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

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009
New spy satellite launched into orbit
Compiled from Kyodo, AP

TANEGASHIMA, Kagoshima Pref. — Japan's latest intelligence-gathering satellite was successfully put into orbit Saturday, replacing an earlier model, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

{Eye in the sky: An H-2A rocket carrying the latest intelligence-gathering satellite blasts off from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Saturday.}

The optical satellite was launched on an H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

The new satellite, the third of its kind, will replace the first model, which had a planned life span of about five years and was put into orbit in March 2003, according to officials involved with the project.

"The satellite will gather intelligence for our defense and diplomatic purposes," said Hisashi Michigami, an official at the Cabinet Office. "We hope to upgrade our ability to gather intelligence on our own. Intelligence gathering is vital to our national security."

While the older models were capable of distinguishing objects on the Earth's surface with a resolution of around 1 meter, the new model has improved the resolution to several tens of centimeters, the officials said.

The new satellite will undergo a performance trial for about three months before starting full-fledged operations, they said.

Japan has long relied on the United States for intelligence. But it launched its first pair of spy satellites in 2003, prompted by concerns over North Korea's missile program.

North Korea shocked Tokyo in 1998 when it test-fired a missile over Japan. Since then, Tokyo has launched spy satellites primarily to monitor developments in North Korea.

In April this year, a North Korean long-range rocket flew over Japan before landing in the Pacific.

Japan currently operates two optical satellites and a radar satellite, and the government is planning to add another radar satellite by March 2013 for a four-satellite system that will be able to film designated places on Earth at least once a day.

The satellite launched Saturday cost about ¥48.7 billion in research and development and around ¥9.4 billion for its manufacturing and launch, according to the officials.

Japan has long been one of the world's leading space-faring nations, having launched its first satellite in 1970, but in recent years has been overtaken by China.

While China put its first men into orbit in 2003, Japan has yet to send astronauts into space on its own.

Last year, the Diet voted to allow the nation's space programs to be used for defense for the first time as part of Tokyo's push to give its military a greater international role.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009
Nikai aide faces false statements charges
Kyodo News

Prosecutors are seeking to establish a criminal case by the end of the year against a secretary of former Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai on suspicion of making false statements in political funds reports, sources said.

The allegation is linked to a finding by the prosecutors that a Liberal Democratic Party branch headed by Nikai, 70, a Lower House member, received funds totaling around \9 million from Nishimatsu Construction Co. under the names of the company's employees in the three years to 2008, the sources said.

Making or receiving a donation under a false name is banned under the Political Funds Control Law.

According to the sources, the policy secretary of Nikai did not hold a post in the LDP branch in Wakayama Prefecture but was in charge of negotiations with Nishimatsu.

Nishimatsu used its employees' names without their consent and donated about \3 million annually to the LDP branch from 2006 to 2008, they said.

The money was divided into portions of \50,000, the maximum amount for which a donor's name need not be disclosed in a political funds report, the sources said.

Prosecutors also suspect some of the Nishimatsu funds were sent via the LDP branch to an Osaka-based political organization managed by Nikai's 67-year-old brother, they said.

Mikio Kunisawa, 70, Nishimatsu's president at the time, has already resigned, and was found guilty of making illegal donations to a political body of Nikai's LDP faction and to the political fund management body of Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.

If the secretary is indicted, the LDP will be implicated in a political fund scandal similar to those rocking the ruling DPJ.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009
Sugaya plans to resettle in hometown

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. (Kyodo) Toshikazu Sugaya, who expects to be acquitted soon in a retrial over a 1990 murder case, will start a new life in his hometown of Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, by year's end, sources close to him said Saturday.

Sugaya, 63, has already submitted notification of his impending move to the municipal office, telling acquaintances, "I hope I can welcome the new year in Ashikaga," according to the sources.

Sugaya was arrested and indicted in December 1991 on suspicion of killing preschooler Mami Matsuda, 4, in Ashikaga in May 1990.

Sugaya was released in June following 17 years in prison after fresh DNA tests effectively proved his innocence, leading to the retrial.

Since his release, he has been living in Yokohama, but he made a visit to Ashikaga to pray for Matsuda.

Ashikaga Mayor Minoru Omamiuda told Sugaya at that time the municipal office is ready to provide him with a municipal house and work as a school bus driver, his old job.

In the retrial's first session on Oct. 21, Sugaya pleaded not guilty and called for the truth behind the false accusation to be clarified at his trial.

At the second session of his retrial Tuesday, a forensic scientist displayed a brief summary of his updated DNA analysis and testified that Sugaya's DNA does not match that of bodily fluid taken from Matsuda's underwear.

The Utsunomiya District Court is expected to acquit him as early as next March.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009
Fukuyama optimistic emissions deal within reach
By ERIC JOHNSTON
Staff writer

KYOTO — Last week's announcement by President Barack Obama that the United States would pursue a 17 percent cut in greenhouse gases compared to 2005, followed by China's announcement of its own emissions reductions target, are positive signs that an agreement will be reached at next month's Copenhagen conference, Vice Foreign Minister Tetsuro Fukuyama said Saturday.

China announced that it would reduce its greenhouse gases emitted per unit of gross domestic product by 40 percent to 45 percent, also by 2020.

"America and China have now made their positions clear, and their announced commitments are a good sign that an agreement can now be reached," Fukuyama said.

But he warned that the road to a final treaty on greenhouse gas emissions remains long.

"Will the Chinese accept the American commitment? Will America accept China's plan? Once we get to Copenhagen, things might change," he said. "Questions about financing, and especially how much money Japan, as a major player in the negotiations, can offer for climate change mitigation all still have to be decided as well."

Japan's commitment to a 25 percent cut by 2020, based on 1990 levels, is in line with what a 2007 report by the majority of climate scientists recommended.

news20091129jt2

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

[ENVIRONMENT]
Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009
Deer problem growing fast
By MELINDA JOE
Special to The Japan Times

This winter, naturalist and woodland conservationist C.W. Nicol will be busy cooking up delicious meals using wild deer meat — slow-cooked keema curry, hearty shepherd's pie and soy-simmered nikudango meatballs, to name a few.

{{Doing as he says: C.W. Nicol butchers a deer shot by a hunter friend.}
KENJI MINAMI}

Like Nicol — a prolific author and broadcaster whose "Old Nic's Notebook" appears on this page every month — if more people start to incorporate venison into their diets, Japan may come closer to solving the problem of deer overpopulation that is threatening forests nationwide.

According to Koichi Kaji, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, deer numbers rise 20 percent annually, meaning the population in Japan — presently estimated to be up to 875,000 — could double every four years. Now, even though around 140,000 animals are culled annually, that's not enough to keep pace with their rapid reproduction.

The current state of affairs — with the vegetation in nine of Japan's 29 National Parks classed by the Mammalogical Society of Japan as "suffering serious damage from deer" (as well as that in many quasi-National Parks) — differs sharply from previous eras.

