Corruption in India: I was approached for a bribe

Our correspondent learns first-hand the mechanics of petty bribery in India. Meanwhile, corruption fighter Anna Hazare called off his hunger strike today.

As New Delhi gears up for New Year's celebrations, the police are rolling out roadblocks.

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In the United States, roadblocks are a common way to check for drivers who have had one too many drinks on New Years, but for police in Delhi, these roadblocks often translate into "how much will they pay to get out of this?"

And if the fight over the current anticorruption bill in Parliament and the recent hunger strike by activist Anna Hazare are any indicators, the situation is not likely to improve any time soon without the help of hundreds of thousands of Indians?pushing back against the system of bribery where they can.

Mr. Hazare had inspired millions of Indians to protest against corruption this summer, and began a three-day hunger strike this week to press for tougher action against corruption in the country's bureaucracy. His fast aligned with the Indian Parliament negotiating an antigraft bill that would set up an ombudsman's office to investigate embezzling, influence peddling, and other forms of official theft.

However, both the hunger strike and bill have fallen short of their objectives. After a high fever and poor crowd turn out, Hazare called off it off a day early. A compromise bill was approved by Parliament?s lower house Tuesday, and is likely to pass the upper house Wednesday. If it does, it could establish an independent body at the central and state government levels to investigate charges of corruption.

But Hazare and other opposition groups say the bill is weak, and will do little to truly tackle the country?s corruption. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the agency, which is responsible for monitoring this bill, will not itself become corrupt.

According to Transparency International, 54 percent of Indians paid a bribe in the past year, and the organization ranked India 95 out of 183 countries in its Corruption Perception Index for 2011. Given these statistics, winning the daily battle of graft that has bled India of some $128 billion in the past decade is nothing short of herculean.

But a recent encounter with a Delhi traffic cop gave me a little insight into how ordinary citizens can start fighting.

On Christmas Eve, an Indian friend and I were parking, near a packed shopping area, when a cop looking for a little extra cash approached us. Our crime? The tinted windows on my friend?s car were too dark.

Being a hothead from the American South, I was irate as it was clear to me the cop was just looking for money.

However, my friend who is known for his prudence in these kinds of situations had a wiser approach. He simply told the policeman to give him the ticket. The cop paused, and then let him go.

When the cop walked away, I asked my friend why we got out of the ticket.

"You must understand the economics of bribery," he said. "It's Christmas Eve, the place is packed, and it?s high-time for making a quick buck. Every minute counts. In the time it would take him to write me a ticket, he could be making hundreds of rupees."

As India struggles to tackle corruption with new laws and key arrests, ordinary Indians like my friend can make a difference by understanding the system of bribery pushing back where they can.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/IWGYcUjjFYI/Corruption-in-India-I-was-approached-for-a-bribe

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Vote for the Gadget of the Year: Championship Round [Gadget Of The Year]

Just two gadgets are left standing in our melee to determine the most important gadget of the year, but there can be only one. See what made the cut, and cast your vote for the last match-up of the tournament. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/h6nrUTl4LuA/vote-for-the-gadget-of-the-year-championship-round

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Bugs may be resistant to genetically modified corn (AP)

One of the nation's most widely planted crops ? a genetically engineered corn plant that makes its own insecticide ? may be losing its effectiveness because a major pest appears to be developing resistance more quickly than scientists expected.

The U.S. food supply is not in any immediate danger because the problem remains isolated. But scientists fear potentially risky farming practices could be blunting the hybrid's sophisticated weaponry.

When it was introduced in 2003, so-called Bt corn seemed like the answer to farmers' dreams: It would allow growers to bring in bountiful harvests using fewer chemicals because the corn naturally produces a toxin that poisons western corn rootworms. The hybrid was such a swift success that it and similar varieties now account for 65 percent of all U.S. corn acres ? grain that ends up in thousands of everyday foods such as cereal, sweeteners and cooking oil.

But over the last few summers, rootworms have feasted on the roots of Bt corn in parts of four Midwestern states, suggesting that some of the insects are becoming resistant to the crop's pest-fighting powers.

