China refuses to budge on greenhouse gases

Chinese firms blamed in huge greenhouse gas scam
Brussels: The European Commission is planning to clamp down on a €2 Billion ($2.8 Billion) Carbon trading scam involving the deliberate production of Greenhouse Gases which the fraudulent manufacturers are then paid to destroy. The Climate Change Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, says the use of these Carbon permits, from industrial gas projects in China, could be banned because of their ''total lack of environmental integrity''. Billions of euros worth of the Controversial permits were...

Why Sacramento needs to be fumigated ... [Darleen Click]
I am now going to give you the exact first sentence on Prop 23 on my CA sample ballot. This is the way it appears on the official ballot at the polling place: 23 SUSPENDS IMPLEMENTATION OF Air Pollution Control LAW (AB 32) REQUIRING MAJOR SOURCES OF Emissions TO REPORT AND REDUCE Greenhouse Gas Emissions THAT CAUSE Global Warming, UNTIL Unemployment DROPS TO 5.5 PERCENT OR LESS FOR FULL YEAR. See? Manmade CO2 causes Global Warming. Settled science, you know. You can stop thinking about that...

James Cameron: a bully and a gigantic hypocrite
Director James Cameron is out to save the planet . If you are skeptical of the claims of the alarmists that Man is destroying the planet via Greenhouse Gas Emissions, he calls you a denier who has your head up your backside . He’d like to have a “shootout” with you, except that, when taken up on the offer, he suddenly has other things to do… Anyway, wouldn’t you expect that, being a good little cultist of the Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming, he’d try...

Congress candidate Q & A: Reducing human-caused emmissions to moderate global warming
The Anchorage Daily News asked Candidates in statewide Elections their views on a variety of issues. Question: Do you support enacting any laws or regulations to reduce human-caused Greenhouse Gas Emissions as a way to moderate Global Warming?

A Prognosticated Future Vs. Blind Man's Buff
Governors Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in 2008 created the Bipartisan coalition, "Building America's Future." On Feb 3, 2010, Rendell, speaking at the Brookings Institute, stated, "If we don't do something quickly, by the time 2030 rolls around, America will be a second-rate economic Power." This comment was regarding investments in American infrastructure overall; its application to the electrical Grid...

China fuels Madagascar timber crisis
Soaring demand in China and political unrest in Madagascar are fuelling illegal logging for hardwoods in the African nation, a report concludes. Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) talked to loggers, government agencies and traders to compile their report. In China, they discovered beds on sale for $1m, made from Madagascan wood. The report was launched at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Nagoya, Japan. Madagascan politics is split between...

Comment: China pressed to reveal numbers
Though China is still heavily reliant on polluting Power Plants such as this one in Shanghai, it is promising a 40-45 per cent reduction in the intensity of its Carbon Emissions by 2020 The Air Quality in Beijing was excellent on Tuesday, according to a Local Government website whose launch last year was hailed as a breakthrough in transparency. You have viewed your allowance of free articles. If you wish to view more, click the button below. Special Reports

Climate talks to be held in Kiribati
AAP Australia is among 15 countries that will be represented at a Climate Change conference in Kiribati next month. The tiny island of Kiribati, which is already being swamped by rising sea levels, will host the Tarawa Climate Change Conference (TCCC) from November 9 until November 11. The three day talkfest - slated at the 41st Pacific Islands Forum in August - will aim to forge a unified voice among Pacific nations ahead of a global summit on Climate Change in Cancun, Mexico later this...

What Hath Copenhagen Wrought? A Preliminary Assessment of the Copenhagen Accord
after a raucous all-night session. The original purpose of the conference had been to complete negotiations on a new international agreement on Climate Change to come into force when the Kyoto Protocols first commitment period comes to an end in 2012. But for at least the past six months, it had become clear to virtually all participants that such a goal was out of reach and the COP-15 objective was publically downgraded in mid-November to a non-binding agreement by heads of state at...

U.N. Official Calls for Study of Ethics, Legality of Unmanned Weapons
© unknown A United Nations investigator called on the world body Friday to set up a panel to study the ethics and legality of unmanned Military weapons - an apparent reference to U.S. Drones that have targeted suspected Islamist Militants. In a report to the U.N. General Assembly Human Rights committee, Christof Heyns said such systems raised "serious concerns that have been almost entirely unexamined by Human Rights or humanitarian actors." "The international community urgently needs to...

Administration has no regrets on pushing healthcare before climate
A senior adviser to President Obama said the administration has no regrets about securing Healthcare Legislation before a broad Climate and Energy plan this Congress. Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, acknowledged that prioritizing Healthcare made it more difficult to get an Energy and Climate plan passed on Capitol Hill. But she said Healthcare was a topic voters frequently talked about during the Presidential Campaign in 2008. One of the things...

Who's Right on Biofuels?
WHO'S RIGHT ON BiofuelS?.... How can America achieve Energy Independence? The Obama Administration believes increased production of Biofuels is key, as most recently signaled by its decision to increase the amount of Ethanol that can be blended with Gasoline. Yet critics warn that Biofuels produced from corn and other crops damage the environment and drive up the cost of food. Who's right? In the current issue of The Washington Monthly , two authors square off on the question. The first is...

