Global Warming/Climate Change
Global warming the biggest worry, Clinton tells forum
24 February 2006
By JANNA HAMILTON
Former American president Bill Clinton told 600 of New Zealand's top business people their greatest worry in the world was global warming.
Mr Clinton held his audience in Auckland captive for one hour as he talked about global conflicts, global warming and how the richer nations could help.
He was introduced by Prime Minister Helen Clark who welcomed him back for his third visit.
After his speech he answered four submitted questions read by Miss Clark. Organisers would not allow questions from the floor.
Mr Clinton was speaking at a high-powered business forum in Auckland which also featured Michael Eisner, the former chief executive of Walt Disney, Carly Fiorina, the chief executive of Hewlett Packard for six years until last year, and Jack Perkowski, the chairman and chief executive of ASIMCO Technologies, the most successful western business in China.
It was one of the most costly business functions the country has seen.
A single ticket cost $2400 but that reduced to $1895 if it was bought before January 31.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Private meetings with Mr Clinton cost a lot more.
Small group hourly bookings cost $5000 a head (excluding GST). For that paying guests got a handshake, a photograph and a chance to mingle with the only Democratic president in the last 60 years to win two terms.
Larger group bookings of about 50 people cost up to $150,000.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3583391a11,00.html
Global Warming Shifts from Theory to Reality
BY CHRISTINE NIELSEN
Anyone who has lived in the Northeast of the United States for at least a couple of years can testify that this winter has been abnormally warm. Though winter has cracked back occasionally and with a vengeance—such as the largest snowstorm in New York on record, which hit the city the week before last—in general the words most often used to describe the weather recently are “unseasonable” and downright “weird.” Another phrase that has been frequently thrown around is “global warming.” Though there has always been some disagreement in the scientific community about the real and significant results of the greenhouse effect, the evidence to support the theory of human-induced, worldwide, and significant climate change is accumulating. Though the anecdotal evidence felt by the Bard community does not have scientific weight, many studies published recently do.
To start with, climatologists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies published a report last month stating that 2005 was the warmest year in a century, adding that the Earth has warmed a total of 1.44 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, but 1.08 degrees in the past 30 years. Though 1.44 degrees may sound like a pittance, its effects are proving otherwise. The results of global climate change, once a far-off seeming prediction, are now being seen and felt all over the world, from Greenland, to Tanzania, to the Gulf Coast of the United States.
A little less than the size of Mexico, the Greenland Ice Sheet would raise the ocean levels by 23 feet if it melted altogether. And according to research conducted at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, the rate at which the Ice Sheet is melting has more than doubled in the past ten years. In 1996 the Ice Sheet was losing 90 cubic kilometers of ice per year—last year it lost 224 cubic kilometers of ice. This research, the first of its kind to be done regarding Greenland, was published in last month’s edition of the journal Science. Of course, given the magnitude of the Earth’s oceans, even a loss of 224 cubic kilometers of ice per year only contributes .5 millimeters to the over 3 millimeters of global water level increase per year. More disturbing than the increase of water level, however, is the effect that overall colder ocean waters could have on climate change. Europe, for one, and also much of North America, rely heavily on hot currents within the ocean to warm their peripheries. With the oceans becoming colder due to the melting of polar ice, those hot currents could cool and possibly cease altogether, leaving Europe in a mini Ice Age.
In 2002, Lonnie Thompson, professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University, and his fellow researches made the prediction that the ice fields of Mt. Kilimanjaro would recede and eventually disappear between 2015 and 2020 due to global warming. Though Thompson had some skeptics at the time, it is now evident that his prediction is coming true, maybe even faster than was anticipated. According to data collected by Thompson and colleagues, 56 feet of ice has melted off of the top of the fields since 1962, meaning that the fields are melting at an average rate of more than half a meter per year, and that rate is only accelerating—no new ice has formed on the peak for six years now.
