for the struggling carrier.

On Tuesday, JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu said the airline plans to ink a partnership agreement with either AMR Co.'s American Airlines or Delta Air Lines by mid-October.

Although no specifics of the negotiations have been disclosed, the pros and cons show there are risks in either deal.

Industry observers say a tieup with American Airlines would likely go more smoothly because both are members of the Oneworld alliance. Delta might be the better partner in terms of cutting management costs because the two airlines have many overlapping flights and would benefit by cutting some of them.

Makoto Murayama, a senior analyst at Nomura Securities Co., said that Northwest Airlines, which was just bought by Delta, has about 16,000 takeoff and landing slots annually at Narita International Airport, a hefty part of its Pacific operations. American only has about 3,600 slots at Narita.

In other words, Delta has more competing flights with JAL, which would give them more room to cut costs if they form an alliance.

"If the (airline industry) situation were more stable, two companies usually form a partnership to provide things that one does not have. It would be best to go with American if the company was doing well," Murayama said.

But conditions are far from stable, and there are no simple fixes.

The airline industry is running into turbulence on a number of fronts, including volatile oil prices, the global recession and the swine flu outbreak. The International Air Transport Association revised its global financial forecast to predict that losses in the industry will reach $11 billion in 2009, instead of the $9 billion it previously projected.

Even Delta and American are reporting losses. In the April-June quarter, Delta posted a net $257 million in red ink, while AMR posted a net loss of $390 million.

Since 2007, JAL has been in streamlining mode. It has announced it will let more than 4,000 employees go and abolished unprofitable routes. While it managed to report a 16.9 billion net profit in the business year through March 2008, it stalled and dived to a 63 billion loss the following year. This year, JAL reported a 99 billion net loss in the April-June quarter.

The government is worried about the Japanese flag carrier's survival and convened a panel to discuss reconstruction scenarios. JAL recently borrowed about 100 billion to stay afloat and reportedly will need to find an extra 150 billion later this year. A reconstruction plan submitted this week proposes cutting 6,800 employees by the end of fiscal 2011 and suspending 50 domestic and international routes.

With passenger demand declining overall recently, the industry has an overcapacity issue. From that perspective, it is important how much airlines can reduce their overlapping operational costs through code-sharing flights, Murayama said.

Takahiko Kishi, senior analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities, said that in terms of cutting costs, Delta is the better choice.

"Delta has many U.S.-Japan flights, so they can offer their services more economically if they code-share their flights with JAL," he said.

One factor that may leave JAL hesitant to tie up with Delta is that they are in different worldwide alliances. Delta belongs to SkyTeam, whose members include Air France and Korean Air, and it would cost JAL tens of billions of yen to switch over its various operational systems, such as reservation codes, if it left Oneworld.

"While receiving tens of billions of yen from Delta, it would also cost some 10 billion for JAL (to switch alliances)," Kishi said.

For both American and Delta, the stakes are high.

If JAL decides to leave its current alliance, it would be a severe blow to American Air, Murayama said, because AA doesn't serve as many Pacific routes as Delta's Northwest. American is currently seen as competing well with Delta in the Pacific because of the alliance with JAL.

Delta meanwhile is hoping to gain a better competitive edge in the Pacific while cutting costs.

"I think JAL is in the middle of estimating who will be better for itself, considering the cost-cutting and effect of the partnership," said Mizuho's Kishi.


[BUSINESS NEWS]
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
Economy recovering thanks to stimulus, exports, output: BOJ
By TAKAHIRO FUKADA
Staff writer

The Bank of Japan upgraded its assessment of the economy on Thursday after noting that public works spending is continuing to increase in conjunction with upticks in exports and production.

The central bank's eight-member Policy Board also voted unanimously to keep the key interest rate unchanged at around 0.1 percent.

Japan's economic conditions are showing signs of recovery," the central bank said in a statement, revising its assessment from last month, when it said economic conditions "have stopped worsening."

Public works spending is on the increase, and exports and production are also rising against a backdrop of progress in inventory adjustments both at home and abroad, and a recovery in overseas economies, especially emerging ones, the central bank said.

The BOJ repeated its expectation that the economy will start recovering in the latter half of this fiscal year.

Minoru Nogimori, an economist at the Nomura Securities Financial Economic Research Center, agreed with the BOJ's latest assessment.

"The upward revision is appropriate," Nogimori said. He also acknowledged that production and exports are improving.

But Nogimori had a different take on the outlook.

"The economy will start slowing from around the October-December period," he said. "Since it will take time for the U.S. and European economies to pick up, Japan's exports could slow," Nogimori said.

A possible reduction in this fiscal year's extra budget, to be made by the new administration, could put downward pressure on the economy, he said.

Payrolls and investments in plant and equipment will likely need to be slashed further, which will have some negative impact on the economy, Nogimori speculated.

To get the economy back on track, Nogimori said that the Hatoyama administration should implement economic measures when the economy worsens.


[BUSINESS NEWS]
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
Big firms' sentiment turns positive
Kyodo News

Business sentiment at large firms re-entered optimistic territory in the July-September quarter, climbing to its most highest since 2007 amid strong signs of recovery in manufacturing, a government survey said Thursday.

The index of business conditions at companies capitalized at 1 billion or more came to plus 0.3, compared with minus 22.4 in the April-June quarter, according to the Cabinet Office and Finance Ministry survey conducted Aug. 25 on 11,543 companies.

It is the first time the industrywide index has been in positive territory in seven quarters, and the second-highest margin of rise since the survey adopted its current format in April-June 2004.

The index is refreshed every three months by subtracting the percentage of firms reporting deteriorating business conditions from those reporting improvements.

In the three months to September, the index for big manufacturers stood at plus 15.5, following minus 13.2 the previous quarter and an all-time low of minus 66.0 in first quarter 2009.

Business conditions for automakers and companies producing consumer electronics products have improved significantly due to huge government spending on stimulus programs, a Finance Ministry official said.

Business confidence among large firms is projected to improve further in the months ahead. The confidence index is at plus 4.9 for the October-December quarter and plus 4.4 for the first three months of 2010.

For large manufacturers, the index reads plus 13.9 for the next quarter.

The index for large nonmanufacturers was minus 8.6 in the July-September period, an improvement from minus 27.8.

The latest results increased hope that the Bank of Japan's next "tankan" business sentiment survey will reveal a similar trend. The BOJ survey, the most closely watched of its kind, is due out Oct. 1.

Still, the latest government survey indicated that an improvement in employment won't be seen for some time.

The job environment index at large companies in all industries was minus 9.6, compared with minus 11.7 in April-June.

The index for manufacturers stood at minus 18.9, compared with minus 25.1 in the previous quarter, while the index for nonmanufacturers worsened to minus 4.3 from minus 4.0.

The survey also showed that firms in all industries project a 23.1 percent cut in capital investments in the first six months of fiscal 2009.

news20090918gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Heathrow third runway]
Economic case for Heathrow third runway flawed, figures show
Critics say the new figures show the government's support for the new runway is a 'sham' and have demanded that plans to expand the airport are scrapped
David Adam, environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 13.39 BST Article

The economic benefits of a third runway ay Heathrow will be almost wiped out by the increased costs to the environment, analysis by the Liberal Democrats shows.

The government's own figures suggest that ministers have underestimated by several billion pounds the financial impact of the extra greenhouse gases produced by a third runway at the airport.

Critics say the new figures show the government's support for the new runway is a "sham" and have demanded that plans to expand the airport are scrapped.

Simon Hughes, energy and climate change spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, which carried out the analysis, said: "It is time for the government to come clean on Heathrow. Ministers know the economic rationale for a third runway is a sham because their own figures prove it. By giving the green light to a third runway, the government has allowed hundreds of thousands more flights, creating a climate change disaster."

Ministers announced the Heathrow expansion plan in January, which could add another 220,000 flights a year at the west London site. The government said the climate change costs associated with the project would be £4.8bn through to 2080, which it said would leave an overall benefit to the UK economy of £4.4bn to £5.2bn. But the Liberal Democrats say this calculation was based on out-of-date figures.

The government said the extra flights would generate 181m tonnes of carbon dioxide to 2080. To work out the associated cost, it used guidance issued in 2007 from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the "shadow price of carbon". This was intended to account at the planning stages of new projects for the damage caused by extra pollution, at a price of £25 per tonne of CO2 produced. This calculation produced the £4.8bn climate cost, which still allowed for a healthy profit.

The Lib Dems repeated the calculation using revised guidance on CO2 costs published this summer by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc). The Decc figures allow for increased costs over time, with the damage caused by a tonne of carbon dioxide rising to £70 in 2030 and £200 in 2050. The Lib Dems assumed a similar onward rate of increase, giving a carbon cost of £648 per tonne by 2080.

Using the Decc figures to repeat the government's calculation gives a new overall climate cost of £9.3bn to 2080, an increase of £4.5bn, which swallows almost all of the expected profit.

The Department for Transport admitted it has not yet used the revised Decc figures to recalculate its sums. In a written answer to a parliamentary question from Hughes, Chris Mole, parliamentary undersecretary at the department, said: "No revised net present value estimate for a new runway and terminal at Heathrow airport that takes account of the new carbon values published in July 2009 by Decc are available. Preliminary work since the January Heathrow decision indicates that the economic case for Heathrow's third runway is robust to the new carbon values."

Hughes said: "The government's ability to show leadership on reducing emissions is fatally undermined when it follows catastrophic policies like the third runway at Heathrow and a new generation of coal power stations. It cannot hope to meet its carbon reduction targets when it is wedded to high polluting industries like these. While the Liberal Democrats have long campaigned against a third runway, the Tories are wavering on airport expansion and Labour are ploughing full steam ahead."

Andrew Simms of the New Economics Foundation (NEF) said: "Coming up with the shadow price of carbon is really like trying to hit a moving target but this seems entirely reasonable."

In January, the NEF accused the government of "fantasy economics" to support Heathrow expansion. It argued the true environmental cost of the extra runway could be as high as £20bn, because carbon emissions released at altitude do more damage than those on the ground. Simms added that the "demonstration effect" could add to the effective carbon footprint of an expanded Heathrow, by setting an example to other countries that large, carbon-intensive development is acceptable.