Since ages past, Hokkaido has been home to a thriving population of sika deer (Cervus nippon), the indigenous variety of the Cervidae deer family native to much of East Asia. However, following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, people from other parts of Japan were encouraged to move there to exploit the sparsely populated northern island's natural resources — among them its deer. Although the animals had long been hunted for food by indigenous Ainu people using bows and arrows, the immigrants soon wrought drastic changes.

The new arrivals cleared forest areas for agriculture and used guns to hunt deer in large numbers, harvesting more than 500,000 a year betweem 1873-78 alone. Canneries were built, and their exports became a major source of income. Consequently, by 1900 deer numbers were down to near-unsustainably low levels.

As a result, from 1879, the Hokkaido government initiated various bans on hunting that covered much of the island for many years up to 1950, by which time deer numbers had recovered.

Since then, several factors have led to their successful repopulation of Hokkaido and other parts of Japan, with their range expanding by 70 percent since 1990.

Among these has been the increased area of pastures to meet growing demands for beef and milk — pastures that also provide easy grazing for deer. Postwar global warming and reducing snowfall have also allowed more deer to survive the winters. Meanwhile wolves, long their prime predators, were exterminated from Hokkaido and Japan's other main islands around the turn of the 20th century because they preyed on domesticated animals as well.

With climatic changes in their favor, and wolves gone, deer numbers continue to explode. Moreover, with rampant rural depopulation, and with it a decline in culling, the situation has become so serious that many local authorities are now paying hunters to control numbers.

Deer are voracious. Left to themselves, after clearing the forest floor of non-poisonous plants, they begin to nibble away at tree bark, which often kills the trees. Rare species of vegetation, dwarf bamboo and slow-growing elm and oak are most vulnerable.

Moreover, overgrazing by deer, Kaji warns, carries consequences that go beyond the disruption of ecosystems. Damage to the forest floor leads ultimately to soil erosion and, in some cases, landslides, he notes.

"After eliminating the surface vegetation, there is bare ground and the soil washes away," he explains.

Although the problem is most severe in northern Japan, Kaji, who has been studying deer populations for more than 30 years, says it is not limited to Hokkaido.

{{Straight talk: Koichi Kaji (above), a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and 30-year student of deer in Japan, warns of the damage to ecosystems and water supplies caused by such fine beasts as this sika stag (below) browsing in a Hokkaido glade.}
MELINDA JOE; ANDREW KERSHAW}

"They climb nearly to the top of the mountains in Nagano Prefecture and damage the alpine grassland (and delicate flora). It's awful," he reports.

Those living in the nation's capital don't have to go far to witness the downside of these Cervidae ruminants. The deer have harmed vegetation in the Okutama area of western Tokyo, site of the Ogouchi Reservoir, which is the city's major water resource.

Due to such problems, many local governments now pay hunters to cull the animals. But due to the shrinking number of hunters and the high cost of disposing of carcasses, the deer are still dominating.

Nicol advocates creating a federal corps of forest rangers and veterinarians to manage wildlife populations.

"There should be game wardens or rangers trained to assess the deer damage and cull them; vets to examine the meat and say, 'This is OK for people to eat, or not,' " Nicol urges. "We are pushing the new government to establish real foresters."

But for now, he says efforts should focus on encouraging people to eat venison.

Earlier this month, Nicol and Kaji both spoke at a Tokyo symposium intended to shed light on the issue, and last year Nicol had a book published, titled "Shika Niku Shoku no Osusume" ("Recommendations on Eating Deer"), in which he examines the overpopulation problem in detail and explains how to prepare deer meat. At the Afan Woodland Trust, the conservation organization he heads in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture, he also often hosts venison dinners in hopes of educating people through experience.

Meanwhile, the environmental group and organic-produce home-delivery service provider Daichi wo Mamaoru Kai (Association to Preserve the Earth) is also supporting the cause.

Daichi started selling venison during the winter months three years ago, and has recently begun a campaign to promote its consumption, so reducing the animals' impact on plant and other species. Their first event this month featured a venison dinner at the Wako French restaurant in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district.

Daichi spokesperson Yukie Ohno says the association is planning more events for the future, including venison cooking programs and casual lunches. On Feb. 27, it will also host a discussion on the topic of deer and biodiversity issues at a farmers' market event in Tokyo's Ota Ward.

Some believe that deer meat has a strong odor and are reluctant to eat it. The reason, according to Ohno, is a simple lack of information.

"People don't know how delicious it is. Now we mostly eat beef, pork and chicken, though we've had venison for thousands of years," she says. "Venison is low in calories and high in iron. It's good for women and people who exercise."

Danger zone: Ogouchi Reservoir in the Okutama area of western Tokyo is the city's major water resource, but damage to the environment caused by deer could threaten its water levels. MELINDA JOE

Although Nicol never buys farmed meat to cook at home, he doesn't believe it's necessary to eat venison exclusively to have a significant impact on the problem. "We don't want everyone to start eating it on a regular basis. We just want to be able, through the sale of the venison, to pay those who control the numbers."

The first step, Kaji notes, is to recognize deer as a valuable natural resource — then to create policies and support industries that can sustain it. The solution, he insists, must take a holistic approach, because the problem itself is much bigger than it seems on the surface.

"The deer problem is not only one of ecosystems, it's about land conservation," he points out. "There are a lot of deer on the watersheds and to protect them the deer must be managed. It's a land problem."

"If you're eating venison, you are helping, and if it was taken by a hunter, the deer was free," says Nicol.

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[Today's Newspaper] from [Los Angeles Times]

[U.S. & World > South Korea]
In South Korea, abortion foes gain ground
Though they're technically illegal, abortions are prevalent and rarely discussed in the political sphere. One doctor has become the face of a movement to change that.
By John M. Glionna
November 29, 2009

Reporting from Seoul - For nearly two decades, obstetrician Shim Sang-duk aborted as many babies as he delivered -- on average, one a day, month after month.

"Over time, I became emotionless," the physician said. "I came to see the results of my work as just a chunk of blood. During the operation, I felt the same as though I was treating scars or curing diseases."

Shim, 42, eventually came to despise himself, despite the money he earned from the procedures. So, two months ago, he founded an activist group of physicians who refuse to perform abortions and advocate prosecution for doctors who continue to do so.

The group's stand has brought a tidal wave of criticism from the Korean Assn. of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents more than 4,000 physicians in this country where abortions, although technically illegal, are so prevalent it has been tagged as "the Abortion Republic."

Unlike in America, where doctors have been threatened and even killed for performing abortions, Shim says he's received death threats for deciding to stop performing them.

The controversy illustrates the stark differences between South Korea's attitude toward abortion and that of many Western nations. While often couched elsewhere as a battle between religious activists and those defending a woman's right to choose, the issue here carries no such emotional freight.

"Western societies see abortion as one of benchmark battles between conservatives and liberals -- while here there has not been even any academic discussion," said Lee Na-young, a sociology professor at Seoul's Chung-Ang University.

In South Korea, religious groups and women's rights advocates have remained largely silent on the issue, analysts say.