While the melting of polar ice happens at such a rate that it may be hard to foresee the effects in the next decade, Mt. Kilimanjaro is another story. If the ice fields melt entirely by 2020 as is expected, both the income brought in by tourism and the water supplied to local people by ice melts will be in jepoardy.
Though it is true that the Earth has experienced other periods of global warming in its history, a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, states that the rate of warming today is 30 times what it would have been at any other time. James Zachos, a professor of earth sciences at Santa Cruz and a leading expert on the episode of global warming known as the palaeocene-eocene thermal maximum, was quoted by the Independent as saying, “The emissions that caused this past episode of global warming probably lasted 10,000 years. By burning fossil fuels, we are likely to emit the same amount over the next three centuries.” Though the oceans are always working to remove carbon from the air, Zachos says the magnitude of past and continuing greenhouse gas emissions have overwhelmed the oceans’ natural capacity for cleansing. “It will take tens of thousands of years before atmospheric carbon dioxide comes down to pre-industrial levels,” says Zachos. “Even after humans stop burning fossil fuels, the effects will be long-lasting.”
More than a year has passed since Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the official Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shocked the Bush administration--which lobbied strongly for his appointment--and many others by issuing the dire statement, “Climate change is for real. We have just a small window of opportunity and it is closing rather rapidly. There is not a moment to lose,” adding, “We are risking the ability of the human race to survive.” Though the Bush administration has admitted that global warming poses a significant threat to the welfare of the country, it has yet to take serious action to severely curb the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions, even at this critical juncture.
http://observer.bard.edu/articles/news/186
Frisco addresses global warming
Get News Feeds
HARRIET HAMILTON
summit daily news
February 23, 2006
The town of Frisco took its first steps last week toward addressing the issue of global warming when the town council approved a resolution to adopt an official environmental stewardship policy.
The resolution calls for all town employees to consider environmentally sustainable practices in all operating and budgetary decisions.
"It will have an impact on every single department in the town," Frisco community development director Mark Gage said.
Buying recycled paper products, putting timers on building lights, increasing thermal efficiency when building new buildings and using biodiesel energy are all possible ways for the town to implement the policy, Gage added.
The resolution addresses environmental sustainability in general, but is specific about the issue of global warming.
"The international scientific community has reached consensus that human activities are warming the planet, and with its mountain setting and proximity to some of Colorado's major ski resorts, Frisco is on the front lines of climate change ...," the resolution reads.
Buildings account for about half of U.S. energy consumption, Gage said, and energy consumption leads to global warming.
"Where change really needs to start is with buildings," he said.
Gage emphasized the importance of action at the local level.
Global warming is becoming an important issue for mountain communities that depend on ski resorts for economic viability. Snowpack is already decreasing over much of the American West, according to "Less Snow, Less Water: Climate Disruption in the West" - a report released by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO), a Louisville-based advocacy group that monitors climate change in the region.
What snowpack there is, the report goes on to say, melts earlier. A small increase in nighttime temperatures could have a devastating effect on the ski industry.
The town of Frisco joined forces with a handful of other Colorado municipal governments, including Aspen, Boulder and Fort Collins, when it became a member of RMCO last fall. Councilmember Tom Looby credited Frisco's town character with the impetus for the resolution.
"We (the town council) reflect the strong environmental emphasis of our citizens," he said.
The city of Aspen is taking a particularly aggressive approach to reducing its climate-warming emissions. Last spring, the city launched its "Canary Initiative," named after the traditional practice of keeping a caged canary in underground mines to detect deadly gases. As part of the initiative, the city, in partnership with the Aspen Skiing Company and area environmental groups, formed the Aspen Global Warming Alliance to study the area's climate change and facilitate implementation of environmentally sustainable policies.
Frisco is keeping its eye on Aspen, Gage said.
"We're waiting to see where the Canary Initiative goes," he said. "It may be that we can partner with them down the road. It's a possibility that we can use a lot of information they're generating."
