Delhi's air as dirty as ever despite some reforms (AP)

NEW DELHI ? A decade ago, plans for a metro and clean-fuel buses were hailed as New Delhi's answer to pollution. But air in the Indian capital is as dirty as ever ? partly because its breakneck development has brought with it skyrocketing use of cars.

Citywide pollution sensors routinely register levels of small airborne particles at two or sometimes three times its own sanctioned level for residential areas, putting New Delhi up with Beijing, Cairo and New Mexico at the top of indexes listing the world's most-polluted capitals.

Sunrises in India's capital filter through near-opaque haze, scenic panoramas feature ribbons of brown air and everywhere, it seems, someone is coughing.

"My family is very worried. Earlier, the smoke and dust stayed outside, but now it comes into the house," said 61-year-old shopkeeper Hans Raj Wadhawan, a one-time smoker now being treated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the Delhi Heart and Lung Institute.

"I can see the air is bad again, and I can feel it in my chest."

New Delhi could lay some of the blame on its own success. Its recently minted middle class adds 1,200 cars a day to the 6 million on roads already snarled with incessantly honking traffic. Generous diesel subsidies promote the use of diesel-powered SUVs that belch some of the highest levels of carcinogenic particles, thanks to their reliance on one of the dirtiest-burning fuels and low Indian emissions standards.

"The city has lost nearly all of the gains it made in 2004 and 2005," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research at the Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment.

New Delhi has undergone head-spinning expansion as Indian economic reforms in the 1990s ushered in two decades of record growth. Once a manageable capital of 9.4 million where cows, bicycles and bullock carts ruled the road, New Delhi today is a gridlocked metropolis and migrant Mecca now home to 16 million. Authorities have scrambled to deal with everything from rocketing real estate prices to overflowing garbage dumps.

Efforts to clean the air, it seems, have only just begun.

The capital saw some success after a 1998-2003 program removing power plants from the city center and adopting compressed natural gas, CNG, for running buses and rickshaws. The buses had run on diesel, and the rickshaws on gasoline and highly polluting kerosene. Of all possible fuels, CNG releases the smallest amounts of particulate matter.

But just a few years later pollution levels are back up, with levels of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometers ? called PM10s ? often near 300 per cubic meter, three times the city's legal limit of 100 ? and well above the World Health Organization's recommended limit of 20.

The tiny particulate matter, sometimes called black carbon or soot, is small enough to lodge in people's lungs and fester over time. WHO says the stuff kills some 1.34 million people globally each year.

Studies on the Indian capital put the number of such deaths in the thousands.

It gets worse in the dry winters, as winds die down and pollution pools over the Delhi plains. Vehicular smog mixes with smoke from festival-season fireworks as well as countless illegal pyres of garbage burned by homeless migrants to stay warm as temperatures near freezing. And the booming construction scene, free for a few months from monsoons, sends up clouds of dust.

"Our biggest challenge is the vehicles, but building roads is not the answer," Roychowdhury said. "We badly need second-generation action to restrain this increasing auto dependence."

But so far India's diesel subsidies, billed as aid for poor rural farmers who need the fuel for generators and tractors, have only boosted its market for vehicles, and the worst-polluting kind.

Diesel cars, which in 2000 accounted for 4 percent of India's market, now make up 40 of new car sales, and are soon expected to hit 50 percent.

It's an odd automotive trend for today's world. In the United States, where markets set fuel prices, the popularity of diesel is nearly naught. China taxes diesel and petrol fuels at the same rate, while neighboring Sri Lanka sets high duties on diesel cars.

Indian car owners now spend more on diesel than the agricultural sector and benefit from 100 billion rupees, or about $1.86 billion, in direct diesel subsidy, according to the Center for Science and Environment.

Environmentalists call the diesel policy an incentive to pollute. And with the capital's 16 million residents now living on some of the world's most lung-challenging air, city authorities seem to agree and say more action is needed to clean up the air.

The city recently proposed a raft of reforms to bring down PM10 levels by boosting public transportation and discouraging drivers from taking out their cars. Ideas floated include taxing diesel vehicles, increasing parking rates that are now lower than bus fares, and introducing a London-like congestion charge for driving in the city center.

