news20091122jt

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

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009
DPJ to admit existence of secret nuke pact
Foreign Ministry to reveal details of U.S. deal on nuclear stopovers
Kyodo News

The Foreign Ministry has decided to admit the existence of a secret Japan-U.S. pact under which Tokyo allows stopovers of U.S. military vessels or aircraft carrying nuclear weapons, ministry sources said Saturday.

During its in-house probe, the ministry found documents suggesting the existence of the secret nuclear agreement, according to the sources.

Previous governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party consistently denied the existence of the secret nuclear pact, but the new Democratic Party of Japan-led administration is to officially change that stance.

"The probe is now in the final stage, and we will announce the outcome in January," Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Saturday, although he declined to reveal details.

A third-party committee consisting of experts will be set up this week and will analyze the findings, according to the ministry.

According to the 1960 bilateral security treaty, Washington is required to consult with Tokyo before bringing nuclear weapons into Japan. However, the ministry has determined the documents indicate that stopovers of U.S. military vessels or aircraft with nuclear weapons are not subject to prior consultation, the sources said.

The documents have already been disclosed in the United States.

The in-house probe has been conducted under the instruction of Okada, who, after assuming his post in September, ordered the ministry to look into purported bilateral secret pacts — two related to the revision of the security treaty and two related to the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty from U.S. control.

An investigation task force which consisted of around 15 ministry officials has looked into some 3,200 in-house documents and 3,700 documents from the Japanese Embassy in Washington since Sept. 25.

LDP governments had always denied the existence of the secret nuclear pact, arguing that as they had never faced demands for prior consultations, they had to conclude that nuclear weapons had not been brought into Japan.

While consistently denying the clandestine deal with Washington, Tokyo repeatedly stated it was sticking to its three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory.

Meanwhile, a former vice foreign minister recently revealed he has seen minutes from 1960 that outline a secret Japan-U.S. pact, under which Tokyo allows stopovers of U.S. military vessels or aircraft carrying nuclear weapons.

"I saw them. I remember we looked into them after something happened," the former top official, who served in key Foreign Ministry posts in the 1980s and 1990s, said on condition of anonymity.

The ex-official added he does not remember the exact incident that led him to view the minutes.

The minutes from Jan. 6, 1960, signed by then Foreign Minister Aiichiro Fujiyama and then U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II have not been found in the Foreign Ministry's probe aimed at confirming the pact's existence, a source close to the ministry said.

There is unconfirmed information that documents pertaining to the pact were discarded when a law on the disclosure of administrative information came into force in April 2001.

However, the minutes in question are kept by the U.S. government, according to declassified U.S. documents.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009
No quick Futenma decision: Hatoyama
Prime minister, Okada at odds over timing
Kyodo News

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Saturday he is not ready to reach a conclusion by the end of the year on the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.

"I'm not yet at that stage," Hatoyama told reporters in Tokyo, referring to a media report that he is expected to come to a conclusion by yearend.

Hatoyama's comment came after Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Saturday reiterated his hope that the government will reach a decision by the end of the year on Futenma's relocation.

"It is desirable to reach a conclusion by the end of December" in light of the compilation of the fiscal 2010 state budget, Okada said in a speech in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture.

Okada acknowledged that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama does not entirely share his view, but added, "Our views are not so different."

Hatoyama said Friday he is speaking with the ministers concerned to work out Japan's position on the issue involving Futenma air station, which is straining ties between Tokyo and Washington. He suggested that he would basically abide by discussions held by a Japan-U.S. high-level working group set up to examine the matter.

Hatoyama told reporters after meeting with Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa that he is keenly aware of the need to find a speedy solution to the base's relocation and that the government "must recognize the extreme suffering" of Okinawans.

However, the prime minister has not clearly indicated the timing for his final decision on the matter.

Okada, who recently visited Okinawa, has proposed consolidating the Futenma facility with the nearby U.S. Kadena Air Base. However, the idea has run into opposition from both the United States and local governments that host the base.

A government official said the foreign minister is therefore starting to seriously consider a settlement centering on the existing plan.

Under a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord, following years of negotiations, the Futenma functions are to be relocated from downtown Ginowan to the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab in the less densely populated area of Nago in northern Okinawa, by 2014. The plan involves the construction of two runways in the coastal area of Camp Schwab.

As a condition for implementing the 2006 bilateral accord, the Defense Ministry has proposed that some drills conducted by F-15 fighters from the Kadena air base in central Okinawa should be transferred out of the prefecture, and the prime minister has been examining the plan, according to government sources.

In Okinawa, calls have been growing for Futenma's flight operations to be transferred out of the prefecture.

Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said Friday it would become "extremely difficult" to move the Futenma facility to Nago, as agreed in the 2006 accord, if an opponent of the plan wins the Nago mayoral election next January.

