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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment >Copenhagen climate change summit 2009]
EU says rich states must pay up to save climate agreement
José Manuel Barroso outlines what is needed for an agreement on global warming at Copenhagen
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
The Guardian, Friday 25 September 2009 Article history

The EU set aside diplomatic language and issued a bare-boned challenge to industrialised countries to come up with the cash developing countries need to deal with climate change today.

The unusually blunt language from the European commission's president, José Manuel Barroso, on what was needed for an agreement on global warming at Copenhagen was delivered as leaders began arriving in Pittsburgh for a G20 summit of major economies.

In a speech at Pittsburgh University, Barroso said the industrialised economies would have to make significant reductions in emissions as well as make "a credible financial commitment" to help developing states obtain new greener technology. "In other words, no money, no deal," he said.

But Barroso also said there would be no blank cheques for rapidly developing countries such as India, China and Brazil which need the new technology if they are to avoid huge increases in future greenhouse gas emissions.

"If you are serious about the challenge of cutting emissions, we will be there to help, including with financial support. But we need developing countries to contribute to mitigation," he said. "In other words, no action, no money."

Barroso was also scathing about the red tape surrounding the negotiations. "The text that is currently on the table contains 200 pages with a feast of alternatives and a forest of square brackets," he said. "If we do not sort this out, it risks becoming the longest suicide note in history."

Barroso's comments cut to the heart of the standoff between industrialised countries and the emerging economies. An EU official said the comments did not apply to the world's poorest states, which will be most vulnerable to climate change. Funding for those states was "a given".

America and others have been pressing hard for the newly emerging countries to make firm commitments to reduce their future emissions. In his speech to the UN climate change summit this week, Barack Obama delivered a pointed message that the rapidly industrialised states would also have to curb emissions as part of a climate change deal.

The pressure appears to be getting results. China and India earlier this week did offer some pledges of action on climate change, but both fell short on specifics. By making a conditional offer of assistance, Barroso was seen as trying to get them to commit to more specific action.

Environmental organisations praised the statement for its clarity in a negotiation process that has stalled partly because of its own complexity. "They've really got to the crux of the issue: no money, no deal," said Liz Gallagher, the director of climate finance policy for the Catholic charity Cafod.

Barroso's effort to knock heads together may not produce the desired effect. India's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh said it was "not very helpful".

India's climate change envoy, Shyam Saran, agreed with Barroso on the importance of unlocking climate finance, but he said India would not move further on reducing its own emissions.

"We will not be able to talk direct reduction targets of the kind which developed countries are obliged to take," he told reporters. "However that does not mean that India is not taking a number of significant mitigation actions itself."

Barroso's tough talk could also further complicate the discussions on climate finance at the G20. India and China have fought hard to try to prevent the G20 leaders from even taking up the issue of climate finance in their meetings today.

Barroso did not address the other fault line in the negotiations towards a climate change deal at Copenhagen: who will pay to protect the poorest countries that will bear the brunt of climate change. Diplomats say the EU is hoping to build trust by putting together a package of short-term financing to shield these countries from climate change.

The fund, between €5bn (£4.6bn) and €7bn, would be paid out from 2010 to 2012 and would focus on protecting the most vulnerable – low-lying states and island nations such as the Maldives – from rising seas and extreme weather.

The consequences for the most vulnerable states of climate change grew even more stark yesterday with a report from the UN Environmental Programme warning its pace and scale was exceeding even the most definitive predictions made in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007.

Sea levels could rise by as much as 6ft by the end of the century – instead of the 18in projected by the IPCC. The Arctic could be in summer ice-free as soon as 2030 rather than 2100.


[Environment]
World consumption plunges planet into 'ecological debt', says leading thinktank
Consumption exceeds Earth's annual 'biocapacity' today amid warnings of dependence on overseas food and energy
Heather Stewart
The Guardian, Friday 25 September 2009 Article history

Rich consumers are still voraciously gobbling up the world's resources, despite the worst recession in a generation, with their appetite pushing the planet into "ecological debt" from today , according to a report by think-tank the new economics foundation.

This "ecological debt day" marks the point in the year when consumption around the world exceeds the Earth's annual "biocapacity" — so for the remainder of the year, we will be eating into environmental resources that will not be replaced, according to nef's calculations.

Andrew Simms, nef's director, said the deep recession had delayed this "ecological debt day" by only 24 hours compared with last year, when it fell on 24 September. He warned that as G20 leaders gather in Pittsburgh to discuss global finance, there is a risk that the world economy will be kick-started again, without learning the lessons of the "consumption explosion".

"Debt-fuelled over-consumption not only brought the financial system to the edge of collapse, it is pushing many of our natural life support systems toward a precipice. Politicians tell us to get back to business as usual, but if we bankrupt critical ecosystems no amount of government spending will bring them back," he said.

In the UK, nef warns of increasing dependence on overseas energy, declining self-sufficiency in food, and the proliferation of "boomerang trade" — sending goods to foreign markets and receiving almost identical items back.

The research also underlines the yawning gap between the energy consumption of the world's poorest people, and the rich. Just 7% of the global population produces 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. A typical American will by 4am on January 2 have produced as many emissions as a Tanzanian generates in a year.

Nef argues that while the arrival of reliable electricity and other energy resources could bring enormous improvements in life expectancy and quality of life in developing countries, when consumption increases above a certain level, it will stop improving people's health or happiness.

Beyond this point, they say, "to increase human well-being, the focus should shift away from a quantitative focus on income and consumption, towards more qualitative improvements in the human environment to do with culture, civic, community and family life, long-term learning and those other dimensions that contribute to relatively long and happy lives."

The analysis suggests many countries have passed far beyond saturation point, into wasteful "overconsumption".

In the past 50 years, the report argues, people in the rich world have changed their lifestyles radically, and "in doing so, we have generally assumed that the resources and energy these activities rely on are limitless and cheap." In the 1970s, the average household in the UK had 17 domestic appliances, for example - but that had almost trebled, to 47, by 2006, and is expected to continue rising. Yet in fact, consumption has begun to gnaw away at natural resources at a rate which cannot be sustained.

Concern about the damage caused by the unrestrained pursuit of economic growth echoes a call by President Nicolas Sarkozy last week for politicians to look beyond GDP, to wider measures of the quality of life. Sarkozy published a report from Nobel prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, advocating a broader approach to assessing the health of an economy.

These arguments have been given added urgency by the financial crisis, which undermined the arguments for unfettered consumption-fuelled growth.

"For years, we proclaimed the financial world a creator of wealth, until we learned one day that it had accumulated so much risk that it plunged us into chaos," Sarkozy said last week.

Simms calls for a radical redistribution between the millions of "underconsumers," in the poorest countries, whose lives could be transformed by small amounts of energy a year — and the bloated overconsumers in the rest of the world.

"We need a radically different approach to 'rich world' consumption. While billions in poorer countries subsist, we consume vastly more and yet with little or nothing to show for it in terms of greater life satisfaction. Defusing the consumption explosion will give us the chance of better lives," he said.

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment >Copenhagen climate change summit 2009]
Free runners jump into climate change campaign to encourage world leaders to take giant leap at Copenhagen
Parkour runners to set new record in 100 cities across the world
Adam Vaughan
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 September 2009 12.36 BST Article history

A daredevil sport invented by young men in the Parisian suburbs and glamorised by James Bond's Casino Royale is set to become the latest weapon in climate campaigners' arsenal. Over 3,500 "free-runners" will leap, roll and vault through the urban landscape of 100 cities in 35 countries tomorrow in a record-breaking bid to help push governments intoa tough deal at UN climate change talks in December.

Free-running, or "parkour", involves hurtling over buildings and walls as fast - and elegantly — as possible. The One Giant Leap of simultaneous worldwide parkour "jams" is organised by the campaign group Sandbag and veteran freerunners say the scale of the event is ten times any previous attempt.

