EurActiv.com - Commission wants fewer Anglophone spokespersons | EU - European Information on EU Treaty & Institutions

Despite the EU executive's efforts to hire a more multilingual and diverse team for its spokespersons' service, critics condemn the "dangerous" trend in the European institutions towards the linguistic and cultural hegemony of the English language.

An internal document seen by EurActiv shows that 11 out of the 26 spokespersons that have already been designated to the incoming European Commission are Anglo-Saxon. Of these, seven are English and four are Irish (EurActiv 21/01/10).

Widespread rumours confirm that even the 27th spokesperson, to be appointed by Romanian Commissioner Dacian Cioloş, is expected to be English.

Commission officials concede that even the current list is the product of a major review carried out since the original spokespersons' team proposed by the commissioners-desginate included around 20 Anglo-Saxon spokespersons.

EurActiv.com - Angry MEPs demand delay on EU-US bank data deal | EU - European Information on Justice & Home Affairs

MEPs today (21 January) clashed with EU ministers, calling for a delay to the entry into force of the so-called SWIFT agreement, a EU-US deal maintaining the transfer of EU citizens' banking data to US investigators.

MEPs have been fuming about this issue since the Council on 30 November 2009 framed an interim agreement with the US, without allowing the European Parliament to vote on it.

Parliament argued that EU ministers had gone behind its back, rushing to conclude the deal before the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December and MEPs gained greater powers in this area (EurActiv 01/12/09).

The interim agreement is due to come into force on 1 February and will last for nine months, after which a permanent deal will be required, with parliamentary input. In December, Parliament President Jerzy Buzek wrote to Swedish Premier Fredrik Reinfeldt - then European Council president - expressing the chamber's disappointment with the outcome. Buzek also reminded Reinfeldt of the latter's pledge that "the Parliament will be called upon to give its consent before the agreement can be concluded".

Buzek underscored three conditions - mainly relating to provisions for proper oversight - that the Council would need to fulfil in the final draft of the interim agreement in order for MEPs to support it.

Things took a turn for the worse this month, however, as MEPs waited in vain for word from the Council. Their anger grew on 13 January, when the agreement appeared in the official journal of the EU.

Press Association

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness is to demand a crisis summit with his co-leader in the Northern Ireland Assembly Peter Robinson in a attempt to save the power-sharing executive.

Republicans have accused the Democratic Unionist Party of doggedly refusing to make the Stormont parliament work as the fall-out deepens over the devolution of policing and justice powers.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams warned that if agreement can not be reached then the institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement can no longer continue.

RIGHTS: Expulsions From EU Rise Sharply - IPS ipsnews.net

BRUSSELS, Jan 22, 2010 (IPS) - The number of asylum-seekers and other migrants expelled from the European Union in joint operations between its governments has grown three times in as many years, IPS has learned.

At least 1,570 individuals were removed from the EU's territory in 31 flights coordinated by the bloc's external borders agency Frontex between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15 last year. This represented a tripling in joint expulsions - involving authorities from two or more EU states - since 2007. Some 428 migrants were flown out in such operations that year, with the figure rising to over 800 in 2008.

The data - unpublished until now - indicates that Frontex has rapidly stepped up the pace of its activities in the four-and-a-half years since it was founded. And the involvement of the Warsaw-based agency in expelling people who have been denied permission to remain in the EU looks set to increase further.

When the EU's presidents and prime ministers met in Brussels in late October, they approved a plan to expand the work of Frontex. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has been asked to come forward with proposals early this year to beef up the agency's powers. The plan foresees that the agency will finance a greater number of chartered flights for expulsions and cooperate more closely with countries from which migrants trying to enter Europe originate.

Organisations working with asylum-seekers are perturbed that Frontex is acquiring greater resources and responsibility without being required to demonstrate that fundamental human rights are safeguarded during its activities.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch drew attention to how Frontex has helped the Italian authorities expel migrants to Libya, without giving them an opportunity to apply for asylum.

Greek police arrests dozens nationalists in Athens | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

Greek police arrested more than 40 people following an attack by nationalists on an anti-racist demonstration in the country's capital, Athens, on Saturday, local television said.