Scientists say the problem could be partly the result of farmers who've planted Bt corn year after year in the same fields.

Most farmers rotate corn with other crops in a practice long used to curb the spread of pests, but some have abandoned rotation because they need extra grain for livestock or because they have grain contracts with ethanol producers. Other farmers have eschewed the practice to cash in on high corn prices, which hit a record in June.

"Right now, quite frankly, it's very profitable to grow corn," said Michael Gray, a University of Illinois crop sciences professor who's tracking Bt corn damage in that state.

A scientist recently sounded an alarm throughout the biotech industry when he published findings concluding that rootworms in a handful of Bt cornfields in Iowa had evolved an ability to survive the corn's formidable defenses.

Similar crop damage has been seen in parts of Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska, but researchers are still investigating whether rootworms capable of surviving the Bt toxin were the cause.

University of Minnesota entomologist Kenneth Ostlie said the severity of rootworm damage to Bt fields in Minnesota has eased since the problem surfaced in 2009. Yet reports of damage have become more widespread, and he fears resistance could be spreading undetected because the damage rootworms inflict often isn't apparent.

Without strong winds, wet soil or both, plants can be damaged at the roots but remain upright, concealing the problem. He said the damage he observed in Minnesota came to light only because storms in 2009 toppled corn plants with damaged roots.

"The analogy I often use with growers is that we're looking at an iceberg and all we see is the tip of the problem," Ostlie said. "And it's a little bit like looking at an iceberg through fog because the only time we know we have a problem is when we get the right weather conditions."

Seed maker Monsanto Co. created the Bt strain by splicing a gene from a common soil organism called Bacillus thuringiensis into the plant. The natural insecticide it makes is considered harmless to people and livestock.

Scientists always expected rootworms to develop some resistance to the toxin produced by that gene. But the worrisome signs of possible resistance have emerged sooner than many expected.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently chided Monsanto, declaring in a Nov. 22 report that it wasn't doing enough to monitor suspected resistance among rootworm populations. The report urged a tougher approach, including expanding monitoring efforts to a total of seven states, including Colorado, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The agency also wanted to ensure farmers in areas of concern begin using insecticides and other methods to combat possible resistance.

Monsanto insists there's no conclusive proof that rootworms have become immune to the crop, but the company said it regards the situation seriously and has been taking steps that are "directly in line" with federal recommendations.

Some scientists fear it could already be too late to prevent the rise of resistance, in large part because of the way some farmers have been planting the crop.

They point to two factors: farmers who have abandoned crop rotation and others have neglected to plant non-Bt corn within Bt fields or in surrounding fields as a way to create a "refuge" for non-resistant rootworms in the hope they will mate with resistant rootworms and dilute their genes.

Experts worry that the actions of a few farmers could jeopardize an innovation that has significantly reduced pesticide use and saved growers billions of dollars in lost yields and chemical-control costs.

"This is a public good that should be protected for future generations and not squandered too quickly," said Gregory Jaffe, biotechnology director at the Center for Science and Public Policy.

Iowa State University entomologist Aaron Gassmann published research in July concluding that resistance had arisen among rootworms he collected in four Iowa fields. Those fields had been planted for three to six straight years with Bt corn ? a practice that ensured any resistant rootworms could lay their eggs in an area that would offer plenty of food for the next generation.

For now, the rootworm resistance in Iowa appears isolated, but Gassmann said that could change if farmers don't quickly take action. For one, the rootworm larvae grow into adult beetles that can fly, meaning resistant beetles could easily spread to new areas.

"I think this provides an important early warning," Gassmann said.

Besides rotating crops, farmers can also fight resistance by switching between Bt corn varieties, which produce different toxins, or planting newer varieties with multiple toxins. They can also treat damaged fields with insecticides to kill any resistant rootworms ? or employ a combination of all those approaches.

The EPA requires growers to devote 20 percent of their fields to non-Bt corn. After the crop was released in 2003, nine out of 10 farmers met that standard. Now it's only seven or eight, Jaffe said.