"During church sermons, we barely talk about abortion, which is considered an individual matter," said Hwang Pil-gyu, a minister on the life and ethics committee of the National Council of Churches in Korea. "Many churches have put this issue on the back burner."

Shim has critics even outside the medical field. Some say he's grandstanding. Others criticize his emphasis on the financial incentive of performing abortions.

"The whole discussion seems to be about his giving up profits from the abortions he doesn't do," Lee said. "This isn't the issue."

But Shim's campaign has triggered a rare public debate on abortion. Lawmakers now call for tougher enforcement of existing laws, and are asking parents to reassess the cultural value of childbirth.

Beginning in the 1970s, officials advocated fewer births as a way to fuel economic productivity. The policy was perhaps too successful: Birthrates in South Korea plummeted. A decade ago, officials reversed their stand, calling for residents to have more babies.

Yet the declining fertility trend has proved difficult to reverse. The country's birthrate is now among the lowest worldwide, with just 1.19 live births per woman.

Meanwhile, abortion rates have kept their pace, many say. Every year, 450,000 babies are born here; Health Ministry officials estimate that 350,000 abortions are performed each year. One politician says the number of abortions is actually four times higher -- nearly 1.5 million.

Now there are calls to strengthen a 1973 mother-child protection law, long criticized for containing loopholes and for being rarely enforced. Some lawmakers want to prosecute more physicians for performing abortions and close down underground clinics where the procedures cost as little as $70.

For the first six months of 2009, only three of 29 abortion-related cases were prosecuted, said Chang Yoon-seok, a member of the ruling Grand National Party, who supports tougher sanctions.

"Even though illegal abortions are widespread . . . it is true that everyone keeps quiet and does not say anything about it," the politician said in a statement.

Dressed in his white lab coat, the bespectacled Shim embodies a new public consciousness against abortion.

In the lobby of his Ion clinic, a sign explains his new philosophy. "Abortions, which abandon the valuable life of a fetus, are the very misery for the nation and society as well as pregnant women, families and ob-gyn doctors," it reads.

For years, Shim rarely, if ever, even used the word "abortion." Rather, he said, he sought to "erase" or "prevent" the fetus.

"I bought into the government's argument that it was OK to do this," he said. "It was good for the country. It boosted the economy."

Still, Shim was often baffled by his patients' behavior: After receiving their abortions, he said, most women cried.

"Many patients cry when they give birth," he said, "but these were a different kind of tears."

Although Shim's clinic made one-quarter of its profits from performing abortions, he tried harder to dissuade patients from choosing the option.

He started a website where he was contacted by other physicians. Although he claims support from 700 doctors, he acknowledges that only 30 have stopped performing the procedure.

Many others have withdrawn their support under pressure from peers. But for Shim, the benefits were immediate. "I feel like a young doctor again," he said.

The decision was difficult financially. His clinic has lost so many patients that Shim says he may soon be forced to close.

But Shim won't reconsider. The physician recalled his final abortion.

He had already sworn off the procedure when a longtime patient called him, distraught. He met with the mother of two for hours and begged her to go home and reconsider.

The following morning, she still wanted the abortion. So Shim relented. After the procedure, he said, she cried.

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[Today's Newspaper] from [The New York Times]

[Science >Environment]
Protecting the Forests, and Hoping for Payback
{Logs cut to thin the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon, an effort to promote sustainability.}
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Published: November 28, 2009

SISTERS, Ore. — A patch of ponderosa pines here in the Deschutes National Forest has been carefully pruned over the last few years to demonstrate the United States Forest Service’s priorities in the changing West: improving forest health and protecting against devastating wildfire while still supporting the timber economy.

Yet occasionally, when tour groups come through, someone will ask what role the trees might play as the nation addresses global warming. After all, forests soak up carbon dioxide as they grow.

“We’ve always said that’s outside the scope of this project,” said Michael Keown, the environmental coordinator for the Sisters Ranger District, which includes more than 300,000 acres in the Deschutes forest in central Oregon. “But those days have come and gone.”

The giant evergreens of the West have long been proclaimed essential, whether the cause was saving salmon and spotted owls or small towns and their sawmills. Now, with evidence showing that American forests store 15 percent or more of the carbon gases produced in the nation, expectations are growing for them to do even more.

Over the next 50 years or so, experts say, some forests could be cultivated to grow bigger, more resilient trees, potentially increasing their carbon storage by 50 percent and providing an important “bridge” to a time when the nation will theoretically have shifted away from greenhouse-gas producing fossil fuels.

But even as some private forests are already being marketed as “carbon sinks,” or storehouses, that could play a role in a future carbon cap-and-trade program, government agencies and academics are struggling to understand and measure how carbon is stored and released. After decades of controversy surrounding the management of forests, debate persists over how they can best be used to fight global warming while also being protected from their threats, including more and bigger wildfires.

“While healthy, functioning forests may serve as a means to sequester carbon, under current practices, many of our Western forests are at risk of turning from a carbon sink to a carbon source,” Tom Tidwell, the head of the Forest Service, told a Senate subcommittee on Nov. 18 in a hearing on forest management and climate change.

“Projections indicate that while these forests continue to sequester more carbon in the short-term,” Mr. Tidwell said, “in 30 to 50 years, disturbances such as fire and insects and disease could dramatically change the role of forests, thereby emitting more carbon than currently sequestering.”

The challenges and benefits range by region. Studies show that the potential carbon capacity of the predominantly fir forests on the wet west side of the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest is at least three times as high as that of the drier regions over the mountains and to the southwest.

Many drier forests, including here east of the Cascades, have grown unnaturally dense after logging and efforts to save them from wildfires. Experts say measures taken to stop fires can end up causing more devastating ones by allowing the growth of small trees and underbrush, “ladder fuels” that ignite bigger trees.

On federal lands, the Forest Service has recently emphasized removing ladder fuels, including in the demonstration project here in the Metolius Basin.

“The suite of things we’re doing benefits the carbon sequestration,” said Brian Tandy, who helps oversee forest growth in the Deschutes. “We weren’t doing it to address some of that specifically, but the way we’re moving is sort of in line with that.”

Still, after years of fights over logging practices, including lawsuits to reduce clear cutting on federal land, distrust of the Forest Service’s motives remains. Mr. Tandy made a point of saying that one reason he does what he does is to help meet “society’s needs for wood products.”

Beverly Law, a professor of global change forest science at Oregon State University, pointed to the Deschutes project as an example of the Forest Service protecting against climate change while potentially improving carbon storage. Yet Ms. Law also said fire officials should not presume that what might keep a forest from burning will enhance it as a carbon asset.

“There’s this opinion out there that when people see smoke from fire, they think it’s all going up in smoke — well, no, it’s not,” Ms. Law said, referring to forests that experience relatively low-intensity fires, a common dynamic in dry areas like central and eastern Oregon and parts of California. “Only 5 percent of the total ecosystem carbon is going up in smoke. When you talk about trying to prevent that, it’s not as big a carbon pulse to the atmosphere as people think.”