Demonstrators gathered in the city center in order to protest against the discrimination of immigrants following a recent attack by ultra-right nationalists on a club where Greek leftists used to gather. The building was set on fire.

Television reports said a group of nationalists had attacked the demonstration with iron sticks. Police detained 44 people following the incident. The detainees are being questioned.

A 50-year-old woman was reportedly injured in the clash and admitted to hospital.

A member of the Greek ultra-left parliamentary party said two attackers were also injured.

Ukraine's Tymoshenko rules out early parliamentary elections | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymosenko, who is one of the two candidates for the country's presidential post, said on Saturday no matter who won the second round of presidential polls due in early February, there would be no early parliamentary elections in the country, the Ukrainian Unian news agency said.

The first round of the presidential vote, won by opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, took place in the former Soviet state on January 17. Tymoshenko is second, with the gap between the two contenders just above 10%. Ukrainians will choose between Yanukovych and Tymoshenko in a runoff election on February 7.

In line with Ukrainian laws, parliamentary elections should take place in the country in 2012. However, many analysts say a new president may announce early parliamentary elections.

"Certainly, nobody will announce early [parliamentary] elections," the news agency quoted Tymoshenko as saying.

70-year gag on Kelly death evidence | News

Evidence relating to the death of Government weapons inspector David Kelly is to be kept secret for 70 years, it has been reported.

A highly unusual ruling by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry into Dr Kelly's death, means medical records including the post-mortem report will remain classified until after all those with a direct interest in the case are dead, the Mail on Sunday reported.

And a 30-year secrecy order has been placed on written records provided to Lord Hutton's inquiry which were not produced in evidence.

The Ministry of Justice said decisions on the evidence were a matter for Lord Hutton. But Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has conducted his own investigations into Dr Kelly's death, described the order as "astonishing".

"Mohamed Abourar est un élève scolarisé dans mon lycée"...

Tout à l'heure, Mohamed Abourar, le lycéen de Colombes (Hauts de Seine) expulsé ce matin vers Casablanca (Maroc), a envoyé un texto aux enseignants de son lycée qui s'étaient déplacés aux aurores à l'aéroport de Roissy: il s'excusait de les avoir fait se lever à 4 heures du matin... Les enseignants et les membres de son  collectif de soutien sont bien décidés à aller jusqu'au bout et à obtenir son retour en France.

Rien n'y a fait: ni la mobilisation des professeurs et des élèves du lycée professionnel Valmy où Mohamed était en première - lycée visité il y a deux ans par Rama Yade lors de la campagne municipale (elle est depuis conseillère municipale de l'opposition) -, ni les interventions de l'Inspection d'académie du 92 et du Recteur de Versailles, ni les soutiens syndicaux, politiques, associatifs, etc. La préfecture s'était pourtant engagée à ce qu'il ne se passe rien ce week-end... Mais à 7 heures 35 ce samedi, Mohamed a embarqué dans le vol pour Casablanca.

"C'est encore une fois la violence qui l'emporte, protestent les profs qui étaient à Roissy ce matin. Niant le droit légitime de Mohamed à poursuivre ses études en France, l'arrachant à ses copains et à sa formation (en maintenance des bâtiments de collectivité, ndlr), on le renvoie vers un pays qu'il a quitté il y 6 ans et dans lequel il n'a pas de projet !".

Des enseignants membres du Collectif de soutien m'ont fait parvenir le témoignage qui suit, sur les dernières heures de Mohamed Abourar sur le sol français:

"Une journée banale en France.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

SKY - Defence Sec Indicates May 6 Election

"I think the British public will wake up and rue the day if they wind up with a Conservative government in charge of this country after May 6," Bob Ainsworth said.

He is not the first minister to appear to give away the date of the election.

Earlier this month Europe Minister Chris Bryant told diplomats discussing recent tensions between Britain and countries including Venezuela: "I hope that by the time of the general election on May 6, relations will have improved."

