news20091031gdn

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Copenhagen climate change conference 2009]
EU puts €100bn-a-year price on tackling climate change
Leaders agree cost will amount to €100bn a year by 2020, but fail to agree on short-term aid for developing world
Ian Traynor in Brussels
guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 October 2009 17.38 GMT Article history

European leaders agreed for the first time today that the price tag for tackling global warming would amount to €100bn (£89bn) a year by 2020, up to half of which would need to come from taxpayers' money in the developed world.

But mired in wrangling over how to split the European share of the bill among 27 countries and how much Europe collectively should spend, they failed to agree on urgent short-term funding for combating climate change in the developing world.

Five weeks ahead of the Copenhagen conference on a new international treaty on global warming, an EU summit spent two days immersed in number-crunching rows over the costs and who should bear them.

Difficult decisions were shelved because of an east-west dispute pitting the poorer member states against the wealthy western countries, and because leading EU states such as Germany, France and Italy were reluctant to make specific commitments on funding for the developing world before hammering out an agreement with the US, Japan and other rich states.

"Europe is leading the way, making these bold proposals," said Gordon Brown. "The major decision to come out of this is we're leading the way on the climate change negotiations."

The agreements fell well short of what had been sought by the Swedish presidency of the EU, the Danish government hosting the Copenhagen conference, the UK and the European commission.

In the short-term, the leaders agreed that up to €7bn a year was needed from January for three years for "fast-track" funding in the developing world. The EU said only that it would seek to persuade others to share that bill and that Europe would pay its "fair share".

Some of the east Europeans, led by Poland, which balked at being asked to pay up, are refusing to contribute and Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, admitted that European contributions to the fund would be "voluntary", meaning they may not be made at all.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was said to have fought strongly to avoid firm funding pledges. She goes to Washington next week, as do other EU leaders, for what could be crucial negotiations with the Obama administration on how to come up with a global fund for the poor countries. The issue of financing climate change measures in the developing world is a possible deal-breaker at Copenhagen.

The Germans were highly critical of the east European reluctance to share the bill, arguing that it was difficult to ask some of the world's emerging economies to contribute when Europe's poorer countries were saying no.

"EU leaders speak loud and clear on the global challenges of climate change, but remain tongue-tied when it comes to meeting their own responsibilities," said Rebecca Harms, leader of the Greens in the European parliament. "EU governments have now acknowledged the need for an annual €100bn towards climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, but have once again failed to put a clear figure on the EU's contribution."

While the Swedes, Danes and others argued that Europe had to take the lead on climate change and send a strong signal for Copenhagen, the Germans are more skeptical, noting that there are limits to leadership and calling for the other rich countries to step up to the plate.

It is not yet clear on what basis the contributions will be made. The west Europeans want to combine the "polluter pays" principle with ability to pay, meaning that a donor country's GDP and level of greenhouse gas emissions will determine how much it puts in.

Of the €100bn euros ballpark figure, the Europeans said €22bn-€50bn should be public sector money in annual transfers to the developing world by 2020.

Although the Europeans refused to specify the European share, Merkel said it should be around one-third; the same amount should be supplied by the US, and Germany would foot around 20% of the European bill.

The 22-50 cost range is wide and vague enough for lots of wiggle room. Britain says €50bn is "unaffordable" and €22bn is not enough. It sought a narrower range of €30bn-€40bn.

Rather than detailing specific European pledges, the leaders agreed only to contribute a "fair share" to the global fund and stressed that the offer was "conditional" on agreement with the other main donors.


[Business > BP]
US safety authorities impose record £53m fine on BP for Texas City failings
British company has not fixed hazards after 2005 explosion at industrial complex that cost 15 lives
Andrew Clark in New York
guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 October 2009 19.30 GMT Article history

The US government raised grave questions over BP's safety culture today by imposing a record fine of $87.4m (£53m) on the British company for failing to fix hazards at its Texas City oil refinery in the wake of a disastrous explosion that killed 15 people four years ago.

The fine is four times higher than any previous penalty levied by America's workplace safety regulator, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and it raises the possibility that a criminal prosecution of BP over the tragedy could be reopened.

In a sharply worded critique, the Obama administration's labour secretary, Hilda Solis, said that BP had reneged on commitments to fix flaws at America's third-biggest refinery, leaving the plant, south of Houston, in a condition that "could lead to another catastrophe".

"This administration will not tolerate disregard of our laws," said Solis, who said that BP had a moral responsibility to look after its employees at Texas City. "We don't need to see another loss of another life there. Our motto is we would like to see people go into work and be able to come home to their families."

The Texas City disaster was the worst industrial accident in the US for a generation. It happened in March 2005 when workers overfilled a container with volatile chemicals, sparking an explosion that sent a geyser of burning liquid cascading over nearby accommodation trailers. In addition to claiming 15 lives, the resulting chaos left more than 170 people injured.

The fresh sanction over the accident comes amid a tougher attitude towards business from the new Democratic administration in Washington. It is a severe setback to BP's efforts to repair its reputation in the US after a string of problems earlier in the decade, including leaking oil pipelines in Alaska and a price-fixing scandal in the propane trade.

An official investigation into the causes of the Texas City explosion concluded in 2007 that senior BP executives, under the company's former chief executive, Lord Browne, had failed to act on red flags over safety at Texas City. Fatigue was a factor as one of the employees involved had worked 12-hour shifts for 33 consecutive days. And living quarters were positioned too close to safety-critical machinery.

After the disaster, BP paid a $21.3m fine to OSHA and undertook a long list of improvements under the supervision of an independent safety auditor. But the authority today announced that it had since issued 270 notifications to BP for failure to correct hazards and that it had found 439 new "willful violations".

BP immediately pledged to appeal against the fine, which it described as "disappointing", and said that it "strongly disagrees" with OSHA's findings.

"We believe our efforts at the Texas City refinery to improve process safety performance have been among the most strenuous and comprehensive that the refining industry has ever seen," said Keith Casey, manager of BP's Texas City site. "We remain committed to further enhancing our safety and compliance systems and achieving our goal of becoming an industry leader in process safety."

Senior BP officials expressed dismay, saying that, until recently, they had enjoyed a good relationship with regulators, who have carried out 17 inspections of the plant over four years. Most of the violations relate to management of safety procedures and failures to install pressure relief systems on the type of chemical tower that exploded at Texas City.

Lawyers acting for victims of the disaster suggested that the renewed action could put BP in breach of a plea agreement two years ago in which it pleaded guilty to a single felony and paid $373m to settle a string of criminal charges.

Among those bereaved at Texas City was Eva Rowe, who lost both her parents in the disaster. Through her lawyer, Brent Coon, she issued a statement saying she wanted "criminal prosecution and conviction" of BP executives.

"I think it's fantastic that OSHA is standing up to BP," said Rowe, who secured a settlement that included $32m of donations by BP to her chosen charitable causes. "I hope this sends a message that this behaviour will not be tolerated."

news20091031nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]


[naturenews]
Published online 30 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1050
News
Lighter sentence for murderer with 'bad genes'
Italian court reduces jail term after tests identify genes linked to violent behaviour.
By Emiliano Feresin

{{A court in Italy has cut a prisoner's jail term because he has genes associated with aggressive behaviour.}
Ingram Publishing}

An Italian court has cut the sentence given to a convicted murderer by a year because he has genes linked to violent behaviour — the first time that behavioural genetics has affected a sentence passed by a European court. But researchers contacted by Nature have questioned whether the decision was based on sound science.

Abdelmalek Bayout, an Algerian citizen who has lived in Italy since 1993, admitted in 2007 to stabbing and killing Walter Felipe Novoa Perez on 10 March. Perez, a Colombian living in Italy, had, according to Bayout's testimony, insulted him over the kohl eye make-up the Algerian was wearing. Bayout, a Muslim, claims he wore the make-up for religious reasons.

During the trial, Bayout's lawyer, Tania Cattarossi, asked the court to take into account that her client may have been mentally ill at the time of the murder. After considering three psychiatric reports, the judge, Paolo Alessio Vernì, partially agreed that Bayout's psychiatric illness was a mitigating factor and sentenced him to 9 years and 2 months in prison — around three years less than Bayout would have received had he been deemed to be of sound mind.

But at an appeal hearing in May this year, Pier Valerio Reinotti, a judge of the Court of Appeal in Trieste, asked forensic scientists for a new independent psychiatric report to decide whether he should commute the sentence further.

{{“There's increasing evidence that some genes together with a particular environmental insult may predispose people to certain behaviour.”}
Pietro Pietrini
University of Pisa}

For the new report, Pietro Pietrini, a molecular neuroscientist at Italy's University of Pisa, and Giuseppe Sartori, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Padova, conducted a series of tests and found abnormalities in brain-imaging scans and in five genes that have been linked to violent behaviour — including the gene encoding the neurotransmitter-metabolizing enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA). A 2002 study led by Terrie Moffitt, a geneticist at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, had found low levels of MAOA expression to be associated with aggressiveness and criminal conduct of young boys raised in abusive environments¹.

In the report, Pietrini and Sartori concluded that Bayout's genes would make him more prone to behaving violently if provoked. "There's increasing evidence that some genes together with a particular environmental insult may predispose people to certain behaviour," says Pietrini.

On the basis of the genetic tests, Judge Reinotti docked a further year off the defendant's sentence, arguing that the defendant's genes "would make him particularly aggressive in stressful situations". Giving his verdict, Reinotti said he had found the MAOA evidence particularly compelling.

Reinotti made the decision in September, but the case only came to light a month later when the local paper MessaggeroVeneto reported the story.

Weighing up the evidence

But forensic scientists and geneticists contacted by Nature question whether the scientific evidence supports the conclusions reached in the psychiatric report presented to Judge Reinotti.