Bryony Worthington, Sandbag founder and director, said: "We're asking world leaders to take one giant leap and focus their efforts on agreeing laws that will deliver a real change on the ground — creating massive investment in clean, safe forms of electricity. We'll need clean electricity to heat our homes and power our cars in a low-carbon future."

The jams will take place in cities from San Francisco and Sydney to Jarkarta and Guangdong, with the London meeting starting at 11am on Southbank, an area whose brutalist concrete architecture has made it a popular rendezvous for parkour practitioners, known as "traceurs".

Dan Edwardes, director of educational group Parkour Generations, said: "The largest ever previous gathering was around 300-400 traceurs in France, so there has never been anything like this. We're taking part because parkour is a low-carbon and environmentally sustainable activity."

The parkour movement developed in the 1980s in France and has mushroomed into a global sport with the backing of films and TV documentaries . Stephane Vigroux, one of the founders of free-running who is renowned for his "saut de chat" move - jumping a wall by placing your hands on the top and pushing your legs between your arms - said the movement was well-placed to spread the global warming message to new audiences. "Through parkour you improve yourself as a human being by passing on important messages - such as respecting the environment - to other people," he said.

Naomi Honey, a free-runner in London, added that there were natural parallels between the sport and efforts to reduce emissions: "They're both about efficiency. Parkour is about being efficient with your body – trying to access its full capabilities. You're constantly trying to develop the strength and control and fluidity to enable you to move further, faster and with less effort. The drive against climate change is about the same thing. No one is suggesting that we go back to a world before electricity, just that we make sure we are using everything in the most efficient way."

Last year, Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, called for a "popular mobilisation" of people power to help politicians push through an agreement at Copenhagen. The One Giant Leap event is the latest response from campaigners, following the launch earlier this month of the Guardian-supported 10:10 campaign, which calls on individuals and organisations to cut their emissions by 10% in 2010.


[Environment > Farming]
Loss of soil threatens food production, UK government warns
Defra's chief scientist says safeguarding soil is 'critical' if food production is to increase in the UK in the next 20-30 years
John Vidal, environment editor
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 September 2009 18.00 BST Article history

More than 2m tonnes of topsoil from farms and forests is being eroded by wind and rain each year, jeopardising efforts to increase food production, the UK government said today.

The soil erosion is reducing the amount of food grown, increasing the risk of flooding and undermining efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

UK land has been steadily degraded by 200 years of intensive farming and industrial pollution, warned the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in a major study of soils. But it said the situation is not nearly as bad as in many Asian and African countries, where soil erosion due to overgrazing and poor farming practices is now seriously threatening food production.

New housing and transport infrastructure as well as climate change are all adding to the pressures on soils, explained the environment secretary, Hilary Benn. "Soil erosion already results in the annual loss of around 2.2m tonnes of topsoil. This costs farmers £9m a year in lost production. Climate change has the potential to increase erosion rates through hotter, drier conditions that make soils more susceptible to wind erosion, coupled with intense rainfall incidents that can wash soil away," he said.

British soils contain around 10bn tonnes of carbon, half of which is found in peat habitats. Many of this habitat is under threat from climate change, mining, or poor land management. "Losing this [carbon] store to the atmosphere would create emissions that are equivalent to more than 50 times the UK's current annual greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

Defra's chief scientist, Professor Bob Watson, said safeguarding soil would be "critical" if food production was to increase in the next 20-30 years. "We face many challenges of climate change, we have to produce twice as much food, it needs to be more nutritious, and if we don't take care of our soil and our water, we will not be able to accomplish that task," he said.

The government plans to improve soil conditions by tightening the planning system to make developers take soils into account, encouraging farmers to put back more organic matter back and preventing industrial pollution. Most soils in Britain are degraded by poor land management and the inefficient use of fertilisers, especially nitrogen.

The Soil Association, the organisation that promotes organic farming, welcomed what it said was a recognition thatintroducing large amounts of nitrogen fertiliser was not sustainable in the long term, but said that the government's proposed measures did not go nearly far enough.

"They [the government] will not put right the huge degradation that our soils have suffered over the last 200 years, partly as a result of what the government calls intensive agricultural production. Organic farming should be acknowledged as a key approach to protect our vital soils," said policy director, Peter Melchett.

Kathryn Alton, soil scientist and executive officer of the British Society of Soil Science, said: "The numbers of professional soil scientists in the UK has declined over time in conjunction with the loss of soil science departments. Investment is clearly needed in training soil scientists to meet these future challenges."

news20090925gdn3

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars]
GM to sell cheap electric cars in IndiaUS firm announces joint venture with Reva, the firm behind the G-Wiz, but experts say demand will be low because Indian electricity supplies remain unreliable
Randeep Ramesh in Delhi
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 September 2009 15.36 BST Article history

General Motors, one of the world's biggest carmakers, and the Bangalore-based company behind the G-Wiz electric car have announced a joint venture to produce "affordable" electric cars in India.

The new vehicle, which has been road-tested, will be based on GM's popular Spark hatchback, which in India costs a quarter of a million rupees (£3,000). Neither GM nor its partner, Reva, would be drawn on the electric version's price tag, though both said it would be "competitive and affordable".

GM, which only recently came out of bankruptcy, has developed its own Volt electric-petrol hybrid for sale in 2010 in the US market, and has two car plants in India which can produce 250,000 vehicles a year. But analysts say that the take-up of any new electric model will be in the low thousands unless the Indian government creates a network of charging points.

As an interim measure, say GM executives, charging points could be installed at company dealerships and some petrol pump stations. But experts said an electric version of the Spark would only be attractive to urban drivers who could get reliable supplies of electricity and use the car as a runaround in the city.

Murad Ali Baig, a motoring columnist, said the new GM car would be able to travel "about 200km" without recharging. He added: "Delhi has one electric charging point used by a fleet of buses. There's nothing difficult about setting up a network of such points, but you need politicians to get on with it. In London electric cars get free parking and free power. Any wonder that Reva sells more cars in London than in India?"

Reva said that it had patented a number of new technologies which could assuage some of the concerns. Chetan Maini, Reva's chief technology officer, said: "In our latest models there are even systems where you can send an SMS and we can release a hidden charge remotely to your car, giving you an extra 10km if you are really stuck."

Reva, which styles itself as a technology company, says it also has plans to launch its own new electric car range – aimed initially at the foreign car markets – and has built a new factory able to churn out 30,000 cars a year. The two new models, both hatchbacks, will go on sale for €10,000 (£9,144) and €15,000 next year.


[News > World news > Ireland]
Ireland plans to double plastic bags taxCharge increased to ensure 'sufficient deterrent' to shoppers who arrive at checkout counters with no bags
Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 September 2009 15.58 BST Article history

Ireland has revealed plans to double the tax on plastic bags as a way of protecting the country's environment.

The Irish Republic was the first nation to tax plastic bags, and now Dublin's Fianna Fail-Green party coalition plans to increase the levy to €44 cents (40p) per bag.

The Irish Department of the Environment said the charge would be doubled to ensure a "sufficient deterrent" to shoppers who arrived at checkouts with no bags of their own.

The move comes as part of an environmental bill scheduled to be published next month. The seven-year policy of charging for plastic bags has generated more than €120m (£109m) in tax.

It has also sharply reduced Irish reliance on throwaway bags, the annual use of which once numbered 1.2bn per year – more than 300 bags for every man, woman and child.

The success of the tax has been noted around the world, with countries and communities from Jersey to India considering following the Irish example.

In the three months after the tax was introduced in 2002, shops in the Republic handed out just over 23m plastic bags – about 277m fewer than normal.