Later, he told Sky News that he had "no idea" when the election would be.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

From the Süddeutsche:

Das Ergebnis: Der Terrorverdächtige, der scheinbar spurlos verschwunden zu sein schien, saß all die Stunden in nächster Nähe der Fahnder. Noch immer kennt die Polizei den Namen des Mannes nicht, dessen Laptop den Bombenalarm ausgelöst hatte. Sie weiß auch nicht, welches Flugzeug er besteigen wollte. Doch die Sicherheitsbehörden können nun seinen Weg nach den Kontrollen detailliert nachvollziehen, da er auf den Bändern identifiziert wurde.

Der Mann flüchtete nicht. Im Gegenteil: Erst schlenderte er gemütlich in den Duty Free Shop, dann besuchte er noch das Restaurant von Feinkost Dallmayr nebenan. Dann ordnete die Polizei die Räumung des Sicherheitsbereichs an - und der Mann ließ sich miträumen. Auch das fingen die Kameras ein. "Er ging brav raus, später dann wieder brav rein", sagte Bayerns Innenminister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) am Sonntag der Süddeutschen Zeitung.

Basically, from analysis of the CCTV camera pictures, the man whose laptop set off the alarm proceeded to visit the duty-free shop and get something to eat, while the authorities were searching the airport for him. He was then evacuated along with everybody else, and then reentered the airport, this time without setting of the alarm, and boarded his flight.

EurActiv.com - Greece 'will not leave euro', says central banker | EU - European Information on Economy & Euro

Greece has serious fiscal problems and will be in a better position to deal with them as a member of the euro zone than outside the currency club, the country's central banker said today (22 January).

Bank of Greece Governor George Provopoulos sought to allay fears that the financial crisis could force the country to default on sovereign debt or leave the euro.

"The problems faced by the Greek economy are extremely serious. However, the key question is whether it will be easier to solve them from inside or outside the euro zone," said Provopoulos, who is also a European Central Bank Governing Council member.

"My answer is that it will be unequivocally easier to solve these problems from within the euro area," he said.

Provopoulos said the argument by some commentators that Europe's single currency project was destined to become unstuck and that Greece would suffer the fate of undisciplined countries that previously adopted hard currency pegs was flawed.

Obama Bank Curbs May Not Leave U.S. Financial System Much Safer - Bloomberg.com

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama's proposal to impose limits on commercial banks may win him support on Main Street and shake up Wall Street without doing much to make the financial system safer overall.

The plan, which is still lacking in details and must be approved by Congress, aims to make the banks more secure by forcing them to minimize the trading they do on their own account and give up their stakes in hedge funds and private equity firms. "It's the right direction," said Henry Kaufman, president of Henry Kaufman & Co. in New York and a former vice chairman of Salomon Inc.

The danger is that such risky activities could simply migrate to big non-bank financial institutions, leaving the system as a whole no better off. Banks also might try to make up for the loss of profits from proprietary trading by lending more to risky borrowers such as real estate developers, threatening the federal safety net, said Martin Baily, a former White House economist now with the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"Beware of unintended consequences," said Robert Litan, vice president of research and policy at the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, a group that promotes entrepreneurship, and a former Clinton administration budget official. "This could have perverse effects on risk-taking."

The proposals highlight the difficulties the administration has faced in dealing with institutions that have grown so big and risky that their failure could rock the financial system. Until that's resolved, the U.S. will be forced to use taxpayer money to rescue failed firms or risk the same sort of global financial panic that occurred in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s collapse in September 2008.

Worries grow over eurozone cohesion | Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - Worry is growing at the European Union's executive branch that some countries' surging budget deficits could undermine the bloc's monetary union, a German magazine reported on Saturday.

Der Spiegel newsweekly quoted a draft report from the European Commissions's Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs as saying the growing imbalances could put the common currency at risk.

"(The imbalances) weaken trust in the euro and endanger the cohesion of the monetary union," the magazine reported the draft report to Finance Ministers of euro zone countries as saying.

It went on to cite competitiveness gaps between euro zone member states as a factor that threatened the group as a whole.

European Central Bank policymaker Juergen Stark said in an interview released on Saturday that countries like Greece, which is battling to get its budget under control, must also reform its economy to make it more competitive.

(reform...competitiveness...yawn)

FT.com / Markets / Asia-Pacific - China's influence on markets is growing

Until Us president Barack Obama launched his banking bombshell on Thursday, this week had been largely about China for the markets.