The government says that aviation will account for up to 29% of UK carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 if all other industries meet CO2 reduction targets.

Lord Soley of Hammersmith, the campaign director of Future Heathrow, a coalition of businesses, trade unions and the aviation industry that supports expansion at Heathrow, said: "The British Chambers of Commerce estimates that the value of a third runway at Heathrow is £30bn, and the cost of delaying this decision further is £1bn of lost productivity every year. The UK has an important choice at Heathrow: to let the relative decline of our global connections continue, or to reinforce our competitiveness."


[News > Politics >Conservatives]
Lord Strathclyde severs links with oil trader Trafigura after waste scandal
David Leigh and Rob Evans
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 21.49 BST Article history

The leader of the Conservative party in the Lords, Lord Strathclyde, is to sever his links with the controversial oil traders Trafigura.

Evidence was disclosed in the Guardian today that the London-based firm has carried out a huge cover-up of its role in an African waste-dumping scandal.

Strathclyde said: "I've read today's stories about Trafigura with concern and I am making inquiries about the situation."

He is to leave his post as a non-executive director on the board of Trafigura's hedge-fund arm, Galena Asset Management, which pays him an undisclosed fee.

Strathclyde said today that he had already intended to stand down from Trafigura and all his other business roles by the end of the year "in preparation for the forthcoming general election".

A second senior Tory, former minister Peter Fraser QC, has now registered on the register of Lords interests that he is being paid by Trafigura. This follows a formal complaint by Lib Dem Norman Lamb.

Internal emails published by the Guardian revealed that Trafigura, whose traders declared $440m profit last year, knew its oil waste was highly toxic, before hundreds of tonnes of it were dumped around the west African city of Abidjan, in Ivory Coast. The company has now agreed to pay compensation to more than 30,000 inhabitants who say they were injured by toxic fumes.

Greenpeace in the Netherlands, where Trafigura has a holding company, have launched a legal action in Amsterdam calling for the firm to be prosecuted for manslaughter or grievous bodily harm, quoting documents they say detail the waste's toxicity. Trafigura continues to deny its waste could cause "serious" injury.

In November 2006, the firm's directors anticipated the prospect of litigation against them over the waste dumping.

Strathclyde had since 2004 sat as a non-executive director on the board of Galena, which shares directors with the oil-trading operation and is based at the same London office block, Portman House, near Marble Arch. He was asked for assistance in dealing with the controversy, and recommended Fraser. Trafigura hired Fraser to write "an independent report", also for an undisclosed fee. Fraser says he accepted the job on a similar basis to that of Lord Woolf, the retired lord chief justice, who was paid £6,000 a day by BAe, to write a report on allegations of bribery.

Woolf declared his BAe work on the Lords' register, but Fraser initially decided not to do the same over Trafigura. Asked if it was appropriate to take the job, considering Trafigura's chequered history, including US penalties for involvement in Iraqi sanctions-busting, he said: "I know of nothing of Trafigura's other activities, as that falls well outside the terms of my remit."

Strathclyde said yesterday that he was not involved in any way in Trafigura's oil operations. "I sit as an independent non-executive director on the board of Galena Asset Management Ltd, a British registered company, regulated by the FSA, specialising in managing funds in metals based commodities of which Trafigura is the shareholder. The businesses are run separately and Galena has no involvement in any of the allegations made today.

"I have already indicated that I will be giving up my non-parliamentary business roles around the turn of the year, in preparation for the forthcoming general election in 2010."

news20090918gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Climate change]
Green groups urge next government to make environment highest priority
WWF, Friends of the Earth and RSPB among those launching manifesto ahead of next year's election
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 September 2009 11.09 BST Article history

Cutting carbon emissions and restoring the natural world must be given the "highest priority" by the next government, the UK's leading environment groups urged today as they unveiled a manifesto for the coming election.

The green groups want the UK to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2020, higher than the 34% the government has signed up to, ban coal-fired power plants and end airport expansion.

The political parties are also being urged to commit to restoring the natural environment — including doubling the amount of woodland in the UK, providing green areas for people close to where they live and creating "high quality landscapes" which are rich in nature and able to cope with climate change.

The 10-point manifesto launched by the environmental groups today also includes measures on a nationwide housing re-fit to boost energy efficiency and calls on the UK to provide a fair share of money needed to help poor countries move to a low carbon economy, adapt to climate change and stop deforestation.

The green organisations want each of the political parties to back their "common cause declaration" which would make tackling climate change and environmental protection the "highest priority" of the next parliament.

It also commits the parties to taking action immediately on global warming, and to working to protect the UK's natural environment.

Stephen Hale, director of Green Alliance, said on behalf of all the groups: "Action in the next parliament is critical if we are to simultaneously reduce our CO2 emissions whilst improving the resilience of our natural environment to avoid the looming crises of food, energy and water shortages by 2030.

"It's now or never. Support for the common cause declaration will be the threshold for credibility at the next election on environmental issues."

The groups making the call ahead of the party conferences are: Green Alliance; Friends of the Earth; the Woodland Trust; WWF; the Wildlife Trusts; the RSPB; the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Greenpeace.


[Business > Airline industry]
Adonis defends aviation industry over emissions
Transport secretary says it is 'perfectly credible' for airlines to continue to expand as new technology to control their carbon emissions becomes available
Dan Milmo and Abhinav Ramnarayan
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 19.21 BST Article hist
ory

The government has defended aviation's growing contribution to greenhouse gas emissions following last week's warning that the industry will be the biggest contributor to global warming in the developed world by 2050.

Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, said other sectors such as car manufacturers could lower their carbon dioxide output more easily and argued that it was "perfectly credible" for airlines to continue expanding as new technology becomes available.

The Committee on Climate Change, the government's advisory body on global warming, portrayed aviation as the laggard in the emissions reductions race last week after calculating that the industry will account for a quarter of the carbon dioxide generated in developed countries in 2050, against 1.6% currently. Airlines would be the biggest emitters even if they met a tough UK government target of limiting their 2050 emissions to below 2005, the commission said.

"The reason why aviation will achieve a higher proportion [of CO2 emissions] is that it is harder to replace the carbon impact of aviation than it is in other sectors," said Lord Adonis.

Speaking at an Aviation Club lunch in London, he added that new technology and the emergence of biofuels would help offset the environmental cost of expanding the industry, which is expected to double in the UK to 465 million passengers per year by 2030.

The committee raised doubts last week that aircraft manufacturers and airlines could fund the research and development needed to produce more carbon-friendly jets and engines.

But Lord Adonis said there was a "growing confidence" that the industry could lower its emissions significantly with technological breakthroughs. "It is perfectly credible that we can have growth in passenger numbers at significant levels," he said.

One of the two major aircraft manufacturers, Airbus, forecast a 2% dip in passenger traffic this year as the recession hits demand. The European company also predicted that sales would be flat next year and that order cancellations and deferrals were likely over the winter as airlines struggled for cash. "We are expecting some airlines to say 'we would love to have the aircraft, but we haven't got the money,'" said John Leahy, chief operating officer of Airbus.

However, the expected 2% drop in demand is much more positive than projected figures released by the International Air Transport Association (Iata), which said the industry could see a £16.9bn loss in 2008 and 2009, with passenger numbers falling 4%. Leahy said Airbus was more optimistic because Iata figures did not take budget and domestic airlines into account.

Airbus bosses expect to deliver 480 aircraft in 2009, the same as last year, but think new orders will be at the lower end of the 300-350 projection made earlier this year.

Leahy also said that he did not expect last week's interim report by the World Trade Organisation on Boeing's complaint that Airbus was receiving unfair levels of EU aid and subsidies to have any effect. "I see on no impact on the A350 programme, we already have 500 firm orders for all three models," Leahy said.

Airbus's global market forecast says it expects that 25,000 new passenger and freight aircraft will be sold between 2009 and 2028 at a value of $3.1tn (£1.9tn). This compares with last year's forecast of 24,300 new planes for $2.8tn in the 20 years to 2026.

Asia, which currently accounts for 26% of the global airline market, would drive this growth. China and India are projected to be among the top five countries in terms of passenger aircraft demand, fuelled by the booming domestic air travel business in those two countries.

news20090918gdn3

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Carbon emissions]
Scotland unveils world's first carbon budget
The Scottish government estimates spending on core services will lead to the release of 11.5m tonnes of carbon dioxide
> Datablog: get the numbers behind this story
Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 18.16 BST Article history

Scotland today unveiled the world's first "carbon budget" to link greenhouse gas emissions with government spending, revealing that its plans will emit the equivalent of four coal-fired power stations next year.

The Scottish government has estimated that its spending next year on £33bn worth of core services such as hospitals, schools, roads, local government and farming, will lead to the release of 11.5m tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The "carbon budget" is being claimed as another world first by ministers in Edinburgh, after the Scottish parliament set the first legally binding CO2 reductions target of 42% by 2020 in a climate act in June. The UK Treasury has no plans to follow suit but officials in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are closely watching the Scottish government's efforts.

John Swinney, the Scottish finance secretary, said these estimates would be used eventually to test the environmental impact of government spending, allowing ministers to weigh up individual policies and award contracts on how much CO2 they would emit.

Officials said the goal would be to use carbon emissions to help decide which contract or policy to follow, alongside its cost and quality.

"It is vital to have analysis available to help inform critical decisions on how to take appropriate action during these challenging economic times," Swinney said. "It will form part of an important discussion taking place across our nation about the carbon implications of activity across the economy and across society."

Environment groups have applauded the new measurements, but urged ministers to introduce much more detailed assessments of each spending decision, particularly on transport and housing. Swinney has yet to set a target date for detailed measurements.

Elizabeth Leighton, of WWF Scotland, said ministers had to make that a priority. "They urgently need to apply this appraisal to individual projects and individual policies, so that we know early on the carbon implications of their decision-making, so we can choose the low-carbon option."

Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green party leader, was scathing about the government's failure to include car and lorry emissions, which equal 10.5Mt, from the section on roads in the carbon assessment. The budget said spending on new motorways and trunk roads would only release 213,000tns.

"Are we really to believe that the total carbon impacts from roads will be just half that of the Scottish public pensions agency?" Harvie said.