Incumbent Yoshikazu Shimabukuro has adopted a similar position to Nakaima and conditionally accepts the relocation. However, former local education board head Susumu Inamine, who is opposed to the transfer of the Futenma functions to Nago, is planning to run against the mayor.

Hatoyama eyes trips
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is planning to make several overseas trips next month, including one to India on Dec. 29-30 for a summit with his Indian counterpart and another to Indonesia to attend a democracy forum, government sources said Friday.

The prime minister is trying to arrange the meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for talks possibly covering an economic partnership agreement and measures against global warming and terrorism, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Friday that arrangements are being made for Hatoyama to attend a U.N. climate change conference, known as the COP15, in Copenhagen on Dec. 18.


[BUSINESS NEWS]
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009
Early-bird Uniqlo sale celebrates founding
Kyodo News

The Uniqlo chain held an early-morning sale at about 400 stores Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of its operator, with more than 2,000 people lining up before dawn outside its flagship store in Tokyo's Ginza district.

More than half of Uniqlo's domestic stores, which are operated by Fast Retailing Co., took part in the early-morning sale that started at 6 a.m.

"Ampan" sweet bean-paste buns and milk were served to the first 100 people visiting the sale at stores nationwide, in a nod to the opening of Uniqlo's first shop in Hiroshima in 1984 when customers were served breakfast.

Some products at the stores were subject to price cuts in a limited quantity, with the price of a pair of men's socks cut to 10 and the price of Heat Tech thermal inner wear reduced to 600 from 1,500.

The Uniqlo chain also began a lottery in which customers receive one ticket for each 5,000 worth of products bought. A total of 100,000 winning tickets will be issued, each worth 10,000.

"I began to line up at 11:30 p.m. Friday, wearing Uniqlo underwear to prevent the cold," said Sho Miyazaki, 19, a company worker in Tokyo who was first in line at the Ginza store. "I want to buy as much as 5,000 worth of products."

In 1949, Hitoshi Yanai, father of Fast Retailing President and Uniqlo chief Tadashi Yanai, started selling men's clothing when he founded Men's Shop Ogori Shoji in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Tadashi Yanai assumed the company's helm in 1984 and eventually changed the firm's name to Fast Retailing in 1991.

Fast Retailing logged record-high group sales and operating profit for the business year to Aug. 31, with the low-priced Uniqlo casual wear chain enjoying brisk sales as consumers seek out bargains amid the recession.

news20091122gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Flooding]
Wettest month makes this Britain's new Wild West
Changing rainfall patterns are redrawing the weather map
Robert Penn
The Observer, Sunday 22 November 2009 Article history

A farmer pulled me up on the lane approaching my village last week. We always stop to talk about the weather. I've written a book about it and he has a long memory. "Fearful night," he said. "Felt like I was sleeping in the Severn tunnel, and the train just kept on coming. This boy's a bad un. When's it going to end?"

By "this boy" he meant the low-pressure system or depression that's been barrelling off the Atlantic and into western Britain for days, bringing rain, south-westerly gales and now flooding in Cumbria. I can't remember when "this boy" began. Forecasters don't know when it's going to end. Welcome to the new Wild West.

I live in the Black Mountains, south Wales. From just behind the house, on a clear day – don't laugh – you can see beyond Offa's Dyke footpath and into England. That ancient border is increasingly irrelevant. There's a new divide in Britain. It may prove to be more significant than any ethnic, economic or social division that has previously concerned our governments. It's a meteorological divide.

A glance at any weather advisory map of Britain this weekend will show you where it lies. Anything marked red and "high risk" is the Wild West. The divide runs from the Isle of Purbeck on the Dorset coast north to Berwick-upon-Tweed, roughly following the line of two degrees longitude, give or take the odd fell and raging river.

The divide is most pronounced in autumn, when stalling low-pressure systems mean rain falls in the west for days; the heavens demonstrate their full armoury of precipitation, from mournful drizzle to the sort of squalls that presage the death of fishermen; when the wind drones on and on and on until I begin to think the devil is in the birch trees outside my house. I know it's a "bad un" when the lights are on at midday and my young spaniel doesn't sit by the door; when it rains in my dreams and I start shouting at the weather forecasters on television: "Wet and windy! My soul is being ground to dust like cumin in a pestle and mortar and you call it 'wet and windy'!'"

Actually, I try not to watch national weather forecasts. I look at regional ones on the web. It's less distressing. When you're suffering from a fit of what my wife calls the "manic depressions (south-westerly)", to learn that it's 14C and sunny in Brighton can be the final straw.