From fears about the effect of domestic bank lending curbs to the unexpectedly strong growth rate it reported, news and views on the world's third-largest economy were very much to the fore.

Strategists used to claim that if the US economy sneezed, markets in the rest of the world caught a cold. A Chinese economic sniffle is now having almost the same impact. The question for investors is whether this stems from its rapidly expanding economy and global clout, or whether it is a market fad that will end.

"If everyone believes their market is highly correlated, then they will trade that way and it becomes self-fulfilling," says Rick MacDonald, director of investment research and analysis at Action Economics, who suspects the hype is overdone and more to do with the amount of money flooding into commodity and currency markets.

One aspect of this is that the Chinese economy grew at a double-digit rate in the final quarter of last year. Its vast appetite for raw materials is affecting commodity prices everywhere. And its significance to the foreign exchange markets is driven by the effect its currency peg has in distorting valuations elsewhere and the resulting $2,400bn of reserves it has built up from maintaining the peg.

"Historical supply-demand relationships have broken down in commodities and I think what you're seeing is the tail wagging the dog; inflows have overwhelmed these markets and people want to point the finger at China, but this isn't fundamental," says Mr MacDonald. "Can markets and China disconnect? Yes, but I don't know the point where that happens."

Haiti mourns its dead, government ends rescue operation | Reuters

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti mourned its dead on Saturday and hundreds gathered in the ruins of a wrecked Catholic cathedral to honor an archbishop and other victims killed in last week's earthquake as the government ended search-and-rescue operations.

With international efforts now concentrating on helping hundreds of thousands of hungry, injured and homeless quake victims camped out in the streets, the Haitian government decided on Friday to halt the hunt for survivors under rubble.

"Hope is vanishing now, though we could still have miracles," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in Geneva.

Byrs said search-and-rescue teams had saved 132 people since the January 12 quake but the focus was now turning to medical assistance for survivors and finding bodies.

MIDEAST: U.S. Policy in Gaza Remains Unchanged - IPS ipsnews.net

WASHINGTON, Jan 22, 2010 (IPS) - One year ago Thursday, the last Israeli tanks were lumbering out of the Gaza Strip, ending the 22-day Gaza War and leaving in their wake a decimated landscape and population.

A year later, the humanitarian and security situation in the devastated coastal enclave remains dire, yet the Barack Obama administration continues to overlook the crisis in Gaza, an approach which some experts say is an extension of the previous administration's policy.

This policy has also done little to alleviate what human rights groups warn is a growing humanitarian crisis, plunging the Gaza Strip further into poverty and insecurity.

Sworn into office in the midst of the Gaza War, President Obama gave early prominence to the Middle East peace process in his administration's foreign policy. Yet that rhetoric has failed to materialise into progress on the peace process or relief for the people of Gaza.

The U.S. remains resolute in its refusal to engage with Hamas, the Islamist party that now rules Gaza and is designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organisation. This policy began to have a dramatic affect upon Gazans in 2007, under President George W. Bush, when Hamas took control of the territory.

"Obama showed his trajectory early on," said Paul Woodward, editor and creator of the reputable blog warincontext.org. "The U.S. made a decision to sideline Hamas after the 2006 [Palestinian] elections, which they and Israel [had initially] supported- marginalising Hamas and by default, marginalising Gaza."

"The Obama administration has engaged in much more cosmetic changes than strategic changes," Woodward told IPS.

Police, rioters clash in China over land: reports

Villagers tossed petrol bombs in a clash with police in southern China that left up to 10 injured, the latest in a rash of violent incidents linked to land disputes, state press reports said Thursday.

Up to 40 rioters in Guangdong province, fearing eviction, clashed Tuesday with more than 100 police officers who responded with non-lethal "riot guns" and tear gas, said the Qingyuan Daily, a Guangdong newspaper.

It said police had arrived in the township to arrest a local man surnamed Huang suspected of storing petrol to make bombs.

Tensions were high as the local Yangshan county government had sought for years to evict 108 families from their homes to make way for a "public project", but locals have refused, complaining of insufficient compensation, the Global Times said.

