Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, January 22, 2015
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing near 12:00AM Eastern Time. Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - proper respect is due.
This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Lava by James Murphy
|
|
|
|
|
Top News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tech billionaires team up for clean energy coalition at Paris climate talks
By Oliver Milman
|
|
|
. . .
The Breakthrough Energy Coalition, made up of more than 25 investors from 10 countries, launched in Paris on Monday as part of the U.N. talks where nations are thrashing out an agreement to finally confront the issue of runaway climate change.
The group will mainly invest in early-stage clean energy companies across a range of sectors, such as electricity generation and storage, transportation, and agriculture. The initiative has been announced in conjunction with Mission Innovation — an effort from 21 governments, including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Germany, China, and Brazil, to double the amount of public money going into clean energy innovation.
. . .
The group hasn’t put a dollar figure on its level of investment, but said it will be focusing its resources on government-funded innovation that comes from countries signed up to the Mission Innovation initiative.
Global investment in clean energy increased to $270 billion last year, the first significant increase after a three-year lull in investment. China led the way with $89 billion in new money for renewables, followed by the U.S. at $51 billion.
. . .
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, most of the world’s electricity can — and must — be produced by low-carbon sources by 2050. The panel said that renewables needed to grow from a 30 percent share today to 80 percent of power generation by 2050, with fossil fuel energy without carbon capture and storage technology phased out by 2100.
. . .
“What’s now clearer than ever is that our future will be 100 percent clean energy, and that dirty fossil fuels are merely riding out their final wave.”
|
|
|
Iraq: We don't need foreign troops to fight ISIL
By (Al Jazeera)
|
|
|
. . .
The Iraqi prime minister's comments came in response to the earlier announcement by the United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter that the US will deploy "specialised" troops to Iraq to help fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
"We do not need foreign ground combat forces on Iraqi land," Haider al-Abbadi said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The Iraqi government stresses that any military operation or the deployment of any foreign forces - special or not - in any place in Iraq cannot happen without its approval and coordination and full respect of Iraqi sovereignty."
. . .
Carter added that the special forces would also be able to intervene in Syria, where Washington has already announced it is sending about 50 special operations troops.
. . .
"In Syria, the US president has approved a plan to send in special forces, but is doing so without the consent of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and that's something that has angered Assad since the coalition launched air strikes more than a year ago."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
International |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Island nations urge Turnbull to echo Obama's climate change leadership
By Lenore Taylor
|
|
|
Speaking after foreign minister Julie Bishop ridiculed a Labor claim that one of the Marshall Islands had disappeared into the sea, Marshall Island’s foreign minister Tony de Brum told Guardian Australia he was hoping Australia might soon start to take the countries’ fears about the impact of climate change as seriously as the US president did.
. . .
“The meeting with Obama was one of the most significant meetings we have had in a long long time. He bolstered the idea that even though we are small we have to have a voice in these negotiations. We did not meet with Turnbull in Paris but we hope we might engage with him in the future. He an island boy as well, from a very big island.
. . .
Obama did not change his administration’s opposition to some of their demands, including so-called “loss and damage” payments from major economies based on historical emissions and the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees instead of 2 degrees.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who is also at the climate summit said the South Pacific countries had been “utterly contemptuous of the positions being adopted by the Abbott government and that was beginning to fracture Australia’s foreign policy position in the Pacific: but were now “suspending doubt” to see whether the new Australian prime minister implemented policy changes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Volkswagen US sales fall by 25% in November
By (BBC)
|
|
|
. . .
The company said the drop reflected "the impact of the recent stop-sale for all 2.0L 4-cylinder TDI vehicles as well as for the 3.0L V6".
. . .
The company saw a very minor sales decline of 0.24% in October. The US is not a large market for Volkswagen. Even before the scandal it had struggled to gain traction in a market where larger SUVs and trucks are popular.
The carmaker has admitted to installing devices that lowered the emissions levels of diesel engine cars during testing, but that increased emissions during normal driving.