Ms. Law, along with Mark E. Harmon, a professor of forest ecology at Oregon State, and others say that forest policy should be tailored to individual forests and that the risk of carbon released in a wildfire should be weighed against the carbon costs of trying to prevent fire.

“They say they have to do thinning all over the place because they say fire might happen here,” Ms. Law said, “but it might not happen for decades.”

The math only gets more complicated. Newer, ostensibly environmentally friendly efforts to use cleared brush and small trees as biofuel could potentially release more carbon through transportation and processing than if the material were simply burned in the woods. By the same token, removing a completely burned forest can end up releasing more carbon than if the dead trees are left alone.

Others counter that thinning and fire prevention efforts now under way will have long term benefits, even if they release some carbon initially.

“You can regain that emitted carbon and actually put on even more carbon by redirecting the growth in the forest to the large trees that you leave in the forest — and you avoid the substantial emission of carbon you’d have in a wildfire,” said Malcolm North, a research ecologist at the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station and an associate professor of forest ecology at the University of California, Davis.

In his comments to the Senate subcommittee, Mr. Tidwell pointed out that while the Forest Service manages vast tracts of the West, private landowners control the majority of forest land in the United States. Still, said Andrea Tuttle, the former director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention, the government has a different obligation than private owners.

“The Forest Service as a public agency should be managing the forest for the people,” Ms. Tuttle said. “Part of that is to make them resilient to climate change and at the same time find opportunities where appropriate to use the forest as a carbon sink.”

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[Today's Newspaper] fom [The Washington Post]

[Technology]
Home computers: Decisions, decisions
{{Apple has elected not to compete with PCs on price, so its cheapest portable option is a MacBook with no upgrades at $999.}
Paul Sakuma/associated Press}
By Rob Pegoraro
Sunday, November 29, 2009

Across the universe of gadget gifts, few things can inspire more angst and buyer's remorse than home computers. Even as their prices have crumbled -- processors and memory have become so cheap that your main risk is buying more of either than you'll ever use -- these machines have remained specialized, often high-maintenance products. You cannot shop for them by price alone; buying a computer still demands a series of decisions with non-obvious answers.

For an increasing number of people, the first judgment call is the Mac-or-Windows issue.

Both Microsoft and Apple have updated their operating systems this year. Windows 7 represents a bigger improvement relative to its predecessor, the widely disliked Windows Vista, while Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard has been somewhat disappointing in practice. But the Mac's core advantages over Windows persist.

OS X's separation of the operating system and applications makes adding or removing programs drag-and-drop easy and leaves viruses fewer openings. Macs have fewer hardware-software conflicts and no "trialware" junk (among PC vendors, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba can be especially obnoxious in that respect, while Dell has shown more restraint). And Apple's stores offer a more pleasant shopping experience and better tech support than most Windows-based shops.

But because Apple chooses not to compete in the cheaper end of the market, you pay a lot more for those advantages; its lack of a netbook leaves its cheapest portable option the $999 MacBook. Macs do include features that sometimes cost extra or aren't available on PCs, such as Bluetoooth wireless and the iMac's clever, touch-sensitive "Magic Mouse," but not all users want those bonuses.

It's fair to call a Mac a luxury. It's more affordable than many other luxuries, but see what your bank account has to say first.

Decide that, then you can make the next big choice: netbook, laptop or desktop.

That first category -- ultra-light, ultra-cheap computers with small screens and no CD or DVD drive -- didn't even exist a few years ago, but now it makes up a large chunk of the market. Netbooks make the most sense as a second or third computer, unless you plan to use the machine only for light, Web-centric use.

You can expect prices from the low $200s to as much as $500. One key factor is your choice of operating system: Microsoft's Windows XP and Windows 7 Starter Edition or various releases of the open-source Linux system. The latter costs less and is far more secure, but it requires learning a new interface and new programs. (I plan to review a few Win 7 netbooks here soon.)

Another is screen size. The nine-inch displays of cheaper netbooks may tax your eyesight. Those computers, in turn, are more likely to have cramped keyboards -- avoid any that exile the right-hand Shift key to the right of the up-arrow cursor key, a layout that invites repeated typos.

Plain old laptops have become the most popular type of computer among home users. They're cheaper than ever and often include keyboards and screens as big as those once standard on desktops. But the bigger the screen and the keyboard, the higher the weight and the shorter the battery life. If you'll take a laptop farther than from a coffee table to a desk, don't buy one heavier than five pounds or with less than three hours of reported battery life.

A desktop, in turn, should cost less and allows a choice of screen and keyboard -- unless it's an all-in-one model like the iMac or HP's TouchSmart. Some buyers now opt for "small form factor" desktops that can fit underneath HDTVs to serve as a multimedia library. Most desktops also allow for semi-easy upgrades of their components, but most home users never bother.

What about the traditional list of computing specifications to look for? Most of those numbers haven't mattered much for years. For most home use, processor speed is irrelevant. So is memory, as long as you have at least 2 gigabytes' worth.

If, however, you have older hardware and software, PCs with more than 3 gigabytes of memory -- and many with less -- will ship with a 64-bit edition of Windows 7 that may not support your past purchases. If you're not sure about these compatibility issues, your safest move is to get a PC with Win 7's 32-bit edition.

Graphics cards really matter only if you want to play fast-paced games, so most home users can ignore those, too. The same goes for hard-drive space, unless you plan on copying every DVD you own. An optical drive that burns CDs and DVDs should be standard; one that plays Blu-ray movies is a waste unless you own a Blu-ray player and a library of those high-definition movies.

In terms of expansion, more USB ports and Bluetooth wireless connectivity are good things, while FireWire and eSATA ports and ExpressCard slots may go unused. You should also decline extended warranties and such extra services as Apple's expensive yet weirdly limited MobileMe.

Why give up all these other options when computers are so cheap? So you can spend the money you save on an external hard drive and use the backup software built into Windows 7 and Mac OS X to protect your data -- something too many computer users forget to do.

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Copenhagen climate change congerence 2009]
Climate change denier Nick Griffin to represent EU at Copenhagen
BNP leader who believes climate change activists are 'cranks' will be member of European parliament's delegation
Toby Helm
The Observer, Sunday 29 November 2009 Article history

Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National party, is to represent the European parliament at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, which opens next week.

Last night politicians and scientists reacted furiously to news that the far-right politician and climate change denier should be attending the summit on behalf of the EU.

Griffin, who was elected to the European parliament in June, confirmed last night that he would attend as the representative of the parliament's environmental committee. World leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, are hoping to forge a new global agreement to curtail greenhouse gas emissions.

Without such a deal, scientists warn that world temperatures will increase by more than 2C by the end of the century, triggering ice cap melting, sea-level rises, widespread flooding, the spread of deserts and devastating storms.

In a speech in the parliament last week, Griffin denounced those who warn of the consequences of climate change as "cranks". He said they had reached "an Orwellian consensus" that was "based not on scientific agreement, but on bullying, censorship and fraudulent statistics".