"We don't know how the whole genome functions and the [possible] protective effects of other genes," says Giuseppe Novelli, a forensic scientist and geneticist at the University Tor Vergata in Rome. Tests for single genes such as MAOA are "useless and expensive", he adds.

One problem is that the effects of the MAOA gene are known to vary between different ethnic groups, Moffit says. A 2006 study in the United States found that former victims of child abuse with high levels of MAOA were less likely to commit violent crimes — but only if they were white. The effect was not evident in non-white children2.

"If the defendant has any African ancestry, this could bring up a question of how well the genotype of that particular gene could relate to his personal behaviour," Moffitt says.

Pietrini and Sartori, however, did not test Bayout for his ethnicity.

"The ethnicity of the defendant is irrelevant" in this case, Pietrini told Nature. He argues that the defendent does not belong to any of the non-white ethnic groups considered in the 2006 study. "Besides, MAOA is just one of the candidate genes we analysed," he added.

{{“If the defendant has any African ancestry, this could bring up a question of how well the genotype of that particular gene could relate to his personal behaviour.”}
Terrie Moffitt
Institute of Psychiatry}

Other genes, such as those that encode the serotonin transporter, have also been linked to different reactions to stress. But these also show a large degree of dependence on environmental factors. "The point is that behavioural genetics is not there yet, we cannot explain individual behaviour, only large population statistics," says Nita Farahany of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who specializes in the legal and ethical issues arising from behavioural genetics and neuroscience.

Cattarossi argues that all evidence that has a bearing on her client's mental health should be considered by the court. "My client is clearly an ill person and everything that allows the judge to better evaluate the case and to decide the right sentence should be investigated," she says.

Since the 1994 Stephen Mobley case in the United States — the first case in the world in which the defence asked to have their client tested for MAOA deficiency — lawyers have increasingly been trying to bring MAOA deficits and similar genetic evidence into courtrooms worldwide. According to Farahany, who updates a personal database on sentences passed in the United States, in the past five years there have been at least 200 cases where lawyers have attempted to use genetic evidence to support the idea their clients' were predisposed to violent behaviour, depression or drug or alcohol abuse. In Britain, there have been at least 20 such cases in the past five years.

Up to now most such efforts have been unsuccessful in court — although a few have influenced sentencing in the United States. Judges have tended to reject the idea that a person has no control over their choices because of their genes, says Farahany.

Some fear that such cases could lead to the acceptance of genetic determinism — the idea that genes determine the behaviour of an organism — in criminal cases.

"90% of all murders are committed by people with a Y chromosome — males. Should we always give males a shorter sentence?" says Steve Jones, a geneticist at University College London. "I have low MAOA activity but I don't go around attacking people."

Farahany points out that prosecutors could use the same genetic evidence to argue for tougher sentences by suggesting people with such genes are inherently 'bad'.

"The question is where do you stop," Jones adds.

References
1. Caspi, A. et al. Science 297, 851-854 (2002).
2. Widom, C. S. & Brzustowicz, L. M. Biol. Psychiatry 60, 684-689 (2006).

news20091031nn2

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 30 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1051
News
Planet hunt delayed
Noise confounds NASA mission to find an Earth twin.
By Eric Hand

{{NASA's Kepler mission is unlikely to detect any Earth-like exoplanets before 2011 due to an electronic glitch.}
ESO/L. Calçada}

Kepler, NASA's mission to search for planets around other stars, will not be able to spot an Earth-sized planet until 2011, according to the mission's team. The delays are caused by noisy amplifiers in the telescope's electronics. The team is racing to fix the issue by changing the way data from the telescope is processed, but the delay could mean that ground-based observers now have the upper hand in the race to be the first to spot an Earth twin.

"We're not going to be able to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone — or it's going to be very difficult — until that work gets done," says Kepler principal investigator William Borucki, who revealed the problem on Thursday to the NASA advisory council at a meeting at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

Kepler, which launched on 6 March, is staring at 100,000 stars in a specific patch of sky. The telescope is designed to look for the slight dimming of light that occurs when a planet transits, or crosses in front of a star.

The problem is caused by amplifiers that boost the signals from the charge-coupled devices that form the heart of the 0.95-metre telescope's 95-million-pixel photometer, which detects the light emitted from the distant stars. Three of the amplifiers are creating noise that compromises Kepler's view. The noise affects only a small portion of the data, Borucki says, but the team has to fix the software — it would be "too cumbersome" to remove the bad data manually — so that it accounts for the noise automatically. He says that the fix should be in place by 2011.

Wobble watchers

The noisy amplifiers were noticed during ground testing before the device was launched. "Everybody knew and worried about this," says instrument scientist Doug Caldwell. But in the end, he says, the team thought it was riskier to pry apart the telescope's electronic guts than to deal with the problem after launch.

Borucki points out that the team was probably going to have to wait at least three years to find an extrasolar Earth orbiting in the habitable zone anyway. Astronomers typically wait for at least three transits before they confirm a planet's existence; for an Earth-sized planet orbiting at a distance similar to that between the Earth and the Sun, three transits would take three years. But Borucki says that the noise will hinder searches for a rarer scenario: Earth-sized planets that orbit more quickly around dimmer, cooler stars — where the habitable zone is closer in. These planets could transit every few months.

Kepler, and the Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits (COROT) mission, a French satellite that also looks for transits, are in a fierce race with ground-based telescopes to spot Earth-like planets. Whereas Kepler and COROT rely on transits to determine a planet's size, the ground-based telescopes identify planets by their mass. They look for tiny wobbles in the motion of the parent stars caused by the planets' gravity, a technique known as 'radial velocity' measurement. Greg Laughlin, an astronomer based at the University of California at Santa Cruz, says that the delay for Kepler makes it "more likely that the first Earth-mass planet is going to go to the radial-velocity observers".

news20091031bbc

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

[South Asia]
Page last updated at 13:12 GMT, Saturday, 31 October 2009
Abdullah to make run-off decision
{Saturday is the deadline Mr Abdullah has set for his "minimum conditions"}
President Hamid Karzai's rival in the second round of the Afghan presidential poll says he will announce on Sunday whether he intends to quit the race.

Dr Abdullah Abdullah called for the resignation of key election officials and others as a way to mitigate fraud and corruption in the vote.

But those demands were rejected earlier in the week in talks with Mr Karzai.

A senior adviser said that in talks on Friday, Mr Abdullah's team decided he should not take part in the poll.

But Mr Adbullah's campaign said on Saturday that no final decision had been made, and that the former foreign minister would announce his next move on Sunday.

The BBC's Ian Pannell in Kabul says that if he withdraws it will raise serious questions about the credibility of the election.

However, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said a runoff with only one candidate would not necessarily threaten the legitimacy of the process.

"We see that happen in our own country where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of the candidates decides not to go forward," Mrs Clinton told reporters in the United Arab Emirates.

'Nothing has changed'

Hundreds of thousands of votes were discounted from August's first round of voting.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission's (ECC) action meant Mr Karzai's total was reduced to below the 50% plus one vote threshold for outright victory, indicating a run-off poll was needed.

Among the "minimum conditions" Mr Abdullah has set for holding a relatively fair and free contest to be accepted, is sacking of the head of the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC), Azizullah Lodin.

{{KARZAI V ABDULLAH}
Hamid Karzai:
> First popularly elected president of Afghanistan
> Opposed Soviet occupation in 1980s
> Critics say he has done little to rein in corruption
Abdullah Abdullah:
> Tajik-Pashtun, doctor by profession
> Senior Northern Alliance leader during Taliban rule
> Removed from Karzai's cabinet in 2006

The deadline for those conditions to be met expires on Saturday.

On Monday, Mr Adbullah said Mr Lodin had "no credibility". Mr Lodin denies allegations that he favoured Mr Karzai.

One of Mr Abdullah's senior advisers, Ahmed Wali Massoud, said he was unhappy that nothing had been done to redress the electoral system's problems.

"The fact is that the infrastructure of this fraud is still there. Almost 1.5 million votes were rigged. Nothing has changed," he told the BBC.

"So if you go back and do the second round election, it means that it will happen again. So, therefore, I don't think that we would be willing to participate."

Earlier, the IEC announced that it planned to open 6,322 polling stations for the run-off - more than it did during the first round.

The ECC had recommended cutting the number from 6,000 to about 5,800 - to make sure there would be enough monitors to limit fraud and troops to ensure security.

Mr Abdullah served as foreign minister in the short-lived government headed by the Northern Alliance, and continued as "foreign minister in exile" throughout the years of rule by the Taliban, which was ousted in 2001.

He continued in that role under the Karzai government that was formed after the fall of the Taliban, leaving the government in 2006.

　
[Middle East]
Page last updated at 12:27 GMT, Saturday, 31 October 2009
US in new push for Mid-East peace
{Hillary Clinton was asked why she was intervening personally at this stage}
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the Middle East for talks aimed at unblocking the peace process.

She met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the United Arab Emirates before heading to Jerusalem to see Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking earlier to the BBC, Mrs Clinton said a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians remained a "high priority" for the United States.

The US remains committed to plans for a two-state solution, Mrs Clinton added.

Before Mrs Clinton's arrival in the region, Mr Netanyahu said he hoped for a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians as soon as possible.

However, a key sticking point is Israel's refusal to freeze settlement building on the occupied West Bank.

During their talks, Mr Abbas told Mrs Clinton that Palestinians would not agree to re-launch peace talks with Israel without a complete freeze of Jewish settlements, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Saturday.

'Little urgency'

Mrs Clinton's visit is part of a weekend of discussions to try to restart the stalled peace process.

"This is a high priority for not only our administration but for much of the world. It is one of the most common questions that I am asked," Mrs Clinton stressed.

