WASHINGTON — Greenpeace welcomed the Indian Government’s ambitious National Solar Mission (NSM), released on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s summit today with President Obama. The NSM is a good step by India towards climate change mitigation, and it challenges President Obama to make the shift to deep emissions cuts and adequate climate finance that the world needs to avoid a climate catastrophe. ‘India’s National Solar Mission is yet another sign of progress that should challenge President Obama to commit the US to our responsibilities for a fair, ambitious, and binding global climate agreement,’ said Damon Moglen, Greenpeace USA global warming campaign director, ‘In addition to cutting emissions, President Obama must put money on the table at Copenhagen to support international funds of at least $140 billion per year that will protect the world’s most vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of climate change, stop tropical deforestation and help developing countries switch to renewable energy.’ India’s National Solar Mission forms a part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and has an ambitious target of achieving 20,000MW solar power by 2022. Preliminary calculations by Greenpeace show that on the basis of the NAPCC alone, […]
WASHINGTON - For the first time in 10 years, the national credit card delinquency rate fell from the second to the third quarter, more evidence that Americans are trying to pay down their debt as the recession continues to claim jobs. The share of U.S. credit card holders who are 90 or more days delinquent fell to 1.1 percent in the third quarter, down nearly 6 percent from the second quarter, according to a new report by TransUnion, one of the leading credit-reporting agencies. Mississippi topped all states with a 13.4 percent quarterly drop in its delinquency rate. The decline - along with a third-quarter slip in the savings rate - suggests ‘continued consumer efforts to keep debt to a minimum and debt repayment under control in the face of an already depressed labor market,’ said Ezra Becker, the director of consulting and strategy in TransUnion’s financial services group. ‘Consumers recognize that their credit cards are their primary purchasing vehicles in this economy.’ As evidence, the average debt among card borrowers fell to $5,612 in the third quarter, down nearly 2 percent from $5,719 in the preceding quarter. The findings are based on data from […]
IN THE early hours of the morning two men are robbed at gunpoint and ordered out of their Chevrolet Tahoe. The thief jumps in and roars off, but he does not get far. The vehicle is fitted with a telemetry system that provides a data link to a control centre. Soon after being reported stolen, the Tahoe is located by an operator who interrogates its satellite-navigation device. A signal is then sent to the engine-management system to prevent it restarting once stopped. Finally, once a police car has the Tahoe in view and the road ahead is clear, a second signal slows the engine down. The vehicle stops and the thief tries to run for it, but he is apprehended. The robbery took place in California last month. It was the first time the ‘slowdown feature had been activated by General Motors’ OnStar service to respond to a carjacking since it became available a year ago. However, 38 other cars have been slowed down remotely after other types of incident, such as the car having been stolen from a dealership, or to prevent a high-speed chase. OnStar itself was introduced in 1996 as a quick way to summon roadside […]
APATZINGAN, MEXICO — They hand out Bibles to the poor in the rural foothills of the state of Michoacan. They forbid drug use, build schools and drainage systems, and declare themselves the protectors of women and children. But this is no church group. This is La Familia Michoacana, Mexico’s newest drug-trafficking gang, which now reigns over Mexico’s methamphetamine trade. What began as a self-declared vigilante group doing ‘the work of God,’ now is seen as the nation’s most violent criminal group. Its influence stretches well beyond this patch of Mexico called ‘La Tierra Caliente’ or ‘Hot Land.’ Last month, in the largest coordinated action against a Mexican trafficking organization north of the border, the United States arrested 303 alleged La Familia affiliates in 38 US cities. It was the culmination of ‘Project Coronado,’ which has nabbed more than 1,100 suspects in 44 months. On Friday, federal officials said 15 members of the group were indicted for distributing cocaine in the Chicago area. Police seized 550 pounds of cocaine and $8 million in cash. The indictments, said officials, were part of their ongoing efforts to crackdown on the cartel’s activities in the US. The swift rise of […]
In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions – the major cause of global warming – cannot be stabilized unless the world’s economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day. ‘It looks unlikely that there will be any substantial near-term departure from recently observed acceleration in carbon dioxide emission rates, says the new paper by Tim Garrett, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences. Garrett’s study was panned by some economists and rejected by several journals before acceptance by Climatic Change, a journal edited by renowned Stanford University climate scientist Stephen Schneider. The study will be published online this week. The study – which is based on the concept that physics can be used to characterize the evolution of civilization – indicates: — Energy conservation or efficiency doesn’t really save energy, but instead spurs economic growth and accelerated energy consumption. — Throughout history, a simple physical ‘constant – an unchanging mathematical value – links global energy use to the world’s accumulated economic productivity, adjusted for inflation. So it isn’t necessary to consider population growth and standard of living in predicting society’s […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