California voters turning against Prop. 19 and Prop. 23, poll shows
By John Hoeffel and Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times California voters have turned against Controversial initiatives to legalize Marijuana and to suspend the state's Global Warming law, a poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found. Voters now oppose Proposition 19, the Marijuana legalization measure, 49% to 44%, and the measure to halt a law that aims to cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 48% to 37%.

Who's Right on Biofuels?
WHO'S RIGHT ON BiofuelS?.... How can America achieve Energy Independence? The Obama Administration believes increased production of Biofuels is key, as most recently signaled by its decision to increase the amount of Ethanol that can be blended with Gasoline. Yet critics warn that Biofuels produced from corn and other crops damage the environment and drive up the cost of food. Who's right? In the current issue of The Washington Monthly , two authors square off on the question. The first is...

Soros Gives $1M to California Pot Legalization Measure
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 By Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press (AP) - Billionaire financier George Soros has thrown his weight behind California's Marijuana legalization Measure with a $1 million donation a week before the vote. The contribution reported Tuesday by The Sacramento Bee is the single biggest donation from an individual other than Proposition 19's main sponsor, Oakland Medical Marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee. The high-profile liberal and philanthropist has long backed Drug Law...

EPA plan could cut truck emissions
Large commercial trucks would be forced to slash their Greenhouse Gas Emissions by as much as 20 percent under a new proposal from the Obama Administration.  The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department on Monday announced the first-ever Greenhouse Gas limits and Fuel-efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses. Continue Reading Text Size Politico 44 The draft rules would mandate cuts in Fuel consumption and Emissions by up to 20 percent for long-haul...

James Cameron: a bully and a gigantic hypocrite
Director James Cameron is out to save the planet . If you are skeptical of the claims of the alarmists that Man is destroying the planet via Greenhouse Gas Emissions, he calls you a denier who has your head up your backside . He’d like to have a “shootout” with you, except that, when taken up on the offer, he suddenly has other things to do… Anyway, wouldn’t you expect that, being a good little cultist of the Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming, he’d try...

Obama aims for tougher fuel economy rules for big vehicles
The Obama Administration has announced plans to develop more strict rules regarding the fuel economy of big vehicles such as school buses, garbage trucks, and delivery vans. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are moving forward with a fuel economy concept for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The first models to be subject to the new rules will be those produced in 2014. Proponents of the Regulation hope for 20 percent less Greenhouse Gas Emissions and fuel...

Shipping out jobs
With campaign season comes predictable charges that Candidate X favors "Tax Breaks for corporations that ship US Jobs overseas." It's a bogus claim. With Unemployment still stubbornly high, Americans are rightly worried about The Economy. And politicians of both parties -- from President Obama on down -- have seized on US multinational companies as a convenient scapegoat. The charge sounds logical: Under the US Corporate Tax code, US-based companies aren't taxed on profits that their...

China powers ahead with 220mph train and giant dam at full throttle
China announced two major engineering triumphs yesterday, signalling its growing industrial ambition as its economy booms. A Construction Worker views the new train, above and bottom. Below left: The Three Gorges Dam in action. Picture: Getty Images First it rolled out its fastest train then announded that the world's largest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam, was finally generating at maximum capacity. "We are now much faster," railway ministry spokesman Wang Yongping said at...

Picture This: Spring Style
A model shows off an entry to the Make-up Styling Contest of the Eon Fashion Award 2011 at China Fashion Week, which opened on Monday in Beijing. Designers and stylists have come up with some striking creations for the spring/summer season 2011. Check out the Picture This archive here . Article... Social Networks

China's last eunuch spills sex secrets
Beijing (Reuters) - Only two memories brought tears to Sun Yaoting's eyes in Old Age -- the day his father cut off his genitals, and the day his family threw away the pickled remains that should have made him a whole man again at death. China's last eunuch was tormented and impoverished in youth, punished in revolutionary China for his role as the "Emperor's slave" but finally feted and valued, largely for outlasting his peers to become a unique relic, a piece of "living history." He had stories...

China resists push to political reform
Beijing: The Chinese Communist Party has dealt another blow to hopes that it might soon open itself to greater accountability, with an editorial in the People's Daily attacking ''pompous and empty slogans'' about political reform. The editorial, on the front page of the party's main mouthpiece newspaper yesterday, is a riposte to growing demands from liberal sections of the party and from the media that reforms are urgently needed to address China's mounting social and economic...

'India reading too much into US-China statement'
India has been irked at the fact that there was no mention of India in President Obama's Speech on Asia during his first trip to the region. The US-China joint statement appeared to convey the message that Washington and Beijing would now keep watch over the issues related to South Asia, including the differences between India and Pakistan. "First, and the clearest indication of the importance that President Obama attaches to our relationship with India is what I mentioned in my remarks -- the...

Spy's arrest underscores Beijing's bid for agents
A former American Student in China whom Chinese intelligence recruited as a spy was caught after he sought work in the CIA's Espionage branch, highlighting Beijing's efforts to plant spies inside the agency. U.S. officials said screening by security and counterintelligence officials led to the discovery that Glenn Duffie Shriver, a Detroit resident, had close ties to Chinese intelligence agents working for the Ministry of State Security, who paid him at least $70,000 to work secretly as an...