November has always been the month we endure. "Continuous rain for the last three days… novel progressing well," Evelyn Waugh noted on 1 November, 1939; "I really begin to doubt whether England is a beautiful country," George Bernard Shaw wrote on 2 November, 1896; "Misling rain all day," the Rev Gilbert White recorded on 3 November, 1770; and on 5 November, 1685, the diarist John Evelyn moaned: "Extraordinary wett morning, & I indisposed by a very greate rheume."

The iron age inhabitants of Britain brought their livestock down from the hill pastures on 31 October, their New Year's Eve and the beginning of what they called the "dark half" of the year.

I grew up on a cliff overlooking the Irish Sea. I rode a bicycle around the world. I live in Wales. I like weather. But it's changing. Our winters are getting wetter. Rainfall patterns are shifting. It's most notable in the west.

This week, Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway have been worst affected. In 2006, it was Swansea; in 2005, Carlisle. We've just had the wettest November day since records began in England and Wales in 1766 – 243 years ago. The problem is, the record's being rewritten so quickly.

When a breathless television reporter says it's "a once-in-millennia event", that is meaningless. We're in new meteorological territory. The record could be broken right here, in south Wales, this weekend.


The Wrong Kind of Snow by Antony Woodward and Robert Penn is published by Hodder & Stoughton

news20091122gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[News > World news > Botswana]
Botswana fishermen fear tourist invasion will destroy Okavango wilderness
Villagers say visitors to delta are a threat to wildlife and their fishing industry
David Smith in Samochima, Botswana
The Observer, Sunday 22 November 2009 Article history

Music, dancing and smiling platitudes greeted the royal guest in the fishing village of Samochima, northern Botswana. But cutting through the convivial mood was a cry of anguish – and a plea for a way of life threatened by tourism in the world's largest inland delta.

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway had arrived as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). While addressing an audience in the shade of some fig trees, he was confronted by a local fisherman, Saoshiko Njwaki, who spoke out bluntly about growing resentment at the world's indifference to their plight.

"Tourists are allowed to go into the delta without local guides," Njwaki told the prince. "This is worrying to us because no one knows what they might do." It was only because of the intervention of a local conservation body that "all-out war" with tour operators had been averted, he said.

At stake is no ordinary prize. The Okavango Delta is a watery wilderness of channels, lagoons and islands that empty into the Kalahari desert. Its 16,000 sq km of swamps are filled with birds, crocodiles, elephants, hippos, lions and an abundance of other wildlife.

It is also Botswana's premier tourist attraction. For years the southern African country has restricted visitor numbers to preserve its habitat. But the government now sees tourism as crucial to a diversified economy that cannot depend on diamonds for ever. The fishermen who rely on the delta for their livelihoods accuse tourists of riding roughshod over their needs and jeopardising the fragile ecosystem.

Njwaki, who as chairman of the Okavango Fishers Association represents 400 commercial fishermen and women, said: "Tourists normally come here to see nature and for casual fishing, but they should do it in an orderly way. As people living here, we are very conscious of conserving our environment, but tourists come with their boats and disturb it. It causes problems for us and it affects the wildlife."

The fishermen's age-old mode of transport is the makoro, a canoe hollowed out from a tree trunk that glides along the waterways. It is helpless against the waves generated by tourists' motorboats.

"They don't respect us," Njwaki said. "When they come in motorboats they don't slow down for fishermen who are using dugout canoes. They also cut our nets. We have a further problem of houseboats. People pitch up to camp and throw their waste in the river. We formed our association to address these concerns, so they will do things properly with tour guides."

He said the association had appealed to the government for support, but without success. "We want tourism to be controlled, but the Water Affairs Ministry has been unable to tell us how to do it. We don't have a problem with people coming, but we need regulation. It shouldn't just be floodgates opening to people to do what they like."

About 120,000 tourists visit the delta every year for attractions including the Moremi Game Reserve, more than a hundred camps and lodges and the rock paintings of the Tsodilo Hills.

Tour operators in Samochima reject the fishermen's arguments and accuse them of hurting local ecology by over-fishing. David Pryce, of the nearby Shakawe Lodge, described the criticism of tourists as "racist", adding: "When people are in the wrong, they like to find an excuse to blame someone else."

He estimated that the fish population in this part of the delta had dropped by 80% over the past 10 to 15 years and blamed the use of fishing nets bought with Norwegian donor aid. "I'd say tiger fish are down to 20% of what they were," Pryce said. "Now we don't promote fishing at all for visitors. We changed our name from Shakawe Fishing Lodge to Shakawe Lodge."

Preservation of the delta is a primary aim of the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre at Botswana University. It admits that there are "many questions" about the gains and drawbacks of tourism. It has called for greater efforts to share the benefits with poor people.