Irish shoppers are encouraged to use tougher reusable bags instead, and many retailers give out recyclable paper bags free of charge.

The doubling of the tax will also help Ireland at a time of recession, when the nation's public finances are being squeezed.

Since the plastic bag tax's introduction, some of the revenue has been channelled into local government services which are aimed at improving and protecting the environment.

news20090925nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 24 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.948
News
Battery business boost
University spin-out opens trading as a billion-dollar company.
By Katharine Sanderson

One university spin-out company has suddenly turned investors batty for batteries. A123 Systems, a rechargeable-battery manufacturer founded in 2001 by materials scientist Yet-Ming Chiang and colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, got a flying start to its life as a publicly traded company.

A123, based in Watertown, Massachusetts, first announced its intention to offer public shares in August 2008, with predictions that they would sell for between US$8 and $9.50. But yesterday, they flew off the shelves at $13.50 a share, with around 28 million shares being sold — 3 million more than expected. This bagged the company a cool $380 million ahead of its first day's trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange today. "It's very exciting news," says John Petersen, a lawyer specializing in energy-storage companies at law firm Fefer, Petersen and Cie in Barbereche, Switzerland. "I think the next 20 years are going to be times of immense prosperity for the battery industry," he says.

The cash boost comes shortly after A123 received a $249-million grant in August this year from the US Department of Energy to develop batteries for electric vehicles. The company has also raised more than $350 million in private investments. Add to this the money from the shares, a $69-million investment from General Electric and $100 million in refundable tax credits from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and A123 Systems becomes a billion-dollar company. The firm also applied for a $1.8-billion loan from the US government in January this year, with the intention of building a mass-production facility in Michigan.

"It's a very solid company poised to continue to grow," says analyst Michael Holman from Lux Research in New York. But, cautions Holman, "There are a lot of risks, particularly in the electric-vehicle market for A123."

Charging ahead

The fuss is all centred on lithium iron phosphate, a material used by A123 to make the cathodes in its rechargeable batteries. It was developed by engineer and physicist John Goodenough and his team at the University of Texas, Austin; Goodenough is often credited with inventing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. A123 says that it has developed Goodenough's invention to include nanometre-sized particles of the material. But a dispute over whether the invention is sufficiently different to Goodenough's has landed A123 in a legal battle with the University of Texas over patent rights, which is ongoing.

Lithium iron phosphate is one of a range of rechargeable battery technologies based on materials that contain lithium metal ions as a cathode. These ions carry charge through an electrolyte between the cathode and anode, and it is this ion flow that charges and discharges the battery.

{“There are a lot of risks, particularly in the electric-vehicle market for A123.”
Michael Holman
Lux Research}

The first commercial lithium-ion batteries used lithium cobalt oxide as the cathode and graphite as the anode. These are standard in portable electronics devices, such as laptops and mobile phones, but have some safety problems — battery explosions have occurred because oxygen can be given off quickly. These problems are avoided with lithium iron phosphates. "Compared to the oxides, [the phosphate battery] doesn't release oxygen when the battery is charged. It's much more stable," says Michael Thackeray, a lithium-battery expert from the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

But this added safety comes at a price, with a compromise on energy density. This means that the phosphate batteries don't have the same capacity to store charge as the lithium metal-oxide batteries, which could make them unsuitable for use in fully-electric vehicles, although in a plug-in hybrid vehicle — which uses the battery just to get the car going — they will fare better.

Indeed, in April this year, A123 formed deals with the US car manufacturer Chrysler to make batteries for its electric cars. Other applications for A123 products include batteries for portable power tools and huge batteries to support national electricity grids.

Stanley Whittingham, a lithium-battery pioneer from Binghamton University in New York, says that despite the energy-density problems, lithium iron phosphate batteries are "a success story". Four or five years ago, A123 was "a non-entity", he notes.

Hype or hit?

The phosphate battery material that A123 has its hopes pinned on is one of two main contenders at the moment for electric vehicle batteries, says Peter Bruce, an electrochemist from the University of St Andrews, UK. The other is lithium manganese oxide, which is used in batteries because it can form a specific three-dimensional structure called a spinel. Both technologies are low in cost and safe compared with that used in laptop batteries, Bruce says.

Petersen notes that the current market for lithium-ion batteries is about $7 billion a year.

"If one material wins, then there's a lot of money around," says Bruce.
Meanwhile, Japanese car firm Toyota decided earlier this month that lithium-ion batteries are not yet developed enough to be considered for use in its Prius hybrid electric car, preferring instead to keep using nickel metal hydride batteries.

Holman suggests that despite the interest in and success of A123's public share offer, venture capitalists might still be disappointed by the return on their investment, which for those who sank money initially stands at around three times what they invested. This is much less than a typical venture capitalist's deal, which would seek to get returns on investments between eight and ten times what was invested in the same time period, Holman says. "Once the dust settles and people see the figures, they are going to question whether the venture-capital model is the best way to bring technologies from the lab to market," he says.

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[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 24 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.946
News
Butterflies' migrational timekeeper found
Monarchs may navigate using clocks in their antennae.
By Lizzie Buchen

Every autumn, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies pour out of southern Canada, funnel through the United States to the central Mexican highlands and land in groves of fir trees no larger than the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The Sun is a crucial tool for navigating this precise 4,000-kilometre flight path — but it's a moving target. To maintain their southward bearings while the Sun crosses the sky, the insects must keep track of the time of day to continuously correct their internal compass. Neurobiologists have assumed that this clock is in the monarchs' brain together with the rest of the navigation circuitry, but new research reported in Science reveals that it may actually reside in the antennae¹.

"This is a novel function for the antennae, and a huge surprise overall," says lead author Steven Reppert of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. "It brings us closer to understanding how time and space are integrated on [the monarchs'] remarkable migration."

Misguided efforts

The monarch's time-compensated Sun compass has two main components: the Sun compass, which uses the Sun's position in the sky as a guidepost, and the circadian clock, which allows the animal to recalibrate their orientation to the Sun based on the time of day.

"We just assumed both [components] were in the brain," says Reppert. "There have been a ton of studies now suggesting the Sun compass is there." And in 2005, his group discovered a novel circadian clock in the monarch brain² which they believed to be the compass's timekeeper.

But last year Reppert stumbled upon an anecdote from a 1960 book by butterfly expert Fred Urquhart³ that indicated the antennae might be involved in orientation. When Urquhart clipped off the butteflies' antennae and threw the insects into the air, they seemed to become disorientated. To Reppert's knowledge, no one had pursued that finding.

"For us, with today's techniques, it would be easy to test," he says.

The authors glued the butterflies to thin wires and suspended them in open barrels, where they could see the Sun cross the sky, but no other landmarks. In these flight simulators, the butterflies flapped along futilely, tethered to the barrel, while a monitoring device recorded their flight direction.

{“This is absolutely a surprise.”
Robert Srygley
University of Oxford}

The Mexico-bound monarchs should fly southward, but when Reppert clipped off their antennae, they seemed to lose their way — they would fly in a fixed direction, but it seemed random, indicating that the insects had lost their time-compensation ability.

The authors then painted the antennae with black enamel to block sunlight, which resulted in all the animals flying in one direction — but it was the wrong one. This suggested that the antennal clocks were still ticking, but were off by a few hours because they hadn't been set by the Sun.

During these misguided flights, Reppert found that the brain's clock was unperturbed, as it still exhibited the proper protein oscillations of a circadian clock. The antennae showed this protein signature when painted clear, but not when painted black, suggesting that the primary timekeeper for the Sun compass is in the antennae, and is independent of the brain's clock.

Butterfly effect

Antennal clocks have been found before, but they act locally, for example increasing sensitivity to pheromones at certain times of day in moths and fruitflies⁴.

"This is the first evidence that antennal clocks could directly regulate a brain function," says Reppert.

