The Met Office (MO) is to announce it will publish the raw data it uses to analyse man-made global warming.
It follows a row about the reliability of data from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia which has been dubbed "Climategate".
The MO has written to 188 countries for permission to publish the historic data it says proves that the world is warming up due to man-made emissions.
A spokesman denied reports ministers had tried to block the publication.
The material, dating back 160 years from more than 1,000 weather stations around the world, is expected to be released this week.
It comes as an independent review is announced into leaked e-mails at the CRU in Norwich to see whether there is evidence of manipulation or suppression of data "at odds with acceptable scientific practice".
The MO - one of the foremost global authorities on climate change - works closely with the CRU.
The MO's database is a main source of analysis for the UN's climate change science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which joins talks next week at the long-awaited Copenhagen summit.
An MO spokesman denied it would spend up to three years re-examining the climate change data, and said it had already planned to publish the material long before the "Climategate" controversy broke.
But the spokesman admitted the e-mail row had made the whole exercise more urgent.
Downing Street has said Gordon Brown is "unequivocal" about the scientific case for action against climate change.
Mr Brown said the climate was the "greatest challenge" facing the world.
He is one of several world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, who will attend the Copenhagen summit aimed at cutting emissions.
News Source: news.bbc.co.uk
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Saturday, December 5, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
China hints sticking to dollar despite worries
China has maintained a consistent allocation of its foreign exchange reserves across different currencies, a senior official said on Friday, suggesting that any diversification away from the dollar has been gradual.
Wang Xiaoyi, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages China's $2.3 trillion of currency reserves, also said the weakening of the dollar was a long-term trend, not a near-term worry.
China's desire to see a stronger dollar was reinforced by an opinion piece in the People's Daily, the main newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, which said that the slumping greenback was harming the world economy.
Global markets have periodically been shaken by the idea that China could dump dollars, as it is estimated to hold about two-thirds of its currency reserves in dollar-denominated assets. Beijing itself has long declared that it aims to diversify its forex reserves, the world's biggest such stockpile.
"We now have similar proportions of different currencies in our forex reserves as we had before," Wang said on the sidelines of a conference in Beijing.
"The weakening of U.S. dollar will be a long-term trend but we don't see big fluctuations in the near term," he added.
Despite expressions of concern about the yawning U.S. debt, China has continued accumulating dollars this year as it must buy those streaming into the country through its trade surplus to keep the yuan from appreciating.
"We are not making any big adjustment in how to manage our foreign exchange reserves, and all our operations are in line with our existing forex management goal," Wang said.
POLICY FRUSTRATIONS
The weak dollar has complicated monetary policy in China, as in other countries that fix their exchange rates to the dollar.
Raising interest rates would widen their rate differential compared with the United States, potentially attracting speculative capital. But keeping rates flat is arguably too loose for economies that have recovered as strongly as China's.
The People's Daily vented these frustrations on Friday.
The sluggish dollar was "holding back" other countries' economic recovery, forcing them to choose between squeezed exports and inflation risks, Zeng Gang, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in a commentary.
"The sustained weakness of the dollar is to a considerable extent holding back the economic recovery and policy adjustments of other countries," said the commentary, adding that the weak dollar was a "heavy blow" to their exports.
If other countries "allow their currencies to freely appreciate, then their already severely diminished exports will deteriorate," it said.
"If they maintain exchange rate stability (against the dollar), their central banks will have to buy more dollars on the foreign exchange market, and this will increase liquidity in their own currencies, further inflating asset prices," it said.
The comments echoed those last month by Chinese banking regulator Liu Mingkang, who said that ultra-low U.S. interest rates and weak dollar were a "new systemic risk" for the global economy.
Liu had said that a carry-trade funded by the cheap dollar was driving speculators to invest in emerging markets and having a "massive" impact on asset prices.
CHINA'S RESPONSIBILITY
Such criticism was dismissed by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday.
