EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - After seeing many elements of the European Union's climate package watered down over recent days, environmentalists are hailing an agreement reached on legislation that would significantly boost the use of clean energy.

Green groups and the renewable energy sector are calling the deal, reached on Tuesday (9 December) morning between negotiators from the European Parliament, the European Commission and the member states, "historic" and "the world's most important energy law."

European leaders have created loophole after loophole in other parts of the EU's package of laws to tackle climate change (Photo: European Commission)

• Print
• Comment article

The three sides have reached a compromise on legislation that would see the European Union increase significantly its use of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

The deal will establish mandatory national targets for the member states in order to achieve the target of at least 20 percent renewable energy of the total energy consumption by 2020.

"Today tomorrow changed," said Christian Kjaer, the chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association. "The European Parliament and the Council have agreed the world's most important energy law."

Greenpeace, for its part, called the result a "landmark deal" and a "ray of light."

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU naval mission off the coast of Somalia will arrest and transfer pirates for prosecution to member states or countries beyond the 27-country bloc, the mission's commander-in-chief has said.

Three ships from Great Britain, France and Greece were already off the Somali coasts under the first EU naval mission on Monday, its commander in chief, British Rear Admiral Phillip Jones told journalists at a press conference on Tuesday (9 December) marking the official launch of the operation, dubbed "Atalanta."

Rear admiral Phillip Jones (left) heads the first EU naval mission aimed at fighting pirates off the coasts of Somalia (Photo: EUobserver)

• Print
• Comment article

"We have a specific mandate to contribute to reducing piracy and ensuring humanitarian access," he explained, while admitting: "A naval force in itself cannot completely eradicate piracy."

Mr Jones admitted that the surveillance area was "vast", saying: "The more ships and aircraft, the better." The pirates operate up to 500 miles off the Somali coast and in the whole of the Gulf of Aden - a vital corridor for oil tankers and humanitarian aid ships.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has thrown his weight behind the idea of preserving the one country, one commissioner principle - the key pre-condition for Ireland to rerun a referendum on the failed Lisbon Treaty.

"I think it should not be a problem to have a commission with 27 members or more," Mr Barroso said on Tuesday (9 December) - hours before all 27 EU leaders meet later this week for what he called the "most crucial summit in recent years."

"We have empirical evidence it is possible for a commission to work with 27 members ...If it is a very important condition for Ireland I personally will support it," he added.

Under the Lisbon treaty, the EU's executive should slim down in 2014 so that it embraces representatives from only two-thirds of EU countries, with each capital represented in two commissions out of three.

The EU's top court has ordered France to pay a 10m-euro (£8.7m; $12.9m) fine for delaying implementing EU rules on genetically modified (GM) crops.

The European Court of Justice said France's conduct was "unlawful".

France has refused to apply a 2002 law which set out how biotech crops could be planted in areas where other conventional crops were being grown.

Paris has said internal opposition by environmentalists is too strong for it to press ahead with the new measures.

DUBLIN, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Three cattle herds in Ireland were contaminated with dioxins, authorities said on Tuesday, dragging the country's crucial beef industry into a scandal that has already sparked an international recall of Irish pork products. One of the world's top five beef exporters said there was no need to recall any Irish beef products because the level and extent of contamination in the affected animals was much lower than the levels discovered at 10 pig farms. "This is not a public health issue," Farm Minister Brendan Smith told a news conference. "I'm pleased and relieved with these results." But the discovery will further undermine Ireland's reputation as a supplier of wholesome foods, particularly in Europe, where Ireland is the biggest supplier of imported beef.

ATHENS (AFP) -- Police and students clashed outside the Greek parliament on Tuesday despite an appeal for calm by the president for the funeral of the 15-year-old boy whose killing by police set off nationwide riots.

Protesters threw Molotov cocktails and other missiles at police guarding parliament as the worst civil unrest to hit Greece in decades entered a fourth day.