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060223/NEWS/102230037
Global warming the real terror
By Judy Cannon - posted Friday, 24 February 2006
Can we ease up for a moment? Desist from the drum-beating and the alarums? Hush the television interviews, the pronouncements and the what-ifs? Put the terror button on pause for a spell and maybe stop and think? What is the extent of current dangers to us and in what form do they lurk?
What do the facts and figures tell us? For within them maybe we can discern some context, some sense of balance, some reality.
In October 2002, Muslim terrorists detonated two powerful bombs that destroyed Paddy's Club Café and Sari Club Café in Bali’s tourist district when 88 of the 202 people killed were Australian.
We had earlier grieved and been horrified at New York’s loss of life after al-Qaeda supporters flew aircraft, and passengers, into the Twin Towers. We were saddened at the loss of life at Madrid, London and other targets of terrorist activity. We sincerely feel for those families who have had to endure the bad news.
It is sensible to guard against terrorism but it also necessary to see it in perspective and in context with other dangers. Britain was attacked for years by IRA terrorists but sought to deal with it within democratic limits and controlled alarm.
Fear of terrorism and new technology have provided governments with the open sesame to introduce severe (and maybe anti-democratic) anti-terrorism legislation. People in power can always be tempted to go too far, clamping down on the freedom of people and freedom of speech. Once politicians get the bit between their teeth, they don’t seem able to stop themselves. It is the public that has to reign them in.
Fear breeds fear. Look at the US, now with a presidential licence to spy on its own citizens; look at the past bad ways of the old Communist Soviet Union and consider Putin’s Russia; and wonder too about China.
In Australia recent severe anti-terror legislation, including the reintroduction of sedition laws, caused deep consternation, but nevertheless it was passed by parliament with the help of the Opposition. Now the Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has decided it is necessary to have legislation to allow police to tap the phones of people not suspected of crime (ABC, February 16, 2006).
He has introduced a Bill into parliament designed to formalise the powers of police and intelligence agencies to access phone calls, text messages and emails of suspects. The law would also allow police to tap the phones of friends and family of a person under investigation for major crimes or terrorism offences. That could be your emails, phone calls and text messages, as well as mine. This is all under the terrorism-fear umbrella.
Therefore it is useful to consider current facts and figures to put terror concerns in context and perspective. Regretfully, we lost 88 Australians in the Bali terror bombing, but, concurrently we lose nearly 1,500 Australians each year in road fatalities. In 2005 the number of road deaths was 1,635, the previous year the figure was 1,598. Since record-keeping commenced in 1925, there have been over 169,000 road fatalities in Australia. This dreadful and unnecessary loss of life receives scant publicity given the huge number of people who die on the roads annually.
Other unexpected deaths include the victims of murder which in 2004 numbered 254 for the whole of Australia, (attempted murder 304), and manslaughter, 35. The 2005 totals are not yet available.
Australian service people killed on operations to date (February 21, 2006) since March 2003 total eleven. Nine were on a humanitarian helicopter mission at Nias Island, Indonesia; one serviceperson died in the Solomon Islands and one in the Middle East.
These figures prompt the question: is the terrorism drum being banged too loudly? Especially, when other hazards are mammoth in comparison?
Take for example, the dangers of climate change, the watered down name for “global warning”. Scientists around the world have been telling us that the danger is real enough. And that although hopefully something still in the future, action to minimise its effects needs to be undertaken immediately. To do that of course, we first have to debate and discuss.
However, recently a senate committee was informed that the former minister for science, Peter McGauran, had tried to influence the CSIRO to sever ties with the Wentworth Group of Respected Scientists who are concerned about the environment (Sydney Morning Herald, February 17, 2006).