Answering questions at a confirmation hearing, he said countries that are concerned about speculation "have their own tools to address bubbles in their economy" and shouldn't look to U.S. monetary authorities to do the job for them.
Zeng, writing in the People's Daily, said that "swift policy actions" were required to minimize the dangers posed by a weak dollar.
But "traditional methods" such as interest rate and exchange rate adjustments were of little use in this effort, and regulators must instead strengthen supervision of markets, he said.
In a similar vein, a government economist argued in a separate commentary that China should use targeted policies to prevent a property market bubble from inflating.
China should enact a property tax "at a suitable time" and assess additional taxes on second and third homes to limit speculation, Ding Yifan, a researcher at the Development Research Center under the cabinet, wrote in the China Daily.
China allowed the yuan to rise 21 percent against the dollar between July 2005 and July 2008 before effectively repegging it to help its exporters cope with a slump in global demand.
Beijing now faces mounting international calls to let the yuan, or "renminbi," rise on the grounds that it is undervalued and stoking imbalances with other big economies, but showed no public sign of budging during summits with U.S. President Barack Obama last month and, earlier this week, with European leaders.
The demands on the yuan were "unfair" and amounted to an attempt to restrict China's growth, Premier Wen Jiabao told EU leaders this week.
News Source: reuters.com
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Wang Xiaoyi, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages China's $2.3 trillion of currency reserves, also said the weakening of the dollar was a long-term trend, not a near-term worry.
China's desire to see a stronger dollar was reinforced by an opinion piece in the People's Daily, the main newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, which said that the slumping greenback was harming the world economy.
Global markets have periodically been shaken by the idea that China could dump dollars, as it is estimated to hold about two-thirds of its currency reserves in dollar-denominated assets. Beijing itself has long declared that it aims to diversify its forex reserves, the world's biggest such stockpile.
"We now have similar proportions of different currencies in our forex reserves as we had before," Wang said on the sidelines of a conference in Beijing.
"The weakening of U.S. dollar will be a long-term trend but we don't see big fluctuations in the near term," he added.
Despite expressions of concern about the yawning U.S. debt, China has continued accumulating dollars this year as it must buy those streaming into the country through its trade surplus to keep the yuan from appreciating.
"We are not making any big adjustment in how to manage our foreign exchange reserves, and all our operations are in line with our existing forex management goal," Wang said.
POLICY FRUSTRATIONS
The weak dollar has complicated monetary policy in China, as in other countries that fix their exchange rates to the dollar.
Raising interest rates would widen their rate differential compared with the United States, potentially attracting speculative capital. But keeping rates flat is arguably too loose for economies that have recovered as strongly as China's.
The People's Daily vented these frustrations on Friday.
The sluggish dollar was "holding back" other countries' economic recovery, forcing them to choose between squeezed exports and inflation risks, Zeng Gang, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in a commentary.
"The sustained weakness of the dollar is to a considerable extent holding back the economic recovery and policy adjustments of other countries," said the commentary, adding that the weak dollar was a "heavy blow" to their exports.
If other countries "allow their currencies to freely appreciate, then their already severely diminished exports will deteriorate," it said.
"If they maintain exchange rate stability (against the dollar), their central banks will have to buy more dollars on the foreign exchange market, and this will increase liquidity in their own currencies, further inflating asset prices," it said.
The comments echoed those last month by Chinese banking regulator Liu Mingkang, who said that ultra-low U.S. interest rates and weak dollar were a "new systemic risk" for the global economy.
Liu had said that a carry-trade funded by the cheap dollar was driving speculators to invest in emerging markets and having a "massive" impact on asset prices.
CHINA'S RESPONSIBILITY
Such criticism was dismissed by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday.
Answering questions at a confirmation hearing, he said countries that are concerned about speculation "have their own tools to address bubbles in their economy" and shouldn't look to U.S. monetary authorities to do the job for them.
Zeng, writing in the People's Daily, said that "swift policy actions" were required to minimize the dangers posed by a weak dollar.