Authorities closed off Athens streets after a third night of rampaging looting of banks and stores. Police, who made 87 arrests, said some youths staged attacks with swords and slingshots stolen from a weapons shop.

Twelve more police were injured in Monday's clashes and at least 10 people were hospitalised with problems caused by clouds of tear gas that blanketed central Athens.

The unrest quickly flared again Tuesday despite a government vow to clamp down on the protests.

Tear gas battles erupted at the Athens Polytechnic which along with the nearby Athens Law School has been occupied by students protesting at the killing.

Both colleges are in the Exarchia district where 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos was fatally shot by police on Saturday.

The pro-Western coalition government in Ukraine which collapsed in September amid disagreements has been reformed, says the speaker of parliament.

Fresh elections had been expected following months of deadlock between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

But supporters of the two leaders have now agreed to work together in a new coalition joined by a smaller party.

The dispute had paralysed Ukraine as it faces a crippling financial crisis.

The formation of the new coalition was announced by the head of the smaller party, Volodymyr Lytvyn, immediately after he was re-elected as parliament's speaker.

He said a formal agreement was expected to be signed within days.

It is the morning of Wednesday November 7th, 2007. The time is precisely 11:42.
      The door to the boys' WC opens in the downstairs hall of the Jokela School Centre, a complex housing a comprehensive school and an upper level secondary school.
      Out into the corridor steps a young man, dressed in a leather jacket. In his hand is a pistol.
      Without a word, he points the gun at an upper secondary school pupil standing nearby, and he fires off several shots. Then he retreats back into the toilets.
      A few moments later he comes out again. Now he shoots a woman who has come to the aid of the stricken pupil.
      Both victims die at the scene, and before very long seven others will be dead.

An important article appeared recently in the Helsingin Sanomat daily that has now been translated into English.

The writer pieces together the evidence of the young perpetrator, Pekka-Eric Auvinen's, online communications. For a while, he is empowered to take on a different personality from his reality of a rather short, lonely bullied boy. It's a complex story and it is all too hard to imagine what the twists and turns of reality mixing with the virtual are doing to the hormonally activated mind.

But it is worth a read because it is real, and it is tragic - for all involved.


You can't be me, I'm taken

... the BND has been critical of the Kosovo government, producing a 2005 report to the German government that accused Kosovo's leaders of links to organized crime and extremism. That has led to speculation in German political circles and in the media that the agents were arrested in revenge for the report.

In the BND report, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is linked to paramilitary groups, cigarette smugglers, extortion rackets and drug dealers. The report details connections among the ruling elite to Islamist militants who helped Kosovars, who are mostly Muslims, to fight in a guerrilla war against Serbian forces.

Similar allegations have been circulated by Serbia. But the charges have more credibility coming from Germany, which took a lead in securing international recognition for Kosovo's independence and is Kosovo's second-largest foreign-aid donor, behind the U.S.

Kosovo officials say the allegations against Mr. Thaci in the report and any links between the report and the BND agents' expulsion are unfounded. "These charges are pure speculation and the issues are not linked," says Memli Krasniqi, the prime minister's spokesman. "The government's position was that [the bombing] is an issue that shouldn't be politicized and should be investigated by the legal authorities. We stayed completely out of it."

Untested GM Rice Found in Food :.

Traces of genetically modified rice from China have been found in products on sale in the UK, green groups claimed today.

Three packets of noodles bought from two stores tested positive for genetically modified content, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace said.

The campaign groups warn that experimental GM rice has not been cleared for human consumption and could spark allergic reactions.

Researchers found traces of insect-resistant rice in two brands of vermicelli and one packet of rice sticks brought from two stores in London's Chinatown.

They were tested at an unnamed laboratory in Germany, where they showed positive for GM content, along with other rice products bought in France and Germany.

The green groups blame the contamination on Chinese field trials of GM crops not currently approved for commercial growing.

fucking guinea pigs for Big Industry, the lot of us...

time to go read clusterfuck nation to cheer me up!

thinks of vermicelli down in larder...

