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TV Weathermen and Climate Scientists Kiss and Make Up

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Chris Mooney - Jun. 12 (Opinion) - Weather forecasters and climate scientists aren't exactly known for being the best of buds. Several surveys have shown that among members of the American Meteorological Society — and especially among professional TV forecasters — there"s a substantial degree of global warming skepticism. Indeed, more than half of AMS members perceive conflict within the organization over the issue of climate change. Meanwhile, members of the climate science community are sometimes accused of speaking down to their weather geek brethren. Given this tense history, what happened at the most recent Climate Desk Live event , featuring Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis and Stu Ostro , senior meteorologist at the Weather Channel, might be considered fairly remarkable. "Jennifer's coming at it from a different direction than I am," said Ostro after he and Francis delivered complementary analyses of how global warming is upending our weather. "But what"s interesting is ...

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World leaders seek answers on US collection of communication data

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Alan Travis, Louise Osborne, Lizzy Davies, Jon Boone, David Smith, Kim Willsher, Patrick Kingsley, Miriam Elder - Jun. 11 (News Report) - Data protection chiefs and analysts in EU, Pakistan, South Africa and Canada express concerns at revelations in leaks Leading Europeans, from Angela Merkel down to information chiefs across the continent, are lining up to grill American counterparts on the Prism surveillance programmes , amid mounting fury that the private information of EU nationals will have been caught up in the data dragnet.

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Africa, let us help – just like in 1884

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By George Monbiot - Jun. 11 (Comment) - From the Conference of Berlin to today's G8, 'helping' Africans looks suspiciously like grabbing their resources One of the stated purposes of the Conference of Berlin in 1884 was to save Africans from the slave trade. To discharge this grave responsibility, Europe's powers discovered, to their undoubted distress, that they would have to extend their control and ownership of large parts of Africa. In doing so, they accidentally encountered the vast riches of that continent, which had not in any way figured in their calculations, and found themselves in astonished possession of land, gold, diamonds and ivory. They also discovered that they were able to enlist the labour of a large number of Africans, who, for humanitarian reasons, were best treated as slaves. One of the stated purposes of the G8 conference, hosted by David Cameron next week, is to save the people of Africa from starvation . To discharge this grave responsibility, the global powers have discovered, to their undoubted ...

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Climate change – what next after the 2C boundary?

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Jun. 11 (Opinion) - The modification of the 2C climate target will put an end to the vision of a "science-based" climate policy This Friday, another frustrating round of negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ends in Bonn/Germany. It is highly doubtful that the international community will be able to agree on a treaty that would commit all industrialised countries and emerging economies to binding emissions reduction targets by the end of 2015.

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The Ghosts of Europe Past

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By By BRENDAN SIMMS - Jun. 10 (Opinion) - CAMBRIDGE, England — THE cheerleaders of the European Union like to think of it as an entirely new phenomenon, born of the horrors of two world wars. But in fact it closely resembles a formation that many Europeans thought they had long since left to the

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Europe’s Social Contract, Lying in Pieces

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By By DAVID C. UNGER - Jun. 09 (Editorial) - Editorial | Sunday Observer: Europe’s Social Contract, Lying in Pieces

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Microsoft Corp and FBI in joint cybercrime assault

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Jun. 06 (News Report) - Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit takes down at least 1,000 Citadel botnets in attempt to curb £500m theft from bank accounts. Microsoft Corp and the FBI, aided by authorities in more than 80 countries, have launched a major assault on one of the world's biggest cybercrime rings, believed to have stolen more than $500m (£323m) from bank accounts over the past 18 months.

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The Emperor Creates No Jobs

Wed, 29 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - May. 29 (Opinion) - France's top central banker speaks some blunt economic truths.

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Frog, toad and salamander populations plummeting, U.S. survey finds

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:46:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Darryl Fears - May. 22 (News Report) - Frogs, toads and salamanders continue to vanish from the American landscape at an alarming pace, with seven species — including Colorado’s boreal toad and Nevada’s yellow-legged frog — facing 50 percent drops in their numbers within seven years if the current rate of decline continues, according to new government research . ...

