W O R L D

Present bad, future worse
Paris, February 2
The UN climate panel issued its toughest warning yet on Friday that human activities are to blame for global warming and projected a damaging, accelerating rise in temperatures in the 21st century.

A file photo taken on July 13, 2006, shows a boat cruising past icebergs drifting at sea away from the Icelandic glacier of Vatnajokull, Reykjavík (Iceland) because of global warming. The glacier, which can reach a thickness of up to 1,000 meters and measures 8,300 square kilometers, has a surface equal to all European glaciers put together. — AFP photo

• UK urges action

30 killed in Philippines blast
Pagadian, February 2
More than 30 people were killed today when a truck carrying cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas exploded in the southern Philippines, military officials said.

Madrid, February 2
The dream of a tunnel between Africa and Europe is coming closer to reality, Seville and disembark in Tangier 90 minutes later. After decades of plans and geological tests, the governments of both Spain and Morocco are now keen to push ahead with a twin-track rail tunnel linking the two countries. Madrid and Rabat gave the project a boost late last year when they contracted a French, Spanish, Moroccan and Swiss consortium to draw up fresh blueprints for the under-sea tunnel.

Sensitive documents dumped  by consul
New York, February 2
Visa applications and other sensitive documents of top executives and political figures were found lying in an open yard at a San Francisco recycling centre after they were dumped there by the city's Indian consulate.

N-deal: Saran holds talks with Burns
Washington, February 2
Amidst concerns by India over certain aspects of a proposed agreement to operationalise the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, Prime Minister’s special envoy Shyam Saran held talks with the Bush administration’s pointsman for the nuclear initiative Nicholas Burns to remove obstacles on way of implementation of the historic pact.

Present bad, future worse

Paris, February 2
The UN climate panel issued its toughest warning yet on Friday that human activities are to blame for global warming and projected a damaging, accelerating rise in temperatures in the 21st century.

The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts more rain, more powerful storms, droughts and heatwaves and a slow rise in sea levels in line with rising temperatures.

“Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (human) greenhouse gas concentrations,” said a final text seen by Reuters.

The phrase “very likely” in IPCC wording means a probability of more than 90 percent that human activities, led by burning fossil fuels, explain most of the warming in the past 50 years.

That is an increased level of confidence from the last IPCC report, in 2001, when the panel said the link was “likely”, or at least 66 percent probable. The shift could put pressure on governments to do more to combat warming.

The IPCC, the most authoritative group on warming with 2,500 scientists from more than 130 nations, began its Paris meeting involving scientists and government experts on Monday, and the talks ended early on Friday. IPCC leaders will formally unveil the text at 0830 GMT on Friday.

It predicted a “best estimate” that temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius (3.2 and 7.8 Fahrenheit) in the 21st century within a range of 1.1 to 6.4 Celsius. Temperatures rose about 0.7 degrees Celsius in the 20th century. — Reuters

Impact of Temperature Rises 

The report projects temperatures rising by 2 to 4.5 Celsius (3.6 to 8.1 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2100, with a “best estimate” of a 3C (5.4 F) rise. Below are some estimates of the global implications of different temperature rises in degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels, as detailed in a report on climate change by Nicholas Stern, chief British government economist, published in October.

DEGREE Temp Rise Impact

• Shrinking glaciers threaten water for 50 million people
• Modest increases in cereal yields in temperate regions
• At least 300,000 people each year die from malaria, malnutrition and other climate-related diseases
• Reduction in winter mortality in higher latitudes
• 80 percent bleaching of coral reefs, e.g. Great Barrier Reef
• 2 DEGREES
• 5-10 per cent decline in crop yield in tropical Africa
• 40-60 million more people exposed to malaria in Africa
• Up to 10 million more people affected by coastal flooding
• 15-40 per cent of species face extinction (one estimate)
• High risk of extinction of Arctic species, e.g. polar bear
• Potential for Greenland ice sheet to start to melt irreversibly, committing world to 7 meter sea level rise
• 3 DEGREES
• In Southern Europe, serious droughts once every 10 years
• 1-4 billion more people suffer water shortages
• Some 150-550 additional millions at risk of hunger
• 1-3 million more people die from malnutrition
• Onset of Amazon forest collapse (some models only)
• Rising risk of collapse of West Antarctic Ice Sheet
• Rising risk of collapse of Atlantic Conveyor of warm water
• Rising risk of abrupt changes to the monsoon
• 4 DEGREES
• Agricultural yields decline by 15 - 35 percent in Africa
• Up to 80 million more people exposed to malaria in Africa
• Loss of around half Arctic tundra
• 5 DEGREES
• Possible disappearance of large glaciers in Himalayas, affecting one-quarter of China’s population, many in India
• Continued increase in ocean acidity seriously disrupting marine ecosystems and possibly fish stocks
• Sea level rise threatens small islands, coastal areas such as Florida and major cities such as New York, London, and Tokyo. — Reuters

Seas rising faster

Sea levels are rising faster than predicted amid global warming, a group of scientists said on Thursday in a challenge to the U.N.’s climate panel which is set to issue a report toning down the threat of rising oceans.