"The fact that I'm in the region... reinforces the seriousness with which we are approaching our desire to get the parties to begin a serious negotiation that can lead to a two-state solution."

The Palestinians had been emboldened by earlier American talk of the need for a settlement freeze, the BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says.

Mrs Clinton has said that there is little point in the US wanting negotiations more than the parties themselves and our correspondent adds that there appears little sense of urgency from the Israelis and the Palestinians.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 11:10 GMT, Saturday, 31 October 2009
Fresh storm batters Philippines
{Water rose to chest-high levels in the town of Santa Cruz in Laguna province}
The fourth storm in a month to hit the Philippines has lashed the eastern coastal province of Quezon, bringing heavy rain and winds to the region.

Typhoon Mirinae followed a similar route to a September storm, Ketsana, which dumped the heaviest rains in 40 years on Manila.

At least seven people have been killed and several others are missing.

Many regions are still reeling after the worst storm-related floods in decades, which have left hundreds dead.

Mirinae, with winds of 150 km/h (93mph) and gusts of up to 186 km/h (115mph) made landfall on Quezon around midnight Friday, sweeping west, south of the capital and weakening into a tropical storm on Saturday afternoon.

It is thought to be heading in the direction of Vietnam.

'High as rooftops'

One man was found dead and his one-year-old baby was missing after they were washed away while trying to cross an overflowing creek in Pililla township in Rizal province, east of Manila.

{Naval boats were sent to Santa Cruz, where roads were badly flooded}

Six people were reported dead in Laguna province, just south of the capital. At least four others are believed to be missing.

In the town of Santa Cruz, hundreds of residents were seen wading through stagnant waters after the storm hit. Surrounding roads were flooded and naval boats sent to help with rescue efforts.

"The waters were really high. It was like a flashflood. It was waist deep in our area but in other areas it went as high as the rooftops," local official Marlon Albay was quoted as saying.

Earlier, the authorities had ordered the evacuation of about 115,000 people in provinces south of the capital.

Flights cancelled

{{We are getting reports from the south...that there has been heavy rain and has been significant damage there}
Vanessa Tobin
Unicef}

At least 10,000 left their homes in areas near rivers and the active Mayon volcano in Albay province, which the authorities feared might unleash rivers of mud and loose volcanic rock.

Officials also closed schools and grounded ferries, and trucks loaded with relief supplies were sent to northern areas in the storm's path.

About 180 flights from Manila were cancelled.

Before the storm arrived, residents in the city were told to prepare supplies to last 72 hours and stay indoors.

Vanessa Tobin, the representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in the Philippines, told the BBC that the rain had been very heavy in the capital early on Saturday, but that it had been replaced by strong winds.

"The reports from Manila are not as bad as had been expected," she said. "But we are getting reports from the south... - particularly around Bicol, which was hit in 2006 by mudslides - that there has been heavy rain and has been significant damage there," she added.

More than 900 people have been killed in the multiple storms, including Typhoon Parma, which have battered the Philippines over the last month.

More than 100,000 people are sheltering in government-run evacuation centres and some communities in Manila remain flooded with residents using makeshift rafts to move around.

news20091031cnn

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[World]
October 31, 2009 -- Updated 1133 GMT (1933 HKT)
Karzai team in crisis talks to avert vote boycott
{Afghan President Hamid Karzai is taking part in a runoff election for his seat next week.}
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Karzai, Abdullah representatives in crisis talks to avert election runoff boycott
> Abdullah due to make an announcement on Sunday
> Former U.S. ambassador had expected power-sharing deal

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai's representatives were holding eleventh-hour talks Saturday with those of main rival Abdullah Abdullah in a bid to prevent the former foreign minister from boycotting an election run-off vote amid claims it will be mired in fraud, a spokesman for Abdullah said.

The spokesman would not elaborate on the details of the meeting but Abdullah is expected to make a highly-anticipated announcement Sunday morning.

Karzai agreed to the November 7 presidential election runoff vote after intense diplomatic arm twisting by the United States. Karzai had claimed victory in the first round of voting in August, but a probe revealed widespread fraud

Saturday's meeting offered a glimmer of hope after a Western source close to the Afghan leadership told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Friday that talks between Karzai and Abdullah, had broken down.

However, none of Abdullah's demands have been met. He had called for the resignations of top election officials and politicians to avert electoral fraud a second time around.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had predicted earlier this week that the country would soon be governed under a power-sharing deal.

"I think there will be power-sharing," Khalilzad said in an interview with Amanpour. "Both want power-sharing. The difference is that Karzai wanted to be first declared the winner or win the election and then offer something from a position of strength, while Abdullah Abdullah wanted to go to a second round, but have a power-sharing agreement without the vote."

But Khalilzad also said that Abdullah "may not stay in the race."

"First, he doesn't have much money left," he said. "Second, I think that he thinks that, given the situation, he's likely to lose, and maybe he'll get less votes than he did in the first round, so that would be embarrassing."

Some have questioned the legitimacy of a government that results from a runoff with only one candidate standing.

But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday the situation was not unprecedented.

"Other countries have faced this where one candidate decides not to go forward," she said. "We see that happen in our own country where for whatever combination of reasons one of the candidates decides not to go forward. I don't think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election. It's a personal choice which may or may not be made."

In the United States, President Barack Obama is considering whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban insurgency, as requested by the commander of troops there, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, or adopt some other strategy in the troubled nation.

Khalilzad said the outcome of the Afghan election negotiations is crucial to whatever decision the U.S. president takes.

"There are very few very capable Afghans, and they need to come together in a power-sharing arrangement," he said, "because whatever the decision is here in the United States, this will be one last chance to push for success in Afghanistan. And that cannot happen without the Afghan leaders doing their part."

Hundreds of thousands of fraudulent ballots were tossed after the first round of voting in August, which left Karzai with less than the 50 percent-plus-one votes needed for victory.

In the United States, President Barack Obama is considering whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban insurgency, as requested by the commander of troops there, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, or adopt some other strategy in the troubled nation.

Khalilzad said the outcome of the Afghan election negotiations is crucial to whatever decision the U.S. president takes.

"There are very few very capable Afghans, and they need to come together in a power-sharing arrangement," he said, "because whatever the decision is here in the United States, this will be one last chance to push for success in Afghanistan. And that cannot happen without the Afghan leaders doing their part."


[World]
October 31, 2009 -- Updated 0848 GMT (1648 HKT)
Fourth typhoon in month hits Philippines
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Storm hits Saturday, cuts electricity supply, videographer says
> Storm drops at least 85 millimeters of rain to Manila
> A third typhoon, Lupit narrowly missed making landfall last week

(CNN) -- The fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in a month came ashore east of the capital, Manila, on Saturday morning, bringing heavy rain, flooding, and washing away shanty houses near the coast.

Typhoon Mirinae quickly moved west into the South China Sea and became a tropical storm. It was forecast to continue due west and then take a slight turn south, hitting Vietnam in about 48 hours, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

There were power flashes across Manila, as the storm hit Saturday and cut the electricity supply, videographer James Reynolds said. The storm was weaker than expected, he said, but it still brought fierce winds and lots of rain.

"The wind and the rain and the floods have still caused quite a considerable amount of damage, certainly in the southeastern portion of the city, which is where we were," Reynolds told CNN by phone from Manila. "We saw many shanty-type houses that had been washed away and residents frantically try to get hold of their household material."

The storm dropped at least 85 millimeters (3.3 inches) of rain on Manila. The city of Daet, on the eastern coast, received 149 millimeters (5.8 inches) of rain, and Virac, which sits on an island that juts into the Pacific, received 72 millimeters (2.8 inches) of rain.

The first of the four typhoons to batter the Philippines happened in late September, when Ketsana drenched the island nation with its heaviest rainfall in 40 years. Eighty percent of Manila flooded and more than 420 people died.

Flooding from Ketsana has lasted well into October, and tens of thousands of people are still in evacuation centers, according to the disaster coordinating council.

On October 3, Typhoon Parma made landfall in a rural region of fishermen and farmers in Luzon, the largest of the Philippine islands. It destroyed 55,000 houses and killed more than 430 people.

Last week a third typhoon, Lupit, narrowly missed making landfall but still brought lots of rain to the Philippines.


[World]
October 31, 2009 -- Updated 0752 GMT (1552 HKT)
Brazilian Indians find plane survivors
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
>Two people missing; one believed to be dead
> Matis tribe Indians find plane and alert Brazilian air force

(CNN) -- Indigenous Indians located nine survivors of a plane that crashed in a river in the Amazon rain forest with 11 people onboard, according to the Brazilian air force.

The nine passengers were in good health, the air force said Friday.

Of the two people missing -- a passenger and a crew member -- one is believed to be dead. The air force did not provide further details.

The plane was on its way to deliver health supplies Thursday when it crashed. It had taken off from Cruzeiro do Sul in Acre state and was headed to Tabatinga in Amazonas state.

The plane landed in the Itui River between the tribe settlements of Aurelio and Rio Novo. Indians of the Matis tribe, who live in Aurelio, initially located the plane and alerted the Brazilian air force, which sent search planes to the site.

Before the passengers were located, at least eight aircraft had been dispatched for the search operation, the air force said.

Members of the Matis, an indigenous tribe of about 300, live deep in the rain forest.

Other area tribes were helping in a search for the two missing passengers along the shores of the Itui.

news20091031reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Williams, Qatar aim to bring F1 technology to mainstream
Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:02am EDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Williams Formula One team has launched a multi-million dollar project with Qatar that aims to bring cutting-edge racing technology to the mainstream mass-transit transport industry, its owner said on Thursday.

Frank Williams said his firm had set up the Williams Technology Center together with the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) where it would develop new environmentally beneficial technologies inspired by Formula One.