"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do." Jim Hightower

Washington - The proposed $15 billion rescue plan that drew lawmakers back to Capitol Hill this week gives Washington a strong hand in shaping the future of the US auto industry.

In sharp contrast to the relatively lax terms of the recent $700 billion bailout for the financial services industry, the auto rescue plan sets up a level of government oversight and control not seen since World War II.

The draft plan Democratic leaders sent to the White House this week sets up a two-stage process loosely tied to the timetable of the outgoing and incoming presidential administrations.

It allows the Bush administration to launch the rescue effort, but leaves key decisions about the scale and scope of the overhaul to the incoming Obama administration.

While the plan allows cash to begin flowing to struggling auto companies as early as next week, a long-term restructuring, including any sacrifices to be made by various stakeholders, is put off until March 31.

At the heart of the overhaul is a controlling role for a presidential appointee, quickly dubbed "car czar." This position - which is not expected to require Senate confirmation - is tasked with authorizing bridge loans and setting benchmarks for measuring progress.

In exchange for bridge loans, the auto industry would give government an ownership stake, or warrants for company stock, and control over the terms of retrenchment.

In a bid to deflect criticism that automakers will keep coming back for new loans, Democratic leaders negotiating the plan with the White House say Congress will insist the industry demonstrate accountability and viability.

"Unless the restructuring that is called for in this legislation and the goal of viability is achieved by March 31, there is no justification for spending more taxpayer dollars," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a briefing announcing the deal on Monday. Votes in the House and Senate are expected by the end of the week.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made irresponsible investments in recent years that cost taxpayers billions of dollars, said House Oversight Committee chairman Henry Waxman on Tuesday citing internal documents. "Their own risk managers raised warning after warning about the dangers of investing heavily in the sub-prime and alternative mortgage market," Waxman said at an oversight hearing on the two mortgage giants. Waxman and other lawmakers expressed concerns about how Fannie Mae continued to buy high risk sub-prime Alt-A loans even as concerns about the sector grew. A group of GOP lawmakers raised their own concerns about the compensation, bonuses and pension received by the executives

The European Union and the incoming administration of Barack Obama, the US president-elect, should join forces next year and forge a common response to the world economic downturn, José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said on Tuesday.

Speaking two days before a summit of EU leaders that will attempt to strike deals on tackling climate change and overcoming Europe's recession, Mr Barroso said: "If we Europeans reach agreement at the summit, why not have a joint programme with the Americans?

"That would be a good objective. Why not, after the new administration comes in, articulate a common transatlantic response to the economic crisis that could also be the basis for a global response to the crisis?"

Mr Barroso said the prospects for a joint US-European response looked promising, because the content and emphasis of Mr Obama's economic policies appeared to be close to those proposed in Europe, particularly as regards the need for a targeted fiscal stimulus, energy efficiency, "green jobs" and innovation.

Initially, the message from Merkel and Steinbrück was that the initial stimulus package, approved in early November, was all that was needed. The package was billed as being worth €32 billion, but a closer look revealed that the new measures included in the package were worth just €5 billion a year.

Instead, they gave speeches and interviews in which they declared anyone who called for stronger economic stimulus programs to be reckless, if not downright insane. "The fact that all lemmings have chosen the same path doesn't automatically mean that it's the right path," Steinbrück said in a derogatory reference to his colleagues elsewhere in Europe.

Join the Lemmings

Now, more than a week later, Steinbrück and Merkel sense that they will be unable to remain contrarians, even if they have so far refrained from making a public U-turn. They sense that they too will have to join the lemmings.

The consequences of Germany's special approach to the economic crisis have already made themselves felt. On Monday, British Prime Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso met in London to prepare for the European Union summit later this week. And they didn't invite Merkel.

In the past, it would have been Germany and France getting together before an important summit in an effort to shape its outcome. Now, Berlin's presence at such important preliminary talks is apparently no longer desired. "Madame Non," as Merkel is referred to derisively in EU circles, isn't welcome anymore.