Dr Nkobi Moleele, the centre's national project co-ordinator, said: "I don't think there's a problem of too many tourists or how they behave, but there is a problem with our [management] system. Samochima is an open-access area: you can take your boat there and do whatever you want. This doesn't give communities the power to plan and agree how to do things. We don't know the numbers in these open-access areas because it's not controlled. That's the problem."

Botswana is the world's biggest diamond producer and reaps half its revenue from the gem stones. But the global economic crisis has caused their value to plummet and concentrated minds on finding alternatives. Experts predict that Botswana's diamond reserves will run out in 20 years, a time-bomb under one of Africa's most successful economies and stable democracies.

Ian Khama, the country's British-born president, said after his re-election last month: "We have always appreciated that our dependence on diamonds as a major revenue earner leaves us vulnerable, and therefore the need to diversify is very important."

Tourism, the second biggest economic sector, is ripe for growth. In the past, Botswana has styled itself as one of Africa's best kept secrets, pursuing a strategy of high-value, low-volume travellers. But earlier this year a 94m pula (£8.6m) expansion was announced, including a website aimed at the lucrative US market.

During his trip, Prince Haakon said he hoped the UNDP could help the rival factions reach a compromise. "It's all about balance so the tourism and fishing industries can find ways of working out their differences through democratic processes and peaceful means," he said.


[News > Society > Health]
Superdiets? They're just a fairytale, says top doctor
Medical evidence doesn't support claims that faddish eating regimes make you healthier
Anushka Asthana and Rowan Walker
The Observer, Sunday 22 November 2009 Article history

Some swear by chewing 32 times to aid digestion; others stick to raw vegetables and fruit; many opt for high-protein diets in the form of fish, chicken and beef; a few proclaim the powers of grapefruit juice.

Whichever diet you follow, there is a good chance that it will be challenged tomorrow, when one of the country's leading doctors exposes the "myths and fairytales" surrounding some of the world's best-known food fads.

Professor Chris Hawkey, president of the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG), will list more than a dozen famous diets when he addresses Gastro 2009, a major conference for doctors. They include "rawism", the grapefruit diet and the alkaline diet.

The chewing movement emerged in the 19th century with the claim that chewing each mouthful 32 times helped digestion. "Gladstone was apparently very eccentrically in favour of this diet," said Hawkey of the British prime minister who died in 1898. "The idea is that salivary enzymes start digestion." However, like many other diets, it was based more on "theory than evidence", according to Hawkey.

As for the Hollywood grapefruit diet, which is based on the belief that the fruit contains an enzyme that breaks down fat and which Kylie Minogue is reported to have used, Hawkey argued that the chemical is unlikely to even make it through the gut and into the body where it is meant to do its work.

"Food has been shrouded in myths and fairytales since time immemorial," he said, arguing that some people become "quasi-religious" about what they eat. "But what's important is to recognise that, despite the popularity of fad diets, we are losing a grip on the fight with obesity."

His comments come as a survey by the BSG shows that one in five Londoners would turn to weight-loss pills to slim down. As for the Atkins Nutritional Approach, the famous diet that is low in carbohydrates and high in protein, one in five women would try it, but only 2% believe it is healthy. For Hawkey, the diet is one of the few that carries at least a small amount of evidence.

"It is not terribly healthy in the sense that you are going to have a lot of fat, but if you lose weight then it is a good thing," he said. "The theory is that it resets the metabolic rate and there is some science to back that up."

He argues that there is no harm in any diet that retains some nutritional balance and makes an individual lose weight.

Among the more balanced diets he will mention is one promoted by the nutritionist Esther Blum, who advocates eating full-fat foods in moderation to help metabolise cholesterol and to improve sex drive. Its famous fans include Sarah Jessica Parker and Teri Hatcher.

"I'm all for informed scientists and practitioners actually debunking some of the mythology around diets," said Andrew Hill, professor of medical psychology at Leeds University. "People are looking for quick-fix repairs, but in fact they are very rare, particularly in relation to being overweight," Hill said.

"The idea that some new discovery or new way of combining food will give you an instant fix to your weight or health problem is nearly always misinformed. Health isn't immediately reparable; weight isn't immediately modifiable."

news20091122bbc

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

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 04:02 GMT, Sunday, 22 November 2009
Large Hadron Collider progress delights researchers
{The LHC's tunnel runs for 27km under the Franco-Swiss border}
Researchers working on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) say they are delighted with the progress made since the machine restarted on Friday.
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

One official said the collider had done more in a few hours than it did in five days of operations last year.

The LHC is being used to smash together beams of protons in a bid to shed light on the nature of the Universe.

Housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border, it is the world's largest machine.

During the experiment, scientists will search for signs of the Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle that is crucial to our current understanding of physics. Although it is predicted to exist, scientists have never found it.