Delhi also is expanding its metro, and wants to auction off its 17 bus routes to replace a chaotic system that has dozens of single owner-operators working independently ? and inefficiently.

But whether the changes are made, and how effective they would be in persuading people to give up their cars, remains to be seen.

In the meantime, at least 3,000 Delhi residents will die each year from pollution-related causes, out of the city's 100,000 annual deaths, according to a recent study by The Energy Resources Institute in New Delhi and the U.S.-based health Effects Institute. Other studies have put the number of pollution-related deaths at 10,000 a year or higher.

Thousands more will develop asthma, chronic bronchitis or other respiratory ailments.

Unsurprisingly, most patients and victims live near the city's biggest roads.

"The number of respiratory diseases is definitely on the rise. Even in children we are finding more respiratory problems," said Dr. Vinod Khetarpal, president of the Delhi Medical Association. "With the introduction of CNG, it had come down quite drastically. But now it's back up again. Cars seem to be our new vice."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_as/as_india_brown_air

the shining stanford stanford when does daylight savings time end world series mvp rocky horror picture show rutgers

Cancer's next stage - Scope Blog - Stanford University

Cancer, Stanford News Rosanne Spector on December 5th, 2011

It?s the best of times ? and a most precarious time ? for cancer research.

The new issue of Stanford Medicine magazine, a special report on cancer, explains that while data and insights pour in as never before, the efforts to prevent, treat and cure cancer are faltering. The big threats? A dysfunctional cancer clinical-trial system, disastrous drug shortages and a health-care system unable to deliver cancer care at an affordable price.

According to the head of Stanford?s Health Research and Policy Department Phil Lavori, PhD, (quoted in the report?s lead story):

Basic scientists have opened a fire hose of information. There are many, many good ideas. But there are real problems in the ways we test these ideas and bring the resulting therapies to patients. If we can?t resolve these, we?re risking an incredible opportunity to make progress.

Read the whole report for more, including:

  • The lead piece on fighting cancer at a time of burgeoning data and circumscribed resources.
  • A Q&A with Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.
  • An account of a family wrestling with cancer during pregnancy.
  • An article on cancer survivors? need for special support ? and how rarely they get it.
  • A cancer patient?s perspective on palliative care.
  • A how-to guide for developing a cancer diagnostic test with just an Internet browser, high school biology, basic statistics and a few thousand dollars.
  • The story behind a push to reconsider a controversial treatment for metastatic, ?incurable? breast cancer: high-dose chemotherapy.
  • A quick look at some of Stanford?s recent cancer research discoveries.
  • A take on new evidence showing that ?good? stress might thwart cancer.

Previously: Surviving survival: The new Stanford Medicine magazine is out, New Stanford Medicine magazine explores bioethics and New Stanford Medicine magazine looks at the metamorphosis of the teaching hospital
Illustration by Anita Kunz

Source: http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2011/12/cancers-next-stage-a-report-from-stanford-medicine-magazine/

carrier iq linda perry world aids day amber rose kristin cavallari horse slaughter horse slaughter

Eddie Long taking time off from Ga. megachurch (AP)

LITHONIA, Ga. ? Megachurch leader Bishop Eddie Long announced Sunday he's taking time off to focus on his family after his wife filed for divorce.

Long's spokesman, Art Franklin, said the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church leader told his congregation during church services that he will continue to serve as senior pastor at the church in Lithonia just outside Atlanta. But Long said he needs a sabbatical.

Franklin declined to say how long the pastor's sabbatical from the church would be. He said Long and his family "are asking for privacy and sensitivity to their family."

Long's wife, Vanessa Long, filed a petition for divorce Thursday in DeKalb County Superior Court to end her 21-year marriage to the embattled minister. The church sent out a press release Friday morning saying Vanessa Long planned to withdraw her petition, but her attorney said later in the day that she had changed her mind.

In her petition, Vanessa Long indicated that the marriage is "irretrievably broken" and that there was "no hope of reconciliation of the parties." She asked the court for temporary and permanent alimony, as well as attorneys' fees and an equitable division of marital and non-marital property.

"Vanessa and I are working together in seeking God's will in our current circumstances," Eddie Long said in a written statement.