But "traditional methods" such as interest rate and exchange rate adjustments were of little use in this effort, and regulators must instead strengthen supervision of markets, he said.
In a similar vein, a government economist argued in a separate commentary that China should use targeted policies to prevent a property market bubble from inflating.
China should enact a property tax "at a suitable time" and assess additional taxes on second and third homes to limit speculation, Ding Yifan, a researcher at the Development Research Center under the cabinet, wrote in the China Daily.
China allowed the yuan to rise 21 percent against the dollar between July 2005 and July 2008 before effectively repegging it to help its exporters cope with a slump in global demand.
Beijing now faces mounting international calls to let the yuan, or "renminbi," rise on the grounds that it is undervalued and stoking imbalances with other big economies, but showed no public sign of budging during summits with U.S. President Barack Obama last month and, earlier this week, with European leaders.
The demands on the yuan were "unfair" and amounted to an attempt to restrict China's growth, Premier Wen Jiabao told EU leaders this week.
News Source: reuters.com
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Thursday, December 3, 2009
Obama rejoining economic debate with jobs summit
WASHINGTON — Under pressure from Republicans and an impatient public to fix the sputtering economic recovery, President Barack Obama is refocusing on this politically potent issue by talking job creation with business and labor leaders at the White House.
The White House has lacked a unified economic message in recent weeks, with its attention focused instead on health care and Obama's three-month review of the Afghanistan war. With unemployment in double digits for the first time in decades, Democratic lawmakers are suggesting a second economic stimulus aimed directly at job creation may be needed.
Administration officials are hoping Thursday's jobs forum, an Obama trip to Pennsylvania on Friday and a major economic speech on Tuesday will help counter Republican critics who contend the administration's economic recovery efforts have failed and its oversight of the $787 billion stimulus package has been inadequate.
At the jobs forum, Obama planned to defend his administration's handling of the economy and argue that it would be in far worse shape had Congress not passed the huge stimulus bill earlier this year. Under intense GOP attacks, public support for the stimulus effort has faded.
"I certainly hope it's more than a photo op," said the No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. "All of us want to do anything we can to get Americans back to work. Past history has been, with this White House, that there's been a lot of pomp and ceremony with very little follow-through in terms of delivering results."
Administration officials said they don't expect major policy announcements from the president, Vice President Joe Biden or members of the Cabinet who were scheduled to be on hand.
"Increasing employment is everyone's responsibility, from government to businesses to households," Obama economic adviser Larry Summers said in advance of the forum. "The White House jobs forum will take stock of where we are on the implementation of the Recovery Act and explore new job creation measures, including infrastructure investment, incentives for small businesses, developing our green economy and promoting U.S. exports."
The nation's unemployment rate is 10.2 percent, the highest since 1983. Some 15.7 million Americans are out of work. The average jobless worker has been unemployed for more than six months. These sobering statistics spell potentially serious trouble for Democrats in next year's midterm elections.
The recession technically may be over, but analysts say many of the jobs lost in the downturn probably will not return and high unemployment is likely to persist.
News Source: The Associated Press
Business Marketing Internet
The White House has lacked a unified economic message in recent weeks, with its attention focused instead on health care and Obama's three-month review of the Afghanistan war. With unemployment in double digits for the first time in decades, Democratic lawmakers are suggesting a second economic stimulus aimed directly at job creation may be needed.
Administration officials are hoping Thursday's jobs forum, an Obama trip to Pennsylvania on Friday and a major economic speech on Tuesday will help counter Republican critics who contend the administration's economic recovery efforts have failed and its oversight of the $787 billion stimulus package has been inadequate.
At the jobs forum, Obama planned to defend his administration's handling of the economy and argue that it would be in far worse shape had Congress not passed the huge stimulus bill earlier this year. Under intense GOP attacks, public support for the stimulus effort has faded.
