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Saturday, September 8, 2012
WSJ.com - Geography Strikes Back
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Evidence points to fundamental shift in climate
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0825/1224322962443.html#.UDiuODiyWH0.email
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Sunday, August 19, 2012
Only plant known to have survived Ice Age here found
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0818/1224322385886.html#.UDCpHpn56oE.email
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Monday, August 13, 2012
[From: Peter Lydon] Iran earthquakes leave hundreds dead
Peter Lydon spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/12/iran-earthquakes-hundreds-dead
Iran earthquakes leave hundreds dead
Almost 300 people feared dead and 2,600 injured after quakes measuring 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude flatten villages
Yeganeh Torbati, Reuters, in Dubai
Monday August 13 2012
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/12/iran-earthquakes-hundreds-dead
Overcrowded hospitals in north-west Iran struggled to cope with thousands of earthquake victims on Sunday as rescuers raced to reach remote villages after two powerful earthquakes killed nearly 300 people.
Thousands huddled in makeshift camps or slept in the street after Saturday's quakes in fear of more aftershocks, 60 of which had already struck. "I saw some people whose entire home was destroyed, and all their livestock killed," Tahir Sadati, a local photographer, said by telephone. "People need help, they need warm clothes, more tents, blankets and bread."
The worst damage and most casualties appeared to be in rural villages around the towns of Ahar, Varzaghan and Harees, near the major city of Tabriz.
Close to 300 people were believed to be dead with 2,600 injured, Ahar's local governor told the semi-official Fars news agency.
Tabriz resident Ahmad, 41, said his cousin living in a village near Ahar has been killed and his body recovered.
"Nobody knows what happened to his wife and two daughters," aged four and seven, Ahmad said. "We fear that if rescuers don't get to them soon, they will lose their lives too if they're still alive."
But Iranian officials said rescue operations had ended by Sunday afternoon, Iran's English-language Press TV reported.
About 16,000 people in the quake-hit area have been given emergency shelter, Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar told Mehr news agency, and 44,000 food packages and 5,600 tents distributed by Red Crescent workers.
But Iranian MP Mohammad Hassan-Nejad warned that if relief efforts did not speed up, the death toll would rise swiftly.
"Relief groups have still not reached many villages, because in normal conditions some of these villages are several hours away," he told the Iranian Students' News Agency. "Currently the roads are closed and the only way to reach these villages is by air."
Photographs posted on Iranian news websites showed many bodies, including those of children, lying on the floor of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar and medical staff treating the injured in the open air as dusk fell on Saturday. Other images showed rescue workers digging people out of rubble ? some alive, many dead.
Hospitals in Tabriz, Ardabil and other cities nearby took in many of the injured, residents and Iranian media said, and there were long queues of survivors waiting to be treated.
Aidin, another Tabriz resident, said he went to give blood at a local hospital on Saturday and saw staff struggling to cope with the influx of patients. Most had been taken there by their families, he said, indicating a shortage of ambulances.
Ahar's 120-bed hospital was full, said Arash, a college student and resident of the town. There were traffic jams on the narrow road between Ahar and Tabriz as victims tried to reach hospitals, he said by telephone.
"People are scared and won't go back into their houses because they fear the buildings aren't safe," he added.
The US Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 37 miles north-east of Tabriz, a trading hub far from Iran's oil-producing areas and known nuclear facilities.
The second, measuring 6.3, struck 11 minutes later near Varzaghan, 30 miles north-east of Tabriz.
More than 1,000 villages in the area were affected by the earthquakes, said Ahmad Reza Shaji'i, a Red Crescent official. About 130 villages suffered more than 70% damage, and 20 villages were completely destroyed.
Iran is crisscrossed by major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 that reduced the historic south-eastern city of Bam to dust and killed about 31,000 people.
Saturday's quakes struck in East Azerbaijan province, a mountainous region that neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia to the north. Buildings in Tabriz, the provincial capital, are substantially built and ISNA reported nobody in the city had been killed or hurt.
Homes and business premises in Iranian villages, however, are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, sent a telegram to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Sunday expressing his sympathy and offering assistance, the Kremlin's press-service said. Pope Benedict XVI asked Christians to pray for the victims of the quakes.