{{It's all been pretty positive so far... Now, [the team] is knuckling down to the hard work}
James Gillies, Cern}

The machine was heavily damaged when an electrical fault caused a tonne of liquid helium to leak into the tunnel just nine days after it was first launched in September last year.

During 14 months of repairs dozens of giant superconducting magnets that accelerate particles at the speed of light had to be replaced.

Operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), the LHC will create similar conditions to those which were present moments after the Big Bang.

"We are further advanced now than where we were after five days of experiment last year," said Cern's director of accelerators Steve Myers.

He added that the extra year had allowed researchers to upgrade instrumentation and computer software.

Better beam

"It's all been pretty positive so far," said James Gillies, director of communications for Cern. "Now, [the team] is knuckling down to the hard work."

He added: "We're not expecting any major milestones to be reached over the next few days."

Operations team members spent Saturday injecting protons into the LHC's 27km-long "ring", attempting to improve the lifetime of the beams.

1 - 14 quadrupole magnets replaced
2 - 39 dipole magnets replaced
3 - More than 200 electrical connections repaired
4 - Over 4km of beam pipe cleaned
5 - New restraining system installed for some magnets
6 - Hundreds of new helium ports being installed around machine
7 - Thousands of detectors added to early warning system

"Right now we've got a beam lifetime of half an hour, which is pretty good for where we are. But ultimately, we want to keep a beam in the machine for 10-12 hours. There's a lot of detailed, nitty-gritty work in order to get there," said Dr Gillies.

Engineers had discussed the possibility of attempting to increase the collider's energy to a record-breaking level of 1.2 trillion electron volts this weekend.

Only the Tevatron particle accelerator in Chicago, US, has so far approached this energy, operating at just under one trillion electron volts.

However, this plan now looks unlikely. Instead, engineers will probably concentrate on preparing the machine for its first low-energy collisions, scheduled to happen in the next 10-15 days.

Progress on restarting the machine went more quickly than expected on Friday. It was not anticipated that engineers would try to circulate a proton beam until 0600 on Saturday at the earliest.

Two stable proton beams had already been circulated in opposite directions around the machine by midnight (GMT) on Friday.

Engineers first circulated a beam all the way around the LHC on 10 September 2008.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 17:48 GMT, Saturday, 21 November 2009
Acid oceans leave fish at more risk from predators
{Clown fish reared in acidified water lost the ability to "smell" danger}
Ocean acidification could cause fish to become "fatally attracted" to their predators, according to scientists.

A team studying the effects of acidification - caused by dissolved CO2 - on ocean reefs found that it leaves fish unable to "smell danger".

Young clownfish that were reared in the acidified water became attracted to rather than repelled by the chemical signals released by predatory fish.

The findings were published in the journal Ecology Letters.

Danielle Dixson from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, led the study.

She and her colleagues tested orange clown fish larvae that were raised in water with the same slightly alkaline pH as their ocean reef habitat, and those raised in more acidic water.

The team released the fish into a "flow chamber" with two water sources flowing in parallel.

One source was taken from tanks containing the clown fishes' natural predators and one was drawn from tanks in which non-predatory fish were swimming.

"The flow rates are identical, so the water won't mix," Ms Dixson explained. "This allows the fish in the chamber to choose which water cue they prefer or dislike."

In the test, the fish reared in normal water avoided the stream of water that their predators had been swimming in. They detected the odour of a predator and swam away from it.

But, Ms Dixson said, fish raised in the more acidic water were strongly attracted to both the predatory and the non-predatory flumes.

The researchers say that their study shows that fish larvae "might exhibit a fatal attraction to predators at CO2 and pH levels that could occur in our oceans by 2100 on a business-as-usual scenario of greenhouse gas emissions".

Smell of danger

Previous studies have shown that fish rely on their sense of smell, or olfaction, to avoid being eaten during the what is known as their settlement process. This is when the recently hatched larvae find a suitable, and safe, place to live.

At this vulnerable juvenile stage, the researchers pointed out, "the ability to detect and avoid predators is one of the most important mechanisms to ensure survival".

Ms Dixson told BBC News: "Ocean acidification has the potential to become a widespread problem and it's unknown how many organisms and ecosystems will cope with the decrease [in] pH.

"This study shows that ocean acidification could lead to an increase in the mortality of larvae."

news20091122cnn1

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[Tech]
With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft fights back in browser wars
{Firefox is now used by a quarter of Web surfers. Chrome aims to make the Web faster.}
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Internet Explorer remains the web's dominant browser over Firefox
> Other rivals include Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome
> Windows unit president shows IE 9's hardware-accelerated text and graphics
> IE 8 brought significant new security and privacy features earlier this year
By Stephen Shankland, CNET
November 19, 2009 -- Updated 1720 GMT (0120 HKT)

(CNET) -- With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft showed Wednesday it's trying to retake the browser initiative.