According to the divorce petition, the couple is "currently living in a bona fide state of separation."

The split comes more than a year after allegations last year that Eddie Long used his lavish lifestyle and position of spiritual authority to lure four young men into sexual relationships. Eddie Long settled the cases but has never admitted to any wrongdoing.

Details of the settlements were not disclosed.

The allegations attracted national attention, took a toll on Long's reputation and distracted from his international ministry.

The Longs were married March 10, 1990. The couple has three children together and has another child from Long's previous marriage.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_re_us/us_georgia_megachurch_pastor

local time lsu alabama earthquake when is daylight savings 2011 what time is it lsu vs alabama cain gingrich debate

U.S. judge blocks Apple bid to ban Samsung Galaxy

By Jieun Shin and Jung-ah Lee

SEOUL (MarketWatch) ? A U.S. judge rejected Apple Inc.?s request to ban sales of some Galaxy smartphones and tablet computers made by Samsung Electronics Co. in the U.S., Samsung Electronics said Saturday.

The South Korean company said that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., Friday denied Apple?s /quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL +0.46% ? request for a preliminary injunction in a patent lawsuit between the two companies.

Friday?s ruling followed Samsung?s victory Wednesday in its appeal against an injunction on sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, also requested by Apple.

Samsung Electronics /quotes/zigman/13644 SSNHY 0.00% ?said it welcomed Friday?s ruling. ?We are confident that we can demonstrate the distinctiveness of Samsung?s mobile devices when the case goes to trial next year,? the company said in a statement.

Asked to comment, Apple Korea spokesman Steve Park reiterated the same statement Apple has made since the legal dispute began.

?It?s no coincidence that Samsung?s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,? he said. ?This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple?s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.?

/quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl

Volume: 13.55M

Dec. 2, 2011 4:00p

Source: http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~r/marketwatch/software/~3/JZyrrh756MM/story.asp

carlos mencia phoebe prince green bay packers giants packers aaron rodgers patsy cline

China signals coming shift in measuring CO2 limits

Protestors bury their heads in the sands with flags illustrating different countries during a climate change summit held in the city of Durban, South Africa, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. 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 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. But no one knows what the side effects would be. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

Protestors bury their heads in the sands with flags illustrating different countries during a climate change summit held in the city of Durban, South Africa, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. 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 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. But no one knows what the side effects would be. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

Protestors from rural community across Africa shout during a climate change rally, as a South African Policeman prevents them from entering the climate change summit held in the city of Durban, South Africa, Friday, Dec 2, 2011. 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.(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

Protestors shout during a climate change rally outside the climate change summit held in the city of Durban, South Africa, Friday, Dec 2, 2011.(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

Protestors from rural community across Africa shout during a climate change rally, as a South African Policeman prevents them from entering the climate change summit held in the city of Durban, South Africa, Friday, Dec 2, 2011. 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.(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

Protestors shout during a climate change rallyoutside the climate change summit held in the city of Durban, South Africa, Friday, Dec 2, 2011. 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.(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

(AP) ? An influential Chinese analyst says his country may adjust how it measures carbon emission targets as early as 2020, bringing it more in line with Western governments and signaling a possible opening in international climate negotiations.

Xu Huaqing, a senior researcher for China's Energy Research Institute, was quoted Friday in the semiofficial China Daily as saying Beijing could set absolute caps on its carbon emissions ? comments later confirmed privately by one of China's top climate negotiators on the sidelines of the international climate talks in South Africa.

It was the first time China has mentioned a timetable toward a hard emissions cap, the article said, and was seen as a significant move by veteran China watchers.

Until now, China has spoken of emissions controls purely in terms of energy intensity, or the amount of energy it uses per unit of economic production. It pledged last year to reduce its energy input by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

China is the world's largest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gas and a main foil of industrial countries in U.N. negotiations on an accord to control global emissions. Virtually every statement, official or from one of China's approved think tanks like the energy institute, is parsed and dissected by delegates seeking departures from its public positions.

Most other countries have set targets for controlling emissions in absolute terms. The European Union, for example, has committed to slash total emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

The change in emissions limits does not mean that China will begin reducing them immediately. As its economy grows, its emissions will continue to rise, probably into the 2030s, Xu was quoted as saying.