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@guardian.co.uk.
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To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/12/iran-earthquakes-hundreds-dead
Iran earthquakes leave hundreds dead
Almost 300 people feared dead and 2,600 injured after quakes measuring 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude flatten villages
Yeganeh Torbati, Reuters, in Dubai
Monday August 13 2012
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/12/iran-earthquakes-hundreds-dead
Overcrowded hospitals in north-west Iran struggled to cope with thousands of earthquake victims on Sunday as rescuers raced to reach remote villages after two powerful earthquakes killed nearly 300 people.
Thousands huddled in makeshift camps or slept in the street after Saturday's quakes in fear of more aftershocks, 60 of which had already struck. "I saw some people whose entire home was destroyed, and all their livestock killed," Tahir Sadati, a local photographer, said by telephone. "People need help, they need warm clothes, more tents, blankets and bread."
The worst damage and most casualties appeared to be in rural villages around the towns of Ahar, Varzaghan and Harees, near the major city of Tabriz.
Close to 300 people were believed to be dead with 2,600 injured, Ahar's local governor told the semi-official Fars news agency.
Tabriz resident Ahmad, 41, said his cousin living in a village near Ahar has been killed and his body recovered.
"Nobody knows what happened to his wife and two daughters," aged four and seven, Ahmad said. "We fear that if rescuers don't get to them soon, they will lose their lives too if they're still alive."
But Iranian officials said rescue operations had ended by Sunday afternoon, Iran's English-language Press TV reported.
About 16,000 people in the quake-hit area have been given emergency shelter, Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar told Mehr news agency, and 44,000 food packages and 5,600 tents distributed by Red Crescent workers.
But Iranian MP Mohammad Hassan-Nejad warned that if relief efforts did not speed up, the death toll would rise swiftly.
"Relief groups have still not reached many villages, because in normal conditions some of these villages are several hours away," he told the Iranian Students' News Agency. "Currently the roads are closed and the only way to reach these villages is by air."
Photographs posted on Iranian news websites showed many bodies, including those of children, lying on the floor of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar and medical staff treating the injured in the open air as dusk fell on Saturday. Other images showed rescue workers digging people out of rubble ? some alive, many dead.
Hospitals in Tabriz, Ardabil and other cities nearby took in many of the injured, residents and Iranian media said, and there were long queues of survivors waiting to be treated.
Aidin, another Tabriz resident, said he went to give blood at a local hospital on Saturday and saw staff struggling to cope with the influx of patients. Most had been taken there by their families, he said, indicating a shortage of ambulances.
Ahar's 120-bed hospital was full, said Arash, a college student and resident of the town. There were traffic jams on the narrow road between Ahar and Tabriz as victims tried to reach hospitals, he said by telephone.
"People are scared and won't go back into their houses because they fear the buildings aren't safe," he added.
The US Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 37 miles north-east of Tabriz, a trading hub far from Iran's oil-producing areas and known nuclear facilities.
The second, measuring 6.3, struck 11 minutes later near Varzaghan, 30 miles north-east of Tabriz.
More than 1,000 villages in the area were affected by the earthquakes, said Ahmad Reza Shaji'i, a Red Crescent official. About 130 villages suffered more than 70% damage, and 20 villages were completely destroyed.
Iran is crisscrossed by major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 that reduced the historic south-eastern city of Bam to dust and killed about 31,000 people.
Saturday's quakes struck in East Azerbaijan province, a mountainous region that neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia to the north. Buildings in Tabriz, the provincial capital, are substantially built and ISNA reported nobody in the city had been killed or hurt.
Homes and business premises in Iranian villages, however, are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, sent a telegram to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Sunday expressing his sympathy and offering assistance, the Kremlin's press-service said. Pope Benedict XVI asked Christians to pray for the victims of the quakes.
