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Long beach state vs Kansas state in diamond final sounds like an NCAA tourney game to me in march. Martin and Monson doing solid jobs in '11 8:23 AM Dec 24th via Mobile Web

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China to try another dissident for "subversive" online essays (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China will try a veteran dissident, Chen Xi, on charges of "inciting subversion" for pro-democracy essays he published online, his wife said on Sunday, days after another dissident was jailed for nine years on similar charges.

Chen, a human rights campaigner in Guiyang city in Guizhou, southwest China, was arrested last month and will be tried for "inciting subversion of state power," a charge often used against critics of the ruling Communist Party, said his wife Zhang Qunxuan.

"They accused him because of 36 essays he published at home and overseas," Zhang told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"I don't know exactly what the charges are, because the court and prosecutors wouldn't show me the indictment. They said there are rules against showing that to family members," she said, adding that one of Chen's lawyers told her about the subversion accusations.

Chen, 57, is sure to maintain that he is innocent, but is certain to be found guilty and jailed by China's party-controlled judiciary, Zhang said.

"He's definitely going to fight the charges," she said, citing her discussions with his defense lawyers. She was told of the trial date on Friday, she added.

"But it looks certain that he'll be convicted. That's what courts always decide."

Chen was arrested last month after being released from a week-long detention triggered by his campaigning for independent candidates seeking to win places on China's party-controlled People's Congress assemblies, said Zhang.

Police confiscated his computer, she added.

"Then on November 29, the police called him and said he could come and get his computer," she said. "Instead, they lured him to the public security bureau and arrested him."

Calls to the Guiyang People's Intermediate Court were not answered on Sunday, a rest day in China,. Another human rights activist, Lu Yongxiang, told Reuters he also knew of the trial on Monday through Chen Xi's friends and supporters.

The trial will come after a court in Sichuan province, also in southwest China, convicted rights advocate Chen Wei and sentenced him to nine years in jail after a brief trial on Friday -- the stiffest punishment in a crackdown on dissent this year.

Chen in a common family name in China, and the two men are not related.

Chen Wei's wife, Wang Xiaoyan, and lawyers said he was jailed as punishment for essays that he had published on overseas Chinese websites.

China uses a "firewall" of Internet filters and blocks to prevent citizens from reading websites abroad that are deemed to be politically unacceptable or socially unsound.

Chen Wei's sentence was the third-longest term ever handed down for inciting subversion after Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, who has been serving an 11-year sentence since 2009, and Liu Xianbin, who was jailed for 10 years in March this year.

Earlier this year, Chinese police held hundreds of dissidents, rights activists and protest organizers in a crackdown on dissent this year, when the ruling Communist Party sought to prevent potential protests inspired by anti-authoritarian uprisings across the Arab world.

Many of those detained have been released but remain under police watch. But officials appeared determined to "make an example" of Chen, said Huang Qi, a human rights advocate in Chen's home Sichuan province and a long-time friend of his.

Chen Xi, who faces trial on Monday, is a former soldier and factory worker who was jailed for three years for his support for the 1989 pro-democracy protests across China that ended after troops crushed demonstrations, said his wife.

He was again jailed in 1996, but since his release in 2005 has been an organizer of a citizens' human rights forum in Guiyang.

(Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111225/wr_nm/us_china_dissident_trial

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Kia's Ray EV hasn't heard about aerodynamics, sets out to defy naysayers in Korea

That boxy thing up there? That's Kia's Ray EV, and apparently Korea's first mass produced electric vehicle. Looks-wise it's probably not the Hyundai i10 re-badge you were expecting, but that doesn't mean you should count the rectangular Soul-inspired city dweller out. With a range of 86 miles from its 16.4 kWh lithium-ion pack, it'll take six hours to charge over 220 volts or alternatively 25 minutes with an undisclosed fast-charger. Kia also says its electric motor has a "best in segment" efficiency rating, which at 93 percent sounds plausible. What isn't however, is the claim it's also "brisk," which is at odds with the lethargic 15.9 seconds it'll take to go from 0-62MPH. Undeterred by its languid persona and unconventional looks? Better start packing those bags, as the first 2,500 are going to the South Korean government. More shots await at the source.