"I certainly hope it's more than a photo op," said the No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. "All of us want to do anything we can to get Americans back to work. Past history has been, with this White House, that there's been a lot of pomp and ceremony with very little follow-through in terms of delivering results."
Administration officials said they don't expect major policy announcements from the president, Vice President Joe Biden or members of the Cabinet who were scheduled to be on hand.
"Increasing employment is everyone's responsibility, from government to businesses to households," Obama economic adviser Larry Summers said in advance of the forum. "The White House jobs forum will take stock of where we are on the implementation of the Recovery Act and explore new job creation measures, including infrastructure investment, incentives for small businesses, developing our green economy and promoting U.S. exports."
The nation's unemployment rate is 10.2 percent, the highest since 1983. Some 15.7 million Americans are out of work. The average jobless worker has been unemployed for more than six months. These sobering statistics spell potentially serious trouble for Democrats in next year's midterm elections.
The recession technically may be over, but analysts say many of the jobs lost in the downturn probably will not return and high unemployment is likely to persist.
News Source: The Associated Press
Business Marketing Internet
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tempers flare as Senate moves toward health vote
WASHINGTON — A Republican senator asserted Tuesday during a rancorous floor debate that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will shorten the lives of America's seniors by cutting Medicare.
"I have a message for you: You're going to die sooner," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., an obstetrician-turned-lawmaker.
A senior Democrat decried such comments as scare tactics designed to kill legislation that he said would improve some benefits for seniors. At times, the debate recalled the raw charges and countercharges of the summer's town hall meetings.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., defended the health care legislation, saying it would make Medicare a smarter buyer and improve prescription coverage and preventive benefits for seniors.
"I hate to say it ... these are scare tactics," Baucus said. "Sometimes you've got to call a spade a spade." The Senate was debating an amendment by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would strip from the bill more than $400 billion in Medicare cuts to home health providers, hospitals, hospices and others.
Polls show that seniors are concerned that expanding coverage for the uninsured will come at their expense. Earlier this year, former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin warned of "death panels" that would deny coverage to frail seniors — a charge that was widely debunked. Medicare spending actually would keep growing under the Democrats' legislation, albeit at a slower rate.
Despite the partisan sparring over Medicare, the first health care amendment offered was bipartisan, a measure to increase preventive care for women co-sponsored by Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Snowe was the only Senate Republican to vote in favor of Democrats' health care legislation in committee.
Their amendment would give the Health and Human Services secretary authority to require health plans to cover additional preventive services for women and was inspired in part by controversial recommendations last month that women undergo fewer mammograms and Pap smears to test for cancer. Republicans seized on those recommendations as early signs of rationing of care they say would happen under the Democrats' 10-year, nearly $1 trillion health bill.
The Mikulski amendment "makes clear, no matter what the Republicans claim, that the decision whether or when to get a mammogram should be left up to the patient and the doctor," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "That decision should not be made by some bureaucrat, a member of Congress or someone they've never met."
However the amendment doesn't specifically address mammograms or spell out what additional services would be covered, leaving that to the discretion of the HHS secretary. The Congressional Budget Office said the amendment would cost $940 million over a decade.
Last month, a government-appointed but independent panel of doctors and scientists said women generally should begin routine mammograms in their 50s, rather than their 40s. Then, in an apparent coincidence, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said most women in their 20s can have a Pap test every two years — instead of annually — to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.
Neither the task force, which provides advice to government officials who may or may not act on it, nor the doctor's group sets federal policy.
But the recommendations could not have come at a worse time for majority Democrats, especially Senate leaders trying to hold together the 60 votes required to advance the health care overhaul.
"We know that some in Washington have wanted government-run health care for years. And it's hard to escape the conclusion that these same people saw the current economic crisis as their moment," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "Earlier this year, some in the administration said that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Americans are hoping this bill isn't what they meant. But they're concerned it is."
The legislative struggle is expected to last for weeks in a test that pits GOP senators determined not to give ground against Senate Democrats intent on delivering on Obama's signature issue.