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@guardian.co.uk.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2012
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Registered office: PO Box 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1P 2AP
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Registered Office
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London
N1P 2AP
Registered in England Number 908396
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Death toll in Iran quake at 153
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0811/breaking23.html#.UCb-EZt6Z-I.email
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Thursday, August 9, 2012
India plans EUR 66m mission to Mars for 2013
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0809/1224321806505.html#.UCOc_ypcSTY.email
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Monday, August 6, 2012
India's power crisis
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0806/1224321567655.html#.UCAa5hKKgfk.email
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Monday, July 23, 2012
[From: Peter Lydon] Food price crisis feared as erratic weather wreaks havoc on crops
Peter Lydon spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/22/food-price-crisis-weather-crops
Food price crisis feared as erratic weather wreaks havoc on crops
'What the world economy really needs right now is a break', one economist says, but instead it appears headed toward upheaval
Josephine Moulds
Sunday July 22 2012
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/22/food-price-crisis-weather-crops
Freak weather in some of the world's vital food producing regions is ravaging crops and threatening another global food crisis like the price shocks that unleashed social and political unrest in 2008 and 2010.
As the US suffers the worst drought in more than 50 years, analysts are warning that rising food prices could hit the world's poorest countries, leading to shortages and social upheaval.
The situation has sparked comparisons to 2008 when high food prices sparked a wave of riots in 30 countries across the world, from Haiti to Bangladesh.
Researchers say rising food prices also helped trigger the Arab Spring in 2011.
Nick Higgins, commodity analyst at Rabobank, said: "Food riots are a real risk at this point. Wheat prices aren't up at the level they got to in 2008 but they are still very high and that will have an effect on those who are least able to pay higher prices for food."
In America's agricultural heartland, searing heat and sparse rainfall have left farmers helpless as their corn and soy bean crops wither in dry fields. Earlier this month, the US department of agriculture (USDA) slashed forecasts for the corn crop by 12%.
US agricultural secretary Tom Vilsack said: "I get on my knees every day, and I'm saying an extra prayer right now. If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it."
As it is, current weather forecasts suggest the drought will continue and experts fear the USDA may have to cut its targets again in August.
Dan Basse, president of AgResources in Chicago, said the government's prediction would prove too optimistic if the drought continues. "We've been traipsing through the fields of southern Illinois, and it is worse than the government says."
The US is crucial to global food markets as the world's largest exporter of corn, soy beans and wheat, so the impact of the drought will be felt across the globe.
Corn prices have already shot up 40% since June to hit all-time highs, soy bean prices have jumped 30% to record levels, and wheat has surged 50%.
It is not just the US. Unseasonal weather, thought to be caused by climate change, is affecting farmers across the world.
South America has been hit by a drought, which could damage the soy bean harvest, while UK wheat has been damaged by the rain.
Flash flooding in Russia could also affect the wheat harvest. Traders are particularly concerned about the latter as Russia might limit exports if it is worried about wheat supplies at home, causing further price spikes.
Shortages have been compounded by huge orders for corn and soy beans to make biofuels, in order to meet quotas in the US and Europe.
The US agriculture secretary said last week the situation was not bad enough to warrant a reduction in government mandates for biofuels, driving the price of corn even higher. Traders say China also buys and stores grain strategically, putting more pressure on limited supplies.
Consumers will soon feel the effects of these spikes. A high price of wheat leads directly to higher prices in the shops, as it is the main ingredient for bread and other staples.
The link is less direct with other crops. Corn and soy beans are used to feed livestock, so rising prices will ultimately cause the price of meat to rise. In the short-term, however, they will have the reverse effect. As the cost of feed rises, farmers kill cattle at lighter weights to avoid having to feed them. That will briefly flood the market with meat, causing prices to fall, but subsequent shortages will causes prices to rise sharply.
Higgins at Rabobank said meat will then remain expensive for a long time. "It is very hard to rebuild cattle herds and these inflationary effects will be long and lingering."
Rising food prices have a disproportionate effect on the poorest people in the world.
Ruth Kelly, Oxfam's food policy adviser says people in the Western world spend around 15% of their income on food, but that rises to around 75% in developing countries, so any change in food prices has a dramatic impact on household budgets.
Kelly says problems will be compounded by the previous two food price spikes in 2008 and 2011:
"People are already in debt from previous spikes and suffering the consequences. When the first food crisis hit people were forced to sell off their assets, their cattle and jewellery, and take on debt to make ends meet. After multiple crises, people run out of savings and that can be quite disastrous.