Jake Schmidt, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Xu is considered a conservative, and his words carry more punch than if they came from one of the more liberal analysts of the think tank.

"Sometimes China floats ideas from groups like the ERI," that carry weight even though they are not official policy, Schmidt said.

Su Wei, head of the Chinese delegation at the 192-party talks, confirmed Xu's comments in a private meeting with nongovernment organizations late Thursday.

But Su said the shift would be dependent on the state of China's development at the time, said Fuquiang Yang, also of the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council who once was a researcher for Xu's prestigious think tank.

Elaborating on Xu's statement, Su told the nonprofit groups that a shift to absolute caps depended on how far China had moved toward a low-carbon economy, whether it had improved its energy efficiency, and whether it can obtain and deploy new technologies. It also wanted to see efficiency reflected in Chinese consumer behavior, said Fuquiang.

In a public meeting Friday, Su said China needed to continue its development. Although it would do its part in fighting climate change, he said, China "needs to have a reasonable consumption of energy ... Emissions must grow to meet the needs of the people."

The climate talks began Monday and continue next week with the arrival of higher ranking delegations. The U.N. said it expected 12 heads of state, mostly from Africa, and 136 Cabinet ministers to attend the final four days of talks, which are due to end Dec. 9.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-02-AF-Climate-China/id-e5b09c3315fa4630a462fa8a8f5eab52

ohio issue 2 mississippi personhood mississippi personhood issue 2 ohio issue 2 ohio election results 2011 election results 2011

France to bring home staff from embassy in Iran (AP)

PARIS ? France is temporarily downsizing its embassy in Iran and will bring some employees and their families home, a French official said Saturday. The move is the latest fallout from protesters' storming of the British embassy in Tehran and adds to the international pressure on the Iranian government.

The French diplomatic official described the decision as a preventative security measure, and acknowledged it was a response to the attack on the U.K. mission. But he stressed the French embassy will remain open and declined to specify how many staffers will be sent home.

Some 20 to 30 French citizens, including some French-Iranian dual nationals, work at the embassy, he said. Decisions about who gets to leave will be made on a "case by case basis," the official said. He added that the repatriations could begin as early as Sunday or Monday.

The French Lycee, or high school, in Tehran will also remain open, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

London alleges Tuesday's attack ? by protesters angry over the proposed toughening of sanctions over Iran's nuclear program ? was sanctioned by Tehran's ruling elite.

It has prompted Iran's most serious diplomatic fallout with the West since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy after the Islamic Revolution, and some Iranian political figures have voiced doubts over whether anything can be gained from escalating the diplomatic battle.

Britain has pulled its diplomats out of Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats from its soil. France announced earlier this week that it was recalling its ambassador for consultations following the attack, as have Germany and the Netherlands. Italy and Spain summoned Iranian envoys to condemn the attacks.

The embassy attack has helped fuel support for additional sanctions on the Iranian government over its nuclear program. The U.S. and Western allies including Britain suspect Iran is trying to build a weapons program, but Tehran says it is only interested in nuclear energy.

On Saturday, the Iranian diplomats expelled from London arrived home, the official IRNA news agency reported. The roughly two dozen diplomats and their families were greeted at Tehran's Mehrabad airport and given a hero's welcome by about 150 hard-liners.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_re_eu/iran_britain

11 11 11 activision blizzard acrylamide advent calendar adobe air 2005yu55 advanced search

?LivingSocial Plus?: A Monthly Subscription Model That Could Improve Deal Site Retention

LivingSocial Plus BetaIn an effort to get customers buying pre-paid deals more regularly, LivingSocial has launched a new subscription service called "LivingSocial Plus". For $20 a month, members get $25 in "Deal Bucks" credits that are automatically applied to their next purchase as well as access to closed deals. LivingSocial is cleverly pitching buyers on Plus with a checkout graphic that shows the price of the currently viewed deal instantly reduced by the $5 in bonus Deal Bucks. Subscription services like this could solve a fundamental problem of deal providers where users only stop by to purchase especially lucrative or relevant deals. If these program gain traction, providers could establish a consistent revenue stream, get users buying more frequently, and score free cash if credits are never redeemed. Expect rampant copying if competitors see the subscription model working.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4doQVnAIR8Q/

rashard mendenhall san antonio weather austin box austin box the academy is the academy is colorado avalanche