The finding is causing heads to turn in labs that study other navigating insects.

"This is absolutely a surprise," says Robert Srygley, who studies navigation in Neotropical butterflies at the University of Oxford, UK. "Antennae have been a focus for people working on the magnetic compass, stability, olfaction. But now Steve's added a clock mechanism. I certainly wouldn't have expected it to be out there. This is definitely thinking outside the box."

Neurobiologist Gene Robinson from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign studies honeybees, which are also thought to use a time-compensated Sun compass, and he believes the new findings may have implications for his research.

"Most people, including me, assumed the clock was in the brain. It was a reasonable, default assumption," says Robinson. "I think this study was very convincing, and now this is certainly a possibility that needs to be considered [in honeybees]."

References
1. Merlin, C. et al. Science 325, 1700-1704 (2009).
2. Sauman, I. et al. Neuron 46, 457-467 (2005).
3. Urquhart, F.A. The Monarch Butterfly (Univ. Toronto Press, 1960).
4. Merlin, C. et al. J. Biol. Rhythms 22, 502-514 (2007).

news20090925nn3

[naturenews] from [nature.com]
[naturenews]
Published online 24 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.943
News
Strawberry pesticide leaves sour taste
Methyl iodide use by Californian farmers up for review.
By Nicola Jones

A review committee in Sacramento, California, begins on 24 September to assess the science behind methyl iodide — a pesticide that has been approved for agricultural use by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but which faces a storm of opposition from activists and scientists.

At issue is a set of apparently conflicting assessments of the chemical's health hazard. In 2007, the EPA concluded that health standards could be met by proper use of masks and procedures, such as keeping workers away from newly fumigated fields. A 2009 report from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), however, concludes that methyl iodide fumigation "results in significant health risks for workers and the general population", with some scenarios requiring a 3,000-fold reduction in exposure, according to its models and safety limits.

The compound is used to fumigate soils, and is a replacement for methyl bromide — a chemical that has been found to eat away at the ozone layer, and which is being phased out under the Montreal Protocol. Although ozone-friendly, methyl iodide is carcinogenic and neurotoxic, and is thought to affect fetal development by interfering with thyroid hormone production. All chemical soil fumigants are among the nastiest of the 1,200 substances registered for agricultural use, says chemist Susan Kegley of the California-based Pesticide Action Network North America. But methyl iodide is by some measures four times as toxic as methyl bromide, she notes.

The EPA approved methyl iodide in October 2007, prompting protest at the time — including from a group of chemists familiar with the toxic properties of the chemical in the lab. "I have read enough papers with cautions around the use of the chemical that it made me sit up," says Roald Hoffmann, a Nobel-prize-winning chemist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who protested the federal approval of methyl iodide.

The states of California, Washington and New York have yet to approve the fumigant. All eyes are particularly on California, as its strawberry farmers are a big potential market for methyl iodide: in 2007, strawberry farmers statewide used 1.2 million kilograms of methyl bromide, out of a total allowable usage for the United States of 6.2 million kilograms that year. Some 50% of California strawberry growers have already moved away from methyl bromide, often to other fumigants, so the potential market for methyl iodide is potentially larger than these numbers imply. Japan is also considering registering the fumigant for use.

Tokyo-based Arysta LifeScience, which owns the patent for producing methyl-iodide fumigant and had 2008 revenues of US$1.3 billion, did not respond to press queries from Nature.

Dangerous plumes

The California DPR now awaits the conclusion of the independent panel, headed by chemist John Froines, before making a decision. Froines expects the process to take weeks. "We have about 1,000 to 2,000 pages of material to review," he says.

One reason for the difference between the EPA and the California DPR reports is that the EPA effectively assumed that no one would get hit by a 'plume' of pesticide created by stagnant air pockets or wind, says Kegley. Such plumes of other fumigants, she says, typically send a couple of dozen people in the United States to the emergency room every few years. EPA spokesperson Dale Kemery says his agency's report used data and models that are representative of real field conditions in California. Although methyl iodide has been registered for use for more than a year in some states, Kemery says, "our understanding is that there have been no reports of adverse health effects".

Another difference between the two reports lies in how the safe exposure levels were calculated. The California DPR report divided this by an extra factor of 10 to account for health unknowns, says Kegley, such as the impact of iodine on human fetal development.

Even if the more optimistic safety estimates are correct, there are still worries that agricultural workers may not have the time, money or know-how to undertake all the required precautions. Alternatives to chemical fumigants are available, including rotating strawberries with crops such as broccoli that contain natural pest deterrents, or using steam to fumigate soils.

The EPA is due to re-review its approved fumigants in 2013, including methyl iodide. Kemery says the agency is open to reconsidering its methyl iodide registration earlier than that if California rejects the pesticide. Hoffmann says he has "faith in the process".


[naturenews]
Published online 24 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.947
News
Vaccine protects against HIV virus
A two-shot combo reduces the risk of HIV infection.
BY Elie Dolgin

The largest HIV vaccine trial to date has shown moderate success at preventing infection by the virus.

The experimental vaccine — a combination of two older shots that failed to work on their own — reduced the risk of someone contracting HIV by nearly a third. Scientists, however, are still scratching their heads as to how the double-shot approach blocks the virus.

"I don't think anybody knows why this worked the way it did," says Dan Barouch, an immunologist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. "It's the largest step forward that's ever occurred in the HIV-vaccine field, but there's a tremendous amount of more work that will need to be done."

{“It's the largest step forward that's ever occurred in the HIV-vaccine field.”
Dan Barouch
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center}

The US$119 million study involved more than 16,000 HIV-negative men and women from Thailand aged 18–30. The trial was launched in October 2003, conducted by the Thai health ministry and sponsored by the US Army Surgeon General. It tested a two-shot infection-fighting strategy using drugs made by Sanofi-Pasteur of Lyon, France, and VaxGen of Brisbane, Australia. Over the course of 24 weeks, participants received four doses of a 'primer' vaccine — a disabled bird virus containing synthetic versions of three HIV genes — and two doses of a 'booster', which consisted of a protein called gp120, a major component of HIV's outer coat. Clinicians tested for HIV infection every 6 months for 3 years.

Hybrid vigour?

Many HIV vaccine experts had previously criticized the approach as a waste of time because each of the vaccine components had a poor track record¹. The primer, called ALVAC, conferred little to no immune protection in multiple early-phase clinical trials, and the booster, called AIDSVAX, had flopped twice in high-profile, large-scale trials. "I thought it was sort of a crazy trial," says David Markovitz, who studies HIV at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "It was based on poor data and it didn't seem to make a lot of sense at the time."

The two-pronged vaccine did not affect the amount of virus circulating in the blood of those who acquired HIV during the study. But it did show a protective effect — vaccinated individuals were 31% less likely to become infected. New infections occurred in 74 of the 8,198 people who received dummy shots, but only 51 of the 8,197 in the vaccine group, the researchers, led by Supachai Rerks-Ngarm of the Thai Ministry of Public Health's Department of Disease Control, found. "That's not bad," says Markovitz. "It's certainly a lot better than anything else."

"The numbers of people that became infected are really small," notes Adriano Boasso, an HIV researcher at Imperial College London, UK. But the difference was statistically significant, so it's unlikely to be chalked up to chance events alone, he says.

"Up until now, we've all believed that an AIDS vaccine is possible," says Seth Berkley, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. Yet despite successes in animal models, no human vaccine — including the last big trial, known as STEP, which was halted in 2007 after the vaccine was found to increase the risk of infection — had shown any promise. So, "seeing a signal in humans is a pivotal and important part of the process of getting the product we need", Berkley says.

Boasso points out that the vaccine still has a long way to go before it gets rolled out on a larger scale. "Nobody would be considering licensing a vaccine that is 30% effective," he says. "You'd want to be aiming for 70–80% at least." Researchers should now work to optimize the vaccine or the dose schedules to improve the odds of protection, he says.