IE remains the Net's dominant browser. But perversely, it became something of a technology underdog after Microsoft vanquished Netscape in the browser wars of the 1990s and scaled back its browser effort.

That left an opportunity for rivals to blossom -- most notably Firefox, which now is used by a quarter of Web surfers, but also Apple's Safari, which now runs on Windows as well as Mac OS X, and Google's Chrome, which aims to make the Web faster and a better foundation for applications.

Microsoft has been pouring resources back into the IE effort, though, and at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, some fruits of that labor were on display. In particular, Windows unit president Steven Sinofsky showed off IE 9's new hardware-accelerated text and graphics.

The acceleration feature takes advantage of hitherto untapped computing power in a way that's more useful than other browser-boosting technology such as Google's Native Client to tap into a PC's processor and Mozilla's WebGL for accelerated 3D graphics, said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer.

"This is a direct improvement to everybody's usage of the Web on a daily basis," Hachamovitch said in an interview after Sinofsky's speech. "Web developers are doing what they did before, only now they can tap directly into a PC's graphics hardware to make their text work better and graphics work better."

Why go to all this trouble? In short, to help keep the Windows business alive and kicking.

"Our goal in building a great browser for consumers and for everyone is that they are Windows customers. That's at the core of it," Hachamovitch said.

He didn't bring it up, but it should be noted that an increasing fraction of Microsoft's business is moving online, too, through its Bing, Live, and now online Office 2010 sites. "We want to build a better IE so all the Web sites have a better experience," Hachamovitch said.

Turning up the heat Microsoft began work on IE 9 just three weeks ago, Sinofsky said. But signs have been clear that the company has taken interest in its browser again.

When it arrived earlier this year IE 8 brought significant new security and privacy features, and in a significant departure Web developers appreciate, it attempts to follow various Web standards such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and Cascading Style Sheets.

More recently, Microsoft joined the HTML standards effort in August. And earlier this month, Microsoft sent a dozen IE team members to a World Wide Web Consortium meeting.

"High-quality specifications that improve interoperability between browsers are important. Our goal is to help ensure these new standards work well for Web developers and will work well in future versions of IE," said Adrian Bateman, a Microsoft program manager who's involved in the standardization effort, describing the motivation. That point of view is music to the ears of programmers who struggle to make sure their Web sites work with the ever-wider variety of browsers on the Web today.

Hardware acceleration

Under the covers, the IE 9 acceleration works by employing Microsoft's Direct2D interface rather than its GDI (Graphical Device Interface). Direct2D provides a general way for software to take advantage of hardware acceleration for graphics, and IE 9 will employ it.

"It's a remarkably different level of performance," said Hachmovitch, who's using the technology. "It's like the difference between watching Pixar or an Xbox vs. watching an old PC chug along."

Direct2D also facilitates a technology called sub-pixel positioning that can smooth the appearance of text on the screen. That cuts eyestrain, he said.

In a video touting the Direct2D browsing technology, Microsoft showed off the acceleration effect on a map-based Web site. While panning the view one way or the other, "The map literally keeps up with your mouse," said Microsoft graphics developer Christian Fortini in the video.

With the old technology, that chore can update the screen at a rate of about 5 to 10 frames per second while using 50 to 60 percent of the processor's horsepower, but using the Direct2D method, the frame rate jumps to a range of 40 to 60 per second while the CPU usage plunges, Hachamovitch said.

Compatibility sales pitch

Hachamovitch touted Microsoft's approach as broadly relevant and compatible with the Web as it stands today. Unlike Native Client and WebGL, it doesn't require new programming skills for Web developers.

"Web sites didn't have to change behavior and code in a different way" to take advantage of the Direct2D technology, Hachamovitch said.

"With a lot of other technologies, it takes a lot of work and a lot of time to figure out how to do something different. It isn't necessarily an interoperable, standards kind of thing -- it's something from one particular vendor. We're taking interoperable implementations of things like CSS, things that developers are using and expect to work everywhere, and making them demonstrably better."

He didn't comment on whether Microsoft supports some Web standards for better graphics, including Canvas and Scalable Vector Graphics, but he did say the new display technology will broadly help whatever graphics technologies IE does support.

"Once we're on top of this super-rich graphics infrastructure, all the graphics we do will have this," he said.

And although Microsoft certainly hasn't committed to it, Eliot Graff, an IE lead technical editor, is helping edit the Canvas interface at the W3C group.

Full standards support remains a sore point when dealing with IE. On one test, Acid3, IE 8 scores just 20 out of 100. IE 9 currently scores 32, and "the score will continue to go up," Hachamovitch wrote in the blog posting.