Environment campaigners remain highly critical of many Scottish National party policies, particularly on transport and housing, arguing they undermine the minority SNP government's commitment to renewable energy. The SNP has authorised extending the M74 motorway through southern Glasgow, has promised new roads, backs a new coal-fired power station at Hunterston, supports expanding several airports and has relaxed planning laws for opencast coal mines. Scotland also has weaker planning laws on energy efficiency for new homes than apply in England.

Swinney also announced that a £170m rail link to Glasgow airport had been cancelled, to help meet a £500m drop in Treasury funding next year due to UK-wide spending cuts. The SNP also dropped a £500m rail link to Edinburgh airport two years ago.

The budget estimates that the £11bn spending on health services in Scotland would release 3.5Mt of CO2; local council spending of £11.6bn would lead to 4.3Mt of CO2; finance and sustainable growth spending of £4.9bn would result in 1.7Mt of CO2.

Agriculture and forestry, which only has a budget of £587m, would release the greatest amount of CO2 for every pound spend, at 0.56Mt of CO2, partly because of emissions from livestock.

Swinney and his officials admit the current carbon budget is based on estimates and will be refined over coming years. Although it fails to includes "secondary emissions" such as car usage of roads, it does include the indirect emissions of public sector workers from their own lifestyles and commuting and emissions from the supply chain.

The total estimate accounts for only 14% of Scotland's total carbon emissions, and the devolved government only has control over 30% of those total emissions. The UK government and European Union oversees the policies and areas for the remaining 70%, such as fuel duty, air taxes and funding green energy investments.


[Environment > Climate change]
China's top climatologist stays cool over 2C rise
It is too early to determine the level of meteorological risk posed by global warming, says the director-general of the Beijing Climate Centre
Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 15.48 BST Article history

A 2C rise in global temperatures will not necessarily result in the calamity predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), China's most senior climatologist has told the Guardian.

Despite growing evidence that storms in China are getting fiercer, droughts longer and typhoons more deadly, Xiao Ziniu, the director general of the Beijing Climate Centre, said it was too early to determine the level of risk posed by global warming.

"There is no agreed conclusion about how much change is dangerous," Xiao said. "Whether the climate turns warmer or cooler, there are both positive and negative effects. We are not focusing on what will happen with a one degree or two degree increase, we are looking at what level will be a danger to the environment. In Chinese history, there have been many periods warmer than today."

The IPCC warns a 2C rise substantially increases the risks of floods, drought and storms.

Whether a 2C rise turns global warming into global burning has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in advance of the Copenhagen summit.

The G8 and EU want the world to set 2C as a ceiling by 2050, but China is sceptical. A senior government adviser said yesterday that the target of two degrees was unrealistic and would not give developing nations room to grow.

Xiao said China had started its own climate modelling programme for the next 100 years aimed at predicting the point when global warming will result in environmental collapse.

His centre will also release yearly climate predictions for China. Even with weather satellites and sophisticated simulation software, Xiao is not overly optimistic about accuracy the initial results.

"Climate prediction has only come into operation in recent years. The accuracy of the prediction is very low because the climate is affected by many mechanisms we do not fully understand."

China's growing influence in climate studies was recognised this year when the World Meteorological Organisation selected Beijing as a co-host of the Asian Climate Centre. Alongside Tokyo, it will be responsible for monitoring and predicting changes in weather patterns and their impact on natural disasters, water resources and soil quality.

Even at current levels of warming, the centre has collected a strong body of evidence that climate change is wreaking havoc in China.

A report provided by the centre to the Guardian shows rainfall coming in shorter, fiercer bursts, interspersed by protracted periods of drought, particularly in the north. Water supplies have been badly affected. The Yellow river watershed has suffered a continuous drought since 1965 and it is getting worse, it said. Almost half the serious droughts of the past 60 years have occurred since 1990.

"Due to climate change, drought disasters come more frequently and across a wider area," the report noted.

Since 1950, Beijing has had an average of 36 rainy days a year, but not once in the past decade has that figure been reached. In 2007, the northernmost province of Heilongjiang reported a summer drought, which is almost unheard of in what is usually a flood season. Glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate.

A ferocious storm on 10 May this year broke records in Gaoqing, Shandong, with nearly 19.7cm of water dumped from the skies in one day. On the edge of the Gobi desert in Xilin Haote, Inner Mongolia, 5.6 cm of rain fell on 27 June 2008 – the most since a monitoring station was established in the area fifty years earlier.

Summer is coming earlier and hotter across swaths of the North. Of the many records broken this year, the most dramatic was in Shijiazhuang Hebei where the temperature soared to 30C on 17 March, more than six degrees higher than the previous high for that day.

Near the border with Siberia, the counties of Yilan and Yichun have experienced the hottest May in history and searing heat of more than 40C is now commonplace in many areas of the north.

"I think it is the responsibility of scientists to have a sense of crisis. We should study whether climate change threatens human survival," says Xiao. "But I believe humans are wise creatures. With wisdom and effort, we will prevent disaster. There is always hope."

Founded in 1995 as a national level organisation, the centre's 150 staff compile data from four Chinese weather satellites, thousands of national monitoring stations and a regional network of meteorological organisations.

news20090918gdn4

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Fishing]
Measures to protect Mediterranean tuna are failing, report warns
Confidential papers show how fishing boats in the region routinely fail to follow regulations put in place to protect tuna stocks
David Adam, Environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 16.43 BST Article history

Measures to protect dwindling stocks of bluefin tuna fish in the Mediterranean have failed to curb illegal fishing practices, leaked papers show.

The Guardian has been passed a confidential report of a French navy inspection of the tuna fishery, which shows how fishing boats in the region routinely fail to follow regulations put in place to protect stocks. Conservation experts say the report shows that existing controls are not enough to save the species and that wider measures are needed.

The disclosure comes in advance of a European commission vote on Monday on whether to support moves to list bluefin tuna as an endangered species under the UN agreement Cites, which would bring an immediate ban on its trade.

Sergi Tudela, head of fisheries at WWF Mediterranean, said: "This report speaks of the real situation of the fishery, more than any paper measures that remain largely unapplied. It is evident that the bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean is still entirely out of control and illegal fishing continues unabated. Management measures adopted for the fishery are not only well below the standards requested by urgent scientific advice, but even so they are not even implemented in the field."

Stocks of bluefin in the Mediterranean - where they spawn before heading into the Atlantic - collapsed during the 1990s, driven by demand for sushi, for which their tender flesh is highly prized. Numbers are now reckoned to be below one-fifth of what they were in 1970.

The remaining fish are supposed to be protected by a intergovernmental body called the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which regulates catches and fishing activity. The organisation has been consistently criticised by scientists and conservation groups for setting quotas above sustainable levels and ignoring expert advice.

The French navy report describes a surprise inspection of the tuna fishery in the eastern Mediterranean by patrol boat Arago in May this year. The navy inspected 24 vessels from Turkey, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus involved in "purse seine" fishing for bluefin, a practice where fishermen use giant nets to herd the fish towards shore, where they are transferred to shallow water pens for fattening.

The report strongly criticised the Turkish fishing fleet. It says: "The Turkish didn't seem to apply the regulations. Registration documents were either not filled in or simply did not exist. There are no ICCAT observers in the purse seiners or the vessel is simply not registered with ICCAT."

Under ICCAT rules, each vessel over 24m needs to carry a regional observer to be allowed to work the fishery.

The Arago report says they found only one observer across the fleet, and raised question marks about his honesty. "After the inspections he would find all sorts of explanations or false arguments to try to justify noncompliance with ICCAT recommendations. Moreover, the estimations of the amount of fish in the cages given by him were on average 10-times lower than those estimated by the divers of the Arago."

In all, the Arago report details 22 breaches of ICCAT regulations, including fishing without licenses, poor or absent record keeping and taking fish below the allowed size.

Tudela said: "The risk situation reported for the bluefin tuna breeding stock is higher than ever. This is inevitable given the huge overcapacity of the industrial fleet targeting the stock. To break even, this giant fleet needs to overfish. The only option to save the stock and the fishery is to temporarily close the fishery, to create conditions for a sustainable fishery and to allow the stock to recover. A ban of international trade under Cites is essential to cut the main driver of overfishing. We want to see a sustainable fishery in the future, but to allow that we must give tuna a breather."


[Environment > Wind power]
World's biggest offshore windfarm launched … eventually
Fritz Schur, chairman of Dong, said his firm would triple its production capacity of clean energy by 2020
Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 17.42 BST Article history

The world's largest offshore windfarm was inaugurated in the North Sea today – with a high-profile display of the intermittent nature of this power source.

Danish Crown Prince Frederik pressed the button to start the Horns Rev 2 project, which uses 91 turbines to generate enough green power for 200,000 households.

But an industry audience brought together in a civic centre to watch the opening via a videolink with the 209MW windfarm, watched in silence as the turbines failed to turn.

Half a minute later as a breeze developed and the first blade slowly began to rotate, there were cheers of relief as much as joy from executives of the developer, Dong, and its guests.

Horns Rev 2, 30 kilometres (16.2 nautical miles) off the coast of Jutland, Denmark, is the largest offshore windfarm but its position will be eclipsed when the Greater Gabbard field comes on stream in Britain followed later by the much larger London Array.

The 3.5bn kroner (£420m) development has some extra significance because it has been put together by a Danish oil company.

Fritz Schur, chairman of Dong, said his firm would triple its production capacity of clean energy by 2020. "Establishing Horns Rev 2 is an important milestone in Dong Energy's gradual transition from conventional to green power generation," he said.

Critics of wind power complain that it is unreliable because of the intermittent nature of wind. But wind executives say this will only be a problem if it replaces most other energy sources. Even then they believe that other forms of clean energy can be used to take up the slack via a much-vaunted super grid to link the whole of Europe's electricity supply.

Niels Bergh-Hansen, head of wind power at Dong, shrugged off the slow start at Horns Rev 2. "The turbines are very heavy and it always takes time to get started. I had faith in the team out there and never doubted it would work fine."

news20090918nn

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 17 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.926
News
Volcanoes stirred by climate change
Impact of global warming on geological hazards 'poorly understood', experts warn.
By Katharine Sanderson

Geologists are desperately trying to gather data in an attempt to understand how global warming will affect violent geological activity.

As increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels warm the planet, the problems associated with melting ice won't just raise sea-levels; they will also uncap volcanoes. But just when and how these unstable magmatic beasts will blow in a warmer world is hard to predict.

"The fact is we are causing future contemporary climate change. [Geological hazards are] another portfolio of things we haven't thought of," says Bill McGuire from the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre at University College London. He organized a meeting of volcanologists and oceanographers at the university on 15–17 September to draw attention to the problem.

On thin ice

A priority is to develop global models of how changes in the climate bring about changes in geological activity, and how those processes feed back into the system. At present, such models just don't exist, says David Pyle, a volcano expert from the University of Oxford, UK, who spoke at the meeting.

{“As thick ice is getting thinner, there may be an increase in the explosivity of eruptions.”
Hugh Tuffen
Lancaster University}

The problem is complex, exacerbated by the difficulty of separating forcing by the climate from the effects of a volcanic eruption — aerosols emitted by an eruption will have consequences for atmospheric chemistry, which in turn affect the climate. "The complex consequences of volcanic activity for the atmospheric biosphere remain poorly understood," Pyle says.

But there is definitely some evidence that less ice means more dramatic eruptions. "As thick ice is getting thinner, there may be an increase in the explosivity of eruptions," says Hugh Tuffen from Lancaster University, UK. Tuffen has spent time in many countries, including Iceland and Chile, studying volcanoes. The effects of climate change over the next 100 years will be different for different volcanoes, he says, and much more data are needed if we are to understand what those effects might be. But such data are not trivial to collect: volcanoes are isolated, dangerous places for field trips.

Data deficiencies

For example, in Iceland at the end of the last deglaciation period, about 11,000 years ago, there was a huge spike in volcanic activity that is now thought to be due to meltwater flooding the area. In Icelandic volcanoes, the ice provides a protective cap that, when removed, makes the magma below the surface decompress much faster than is already occurring through normal geological movement. The steady state that usually exists is lost, making eruptions faster and more explosive. There is not much delay between the climatic change and the volcanic eruption in these cases, says Tuffen.

But in the Andes the volcanoes are different. They have magma chambers beneath them. As the ice melts, again the protective cap is lost. This also looks to have caused an increase in volcanic activity in the past, but because the magma chambers are up to 5 kilometres deep, it is unclear just how quickly volcanism increased after the thaw, says Sebastian Watt, who works with Pyle at Oxford University.

Watt has collected data from 32 volcanic centres in Chile to try to come up with a more general trend for the acceleration of volcanic activity. He has used radiocarbon dating to work out the ages of various rock samples and from this has mapped when and where volcanoes across the spine of South America erupted over the past 18,000 years. Unfortunately, a geological cold snap has destroyed much of this evidence. "Dating is a problem; there is a shortage of radiocarbon data," says Watt.

Unclear threat

Tuffen warns that lives could be at risk. In Chile, at Nevados de Chillán, an area that seems particularly susceptible to climate change, local geologists were incensed, he says, when a ski resort was built close to a volcano.

Tony Song from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has modelled a hypothetical scenario in which melting could trigger a huge underground landslide, causing an enormous glacial tsunami. "As ice sheets melt more quickly than thought, these should be thought of more," says Song.

"We still don't really know what the threat over the next 100 years will be," says Tuffen. "I don't think we should be scaremongering, we should be thinking about hazard mitigation."

McGuire agrees. "The IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] hasn't addressed these kinds of hazard," he says. "You have a better chance of coping with any kind of hazard if you know it's happening," he adds. "Climate change is not just the atmosphere and hydrosphere; it's the geosphere as well."


[naturenews]
Published online 17 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.925
News
Wanted: a chief scientist for Europe
Commission president pledges to hire top adviser.
By Alison Abbott

President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has promised to create a position for a European chief scientist and to review the way the Commission uses scientific advice — a move welcomed by researchers.

Barroso made the pledge in a speech on 15 September at the opening of the newly elected European Parliament, which yesterday also voted to extend his office for a second term.

"In the next Commission, I want to set up a chief scientific adviser who has the power to deliver proactive, scientific advice throughout all stages of policy development and delivery," he said.

Barroso also said that he would set up a Commissioner for Climate Action ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December — a move that would, he said, "send an important signal to the world that, independent of the level of ambition that comes out of Copenhagen, Europe is serious about maintaining momentum for action".

The creation of the chief scientist post would "reflect the central importance I attach to research and innovation", he added. Barroso will oversee a new Commission which takes office in January.

{“If the post is created properly it will be a great thing for Europe.”
Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker
uman Frontier Science Programme Organisation}

European scientists have been quick to approve Barroso's intention, but caution that care must be taken to ensure that the incumbent does indeed have the appropriate power and status to be able to do a successful job — something that is not easy to achieve in the complex political and administrative machineries of the European Union.

"The chief scientist should be able to sit in meetings with not only the Commission president and the Commissioners, but also the director-generals who have considerable independence in administering the individual directorates," says Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, former secretary-general of the European Research Council who is now secretary-general of the Human Frontier Science Programme Organization in Strasbourg, France.

"If the post is created properly it will be a great thing for Europe," he says. "Science creeps into all areas of policy and you need a strong personality to ensure that everything can be coordinated."

The European Research Area Board (ERAB), a foresight committee of high-level scientists and research policy-makers that was created last year, is also to propose a chief-scientist position in its first report, due to be published on 6 October.

ERAB chairman John Wood, head of the faculty of engineering at Imperial College London, says Barroso's proposal is "really pleasing". The EU needs a "strong, identifiable, independently-minded person with the authority to speak for science in Europe", he says.

Such a person should be able to make a television appearance the moment something scientifically important happens — such as an outbreak of infectious disease, or when there is a political debate with scientific content such as genetically modified crops, he says. "In a sense, this person would be the scientific conscience of Europe."

news20090918sa

[Environment] from [scientificamerican.com]

[Biology > Aiternative Energy Technology]September 17, 2009
Oil Rig of the Future: A Solar Panel That Produces Oil
Researchers propose a novel approach to producing biofuel using diatoms
By Saswato R. Das

BANGALORE, India—In the ongoing hunt for alternative fuel sources that are also cost-effective, researchers are looking into making biofuel from genetically engineered diatoms, a type of single-celled algae with shells made of glasslike silica.

These microscopic plants, commonly observed as a brown skin coating submerged stones in rivers and lakes and as phytoplankton in seas and oceans, typically contain oil droplets inside their cells. The oil is a food source for the plants in lean times. Scientific analysis of diatom oil has shown that it is very suitable for use as biofuel, says T. V. Ramachandra, a professor of ecological sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here who is working on this project with IISc researchers Durga Mahapatra and Karthick Balasubramanian, along with Richard Gordon, a radiology professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnepeg.

Sitting in his book-lined office in a leafy corner of the IISc campus in Bangalore, Ramachandra proposes it might just be possible "to milk diatoms for oil just as we milk cows." He and his colleagues have been talking about a solar panel that could extract this oil instead of producing electricity.

The oil can be as much as a quarter of the total mass of a diatom cell, and if a way could be found to efficiently wrest it from diatoms, he adds, a hectare of "diatom cultivation could produce 10 to up to 200 times the oil that is produced by soybean cultivation," Ramachandra says. (This estimate has been borne out by other, independent research groups, as well.)

The researchers propose creating a biological solar panel, which will contain diatoms instead of photovoltaic cells. Diatoms would float about in a nutrient-rich water solution and produce oil when exposed to sunlight. Diatoms already secrete silica by exocytosis—a biological process by which cells direct secreted material outside the cell walls. If diatoms could be made to similarly secrete the oil they produce, then it could be easily harvested. (Because the oil is used as a reserve nutrient—like fat—diatoms have evolved no mechanism to secrete it.)

New diatom species

Diatoms may have other advantages when it comes to oil production. They multiply rapidly—some species double their biomass in as little as five hours. Diatoms are also quite numerous, with the estimated number of species exceeding one million. "There are 2,500 species of diatoms in India alone," says Balasubramanian, who is writing his doctoral thesis on these algae. He discovered three new species in India while hunting for those with the most oil content.

Ramachandra and his colleagues propose to genetically modify diatoms by manipulating the genes that produce oil so that they enhance its production. "It may be possible to genetically engineer diatoms so that they exocytose [release] their oil droplets," the researchers wrote in a paper outlining their thoughts, published in a recent issue of the American Chemical Society's journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research: "This could lead to continuous harvesting with clean separation of the oil from the diatoms, provided by the diatoms themselves."

For instance, the water-based nutrient solution in the solar panel will cause the oil to separate out. Ramachandra envisages a process similar to cream rising to the top in milk.

As he and his collaborators put it, "with at least a boundary layer of water on the diatoms, secreted oil droplets would separate under gravity, rising to the top of a tilted panel forming an unstable emulsion, which should progressively separate. The oil could then be skimmed, very similar to the cream that rises to the top of mammalian milk that has not been homogenized."

Production cost

Many experts are intrigued by this study but point out that it is still too early to know how it will play out. Mark Hildebrand, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, says, "A major consideration" in development of such technology "is the economic costs of production."

To date, models have shown that "the only economically viable way to produce the large amount of biomass required to supplant a large portion of our fossil-fuel needs requires an open-pond system," Hildebrand says. Although he does not discount the value of systems such as proposed by Ramachandra, which could be especially useful for research, he says it's still too early to know.

"The basic concept is similar to proposing to grow agriculture crops in greenhouses instead of in open fields," he says. "On a large scale, it just costs too much."

Sustainable farming

But Ramachandra insists an advantage of the diatom solar panel is that it can be created and maintained with equipment and methods that are inexpensive. This is different from photovoltaic solar panels, which require sophisticated fabrication facilities, Ramachandra says. In tropical countries like India with an abundance of sunlight, biofuel-producing solar panels containing local diatoms could be placed in every village. Investigation has shown that diatom oil can be used as biofuel without further processing, says Ramachandra—another advantage. A further advantage is that diatoms consume carbon dioxide, so the diatom solar panels would be very sustainable.