Seed companies are supposed to cut off farmers with a record of violating the planting rules, which are specified in seed-purchasing contracts. To improve compliance, companies are now introducing blends that have ordinary seed premixed with Bt seed.

Brian Schaumburg, who farms 1,400 acres near the north-central Illinois town of Chenoa, plants as much Bt corn as he can every spring.

But Schaumburg said he shifts his planting strategies every year ? varying which Bt corn hybrids he plants and using pesticides when needed ? to reduce the chances rootworm resistance might emerge in his fields.

Schaumburg said he always plants the required refuge fields and believes very few farmers defy the rule. Those who do put the valuable crop at risk, he said.

"If we don't do it right, we could lose these good tools," Schaumberg said.

If rootworms do become resistant to Bt corn, it "could become the most economically damaging example of insect resistance to a genetically modified crop in the U.S.," said Bruce Tabashnik, an entomologist at the University of Arizona. "It's a pest of great economic significance ? a billion-dollar pest."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_re_us/us_biotech_corn_at_risk

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Iowa ad war: late starting but nasty

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista, make a stop at his campaign office, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista, make a stop at his campaign office, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry greets local residents during a campaign stop at the Blue Strawberry Coffee Company, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? At least $12.5 million and counting has blanketed the airwaves ahead of next Tuesday's Republican presidential caucuses, with hard-hitting commercials awash in ghoulish images and startling claims. Most are coming from a proliferation of new independent groups aligned with the candidates.

To hear the ads tell it, Newt Gingrich is a "serial hypocrite," Rick Perry "double dips" as governor and the "liberal Republican establishment" is plotting to anoint Mitt Romney as the party's presidential nominee. The attacks, the bulk of the commercials on the air, reflected the volatile state of the race five days before the first votes of the GOP presidential nominating contest.

After a slow start, the ads in Iowa are coming on fast and furious.

On Thursday alone, at least five new commercials were rolled out, including one by Perry castigating his rivals as Washington insiders and saying: "The fox guarding the henhouse is like asking a congressman to fix Washington: bad idea." An outside group aligned with Romney, Restore Our Future, rolled out a new spot that criticizes Gingrich and asks: "Haven't we had enough mistakes?"

In the final days of the Iowa campaign, most of the ads are deeply negative, thanks in large part to the proliferation of outside groups, known as super PACs, that are doing the dirty work for candidates they support. Gingrich has been the biggest target, withering under attacks from Ron Paul and Rick Perry's campaign as well as from several outside groups like the one aligned with Romney. Polls show that Gingrich's standing in Iowa has slid accordingly.

"I call it ad wars whack-a-mole ? this endless attacking in all directions, trying to slam down anyone who is surging to the top," said David Perlmutter, a University of Iowa journalism professor who studies political communication. "This is the most negative I've ever seen it. The ads are so blatantly negative I would have told you 10 years ago this would never fly in Iowa."

It's a different landscape in the campaign advertising world than four years ago when Barack Obama won Iowa's Democratic caucuses and Mike Huckabee carried the Republican side. Social media has intensified the advertising binge, with many spots debuting on TV but also going viral across the web at almost no cost to the campaigns that sponsor them. Candidates are making heavy use of online advertising to target voters based on location and other demographic information.

Campaigns are also producing video specifically for the YouTube audience, like a new 90-second Romney video excerpting a speech Obama delivered in Iowa days before winning the Democratic caucuses in 2008.

"Well, Mr. President, you've had your moment ... this is our time," Romney says in the spot.

On Thursday, Jon Huntsman's campaign ? which can't afford to put commercials on TV and is competing only in New Hampshire ? hit at Paul in a new web video that highlights comments about race and gays in newsletters Paul used to put out. The ad asks: "Can New Hampshire voters really trust Ron Paul?'"

But nothing has altered the environment more than super PACs, which are facing their first test in a presidential campaign since a Supreme Court decision two years ago eased restrictions on campaign spending by corporations, unions and individuals.