The researchers — from the United States, Germany, France, Australia and Britain — wrote in the journal Science that seas have been edging up more rapidly since 1990 than at any time in more than a century, outpacing computer projections.

“The data now available raise concerns that the climate system, in particular sea level, may be responding more quickly than climate models indicate,” Stefan Ramstorf of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and co-authors wrote. — Reuters

UK urges action

London, February 2
Britan welcomed the UN report on global warming.

“There is an urgent need for the international debate on climate change to move beyond “them and us” and recongnise the world’s shared dilemma,” Foreign Secretary Margaret Backett said.

Envirnment Secretary David Miliband added: “This report confirms our concerns that the window of opportunity to aviod dangerous climate change is closing more quickly than previosly thought. — AFP

30 killed in Philippines blast

Pagadian, February 2
More than 30 people were killed today when a truck carrying cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas exploded in the southern Philippines, military officials said.

The driver of the truck and a number of people on a nearby bus were among the dead, police and military officials said.

More than 30 people were injured, many seriously, as ambulances, private vehicles and a military truck ferried the dead and injured to Pagadian city hospital.

The accident occurred around noon in the poor farming town of Tigpao, 30 kilometers south of Pagadian on the island of Mindanao.

Major Gary Lacheca said there was no immediate sign of any foul play behind the blast but said explosives experts were on the scene to investigate as a precaution. — AFP

Reality show: Tunnel linking Europe, Africa inches closer
Elizabeth Nash

Sensitive documents dumped by consul

New York, February 2
Visa applications and other sensitive documents of top executives and political figures were found lying in an open yard at a San Francisco recycling centre after they were dumped there by the city's Indian consulate.

Security experts said the documents are a potential treasure trove for identity thieves or terrorists.

Among the papers found lying were visa applications submitted by Byron Pollitt, Chief Financial Officer of San Francisco's Gap Inc., and Anne Gust, wife of California Attorney General Jerry Brown, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Visa applications of top executives of AT&T Wireless Inc., Oracle Corp., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Williams-Sonoma Inc, were also found lying.

Information in the documents includes, applicants' names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, professions, employers, passport numbers photos and details of their travel plans and reasons for visiting India.

"This is absolutely sensitive information," said Charles Cresson Wood, a information-security consultant. "It needs to be safeguarded," he added.

However, B.S. Prakash, the Indian consul-general, was quoted as saying: "As we see it, the documents are not confidential.” — IANS

N-deal: Saran holds talks with Burns

Washington, February 2
Amidst concerns by India over certain aspects of a proposed agreement to operationalise the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, Prime Minister’s special envoy Shyam Saran held talks with the Bush administration’s pointsman for the nuclear initiative Nicholas Burns to remove obstacles on way of implementation of the historic pact.

Mr Saran had an extensive meeting yesterday with Mr Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and discussed, among other things, conceptual issues that have a bearing or impact on the 123 Agreement that is being currently negotiated between India and the US.

Part of the focus of the current discussions is also on the “next steps” that are involved in the civilian nuclear initiative such as status of India’s negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on India-specific safeguards and the 45 member Nuclear Suppliers Group. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Farmer Chris Priestley shows the dry soil on his drought-affected property near the outback town of Walgett, located in northwestern New South Wales on Friday. The UN climate panel issued its strongest warning yet on Friday that human activities are heating the planet, putting extra pressure on governments to do more to combat accelerating global warming. —Reuters.

Believers of militancy cannot be taken on board on Kashmir: Musharraf
Rawalpindi, February 2
In a strong message to militants, President Pervez Musharraf today made it clear that those who believed that the gun was the only solution to the Kashmir issue, “cannot be taken on board” in resolving it. “We cannot take people on board who believe in confrontation and who think that only militancy solves the problem. They cannot be taken on board, they will remain opposed to whatever we do,” Musharraf said at a press conference in this garrison town. “They will create all obstacles and we have to be steadfast against all that they do,” he said while dwelling on the Indo-Pak peace process. — PTI

Indian ex-UN official to be jailed
New York, February 2
A US court has ordered that Sanjaya Bahel, a former UN official from India charged with bribery and procurement fraud, should be held without bail pending his trial early next month to ensure that he does not flee the country. Bahel, who was freed on a $ 900,000 bail since his arrest in November, was sent to jail after US District Judge Denise L Cote determined the amount was insufficient to ensure his presence at his trial. Bahel was chief of commodity procurement department at the United Nations from 1998 to 2003. — PTI

Eiffel Tower goes dark
PARIS: The City of Light on Friday dimmed as Parisians joined a five-minute “lights-out” campaign to express concern over climate change.Even the Eiffel Tower, whose 20,000 sparkling bulbs light up the Paris skyline nightly, went dark between 7:55 p.m. and 8 p.m. Lights also went out at Paris’ Hilton Hotel, where many of the scientists and officials from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are staying as they work on the report. — AP

Composer dead
ROME: Gian Carlo Menotti, who composed a pair of Pulitzer Price-winning operas and founded arts festivals in the United States and Italy, has died at a hospital in Monaco, his son said. He was 95. The Italian composer won Pulitizers for a pair of the 20th century’s more successful operas: ‘The Consul,’ and ‘The Saint of Bleecker Street.— AP