The CSIRO's chief executive, Geoff Garrett, has denied that his organisation "gagged" scientists after a Labor senator, Peggy Wong, questioned him on allegations that scientists, including CSIRO’s Professor Mike Young, a member of the Wentworth Group, and former CSIRO scientist Dr Graeme Pearman, who advocated government involvement in reducing greenhouse gases, had been prevented from speaking about climate change. Dr Pearman told ABC Four Corners (February 13, 2006) that CSIRO scientists were muzzled and he had at times been censored. He said, “Just before I was made redundant I was actually head of CSIRO’s climate program. This is a multi divisional program that tries to bring together the researchers in 14 of CSIRO’s 20 divisions that have relationships to the climate change issue.” In other words, he knows what he is talking about.
To look again at some facts and figures: recent natural disasters have included the earthquake and resulting Boxing Day 2004 tsunami when about 275,000 people died in Sumatra, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand, and other countries including the east coast of Africa. The furthest recorded death occurred at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 8,000kms away from the epicentre.
There was the earlier Papua New Guinea earthquake in 1998 which killed at least 3,000; Hurricane Katrina, which hit US New Orleans, killed about 1,300 in January 2006 and the current Philippines mud slide is believed to have claimed about 1,800.
Global warming has been mooted as the likely cause of Hurricane Katrina. To claim global warning as the cause for all natural disasters mentioned would be to initiate a scientific bun fight, but people died just the same. So perhaps we (and the government) should start to listen to the scientists more carefully. The first warnings about global warming could be heard in the 1980s but most of us did not grasp the significance.
Is Nature in revolt? Or are we really doing it to ourselves? And what should we and governments do about it? This is the really urgent matter.
We need to pull the heads of the government out of our communication garbage bins and instead, persuade them to face up to the most important threat of the century. We need to get them to really listen to the scientists, both here and overseas, for they are warning about a much greater terror.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4194
Ctrip Cites Global Warming As Growth Catalyst
CTRP, Ctrip, Internet
Posted by: elias on Feb 24 09:02
Apparently, small rises in the global temperature are helping Chinese online travel services provider Ctrip sell more air tickets and hotel reservations.
During Ctrip's fourth quarter conference call, in response to a question from Jason Breuschke of Citigroup about Ctrip's suprisingly strong fourth quarter, Ctrip chairman James Liang said "the weather is getting warmer every year; the fourth quarter [this year] was not as cold as in earlier years, so leisure travel picks up a little bit and that contributes to hotel [bookings] and the air [ticketing business] and [travel] packages. So that also helps us a little bit."
When I am sitting in my uninsulated Shanghai aparment in February, I sometimes begin to think that maybe global warming could help me out a little bit too.
Have any analysts factored the annual global temperature change into their projections for Ctrip's future earnings?
http://www.pacificepoch.com/blog/54223_0_27_0_C/
The Copenhagen Post
24.02.2006
Friday
Partly to mostly sunny.
Highs between 1 and 4° C.
Friday night: Clear.
Lows down to -8° C.
Saturday
Clouds on the increase as a front moves down from the north.
Flurries possible.
Temperatures between 0 and 3° C.
Saturday night: Clearing.
Lows between -5 and -1° C.
Sunday
Partly cloudy.
Highs around 0° C.
Sunday night: Chance of snow or flurries.
Temperatures falling to between -5 and -1° C.
Monday
Partly sunny.
Temperatures between -3 and 0° C.
Monday night:
Clouding up.
Flurries possible.
Temperatures between -8 and -3° C.
DMI
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94180.html
City councillors tired of illegally parked caravans want to build a five-star campground on Amager
Copenhagen city councillors are considering whether to build a new five-star campground in the Amager district, daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported on Friday.
The council will take up the proposal at its next meeting, but Claus Bondam, the deputy mayor for infrastructure and environmental issues, said the proposal was likely to pass.
'Copenhagen lacks a camping site close to the city,' he said, adding that the best choice for a site would be Amager Fælled, a large common on the outskirts of Copenhagen.
'It's close to the city, green spaces, the beach, and it's very, very easy to find,' he said.
The site is 15 minutes from the centre of the city, close to an underground station, and an existing hostel.