Much of $12.5 million spent to date in Iowa, a figure confirmed by ad tracking firms, outside groups and the GOP campaigns, has been spent in just the past few weeks, much of it paying for negative ads.

The pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, has been by far the most influential in Iowa, helping to bolster the former Massachusetts governor's position in the state he lost in 2008, crippling that campaign.

The group formed by Romney allies has spent at least $2.7 million in the state. The vast majority has been used to trash Gingrich, the former House speaker whose sudden surge in the polls earlier this month has been summarily halted in recent days. In ad after ad, Romney's allies have berated Gingrich for ethical "baggage," accepting $1.6 million in consulting fees from federal mortgage giant Freddie Mac and pledging to tackle climate change in an ad with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Another new ad from the group goes after both Gingrich and Perry for being "liberal on immigration."

Perry, the Texas governor, has defended his state's policy of allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities, while Gingrich has spoken out against deporting those who have lived in the U.S. for many years without permission to be in the country.

The ad also chides Perry for taking advantage of a loophole in state law that allows him to supplement his governor's salary with his $90,000 annual pension, even as Perry has used his own ads to rail against congressional salaries.

Romney has stepped up his advertising presence in Iowa, driving a largely positive message while his allies have made it easy for him to avoid attacking his Republican rivals.

"In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense. And I intend to make it because I have lived it," Romney says in a new uplifting 60-second commercial he began airing Thursday.

Gingrich, for his part, has railed against the Romney allies' ad blitz but has refused to respond in kind. A pro-Gingrich super PAC has begun fighting back, running ads in Iowa claiming the Republican establishment is "attacking him with falsehoods."

The ad warns: "Don't let the liberal Republican establishment pick our candidate."

But the assist from the pro-Gingrich group Winning Our Future may be too little, too late. A new CNN-Time poll found Gingrich now in fourth place in Iowa, behind Romney, Paul and Rick Santorum.

Other Republican hopefuls have super PACs that support them, including Perry and Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator has run no ads of his own but has seen his position in Iowa strengthen in recent days in part by $327,000 in ad spending from a super PAC called the Red White and Blue Fund.

Our Destiny, a super PAC backing Huntsman, has run ads in New Hampshire for the former Utah governor. Huntsman is skipping the Iowa caucuses to focus on New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Jan. 10.

Perry has run the most campaign ads in Iowa, spending at least $3.9 million so far. His ads have offered a smattering of sometimes conflicting messages ? promoting his conservative Christian faith in one to calling for a part-time Congress in another.

"I'm an outsider who will overhaul Washington," Perry says in his latest ad, while pledging anew to end "Obama's war on religion."

Make Us Great Again, a pro-Perry super PAC, has also been on the air for weeks in Iowa.

The heavy spending hasn't seemed to help Perry much ? polls have consistently shown him trailing in the state, though he has gained some ground.

Paul has also been on the air for months and has not been shy about hitting his opponents. His latest ad, titled "Washington Machine," hits Gingrich as a "serial hypocrite" and Romney as a "flip flopper."

Cash strapped and struggling in polls, Michele Bachmann will run TV commercials a day before the caucuses. Her campaign has run radio ads and she's sought free media on a bus tour through Iowa's 99 counties.

___

Associated Press writers Brian Bakst in Iowa and Jack Gillum in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-29-Campaign-Iowa%20Ad%20Crush/id-53b111e4a93645f6afad402d665d1888

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How long can Apple sustain Steve Jobs' patent war?

Steve Jobs told his biographer that Apple would rather wage "thermonuclear war" with Google Inc. than make deals to share its technology with the maker of the Android operating system.

That was no empty threat. In the 18 months before Jobs died on Oct. 5, Apple sued HTC, Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility, the three largest Android users. It alleged that the phone makers stole Apple's technology and asked courts to make them stop.

Now, as rulings start coming in, it might be time for a detente that helps Apple maximize the value of its patents, said Kevin Rivette, a managing partner at 3LP Advisors LLC, a firm that advises on intellectual property.