In Brussels these days, EU diplomats -- whether from Britain, France or elsewhere -- simply shrug their shoulders about the Germans, if not worse. Has the 2009 general election campaign already started, people in Brussels are asking themselves? "The Germans," says a high-ranking German representative in Brussels, "are moving at the speed of light from the center of activity to the margins." When it comes to generating ideas, says the diplomat, the Germans have been "a total failure" so far.

Japan has sunk deeper into recession in the three months to September than had been expected, new figures indicate.

The economy, the second largest in the world after the US, shrank by 0.5%, for an annualised rate of 1.8%, significantly greater than expected.

Japanese firms are closing factories and laying off staff in the face of declining demand and a rising yen.

Prime Minister Taro Aso has promised public spending to soften the impact of the recession.

In the market equivalent of shoveling cash under the mattress, hordes of buyers were so eager on Tuesday to park money in the world's safest investment, United States government debt, that they agreed to accept a zero percent rate of return.

The news sent a sobering signal: in these troubled economic times, when people have lost vast amounts on stocks, bonds and real estate, making an investment that offers security but no gain is tantamount to coming out ahead. This extremely cautious approach reflects concerns that a global recession could deepen next year, and continue to jeopardize all types of investments.

While this will lower the cost of borrowing for the United States government, economists worry that a widespread hunkering-down could have broader implications that could slow an economic recovery. If investors remain reluctant to put money into stocks and corporate bonds, that could choke off funds that businesses need to keep financing their day-to-day operations.

Investors accepted the zero percent rate in the government's auction Tuesday of $30 billion worth of short-term securities that mature in four weeks. Demand was so great even for no return that the government could have sold four times as much.

In addition, for a brief moment, investors were willing to take a small loss for holding another ultra-safe security, the already-issued three-month Treasury bill.

Paging Drew... your tag is needed.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith

Ilargi: Last month I started warning of millions of lay-offs to come in the US economy. Since then, we've seen a November job loss of 533.000, as well as predictions of pink slip totals of a million and more every single month in 2009. The main media for now restrict most of their job loss reporting to the financial sector, and the US in particular. At least, I have yet to see a claim that Europe will be hit by millions of newly employed. Still, looking around the financial world today I can't escape the feeling that it will all get much worse than even I thought, and that Europe can't escape a fate much worse than it thinks is in store.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued a report on global lending and bond issuance that says both are down 70-80%, with bonds in Euros dropping 94%. This means companies can't borrow from banks, nor can they expect to raise capital in the bond markets. The result should be obvious: tons of companies, from small to large, will inevitably have to declare bankruptcy. This is true in the US, in Europe, in Japan, and the bankruptcy and job loss wave will spread from there to the rest of the planet, in a self-reinforcing manner, feeding off itself.

And I may be naive, but I would truly expect governments to prepare for this wave. However, I see no such action anywhere. Which I think will have very dire consequences, with millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic, and in markets worldwide, with no chance of finding work, and no hope of receiving government -financial- support: there'll be too many of them. All this will put enormous pressure on individual countries and their political systems.

Moody's predicts corporate -bond- defaults to rise almost 4-fold in the US, and 10-fold in European markets. These are companies that will have to lay off people simply because they have no way of paying for inventory. This starts to look like the 1930's, when the labor was there, and so were the resources, but the financial markets made it impossible for both to come together.

KARACHI, Dec 9 (IPS) - Pakistani and Indian journalists and columnists, who forged personal relationships over the past two decades during countless joint media consultations and seminars, are struggling to overcome hostilities between their countries since the Mumbai carnage.

These voices are all but drowned in the din emanating from the blame and counter-blame rhetoric on either side, with India's accusations of Pakistani involvement in the attacks being met defensively by many Pakistanis even as evidence about Pakistani links to the attacks grows.

Close to 200 people died after a ten-man squad, armed with assualt rifles, grenades and explosives, rampaged through the Indian port city of Mumbai before barricading themselves inside two luxury hotels to hold off commandos for 60 hours from Nov. 26-28.