So far, the team has cultured and studied different diatoms and explored approaches to genetically engineering them, but has yet to build a solar panel. Nevertheless, corporations such as Hindustan Unilever, Ltd., (the Indian subsidiary of the multinational Unilever) have shown interest by talking to the researchers a number of times.

The next step, Ramachandra says, is to figure out how to implement the diatom solar panel at the lowest possible cost.

news20090918sn

[SN Today] from [ScienceNews]

[SN Today]
Rates of common mental disorders double up
Depression, anxiety and substance abuse may affect many more people than previously thought
By Bruce Bower
Web edition : Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Some mental disorders aren’t merely common—they’re the norm.

Depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol dependence and marijuana dependence affect roughly twice as many people as had previously been estimated, a new study finds. Nearly 60 percent of the population experiences at least one of these mental disorders by age 32, say study directors and psychologists Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi, both of Duke University in Durham, N.C.

That figure probably gets higher by the time people reach middle age, Moffitt suggests, as additional people develop at least one of these four ailments for the first time.

In a paper published online September 1 and in an upcoming Psychological Medicine, Moffitt and Caspi present results from a study of more than 1,000 New Zealanders assessed for mental disorders 11 times between ages 3 and 32. This study took a prospective approach, following people as they aged, and assessed prevalence rates based on long-term data. Moffitt’s team focused most intensely on the period from age 18 to 32, when these disorders first start to appear. Earlier prevalence estimates for mental disorders in the United States and New Zealand relied on self-reports and therefore adults’ ability to remember and willingness to recount their own past emotional problems.

“Like flu, if you follow a cohort of people born in the same year, as they age almost all of them will sooner or later have a serious bout of depression, anxiety or a substance abuse problem,” Moffitt says.

It comes as no surprise that, compared with one-time survey responses, the new prospective study identified considerably more people who have had mental disorders, comments epidemiologist Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medical School. But self-report responses remain valuable, he says. Evidence indicates that individuals who report past mental disorders in surveys display an increased likelihood of developing such ailments in the future. Kessler directs ongoing U.S. surveys of mental disorders based on self-reports.

Half of the people diagnosed in the new study had a mental disorder for a relatively short period or in a single episode. Moffitt nonetheless regards these cases as serious, since short-term symptoms often led to work problems, efforts to get mental-health care or suicide attempts.

Among 32-year-old New Zealanders, Moffitt and her colleagues find lifetime prevalence rates of 50 percent for anxiety disorders, 41 percent for depression, 32 percent for alcohol dependence and 18 percent for marijuana dependence. Participants who developed one of these disorders tended to experience others as well, including less-common ones such as eating disorders.

Self-report surveys in the United States (SN: 6/11/05, p. 372) and New Zealand have found lifetime prevalence rates for common mental disorders that are about half as large as those in the new investigation.

A long-term study of 1,400 North Carolina children tracked into young adulthood finds rates of mental disorders comparable to those reported by Moffitt’s team, according to Duke psychologist and study director Jane Costello. Those data have yet to be published.

Researchers generally agree that self-reports underestimate lifetime prevalence rates of mental ailments. Other investigations suggest that many adults forget periods of depression, and even hospitalizations for depression, from earlier in their lives.

Still, some researchers have charged that self-report surveys inflate prevalence rates by assigning mental ailments to many people with mild symptoms of no real clinical concern.

As work intensifies to develop a new diagnostic manual of mental disorders by 2012, Moffitt says the new findings indicate that prevalence estimates for serious mental disorders have been too low, not too high. The upcoming manual, known as DSM-V, is used as the standard for classifying disorders in the United States and some other countries and is published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Higher prevalence rates can be used to support either side of a long-running dispute over psychiatric diagnoses, Moffitt notes. Some researchers see a large, unmet need for mental-health care which leads them to support definitions of certain mental disorders as serious, though not recurring. Others want to narrow DSM definitions in order to avoid labeling temporary emotional woes as mental illnesses.

Jerome Wakefield, a professor of social work at New York University, calls the new report “a watershed and a fundamental challenge to the mental-health field and to DSM, just as it is in a process of revision.”

In Wakefield’s view, current DSM definitions encompass much “normal, often transient, human suffering” that got pegged as mental disorders in Moffitt’s study. Researchers have yet to establish how often temporary distress elicited by life’s misfortunes gets misclassified as depression, he asserts.

Efforts underway to expand DSM-V’s definition of depression “come close to pathologizing the entire population and opening the way for increases in medicating our society,” Wakefield says.

Harvard’s Kessler disagrees. Mental disorders, like physical ailments, range from mild to severe, he says. Accumulating national survey data indicate that “common cold equivalents” in the mental realm, such as relatively mild or brief episodes of depression and specific phobias, often precede more serious mental disorders later in life, Kessler remarks.

“It’s not surprising either that 99.9 percent of the population has some sort of physical illness at some time in their lives or that the majority of people meet criteria for a mental illness at some time in their lives,” Kessler says. Alarm over high lifetime prevalence rates for mental disorders largely reflects stigma attached to these conditions, in his view.

Kessler recommends that DSM-V, unlike its current version, distinguish between mild, moderate and severe forms of what’s known as major depression.

Moffitt notes that money and insurance coverage also drive this debate: “How many psychiatric patients are there? Well, there are as many as America can afford to treat.”

news20090918bbc1

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 12:12 GMT, Friday, 18 September 2009 13:12 UK
N Korea 'ready for nuclear talks'
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has said he is willing to engage in talks on his country's controversial nuclear programme, Chinese state media said.
By No signature

Mr Kim made the offer to the visiting envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao, the Xinhua news agency said.

China has been pressing North Korea to return to international talks aimed at the nuclear disarmament of the North.

The North pulled out of multilateral talks after international condemnation of a missile launch in April.

Sanctions

Kim Jong-il told the envoy, Dai Bingguo, that "North Korea will continue adhering towards the goal of denuclearisation... and is willing to resolve the relevant problems through bilateral and multilateral talks," Xinhua said.

The statement follows one from Washington last week that the US was prepared to talk directly with North Korea in order to resume stalled negotiations that also take in China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

{NUCLEAR CRISIS
Oct 2006 - North Korea conducts an underground nuclear test
Feb 2007 - North Korea agrees to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for fuel aid
June 2007 - North Korea shuts its main Yongbyon reactor
June 2008 - North Korea makes its long-awaited declaration of nuclear assets
Oct 2008 - The US removes North Korea from its list of countries which sponsor terrorism
Dec 2008 - Pyongyang slows work to dismantle its nuclear programme after a US decision to suspend energy aid
Jan 2009 - The North says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the South, accusing it of "hostile intent"
April 2009 - Pyongyang launches a rocket carrying what it says is a communications satellite
25 May 2009 - North Korea conducts a second nuclear test}

The US has previously said it will not tolerate a nuclear North Korea.

Mr Dai has been accompanied on his trip to Pyongyang by Beijing's chief envoy to the six-party talks.

On Wednesday, they met North Korea's lead man on nuclear negotiations, Kang Sok-ju.

North Korea pulled out of the six-party talks in April after criticism of the long-range rocket launch.

In May, the North said it had staged a second "successful" underground nuclear test, saying it was more powerful than a test carried out in October 2006.

Mr Kim's statement is the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures that some analysts say is designed to relieve pressure on North Korea since the UN passed fresh sanctions in response to the nuclear test.

But the positive noises have been mixed with more threats, including a statement earlier in September that North Korea was in the final stages of enriching uranium and was continuing to reprocess and weaponise plutonium.

The North says that it remains under military threat from its historic rival, South Korea, and South Korea's allies, primarily the US.

But North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least six nuclear bombs.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 11:08 GMT, Friday, 18 September 2009 12:08 UK
Suu Kyi appeal ruling next month
A Burmese court will give its verdict on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal against her extended house arrest next month, her lawyers said.
By No signature

Government and defence lawyers made their final arguments in a Rangoon hearing that was closed to Ms Suu Kyi.

She was found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest after a US intruder stayed at her home.

Ms Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further 18 months' house arrest, which will keep her out of elections next year.

She has already spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.

Prisoner amnesty

Her appeal hearing came a day after Burma's military rulers announced they would grant amnesty to more than 7,000 prisoners.

They were expected to be released on Friday to mark the 21st anniversary of the seizure of power by the military junta.

Twenty political prisoners are reported to be among those to be released, including two prominent members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and two journalists jailed for their reporting of Cyclone Nargis last year.

Human Rights Watch has reported that the number of political prisoners in Burma has doubled in two years, to 2,200.

Burma has been ruled by its military since 1962. The NLD won elections in 1990 but the military never allowed it to take power.

Meanwhile, there have been at least seven explosions in the northern part of Burma's main city, Rangoon.

A Burmese official said there was minor damage but no casualties.

Information coming out of Burma is tightly controlled by the military government and there has been no indication of who may have been behind the blasts.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 11:01 GMT, Friday, 18 September 2009 12:01 UK
HK banker jailed for insider deal
A Hong Kong court has sentenced former Morgan Stanley managing director Du Jun to seven years in prison after his insider trading conviction last week.
By No signature

Du was also fined $3m (£1.8m) in what has been the most high-profile case of its kind in Hong Kong.

The sentence was the maximum and comes amid a crackdown on financial crime.

He was found to have made $4.3m from trading stock in a Chinese state-owned investment firm while advising it on the acquisition of a Kazakh oil field.

"This sentencing sends the strongest possible message to anyone tempted to commit an insider dealing offence in the future," said Mark Steward, the executive director of enforcement for Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).

Du's conviction is the 10th for insider trading since March this year.

Du bought $11m of stock in Citic Resources while advising the company on the purchase of an oil field in Kazakhstan.

He sold half the stock for a $4.3m profit after the deal was announced.

Citic Resources is an arm of China's largest state-owned investment company, Citic Group.

Du was convicted of nine counts of insider trading and one of advising his wife to deal in shares of Citic Resources.


[Asia-Pacific > Business]
Page last updated at 08:21 GMT, Friday, 18 September 2009 09:21 UK
Japan upbeat on economic recovery
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has given an upbeat assessment of the Japanese economy and hinted it may soon withdraw some emergency support measures.
By No signature

Along with other central banks around the world, the BOJ has been pumping money into the economy to help stimulate demand.