The trial's findings will be presented next month at the AIDS Vaccine Conference in Paris, France. Until all the results are made public, Beatrice Hahn, an HIV researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, cautions against getting too excited. "It looks like there's some positive effect, but I can't judge the magnitude or significance of it without seeing the details," she says.

References
1. Burton, D. R. et al. Science 303, 316 (2004). | Article | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |

news20090925bcc1

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

[Middle East]
Page last updated at 13:12 GMT, Friday, 25 September 2009 14:12 UK
Iran 'concealed nuclear facility'
Iran has been accused of concealing a second uranium enrichment plant in defiance of international calls for transparency over its nuclear plans.

The leaders of the US, UK and France demanded UN inspectors be given immediate access to the facility.

Iran revealed the existence of the plant to the UN watchdog on Monday, saying it was not yet operational and would only be used for nuclear energy.

Tehran has previously acknowledged it has one enrichment plant, at Natanz.

Iran's decision to build a secret facility represented a "direct challenge to the basic compact" of the global non-proliferation regime, Mr Obama said, making a statement in Pittsburgh, where he is hosting the G20 summit.

'Line in the sand'

Mr Obama said that despite Iran's assertions that the facility was for peaceful purposes, the new plant was "not consistent" with that goal.

{{ANALYSIS}
BBC World Affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds
Iranian ambitions for this site are not known. It could be that they wanted a back-up in case their main plant at Natanz was attacked. But another fear is that they intended to enrich uranium more highly at the secret plant, to a level suitable for a nuclear explosion.
The discovery will strengthen the demands by the US and its allies for further sanctions to be imposed on Iran unless it suspends all enrichment, as required by the Security Council.}}

Speaking alongside UK PM Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Obama said it was time for Iran to begin meeting its international commitments.

"Iran must comply with UN Security Council resolutions and make clear it is prepared to meet its responsibilities as a member of the community of nations," Mr Obama said.

Tehran would be held accountable for any failure to meet these responsibilities, he said.

Speaking after Mr Obama, the French and British leaders used strong language to insist that Iran would now have to disclose full details of its entire nuclear programme or face new and tougher sanctions.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed that the US, France and UK were "at one" on the issue, and accused the Iranians of "serial deception".

There was now "no choice but to draw a line in the sand" over the nuclear issue, he said.

"Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear programme."

Mr Sarkozy said the situation was a challenge to the entire international community.

"Everything must be put on the table," the French president said, adding that the world needed to see a "step change" from Iran in the coming months.

Underground plant

The existence of that plant was itself only confirmed after intelligence emerged from Iranian exile groups several years ago.

{{IRAN'S NUCLEAR SITES}
> Iran insists that all its nuclear facilities are for energy, not military purposes
> Bushehr: Nuclear power plant
> Isfahan: Uranium conversion plant
> Natanz: Uranium enrichment plant, 4,592 working centrifuges, with 3,716 more installed
> Second enrichment plant: Existence revealed to IAEA in Sept 2009. > Separate reports say it is near Qom, and not yet operational
> Arak: Heavy water plant}}

Western governments are said to have known of the existence of the new enrichment plant for several months.

It is said to be an underground facility at a mountain on the site of a former missile site belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards north-east of the holy city of Qom.

Construction on the facility started in earnest in mid-2006, diplomatic sources said.

Iran's letter to the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), came as the New York Times cited US officials giving the first details of the new plant.

The BBC's Iran correspondent Jon Leyne, reporting from London, says that Tehran appears to have been caught red-handed just one day after world leaders gathered to warn of the dangers of nuclear proliferation.


[Business]
Page last updated at 12:55 GMT, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:55 UK
Greater role for emerging powers
The G20 group of leading and emerging economies is to take on a new role as a permanent body co-ordinating the world economy, a White House statement said.

It will take on the role previously carried out by the developed powerhouses of the G8 group.

The G20 is meeting in the US city of Pittsburgh for a two-day summit.

EU officials also announced a deal to shift the balance of voting in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) towards growing nations such as China.

Currently, China wields 3.7% of IMF votes compared with France's 4.9%, although the Chinese economy is now 50% larger than that of France.

{{WHAT IS THE G20?}
> Set up after the Asian financial crisis in 1999 as a forum for finance ministers and central bankers
> First G20 leaders summit in 2008 to discuss response to economic crisis
> Members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, EU, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UK, USA
> Joined by Spain, Netherlands, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation}}

BBC business editor Robert Peston said that the rich nations of North America and Europe formally acknowledging that they no longer have a monopoly of wisdom on what's good for the global economy would be the most important thing to come out of this summit.

The IMF has 186 member-states. It lends money to countries that are facing problems, but in return economic changes have to be made by those countries.

The IMF has been criticised in the past as being a group of developed countries trying to lay down the law to struggling, developing countries, which is why the decision to give growing nations more votes is important.

Reports also suggest that the US is seeking a reduction in the number of seats on the IMF board from 24 to 20, which could mean the UK and France lose their seats.

'Years of low growth'

Near the venue, police fired rubber bullets at protesters on a march. The previous G20 meeting, in London in April, was also marred by clashes.

{{G20 ANALYSIS}
{They are sending a message that this is now the forum where the important stuff gets done. The G8 is dead
Read economics editor Stephanie Flanders' blog}

{It is endeavouring to patch up the failed framework of banking regulation rather than going for more fundamental and radical change
Read business editor Robert Peston's blog}

{The US had until now appeared to want to leave this politically tricky proposal [on bonuses] on the back burner
Read North America editor Mark Mardell's blog}}

The disturbances are thought to have begun after hundreds of protesters tried to march, without permission, towards the convention centre where the summit is being held.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed the importance of co-operation and action at the summit.

"Without concerted action there is a danger of years of low growth and low employment," he told Sky News.

A White House statement announced the new role for the G20.

"The G20 leaders reached a historic agreement to put the G20 at the center of their efforts to work together to build a durable recovery while avoiding the financial fragilities that led to the crisis," it said.

"Today, leaders endorsed the G20 as the premier forum for their international economic cooperation."

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said G20 countries had reached a consensus on the "basic outline" of a proposal to limit pay and bonuses by the end of 2009.

Each country would set their own standards, he said, but that these would be overseen by the G20's Financial Stability Board - made up of central bankers and regulators.

But there are G20 members that would like to see the agreement going further.

German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck wrote in the Financial Times that a "global financial-transaction tax" of about 0.05% should be introduced.

news20090925bcc2

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

[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 03:43 GMT, Friday, 25 September 2009 04:43 UK
Australia how-to jihadist jailed
A man who produced a do-it-yourself jihad book has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in Australia.

Bela Khazaal was found guilty last September of producing a 110-page book, in Arabic, entitled Provisions Of The Rules of Jihad.

This advised about terrorist acts such as exploding bombs, shooting down planes and assassinating people such as former US President George W Bush.

Khazaal had claimed his book was never intended to incite terrorist acts.

At his sentencing in Sydney, Justice Megan Latham said she found it "unsurprising" a jury had rejected his defence.

"It beggars belief that a person of average intelligence who has devoted themselves to the study of Islam over some years would fail to recognise the nature of the material," she said.

"The dissemination of extremist activity, connected or unconnected with a terrorist plot, is caught by the government's (anti-terror) scheme ... (because such material) is capable and is shown to foment terrorist activity."

Khazaal, a former Lebanon-born Qantas Airways baggage-handler, compiled the book from a range of Internet sources, his lawyer George Thomas told the court at an earlier sentencing hearing.

Its full title is Provisions Of The Rules of Jihad - Short Judicial Rulings And Organisational Instructions For Fighters And Mujahideen Against Infidels.