The one captured gunman's alleged links to a banned terrorist outfit in Pakistan had barely begun to emerge when belligerent rhetoric from the Indian media drew an indignant response from Pakistanis who have since then been picking holes in the Indian arguments.

Has the media hype contributed to rising tensions between the nuclear-armed states -- or are hostilities between the countries contributing to tensions between their media?

ROME, Dec 9 (IPS) - Rising prices have plunged an additional 40 million people below the hunger threshold this year, a new FAO report says.

The number of undernourished people worldwide has raised to 963 million, compared to 923 million in 2007, says the annual report on world food insecurity released Tuesday by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The number of undernourished people represents an increase of more than 80 million since the 1990-92 base period. And yet more are likely to be tipped into hunger and poverty as a consequence of the financial crisis, the report says.

A sharp increase in food prices is responsible for reversing the previously positive trend towards reducing by half the proportion of people suffering from hunger worldwide by 2015, according to the Rome-based food agency. "As a result of rising food prices that started in 2006, 75 million people were pushed into chronic hunger," FAO director-general Jacques Diouf told a news conference. "This trend has continued, dragging an additional 40 million into hunger this year."

The price of major cereals has fallen by more than 50 percent from the peak recorded in June, but still remains high compared to previous years. "The decline in international food prices should not detract attention from the need to increase agricultural productivity," Diouf said. "Un-replenished food stocks, volatility of food prices, and the evolving financial and economic crisis continue to threaten food security, and food prices in local markets are still at unprecedented levels."

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC says an adviser to party leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been abducted in Harare.

Eyewitnesses say MDC adviser Gandhi Mudzingwa was forced by nine gunmen into a car which then drove to the city centre on Monday afternoon.

It would bring to 18 the number of MDC activists and rights campaigners who have vanished in the past six weeks.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's president accused the West of plotting an invasion amid a deadly cholera outbreak.

The candidate of Ghana's ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, is narrowly ahead in the ongoing count from Sunday's presidential election.

He holds a slender lead over opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) contender John Atta Mills.

But with most precincts counted it is not yet clear if either has over the 50% of votes needed to avoid a run-off.

Our correspondent says results are being disputed, raising the risk of a peaceful poll turning acrimonious.

The NDC has accused the governing party of plotting to rig the election, with the support of the military.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been arrested, accused of trying to trade the Senate seat left vacant by US President-elect Barack Obama.

Mr Blagojevich, as governor, has sole authority to select a successor to Mr Obama as junior Illinois senator.

FBI investigators said telephone intercepts showed he was trying to sell or trade the seat for personal benefit.

There has been no official word from Mr Blagojevich's office, although he has denied previous corruption allegations.

Mr Blagojevich has since been released on bail, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Israel's right-of-centre Likud party has elected a list of candidates dominated by hardliners for next February's general election.

Polls show that if a vote were held now, Likud would defeat the governing Kadima Party.

Monday's ballot was marred by a low turnout and technical problems which meant the voting was extended.

About 48,500 people voted using a new computerised system, representing just over 49% of the Likud membership.

In describing Adolf Hitler, Feiglin is quoted to have told her, "Hitler was an unparalleled military genius. Nazism promoted Germany from a low to a fantastic physical and ideological status. The ragged, trashy youth body turned into a neat and orderly part of society and Germany received an exemplary regime, a proper justice system and public order. Hitler savored good music. He would paint. This was no bunch of thugs. They merely used thugs and homosexuals.

POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - Tropical forests and coal plants may get money to curb greenhouse gases under a United Nations-led carbon market from 2013 if climate negotiators meeting in Poland can defuse criticism of the present scheme.

Senior officials from about 190 countries have been meeting in the western Polish city of Poznan for talks, which began on December 1 and will end on Friday, to push for agreement on a new climate treaty, including rules for an expanded carbon offset market, by the end of next year.

The U.N.-led carbon offsetting scheme allows developed countries to lay off their greenhouse gas emissions and meet climate targets by funding cuts in developing nations.