"The QSTP has availability of space and young people at a subsidized cost and we are landing in a place where there is a lot of brainpower around us," Williams told Reuters.

One of the projects will focus on developing the energy recovery system KERS for use on buses, trains and cars. In motor racing, KERS recovers energy generated by the brakes and stores it to give drivers a brief burst of extra power at the push of a button.

Williams said the product has potential to be applied also in fields including defense and power sectors.

"In two or three years it may be entering a commercial application for final testing, but it's difficult to say as new stuff is difficult to predict," he said.

The company would not give the exact cost of the project, but said it was below $50 million.

(Reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky; editing by Firouz Sedarat)


[Green Business]
Italy set to relaunch solar mirror power sector
Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:37pm EDT
By Svetlana Kovalyova

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy is to relaunch concentrated solar power (CSP) generation which uses sunlight and mirrors to make electricity and expects have 200 megawatts of new solar farms on stream in 2012, a top industry official said Friday.

Italy, which worked on CSP technology in 1970s but then shelved pilot projects, aims to catch up with the world's leaders California, Spain and Israel, Cesare Fera, chairman of new industry body ANEST told Reuters in a telephone interview.

ANEST was set up this month to promote CSP generation in Italy where photovoltaic (PV) technology which turns sunlight into power has boomed since 2007 thanks to generous incentives.

Work is underway to build four experimental CSP plants with a total capacity of about 10 MW on the island of Sicily and in central Italian regions of Lazio and Marche which should start up next year, Fera said.

"Then industrial-size plants will follow, in 2011 and 2012. Permitting process is already under way in Sardinia, Sicily and other regions. Hopefully authorizations will be done next year, then a year for construction and on stream in 2012," he said.

The current government support scheme puts a 200 MW cap on a cumulative capacity of projects to be covered by incentives which guarantee operators 28 euro cents per every kilowatt hour of power produced, he said.

Applications to build CSP farms -- which use mirrors to capture the sun's rays to create steam that turns a turbine to make electricity -- well exceed 200 MW and the limit will be reached in 2012, Fera said.

GROWTH HINGES ON INCENTIVES

"We must start thinking about post-2012 now," he said.

"One of the goals of our association is to convince the government to extend this limit to at least 2,000-3,000 MW. This will allow us to make big-size installations, to use top technology," he said.

CSP, which currently costs about 3-6 times more to make than gas-fired power widely used in Italy, is likely to become competitive with electricity produced by fossil-fired plants in about 7-8 year at best, Fera said.

CSP's sister PV technology is expected to become competitive with traditionally generated power in 2010-2012, ahead of European rivals thanks to abundant sunshine, falling PV module prices and high electricity prices in Italy.

But CSP technology has a lot of room to cut operating costs and has a considerable advantage over PV installations because it allows for storing energy, Fera said.

The global CSP capacity is currently at about 500 MW -- enough to meet power demands of 210,000 families, according to industry estimates -- with most of it installed in the United States, but it can grow fairly rapidly to 150,000 MW, Fera said.

CSP plants to be built in deserts have the potential to generate up to a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, according to a report by pro-solar groups in May [ID:nLO523100].

Italy's limited free space due to its geography and dense population would put a natural cap on CSP growth at about 5,000-7,000 MW, Fera said.

(Editing by Nigel Hunt)


[Green Business]
PV Crystalox sees benefits in solar price war
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:18pm EDT
By Victoria Bryan

LONDON (Reuters) - Price pressure in the solar industry has helped to increase the market and boosted module orders in the second half of the year, according to the chief executive of Britain's PV Crystalox Solar.

"One of the side effects of pricing pressure is we're moving nearer and nearer to grid parity and at that point the market no longer needs incentives," Iain Dorrity told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

Average selling prices for solar systems have fallen by more than fifth in the major German and U.S. markets, as a result of oversupply and price pressure from Chinese producers, hurting earnings for many established solar players, such as Solarworld and Q-Cells.

PV Crystalox makes silicon wafers for major solar cell manufacturers such as SunTech Power and Sharp, and its wafers are mostly sold into the German and Japanese markets, which enjoy generous subsidies.

Dorrity said the German market in particular had seen orders surge in the second half of 2009 as customers rushed to take advantage of low module prices and feed-in tariffs ahead of an expected cut in the subsidy by the new German government.

"In Germany, it seems like everyone came back from their holidays at the end of August and ordered modules," he said.

The new German government has indicated it is more in favor of nuclear power than renewables in order to meet emissions targets but Dorrity said it seemed as though their stance was softening.

Falling crystalline silicon prices have also helped to close the gap between silicon-based panels and thin film panels, such as those made by First Solar, which this week posted third-quarter sales far below estimates.

Along with falling prices, the solar industry has suffered from an oversupply of panels and lack of financing for big projects.

Dorrity said credit finance was still slow but that there were suggestions that overhanging inventory was clearing.

"Cell and module makers now say they're operating at full capacity, which would suggest that any inventory's been burned up."

(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)


[Green Business]
Trony Solar files for IPO of up to $200 mln
Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:32pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chinese thin film solar company Trony Solar plans to raise up to $200 million in an initial public offering, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday, a move that could add to the crowded ranks of solar companies on major U.S. stock exchanges.

The company has applied to list its American Depositary Shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TRO," according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The underwriters for the IPO include J.P. Morgan Securities Inc, Credit Suisse Securities, Oppenheimer & Co Inc and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, the company said in the filing.

In October, STR Holdings Inc set terms for what is likely to become the first U.S.-listed IPO offering by a solar company in more than a year.

Trony Solar said in the filing that it had an annual manufacturing capacity of 115 megawatts at the end of August.

The company, established in 1993, started making thin film batteries in 1995. In 2006, the company started making solar panels for off-grid systems on a commercial scale.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee)

news20091031reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
FACTBOX: Climate negotiating positions of top emitters
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:19pm EDT

(Reuters) - Following are the negotiating positions of top greenhouse gas emitters in the run-up to a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen in December where a new pact for combating climate change is due to be agreed:

1) CHINA (annual emissions: 6.8 billion metric tons, 5.5 metric tons per capita)

* Emissions - President Hu Jintao promised on September 22 that China would cut its carbon dioxide emissions per dollar of economic output by a "notable margin" by 2020 compared to 2005. The "carbon intensity" goal is the first measurable curb on national emissions for China. Hu reiterated a promise that China would try to raise the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to 15 percent by 2020.

* Demands - China wants developed nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and to give far more aid and green technology.

2) UNITED STATES (6.4 billion metric tons, 21.2 metric tons per capita)

* Emissions - President Barack Obama wants to cut U.S. emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. He told the United Nations on September 23 that the days when the United States "dragged its feet" on climate change were over.

Democratic U.S. senators will try to push a bill through the Environment and Public Works Committee as early as the first week of November. The bill would cut emissions by 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 -- about 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. It would still face a long road to become law.

* Finance - The United States says a "dramatic increase" is needed in funds to help developing nations.

* Demands - "We cannot meet this challenge unless all the largest emitters of greenhouse gas pollution act together," Obama said.

3) EUROPEAN UNION (5.03 billion metric tons, 10.2 metric tons per capita)

* Emissions - EU leaders agreed in December 2008 to cut emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 30 percent if other developed nations follow suit.

* Finance - EU leaders made progress toward an agreement on funding at a summit on October 30. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said an accord had been reached but diplomats said leaders were still trying to seal an east-west rift. A draft declaration says developing nations will need 100 billion euros ($148 billion) a year by 2020.

* Demands - The EU wants developing nations to curb the rise of their emissions by 15 to 30 percent below a trajectory of "business as usual" by 2020.

4) RUSSIA (1.7 billion metric tons, 11.9 metric tons per capita)

* Emissions - President Dmitry Medvedev said in June that Russia's emissions would be around 10 to 15 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. That means a rise from now -- emissions were 34 percent below 1990 levels in 2007.

* Demands - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on September 11 that Russia would reject any new climate pact that imposed restrictions on Russia but did not bind other big polluters such as the United States or China.

5) INDIA (1.4 billion metric tons, 1.2 metric tons per capita)

* Emissions - India is prepared to quantify the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it could cut with domestic actions, but will not accept internationally binding targets, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said on September 17. India has said its per capita emissions will never rise to match those of developed nations.

* Demands - Like China, India wants rich nations to cut emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020. But Ramesh signaled room to compromise on October 16: "It's a negotiation. We've given a number of 40 percent but one has to be realistic."

6) JAPAN (1.4 billion metric tons, 11.0 metric tons per capita)

* Emissions - Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama wants to cut Japan's emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 if Copenhagen agrees an ambitious deal, toughening a goal set by the previous government of an eight percent reduction.

* Finance - Hatoyama told the United Nations on September 22 that Tokyo would also step up aid.

(Note: Greenhouse gas emissions are 2008 data by Germany's Energy industry institute IWR except EU, which are from 2007 submission to United Nations)


[Green Business]
FACTBOX: How to judge success, failure at U.N. climate talks
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:19pm EDT

(Reuters) - Talks on a new U.N. climate deal are bogged down before a December 7-18 meeting of 190 nations in Copenhagen -- the following lays out how to judge success or failure.

Negotiators will meet in Barcelona, Spain, from November 2 to November 6 for their last session before Copenhagen

Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, says there are four "political essentials" for a deal even though it will be impossible to agree a legally binding treaty in Copenhagen and some details will be left for 2010.

1) DEVELOPED COUNTRIES -- "Ambitious" targets for each nation to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in 2007 that developed nations would have to cut emissions by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avert the worst of climate change. So far, planned cuts average 11 to 15 percent -- the Secretariat calls these "woefully short" of the IPCC range.

A U.S. Senate committee will aim to pass a carbon cutting bill in early November, but full U.S. legislation is unlikely by Copenhagen.