He is the first person to be convicted on the charge of making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act, which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that US international terrorism consultant Evan Kohlmann, who was called as a witness at Khazaal's trial, described the book as a "do-it-yourself jihad" manual, aimed at people who "don't have Osama bin Laden's telephone number".

The Supreme Court heard that, in December 2003, a military court in Lebanon sentenced Khazaal to 10 years' hard labour for terrorism-related offences, including forming a terrorist association for the purpose of committing crimes against people and property.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 10:38 GMT, Friday, 25 September 2009 11:38 UK
Taiwan stops Uighur activist trip
Taiwan will not allow exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer to visit the island as she had planned, a government official has said.

Ms Kadeer, a Chinese Muslim from Xinjiang, had been invited by an entertainer close to the opposition.

China has accused Ms Kadeer of orchestrating recent violence in Xinjiang - a charge she denies.

In July about 200 people were killed in riots between Uighurs and Han Chinese in which mostly Han were killed.

Taiwan is self-ruled after breaking away from China at the end of the civil war in 1949. Beijing considers the island part of its territory.

{{CHINA'S UIGHURS}
Ethnically Turkic Muslims, mainly live in Xinjiang
Made bid for independent state in 1940s
Sporadic violence in Xinjiang since 1991
Uighurs worried about ethnic Han Chinese immigration and erosion of traditional culture}

"We have decided not to allow Kadeer entry considering that her visit could affect national interest and social order," Interior Minister Jiang Yi-huah was quoted as saying to members of parliament.

Despite opposition from China, a documentary about Ms Kadeer was screened this week in Taiwan's second city, Kaohsiung.

Local tourism officials had spoken out against the move, Taiwanese media reported, fearing it would drive Chinese tourist numbers down.

Rebiya Kadeer heads the World Uighur Congress, which represents the Uighur community in exile.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 08:43 GMT, Friday, 25 September 2009 09:43 UK
Australia seeks investment limits
Australia has said that it welcomes the booming Chinese investment in its economy but prefers foreign stakes in big mining companies to stay under 15%.

Investments in new ventures should be under 50%, said the investment review board's director, Patrick Colmer.

He said China was the third-largest investor in Australia, after the US and Britain, and would likely go higher.

China-Australian relations have been fraught in recent months after a string of both business and political spats.

Mining company Lynas said a Chinese firm pulled out of a multimillion-dollar investment on the news.

Mr Colmer, the head of the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), which studies investment applications and makes a recommendation to the treasury.

Sensitive

But though welcoming of more investment, Mr Colmer said Australia was looking for "true commercially focused" deals and preferred an early and co-operative engagement on significant projects.

"Talk with us early... and deal with us the way we like to deal with you, which is in confidence," he said.

A number of Chinese bids are currently before the FIRB, including a $2.8bn (£1.75bn) offer from Yanzhou Coal for Felix Resources, which would be the largest-ever takeover of an Australian company by a Chinese state-run firm.

Earlier this week, the Australian military rejected a proposal from Chinese steelmaker Wuhan Iron and Steel Co. (WISCO) to gain access to a mining project on the sensitive Woomera weapons testing range.

Australian treasurer Wayne Swan rejected a similar bid by China's Minmetals for OZ Minerals in March because its flagship Prominent Hill project was in the Woomera zone.

PetroChina has agreed a huge Australian gas-purchase deal.
The new guidelines appearing to limit Chinese investment in Australia's mining sector were criticised by analysts as likely to raise tensions with China just when mining companies are seeking fresh funds.

The FIRB, which advises the treasurer, also blocked a proposal by China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co. to buy a 50.6% interest in Lynas Corp, which needed the $400m to develop the world's largest rare earth deposit.

The Chinese refused to shrink their bid, pulling out of the deal instead.

An analysis carried out for the Financial Review newspaper in Australia suggested that Asian investment in commodities-rich Australia surged almost 40% to $17.5bn in the year to June, led by Chinese mining acquisitions.

In June, China's state-owned Chinalco made an unsuccessful bid for a $19.5bn tie-up with mining giant Rio Tinto.

Weeks later, a Shanghai-based Australian executive with Rio, Stern Hu, was detained by Chinese authorities for alleged spying, later downgraded to industrial espionage.

Tensions stayed high following Australia's welcome of exiled Chinese Uighur Muslim activist Rebiya Kadeer last month, and the screening of a film about her at a Melbourne film festival.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 01:03 GMT, Friday, 25 September 2009 02:03 UK
Palau pioneers 'shark sanctuary'
Palau is to create the world's first "shark sanctuary", banning all commercial shark fishing in its waters.
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

The President of the tiny Pacific republic, Johnson Toribiong, will announce the ban during Friday's session of the UN General Assembly.

With half of the world's oceanic sharks at risk of extinction, conservationists regard the move as "game-changing".

It will protect about 600,000 sq km (230,000 sq miles) of ocean, an area about the size of France.

President Toribiong will also call for a global ban on shark-finning, the practice of removing the fins at sea.

{The need to protect the sharks outweighs the need to enjoy a bowl of soup
President Johnson Toribiong}

Fins are a lucrative commodity on the international market where they are bought for use in shark fin soup.

As many as 100 million sharks are killed each year around the world.

"These creatures are being slaughtered and are perhaps at the brink of extinction unless we take positive action to protect them," said President Toribiong.

"Their physical beauty and strength, in my opinion, reflects the health of the oceans; they stand out," he told BBC News from UN headquarters in New York.

Local benefits

A number of developed nations have implemented catch limits and restrictions on finning.

Some developing countries such as The Maldives have also taken measures to protect the creatures; but Palau's initiative takes things to a new level, according to conservationists close to the project.

"Palau has recognised how important sharks are to healthy marine environments, and they've decided to do what no other nation has done and declare their entire Exclusive Economic Zone a shark sanctuary," said Matt Rand, director of global shark conservation at the Pew Environment Group.

"They are leading the world in shark conservation."

Mr Rand said that about 130 threatened species of shark frequented waters close to Palau and would be likely to gain from the initiative.

Although the country has only 20,000 inhabitants, its territory encompasses 200 scattered islands, which means that its territorial waters are much bigger than many nations a thousand times more populous.

Economics is clearly an incentive for the Palau government, which derives most of its income from tourism.

Sharks are themselves a big attraction for scuba-divers, and may also play a role in keeping coral reef ecosystems healthy.

news20090925cnn

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[World]
Chavez reveals personal side, criticizes U.S.
Story Highlights
> Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he loves Jesus Christ, U.S. people, culture
> Chavez says he hopes for improved relations with U.S. President Barack Obama
> He denies he is trying to shut down critical media in Venezuela
> He denies Iran would help Venezuela obtain nuclear technology
September 25, 2009 -- Updated 0604 GMT (1404 HKT)


(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed a deeply personal side in an interview Thursday night, saying he loves Jesus Christ and would have liked to play Major League baseball in Yankee Stadium.

He also expressed a fondness for American people and culture, saying he likes the movie actor Charles Bronson and the poet Walt Whitman. He loves to sing, he said, though he does not do it well.

And Chavez had kind words for the U.S. security detail protecting him during his visit to New York, saying he chatted with them while out walking and that they "have been very gracious, very efficient and very attentive, very kind."

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Larry King, Chavez spoke at length about a host of issues: relations between Venezuela and the United States and his hopes for improved ties with President Barack Obama; Iran, Israel and those who deny that the Holocaust existed; efforts to overthrow him and have him assassinated; criticism that he is power hungry and trying to silence critics.

Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist, spoke with King a few hours after giving a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, in which he praised Obama but criticized some U.S. policies.

When asked whether he is misunderstood in the United States, Chavez seemed to turn reflective.