"The anti-western intellectual cranks of the left suffered a collective breakdown when communism collapsed. Climate change is their new theology… But the heretics will have a voice in Copenhagen and the truth will out. Climate change is being used to impose an anti-human utopia as deadly as anything conceived by Stalin or Mao."

Griffin will be one of 15 representatives chosen to speak on behalf of the EU in Copenhagen. The shadow climate change secretary, Greg Clark, condemned the move last night. "It is utterly ridiculous that someone who doesn't even believe in climate change should be seeking to represent Europe in Copenhagen. The BNP does not command the support of the people of Britain, let alone of the rest of Europe," he said.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: "Membership of the European parliament's delegation to Copenhagen is a matter for the European parliament. Its delegates do not represent the UK government or its views. Nick Griffin will not be part of the UK delegation."

Tim Yeo, chairman of the Commons environmental audit committee, said the decision to choose Griffin showed the "bizarre way" the parliament operated. He added: "If the future prosperity of the human race, in the face of climate change, depends on the contributions of people like Nick Griffin, there is little hope for any of us."

Professor Alan Thorpe, chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council, said Griffin's claim that thousands of scientists dispute the existence of man-made global warming was simply not true. "The intergovernmental panel on climate change draws on the views of most of the world's leading climate scientists and they have been quite clear that the evidence shows, with a high degree of certainty, that human activities are now having a substantial effect on the climate. It is simply not the case that there is a substantial number who do not accept a link."

Bob Ward, of Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: "Griffin denies the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. This appears to be driven by a dogmatic strand of right-wing ideology that opposes any form of environmental regulation, usually hidden behind the dishonest claim that climate change is a left-wing conspiracy."

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman and a former MEP, said the European parliament always divided up positions on such delegations according to the parliament's political balance. "Griffin was bound to get something at some stage. It is just a shame they didn't send him to Iceland instead."

Critics say Griffin addresses environmental issues when he believes he can use them to advance anti-immigration policies. His party claims that it would improve Britain's transport infrastructure and reduce carbon dioxide levels by reducing the number of immigrants in Britain using roads, cars, trains and buses.

Gerry Gable, publisher of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, said Griffin once tried to win over environmentalists in the 1980s. "His core beliefs – that the white race is being threatened by an invading minority – are the so-called principles that have run through his nasty career."


[Environment > Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)]
Western lifestyle unsustainable, says climate expert Rajendra Pachauri
Ahead of the Copenhagen summit, leading scientist and IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri warns of radical charges and regulation if global disaster is to be avoided
James Randerson
The Observer, Sunday 29 November 2009 Article history

Hotel guests should have their electricity monitored; hefty aviation taxes should be introduced to deter people from flying; and iced water in restaurants should be curtailed, the world's leading climate scientist has told the Observer.

Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warned that western society must undergo a radical value shift if the worst effects of climate change were to be avoided. A new value system of "sustainable consumption" was now urgently required, he said.

"Today we have reached the point where consumption and people's desire to consume has grown out of proportion," said Pachauri. "The reality is that our lifestyles are unsustainable."

Among the proposals highlighted by Pachauri were the suggestion that hotel guests should be made responsible for their energy use. "I don't see why you couldn't have a meter in the room to register your energy consumption from air-conditioning or heating and you should be charged for that," he said. "By bringing about changes of this kind, you could really ensure that people start becoming accountable for their actions."

Pachauri also proposed that governments use taxes on aviation to provide heavy subsidies for other forms of transport. "We should make sure there is a huge difference between the cost of flying and taking the train," he said. Despite the fact that there is often little benefit in time and convenience in short-haul flights, he said people were still making the "irrational" choice to fly. Taxation should be used to discourage them.

He dismissed suggestions that the actions he was advocating were insignificant next to the decisions that would be made at the UN's climate summit which opens in Copenhagen in seven days' time. "In a democracy, governments will ultimately respond to what the people want," he said. "If the people have a strong desire which can be demonstrated through their actions, as well as their vote at the time of elections, you can bring about a major shift in policy."

Pachauri caused controversy last year by advocating, in an interview with the Observer, that people should eat less meat because of the levels of carbon emissions associated with rearing livestock. He is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the opening session of the Copenhagen summit.

He said the opening bids from China and the US on emissions – announced last week – had given hope that a deal could be reached in Copenhagen, even if some details would have to be filled in later. "I think it provides momentum to the whole negotiations," he said.

Pachauri was speaking to the Observer before a public discussion at the Wellcome Collection in Euston with the philosopher AC Grayling yesterday. It will be broadcast by the BBC World Service on Wednesday.

He said that he also believed car use would have to be "curbed": "I think we can certainly use pricing to regulate the use of private vehicles." He added he was a supporter of former London mayor Ken Livingstone's plan to increase the congestion charge to £25 for the most polluting vehicles. The proposal was dropped by Boris Johnson and the charge currently stands at £8. Pachauri also denounced the practice in some restaurants of providing iced water to customers who had not ordered it. "It is just an enormous amount of waste that we don't even think about," he said.

Ultimately, Pachauri said the value shift that was needed would take a generation to take hold. "I think the section of society that will make it happen is essentially young people. I think they will be far more sensitive than adults, who have been corrupted by the ways we have been following for years now."

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[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Climate change]
Climate change: Gulf stream collapse could be like a disaster movie
Scientists predict an ice age could be provoked in a matter of months
Robin McKie, Science Editor
The Observer, Sunday 29 November 2009 Article history

The next Ice Age could take only weeks to engulf Britain. Scientists say the last great disruption to the Gulf Stream 12,800 years ago took only a couple of months to trigger a massive plunge in temperatures across Europe.

"It was as if Europe had been shifted 20 degrees north and Ireland moved to Svalbard," said Bill Patterson of Saskatchewan University.

In the Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, an Ice Age was set off in a single day when the Gulf Stream was disrupted. "That is silly," said Patterson. "It couldn't happen that quickly. However, previous estimates that it would take decades to switch off the Gulf Stream are not backed by our work. It could happen in a couple of months."

The Gulf Stream carries tropical heat from the Caribbean to northern Europe but is already being disrupted by meltwater pouring from the Arctic as global warming intensifies. One day it may switch off completely, say scientists.

Such an event occurred 12,800 years ago when a vast lake – created from melting glaciers at the end of last Ice Age – overflowed and poured into the north Atlantic, blocking the Gulf Stream. Europe froze – almost instantly, said Patterson.

His team analysed mud samples from Lough Monreagh in Ireland and discovered layers of white sediment made up of calcite crystals from algae. "Then abruptly the sediment turned black. This stuff contained no biological material." In other words, all life in the lake had been extinguished in less than three months. "It was very sudden," added Patterson, "and it could happen again."

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

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 00:36 GMT, Sunday, 29 November 2009
Commonwealth leaders back climate change fund
{Queen Elizabeth II got a carnival welcome in Port of Spain}
Commonwealth leaders have backed a multi-billion-dollar plan to help developing nations to deal with climate change and cut greenhouse gases.