When courts side with Apple and impose bans on infringing products, competitors can often devise workarounds; in cases where Apple doesn't win import restrictions, it would be better off striking settlements that ensure access to a competitor's innovation, he said.

"A scorched-earth strategy is bad news because it doesn't optimize the value of their patents - because people will get around them," said Rivette, whose clients include Android licensees.

"It's like a dam. Using their patents to keep rivals out of the market is like putting rocks in a stream. The stream is going to find a way around. Wouldn't it be better to direct where the water goes?"

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment.

For a time, Apple's strategy looked sound. In October, an Australian court banned the sale of Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 tablet in that country, and the U.S. International Trade Commission agreed to consider an import ban on sales of certain HTC devices.

Then the tide began to turn. Apple suffered a setback Nov. 30, when a higher Australian court overturned the ruling against Samsung. On Thursday, a German judge said he was unlikely to uphold an import ban on a version of the Galaxy, which Samsung had modified in response to a ban on the original design.

Partial victory

The ITC gave Apple only a partial victory on Dec. 20 by ruling that HTC had violated only one of four patents Apple said it infringed. The patent covered what is called data detection, a feature that helps users make a call, send an e-mail or find an address on a map with a single keystroke. A day later, HTC said it found a way to work around the issue.

Even if HTC had to leave the feature out of its future products, the ruling reinforces predictions that Apple won't succeed forever in preventing Android rivals from selling gadgets with the now-familiar hallmarks of Apple's pioneering devices. These include touch-screens and app stores.

Long-term prospects

Legal history isn't on Apple's side, said Marshall Phelps, former head of intellectual property at IBM and Microsoft.

"Nobody has ever kept competitors out of any market with patents," in part because software can usually be slightly changed to find a non-infringing alternative, he said.

Exceptions, he said, include an IBM patent that characterized the basic architecture of a computer and Texas Instruments' original patent for the integrated circuit, or computer chip.

IBM was ordered by the U.S. Department of Justice to license its patent, while Texas Instruments decided to do the same, which has resulted in billions of dollars in royalties, Phelps said.

Many of Apple's patents, by contrast, relate to the look and feel of devices or particular ways of using a machine, rather than a basic technology breakthrough.

The question on the minds of many patent lawyers isn't whether Apple should adapt its legal stance, but when.

For now, the company's approach is costing rivals millions of dollars in fees, distracting management and preventing them from emulating Apple's products more boldly, said Ron Epstein, a former attorney at Intel who now runs patent licensing firm Epicenter IP Group.

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=b6e165ca2156206f267aae115c0aec0b

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U.S. presidential hopeful Ron Paul isn't anti-Israel, former aide says

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul is not anti-Israel and does not advocate Israel's abolishment as a Jewish state, a former aide told Haaretz on Tuesday.

The remarks by Dr. Leon Hadar, an Israeli and U.S. citizen, who used to be among Paul's foreign policy advisors during his 2008 presidential campaign, came a day after another former Paul aide, Eric Dondero, wrote in his blog that the presidential hopeful ?wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all.?

?His view is that Israel is more trouble than it is worth, specifically to the America taxpayer,? Dondero added.

	Representative Ron Paul speaking at a Town Hall Meeting at the Historic Clinton Engines Building in Maquoketa, Iowa, December 22, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

Responding to the column, CBS News quoted Ron Paul's spokesman Jesse Benton as saying that, "Eric Dondero is a disgruntled former staffer who was fired for performance issues."

"He has zero credibility and should not be taken seriously," Benton added.

Speaking with Haaretz on Tuesday, Hadar discounted Paul's characterization as anti-Israel, saying: "He is against Israel as I am against January. He is just against foreign aid, and does not see any reason to grant an aid to the country that is a member of OECD."

"We should remember it's the primaries, and the Republican party establishment is not happy about his popularity, because on many issues his positions run contrary to the traditional party's agenda," Hadar added.

The former aide also indicated that Rep. Paul was in favor of "economic cooperation with Israel, he was interested in the economic reforms in Israel."