Dozens of amendments are likely to be offered, with the measures seemingly designed as much to court a skeptical public as to reshape Reid's 2,074-page bill.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 31 million uninsured individuals would receive insurance if the bill were enacted, many of them assisted by federal subsidies. The legislation would be paid for through a combination of cuts in projected Medicare payments, a payroll tax on the wealthy and taxes on drug makers, medical device manufacturers, owners of high-cost insurance and others.
Associated Press writers Erica Werner, David Espo, Laurie Kellman and Charles Babington contributed to this report.
News Source: The Associated Press.
Business Marketing Internet
"I have a message for you: You're going to die sooner," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., an obstetrician-turned-lawmaker.
A senior Democrat decried such comments as scare tactics designed to kill legislation that he said would improve some benefits for seniors. At times, the debate recalled the raw charges and countercharges of the summer's town hall meetings.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., defended the health care legislation, saying it would make Medicare a smarter buyer and improve prescription coverage and preventive benefits for seniors.
"I hate to say it ... these are scare tactics," Baucus said. "Sometimes you've got to call a spade a spade." The Senate was debating an amendment by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would strip from the bill more than $400 billion in Medicare cuts to home health providers, hospitals, hospices and others.
Polls show that seniors are concerned that expanding coverage for the uninsured will come at their expense. Earlier this year, former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin warned of "death panels" that would deny coverage to frail seniors — a charge that was widely debunked. Medicare spending actually would keep growing under the Democrats' legislation, albeit at a slower rate.
Despite the partisan sparring over Medicare, the first health care amendment offered was bipartisan, a measure to increase preventive care for women co-sponsored by Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Snowe was the only Senate Republican to vote in favor of Democrats' health care legislation in committee.
Their amendment would give the Health and Human Services secretary authority to require health plans to cover additional preventive services for women and was inspired in part by controversial recommendations last month that women undergo fewer mammograms and Pap smears to test for cancer. Republicans seized on those recommendations as early signs of rationing of care they say would happen under the Democrats' 10-year, nearly $1 trillion health bill.
The Mikulski amendment "makes clear, no matter what the Republicans claim, that the decision whether or when to get a mammogram should be left up to the patient and the doctor," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "That decision should not be made by some bureaucrat, a member of Congress or someone they've never met."
However the amendment doesn't specifically address mammograms or spell out what additional services would be covered, leaving that to the discretion of the HHS secretary. The Congressional Budget Office said the amendment would cost $940 million over a decade.
Last month, a government-appointed but independent panel of doctors and scientists said women generally should begin routine mammograms in their 50s, rather than their 40s. Then, in an apparent coincidence, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said most women in their 20s can have a Pap test every two years — instead of annually — to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.
Neither the task force, which provides advice to government officials who may or may not act on it, nor the doctor's group sets federal policy.
But the recommendations could not have come at a worse time for majority Democrats, especially Senate leaders trying to hold together the 60 votes required to advance the health care overhaul.
"We know that some in Washington have wanted government-run health care for years. And it's hard to escape the conclusion that these same people saw the current economic crisis as their moment," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "Earlier this year, some in the administration said that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Americans are hoping this bill isn't what they meant. But they're concerned it is."
The legislative struggle is expected to last for weeks in a test that pits GOP senators determined not to give ground against Senate Democrats intent on delivering on Obama's signature issue.
Dozens of amendments are likely to be offered, with the measures seemingly designed as much to court a skeptical public as to reshape Reid's 2,074-page bill.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 31 million uninsured individuals would receive insurance if the bill were enacted, many of them assisted by federal subsidies. The legislation would be paid for through a combination of cuts in projected Medicare payments, a payroll tax on the wealthy and taxes on drug makers, medical device manufacturers, owners of high-cost insurance and others.
Associated Press writers Erica Werner, David Espo, Laurie Kellman and Charles Babington contributed to this report.
News Source: The Associated Press.
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