"People can find it much harder to cope when you have multiple shocks like this, without time to recover between them, rather than just a single shock."
Economists fear food price inflation will exacerbate the global economic crisis, as it limits the ability of emerging markets to provide any kind of stimulus to drive a recovery. Karen Ward, senior economist at HSBC, said: "What the world economy really needs right now is a break. Any inflationary pressure, particularly that stops the emerging world loosening policy and providing the boost to the global economy, would be a problem."
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@guardian.co.uk.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2012
Registered in England and Wales No. 908396
Registered office: PO Box 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1P 2AP
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
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Guardian News & Media Limited is not liable for any computer
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e-mail. You should employ virus checking software.
Guardian News & Media Limited
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Registered Office
PO Box 68164
Kings Place
90 York Way
London
N1P 2AP
Registered in England Number 908396
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/22/food-price-crisis-weather-crops
Food price crisis feared as erratic weather wreaks havoc on crops
'What the world economy really needs right now is a break', one economist says, but instead it appears headed toward upheaval
Josephine Moulds
Sunday July 22 2012
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/22/food-price-crisis-weather-crops
Freak weather in some of the world's vital food producing regions is ravaging crops and threatening another global food crisis like the price shocks that unleashed social and political unrest in 2008 and 2010.
As the US suffers the worst drought in more than 50 years, analysts are warning that rising food prices could hit the world's poorest countries, leading to shortages and social upheaval.
The situation has sparked comparisons to 2008 when high food prices sparked a wave of riots in 30 countries across the world, from Haiti to Bangladesh.
Researchers say rising food prices also helped trigger the Arab Spring in 2011.
Nick Higgins, commodity analyst at Rabobank, said: "Food riots are a real risk at this point. Wheat prices aren't up at the level they got to in 2008 but they are still very high and that will have an effect on those who are least able to pay higher prices for food."
In America's agricultural heartland, searing heat and sparse rainfall have left farmers helpless as their corn and soy bean crops wither in dry fields. Earlier this month, the US department of agriculture (USDA) slashed forecasts for the corn crop by 12%.
US agricultural secretary Tom Vilsack said: "I get on my knees every day, and I'm saying an extra prayer right now. If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it."
As it is, current weather forecasts suggest the drought will continue and experts fear the USDA may have to cut its targets again in August.
Dan Basse, president of AgResources in Chicago, said the government's prediction would prove too optimistic if the drought continues. "We've been traipsing through the fields of southern Illinois, and it is worse than the government says."
The US is crucial to global food markets as the world's largest exporter of corn, soy beans and wheat, so the impact of the drought will be felt across the globe.
Corn prices have already shot up 40% since June to hit all-time highs, soy bean prices have jumped 30% to record levels, and wheat has surged 50%.
It is not just the US. Unseasonal weather, thought to be caused by climate change, is affecting farmers across the world.
South America has been hit by a drought, which could damage the soy bean harvest, while UK wheat has been damaged by the rain.
Flash flooding in Russia could also affect the wheat harvest. Traders are particularly concerned about the latter as Russia might limit exports if it is worried about wheat supplies at home, causing further price spikes.
Shortages have been compounded by huge orders for corn and soy beans to make biofuels, in order to meet quotas in the US and Europe.
The US agriculture secretary said last week the situation was not bad enough to warrant a reduction in government mandates for biofuels, driving the price of corn even higher. Traders say China also buys and stores grain strategically, putting more pressure on limited supplies.
Consumers will soon feel the effects of these spikes. A high price of wheat leads directly to higher prices in the shops, as it is the main ingredient for bread and other staples.
The link is less direct with other crops. Corn and soy beans are used to feed livestock, so rising prices will ultimately cause the price of meat to rise. In the short-term, however, they will have the reverse effect. As the cost of feed rises, farmers kill cattle at lighter weights to avoid having to feed them. That will briefly flood the market with meat, causing prices to fall, but subsequent shortages will causes prices to rise sharply.
Higgins at Rabobank said meat will then remain expensive for a long time. "It is very hard to rebuild cattle herds and these inflationary effects will be long and lingering."
Rising food prices have a disproportionate effect on the poorest people in the world.