The bank said that keeping these measures in place too long could hinder an "autonomous recovery."

On Thursday, the bank said the economy was showing signs of improvement.

The Japanese economy emerged from recession in the second quarter of this year after four consecutive quarters of deep contraction.

Despite the comments, leading Japanese stocks slipped slightly after consumer lender Aiful said it would ask creditors to let it delay repayments of around 280bn yen ($3.1bn; £1.9bn).

The main Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.7%.

'Autonomous recovery'

Deputy governor of the BOJ Hirohide Yamaguchi said the economy was now entering a positive cycle.

The improved outlook meant that the bank could now consider winding up some of the measures it has been using to pump cash into the economy, by buying up company debt, for example.

"What we do with these special measures should be decided in line with the degree of improvements in corporate finance and market conditions," said Mr Yamaguchi.

"We need to pay heed to the risk that keeping these steps in place for long could hamper an autonomous recovery in market functions and distort distribution."

He also said that the pick up on the global economy is "expected to continue for some time."

On Thursday, the BOJ decided to keep interest rates at 0.1%. It also said that a stronger yen could support the Japanese economy in the long run, despite it making exports more expensive.

The yen is up 6.7% against the dollar since June but, earlier this week, Japan's incoming finance minister said he opposed intervention in the currency market.

The Democratic Party of Japan was voted in at the end of August, ending 54 years of near unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.

news20090918bbc2

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[South Asia]
Page last updated at 13:29 GMT, Friday, 18 September 2009 14:29 UK
Carnage in Pakistan market attack
At least 33 people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide car bomb attack at a village market in north-west Pakistan, police say.
By No signature

The explosion is said to have taken place at a busy intersection close to the garrison town of Kohat.

Most of the dead are said to be members of the Shia Muslim minority. The area has a history of sectarian tension.

A little-known militant group calling itself Lahskar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi says it carried out the attack.

It says the attack was in revenge for the death of a prominent religious leader, Maulana M Amin, who was killed in Hangu in June.

Correspondents say the group is likely to be linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni extremist group which has links to the Taliban.


{ ANALYSIS
Aleem Maqbool, BBC News, Islamabad
The Taliban operate widely in Kohat and had at one point warned barber shops in the area to stop giving, what they described as, un-Islamic haircuts.
Pakistan's army has since carried out major operations against the Taliban in the North West of the country and last month a US drone strike killed the Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
But there are signs that the Taliban is trying to reassert itself under its new leader Hakimullah.}

Astarzai village, where the blast took place, has a substantial Shia population and is close to the Orakzai tribal region, a stronghold of the Taliban's present chief.

Hakimullah Mehsud took over as the leader of the Pakistani Taliban - a Sunni group - after his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed by a US missile strike.

The head of Astarzai's village council told the BBC that it was still waiting for machinery to help lift the debris and pull out bodies.

"The blast took place at 11am, and now it's 5pm, but there is still no shovel or crane available to lift the debris or pull out dead bodies.

"People are doing it with their bare hands," Mehtabul Hasan told the BBC.

Police officials said that not all of the bodies had been identified because of the extent of the injuries.

Thronged with shoppers

The car bomb was detonated close to a hotel owned by a Shia Muslim businessman.

A local police official told the AFP news agency: "Dozens of shops were destroyed. Their roofs caved in and many people were trapped under the debris."

Television footage from the local hospital showed bloodied and bandaged patients being treated by medical staff.

"I was standing in front of my shop when all of a sudden, a car blew up outside a restaurant," Sohail Ahmed told AFP from his hospital bed.

At the time of the explosion, the area was reported to be thronged with shoppers buying supplies for the weekend and for iftar, the break of fast during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Astarzai lies 18km (11 miles) west of Kohat, where a bomb was detonated on Thursday wounding at least six people.

{ NORTH-WEST PAKISTAN BLASTS
18 September: At least 25 people killed in a suicide bombing at a market in the north-west
30 August: Suicide bomber kills 14 police recruits in Swat valley
27 August: 22 police guards killed at checkpoint on Afghan border
14 August: Seven killed in market blast in Dera Ismail Khan
5 June: Mosque blast kills at least 38 in Upper Dir district
20 February: Dozens of Shias killed in market bombing in the north-west}

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that Sunni Taliban militants in the area have carried out frequent attacks on minority Shias.

Sunni Muslims account for around 80% of Pakistan's population and are the dominant group in the tribal areas.

Pakistan's army has been bombing Taliban hideouts in Orakzai for the past month, correspondents say.

There were reports of more aerial bombings in the area on Friday morning, shortly before the bomb attack.

The last month has seen a series of major militant attacks on targets across the NWFP.

On 30 August a suspected suicide bomb in Pakistan's north-western Swat valley killed at least 14 police recruits and injured others.


[Europe]
Page last updated at 15:13 GMT, Friday, 18 September 2009 16:13 UK
Nato chief reaches out to Russia
Nato's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called for a new strategic partnership with Russia.
By No signature

In his first major foreign policy address as Nato chief, Mr Rasmussen called for a "joint review" with Moscow of global security challenges.

Mr Rasmussen was speaking in Brussels after the US announced it was shelving plans for controversial missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

He urged the US, Nato and Russia to study a joint missile defence system.

"We should explore the potential for linking the US, Nato and Russia missile defence systems at an appropriate time," he said.

"I would like Russia and Nato to agree to carry out a joint review of the new 21st Century security challenges, to serve as a firm basis for our future co-operation."

The former Danish prime minister, who took over as Nato's head in August, also called for Moscow's co-operation on Afghanistan and Iran.

A revitalised Nato-Russia Council would provide "a forum for serious dialogue", he said.

Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to Nato, welcomed Mr Rasmussen's remarks as "very positive, very constructive".

Pressure on Iran

Nato-Russia ties improved after the end of the Cold War but deteriorated as the 28-nation alliance expanded to take in former Soviet bloc countries, and suffered greatly after Russia's brief conflict with Georgia in 2008.

Mr Rasmussen called on Moscow for a "genuine new beginning in our relationship, in our own interests and that of the entire international community".

｛There is no reason to fear these (missile defence) plans will weaken the defence of any ally
Anders Fogh Rasmussen｝

Referring to the US missile defence rethink, he said "the new plans will make capabilities ready sooner than the previous plans and will provide us with broader coverage".

"There is no reason to fear these plans will weaken the defence of any ally.

"Improved relations between Nato and Russia will also be to the benefit of our eastern allies," he said.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday welcomed President Barack Obama's shift in US missile defence strategy as a "correct and brave" decision.

Russia had long objected to plans pursued by the administration of former President George W Bush to base a missile interceptor system close to its borders.

After the US decision was announced on Thursday, Mr Rogozin said Moscow would not deploy short-range missiles in its Baltic enclave Kaliningrad.

"If we have no radars or no missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland, we don't need to find some response," said the envoy.

Afghanistan co-operation

Mr Rasmussen said tackling the proliferation of ballistic missile technology was in the fundamental strategic interests of both Nato and Russia.

｛ ANALYSIS
BBC Europe correspondent Jonny Dymond
In the medium and long term, the new secretary general wants to reinvigorate the Nato-Russia council and carry out a joint review of the strategic security challenges.
In the short term, he wants to deepen co-operation in a wide range of areas.
Perhaps most eye-catching was the prospect Mr Rasmussen raised of the US, Nato and Russia working together on missile defence.
When asked for detail after his speech he demurred, saying that the specifics were beyond him.｝

Russia should put "maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear aspirations", he added.

There should also be more co-operation over policy on Afghanistan, which was important for both Moscow and Nato, he said.

Asked about Nato expansion, Mr Rasmussen said Georgia and Ukraine would become Nato members as and when they satisfied the necessary criteria, but added that Moscow should not see that as a threat.

"We have to provide an atmosphere and security environment within Europe within which the open-door policy can continue, while at the same time ensuring Russia does not feel threatened."

His speech showed that Nato realises it needs to come up with a new strategic concept and essentially reinvent itself, says the BBC's defence and security correspondent, Nick Childs.

"In that sense it's generally agreed that having Russia as a partner on broad global security concerns is better than having new divisions," says our correspondent.

"But just how to put that into practice, and overcome the obstacles that are clearly still there, is a question that still has to be answered."

news20090918bbc3

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 07:01 GMT, Friday, 18 September 2009 08:01 UK
Kim Jong-il meets top China envoy
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has met the visiting envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao, official media from the two countries have reported.

China has been pressing North Korea to return to international talks aimed at the nuclear disarmament of the North.

It pulled out of multilateral talks after international condemnation of a long-range missile launch in April.

The US has said it is prepared to talk directly with North Korea in order to resume the stalled negotiations.

The Chinese envoy, Dai Bingguo, delivered a letter to Mr Kim from Hu Jintao, North Korean state radio said.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao is expected to visit North Korea in October, in what would be the highest-level visit to the North since it held its second nuclear test in May.

{ NUCLEAR CRISIS
Oct 2006 - North Korea conducts an underground nuclear test
Feb 2007 - North Korea agrees to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for fuel aid
June 2007 - North Korea shuts its main Yongbyon reactor
June 2008 - North Korea makes its long-awaited declaration of nuclear assets
Oct 2008 - The US removes North Korea from its list of countries which sponsor terrorism
Dec 2008 - Pyongyang slows work to dismantle its nuclear programme after a US decision to suspend energy aid
Jan 2009 - The North says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the South, accusing it of "hostile intent"
April 2009 - Pyongyang launches a rocket carrying what it says is a communications satellite
25 May 2009 - North Korea conducts a second nuclear test}

That test provoked a new round of sanctions against North Korea.

On Wednesday, Mr Dai met North Korea's lead man on nuclear negotiations, Kang Sok-ju, accompanied by Beijing's chief envoy to the six-party talks that also include South Korea, Japan and Russia.

The US said last week that it was prepared to hold direct talks with North Korea to persuade it to return to the stalled six-party talks.

No date for such talks has been announced.

The US has previously said it would not tolerate a nuclear North Korea.