The reports did not specify what sort of project was planned.

"Huang and others suspecting that the police were there to evict them and demolish their homes, incited the crowd into a confrontation with the police," the Qingyuan Daily report said.

Pentagon gives OK for Taiwan missile deal: official

The US Defense Department has approved the sale of upgraded missile equipment to Taiwan, a Taipei-based US official said Thursday, risking the ire of the island's rival China.

The sale of the Patriot missile equipment is part of a package passed by the US Congress more than a year ago, said a spokesman with the American Institute in Taiwan, the US de facto embassy in the absence of formal ties.

"The US Defense Department awarded Lockheed Martin Corp the contract to provide Patriot missile defence systems to Taiwan as part of a big arms deal approved by Congress in 2008," the spokesman told AFP.

The US Defense Department said in a statement posted on its website Wednesday the contract for Lockheed Martin involved "basic missile tooling upgrades".

Analysts predicted the sale would get a chilly reception in China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and wants it back even if it means war.

Netanyahu: Israel has no plans to attack Lebanon - Haaretz - Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday that Israel has no intention of carrying out an offensive against Lebanon, speaking hours after a minister in his cabinet said that a military conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah was "inevitable."

Minister without portfolio Yossi Peled said earlier Saturday that "we can't sleep easy" in regard to Israel's shared border with Lebanon. He emphasized that "we're in for another round in the north, but I don't know when," with the first round being the 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

"Israel's main goal is to ensure the posterity of the Jewish state," Peled said.

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Speaking at a cultural function in the southern city of Be'er Sheva, the Likud minister said that "If a conflict does erupt in the North we will hold both Lebanon and Syria responsible."

"The world had failed in its dealing with Hezbollah, allowing the organization to accumulate more weapons that he had in his possession in 2006," Peled said, referring to the Second Lebanon War, adding that while he agreed the war had been a military failure for Israel it "could not be pinned on any one man."

WhiteHouse.gov: WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Vows to Continue Standing Up to the Special Interests on Behalf of the American People (January 23, 2010)

We've been making steady progress. But this week, the United States Supreme Court handed a huge victory to the special interests and their lobbyists - and a powerful blow to our efforts to rein in corporate influence. This ruling strikes at our democracy itself. By a 5-4 vote, the Court overturned more than a century of law - including a bipartisan campaign finance law written by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold that had barred corporations from using their financial clout to directly interfere with elections by running advertisements for or against candidates in the crucial closing weeks.

This ruling opens the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money into our democracy. It gives the special interest lobbyists new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way - or to punish those who don't. That means that any public servant who has the courage to stand up to the special interests and stand up for the American people can find himself or herself under assault come election time.  Even foreign corporations may now get into the act.

I can't think of anything more devastating to the public interest. The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

CEOs to Hill: Quit calling us for campaign cash  Charleston Daily Mail

WASHINGTON (AP) - Dozens of current and former corporate executives have a message for Congress: Quit hitting us up for campaign cash.

Roughly 40 executives from companies including Playboy Enterprises, ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's, the Seagram's liquor company, toymaker Hasbro, Delta Airlines and Men's Wearhouse sent a letter to congressional leaders Friday urging them to approve public financing for House and Senate campaigns. They say they are tired of getting fundraising calls from lawmakers - and fear it will only get worse after Thursday's Supreme Court ruling.

The court ruled that corporations and unions can spend unlimited money on ads urging people to vote for or against candidates. The decision was sought by interest groups including one that represents American businesses, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They argued that restrictions on ads they could finance close to elections violated their free-speech rights, and the court agreed.

Congressional candidates who find themselves attacked by a flood of special-interest TV ads in the 2010 elections will likely reach out to their party's biggest donors for money to help them counter the blitz.

"Members of Congress already spend too much time raising money from large contributors," the business executives' letter says. "And often, many of us individually are on the receiving end of solicitation phone calls from members of Congress. With additional money flowing into the system due to the court's decision, the fundraising pressure on members of Congress will only increase."