The fund, proposed by UK and French leaders at the Commonwealth summit on Friday, would start next year and build to $10bn annually by 2012.

Many Commonwealth members are island states threatened by rising sea levels.

Leaders also called for the strongest possible outcome at next month's climate change summit in Copenhagen.

They unanimously agreed to seek a legally binding international agreement, but accepted that "a full legally binding outcome" might have to wait to 2010.

{{ANALYSIS}
James Robbins, BBC News diplomatic correspondent
Did the Commonwealth give a lead to the world on climate change, as the Queen urged when she opened this summit? The Commonwealth Climate Declaration does emphasise that "an internationally binding agreement is essential" but then concedes in the next sentence that "a full legally binding outcome" will have to wait until 2010.
That doesn't mean the Commonwealth has failed. The wording looks cautious but realistic. It is the breakdown in global negotiations which threatens to sink a strong deal.
There does seem to have been some meeting of minds at the Commonwealth on the global fund to distribute money from rich countries to the developing countries to help them adapt and pay for low-carbon alternatives.
Poorer countries can start to see the money now, with the promise of payouts starting soon after a global treaty is agreed.
That's a very direct incentive for the developing world.}

Commonwealth leaders "welcomed the initiative to establish, as part of a comprehensive agreement, a Copenhagen Launch Fund starting in 2010 and building to a level of resources of $10 billion annually by 2012," a statement in Trinidad on Saturday said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the declaration sent a clear political message.

"The Commonwealth is showing that you can find some common ground amidst countries that are very different, large and small, rich and poor, and that climate change is an issue that affects us all, and that the world needs to show the sort of resolution that we've seen here over the past 24 hours," he said.

It added that "fast start funding" for adaptation should be focused on the most vulnerable countries.

"We also recognise the need for further, specified and comparable funding streams, to assist the poorest and most vulnerable countries, to cope with, and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. We recognise that funding will be scaled up beyond 2012."

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said half the $10bn fund should go towards helping developing nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and the other half towards helping them adapt to climate change.

The first cash would be made available next year, he said, before any emissions deal could take effect.

'Clock ticking'

Rudd urges
Commonwealth leaders met days after pledges by the US and China to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, amid concerns that December's Copenhagen meeting on climate change could fail to agree substantial cuts.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a news conference in Trinidad on Saturday that the Commonwealth - representing a third of the world's population - believed "the time for action on climate change has come."

"The clock is ticking to Copenhagen. We've achieved one further step, significant step forward with this communique and we believe the political goodwill and resolve exists to secure a comprehensive agreement at Copenhagen."

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that when his country unveils its first targets for carbon emission cuts they would be "ambitious".

But he also stressed that India's offer would be conditional on other countries sharing the burden.

That neatly illustrates the greatest threat to a global deal, says the BBC's James Robbins.

Many countries will only make binding concessions if every other nation also gives ground, our correspondent says.

Speaking earlier at the summit, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he believed an agreement was in sight, with recent moves by some countries a positive step to cutting emissions.

The head of the UN's panel of climate experts, Rajendra Pachauri, said he was now very optimistic a deal could be reached in Copenhagen.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 15:39 GMT, Saturday, 28 November 2009
First China milk scandal legal claim reaches courts
{Tainted baby milk made thousands of Chinese children ill}
A Chinese court is hearing the first civil compensation claim by a parent whose child fell ill during last year's tainted milk scandal.

Ma Xuexin of Henan province is suing collapsed dairy group Sanlu and a supermarket for $8,000 (£4,860).

His young son is one of hundreds of thousands of infants who became sick after drinking baby milk formula laced with the industrial chemical melamine.

Two people were executed on Tuesday for their part in the scheme.

Nineteen other people have been jailed in connection with the case, which resulted in the deaths of at least six children.

Melamine is used in the making of plastics and fertilisers. If ingested it can cause kidney failure and kidney stones.

MELAMINE SCANDAL
{{10 Sept: 14 babies reported ill in Gansu province}
> 15 Sept: Beijing confirms first deaths from the contamination
> 22 Sept: Number of ill babies rises to tens of thousands (and eventually will rise to more than 300,000)
> 23 Sept: Other countries start to test Chinese dairy products or remove them from shops
> 31 Oct: Chinese media suggest melamine is routinely added to animal feed
>23 Dec: The main dairy firm involved, Sanlu, files for bankruptcy
> 31 Dec: Four senior Sanlu executives go on trial
> 2 Jan 2009: Firms involved ask for forgiveness in a mass New Year tex> 22 Jan: Courts in Hebei province sentence two men to death and 19 to prison terms
> March: Higher courts reject appeals
> 24 Nov: Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping executed}

Investigations have shown that dairy producers watered down their milk to make supplies go further, then added melamine so that it appeared to have a higher protein content.

In December 2008, the government ordered 22 firms implicated in the scandal to pay a total of 1.1bn yuan ($161m; £97.5m) to the hundreds of thousands of families involved.

But some families say the compensation is inadequate and are turning to the courts.

According to state-run China Daily, Mr Ma told the hearing that his 20-month-old son had developed a kidney stone after being fed hundreds of packets of Sanlu-brand milk formula.

As well as the compensation, he wants his son's medical expenses to be paid by the state-administered milk compensation fund until the boy reaches adulthood, the daily said.

Beijing-based lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who is handling about 200 such cases, told the BBC that the start of this hearing represented a breakthrough.
He said that the cases were being handled individually because the courts had rejected an attempt to sue for compensation as a group.

So far six cases had been accepted by courts across the country and Mr Ma's was the first to be heard, he said.

The trial began on Friday at a court in north-east Beijing and continues on 9 December.

Page last updated at 22:06 GMT, Saturday, 28 November 2009
E-mail this to a friend Printable version


[Asia-Pacific]
Indonesia minister says immorality causes disasters
{The minister spoke in Padang, hit by a powerful earthquake in September}
A government minister has blamed Indonesia's recent string of natural disasters on people's immorality.

Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said that there were many television programmes that destroyed morals.

Therefore, the minister said, natural disasters would continue to occur.

His comments came as he addressed a prayer meeting on Friday in Padang, Sumatra, which was hit by a powerful earthquake in late September.
He also hit out at rising decadence - proven, he said, by the availability of Indonesia-made pornographic DVDs in local markets - and called for tougher laws.

According to the Jakarta Globe, his comments sparked an angry reaction on the internet, particularly among those who followed him on social networking site Twitter.

Why focus on public immorality when there was so much within the government, one respondent reportedly asked.

More than 1,000 people died in the Padang earthquake, which toppled hundreds of buildings in and around the city.

Padang lies to the south of Aceh province, which was devastated in the December 2004 Asian tsunami.

Indonesia lies across a series of geological fault-lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
For Maldives, climate deal is a survival issue
Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:03pm EST
By Pascal Fletcher

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - For Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, the cold scientific numbers of the climate debate add up to the very survival of his tropical Indian Ocean state.