In September 2005, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear programmes in exchange for aid in a deal decided between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US, beginning the six-party process.
But since then, the talks have stalled over the failure of Pyongyang to verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear plant.

In May this year, the North said it had staged a second "successful" underground nuclear test, saying it was more powerful than a test carried out in October 2006.

The North says that it remains under military threat from its historic rival, South Korea, and South Korea's allies, primarily the US.

North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least six nuclear bombs. Earlier in September, the North said it had entered the final phase of uranium enrichment, which would give it a second way to make a nuclear bomb.


[Middle East]
Page last updated at 11:54 GMT, Friday, 18 September 2009 12:54 UK
Rally 'attack' on Iran opposition
Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has come under attack in Tehran during an annual rally in support of Palestinians, reports By No signature

Mr Mousavi was forced to leave the rally for Quds Day after an attack on his car, official news agency Irna reported.

In a separate incident ex-President Mohammad Khatami was knocked to the ground, a reformist website reported.

Thousands have taken to the streets of Tehran for the rally.


{ ANALYSIS
BBC former Tehran correspondent Jim Muir
In the absence of unfettered reporting, it's hard to get an accurate picture of the scale of the opposition turnout in the Jerusalem Day marches, and the seriousness of the ensuing clashes and incidents.
But the impression is that the event did not see the re-ignition of the opposition cause and the launching of a dynamic new phase in its career, over two months after it was last able to make a show of strength on the streets.
Reformist opponents of the controversially re-elected President Ahmadinejad seem to have been massively outnumbered by system loyalists eager to demonstrate their support for the president and his patron, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Initial reports of skirmishes, beatings and arrests did not speak of massive confrontations but minor incidents involving small numbers of people.}

Iranian authorities had warned the opposition not to stage anti-government protests during Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

The rallies are held nationwide every year on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Protesters shouted slogans in support of Mr Mousavi, a key opponent of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during the rally.

Mr Mousavi was defeated by the president in June's disputed presidential election.

Although it is an officially sponsored occasion, opposition leaders who have continued to reject the re-election of Mr Ahmadinejad had called on their followers to turn out.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps said it would deal "decisively" with any effort to stage an opposition protest.

There have been mounting calls in hard-line circles for opposition leaders to be prosecuted, and predictions from reformists that they could be arrested soon, says the BBC's former Tehran correspondent Jim Muir.

Ahmadinejad speech

The day began peacefully with thousands of Mr Ahmadinejad's supporters marching along roads in central Tehran.

{POST-ELECTION EVENTS
> 12 June: Millions vote in presidential election. Turnout put at 85%
> 13 June: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared winner with 62.6%. Rival candidates challenge the result and allege vote-rigging
> Mass opposition protests in days that follow. At least 30 people are killed and 4,000 arrested
> 19 June: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backs the result and warns against further protests
> 1 Aug: Trials begin of hundreds arrested over the unrest. Senior opposition leaders among the defendants
> 5 Aug: President Ahmadinejad sworn in for second term
Police and security troops were present.}

According to Reuters news agency there were clashes between Iranian police and protesters as the march progressed, with some arrests.

Reformist website Parlemennews.ir reported that Mr Khatami was pushed to the ground, and his turban knocked off, before police intervened.

Mr Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at Tehran University in which he criticised the creation of Israel, and reiterated his claims that the Holocaust was a "myth".

For the past 30 years, the sermon on Jerusalem Day has been given by the former President, Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Our correspondent says Mr Rafsanjani is normally regarded as a pillar of the Islamic power system, but he quietly sympathises with the opposition.

This year he has been stood down in favour of a hard-line preacher.

In the aftermath of the election, there was a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters, with a number of deaths and hundreds of people arrested.

news20090918reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS}

[Green Business]
World climate business revenue $2 trillion by 2020: HSBC
Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:11am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Global revenues from climate-related businesses such as energy efficiency rose by 75 percent in 2008 to $530 billion and could exceed $2 trillion by 2020, HSBC Global Research estimated on Friday.

In the 2006 Stern Review on the economics of climate change, climate-related revenues were forecast to climb to $500 billion by 2050.

"We can see that this seemingly huge figure has already been surpassed well ahead of time as more and more businesses adapt their business model," said Joaquim de Lima, global head of quant research for equities at HSBC.

The climate sector has surpassed the size of the global aerospace or defense industry, with the United States, Japan, France, Germany and Spain accounting for 76 percent of global climate revenues, the report found.

For revenues to rise to $2 trillion, the way energy is generated and used needs to change and continued government support is needed.

The four core investment pillars will be low-carbon energy production, energy efficiency, control of water, waste and pollution and climate finance, the report said.

Energy efficiency recorded the highest investment returns in the year to date at 30 percent, followed by carbon finance at 24 percent.

"This is a very significant trend given the substantial share of climate stimulus funds that have been directed at energy efficiency and energy management by governments across the globe," HSBC analysts said.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Anthony Barker)


[Green Business]
Green energy on a roll but experts warn of bubbles
Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:01pm EDT
By Martin de Sa'Pinto

GENEVA (Reuters) - Investors betting on renewable or clean energy and related green themes are looking for healthy and sustainable returns, but the road is full of pitfalls for the unwary, investment managers warned on Thursday.

Attendees at the Jetfin Green 2009 alternative investment conference in Geneva heard that some alternative energy sources are now in a position to compete with more established sources, even in the absence of government subsidies.

"Renewable energy technologies are at a point where they are cost competitive with the grid, Copenhagen aside," said Walther Lovato, a portfolio manager at California-based asset manager Passport Capital.

He was referring to a summit to be held in Copenhagen in December, when world leaders will attempt to agree a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012, potentially leading to more subsidies for green energy.

At present government expenditure and subsidies are already a significant driver of the alternative energy industry.

"Some $500 billion has been focused on alternative energy... with a growing emphasis on energy efficiency," said Sandy Christie of BlackRock Investment Management, UK.

The focus on efficiency was not always there. As recently as 2008 the U.S. Congress voted to continue levying tariffs on imported ethanol and subsidizing domestic ethanol production from corn, in spite of data showing that production was more expensive and the fuel less efficient than sugar-based ethanol.

But ever since it became clear that subsidies could not create a profitable business, U.S. producers such as Pacific Ethanol have been shunned by investors.

Indeed most investors said they now avoid companies which rely on government support and warned that investors can get burned when subsidies distort views of a company's viability.

For example, solar industry experts blamed Spanish subsidies of photovoltaic cells for pushing up prices. The solar industry increased production to meet demand, but when the subsidies were withdrawn, demand for the cells fell and prices collapsed.

With prices continuing to weaken, shares at even large and profitable solar companies such as Suntech Power and First Solar have underperformed the broader market.

SOME FROTH

Fund managers warned that bubbles tended to develop when investment themes begin to gather speed, and green investing was no exception.

"We saw an ethanol bubble and a biofuels bubble a few years ago and we've just seen a solar bubble," said Roland Pfeuti, head of private equity at SAM, owned by Dutch asset manager Robeco.

Fund managers said these bubbles were fueled by "hot" money, when speculative investors piled into popular investment themes in the hope of making a quick profits, but sell out quickly when these fail to materialize.

Even so, the financial crisis has killed off many of the weaker companies, with only the financially viable and those able to raise cash in challenging market conditions surviving, and many are now poised for profitability, said one conference attendee.

Christie was one of many managers who favored wind energy, which he described as "cost competitive and scaleable," and solar energy where module production costs and prices had come down to viable levels.

Fund of funds managers and other end investors said they had increased or intended to increase their allocations to financially viable green themes, which were no longer a marginal asset class.

"The trend toward green investing is completely irreversible," said Tim Mockett, managing director of the property team at UK-based Climate Change Capital.

"We call it the new mainstream."

(Editing by David Cowell)


[Green Business]
U.S. climate bill could cut GDP 3.5 percent by 2050
Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:03am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The climate change bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives would reduce the gross domestic product of the United States by as much as 3.5 percent in 2050, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.

The Democratic-controlled House passed landmark legislation in June aimed at slashing industrial pollution that is blamed for global warming.

"Reducing the risk of climate change would come at some cost to the economy," the CBO said in a reported posted on its website on Thursday.

The report concludes that if cap and trade provisions of the bill are implemented, the measure would reduce the gross domestic product by between 1 percent and 3.5 percent below what it otherwise would have been in 2050.

"By way of comparison, CBO projects the real inflation-adjusted GDP will be roughly two and a half times as large in 2050 as it today, so those changes would be comparatively modest," the report said.

The House bill requires that large U.S. companies, including utilities, oil refiners, manufacturers and others, reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases associated with global warming by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, from 2005 levels.

A "cap and trade" program designed to achieve the emissions reductions by industry is at the core of the bill. Under the plan, the government would issue a declining number of pollution permits to companies, which could sell those permits to each other as needed.

Climate change legislation still must pass the Senate.

Republicans lawmakers have denounced the 1,500-page measure as a "job-killing bill" that would neither help the environment nor improve an economy reeling from a deep recession.

(Writing by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Anthony Boadle)


[Green Business]

Southern Co coal-to-gas technology heads to China
Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:41pm EDT

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Southern Co said on Thursday that a Chinese utility will utilize its coal-gasification technology at an existing power plant to produce low-emission electricity.

The technology, called Transport Integrated Gasification, or TRIG, has been under development for the past decade by Atlanta-based Southern Co, KBR Inc, the U.S. Department of Energy and other partners at an Alabama research facility operated by Southern.

Under the terms of a technology licensing arrangement, the companies will provide Beijing Guoneng Yinghui Clean Energy Engineering Co Ltd with licensing, engineering and equipment to use the TRIG design at a 120-megawatt power plant operated by Dongguan Tianming Electric Power Co Ltd in Guandong Province of the Peoples Republic of China, according to a release.

Southern said this will mark the first commercial implementation of the TRIG technology, an advanced integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) design that converts coal to synthetic gas that can be stripped of pollutants before being burned in a combustion turbine to produce electricity.

"China's rapid growth vividly demonstrates the global need for advanced technologies to ensure reliable, affordable and cleaner supplies of energy," said Southern Co Chief Executive David Ratcliffe in a statement.