Continue reading Kia's Ray EV hasn't heard about aerodynamics, sets out to defy naysayers in Korea

Kia's Ray EV hasn't heard about aerodynamics, sets out to defy naysayers in Korea originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your Top Ten Posts of 2011 (talking-points-memo)

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Alternatives to carbon markets to finance REDD | redd-monitor.org

By Chris Lang, 23rd December 2011

At the beginning of the UN climate negotiations in Durban (COP17), FERN published a short report looking at carbon markets as a means of financing REDD. The briefing, which was signed on to by 28 organisations explains why carbon markets will not deliver for southern governments, forests and people.

The briefing can be downloaded here. It starts with the question, ?How much money is needed?? and explains that although this has been a primary focus of discussions on REDD, it is the wrong question. More important than the amount of money needed, is ?a clear action plan to address the underlying drivers of forest loss coupled with sufficient political will to implement the plan?.

In the period 2010-2012, more than US$8 billion has been promised or is expected from government funds for REDD, compared to US$600 million from voluntary markets and nothing whatsoever from compliance markets. This is unlikely to change much before 2020, the briefing argues, because the largest carbon market, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme does not currently accept forest offset and will not do so until at least 2020.

Most of the growth in carbon trading volume up to 2010 was in the secondary markets. In other words, most carbon trading is carried out by banks and speculators. Even this growth is currently stagnating. Since 2008 Bank of America,?ABN Amro,?UBS
Warburg?and?Credit Suisse have closed or reduced the size of their carbon trading desks. Meanwhile, ?Forest offsets in the voluntary carbon market have been fraught with difficulties,? the briefing notes. There are several examples of dubious or damaging forest carbon projects in the largely unregulated voluntary carbon market.

Even with a forest carbon market, little money would actually reach the forests. Most of the money would end up in the hands of intermediaries: speculators, banks, consulting firms, certifying firms and so on. It is also unlikely that a carbon market would finance forest conservation in countries where the risks of corruption are high. More than 75% of CDM projects are in three countries: China, India and Brazil. A similar pattern is likely with REDD finance via carbon markets.

The briefing also lists some alternatives to financing REDD through carbon trading (see the briefing for footnotes and sources). REDD-Monitor welcomes discussion on the merits (or otherwise) of these suggestions:

Financial Transaction Tax (FTT)
A tiny tax on financial transactions ? as little as one hundredth of a percent ? could raise US$650 billion per year.[17] Although many adaptation and mitigation measures would need to be financed through such a fund if it ever materialised, a small proportion would provide enough to help reduce deforestation. The European Commission and many European governments, including Germany and France, already support the FTT, and research from economic institutions including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has shown it to be technically feasible.[18]
Tax on international shipping and aviation
There are many different proposals on the table to tax international aviation and ?bunker? (shipping) fuel. The emissions from these industries are significant, and they are currently not only under-taxed, but also benefit from fossil fuel subsidies.[19] Redirecting these subsidies to climate mitigation and adaptation is another potential large source of finance.[20]
Public funds
Even in times of austerity measures, if government spending priorities were brought in line with their climate change policies, money would also become available for forest projects and for activities to deal with the drivers of deforestation. Government funding is still the major funding source for REDD as chart 1 shows.

Public funds could also be used to address illegal logging. The World Bank (WB) estimates that illegal timber may comprise over a tenth of a total global timber trade worth more than US$150 billion a year.[21] More funding and political support to address illegal logging would therefore go a long way to keep forests standing and provide funds to Southern governments.
Private investments
Projects where companies buy forests to speculate on financial markets (as is the case with trading in forest carbon credits) have led to many problems. However the Forest Trust?s Climate Tree project is an example of an initiative which channels private investment into improving forest use without letting Northern companies off the hook with regards to reducing their own emissions as carbon offset projects do.[22]

Full Disclosure: Part of REDD-Monitor?s funding comes from FERN. Click here for all of REDD-Monitor?s funding sources.

Source: http://www.redd-monitor.org/2011/12/23/alternatives-to-carbon-markets-to-finance-redd/

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