Depending on how it is done this could be an improvement. A century's worth of campaigns could not cost as much as the financial catastrophe the current system has just cost us.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Haaretz - PM: Mitchell raised interesting ideas on renewing peace talks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he heard "interesting ideas" from U.S. envoy George Mitchell on resuming peace talks with the Palestinians but gave no indication any significant progress had been made.

Minutes after meeting the U.S. envoy, Netanyahu reaffirmed at the weekly cabinet session his intention, also voiced by previous Israeli prime ministers, to retain major settlement blocs in the West Bank in any peace deal.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

aljazeera - Israel calms fears of Hezbollah war

The Israeli prime minister has sought to calm fears that a conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement could be imminent.

Binyamin Netanyahu's office on Saturday issued a statement saying that Israel was not seeking war in its northern neighbour, after a cabinet minster had earlier warned that an attack was a "matter of time".

"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu clarifies that Israel is not seeking any conflict with Lebanon ... Israel seeks peace with Lebanon and all its neighbours," the statement read.

Yossi Peled, an Israeli cabinet minister and former army general, said on Saturday that another confrontation with Hezbollah was almost inevitable.

"In my estimation, understanding and knowledge it is almost clear to me that it is a matter of time before there is a military clash in the north," Peled said on Israeli military radio.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Last decade warmest ever: NASA

The past decade was the warmest ever on Earth, a new analysis of global surface temperatures released by NASA showed Thursday.

The US space agency also found that 2009 was the second-warmest year on record since modern temperature measurements began in 1880. Last year was only a small fraction of a degree cooler than 2005, the warmest yet, putting 2009 in a virtual tie with the other hottest years, which have all occurred since 1998.

According to James Hansen, who heads NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, global temperatures change due to variations in ocean heating and cooling.

"When we average temperature over five or 10 years to minimize that variability, we find global warming is continuing unabated," Hansen said in a statement.

A strong La Nina effect that cooled the tropical Pacific Ocean made 2008 the coolest year of the decade, according to the New York-based institute.

In analyzing the data, NASA scientists found a clear warming trend, although a leveling off took place in the 1940s and 1970s.

The records showed that temperatures trended upward by about 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit (0.2 Celsius) per decade over the past 30 years. Average global temperatures have increased a total of about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 Celsius) since 1880.

Punishment Important In Plant-Pollinator Relationship

Figs and the wasps that pollinate them present one of biologists' favorite examples of a beneficial relationship between two different species. In exchange for the pollination service provided by the wasp, the fig fruit provides room and board for the wasp's developing young. However, wasps do not always pollinate the fig. Fig trees "punish" these "cheaters" by dropping unpollinated fruit, killing the wasp's offspring inside, report researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Their results, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, show that sanctions against cheaters may be critical to maintain the relationship.

"Relationships require give and take. We want to know what forces maintain this 80-million-year-old arrangement between figs and their wasp pollinators." said lead author, Charlotte Jander, graduate student in Cornell University's Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, who conducted the study as a Smithsonian pre-doctoral fellow. "What prevents the wasps from reaping the benefits of the relationship without paying the costs?"

A gust of energy | Grist

The great hope for powering a sustainable world is renewable energy. The great barrier to powering a sustainable world is the cost and complexity of building a new national transmission grid that will transmit the carbon-free electricity generated by remote wind farms and solar power plants to population centers.

This week the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory issued a study that shows how the eastern half of the U.S. could obtain as much as 30 percent of its electricity from wind by 2024. The study focused on what transmission geeks call the Eastern Interconnection, six linked regional power grids that run from the Great Plains to the Eastern Seaboard and from the Canadian border to the tip of Florida.

"Although significant costs, challenges, and impacts are associated with a 20 percent wind scenario, substantial benefits can be shown to overcome the costs," the report's authors wrote. "Such a scenario is unlikely to be realized with a business-as-usual approach, and that a major national commitment to clean, domestic energy sources with desirable environmental attributes would be required."

Essentially, all we need to do is come up with at least $93 billion for new power lines and infrastructure and get myriad transmission operators and local agencies to cooperate on the design of a new high-voltage grid.

Sounds daunting. But let's put the numbers in context.

