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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Geithner to discuss Iran in China, Japan visit

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Geithner to discuss Iran in China, Japan visit

USA-TREASURY-CHINA:Geithner to discuss Iran in China, Japan visit

By Margaret Chadbourn

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will travel to China and Japan next week to discuss U.S. sanctions on Iran and the state of the global economy with top government officials, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Geithner will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan on Tuesday and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday.

He will travel to Japan on Thursday to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Finance Minister Jun Azumi.

Geithner's trip is the latest step in an accelerating U.S. effort to reduce Iran's oil revenue and try to force the country to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program. At the same time, the Obama administration wants to avoid a spike in crude prices that could threaten the global economy.

The Treasury Department said Geithner would "discuss our continued coordination with international partners in the region to increase pressure on the government of Iran, including financial measures targeting the central bank of Iran."

President Barack Obama on Saturday signed into law new sanctions against financial institutions dealing with Iran's central bank, the main conduit for the country's oil revenues.

China, the No. 1 customer for Iran's oil, is unlikely to be swayed by the new U.S. law, analysts have said. China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday restated Beijing's opposition to the U.S.-led push for unilateral sanctions on Iran.

In addition to the U.S. effort to tighten the financial screws, Iran faces the prospect of an outright European Union embargo on its oil. EU diplomats said on Wednesday that a preliminary agreement to ban imports of Iranian crude had been reached, and oil prices rose on the news.

Iran has warned it could choke off crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for 40 percent of the world's oil, if sanctions were imposed. Many market participants, however, say the chance Iran will follow through with its threat is remote, and security analysts question whether it has the capability to shut the Strait.

A U.S. Treasury official said the Obama administration supported the EU proposal, adding that a phased-in effort to curtail use of Iranian crude could cut Tehran's revenues without disrupting oil markets.

During his trip to Asia, Geithner also will discuss policies to promote global economic growth and efforts to support a level playing field for global trade, the Treasury said.

The United States contends an undervalued yuan currency has given China a competitive trade edge, but the Obama administration, in a semi-annual report on currency practices last week, declined to name China a currency manipulator.

In the report, it said a faster appreciation of the Chinese yuan was needed. It also chided Japan for stepping into the currency market to stem the yen's rise.

(Editing by Tim Ahmann and Andrea Ricci)

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Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/geithner-to-discuss-iranchina-japan-visit_645199.html

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Troops, tanks patrol in northeast Nigeria

2012-01-01 20:01

Maiduguri - Heavily armed troops and tanks patrolled the streets of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria on Sunday, witnesses said, after the president declared a state of emergency in parts of the north affected by an Islamist insurgency.

President Goodluck Jonathan imposed the state of emergency on the northeast, the conflict-prone central city of Jos, and part of Niger state near Abuja on Saturday, and closed the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the northeast.

Nearly a week after the radical sect Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day, including one at a church that killed at least 37 people and wounded 57, Jonathan told state television his aim was to restore security in troubled parts of the north.

A Reuters reporter in Maiduguri, a remote city in the northeast and the centre of the Boko Haram insurgency, saw several tanks patrolling the city and groups of a dozen or more soldiers at a time out on foot patrol.

"We woke up this morning only to see armed soldiers all over the place and some tanks patrolling. We fear what may happen next," said Maiduguri resident Buba Guduf.

Jonathan said he had told his chief of defence staff to take other "appropriate" measures, including setting up a special counter-terrorism force.

The blasts at churches have raised fears that Boko Haram, a movement styled on the Taliban, is trying to ignite sectarian strife in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer.

Jonathan has been criticised by the opposition and Christian groups for what they said was a slow response to the bombings.

Clashes feared

Residents of Maiduguri, located on the threshold of the Sahara Desert, have borne the brunt of previous clashes between Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", and security forces.

On Friday three explosions struck Maiduguri shortly after Muslim prayers but caused no casualties, and gunmen shot dead three members of a Muslim cleric's family.

Gun battles between security forces and Boko Haram killed at least 68 people in two days of fighting in the nearby city of Damaturu on December 22 and 23.

"The soldiers have intensified their patrol in our area and most people prefer to remain indoors for fear of the unknown," Ibrahim Usman, from the Gwange ward of Maiduguri, told Reuters by telephone.

"We are just doing our normal duty," said an officer for the Joint Military Taskforce for Maiduguri, who could not be named because he was not authorised to speak.

The bomb attacks by Boko Haram have strained Nigeria's already fractious north-south divide.

Jonathan, a Christian from the south, upset many northerners by running for and winning the presidency in April, tearing up what many saw as a tacit deal to rotate the top job between a northerner and a southerner every two terms.