2) DEVELOPING NATIONS -- "Nationally appropriate mitigation actions" by developing nations. Such actions, slowing the rise of emissions rather than demanding absolute cuts, could include making more use of renewable energy such as wind or solar power; more efficient coal power plants; and better building insulation.

3) CASH AND TECHNOLOGY -- Agreement on ways to raise "new, additional and predictable financial resources and technology." It says the cash needed both to curb emissions and help people adapt to changes such as droughts or floods could total $250 billion per year in 2020. The Secretariat also wants developed nations to come up with at least $10 billion in Copenhagen to kick-start a deal.

4) INSTITUTIONS -- "An effective institutional framework with governance structures that address the needs of developing countries." Copenhagen needs to work out the nuts and bolts of how to share out new funds and technologies.

RECENT VIEWS

* The European Union agreed on October 30 to three conditional offers of cash for developing nations. "I think this is a breakthrough that ... makes a Copenhagen agreement possible," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.

* Jairam Ramesh, India's minister of state for environment, cautioned on October 16: "We may not get the perfect agreement. This is Copenhagen 1.0. You may have Copenhagen 2.0 a couple of months later.".

* "The real negotiations will be after Copenhagen," said Yi Xianliang, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official. "Copenhagen will be a starting point, not an ending point."

* "We are still keeping ambitious expectations and targets," U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on October 28

---------

DEADLINES?

About 190 nations pledged in Bali in December 2007 to agree a new U.N. deal within two years after scientists said action was urgently needed to avert desertification, flooding, heatwaves and rising sea levels.

The first period of the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, which binds industrialized nations, except the United States, to cut emissions, runs out at the end of 2012. The idea is that a deal in 2009 gives good time for all parliaments to ratify a deal.

Recession is doing part of the job already -- world carbon dioxide emissions are set to fall 2.6 percent this year because of a fall in industrial activity.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

news20091031reut3

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
U.N. talks in Spain seek to salvage climate deal
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:19pm EDT
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - Climate negotiators from 175 nations meet in Spain next week for a final session to try to break deadlock between rich and poor and salvage a U.N. deal due in Copenhagen in December.

The November 2-6 talks in Barcelona of almost 4,000 delegates, led by senior government officials, will seek to end deep splits about sharing out curbs on greenhouse gases and ways to raise billions of dollars to help the poor tackle global warming.

In a step forward, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said European Union leaders agreed on funds at a summit on Friday with three conditional offers for Copenhagen. He said poor nations need 100 billion euros ($148 billion) a year from 2020.

Brown told reporters in Brussels that EU states would pay their "fair share." "I think this is a breakthrough that takes us forward to Copenhagen," he said.

Most industrialized nations have not outlined offers.

All sides agree progress has been too slow since talks began in 2007, spurred by findings by the U.N. Climate Panel that world emissions would have to peak by 2015 to avoid the worst of desertification, floods, extinctions or rising seas.

"Time has almost run out," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told delegates in a video message. "In Barcelona, all nations must step back from self-interest and let common interest prevail."

The worst financial crisis since the 1930s has distracted attention from global warming and the United Nations and many countries say a legally binding treaty is impossible at the Copenhagen meeting from December 7-18.

The U.S. Senate is unlikely to agree legislation to cut U.S. emissions before Copenhagen, raising fears that other rich nations will be unwilling to promise deep cuts.

"The issue is 'can we agree on the core questions?'," said Michael Zammit Cutajar of Malta, chair of a group negotiating commitments by all nations. "I think we can."

HUGE PUZZLE

"It's a huge puzzle politically to get things done," said Bill Hare, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He said there had been too much optimism that U.S. President Barack Obama would bring new momentum this year.

"There is a big risk that you end up with a woolly G8-type statement that doesn't take us anywhere," said Mark Kenber, of London based think-tank the Climate Group. The Group of Eight club of the world's leading industrialized nations usually releases non-binding statements of principle after its summits.

Developing nations such as China and India say that the developed countries must cut their emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 -- arguing they got rich by burning fossil fuels since the industrial revolution.

Offers on the table so far from the rich countries total cuts of about 11 to 15 percent. And developed nations say the poor must also do more by 2020 to slow their rising emissions -- China, the United States, Russia and India are the top emitters.

"It's crucially important that we keep ambitions high, to reach something we can consider 'the Copenhagen Deal'. We do not support any notion of postponing into 2010," said Kim Carstensen of the WWF environmental group.

De Boer wants Copenhagen to agree four key elements -- individual cuts in emissions for rich nations, actions by poor nations to slow their rising emissions, new finance and technology for developing nations and a system to oversee funds.


[Green Business]
FACTBOX: EU agrees mandate for Copenhagen climate talks
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:28pm EDT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders agreed an offer on Friday to put on the table at global climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

Here is a summary of what that agreement includes.

* The European Union will strengthen planned emissions cuts to 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 if a strong deal is reached at Copenhagen, provided other nations take similar steps.

* The European Union estimates that the total costs of mitigation and adaptation in developing countries could amount to around 100 billion euros ($148 billion) annually.

This will be to be met through a combination of developing countries' own efforts, the international carbon market and international public finance.

* The EU estimates the overall level of the international public support required is in the range of 22-50 billion euros per year by 2020, subject to fair burden sharing at the global level.

* The EU stresses that "fast-start" international public support is important in the three years before any Copenhagen deal takes effect.

Leaders acknowledge a European Commission estimate that developing countries will need 5-7 billion euros per year in the period 2010-2012, after which the agreement is due to kick in. An EU contribution will be determined after the Copenhagen talks.

* EU leaders call upon all parties to try to prevent global temperatures from rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. Developed countries should cut emissions to 80-95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

* EU leaders note that an excess of the so-called AAU carbon permits assigned under the Kyoto Protocol must be addressed in a non-discriminatory manner, treating European and non-European countries equally.

The handling of the AAU surplus should not affect the environmental integrity of a Copenhagen agreement.

(Reporting by Pete Harrison, editing by Anthony Barker)


[Green Business]
EU agrees final stance for Copenhagen climate talks
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:28pm EDT
By Pete Harrison and John O'Donnell

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders agreed an offer Friday to put on the table at global climate talks in Copenhagen in December after healing a rift over how to split the bill.

Developing countries will need 100 billion euros ($148 billion) a year by 2020 to battle climate change, and 22-50 billion of this will have to come from the public purse in rich countries worldwide, rather than industry, leaders said.

The two-day EU summit secured a complex negotiating mandate for the Copenhagen talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations anti-climate change scheme expiring in 2012.

"We managed to reach an agreement on climate finance," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said. "The EU now has a strong position in view of Copenhagen."

Success in Copenhagen is likely to hinge on money.

Developing countries say they will not sign up to tackling climate change without enough funds from rich nations, which bear most of the responsibility for damaging the atmosphere by fuelling their industries with oil and coal over decades.

Developing countries might use such funds to adapt their agriculture or find new sources of water in drought zones.

"I think this is a breakthrough that takes us forward to Copenhagen," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters.

DIVISION

The 27-country EU pledged to strengthen planned emissions cuts to 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 if other countries made similar commitments.

But they put on hold earlier plans to come up with "fast start" financing for developing nations in the three years before any new climate deal takes effect.

East European countries said the summit had settled a rift over how to split the EU's portion of the bill in a way that would not hurt their economies as they recover from crisis.

"We consider this a success for Poland," said the Polish minister for Europe, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz. "We want to develop quickly. We don't want to become the museum of folklore of eastern Europe."

A formula will be calculated that "takes fully into account the ability to pay," the text of the agreement said. Leaders fell short of agreeing a concrete formula now and handed that job to a new working party.

South African cleric Desmond Tutu criticized Poland in a letter to EU leaders for resisting giving support to developing countries after it had received so much help itself in the past.

"Poland is among the 50 richest countries in the world, with a per capita gross domestic product three times that of China and 20 times that of Mozambique," Tutu wrote.

(Reporting by Pete Harrison, John O'Donnell, Marcin Grajewski, Time Castle and David Brunnstrom, writing by Pete Harrison, editing by Timothy Heritage and Dale Hudson)

news20091031reut4

[Top News] from [REUTERS]


[International]
Typhoon cuts power, uproots trees in Philippines
Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:24am EDT

MANILA (Reuters) - The third typhoon to hit the Philippines in five weeks slammed into the main island of Luzon on Saturday, uprooting trees and toppling power lines, but there were no immediate reports of widespread damage.

Authorities canceled about 180 flights from Manila while some ferry and bus services remained grounded, leaving thousands stranded and stopping people from returning to their home provinces for the All Saints' Day weekend.

Two typhoons killed more than 900 people in recent weeks, with parts of the capital, Manila, still under water.

Typhoon Mirinae weakened as it cut through coconut-growing provinces south of the capital, the weather bureau said.

"It looks like our countrymen can still commemorate All Saints' Day because the weather has cleared a bit," Colonel Ernesto Torres, spokesman of the disaster agency, said in a radio interview. "The typhoon is on its way out of the country."

The rainfall was not as heavy as had been feared, especially along the densely populated west coast of Luzon where floods from Typhoon Ketsana late last month killed more than 400 people.

Leonardo Espina, spokesman for the national police, said emergency teams had started clearing roads of uprooted trees and debris, adding some areas in and around Manila were without electricity.

Radio reports, quoting local and disaster officials, said a man died while crossing a creek in Rizal province east of the capital and another drowned when his shanty home was washed away in Manila.

(Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Rosemarie Francisco)


[International]
Afghan vote in the balance, Abdullah set to decide
Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:17am EDT
By Golnar Motevalli

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai's election rival Abdullah Abdullah will announce on Sunday whether he will take part in next week's disputed run-off vote, his campaign said after speculation mounted he will pull out.