The city said a possible campground would have room for as many as 300 guests, and would aim for a rating of four or five stars.
Construction and operation would be contracted out to a private firm, but preparing the area would cost the city as much as DKK 400,000.
The Danish Camping Union was positive about the idea, as long as it lived up to modern campers' expectations.
'There's enough room and demand for another campground in Copenhagen, but it needs to be something where the surroundings, the facilities, and the sanitary facilities are top-shelf,' said Bjarne Jensen, president of the camping union.
Copenhagen already has a campground at the other end of the city, in the Bellahøj neighbourhood. But Bondam said age and increased interest in city camping meant the city needed a second one.
Bondam pointed out that the proposal to create a second campsite in the city comes as police report an increasing number of illegally parked caravans.
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94184.html
Housing price increases will level off during the coming year, predict major banks
Major Danish banks expect a soft landing for a red-hot real estate market in 2006 after years of double-digit increases.
Economists expected a mere 5 percent increase in housing prices compared to a nationwide average of 21.6 percent last year.
The booming real estate market, especially in Copenhagen and other major cities, had led some analysts to fear that the market was inflated. They were also concerned that speculation had contributed to the price rises.
Now, they predict that rising interest rates would slow the galloping market, after surprisingly strong German business figures led to a rate hike for the seventh day in a row.
The development will directly affect homeowners with variable interest rate loans that are closely linked to the European Central Bank.
Senior analyst Jes Asmussen of Nordea bank welcomed the development.
'It's actually quite reasonable since interest rate increases take the top off the drastic housing price increases,' said Asmussen to financial daily Børsen. 'We expect continued interest rate hikes, but not to a degree that will be a problem and lead to a collapse of the real estate market.'
Dansk Bank's senior Steen Bocian also predicted a gradual levelling off.
'A quarter percentage increase in interest rates reduces price increases on the housing market by 2.5 percent in the long run,' he said. 'In other words, it's nothing dramatic, and we expect continued housing price increases despite the higher rate.'
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94183.html
Warnings of the imminent arrival of bird flu has not meant that consumers are passing up the chicken for other meat
Concern that bird flu may be making its way towards Denmark is not causing consumers to stop buying poultry, several of the nation's supermarket chains say.
In other EU countries, the sale of poultry has fallen by as much as 70 percent. Danish consumers, however, continue to dish up fowl.
'We haven't really noticed many consumers asking about it,' said Jens Juul Nielsen, a spokesman for supermarket chain Coop Denmark, to daily newspaper Politiken.
As news began to spread last week that birds in Germany had died of the H5N1 influenza virus, grocers began fearing the worst.
A knee-jerk reaction by consumers resulted in a 50 percent drop in the sale of chicken, according to the Association of Danish Grocers.
Though neither Coop nor other major grocery chains have noticed a sustained fall in sales, they have created working groups to prepare for a possible outbreak in Denmark.
One of the primary tasks of the groups is to keep an open line to food and health authorities and poultry suppliers.
'There's not much else we can do. There's no reason to panic about something that isn't even here,' said Morten Petersen of Dansk Supermarked.
The government has repeatedly told consumers that bird flu is primarily an economic worry for poultry farmers.
Health officials continue to test dead birds found in the wild to determine the cause of death. None of the tests have been positive, but experts say the virus will arrive at some point.
Members of parliament supported the government's measures to prevent fear of bird flu from running amok.
'It's important that we let people know what the risks are involved with bird flu, and tell consumers that there's no reason not to eat poultry,' said opposition MP Bjarne Laustsen.
http://www.cphpost.dk/get/94067.html
BBC Europe
Hosepipe bans call in South East
Drought-hit region needs water
Water companies in south-east England are being urged to bring in hosepipe bans to avoid the introduction of more extreme water-saving measures.
A report from the Environment Agency made the recommendation, saying the region was in a "serious situation".
The period from October 2004 to January 2006 was the driest in some parts of the South East since 1921.