Australian court extends ban on Galaxy tab sales

FILE - In this Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, people walk by a Samsung store in Sydney. Samsung Electronics Co. is closer to selling its new Galaxy tablet computer in Australia after a court on Wednesday, Nov. 30, overturned a ruling that favored Apple's allegations Samsung had copied its iPad and iPhone. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, people walk by a Samsung store in Sydney. Samsung Electronics Co. is closer to selling its new Galaxy tablet computer in Australia after a court on Wednesday, Nov. 30, overturned a ruling that favored Apple's allegations Samsung had copied its iPad and iPhone. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)

(AP) ? Apple Inc. won a small victory on Friday in its global patent battle with rival Samsung, after Australia's highest court temporarily extended a ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy tablet computers in the country.

Samsung Electronics Co. is desperate to begin selling the Galaxy in Australia in time for Christmas sales, but the High Court's decision means the device can't go on the market until at least Dec. 9.

Apple took Samsung to court in Australia after accusing the Suwon, South Korea-based company of copying its iPad and iPhone. In October, a Federal Court judge ordered Samsung to halt sales of the device ahead of a trial. Samsung appealed, and on Wednesday, a full bench of the Federal Court threw out the earlier ruling and said Galaxy sales could resume on Friday.

But Apple immediately appealed that decision to the High Court, which on Friday said the temporary injunction against sales would be extended for another week while it considers Apple's latest arguments.

"Samsung believes Apple has no basis for its application for leave to appeal and will vigorously oppose this to the High Court," Samsung said in a statement.

The legal back-and-forth is all part of a larger, international battle over the technology giants' competing tablets. Cupertino, California-based Apple struck first when it sued Samsung in the United States in April, alleging the product design, user interface and packaging of the Galaxy "slavishly copy" the iPhone and iPad. Samsung hit back with lawsuits accusing Apple of patent infringement of its wireless telecommunications technology.

The companies have now filed lawsuits in 10 countries. Courts in several nations, including Germany and the Netherlands, have issued rulings that favor Apple.

Apple spokeswoman Fiona Martin declined to comment on Friday's ruling, instead issuing a general statement blasting Samsung.

"It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," Apple said in the statement. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-12-01-AS-Australia-Samsung-Apple/id-7886ea7db7d14c85abbfeda571cf4c5e

walmart black friday ad walmart black friday ad rick perry gaffe rick perry gaffe graham spanier graham spanier penn state board of trustees

This Is Steve Jobs' Greatest Life Revelation [Video]

Pay close attention to this video, people. Not because it's Steve Jobs, but because it's some of the best advice you will ever get: Steve Jobs giving you his vision of life and how you can make a difference. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/L1qRBXtrIQk/this-is-steve-jobs-greatest-life-revelation

world series game 3 sign language alphabet texas tech texas tech giuliana rancic giuliana rancic notre dame football

Big emitters aim at climate delay

As this year's UN climate summit opens, some of the developing world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters are bidding to delay talks on a new global agreement.

To the anger of small islands states, India and Brazil have joined rich nations in wanting to start talks on a legal deal no earlier than 2015.

The EU and climate-vulnerable blocs want to start as soon as possible, and have the deal finalised by 2015.

The UN summit, in Durban, South Africa, may make progress in a few areas.

"We are in Durban with one purpose: to find a common solution that will secure a future to generations to come," said Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa's minister of international relations, who is chairing the summit.

But the process of finding that common solution, in the form of an agreement that can constrain greeenhouse gas emissions enough to keep the global average temperature rise below 2C, will entail some complex and difficult politics.

Developing countries will certainly target rich governments such as Japan, Canada and Russia over their refusal to commit to new emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol, whose current targets expire at the end of next year.

They see this as a breach of previous commitments and of trust.

But some observers say small island states may begin "naming and shaming" developing countries that are also delaying progress.

They say the impasse should not delay talks on a new deal, arguing that to do so would be, in one delegate's wording, "the politics of mutually-assured destruction".