Abdullah canceled a planned trip to India on Saturday, just before a deadline he had given Karzai to sack Afghanistan's top election official was to expire.

Afghanistan has been racked by weeks of political uncertainty after widespread fraud marred the first round, with security another major concern after a resurgent Taliban vowed to disrupt the November 7 run-off vote.

With Afghanistan's political future hanging in the balance, U.S. President Barack Obama is also weighing whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan. Obama met U.S. military leaders in Washington on Friday as part of a strategy review.

Abdullah's campaign team issued a short statement on Saturday saying the former foreign minister had called a loya jirga, or grand assembly of elders, for 9.30 a.m. on Sunday (1:00 a.m. EDT).

"Dr Abdullah Abdullah will a give speech about the election and he will announce his decision in the loya jirga tent," the statement said.

Abdullah's aides earlier said he had canceled the trip to India because of uncertainty over the election.

Western officials have noted that Abdullah has not opened any campaign offices in Afghanistan since the run-off was called last week. Neither candidate has campaigned openly.

"The signs are there. (Abdullah's) not doing any campaigning. Everyone is looking at the two camps and willing them to do some form of accommodation that will avoid a run-off," one Western diplomat, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

Diplomats and analysts have said that, according to the constitution, it was possible the run-off might go ahead with Karzai as the only candidate if Abdullah pulls out. They fear that would have a serious impact on the government's legitimacy.

"If Abdullah boycotts, voter turnout will be very low and Karzai will be declared winner but with a very low legitimacy," said Haroun Mir, a Kabul-based analyst and director of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said such a situation was not unprecedented. "I don't think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election. It's a personal choice which may or may not be made," she said.

POWER-SHARING?

Talk of a possible power-sharing deal between Karzai and Abdullah has also grown as a possible solution to the deadlock.

The U.S. embassy in Kabul said it was a matter for Karzai and Abdullah to decide if they could come up with a constitutionally sound solution that was acceptable to Afghans.

Diplomats and analysts have said that, according to the constitution, it was possible the run-off might go ahead with Karzai as the only candidate if Abdullah pulls out. They fear that would have a serious impact on the government's legitimacy.

"If Abdullah boycotts, voter turnout will be very low and Karzai will be declared winner but with a very low legitimacy," said Haroun Mir, a Kabul-based analyst and director of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said such a situation was not unprecedented. "I don't think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election. It's a personal choice which may or may not be made," she said.

The run-off was triggered when a U.N.-led fraud investigation found widespread fraud, mainly in favor of Karzai, had been committed during the August 20 first round.

The United States already has about 70,000 troops in Afghanistan and the decision to send more hinges on whether the Afghan government is seen by U.S. lawmakers and the public as a legitimate and viable partner.

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, said Afghanistan faced a return to a "brutal tyranny" if the Taliban, al Qaeda and their militant Islamist allies were allowed to return to power.

"The mission in Afghanistan has been long and difficult and costly, but I believe that it's necessary for stability and peace," Bush said at the leadership summit in New Delhi Abdullah had been due to attend.

Many commentators and Western diplomats believe Karzai will likely win the run-off, adding pressure on Abdullah to withdraw for the sake of stability.

It would also avoid the mobilization of thousands of foreign troops that would be needed to help secure polling stations after poor security and Taliban threats cut voter turnout in August.

Karzai's support mainly comes from Pashtuns, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group and the country's traditional rulers, in the south and east where the Taliban-led insurgency is strongest.

The Taliban have called on Afghans to boycott the run-off and have vowed to disrupt the poll, their threat underlined on Wednesday by a suicide attack on a Kabul guest-house used by the United Nations in which five foreign U.N. staff were killed.

The fast-approaching onset of Afghanistan's harsh winter and lingering concerns about fraud have further complicated efforts to organize the run-off.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

news20091030gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment >Forests]
Canada sets aside its boreal forest as giant carbon vault
By banning logging, mining and oil drilling in an area twice the size of California, Canada is ensuring its boreal forests continue to soak up carbon
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 October 2009 17.34 GMT Article history

In the far north latitudes, buried within a seemingly endless expanse of evergreen forests, the authorities in Canada are building up one of the world's best natural defences against global warming.

In a series of initiatives, Canadian provincial governments and aboriginal leaders have set aside vast tracts of coniferous woods, wetlands, and peat. The conservation drive bans logging, mining, and oil drilling on some 250m acres – an area more than twice the size of California.

The sheer scale of the forest conservation drive is somewhat of an anomaly for Canada, whose government has been accused of sabotaging the global climate change talks by its development of the Alberta tar sands and its refusal to make deep cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions.

Last week, a former adviser to Barack Obama urged Canada to do more to keep up with America's moves towards a cleaner energy economy.

In the latest addition to the carbon storehouse, the provincial premier of Manitoba, Gary Doer, this month announced a $10m (£5.6m) Canadian fund to protect a 10.8m acre expanse of boreal or evergreen forest. It was one of Doer's last acts as premier; he took over as Canada's ambassador to Washington this month.

The $10m will go towards efforts by indigenous leaders to designate boreal forest lands in eastern Manitoba as a Unesco world heritage site. The Pimachiowin Aki world heritage project, which straddles the Manitoba-Ontario border, extends efforts by Canadian provincial leaders to protect the wide swaths of pristine forests in the north. It also ensures the survival of one of the best natural defences against global warming after the world's oceans, environmentalists say.

A report by the International Boreal Conservation Campaign said the forests, with their rich mix of trees, wetlands, peat and tundra, were a far bigger carbon store than scientists had realised, soaking up 22% of the total carbon stored on the earth's land surface.

"If you look across Canada one of [the boreal forest's] great values to us globally is its carbon storage value," said Steve Kallick, director of the Pew Environment Group's International Boreal Conservation Campaign. "There is so much carbon sequestered in it already that if it escaped it would pose a whole new, very grave threat."

Canada's cold temperatures slow decomposition, allowing the build-up of organic soil and peat. The forest floors beneath its evergreens hold twice as much carbon per acre as tropical forests, such as the Amazon.

It is unclear how long Canada's forests can continue to serve as carbon vaults. "As the climate warms, the place is going to dry up. There will be a problem with insect infestation. There is going to be increased natural carbon release due to fire or wetlands drying up," said Sue Libenson, a spokeswoman for the International Boreal Conservation Campaign.

But she added: "The general premise is that there is still a hell of a lot of carbon in there." Its release would be a climate catastrophe.

Canada's 1.3bn acres of boreal forest store the equivalent of 27 years' worth of current global greenhouse gas emissions, a Greenpeace study found. The destruction of those forests, scientists warn, would be like setting off a massive "carbon bomb" because of the sudden release of emissions.

That threat appears to have concentrated the official mindset in Canada, which otherwise has a poor record on action on climate change. On a per capita basis, the country is one of the worst polluters on the planet, producing about 2% of the world's emissions even though it has just 33m people. It holds one of the worst track records among industrialised states for living up to its commitment under the Kyoto accords. By 2007, greenhouse gas emissions were 34% above the target Canada agreed at Kyoto.

Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, is resisting doing much more, committing to just a 6% cut over 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. "I see Harper's policy as a continuation of the Bush agenda," said David Martin, climate director for Greenpeace Canada.

A key advisor to Obama made a similar point last week, comparing Canada's current climate change policy to the inaction in America under George Bush. "The Canadians would be well served by keeping up with what's going on in the United States with respect to this push towards clean technology," John Podesta, who oversaw Obama's transition team, told a conference in Ottawa.

Environmentalists also fear that Harper intends to exclude the Alberta tar sands – the heavy crude deposits that have fuelled the rise in emissions – from any future greenhouse gas emissions regime.

But the Harper government did relent on forest protection, working with the Sahtu and Deh Cho First Nations to set aside 40m acres in the Northwest Territories.

Canadian provincial leaders have moved even more aggressively in recent years, with Ontario committed to protecting 55m acres, or about half of its forest, and Quebec committed to protecting 150m acres. "Canada is torn between wanting to promote the tar sands and make money off it now, and wanting to live up to its promises under the Kyoto accord. But as far as protecting carbon rich ecosystems, particularly the boreal forest, Canada is a world leader," said Kallick.

news20091030gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[News > World news > European Union]
Tony Blair's bid for EU presidency sinks
Ex-PM's chances of winning role slide as Sarkozy and Merkel fail to back him
Nicholas Watt and Ian Traynor in Brussels
The Guardian, Friday 30 October 2009 Article history

Tony Blair's hopes of becoming Europe's first sitting president were receding fast last night as Britain admitted his chances of success were "fading" after the continent's centre-right leaders made it clear one of their own must have the post.

Hours after Gordon Brown delivered his strongest statement of support for Blair – disclosing that he had spoken to him earlier this week – British sources indicated that the former prime minister was unlikely to assume the high-profile job.

"It would be right to describe Tony's chances as fading," one source said. "Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are not terribly enthusiastic. Silvio Berlusconi remains his strongest backer."

Blair's expected failure to secure the post of president of the European Council meant that David Miliband was emerging as a serious contender to assume the new post of high representative for foreign policy. The foreign secretary insisted that he was "not available".

Miliband spoke out as British sources said it had become clear in recent days that Blair would struggle to become president. The post is likely to be filled in the next month as the Czech Republic inches closer to ratifying the Lisbon treaty after EU leaders agreed last night to include Prague in a protocol saying that the charter of fundamental rights does not create new rights.

Sarkozy, the French president, and Merkel, the German chancellor, discussed the new EU president at a dinner at the Elysée palace on Wednesday. They are understood to have agreed that the post should be filled from the main centre-right EPP grouping, which brings together the parties currently ruling most EU countries.