Rainfall has been low across most of England and Wales, but the south of England has been the driest area.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/4744862.stm
Winter drought fears for wildlife
By Mark Kinver
BBC News science and nature reporter
Low rainfall has raised concerns of a drought this summer
Concern is growing for flora and fauna in some parts of the UK because rainfall levels are well below the average for winter months.
Scientists say trees and fish could suffer in the summer because of the lack of rain to replenish water stocks.
A second successive dry winter has left some areas with groundwater and river levels well down on what they should be for this time of the year.
South-east England is the area worst affected by the lack of rainfall.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4739922.stm
Worse than 1976?
By Alexis Akwagyiram
BBC News
Bewl Water Reservoir on the Kent/ Sussex border is only 37% full
Extreme water-saving measures may be necessary in parts of England if a shortage is not addressed. BBC News considers how the situation compares to the drought of 1976 and how water can be conserved.
Parts of south-east England face a "serious situation" regarding water shortages, according to the Environment Agency.
By way of explanation, it points out that the period from October 2004 to January 2006 was the driest in some parts of the South East since 1921.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4746368.stm
Not feeling the heat over fuel price rises
By Stephen Robb
BBC News
Energy price rises have prompted fresh warnings about more Britons shivering into "fuel poverty", with campaigners complaining some people are forced to choose "between heating and eating".
The government aims to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable homes
Sixty-five-year-old Pam Greenhalgh, who lives alone in Northwich, Cheshire, admits she "will skip a meal here or there, or have hot drinks sometimes instead of a meal" to make savings.
"As long as I have got my cup of tea, I don't care," she adds stoically.
Fuel poverty is defined as spending more than 10% of income on heating and power.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4744866.stm
Milosevic medical plea rejected
Mr Milosevic's health problems have delayed his trial
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has rejected a request by Slobodan Milosevic to be allowed to go to Russia for medical treatment.
The former Yugoslav president, on trial for alleged war crimes, has high blood pressure and a heart condition.
The court said his lawyers had not satisfactorily proved that Mr Milosevic's medical needs could not be met in the Netherlands.
It also said it feared Mr Milosevic might not return to continue the trial.
Mr Milosevic, 64, is facing charges of genocide and other war crimes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4746232.stm
Suspected bird flu on French farm
The German military has been deployed to collect dead birds
France has found a suspected case of the deadly bird flu virus H5N1 on a poultry farm, the farm ministry says.
If confirmed, it would be the first time a farm bird has been infected in France, where two wild ducks have tested positive in the south-east.
Officials in Germany say further tests carried out on a domestic duck thought to be infected with the H5N1 strain have shown it does not have the virus.
Meanwhile, Slovakia has found its first H5N1 cases in a wild falcon and grebe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4742536.stm
Chirac leads Jewish youth service
Mr Chirac (C) led religious and political leaders at the service
French President Jacques Chirac has attended a memorial for a young French Jew whose killing shocked the nation.
Ilan Halimi was held for three weeks then found naked with horrific injuries, dying on the way to hospital.
The suspected head of the kidnap gang, Youssouf Fofana, has been held in Ivory Coast and his extradition is expected to be completed shortly.
French ministers have suggested the crime may be anti-Semitic but Ivorian police say Mr Fofana has denied this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4744676.stm
Design probe after Moscow deaths
The designer of a collapsed Moscow market has been questioned as construction flaws are suspected of having contributed to 57 deaths there.
Heavy lifting gear is being used to clear the rubble, as the authorities believe no more survivors can be found.
The market's designer Nodar Kancheli had also planned Moscow's Transvaal water park, which collapsed in 2004, killing 28 people, Russian media said.
A huge build-up of snow on the market's roof was also blamed for the disaster.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4746500.stm
Bird disaster hits Estonia coast
By Laura Sheeter
BBC News, Estonia
The authorities still do not know who caused the oil spill
International volunteers and Estonian conservationists are trying to save the last surviving birds caught in an oil spill in the frozen Baltic Sea.