"They're on the edge of a mess," another delegate told BBC News, "and they may not be able to resolve this mess".

Seismic shift Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

The global response to climate change simply does not have time for advancing self-serving national interests?

End Quote Mark Roberts EIA

The politics of the UN climate process are undergoing something of a fundamental transformation.

Increasingly, countries are dividing into one group that wants a new global treaty as soon as possible - the EU plus lots of developing countries - and another that prefers a delay and perhaps something less rigorous than a full treaty.

The divide was evident earlier this month at the Major Economies Forum (MEF) meeting in Arlington, US - the body that includes 17 of the world's highest-polluting nations.

There, the UK and others argued that the Durban summit should agree to begin work on a new global agreement immediately, to have it in place by 2015, and operating by 2020 at the very latest.

The US, Russia and Japan were already arguing for a longer timeframe.

But BBC News has learned that at the MEF meeting, Brazil and India took the same position.

Brazil wants the period 2012-15 to be a "reflection phase", while India suggested it should be a "technical/scientific period".

China, now the world's biggest emitter, is said by sources to be more flexible, though its top priority for Durban is the Kyoto Protocol.

"The planet has no other sustainable alternative other than to ensure the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol, through a second commitment period starting in 2013," said Jorge Arguello, leader of the Argentinian delegation, which this year chairs the powerful G77/China bloc of 131 nations.

"The adoption of a second commitment period for the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions under the Kyoto Protocol is not only a political imperative and a historical responsibility, but a legal obligation that must be faced as such."

Although the EU does not oppose a second commitment period, other developed nations do.

And as the US left the protocol years ago, nations still signed on account only for about 15% of global emissions - which is why there is so much emphasis on a new instrument, with some legal force, covering all countries.

Cooling wish

The US, Russia, Japan and Canada have all argued for delaying negotiations on this for various domestic political reasons.

But the news that big developing countries are also lobbying for a delay is likely to lead to fireworks in Durban.

Continue reading the main story

Many of the countries most at risk from climate impacts want to cut emissions fast enough to hold the global average temperature rise from pre-industrial times under 1.5C.

Scientific assessments say that for this to happen, global emissions should peak and begin to fall before 2020, adding urgency to these nations' quest for a new and effective global agreement.

President Nasheed of the Maldives is virtually the only leader who has spoken openly of the need for major developing countries to begin cutting emissions soon.

Equating the need to develop with the right to emit greenhouse gases is, he has said, "rather silly".

But sources in Durban indicate that delegates from other small developing countries may join him before the fortnight elapses, and demand more of the big developing nations.

China, Brazil and India are also being blamed for blocking moves to phase out the climate-warming industrial HFC gases, which small island states tabled at the Montreal Protocol meeting in Bali last week.

"The global response to climate change simply does not have time for advancing self-serving national interests," said Mark Roberts, international policy advisor for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

Funding gap

Sources say, however, that there is real prospect of agreement in Durban on rules and mechanisms for a Green Climate Fund.

This would raise and disburse sums, rising to $100bn per year by 2020, to developing nations.

There is no agreement on where the money should come from.

Developing countries say the public coffers of industrialised nations should be the main source, whereas western governments say the bulk must come from private sector sources.

That is unlikely to be resolved until the end of next year.

But finalising the fund's rules in Durban would be a concrete step forward.

Tim Gore, Oxfam's chief policy adviser, said UK Climate Minister Chris Huhne must push for "getting the money flowing through the Green Climate Fund that poor people need to fight climate change now.

"A deal to raise resources from international transport could be on the table, and Huhne must convince other ministers to strike it," he said.

However, there is widespread scepticism about the much smaller funds - $10bn per year - that developed nations are already supposed to be contributing under the Fast Start Finance agreement made in 2009.

Developing countries say only a small fraction of what has been pledged is genuinely "new and additional", as it is meant to be; and that little has actually materialised.

The summit may also see a row over the EU's imminent integration of aviation into the Emission Trading Schemen, which India and some other developing nations oppose.

Follow Richard on Twitter

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-15894948

tonight show tony romo unthink julianne hough chris cook nest williams syndrome