"I'm a man with many defects," he said. "I love. I sing. I dream. I was born in the poor countryside. I was raised in the countryside, planting corn and selling sweets made by my grandmother. My children, my two daughters are with me and I want a better world for my grandchildren, for your grandchildren.

"Now, they demonize me. But that's the start of these world campaigns to try to defend what you cannot defend -- a system that is destroying the world. ... I'm a Christian. I want the world of justice and equality. This is the only way to achieve peace."

Chavez then talked about his religious upbringing and current faith.

"I was an altar boy," he said. "My mother wanted me to be a priest. I am very Christian and Catholic. ... I'm very faithful. I believe in God, in Jesus Christ. I love Jesus Christ. I am a Christian. ... I cry when I see injustice, children dying of hunger."

His comments were all the more remarkable because Chavez and the Catholic Church have been at odds since he came to power in 1999. The church has been one of his major critics, with Pope Benedict XVI and other church leaders expressing concern over what they see as attempts by Chavez to limit the church's influence. Chavez's efforts to change anti-abortion laws have been at the top of those concerns.

Chavez, in turn, has referred to church leadership as a "tumor."

Speaking of other matters, Chavez said he hopes for improved relations with Obama, but "we want relations based on respect, relations of peoples where we are respected."

That has not been the case so far, he said.

"Most governments in the United States in a hundred years have not respected the peoples of Latin America," Chavez told King. "They have sponsored coup d'etats, assassinations. It's enough. We want to be brothers and sisters. We want respect and equality."

Chavez particularly criticized former President George W. Bush, whom he accused of orchestrating an assassination attempt on the Venezuelan leader during a short-lived coup in 2002. Chavez regained power within days.

"The Bush government toppled me," he said. "They asked for my assassination. They disrespected us. ... I saw my assassins. ... I was a prisoner in Venezuela, being a president. They took me to the seaside. I was debating with those who wanted murder me. They received the order to kill me. However, at this very moment, a group of soldiers refused. They did not kill me, but I saw those who wanted to kill me, and the order came from the White House."

Chavez also expressed concern that the United States, which he calls "the empire," still would like to topple him. As he has numerous times in recent weeks, Chavez criticized U.S. plans to begin operating out of military bases in neighboring Colombia. The United States says it needs a presence in Colombia to fight drug traffickers. Chavez sees a sinister intent.

When asked what country he fears would harm him, Chavez replied, "The empire. The empire. Seven military bases ... in Colombia, that's a serious threat against Venezuela."

Chavez also defended his relationship with Iran but denied having said that Iran would help Venezuela obtain nuclear technology. Iran has embarked on a nuclear program that the United States and other nations think will lead it to develop nuclear weapons before long.

"They have fooled you," Chavez said. "I've never said that Iran is going to help us to have nuclear technology. ... That's a strategy to attack Venezuela and say that we are building an atomic bomb. That's the next accusation. And I'm going to say this now: Please, come on. That's crazy. That's crazy."

Chavez said he does not agree with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's contention that the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews were killed during World War II, never existed.

"But there also was another holocaust in South America," Chavez said. "I do not deny the Jewish Holocaust. And I condemn it. But in South America, when the Europeans arrived, there were close to 90 million Indians; 200 years later, we only had four million remaining. That was a holocaust. And the Europeans denied this holocaust."

Israel came under criticism from Chavez, who called it a "small country with atomic bombs, and very aggressive country. ... They have massacred entire families. It is a war-mongering country."

Turning to the situation in his own country, Chavez denied that he is trying to shut down critical media, such as the independent Globovision TV station. Government officials have levied several charges against the station, saying that it is disseminating false information and trying to foment dissatisfaction against Chavez.

The Chavez government has repealed licenses for other independent TV and radio stations, and has threatened to do so against Globovision.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter this week joined human rights groups and others who have expressed concern over what they see as Chavez becoming too authoritarian. Chavez dismissed the criticism.

"Never in Venezuela have we had so much freedom of speech as now," he said.

Pressed by King about whether he is going to shut down Globovision, Chavez answered, "I do not know. It depends on them. If they keep on sponsoring coup d'etats, if they keep on calling for my assassination, if they keep on breaching the law even as well, it is not Chavez that's going to close them. I want to apply the law. We need to respect the law. It is the law. It's out of logic, and it's pure logic."

As to Carter, Chavez said, "Yes, I read that and I regret for him, because I think he's totally confounded and lost. It's a long time since he visited us. I respect him enormously, but I think he is wrong. He's a victim of so much falsehood in the world."

news20090925reut

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
VW plans Varta tie-up on electric car batteries
Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:59am EDT

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen is setting up a joint venture with Varta Microbattery GmbH to develop more powerful batteries for use in electric cars, Europe's biggest carmaker said on Friday.

It said the project aims to undertake research and development of lithium-ions battery that would be more competitive in terms of technology and price.

The four-year project still needed approval by the German Cartel Office.

Volkswagen, which wants to launch the first electric car by 2013, presented a prototype of the e-UP! model at the Frankfurt Car Show this month.

VW already works with Japan's Toshiba and Sanyo as well as with China's BYD on battery technology.


[Green Business]
A123's smash-hit IPO could herald more green debuts
Fri Sep 25, 2009 7:01am EDT
By Poornima Gupta - Analysis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A 50 percent leap in the shares of lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc on their first day of trading looks likely to jumpstart the market for clean-tech share offerings.

The Watertown, Mass.-based A123 Systems is now worth over $1.9 billion, a striking valuation for a company that has yet to make a profit and still needs large-scale commercialization.

Industry executives and experts said A123's success shows investors have an appetite for green technology companies that lose money, but have tremendous potential.

So the stock's first day jump, which is the second-best performance for a debut stock in 2009, should encourage more venture capital-backed clean technology companies to go public, they added.

"This is an interesting time for the market because there are several (clean-tech) companies that have been growing very nicely," said Faysal Sohail, managing director of venture fund CMEA Capital, which is an investor in A123.

Sohail declined to comment specifically on A123, but said the whole environment is creating opportunities for clean-tech companies and expects 2010 to be a busy year for green IPOs.

"They are real companies with substantial revenue and growing at a very fast clip," he said.

CMEA Capital also backs companies such as Silicon Valley solar manufacturer Solyndra and biofuel company Codexis, which many see as likely candidates for the IPO market.

Other green companies deemed ripe for an IPO include smart grid network company Silver Spring Networks, electric carmaker Tesla Motors and solar thermal company BrightSource Energy.

Rival lithium-ion battery maker Ener1 Inc also cheered A123's stock performance, which shows how much value there is in the emerging sector.

"It's great for the space. They have done a good job of getting the market excited," Ener1 Chief Executive Charles Gassenheimer told Reuters.

Ener1 went public in 2003, but used a reverse merger with a public shell corporation to do so.

Gassenheimer said the warm reception of the IPO would encourage other clean-tech companies to tap the public markets.

"Any time you have an IPO trade up as much as 50 percent, that means investor receptivity has returned," he said. "I think you will see a lot more IPOs on the back of this."

HIGH GROWTH SECTORS

A123, founded by scientists linked to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), develops batteries for electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and works with carmakers such as BMW, Chrysler and General Motors Co.

Electric vehicles and batteries are considered markets that have immense potential for growth.

The automotive market for lithium-ion batteries, mostly found in mobile phones and computer laptops, is projected to be $32 million in 2009, but is expected to skyrocket to $22 billion in 2015, according to A123's prospectus.

"That's compelling," said Matt Therian, an analyst with Renaissance Capital, referring to the market potential. "We have seen a lot of large profitable companies go public. But a smaller one with a little more risky profile ... I think it bodes well for the health of the IPO market."

Looking forward, Therian expected plenty of the larger, cash-generating, private equity portfolio companies would go public in 2010.