"He will be glad to see the conflict resolved and he said it's the right of Israel to attack Iran if it thinks that is necessary - but it shouldn't expect the U.S. to clean the mess," he said, adding that Paul is "very familiar with Israel's history. I didn't hear his conversations with his former aide, but I personally have never heard him say anything against Israel or the Jews."

Referring to claims according to which Paul was in favor of "handing Israel back" to the Arabs, Hadar said it was "absurd to say he is more supportive of Arabs or Iran than Israel - he just thinks the U.S. shouldn't meddle in other countries issues."

"I think it's quite pro-Israeli, because the U.S. won't stay in the Middle East forever, and Israel should figure out how to deal with its challenges," Hadar said, adding that there "is little doubt the current campaign against him and the attempts to paint him as anti-Israeli might cause him harm among the Evangelicals, whose support is more significant during the primaries than the Republican Jewish support."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/haaretz/LBao/~3/pPcz8zKbvMo/story01.htm

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Baby Turns President Obama Picture Into Pure Comedy! [Video]

During a photo in which President Obama is holding a baby, the child digs his fingers into Obama?s mouth, spurring some laughter from the President. The rest of CNN?s video clip shows Obama mingling with Marines and their family members in Hawaii. Michelle Obama also attends.

Tags: Barack Obama, funny, News, obama, President

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bossiprss/~3/JIZivdD_mLA/

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98% Le Havre

All Critics (51) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (1)

'Tis the season, so the saying goes. And when it comes to Aki Kaurism?ki, it holds true. The Finnish writer-director arrives bearing a gift wrapped in a contemporary immigration fable.

If the bummers and ambiguity of some of this season's movies are getting you down - or, hey, just the bummers and ambiguities of life - make your way to Le Havre. You won't be sorry.

The Finnish director's sense of humor is dry and dark as pitch, as he consistently finds moments of absurdity in the midst of strife and tragedy.

Kaurism?ki wrote the script, I think, with secret credit from Mother Goose and some fabric softener.

"Le Havre" is a small bit of movie magic, a story that plays more as a fable even as it deals with something as topical as immigration.

The film is especially comforting if you love old movies, as Kaurismaki does.

Kaurismaki's movie about a shoeshine man and an illegal immigrant is nothing less than a joy

A wonderfully concise, unfussy movie; it is "easy" by the director's standards, which is to say that it doesn't leave any significant ellipses in the narrative up until the aggressively darling ending.

...an upbeat little tome that leaves a good feeling to the spirit.

Kaurism?ki can almost restore your hope in humanity.

Kaurismaki dives into French film culture in 'Le Havre'

You almost become a citizen of Le Havre, watching this film and rejoicing at the end as two newfound, unexpected friends share a drink.

It's a straightforward yet completely artificial scenario, with welcome overtones of Italian Neo-Realism.

Unlike the director's typical hero, Wilms's spare performance conveys confidence rather than defeat. He and the kid warm the heart, thawing Kaurism?ki's usual icy aplomb.

Heart-wrenching but ultimately inspirational.

Le Havre is not the filmmaker's best work (see La Vie de Boh?me for that), but no matter the storm, we should be grateful to dock in this port.

An easygoing story of human relationships with a sharp political comment about European immigration.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le_havre_2011/

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Wall Street jumps on euro summit hope (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks rose at the open on Monday, building on the previous week's gains, as optimism grew that an upcoming European Union summit would break new ground to resolve the euro zone debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 107.77 points, or 0.90 percent, at 12,127.19. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was up 14.66 points, or 1.18 percent, at 1,258.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was up 32.96 points, or 1.25 percent, at 2,659.89.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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House to Axe $200M Campaign Fund (ABC News)

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Geoengineering could save Earth _ or destroy it

DURBAN, South Africa (AP) ? Brighten clouds with sea water? Spray aerosols high in the stratosphere? Paint roofs white and plant light-colored crops? How about positioning "sun shades" over the Earth?

At a time of deep concern over global warming, a group of scientists, philosophers and legal scholars examined whether human intervention could artificially cool the Earth ? and what would happen if it did.