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Greek addicts turn to deadly sisha drug as economic crisis deepens

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Helena Smith - May. 17 (News Analysis) - Growing popularity of 'cocaine of the poor' in Athens has overwhelmed public health authorities already under strain Nobody knows which came first: the economic crisis tearing Greece apart or shisha, the drug now known as the "cocaine of the poor".

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Four colossal Sun flares in 48 hours

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

BBC News - By Paul Rincon - May. 15 (News Report) - The Sun has unleashed the most powerful eruption - a solar flare - of 2013 so far.

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Racist chants halt Milan-Roma game

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

BBC News - May. 13 (News) - The Serie A match between AC Milan and Roma is halted because of racist chanting inside the San Siro.

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European energy chief puts forward case for funding coal

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Terry Macalister - May. 13 (News) - EBRD chief Riccardo Puliti warns Europe not to be hasty in adopting 'ideological' policy on carbon intensity funding One of Europe's most influential government-owned investors in the energy industry has hinted it may expand funding of high-carbon coal projects despite mounting pressure from climate change campaigners to rule out such investments. Riccardo Puliti, energy chief at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), warned against an "ideological" policy on carbon intensity in funding decisions without giving weight to other considerations. The EBRD, which is based in London and owned by more than 60 countries, including the UK, is reviewing its energy policy. It has a €37.5bn (£32bn) loan book, with 41% of its investments last year channelled into the energy and infrastructure sectors. Puliti's comments came as scientists declared the highest day-long concentration of C0 2 in human history and a line of global institutions such as the International Energy ...

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The Facts Are In and Paul Ryan Is Wrong

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

New York Magazine - By Jonathan Chait - May. 10 (News Analysis) - Changes in the way we think about the world are not “news” in the classic sense — they occur gradually, without discrete events to signal them. But they matter. Two such developments have come together recently, both reported in the New York Times. The f

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'Climate change sceptics are turning Earth into dying patient'

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Fiona Harvey - May. 10 (News Report) - Heir to throne intervenes on issue dividing coalition, making outspoken criticism of attempts to tackle global warming Prince Charles has attacked corporate lobbyists and climate change sceptics for turning the Earth into a "dying patient", making his most outspoken criticism yet of the world's failure to tackle global warming just when the heir to the throne is assuming a growing number of the duties of what is supposed to be an apolitical monarchy. Hosting a two-day conference for forest scientists at St James's Palace in London, the Prince of Wales satirised those who stand in the way of climate action, characterising them as "the confirmed sceptics" and "the international association of corporate lobbyists". Faced with these forces of opposition, "science finds itself up the proverbial double blind gum tree", he added. At the debate on environmental issues, hours after the prince attended the Queen's speech, Charles attacked businesses which failed to care for the environment and ...

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Stop the Plunder of Africa

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By By KOFI ANNAN - May. 09 (Opinion) - Op-Ed Contributor: Stop the Plunder of Africa

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Is Cameron's Britain what we fought for in the war?

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Harry Leslie Smith - May. 09 (Opinion) - At 90 I'm too old to fight those who seek to wreck the civilisation we shed blood, sweat, and tears for in the second world war Every year, the spring rains fall hard and heavy to a parched and hungry earth. Life is reborn from the long slumber of winter. For me the beauty in this annual transformation stings as if I caught my finger on a thorn from a rose. These lengthening days remind me of another time, when I was a young man. Back then the sun's rays were just as warm and sensuous but the splendour of nature being reborn was tainted with death. It was 1945, and Europe was still caught in the dying grasps of a cruel and unforgiving world war . It was a conflict that consumed tens of millions of lives through military battles, air bombardment and pure and simple mass murder. For five years of war, through defeat and bitter struggle, the calendar changed from humid summers to crisp fall days, to the bitterness of winter and then back to the optimism of spring. As clocks in every household ...