Faster JavaScript

The acceleration is one aspect of performance Microsoft is focusing on. Another is the execution of JavaScript, a programming language used widely on the Web for everything from mundane tasks to full-on applications such as Gmail and Google Docs.

In another Microsoft video, John Montgomery, a leader of IE's browser compatibility and tools team, shows off the browser tackling all the components of the SunSpider JavaScript speed test.

"We're whipping through these faster than (IE) 8 was," Montgomery said. "We're pretty early in the development process. There's still some stuff we can still squeeze out of the engine, but we're doing a lot better than we were."

Hachamovitch, though, takes pains to point out JavaScript isn't the only bottleneck for browsers. Even though JavaScript engines are important enough to warrant brand names these days -- Chrome's V8, Firefox's TraceMonkey, Safari's Nitro, Opera's Futhark and Caracan -- Microsoft's prefers to shine a light on nine other aspects of browser performance.

In a blog post about IE9, Hachamovitch shows how a variety of chores -- two different news sites and two separate tasks in Microsoft's online version of Excel -- exercise different parts of the browser.

"The work we do in performance involves many systems in the browser," he said. "As these script engines converge and effectively have the same performance, you realize all the other subsystems get more important. You need the other nine parts of the browser to work, too."

news20091122cnn2

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[Tech]
Google OS: the end of the hard drive?
{Computers that run on Google OS may boot up in only 7 seconds, like a TV.}
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Google reveals new details about its upcoming operating system
> The OS should boot up in 7 seconds, similar to a TV
> The operating system, called Chrome, is due out next year
> It is expected to function more like a browser than like Windows
By Dylan F. Tweney
November 20, 2009 -- Updated 1323 GMT (2123 HKT)

(WIRED) -- Google today unveiled more details of Chrome OS, a lightweight, browser-based operating system for netbooks.

With a strong focus on speed, the Chrome OS promises nearly instant boot times of about 7 seconds for users to login to their computers.

"We want Google Chrome OS to be blazingly fast ... to boot up like a TV," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google.

The first Chrome OS netbooks will be available in late 2010, Pichai said. It will not be available as a download to run and install. Instead, Chrome OS is only shipping on specific hardware from manufacturers Google has partnered with. That means if you want Chrome OS, you'll have to purchase a Chrome OS device.

Google is currently working with unnamed computer manufacturers to define specifications for these computers, which Pichai said will include larger netbook-style computers with full-size keyboards, large trackpads and large displays.

Chrome OS netbooks will not have traditional hard disk drives -- they will rely on non-volatile flash memory and Internet-based storage for saving all of your data.

All the applications will be web-based, meaning users won't have to install apps, manage updates or even backup their data. All data will be stored in the cloud, and users won't even have to bother with anti-virus software: Google claims it will monitor code to prevent malicious activity in Chrome OS web apps.

"Chrome OS is a totally rethought computer that will let you focus on the Internet, so you can stop worrying about your computer," according to a Google promotional video shown at the event, held at the Google campus in Mountain View, California.

As part of its announcement today, Pichai said that Google would be releasing all of the operating system's code and design documents to the public.

Introduced in July, Chrome OS is a Linux-based, open-source operating system centered on Google's Chrome browser. Applications will run exclusively inside the browser, Google said Thursday.

"As of today, the code will be fully open, which means Google developers will be working on the same tree as open developers," said Pichai.

The OS's focus on design is consistent with the company's stance that the future is in the web. In July, Vic Gundotra, Google's engineering vice president and developer evangelist, spoke on a panel about app stores, in which he said native apps (such as those available for the iPhone) would be obsolete in the future, and that the Web will "become the platform that matters."

"Every capability you want today, in the future it will be written as a web application," Pichai said Thursday.

Netbooks -- lightweight, low-powered sub-notebooks -- were the surprise hit of 2008 and 2009. However, with the growth of netbook sales slowing -- and the prices of some full-powered notebooks dropping below $400 -- the continued viability of the netbook sector is an open question.

Though netbook shipments are falling below manufacturers' expectations, the inexpensive, low-powered devices appear to still be selling well. Pichai cited research figures from ABI research indicating that 35 million netbooks shipped in 2009, more than twice the number sold in 2008.

Manufacturers have yet to announce pricing on netbooks shipping with Chrome OS, but Google expects the cost to be about the same as current netbooks. On average, netbooks cost between $300 and $500.

Videos demonstrating Chrome OS's user interface, security, fast boot and other features are below the jump.

news20091122reut

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Poland says to sell CO2 permits to Ireland soon
Sat Nov 21, 2009 7:42am EST

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland will sign an accord shortly under the global Kyoto Protocol to sell surplus carbon emission permits worth 15 million euros ($22.3 million) to Ireland, Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said on Saturday.