Development groups and delegates at the climate talks criticized the scheme for helping Africa too little, producing too few emissions cuts, and, in some cases, claiming to avoid emissions that would not have happened anyway.

Carbon markets also face plunging prices, as sliding economies and industrial output dent greenhouse gas emissions and demand for offsets.

By discovering the meaning of a rare mineral that can be used to track ancient climates, Binghamton University geologist Tim Lowenstein is helping climatologists and others better understand what we're probably in for over the next century or two as global warming begins to crank up the heat - and, ultimately, to change life as we know it.

"I think the earth will be a very different place in the next hundred years or so, and that many species will adapt to it and many won't," Lowenstein said.

"Humans are supremely good at adapting. But, rich countries will adapt much better than poor countries and other species will have far more trouble coping with environmental change. There are going to be challenges we can't even imagine right now."

Lowenstein's concerns are rooted not in speculation about unprecedented future happenings, but in the scientific discovery and analysis of mineral samples formed during the Eocene Epoch, the warmest period on earth in the last 65 million years.

What Lowenstein and his colleague Robert Demicco at Binghamton University have discovered is that nahcolite, a rare, yellowish-green or brown carbonate mineral, only forms on earth under environmental conditions marked by very high atmospheric CO2 levels.

Two men who crash-landed their plane in freezing waters survived 18 hours on a tiny sheet of ice "huddled together like penguins".

The two - one Australian and the other Swedish - endured temperatures of -20C (-4F) after their Cessna plane ran into trouble over the far north of Canada.

Their survival equipment sank with the plane and rescue aircraft responding to their Mayday call failed to find them.

They were eventually rescued by a trawler and airlifted to hospital.

The Guardian: Climate change: The carbon atlas.

"New figures published today confirm that China has overtaken the US as the largest emitter of CO2. This interactive emissions map shows how the rest of the world compares. Global C02 emissions totalled 29,195m tonnes in 2006 - up 2.4% on 2005."

Click on the graphic for the interactive carbon map.

There is a giant black hole at the centre of our galaxy, a study has confirmed.

German astronomers tracked the movement of 28 stars circling the centre of the Milky Way, using the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

The black hole is four million times heavier than our Sun, according to the paper in The Astrophysical Journal.

Black holes are objects whose gravity is so great that nothing - including light - can escape them.

According to Dr Robert Massy, of the Royal Astronomical Society, the results suggest that galaxies form around giant black holes in the way that a pearl forms around grit.

For the first time, the Pulitzer Prizes will accept submissions from online-only news outlets, but require that they be "text-based" submissions from news organizations that are updated at least weekly and include original reporting.

Pulitzer Administrator Sig Gissler told E&P that "we are expanding the Pulitzers to include many text-based newspapers and news organizations that publish only on the Internet." At the same time, they are "stressing" that all entered material should come from news outlets that publish material at least weekly, "are primarily dedicated to original news reporting, are dedicated to coverage of ongoing stories and that adhere to the highest journalistic principles." <...>

Asked, for example, if a news outlet such as Huffington Post -- which is a mix of personal blogs, link aggregation and original reporting -- would be eligible, he declined to comment saying he did not want to discuss any individual outlet.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2008) -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step toward finding chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life.>

The Jupiter-sized planet, called HD 189733b, is too hot for life. But the Hubble observations are a proof-of-concept demonstration that the basic chemistry for life can be measured on planets orbiting other stars. Organic compounds also can be a by-product of life processes, and their detection on an Earthlike planet someday may provide the first evidence of life beyond our planet.

Previous observations of HD 189733b by Hubble and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found water vapor. Earlier this year, Hubble found methane in the planet's atmosphere.

A young Chinese woman was left partially deaf following a passionate kiss from her boyfriend.

The 20-something from Zhuhai in Guangdong province arrived at hospital having completely lost the hearing in her left ear, said local reports.

The incident prompted a series of articles in the local media warning of the dangers of excessive kissing.

"While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution," wrote the China Daily.