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EU debates biopiracy law to protect indigenous people

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - May. 01 (News Report) - Pharmaceutical firms would need to compensate indigenous people for using their knowhow in creating new medicines The European parliament is debating a draft biopiracy law requiring industry to compensate indigenous people if it makes commercial use of local knowledge such as plant-based medicines. Under the law – based on the international convention on access to biodiversity, the Nagoya protocol – the pharmaceuticals industry would need the written consent of local or indigenous people before exploring their region's genetic resources or making use of their traditional knowhow. Relevant authorities would have the power to sanction companies that fail to comply, protecting local interests from the predatory attitude of big European companies. German firm patents South African herb The draft report on access to genetic resources by Green MEP Sandrine Bélier cites as an example a German pharmaceutical company's dealings in South Africa. Pelargonium sidoides, a variety of ...

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2 More Grad Students Claim To Find Another Flaw In Reinhart-Rogoff Research

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Mark Gongloff - Apr. 30 (News Report) - Like Scooby-Doo villains, Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff keep getting done in by meddling kids. First, University of Massachusetts-Amherst grad student Thomas Herndon shot holes in their influential research paper, "Growth In A Time Of Debt," by pointing out several mistakes and omissions the Harvard economists had made. Now, two PhD students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City have a new paper that they say finds another flaw in that same research.

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The Kilburn Manifesto: our challenge to the neoliberal victory

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Stuart Hall - Apr. 24 (Opinion) - Elites are using the crisis of global capital to reassert power. But this is no time for retreat. Our manifesto outlines the alternative The crisis in the global economic system triggered by the banking collapse of 2006-08 has precipitated a new moment in the evolution of global capitalism. But its novelty is not generally understood. Some previous crises, most famously the great crash and depression of the 1930s, produced radical social change: the welfare state and New Deal , as well as the rise of fascism. In the past five years protest groups such as Occupy have appeared, and resistance to austerity has grown. Yet there has been no rupture in the system or its governing ideology. Indeed, elites have used the crisis in Europe and north America to advance the neoliberal project, as unrelenting attacks on living standards, the NHS and the welfare state in Britain show. The disintegration of the British postwar settlement was the central project of one of the new right's most politically ...

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Sotheby's Auction Boosts Indian Art Sales

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Gayatri Rangachari Shah - Apr. 19 (Opinion) - India Ink: Sotheby’s Auction Boosts Indian Art Sales

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Paul Ryan's Austerity Agenda Relies on Bad Math, Coding Errors and a 'Significant Mistake'

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By John Nichols - Apr. 18 (News Analysis) - The paper the House Budget Committee chairman has used as the intellectual and statistical underpinning for his austerity agenda has been significantly discredited by the revelation that essential data was excluded from the study, leading "to serious errors that inaccurately represent the relationship between public debt and growth." The Harvard professors who produced the paper—which Ryan cited as recently as last month—have acknowledged their mathematical error. Now, the question is whether Ryan and

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Clean energy progress too slow to limit global warming, warns IEA

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Apr. 17 (News Analysis) - With governments failing to promote green energy, top scientists say the drive to keep temperature rise below 2C has stalled The development of low-carbon energy is progressing too slowly to limit global warming, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday . With power generation still dominated by coal and governments failing to increase investment in clean energy, top climate scientists have said that the target of keeping the global temperature rise to less than 2C this century is slipping out of reach . "The drive to clean up the world's energy system has stalled," said Maria van der Hoeven, the IEA's executive director, at the launch of the agency's report on clean energy progress . "Despite much talk by world leaders, and a boom in renewable energy over the past decade, the average unit of energy produced today is basically as dirty as it was 20 years ago." Global clean energy investment in the first quarter fell to its lowest level in four years, driven by cuts in ...

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China cozies up to Iceland in race for Arctic resources

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Christian Science Monitor - Apr. 15 (News Analysis) - China has been paying a lot of attention to Iceland, a country with a population 5,000 times smaller than its own, as an effort to stretch its influence into the Arctic Sea. ...

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All Politics Is Economic

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Masha Gessen - Apr. 15 (Opinion) - Latitude: How Politics Controls Russia's Media Business

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