Ruth Kelly, Oxfam's food policy adviser says people in the Western world spend around 15% of their income on food, but that rises to around 75% in developing countries, so any change in food prices has a dramatic impact on household budgets.
Kelly says problems will be compounded by the previous two food price spikes in 2008 and 2011:
"People are already in debt from previous spikes and suffering the consequences. When the first food crisis hit people were forced to sell off their assets, their cattle and jewellery, and take on debt to make ends meet. After multiple crises, people run out of savings and that can be quite disastrous.
"People can find it much harder to cope when you have multiple shocks like this, without time to recover between them, rather than just a single shock."
Economists fear food price inflation will exacerbate the global economic crisis, as it limits the ability of emerging markets to provide any kind of stimulus to drive a recovery. Karen Ward, senior economist at HSBC, said: "What the world economy really needs right now is a break. Any inflationary pressure, particularly that stops the emerging world loosening policy and providing the boost to the global economy, would be a problem."
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the guardian.co.uk user help desk: userhelp@guardian.co.uk.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2012
Registered in England and Wales No. 908396
Registered office: PO Box 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1P 2AP
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit guardian.co.uk - newspaper of the year
www.guardian.co.uk www.observer.co.uk www.guardiannews.com
On your mobile, visit m.guardian.co.uk or download the Guardian
iPhone app www.guardian.co.uk/iphone
To save up to 30% when you subscribe to the Guardian and the Observer
visit www.guardian.co.uk/subscriber
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail and all attachments are confidential and may also
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the sender and delete the e-mail and all attachments immediately.
Do not disclose the contents to another person. You may not use
the information for any purpose, or store, or copy, it in any way.
Guardian News & Media Limited is not liable for any computer
viruses or other material transmitted with or as part of this
e-mail. You should employ virus checking software.
Guardian News & Media Limited
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Registered Office
PO Box 68164
Kings Place
90 York Way
London
N1P 2AP
Registered in England Number 908396
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
India's children starving to death while grain rots in fields
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0703/1224319264513.html#.T_JytU8bASI.email
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Declaration agreed at summit in Rio
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0621/breaking6.html#.T-LWMgOkMu0.email
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Tuesday, June 19, 2012
A world of absurd thinking
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2012/0616/1224318043151.html#.T-AR9b458j8.email
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Getting rich by making things we don't need
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0131/1224311002449.html#.TyeX6g7GTEo.email
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Thursday, January 5, 2012
IDA sees record investment
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0105/breaking25.html#.TwXnv9Ip-Ls.email
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Sunday, December 11, 2011
Climate activists unhappy at UN deal
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1211/breaking2.html#.TuT0z6N0mcY.email
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Saturday, December 10, 2011
Croatia arrives, but Serbia must wait for EU accession
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1210/1224308870607.html#.TuMzd7uRJ4k.email
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Monday, December 5, 2011
New deal on Kyoto successor more likely
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1205/1224308581705.html#.Tt1MYOu4dv4.email
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Global powers must lead way in new climate deal, says EU
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2011/1128/1224308221580.html#.TtM1wcNpe2U.email
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Sunday, October 31, 2010
irishtimes.com:Indonesia volcano erupts again
Indonesia volcano erupts again
Indonesia's military evacuated villagers from the slopes of the
country�s most volatile volcano today as it unleashed a new powerful
explosion that claimed another victim and temporarily shut down an airport.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1030/breaking5.html
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Sunday, October 10, 2010
Rupees and rituals: the rise and rise of Bollywood brides (The Irish Times, 08 Oct 2010, Page 12)
MARY FITZGERALD inNewDelhi
The Irish Times
08 Oct 2010
WHEN IT comes to her forthcoming nuptials, Ritika has a firm idea of what she wants. “My wedding will be simple and elegant,” she says. Her mother Kumkum nods in agreement. “I recently attended a wedding which was way over the top,” she recalls....read more...
Maoists on the rise in lopsided economy (The Irish Times, 04 Oct 2010, Page 10)
The Irish Times
04 Oct 2010
RAMESH WAS an illiterate teenage orphan when he joined the ragtag army that came to his village preaching Maoist revolution. During his years in the jungle he learned to read, write, and fire a gun. Ramesh says he left his cadre only because he wanted...read more...
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