A Southern Co unit, Mississippi Power Co, also plans to use the TRIG technology at a 582-MW IGCC plant proposed in Kemper County, Mississippi, where plans call for sequestration of 65 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by the plant.

At the Chinese facility, TRIG technology will be added to an existing gas-fired, combined cycle plant so that it can use synthetic gas from coal as its fuel to replace fuel oil, the release said. Commercial operation is expected in 2011.

(Reporting by Eileen O'Grady; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

news20090918reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
EU worries U.S. Senate dragging its feet on climate
Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:30pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The EU ambassador to the United States said on Thursday that any delay by the U.S. Senate that pushes action on climate into next year could subject the country to the charge that domestic politics will always trump its international commitments.

Such a move would postpone the formation of an overall U.S. climate plan until after a U.N. climate meeting in Copenhagen in December, when 190 countries hope to craft a new treaty to fight greenhouse gas emissions.

"If this were to happen it would open the United States to the charge that it does not take its international commitments seriously, and that these commitments will always take second place to domestic politics," John Bruton, the EU's ambassador to the United States, said in a press release.

He said asking an international conference "to sit around looking out the window for months, while one chamber of the legislature of one country deals with its other business, is simply not a realistic political position."

The United States is the top greenhouse gas emitter after China.

U.S. Democratic senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry are writing climate legislation and hope to unveil it this month after two delays.

They are building on a bill passed narrowly in the U.S. House of Representatives in June that aims to cut U.S. emissions 17 percent under 2005 levels by 2020.

President Barack Obama wants quick congressional action on a bill. Earlier on Thursday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama will continue to work with the Senate to make sure it addresses climate change.

But several Democratic senators have questioned whether it is possible to vote on a climate change bill this year, with healthcare reform taking up so much time.

In addition some lawmakers from agricultural and heavy coal-burning states oppose the bill, saying it would raise energy prices. It is unclear whether the Senate has the 60 votes needed to pass the bill this year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is also taking steps on greenhouse gases, including setting efficiency standards for automobiles, in case the bill dies in the Senate. The EPA action is seen as a way to spur the legislation along.

A possible delay in the Senate measure is not the only hurdle for a new global climate pact.

Many climate experts say a lingering divide between rich countries and poor ones on how to share the burdens of taking action on climate change could delay a full agreement until after the Copenhagen meeting.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Xavier Briand)


[Green Business]
Sempra Energy unit invests in BP wind farm
Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:41pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A unit of Sempra Energy said on Thursday that it is investing in a 200 megawatt wind farm that a unit of BP is developing in Indiana, marking the company's first operating wind-farm investment.

Sempra Generation said it has become an equal partner with the project's developer BP Wind Energy. The company did not disclose financial terms.

Construction has started on the venture, called the Fowler Ridge II Wind Farm, in Benton County, Indiana.

The 200-MW facility is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2010. It expands on Fowler Ridge I, a 400-MW wind farm that started operating in March. Together the projects will make up the largest wind farm in the U.S. Midwest, generating 600 MW.

Sempra Generation operates natural gas-fueled power plants for the U.S. market and is in the process of developing solar and wind projects.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee, editing by Phil Berlowitz)


[Green Business]
Tucson Electric to buy solar power in Arizona
Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:36pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tucson Electric Power, a unit of UniSource Energy Corp, agreed to buy power from two solar energy systems to be built in Arizona that would generate enough electricity for more than 6,000 homes, the company said in a release late Wednesday.

The facilities include a 25-megawatt photovoltaic array and a 5 MW concentrating solar power plant. Both would be completed by January 2012.

Tucson Electric, which serves about 400,000 customers in Arizona, agreed to buy power from both systems for 20 years. The project developers can use the 20-year purchase agreements to secure financing.

A spokesman for Tucson Electric said the company did not disclose the terms of the agreements.

Using industry estimates, a photovoltaic system would cost about $6,000 per kilowatt, or about $150 million for a 25 MW system, while a solar thermal system costs about $5,000 per kilowatt, or about $25 million for a five MW system.

By comparison, it costs about $700 per kilowatt to build a natural gas plant.

Fotowatio Renewable Ventures will own and operate the 25 MW facility, which will be nearly twice as large as Fotowatio's 14 MW system at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Tucson Electric said the Nellis facility was currently the biggest solar power system in the nation.

Bell Independent Power Corp will own the five megawatt system, which will use rows of parabolic troughs and a heat-transfer and storage system to create pressurized vapor used to drive a turbine.

STATE APPROVAL NEEDED

Tucson Electric planned to seek state approval for the solar contacts soon since the utility plans to recover costs from customers.

The Tucson Electric spokesman said power from the solar facilities would cost more than the utility's current power purchase costs.

Power from fossil fired power plants was currently less than the solar facilities because natural gas was cheap. Natural gas prices however are very volatile - prices were over $13 per million British thermal units last summer and under $3 a couple weeks ago.

In the future, if gas prices rise (prices are mow over $3) and the federal government imposes greenhouse gas mandates limiting carbon dioxide emissions from coal and natural gas-fired plants, power from the solar facilities could cost less than power from fossil facilities, the spokesman said.

The utility planned to recover part of the cost of the solar contracts as purchased power the same as it recovers power from fossil plants and the rest from a surcharge created to support the state's renewable mandates.

The state wants utilities to increase the amount of power from renewable sources up to 15 percent by 2025.

The 25 MW system would avoid production of more than 48,000 tons of CO2, while the five megawatt system will offset more than 16,000 tons of CO2, the company said in the release.

To meet the renewable mandate, the spokesman said Tucson Electric and its sister company, UniSource Energy Services, have sought more solar power through a request for proposals.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Christian Wiessner)


[Green Business]
Austrian shop turns trash into bespoke designs
Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:38am EDT
By Petra Spescha

VIENNA (Reuters) - In Vienna's design shop Gabarage, customers can rifle through trash, pick what they like to create their own individual bag; unique in color, size, form and applications.

"It is not at all easy, but it is a lot of fun," said 25-year-old Sophie Schauerhofer, poring over piles of used plastic covers, old computer chips, Plexiglas and discarded X-rays for her customized "gaba bag."

All the single pieces of waste Sophie chooses are put together by the creative team of "gabarage upcycling design."

"Upcycling stands in contrast to recycling," Daniel Strobel explains the core of the project helping to prepare disadvantaged people for the labor market. "We upvalue products innovatively, instead of just reusing them."

Gabarage also says companies can give them their residual material or industrial waste which they turn into ecologically sustainable design pieces and commodities -- for company employees as incentive goods, or for the workshop's showroom, where customers can also buy prefabricated pieces.

Petra Riess, the owner of a creative agency, has opted for a yellow kindergarten bag for her son Anton and a flower pot made out of an old football.

"I take great pleasure in the football as I always look for special things like these," she says while stowing her shopping in a paper bag made of old movie posters.

Will she tell others about her new exclusive objets?

"Of course not," she said laughing, "Or else everybody will have the same!"

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Hungarian monks turn abbey green with biomass plant
Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:34am EDT
By Marton Dunai

PANNONHALMA, Hungary (Reuters) - The Abbey of Pannonhalma celebrated its millennium in 1996. The monks never looked back, and already have the next 1,000 years in mind.

Before winter sets in, the picturesque hilltop Abbey will get its own heating plant that runs on wood refuse from a nearby forestry and plant debris from local farms. It will nearly halve energy costs while cutting fossil fuel usage.

"We will eliminate the need to burn natural gas in all but the coldest days of the year," said chief architect Sandor Beck, pointing at the concrete skeleton of the plant. "We will put solar panels on the roof, and even collect and use rainwater."

The plant is just the sort of power supply - small, local and renewable - that experts say is best for sustainable energy. Still, similar projects are rare, reflecting problems with Hungary's EU commitment to green power. The European Union has set out to increase the share of renewables in its energy mix to 20 percent by 2020. Member states share that commitment to varying degrees; Hungary must increase its own eco-energy total to 13 percent from the current 5 percent. Hungary's Energy Ministry expects more than two-thirds of that growth to come from new biomass plants - those that burn exactly the kind of fuel as the Pannonhalma monks will.

So far, Hungary has deployed biomass on a large scale, converting coal-burning electrical plants to accept wood fuel as well. But the transition has reached its limits, as experts say biomass is inefficient when burned for electricity production.

"Its efficiency is dismal. Three quarters of the energy goes to waste," said Gyorgy Szerdahelyi, head of the energy ministry's renewables unit. "To improve, each plant should sell the heat, too, but few have customers for it so far."

"Also, a steady supply of fuel would mean burning wood from forests," Szerdahelyi said. "But people don't like the idea of increased logging, although we grow more than enough wood."

Not surprisingly, applications for new biomass plants have dried up in recent years. Many of the last few were denied permits. Six projects got the green light. One has come online.

"Local energy production is nowhere near the level it could be at," said Katalin Varga, a renewables expert at the nonprofit Energia Klub, blaming convoluted regulations for the lag.

"It's very difficult to satisfy all permission criteria and every authority," she added. "Many investors get scared off."

The monks of Pannonhalma could vouch for that. It took them the better part of two years to get the paperwork in order for the 366 million forint ($2 million) project.

Once done, they erected the building in five months.

RAINWATER FOR LAVENDER

The project focused on heating, which is very economical to produce. The investment pays for itself in about eight years, while the boiler is calibrated for 25 years.

Producing hot water is next, Beck said. They will solve that soon. Electricity, however, is mostly beyond their reach.

The monks plan to cover the roof of the biomass plant, as well as the visitor center, with solar panels -- but that will not producer nearly enough, never mind cheap, electricity.

Solar energy is hardly viable without state subsidies, and the government is uneasy about pouring more money into it.

"We need to focus our efforts where they make most sense," said the ministry's Szerdahelyi. "Currently that's with wind."

Hungary plans to spend heavily on wind power, increasing its current capacity fivefold by 2020; but the Abbey, with its limited space and protected views, is unlikely to participate.

Instead, they will go even greener by recycling almost all of their waste, or using rainwater at their herb farm.

"We need soft water to make our lavender products," Beck said. "Rainwater from the roof of the heating plant is perfect for that. We've already bought the containers to collect it."

(Reporting by Marton Dunai, editing by Paul Casciato)