The French made clear in Brussels last night that Blair was losing their support. Jean-David Levitte, Sarkozy's most senior foreign affairs adviser, said: "The UK is not in the eurozone, nor in the Schengen [free travel area in the EU] and it has a number of opt outs. These are not advantageous in this search for a candidate."

Levitte indicated that Sarkozy was looking for someone who could combine the role of a chairman of meetings of EU leaders and representing the union on the world stage. "The ideal is to find a rare bird who can carry out the two functions, because we want an efficient Europe with strong institutions," he said in remarks which appeared to undermine Blair, who is seen as a world figure, not a chairman.

Brown hinted that Blair's candidacy was fading when he qualified his strong backing for his predecessor by saying that there were also other candidates for the job. "Of course it may not happen; there are other candidates as well," he said.

The prime minister's remarks came after an acrimonious meeting of European centre-left leaders. Brown was understood to have had a tense exchange with Martin Schulz, the German leader of the Socialists in the European parliament, who wants the left to assume the EU's new foreign policy post, leaving the presidency to the centre right.

Brown told the meeting: "You need to get real. This is a unique opportunity to get a progressive politician to be the president of the council."

But it soon became clear that Blair had no support on the left, let alone on the centre right. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's centre-left prime minister, for the first time publicly queried the Blair candidacy by announcing that the centre left across the EU was more concerned with securing the other post of European foreign minister.

Zapatero, who will have to work with the new European figureheads when Spain assumes the EU's six-month rotating presidency on 1 January, said: "There is a preference for the high representative. That is rather reasonable."

Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's foreign minister, said: "Now in the United States, Obama is the president, it is no more Mr Bush. We have a new treaty, we have to reset Europe and we need to start with some new ideas. There is and will remain a link for the next generation between Iraq, Bush and Tony Blair."

Downing Street will resist criticism that it was wrong to mount such a strong campaign in favour of Blair after it had become clear earlier this week that his chances were fading.

Brown believes it was in the national interest to argue strongly as long as there was a chance to secure such a senior post for the country.

Brown said: "His international experience is well known, his expertise on environmental, economic and security issues is well known … If you have the chance for that to happen, it is in Britain's national interest."

His comments came despite signs that Blair has little support among the British public for the EU post. Of 50 Labour backbenchers who responded to a Guardian survey, 35 said they backed the former prime minster for the role and 15 did not. A YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph found 31% of voters support Blair for president, with 31% opposed and 38% undecided.

news20091030nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 29 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1049
News
Aerosols make methane more potent
Air pollution linked more closely to climate concerns
By Katharine Sanderson

Aerosols' complicated influence on our climate just got more threatening: they could make methane a more potent greenhouse gas than previously realized, say climate modellers.

Drew Shindell, at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, and colleagues ran a range of computerized models to show that methane's global warming potential is greater when combined with aerosols — atmospheric particles such as dust, sea salt, sulphates and black carbon.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol assume methane to be, tonne-for-tonne, 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. But the interaction with aerosols bumps up methane's relative global warming potential (GWP) to about 33, though there is a lot of uncertainty around the exact figure. In the Kyoto Protocol, GWPs are used to govern emissions trading. "This study is saying those GWPs should be revisited because they're leaving out an important thing," says Shindell.

Shindell also thinks climate policy-makers need to pay much more attention to restricting short-lived pollutants, such as methane, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aerosols. This could create significant changes in the local and global climate quite quickly, he says, whereas the effects of efforts to reduce emissions of long-lived carbon dioxide will not be seen for many years. "The short-lived things are really powerful," he adds. The work is published in Science¹.

The increased influence attributed to methane is interesting, says Frank Dentener, from the European Commission's Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Ispra, Italy. He points out that cutting methane emissions often doesn't cost anything and can actually end up making money — by collecting the gas to sell, or by saving emissions in making a process more efficient and cheaper.

Mixed-up models

Methane, aerosols and other short-lived pollutants have a complicated chemical relationship, only some of which Shindell's models could capture. For example, methane leads to increased formation of ozone in the troposphere, which can reduce agricultural yields. It is also eventually oxidized to carbon dioxide; or by other chemical reactions can form water vapour - also a greenhouse gas - in the stratosphere. In yet another example, methane's reaction with hydroxyl reduces the amount of that chemical available to create cooling sulphate aerosols.

The models don't yet completely take all the processes into account. But simply trying to couple ozone chemistry and aerosol chemistry like this is an advance, says Dentener. "Instead of looking at single components they look in much greater details at what emissions of these components will do to a whole sequence of things."

Shindell says that future long-term climate models should begin to include more of these local secondary processes. "We know these things happen in the atmosphere", says Shindell. "The current strategy of assuming [their effects] are zero is a poor choice."

Aerosols and short-lived gases aren't totally ignored. "The timing of this paper is excellent", says Greg Carmichael, a climate scientist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. "There is growing awareness among the policy makers and the scientific communities that the coming period represents a key and important opportunity to link air and climate concerns." Even as recently as last week, scientists and policy makers met in Gothenburg, Sweden, at a workshop to discuss intermediate climate policies.

Dentener cautions that the calculations involved to work out new GWPs are "rather tricky". He would like to see other modellers tackle the same problem and reach a scientific consensus. But he adds that policy makers are starting to realize that there must be a balance between long-term and short-term strategies.

The negative and positive effects of air pollutants must be taken seriously, says Almut Arneth of Lund University in Sweden, who also writes in Science this week². She says most assessments suggest that the cooling effect of sulphates at the moment outweighs the warming effect of black carbon. So legislating for the removal of air pollutants, particularly sulphates, would cause a rapid warming of the climate. "If we want to start developing really successful climate policies we've got to look at air pollution as well", she says.

Shindell calls for the IPCC to look at "not just the climate but the whole ecosystem and health impacts of dealing with these pollutants". This could help in both the near and long term, he says. "I'm hoping the next round of IPCC will be better. I still don't see a lot of emphasis on near-term solutions to climate."

References
1. Shindell, D.T. et al. Science 326, 716-718 (2009).
2. Arneth, A. et al. Science 326, 672-673 (2009).

news20091030nn2

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 29 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1048
News
Amphibians rarely give earliest warning of pollution
Long-standing 'canary in the coal mine' role questioned.
By Matt Kaplan

{Frogs aren't always the first to suffer from pollution.}

The health of amphibians is commonly used to give a rough assessment of pollution levels in an area, but an analysis of more than 20,000 toxicity studies now suggests that these creatures are relatively resilient and not well suited to the task.

The finding could have a significant effect on the way that the environment is assessed. Conventional wisdom suggests that if an amphibian population is thriving, the area is probably clear of pollutants. But the survey shows that other species, such as shelled aquatic animals called brachiopods, may be better suited to monitoring contaminants.

Amphibians are believed to be sensitive to pollutants because of their highly permeable skins, and their varied lives, which maximize their exposure: they dwell on land and water, and eat both plants and animals at various stages of their life cycles¹. However, studies that have looked at how amphibians compare with other animals in their susceptibility to environmental changes have not been able to prove that they are any more vulnerable than other species^2,3.

To investigate how resilient amphibians really are, Jake Kerby at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and his colleagues analysed more than 28,000 studies from the US Environmental Protection Agency's Aquatic Information Retrieval (AQUIRE) database (part of its ECOTOX system), detailing the effects of various chemical agents on aquatic species, including insects, bivalves, fish and amphibians. The team found 23,942 studies of 73 chemicals that had been tested on amphibians and many other creatures, totalling 1,075 species.

They broke the chemicals down into four categories: heavy metals, inorganic compounds, phenols and pesticides, and found that amphibians were much less sensitive to chemical exposure from heavy metals, inorganics, and pesticides than many other species. The most sensitive group proved to be brachiopods, which declined dramatically in the presence of heavy metals and inorganic chemicals. Insects, unsurprisingly, were the most sensitive to insecticides, whereas amphibians were most sensitive only to the phenol chemicals. The results appear in Ecology Letters⁴.

Conservation symbols

"Based on these findings the presence of amphibians at a site is not a reliable indicator that the site is free of impact," says Kerby. He explains that the loss of invertebrate biodiversity that comes before amphibians die off may be going undetected. "It is easy for people to notice the decline of something as charismatic as a frog. It is much harder to notice the disappearance of freshwater mussels," he says.

"The data are quite striking", says Sharon Lawler, an aquatic ecologist at the University of California, Davis. "it is intriguing to consider the idea that amphibians are more like miners in a coal mine than canaries. Like miners, they are sensitive to contaminants, but they may not be the first to show symptoms."

This work "overturns the common view that amphibians are, on average, more sensitive to environmental contaminants than other organisms", says Michael Benard at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. "Hopefully, this work will lead to more effective regulation of contaminants that takes into account the diverse sensitivities of different organisms."

Even though amphibians did not show high sensitivities to all pollutants, they are far from useless as pollution indicators, points out environmental toxicologist Rick Relyea at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Amphibians certainly seem to be poor indicators of contaminant effects on invertebrates, but they may be much more effective at foreshadowing the decline of fellow vertebrate species, including humans. "We don't have an answer yet," he says.

"A study like this will help us determine which species to most closely watch," says Steven Bradbury, deputy director of the office of pesticide programmes at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC. He adds that wherever possible, the agency already monitors more than just amphibians to assess contamination in a particular area.

The finding should not downplay the need for amphibian conservation, adds Claude Gascon, executive vice-president and co-chair of the amphibian specialist group at Conservation International in Arlington, Virginia. "Red List data still show that amphibians have the highest incidence of threat and that cannot be ignored," he says. "With their noted sensitivities to ultra-violet light, habitat destruction, disease, and climate change, amphibians are dying a death by a thousand cuts. Amphibians still give a comprehensive picture of the global environment that we need to consider."