"But on their heels, we could also see another wave of your more traditional growth companies," he added.

For now, A123 co-founder Yet-Ming Chiang, a professor of ceramics at MIT's department of materials science and engineering, is happy but understands the company still needs to deliver.

"It's a scientist's and engineer's dream to see something from the lab make it to commercial technology that has an impact," Chiang said. "Even though this is a significant event, there is still a lot of work to be done and tomorrow we all get back to work."

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; additional reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; editing by Andre Grenon)


[Green Business]
China energy chief wants market to set wind tariffs
Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:45am EDT
By David Stanway

BEIJING (Reuters) - Prices for electricity produced by China's fast-growing wind power sector should be set by the market, Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Agency, told a news conference on Friday.

"Demand for higher tariffs comes mainly from investors but the higher the price, the harder it is to develop the industry on a wide scale," he said, responding to widespread criticism of the Chinese system.

Many critics have called for a set feed-in tariff that would encourage wind power development by ensuring a fixed price.

But Zhang argued that such fixed tariffs could hold back development if prices were too high.

Subsidies for renewable energy should come in a different form, Zhang said, with tax relief rather than high prices giving support to wind generators.

That implies China could ditch the system of benchmark on-grid tariffs that aims to give wind generators a leg-up over dirty coal, which provides the vast majority of China's electricity.

When electricity grids buy wind power, they pay a premium over coal but get compensated by electricity surcharges levied nationwide.

While big projects are likely to use the benchmark tariff, smaller projects are still subject to fierce competition in a tendering process that can erode margins.

"At first (the tendering system) led to individual companies slashing prices to below cost, but they can't sustain those losses and the market will find the right price," Zhang said.

Wind power is set to overtake nuclear as a source of electricity in China during the next 10 years, thanks to a massive roll-out being encouraged by the government, which expects wind generating capacity to hit 100 gigawatts by 2020.

China is expected to unveil a "new energy" plan by the end of the year, raising its targets for wind, solar and nuclear output.

(Reporting by David Stanway, Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Jonathan Hopfner)

news20090925cbs

[Today's News] from [CBS News.com]

[poitics]
Sept. 25, 2009
US, UK, France Tell Iran to Open Nuke Site
Iran's Second Nuclear Facility Represents a Threat to the World, President Obama Said
{CBS/ AP) Updated at 10:10 a.m. ET

President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain and France are publicly demanding that Iran open up a secret nuclear fuel facility to international inspectors.

Led by Obama at the site of the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined the United States Friday in chastising Tehran for operating the facility covertly.

Obama said the site "deepens a growing concern" that Iran has failed to live up to its international obligations. He said that Iran "is breaking rules that all nations must follow, endangering the world non-nuclear proliferation regime ... and the security of the world."

The United States, the United Kingdom, and France have presented detailed evidence demonstrating that Iran has been building the covert site for several years, Mr. Obama said, and they expect the International Atomic Energy Agency to immediately investigate.

Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear energy, Mr. Obama said, but the size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program.

"We remain open to serious, meaningful engagement with Iran" President Obama said. The revelation of the second facility, he said, adds new urgency to the Oct. 1 meeting of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany with Iran. "Obligations must be kept, and treaties will be enforced," Mr. Obama said.

Brown called Iran's nuclear program "the most urgent proliferation challenge the world faces today." He said the level of deception from the Iranian government and the scale of its breach of international standards "will shock and anger the international community" and harden the resolve of world powers to enforce stricter sanctions against Iran.

"The international community has no choice today but to draw a line in the sand," he said.

Sarkozy added that Iranian leaders must not be given too much time before action is taken against their nuclear program.

"If by December there is not an in-depth change... sanctions will have to be taken," he said.

Iran revealed the existence of its second plant in a letter sent Monday to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

The letter stated that the enrichment level would be up to 5 percent, and Iran told the agency that no nuclear material has been introduced into the facility, according to IAEA Spokesperson Marc Vidricaire.

"Iran assured the agency in the letter that 'Further complementary information will be provided in an appropriate and due time,'" Vidricaire said.

In response, the IAEA has requested Iran to provide specific information and access to the facility as soon as possible.

"This will allow the Agency to assess safeguards verification requirements for the facility," Vidricaire said.

Iranian officials had previously acknowledged having only one plant - one under IAEA monitoring - and had denied allegations of undeclared nuclear activities. Iran is under three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment at that plant.

A senior U.S.official familiar with the intelligence on the Iranian nuclear facility describes it as "heavily protected and heavily disguised," CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports. The official said the U.S.has been aware of the secret plant for "several years," and the administration wanted to use the intelligence for "building a case" against Iran. The intelligence might have stayed quiet if the Iranians had not learned that its secret was "compromised."

The administration provided a detailed briefing to the IAEA yesterday.
Another official describes next week's Geneva meeting with Iran involving the U.S., China, Germany, Russia, Britain and France as "a critical opportunity for Iran" to demonstrate a willingness to cooperate, Maer reports. The official says the coming weeks will see the U.S.and the other countries pursue a policy of "engagement and pressure" that could be followed by tougher sanctions.

A senior U.S. official called the revelation of the site a "victory" because it sets back Iran's nuclear weapons program, CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a softer tone on many matters while in New York for the U.N. meetings, emphasizing his interest in improving relations with the United States and expressing an openness to include nuclear matters on the negotiations agenda.

He gave no sign, however, that his country was willing to bargain away its nuclear program, which he insists is for peaceful purposes only.

"We have not actually changed our mind," Ahmadinejad told CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric in an exclusive interview before his address to the U.N. "Our nuclear program will be pursued in accordance to international law."


[World]
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 25, 2009
5 U.S. Troops Killed In Afghan Attacks
Military Says In Statement Roadside Bomb Kills 3, 1 Shot To Death, 1 Killed While On Patrol

(CBS/AP) Five American troops were killed in attacks in southern Afghanistan, where the U.S. and NATO have ramped up operations against the Taliban and seen casualties rise quickly in what has been the deadliest year of the war for international forces.

Four soldiers died Thursday in the same small district of Zabul province, including three killed when their Stryker vehicle struck a bomb, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr. The fourth was shot to death in an insurgent attack, Carr said. The Stryker brigade in Zabul is part of the influx of U.S. troops sent by President Obama over the summer to try to reverse Taliban gains.

A U.S. Marine was fatally shot while on foot patrol in Nimroz province and died Thursday, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a military spokeswoman.

The deaths come as the Obama administration debates whether to send still more forces to Afghanistan.

The Pentagon said the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, would ask this week for additional American forces - a number that officials said could reach as high as 40,000 troops. But some question the wisdom of sending more troops to support a government facing allegations of widespread fraud from the disputed Aug. 20 presidential election.

As the news from Afghanistan moves to the front pages of American newspapers, McChrystal has told 60 Minutes that the spread of violence in the country was more than he expected.

Gen. McChrystal's interview with CBS News National Security correspondent David Martin will be broadcast on the 42nd season premiere of 60 Minutes this Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

For a preview of the 60 Minutes interview, click the video player at left.

Fewer than one in three Americans believe the number of troops in Afghanistan should be increased, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds, despite the leaked memo from McChrystal suggesting that an increase is necessary for the United States to avoid failure there.

Bombs planted in roads, fields and near bases now account for the majority of U.S. and NATO casualties and have proven especially dangerous in the south, which is largely controlled by the Taliban.

With the five deaths, a total of 34 U.S. forces have died in Afghanistan in September. August, which was the deadliest month of the war for American troops, saw 51 deaths.

In his report to the White House, McChrystal argued that military commanders should worry less about protecting their own forces and get out into Afghan communities. Although he acknowledged this "could expose military personnel and civilians to greater risk in the near term."

"Accepting some risk in the short term will ultimately save lives in the long run," he wrote.