Did China block Copenhagen progress to pave way for its own dominance in cleantech? | Grist

You hear it all the time, one of the most frequently voiced excuses for Western countries failing to radically cut carbon dioxide emissions: Taking any such action would hand a massive competitive advantage to fast-industrializing China.

Yet evidence is piling up that the very opposite is the case. The main challenge from the world's new industrial superpower is not that it will continue to use the dirty, old technologies of the past, but that it will come to dominate the new, clean, green ones of the future.

As developed nations fail to put an adequate price on carbon, and thus to stimulate clean-technology development themselves, they risk handing market supremacy to the rival they most fear. Indeed, it could even be hypothesized that China's blocking of agreement on rich-country emission targets in Copenhagen was intended to hold back the development of cleantech by its Western rivals.

Visitor after distinguished visitor to the world's most populous country returns home shaken, if not stirred, by the speed and determination with which it is adopting these technologies, especially in renewable energy. David Sandalow, the U.S. assistant secretary of energy for policy and international affairs--a longtime expert in the field, both in and out of government, who has trekked across the Pacific five times since last summer--says, "China's investment in clean energy is extraordinary. Unless the U.S. makes investments, we are not competitive in the cleantech sector in the years and decades to come."

The Australian - Power-draining desal plants to tap $1bn environment fund

UP to $1 billion in federal government environmental funds will be spent subsidising power-hungry desalination plants, despite objections from the water industry.

Climate Change and Water Minister Penny Wong has yet to announce the results of funding applications for major infrastructure projects in desalination, water recycling and stormwater harvesting and reuse.

Applications for taxpayer funding of up to $100 million per project -- which closed six months ago -- are still being assessed by the Environment Department.

A spokeswoman for the department refused to say how many of the projects involved desalination, an energy-intensive process that can cost six times as much as dam water. "Information on applicants is not publicly available, as it is commercial in-confidence information," she said.

Applicants can seek taxpayer support for 10 per cent of project costs, under the funding guidelines for the $1bn National Urban Water and Desalination Program.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

HAITI: 'Adoption Not the Best Choice for Quake Orphans' - IPS ipsnews.net

PARIS, Jan 23, 2010 (IPS) - Thirty-three children from Haiti arrived in France to adoptive parents Friday evening, as charities and international organisations differed on whether adoptions should be speeded up or halted while the search for relatives continues.

Earlier in the week, France announced that it would expedite the entry of children who were already in the process of being adopted, and several non-government groups here have called for increased measures to bring Haitian children more quickly into France.

But the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and some aid agencies say there should be a moratorium on new adoptions, warning that vulnerable children could be at risk of trafficking or abuse, for instance. UNICEF said some 15 children had gone missing from hospitals in Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The organisation's executive director Ann Veneman said in a statement that every possible effort should be made to reunite children with their families.

"Only if that proves impossible, and after proper screening has been carried out, should permanent alternatives like adoption be considered by the relevant authorities," she stated. "Screening for international adoption for some Haitian children had been completed prior to the earthquake. Where this is the case, there are clear benefits to speeding up their travel to their new homes."

France has the highest number of adopted Haitian children, with 600 adopted last year and more than 700 adopted in 2008, according to officials. In the coming weeks, a further 276 are expected to begin new lives among families with whom they had already been matched prior to the earthquake, the French foreign ministry said.

A chance for homeopathy

There is a chance that homeopathy might work. It's a small chance. In fact, it's so small that it's at least as dilute as the remedies "practitioners" use.

The odds of finding a single particle of sulfur in homeopathic "sulfur" are a staggering 6 x 10²³ to 1. That's "6-with-23-zeroes-after-it" to 1 against:

600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1 against.

Even the national lottery with 6 numbers 1-49 doesn't represent odds as long as that at a mere 14 million to one against.

Some people argue that it works through the almighty placebo effect. Yes, well...maybe there is a touch of that, but, and I quote the 10:23 campaign, here: "Homeopathy has abused its placebo privileges".