A report released late Thursday in London and discussed Friday at the U.N. climate conference in South Africa said that ? in theory ? reflecting a small amount of sunlight back into space before it strike's the Earth's surface would have an immediate and dramatic effect.

Within a few years, global temperatures would return to levels of 250 years ago, before the industrial revolution began dumping carbon dioxide into the air, trapping heat and causing temperatures to rise.

But no one knows what the side effects would be.

They could be physical ? unintentionally changing weather patterns and rainfall. Even more difficult, it could be political ? spurring conflict among nations unable to agree on how such intervention, or geoengineering, will be controlled.

The idea of solar radiation management "has the potential to be either very useful or very harmful," said the study led by Britain's Royal Society, the Washington-based Environmental Defense Fund and TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world based in Trieste, Italy.

Environmentalist Silvia Ribeiro, of the Canada-based ETC-Group, said geoengineering should be outlawed before it gets off the ground.

"Solar radiation management technologies are high-risk and extremely dangerous and they should be treated under international law like nuclear weapons ? except, unlike nuclear weapons, we have an opportunity to ban their testing and their proliferation before the technology is fully developed, rather than trying to prevent their proliferation after the fact," she said.

The final report grew out of three days of talks in a quiet country retreat last March, the climax of a yearlong dialogue spanning experts in 22 countries.

It was prompted in part by the failure of a 20-year U.N. negotiating process to take decisive action to curb greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, responsible for climate change.

"The slow progress of international climate negotiations has led to increased concerns that sufficient cuts in greenhouse gas emissions may not be achieved in time to avoid unacceptable levels of climate change," the report said.

But geoengineering is not an alternative to climate action, said John Shepherd, a British oceanographer from the University of Southampton who was a lead author of the report.

"Nobody thought this provides a justification for not reducing carbon emissions," Shepherd said in a telephone interview from London.

"We have to stick with Plan A for the time being, and that could be a very long time indeed," he said. "This would buy time for people to make the transition to a low-carbon economy."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change foresees temperatures rising as much as 6.4 degrees Celsius (11.5 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100, swelling the seas with melted glacial water and disrupting climate conditions around the globe.

Releasing millions of tons of sulfur dioxide in the upper atmosphere would mimic the cooling effects of a volcanic eruption, lowering global temperature about 0.5 Centigrade (0.9 Fahrenheit), which can last for a year or two when it occurs naturally.

But deliberately tinkering with nature to counter global warming can only be a stopgap measure, and is fraught with danger, the report said.

Action such as spraying sulfur into the air or brightening clouds with sea water to reflect more sunlight would have to be sustained indefinitely because "there would be a large and rapid climate change if it were terminated suddenly," the report said.

Hazy skies could alter weather patterns and agriculture, replacing one source of climate change with another.

Years of study are required to calculate the environmental impacts, but the bigger questions are political.

Who would decide where and when to conduct experiments, and where to set the global thermostat? What would happen if a country acted on its own without an international agreement? Would it discourage efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions?

Notions of manipulating the climate to impede global warming have been on the fringe of scientific discussion for some time, but is moving increasingly toward the mainstream.

In the United States, a group of 18 U.S. experts from the sciences, social sciences and national security unveiled a report in October urging the federal government to begin research on the feasibility and potential effectiveness of geoengineering.

"The United States needs to be able to judge whether particular climate remediation techniques could offer a meaningful response to the risks of climate change," said that report sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Shepherd said the 65-page Thursday's report was intended to start the conversation.

"No government asked us to do this. The U.N. didn't ask us," he said.

"I hope it can be continued in a more formal and mandated framework, because eventually somebody will have to take some decisions."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-02-AF-Climate-Cooling-the-Planet/id-8dfbad87a3db45a9a9c9b1c8409511e9

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Source: http://www.ivillage.com/kim-kardashian-doesnt-want-battle-kris-humphries-source/1-a-407428?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Akim-kardashian-doesnt-want-battle-kris-humphries-source-407428

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