The Protocol allows signatory nations that are comfortably below their emissions targets to sell surpluses in the form of credits, called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs), to governments and companies that are short of their goals.

It would be the second such government-to-government deal for Poland, the European Union's biggest ex-communist member, after it sold 25 million euros in AAUs to Spain this month.

"In one or two weeks at most we will sign such a contract with Ireland. Together with the one already signed with Spain, they will be worth 40 million euros," Nowicki told a panel marking the second anniversary of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's center-right government.

Poland has some 500 million tons of CO2 equivalent of AAUs to sell as much of its highly polluting industry has shut down since the end of communism in 1989. It is also hoping to sell permits to Japan.

Nowicki has said Warsaw will spend money raised from the AAUs only on programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions such as those investing in renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and clean-coal technology.

He has said Poland, which still derives much of its energy from heavily polluting coal, may sell more than 1 billion zlotys ($363 million) of carbon emission permits by the end of 2010.

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, writing by Gareth Jones)


[Green Business]
Trony Solar raises IPO target to $241.5 million
Sat Nov 21, 2009 5:59pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese thin film solar company Trony Solar Holdings Company Limited raised the amount of its initial public offering on Friday, adding to the buzz around the many U.S.-based publicly traded solar companies.

The firm said in a regulatory filing that it would raise as much as $241.5 million in its IPO, up from the $200 million it filed for last month.

The Shenzhen-based company said it plans to sell 15 million American depositary shares while shareholders sell an additional 4.5 million shares. It said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it expects the shares to price between $9 and $11.

JPMorgan Special Situations (Mauritius) Limited and Intel Capital Corp, which currently own a combined 11.9 percent of the company, are each selling half of their shares.

The firm reported revenue of 254.6 million yuan ($37.1 million) in the three months ended September 30, up 44.8 percent from a year ago, and net profit of 72.5 million yuan, up 61.5 percent from a year ago.

Trony Solar plans to debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "TRO."

Lead underwriters for the deal are J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse. The underwriters may purchase an additional 2.925 million shares.

(Reporting by Clare Baldwin, editing by Matthew Lewis)


[Green Business]
Bushfires burn as Australia prepares final ETS laws
Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:59am EST
By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - After months of political haggling the Australian government will unveil its revised carbon trading laws this week, with a vote expected by the year's final day of parliament on Thursday.

If the emissions trading scheme (ETS) is rejected by a hostile Senate for a second time, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would have a trigger for a snap election on climate change.

Rudd's Labor government has a commanding lead in opinion polls over the Liberal Party. Elections are due in late 2010.

"Everyone in Australia ... this weekend would work it out that we are among the hottest and driest continents on Earth. We will feel the effects of climate change fastest and hardest," said Rudd, referring to more than 80 bushfires in Australia and temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

"We must act this week and the government will be doing everything possible to make sure that that can occur," he said.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said on Sunday that an amended ETS would be presented to opposition parties on Tuesday for their consideration before a vote in the Senate.

"We anticipate that we will be in a position to put a very clear offer to the opposition on Tuesday morning," Wong told Australian television. "The (opposition) coalition negotiators know broadly where we are likely to land."

The scheme, due to start in July 2011, will cover 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluters and will be the second domestic trading platform outside of Europe, putting a price on every tonne of carbon emissions.

The debate is being closely watched overseas, particularly in the United States where lawmakers are debating their own proposals. Neighboring New Zealand is also trying to pass revised emissions trading laws.

The carbon trading scheme was a key promise of Rudd's 2007 election campaign and he wants the ETS laws passed before December's global climate talks in Copenhagen.

But Liberal MPs are opposed to the scheme saying it will cost jobs and damage industry. Some are unconvinced that human activity is the main driver of climate change and plan to vote against the laws regardless of the government's changes.

The government needs an extra seven votes in the hostile Senate to pass its ETS laws.

The government has already agreed to exclude agriculture from the ETS. The opposition is seeking further amendments to ensure additional protection to coal miners and electricity generators.

Australia, the world's biggest coal exporter, produces about 1.5 percent of global emissions and is one of the world's highest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases.

Australia has now set a reduction target of 5 to 25 percent, with the upper level kicking in if a strong agreement is reached at U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen.

Australia's Greens, who plan to vote against the ETS laws, released legal advice on Sunday warning that any attempt to strengthen pollution reduction targets after the laws are passed could trigger billions of dollars in compensation to industries.

The legal advise said that permits to pollute purchased in the ETS would be legally deemed personal property and under the constitution if the government changed the value of personal property it must be done on just terms.

"The Rudd government's targets have failure written all over them," said Greens Senate leader Bob Brown. "Yet the ETS legislation will lock them in until 2020 since any increase will trigger compensation claims worth billions of dollars."

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)