References
10 Vitt, L. J. , Caldwell, J. P. , Wilbur, H. M. & Smith, D. C. BioScience 40, 418 (1990).
2. Sparling, D. W. , Fellers, G. M. & McConnell, L. L. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 20, 1591-1595 (2001)
3. DeYoung, D. J. , Bantle, J. A. , Hull, M. A. & Burks, S. L. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 56, 143-150 (1996).
4. Kerby, J. L. , Richards-Hrdlicka, K. L. , Storfer, A. & Skelly, D. K. Ecol. Lett. advance online publication doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01399.x (2009).

news20091030bbc1

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

[Americas]
Page last updated at 07:57 GMT, Friday, 30 October 2009
Honduras rivals resolve deadlock
{Mr Micheletti became interim leader following the army-led coup on 28 June}
The interim leader of Honduras says he is ready to sign a pact to end its crisis which could include the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Roberto Micheletti said the agreement would create a power-sharing government and require both sides to recognise the result of November's presidential poll.

Mr Zelaya said the deal, which requires the approval of the Supreme Court and Congress, would be signed on Friday.

The president was forced out of the country on 28 June.

His critics said he was seeking to amend the constitution to remove the current one-term limit on serving as president, and pave the way for his re-election.

{{ANALYSIS}
Stephen Gibbs, BBC News
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described this agreement as "historic", that suggests we are extremely close to a deal.
It is also significant that both sides say that the Congress of Honduras has to approve this.
That could mean a slight delay, but it might actually also have been the key to the solution. Neither side could agree and so ultimately, perhaps to save face, they had to leave it to others finally, and symbolically, to make an agreement.
It appears the US government put the pressure on the Micheletti government to say leave this to the Honduran Congress. And although the Congress initially voted to remove President Zelaya from power, now it wants him back, as everyone understands that it is the only way out of this.}

Mr Zelaya returned covertly to Tegucigalpa on 21 September and has since been holed up in the Brazilian embassy. He says he has returned "for the restoration of democracy".

His term of office is due to finish at the end of January.

Negotiators for Mr Zelaya and Mr Micheletti resumed talks in the capital on Thursday in an attempt to resolve the political crisis which has gripped Honduras since the army-backed coup four months ago.

The opponents had earlier been told by US Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon that they had to reach an accord in order to ensure international support for the election on 29 November.

Afterwards, Mr Micheletti announced that a power-sharing deal had been reached that included a "significant concession".

"I have authorised my negotiating team to sign a deal that marks the beginning of the end of the country's political situation," the interim leader told a news conference.

"With regard to the most contentious subject in the deal, the possible restitution of Zelaya to the presidency" would be included, he said.

{Mr Zelaya said the agreement would restore democracy to Honduras}

Mr Zelaya described the accord as a "triumph for Honduran democracy", and said he was "optimistic" of returning to power.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, meanwhile said she wished to congratulate both sides on "reaching an historic agreement".

Mr Micheletti said the ousted president would only be able return to office after a vote in his favour in Congress that would first have to be authorised by the country's Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled that Mr Zelaya had violated the constitution in June, while Congress voted to remove him from office.

Mr Micheletti - who as the speaker of Congress was constitutionally second-in-line to the presidency - was sworn in by Congress as interim leader following the coup.


[Technology]
Page last updated at 05:13 GMT, Friday, 30 October 2009
Internet addresses set for change
{Icann president Rod Beckstrom: "It's really momentous"}
The internet regulator has approved plans to allow non-Latin-script web addresses, in a move that is set to transform the online world.

The board of Icann voted at its annual meeting in Seoul to allow domain names in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts.

More than half of the 1.6 billion people who use the internet speak languages with non-Latin scripts.

It is being described as the biggest change to the way the internet works since it was created 40 years ago.

The first Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) could be in use next year.

Plans for IDNs were first approved at a meeting in June 2008, but testing of the system has been going on for two years.

Technical upheaval

The move paves the way for the internet's Domain Name System (DNS) to be changed so it can recognise and translate non-Latin characters.

The DNS acts like a phonebook, turning easily understood domain names into strings of computer-readable numbers, known as Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

{{This change is very much necessary for not only half the world's internet users today but more than half, probably, of the future users as the internet continues to spread}
Rod Beckstrom
President of Icann}

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) said the "fantastically complicated technical feature" allowing IDNs would represent the "biggest change" to the coding that underlies the internet since it was invented four decades ago.

BBC technology correspondent Mark Gregory says in the early days of the internet, language posed no problem, as most web-surfers spoke English and those that did not usually wrote in languages based on the Latin alphabet.

But this is no longer true, adds our correspondent.

Icann said it would accept the first applications for IDNs by 16 November, with the first up and running by "mid-2010".

It is likely the majority of early non-Latin net addresses to be approved will be in Chinese and Arabic script, followed by Russian.

Some countries, such as China and Thailand, have already introduced workarounds that allow computer users to enter web addresses in their own language.

However, these were not internationally approved and do not work on all computers.

Autonomy

Our correspondent says the point of the Icann vote was to create a universal internet address code that will work in any language and every place so all the world's computers can connect with each other.

{{HAVE YOUR SAY}
There is a danger that the internet - a tool for culture, information - sharing and dialog on a non-national level, may become irreversibly fragmented
Stefanos Likkas, Athens, Greece}

"Of the 1.6 billion internet users today worldwide, more than half use languages that have scripts that are not Latin-based," said Icann president and CEO Rod Beckstrom earlier this week.

"So this change is very much necessary for not only half the world's internet users today but more than half, probably, of the future users as the internet continues to spread."

Icann, set up by the US government, was founded in 1998 to oversee the development of the net.

Last month, after years of criticism, the US government eased its control over the non-profit body.

It signed a new agreement that gave Icann autonomy for the first time. The agreement came into effect on 1 October and puts it under the scrutiny of the global "internet community".

news20091030bbc2

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

[Europe]
Page last updated at 12:16 GMT, Friday, 30 October 2009
EU push for climate funding unity
{The EU is struggling to present a united front on funds to fight global warming}
EU leaders are trying to break an impasse over funding to help poor countries combat global warming on the last day of their Brussels summit.

Sweden's prime minister called on EU leaders to set a fixed sum, paving the way for other rich donors like the US and Japan to make similar pledges.

But a coalition of nine poorer European nations has threatened to block a deal unless richer EU countries pay more.

Earlier leaders agreed a deal to secure the ratification of the Lisbon treaty.

The Czechs were granted an opt-out from the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, similar to that of the UK and Poland.

The Czechs are the only one of the 27 EU nations not to have ratified the treaty, which aims to streamline decision-making and bolster the bloc's role on the world stage.

EU leaders also moved no closer to agreement on a prospective president of the European Council, with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's chances of securing the role receding.

Climate wrangle

{British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: "I think this is a breakthrough"}

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday that EU leaders had reached consensus on what to offer other countries at December's UN climate conference in Copenhagen.

"Europe is making three conditional offers, money on the table, saying we will do everything we can to make a climate change deal happen," he said on Friday.

The EU is committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and by up to 30% if other countries join in.

But the BBC's Oana Lungescu, in Brussels, says that with just weeks to go before the Copenhagen summit, Europeans are struggling over how much money to offer developing nations to fight the effects of global warming.

The European Commission has recommended EU nations pay up to 15bn euros ($22bn; £13bn) a year from 2013 to developing nations.

A draft text of the summit conclusions, seen by the BBC, says EU leaders agree with the European Commission's estimate that the total cost of climate adaptation in developing countries could reach about 100bn euros ($148bn; £90bn) annually by 2020.

{{Do the majority of leaders want someone who can get a hearing at the White House, or do they want someone who will build consensus within the European Union?}
Gavin Hewitt, BBC Europe editor}

Of that 100bn euros, international public financing is estimated at 22-50bn euros annually by 2020, "subject to a fair burden-sharing at the global level".

Polish Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski told the BBC that eastern European nations should be allowed to contribute according to their means, not to how much they pollute - otherwise they were ready to block a deal.

"It's a coalition of nine countries and there are countries there like Bulgaria and Latvia which are considerably poorer than Brazil and which would be expected to help Brazil in its adjustments to climate change," he said.

The draft conclusions appear to recognise the eastern Europeans' concerns, saying that the EU contributions for developing countries "should be based on a comprehensive global distribution key" and "should take into account the ability to pay of less prosperous [EU] member states, through an internal adjustment mechanism".

But the EU does not spell out how the member states' contributions will be calculated - whether their CO2 emissions or their ability to pay will weigh more heavily in the calculation.

The UK and Scandinavian countries had been calling on the EU to put a figure on its climate help for poorer countries, ahead of the Copenhagen summit in December. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel was reluctant however to commit to a figure.

The EU says it is "more than ever fully determined to play a leading role" in the climate negotiations, which it says need "new momentum".

But the draft conclusions also call for firm commitments from other developed countries. In the US, a bill on cutting CO2 emissions is still going through Congress.

Aid agencies say a deal on climate financing for poorer countries is crucial for the outcome of Copenhagen summit.

Tim Gore, a spokesman for Oxfam International, told the BBC that so far, the EU's figures were "about half of what we say is needed from the EU".
"We need the right EU signal to build the momentum needed ahead of Copenhagen," he added.

'Blair hopes fading'

President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday that reaching a deal to secure the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty had been a long process.

"You know, this new treaty reminds me of a marathon but a marathon with hurdles and I believe that tonight we have removed the last political hurdle," he told the BBC.

Should the Czech Republic - as now expected - ratify the Lisbon Treaty, it will clear the way for the creation of the post of President of the European Council.

Tony Blair and Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker have been touted as the leading candidates for the job.

But the BBC's Jonny Dymond in Brussels says a lack of support from European socialist leaders has served to undermine Mr Blair's chances.