From time to time, it's understandable that a simple-to-administer placebo treatment might carry some benefit for doctors, where no medical intervention has a particular, proven effectiveness. In these scenarios, it could be argued that homeopathy might have had a role to play, providing a harm-free, effect-free placebo to help manage the otherwise unmanageable. However, due to the abuse of the legitimacy leant to homeopathy by real medicine, this treatment has stopped being harm-free - it wastes money and time, and can discourage people from getting genuine medical help when they most need it. It's time to stop giving support to the ineffective and illogical quackery that is homeopathy, and time to give people the facts to evaluate its use before they choose to rely on Hahnemann's 200-year-old theories over the up-to-date, constantly-improving medical practices of today's world.

Did you know that part of the preparation process for homeopathic remedies, dating back to Hahnemann's original bullshine recipe is supposed to involve bashing the glass vial against a Bible. What does that tell you, eh?

GHANA: Quietly Extending Options to Women - IPS ipsnews.net

ACCRA, Jan 19, 2010 (IPS) - Juliana Kweais has a small scar on her bottom lip, from the first time she witnessed an abortion. The sharp blow to her mouth was delivered by her grandmother, after the then-13-year-old Kweais had asked why her auntie had given "birth" to a bloody sack.

Kweais's eyes glaze over as she recalls that painful night, almost 20 years ago. Her aunt had been unmarried, and their family too poor to support another child.

By swallowing a herbal medicine of ground stones, and abrototo, pepre, and hentea - leaves mostly found in the forests of rural Ghana - her aunt went into labour, she recalled.

Non-medical abortions are frequent in Ghana, where abortion is illegal. Yet, as more people witness the suffering and deaths of women who've attempted unsafe abortions, more international organisations are trying to provide birth control, or to exploit legal loopholes to carry out abortions.

Where History Happened: The Birth of the Railways
By Daniel Cossins, BBC History Magazine

The first steam locomotives helped make Britain the most powerful nation in the world. We visit eight places associated with the dawn of rail travel.

Thundering along at previously unimaginable speeds, early steam locomotives were a frightening prospect for their Victorian passengers. Before the opening of the first major railway line, the Liverpool & Manchester in 1830, there were fears it would be impossible to breathe while travelling at such a velocity, or that the passengers' eyes would be damaged by having to adjust to the motion.

Little more than 20 years later, their fears allayed, people flocked to this exciting new form of transport, and by mid-century, millions were dashing across the country on tracks stretching thousands of miles. From professional football and the Penny Post to suburban living and seaside excursions, the railways changed the face of Victorian Britain.

"The railways were absolutely central to the spread of the Industrial Revolution," insists railway historian Christian Wolmar. "Britain could not have become, for a time, the world's dominant economic power without them. But it's also impossible to exaggerate the social impact. Almost anything you can think of was transformed or made possible for the first time by the railways."

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Zap! Was Romanian election loser victim of occult?  AP

BUCHAREST, Romania - Was a top contender for the Romanian presidency zapped out of the race by a shadowy parapsychologist enlisted by his rival?

The claim might be dismissed as preposterous in most other EU countries. But here in Romania, home of Dracula and other occult traditions, Mircea Geoana's assertion that a "negative energy attack" led to his narrow loss to re-elected President Traian Basescu has been the talk of the nation.

....

"People who were working for Basescu in this domain were present to the right of the camera," Geoana told Antena 3 Television. His wife, Mihaela said Geoana "was very badly attacked, he couldn't concentrate."

At first Romanians mocked their ex-foreign minister saying he was a bad loser. Basescu himself jokingly dismissed the allegations. But the recent publication of photos showing well-known parapsychologist Aliodor Manolea close to Basescu during the campaign has caused Romanians to wonder whether the president really did put a hex on his rival.

The photos show Manolea, a slightly built, bearded man with a round face and cropped receding hair, walking yards (meters) behind Basescu ahead of the debate. Manolea's specialties include deep mind control, clairvoyance and hypnotic trance, according to the Romanian Association of Transpersonal Psychology.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Boris Yeltin's daughter attacks Vladimir Putin - Telegraph

Tatyana Yumasheva, daughter of Boris Yeltsin, is ruffling feathers in Russia with her blog.

Tatyana Yumasheva was the "Lady Rasputin" who wielded huge and unaccountable power from behind her father's tottering throne for years.

But after disappearing from public view for more than a decade, the daughter of the late Russian president Boris Yeltsin, is back.