If global temperatures rise just 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), "we won't be around, we will be underwater," he told Reuters in Trinidad and Tobago, where he and other leaders of the 53-nation Commonwealth pledged support for a definitive climate deal in Copenhagen next month.

World leaders seeking to thrash out a binding global treaty to curb greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming cite an estimate by scientists that the world must limit average global warming to 2 degrees Celsius to avoid dangerous climate change, such as rising sea levels and flooding.

Nasheed tells his fellow heads of state that 2 degrees Celsius warming would risk swamping the sand-rimmed coral atolls and islets, dotted with palm trees and mangrove clumps, that form his small country.

If U.N. predictions are correct, most of the low-lying Maldives will be submerged by 2100. "Really, we are sandbanks, very precarious and delicate," Nasheed said.

The archipelago has a population of some 400,000 islanders, whose livelihood from fishing and tourism is already being hit by climate change.

"Ocean temperatures have risen and during the last four years we've had very bad fisheries," the president said.

"A number of islanders are having to relocate themselves because of erosion ... (and) of course, with sea water rise, the water table is being contaminated," he added.

This disruption of sewage and water systems was also causing outbreaks of disease like Chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bite of infected mosquitoes.

The Maldives and 41 other low-lying coastal and small island countries that form the Alliance of Small Island States are on the front line of the climate change threat that will occupy some 90 heads of state and government at December 7-18 U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen.

UNDERWATER CABINET MEETING

Nasheed, 42, is pushing world leaders to set even more stringent curbs to limit greenhouse gas emissions -- the 2 degrees Celsius warming figure is associated with a concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of 450 parts per million of CO2 equivalent.

"We want to see if we can get that down to 350 parts per million. But they're talking about, if anything, 450 ... . With 450, we've really lost it. It's really, really not enough for us and a number of other small island states," he said.

Nasheed said that even a rise of 70 centimeters (27.6 inches) in the ocean level in the next 40 years would wipe out 30 percent of the dry land area of his country.

At the Commonwealth summit in Port of Spain, the Maldives leader did receive a sympathetic response to his plea for "fast track money" to help small and vulnerable states counter the effects of global warming and sea level rise.

The Commonwealth, swinging its weight behind momentum for a climate deal in Denmark next month, backed a plan to establish a Copenhagen Launch Fund, starting next year and building to $10 billion annually by 2012.

Nasheed said this money could be used to create anti-flooding and sea-rise defenses like breakwaters.

He said the funds could also be used in poor states like the Maldives to finance the transfer of technology from rich nations. He mentioned biological engineering techniques aimed at shoring up coastlines, such as developing genetically modified coral to form barrier reefs. More mangroves could also be planted to secure soil from erosion.

"You have to understand local conditions, and consult with the people and see what is best for them," said the president, who last month donned scuba gear to hold the world's first underwater Cabinet meeting in a symbolic cry for help over rising sea levels.

Citing what he called island mentality -- "you are confined to this little space with horizon all around you" -- Nasheed said many Maldives inhabitants would oppose being relocated to avoid a potential climate change catastrophe.

"We have been there for the last ... 2,000 years, and it's very, very difficult for us to convince anyone to move," he said.

But people grasp the significance of climate change.

"Unlike evolution, which is hard to sell for traditional societies ... climate change is very much in line with what the Scripture is talking about, the End," Nasheed said.


[Green Business]
Commonwealth advances momentum for climate deal
Sat Nov 28, 2009 7:25pm EST
By Pascal Fletcher

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Commonwealth nations representing one-third of the world's population threw their weight on Saturday behind accelerating efforts to clinch an "operationally binding" U.N. climate deal in Copenhagen next month.

Leaders of the 53-nation Commonwealth meeting in Trinidad and Tobago used their summit to bolster a diplomatic offensive seeking wide consensus on how to fight global warming before December 7-18 U.N. climate talks in the Danish capital.

"The clock is ticking to Copenhagen ... we believe that the political goodwill and resolve exists to secure a comprehensive agreement at Copenhagen," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a news conference in Port of Spain.

The Commonwealth Climate Change Declaration pledged the group's backing for Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in his efforts to secure wide attendance and commitment from world leaders at the Copenhagen climate talks.

"We pledge our continued support to the leaders-driven process ... to deliver a comprehensive, substantial and operationally binding agreement in Copenhagen leading toward a full legally binding outcome no later than 2010," the Port of Spain declaration said.

Tackling the thorny issue of funding for poor nations' efforts to fight climate change and global warming, developed countries in the Commonwealth led by Britain backed an initiative to establish a Copenhagen Launch Fund, starting in 2010 and building to $10 billion annually by 2012.

Reflecting debate that has dogged the road to Copenhagen, developing states said much more money needed to be committed by rich nations to help poorer countries counter global warming and adapt to the pollution-reducing requirements of a climate deal.

"Right now, there is no commitment of the magnitude that is required. ... We need close to 1 percent of global GDP, $300 billion, to address this problem," Guyana's president, Bharrat Jagdeo, who heads the economic task force of the 15-nation Caribbean Community, or Caricom, told reporters.

Jagdeo welcomed what he called the $10 billion offer of "interim financing."

'COME TO COPENHAGEN'

Rasmussen and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who joined the Commonwealth leaders' discussions in Port of Spain, welcomed the climate declaration from the group.

Ban said world leaders should "stay focused, stay committed and come to Copenhagen to secure a deal."

Rasmussen said 89 heads of state and government had so far advised they would attend next month's talks in Copenhagen, and Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister and the Commonwealth summit's host, Patrick Manning, announced he would be there too, bringing the total expected number to 90.

While next month's U.N. talks are not expected to result in the immediate approval of a detailed climate treaty, the wording of the Commonwealth climate declaration made clear its leaders expected any deal reached in Copenhagen would be "operationally binding" and lead fast to a definitive treaty.

Ban has said an agreement to lay the foundation for such a legally binding accord is now "within reach."

The deal the United Nations is aiming for in Copenhagen would cover tougher emissions targets, climate financing for poorer nations and transfer of clean-energy technology.

The climate treaty, expected to be adopted as a final text next year, will replace the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012.

Commonwealth leaders suggested that 10 percent of the proposed $10 billion-a-year Copenhagen Launch Fund should be channeled to small island states most at risk from rising sea levels caused by global warming.

Nearly half of the Commonwealth's members are small island states and the group put at the forefront of the climate debate the cases of nations like the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Tuvalu and Kiribati in the Pacific, whose existence would be threatened by swelling ocean levels.

Earlier, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed welcomed the backing of the Commonwealth's developed countries -- Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand -- for the proposed "fast- start funding" seen as essential for any climate deal.

"I believe the Commonwealth understands our predicament more than the others ... they have put concrete things on the table," he told Reuters.

On Friday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the creation of the $10 billion annual fund, arguing such financing should be made available as early as next year, well before any new climate deal takes effect.

The idea was backed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who also attended the Commonwealth summit as a guest.

Prospects for achieving a broad political framework pact in Copenhagen next month were brightened this week by public promises of greenhouse gas curbs by China and the United States, the world's biggest emitters.