More than 500 people were killed in post-election violence in the north after Jonathan's victory, reflecting long-standing northern grievances about perceived alienation and exclusion by the government from the fruits of the oil wealth that is concentrated in the south.

On Saturday, Jonathan visited the scene of the deadliest Christmas attack, on St Theresa's Catholic church in Madalla, on the outskirts of Abuja.

"We will crush the terrorists," he told weeping relatives of the victims gathered in the church for a vigil.

In a separate, unrelated incident, clashes between rival ethnic groups in southeastern Ebonyi state on Saturday killed at least 50 people, and police said mobile units had been sent there to quell the violence.

Those clashes are likely to add to Jonathan's woes at a time when his forces are already stretched.

Source: http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Troops-tanks-patrol-in-northeast-Nigeria-20120101

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Accretionary Wedge #41: Memorable Geologic Event That You've Directly Experienced

The latest Accretionary Wedge, the acclaimed gathering of the Geoblogosphere, is hosted this time by Geologist Ron Schott at his ?Geology Home Companion Blog? and he is asking for ?the most memorable or significant geological event that you?ve directly experienced.?

If a geologist claims to have directly experienced a geological event there are only two possible explanations: the event happens extraordinarily fast or the geologist is very, very old.

In 1859 the British physicist John Tyndall discovered the importance of CO2 and water vapour for the temperature balance in earth?s atmosphere. In 1896 the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius calculated the variations of temperature for different concentrations of CO2, observing that the emissions of the industry of this gas could modify the atmosphere and the climate.
In 1938 the first measurements in the Polar Regions showed an increase in the measured temperature and since 1979 the scientific community is actively warning of the influence of humankind on the global climate (The New York Times has an exhaustive timeline of Science and Politics of Climate Change).

If we compressed earth?s history in one year, these 150 years would be approximately one second and still more than double an average human lifespan. It therefore could seem that the physics behind anthropogenic global warming? is abstract and the effects only perceivable by a human observer in a remote future.

However black and white photos from just two generations ago show us entire valleys covered by a glacier and the glacial retreat has increased in speed in the last decades. Now even a young geologist can report the disappearance of glaciers and the actual environmental and climate change as first hand experience ? a memorable, but also alarming experience.

Fig.1. & Fig.2. Two alpine glaciers at the beginning of the 20th century and in the early 21st century (image in public domain).

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=aca7b5d27fe31eced0a7154f5a2c4142

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Monday, January 2, 2012

PFT: Jags' Weaver regrets firing Coughlin

Getty Images

With Aaron Rodgers moving toward the league MVP award and Drew Brees penciled in for offensive player of the year, things get a little more dicey when trying to discern the defensive player of the year.

The outcome of the 50-person Associated Press vote typically hinges on a vague blend of statistical performance, team performance, name recognition, and reputation.? This year, 16 weeks of football have produced no clear-cut favorite.? And so the outcome will hinge on the performance of the top contenders in Week 17.

With no big-name players near the top of the league-leading interception list (seven is the high-water mark), the sackmasters will get primary consideration.? Currently, Vikings defensive end Jared Allen has 18.5, Eagles defensive end Jason Babin and Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware have 18, Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has 15.5, and 49ers rookie linebacker Aldon Smith has 14.

If Allen or Babin can match or beat Michael Strahan?s all-time record of 22.5*, that guy (not to be confused with Jon Gruden?s ?this guy?) will be the most likely winner of the award.? But if they fall short of the record, the recognition could fall to Ware or Pierre-Paul, based on whether the Cowboys or Giants win on Sunday night and secure the NFC East crown.

With Babin and Allen playing for non-playoff teams, a berth in the postseason could provide the final nudge for Ware or Pierre-Paul ? especially since they?ll be playing in the highest-profile nationally-televised game on the eve of the casting of the ballots by the AP voters.

Pierre-Paul, drafted in 2010 as a project for a team that didn?t technically need another defensive end, has exploded down the stretch, winning the NFC defensive player of the week award twice in the last three weeks and making it to the Pro Bowl without being on the ballot.

With two sacks, Ware would become the first player with 20 or more sacks in two separate seasons.

Other candidates could come from the Ravens? defense, which has gotten 13 sacks and a great Thanksgiving night performance from linebacker Terrell Suggs.? His votes could be diluted by nose tackle Haloti Ngata.

49ers defensive lineman Justin Smith could get serious consideration, despite not having high-end stats, given his key role in the dominance of the San Francisco defense.

Broncos linebacker Von Miller also could get votes, even though he?s more likely to contend for the defensive rookie of the year award, if Aldon Smith (14 sacks) doesn?t break Jevon Kearse?s rookie record of 15.

Regardless, this award is coming down to the final week ? and possibly the final game ? of regular-season action.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/31/wayne-weaver-regrets-firing-tom-coughlin/related/

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