The slick appeared off Estonia's north-west coast in late January.
"I'm wearing four layers of clothes, a down suit and a dry suit, and you can still feel the cold through all that," says one rescuer standing on the ice.
"But what else can we do? We can't just leave the birds to die."
The spill, the source of which is still unknown, is estimated to have killed 35,000 birds, making it by far the worst Estonia has experienced.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4733418.stm
Russia's abandoned HIV children
By Emma Simpson
BBC News, Moscow
Russia has one of the fastest growing Aids epidemics in the world, with 100 new infections every day. Increasingly, women and their infants are being affected.
Latest figures show 22,000 babies have been born to HIV-positive women. And many are being abandoned by their mothers into the care of the state.
Many HIV-positive mothers give up their babies to the Russian state
The four babies in the maternity ward in the city of Tver were just a few days old and blissfully content.
But two of them had been abandoned by their HIV-positive mothers, who were either too ashamed or unable to cope.
They ought soon to have been heading to one of Russia's regular baby orphanages, but the two newborns are likely to be stuck here in this state-run infectious diseases hospital instead.
If they are lucky it will be only for 18 months - the time it takes doctors in Russia officially to diagnose whether children are HIV-positive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4735006.stm
Living with race hate in Russia
By Patrick Jackson
BBC News website, Moscow
Juldas Okie Etoumbi, a postgraduate international relations student at Moscow's RUDN university, remembers well his first encounter with a Russian.
Gabriel Kotchofa says the number of prosecutions is minute
Standing in a Moscow Metro carriage for the first time, the young Gabonese man was thrown forward when the train started with a jolt and he grabbed a pole to keep his balance, brushing the Russian man's hand.
Without a word, the Russian withdrew his hand, produced a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe it demonstratively in front of the other passengers.
Christian, a former electrical engineering student from Cameroon now working in Moscow, was recently assaulted by a group of about 10 teenagers on a Metro train in the city centre.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4737468.stm
Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe
Mr Livingstone said he was expressing his honestly-held view
London's mayor has been suspended from office for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard.
The Adjudication Panel for England ruled Ken Livingstone had brought his office into disrepute when he acted in an "unnecessarily insensitive" manner.
The ban is due to begin on 1 March, but Mr Livingstone's representative said he may appeal to the High Court.
The hearing followed a complaint from the Jewish Board of Deputies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4746016.st
Family escape harm in gun attack
Two shots were fired in the attack in Londonderry
A couple and their two-year-old daughter have escaped injury in a gun attack at their home in Londonderry.
The 22-year-old woman said she believed paramilitaries had "mistaken her partner for someone else".
A masked gunman fired two shots shattering a window in the house at Bradley Park in the Shantallow area at about 2330 GMT on Thursday.
Two accomplices then kicked the front and back doors of the house, but failed to gain entry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4746268.stm
Third person held over £50m raid
Raid reconstruction
A third person has been arrested by detectives investigating the raid on a Securitas depot in Kent in which armed robbers got away with up to £50m.
Police said the woman, 41, was detained in Bromley, south-east London, at the Portman Building Society on Thursday.
It followed the arrest of a man, 29, and a woman, 31, in south London on conspiracy-related charges.
Three vehicles involved in the robbery have been found, but not the lorry used to transport the money, police said.
Officers said the depot manager's car, the Nissan Almera, had been found, together with the Volvo used to pull over Colin Dixon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4745856.stm
Go-ahead for Europe ice mission
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter
Cryosat: Mission guide
The Cryosat mission lost in the Arctic Ocean last year minutes after launch from northern Russia will fly again.
The European Space Agency (Esa) has agreed to build a copy of the original £90m (135m-euro) craft.
Early estimates suggest Cryosat-2 could be ready to launch in three years.
The mission will study how the Earth's ice sheets are responding to climate change amid mounting evidence that some areas are thinning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4745168.stm