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Australia fans election talk over carbon plan
Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:45pm EST
By Mark Bendeich

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia on Sunday fanned talk of a snap election over climate change, effectively setting a Monday deadline for lawmakers to approve its scheme to cut carbon emissions or risk the wrath of voters.

Australia, the rich world's heaviest carbon polluter per head of population, wants to set up the most comprehensive cap-and-trade scheme outside Europe and to play a leading role in global climate-change talks set for Copenhagen next month.

But the government's proposed cap-and-trade scheme is stuck in the upper House of parliament, where it has already been rejected once this year, and is set for a fiery conclusion at a special, extended sitting scheduled for Monday.

"Delay is denial (of the legislation)," acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Sunday, when asked about calls by some opposition lawmakers to delay a vote on the bill until next year.

"This country cannot afford it," she said in a TV interview.

If the legislation fails a second time in the Senate or is postponed, the government could have a constitutional trigger to dissolve both houses of parliament and call an election to break the deadlock. The next election is not due until late 2010.

The government scheme aims to cut Australian emissions by 5-25 percent by 2020 from 2000 levels, with the size of the cut depending on the global position agreed at Copenhagen. The scheme is being watched by other countries, including the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, the United States.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, now traveling abroad, has said repeatedly he does not want to call an early election and plans to run his full term, but there is increasing speculation that he will have little choice if the Senate refuses to pass his scheme.

"If they can't get their deal through the Senate, I think Rudd will have to go to a double-dissolution because he has got to get the bill (through) one way or another," said Paul Kelly, former editor-in-chief of The Australian newspaper.

OPPOSITION IN OPEN REVOLT

The opposition is in open revolt over the government's scheme: its leader decided last week to support it but climate-change skeptics openly defied him, vowing to either oppose the legislation in the Senate or delay a vote into 2010.

The government only needs the support of seven of the 32 senators from the main opposition Liberal Party for the bill to pass, but it is unclear how the opposition vote will play out.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull agreed last week to back the scheme in return for extra government concessions for the farming, coal and power industries, triggering resignations from his shadow front bench and open challenges to his leadership.

If Turnbull is replaced by a climate-change skeptic, even opposition MPs who believe in cutting carbon emissions may decide to withdraw support from the government's amended scheme in order to save their political careers inside the Liberal Party.

But a vote on Turnbull's leadership is not set until Tuesday, a day after the government wants to force a Senate vote. Opposition skeptics are likely to attempt a filibuster on Monday, dragging debate through the night and into the next day when they hope the opposition will have a new leader.

"We should delay it," opposition climate-change skeptic and possible leadership candidate Kevin Andrews said.

"If that means talking it out, that means talking it out."

A new opinion poll published on Sunday has emboldened the climate-change skeptics, with a Galaxy poll in the Sunday Telegraph showing that 60 percent of voters prefer the Senate to take more time to consider the government scheme and 80 percent felt the government had not explained its scheme well enough.

But that contrasted with a poll published on Saturday showing the opposition would suffer a humiliating loss if it torpedoed the scheme and Rudd called a snap election on climate change.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)


[Green Business]
Japan may bring in "green" tax in April: report
Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:18pm EST

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan may introduce a 20 yen ($0.23) a liter environmental tax on fuel as soon as April 2010, partly to make up for a steep fall in other tax revenues caused by the faltering economy, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Sunday.

The Democratic Party promised in the run-up to its August election victory to abolish an unpopular "temporary" fuel tax of about 25 yen per liter in 2010, drawing criticism from environmentalists who said the policy would hamper efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has pledged an ambitious cut of 25 percent in emissions by 2020, compared with 1990 levels.

Abolishing the fuel levy would also cost the cash-strapped government about 2.5 trillion yen ($28.93 billion) in revenues, but replacing it with a proposed new environmental tax of 20 yen per liter would make up most of the shortfall, the paper said.

Tax revenues are expected to fall to less than 40 trillion yen in the financial year starting in April 2010, the Yomiuri said, but the government aims to keep new bond issuance to 44 trillion yen or less. Hatoyama's government must strike a balance between reining in the ballooning national debt and keeping the economy out of recession.

Efforts by a government panel to cut budget requests from an initial 95 trillion yen for the financial year starting in April have succeeded only in trimming roughly 1.7 trillion yen, far less than the 3 trillion yen many had hoped for.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds)


[Green Business]
Big developing countries form climate change front
Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:03am EST
By Alan Wheatley

BEIJING (Reuters) - A clutch of major emerging economies including China and India have forged a united front to put pressure on developed countries at next month's climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.

Over two days of quietly arranged talks in Beijing, the countries said they had reached agreement on major issues, including the need for the West to provide finance and technology to help developing nations combat global warming.

The meeting was attended by senior officials from China, India, Brazil and South Africa as well as Sudan, the current chairman of the Group of 77 developing countries.

China is the world's top greenhouse gas emitter and India is the fourth largest, while Brazil is also a leading emitter, mainly through deforestation.

All three, along with South Africa, have come under pressure to curb the pace of their carbon pollution and have announced plans to achieve this.

They say steps by rich nations to fight climate change are, collectively, not good enough.

"The purpose of the meeting was to prepare for and contribute to a positive, ambitious and equitable outcome in Copenhagen," according to a statement released after the talks, which took place on Friday evening and Saturday.

"We believe that this work represents a good starting point and we will continue to work together over the next few days and weeks as our contribution toward a consensus in Copenhagen," the statement said.

The meeting in Copenhagen was supposed to yield the outlines of a broader and tougher legally binding climate agreement to expand or replace the Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012.

But the troubled negotiations launched two years ago in Bali have failed to bridge the divide between rich and poor nations on efforts to curb emissions, how to measure and report them and who should pay.

Talks host Denmark and a number of rich nations have instead backed a plan to seal a comprehensive political deal at Copenhagen and agree the legally binding details in 2010. But some developing nations are demanding a stronger outcome.

CALL TO BACK KYOTO PACT

Developing nations have also expressed alarm at efforts to try to ditch the Kyoto Protocol by creating an entirely new agreement or cherry-picking from the existing pact and placing the provisions into another agreement.

The European Union has said Kyoto has failed in its intended aim of cutting rich nations' emissions and that a new agreement was needed.

The Beijing statement said the Kyoto Protocol should remain in force, with rich countries taking responsibility to cut emissions in accordance with the protocol's second commitment period from 2013.

Developing economies in return would pledge to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions.

The participants, who included Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, worked off a 10-page draft negotiation strategy outlined personally by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the Hindustan Times reported.

The Indian newspaper said that Beijing's top climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, would present the strategy in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

Global conservation group WWF said the Beijing statement appeared to be a rejection of Denmark's proposal to aim for a political agreement in Copenhagen.

"We are not surprised the emerging economies have laid down this challenge for the developed world," said Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF's Global Climate Initiative, in a statement.

"Quite frankly the Danish proposal is incredibly weak and the developing world governments aren't stupid."

(Editing by David Fogarty)