The company's head Matthias Mueller has previously apologised for the scandal and said, "My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group".
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
(please see video commentary)
Back to what's happening:
|
|
|
|
|
Environmental |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Papua New Guinea villagers eat clay and toxic mushrooms as severe drought hits
By Jo Chandler
|
|
|
People in drought-ravaged villages in Papua New Guinea are eating toxic mushrooms and clay to stave off hunger pangs as crops fail, vanishing water sources become contaminated and food, medical and fuel supplies are exhausted.
Leprosy and severe, potentially fatal, gastrointestinal cases have spiked in some villages in one province, including suspected cholera or typhoid, international experts working in the area reported.
. . .
Canadian anthropologist Professor Dan Jorgensen, who has been conducting field work in PNG’s far west Telefomin and North Fly districts for many years, has also documented cascading effects as drought chokes vital riverboat supply lines. Schools and medical clinics are operating on reduced hours or not at all.
. . .
Drought assessor Kanua said he was concerned by the long-term impacts, even when conditions ease. Many families have culled their pigs, goats and sheep because there is nothing for them to graze on. Fish stocks have gone as ponds have dried up.
. . .
“Across much of the country, from the highlands to remote islands … staple crops became largely unavailable, starting with taro, then sweet potato, and with even resilient cassava suffering, largely from borer infestations”.
Although recent rains have brought relief in some areas, “recovery is mixed … and if forecasters are right, may be in diminished quantities over the next six months. Also the loss of planting will invariably impose testing times into the new years, which is traditionally the ‘taim hangri’ in many parts of the country.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Science and Health |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Type 2 diabetes reversed by losing fat from pancreas
By (ScienceDaily)
|
|
|
Affecting two and a half million people in the UK -- and on the increase -- Type 2 diabetes is a long-term condition caused by too much glucose, a type of sugar, in the blood.
. . .
Both groups lost the same amount of weight, around 13% of their initial body weight. Critically, the pool of fat in the pancreas did not change in the non-diabetics but decreased to a normal level in those with Type 2 diabetes.
This shows that the excess fat in the diabetic pancreas is specific to Type 2 diabetes and important in preventing insulin being made as normal. When that excess fat is removed, insulin secretion increases to normal levels. In other words, they were diabetes free.
. . .
Professor Taylor adds: "This new research demonstrates that the change in level of fat in the pancreas is related to the presence of Type 2 diabetes in a patient. The decrease in pancreas fat is not simply related to the weight loss itself. It is not something that might happen to anyone whether or not they had diabetes. It is specific to Type 2 diabetes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Technology |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Biologists Create More Precise Molecular Scissors for Genome Editing
By Heidi Ledford and Nature magazine
|
|
|
By tweaking an enzyme that cuts DNA, synthetic biologists say that they can make genome editing even more specific—an essential improvement if the technique is to be deployed in the clinic to treat genetic diseases.
. . .
Researchers have already been tweaking the components of CRISPR-Cas9 to drive down its error rate. They have tweaked the RNAs that guide the Cas9 enzyme to a specific site in the genome, for example, and engineered the system so that researchers can easily switch it off, so that the enzyme does not have as much opportunity to make unwanted changes.
Synthetic biologist Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge decided to focus on engineering the Cas9 enzyme itself. He and his team altered the enzyme so that it is less likely to act at sites with mismatches between the RNA that guides the enzyme and the DNA that it targets. They generated several versions of Cas9 that reduced off-target errors at least tenfold compared with unaltered Cas9 enzymes.
. . .
Zhang compares the problem to trying to make a car go faster: the new Cas9 enzyme is like putting in a bigger engine. “This can still be combined with other modifications, like adding a spoiler, leading to a souped-up enzyme,” he says. “There are many ways to increase speed.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cultural |
|
|
|
|
|
|
100 Women: China's feminists undeterred by detentions
By Celia Hatton
|
|
|
Five women who all worked as activists for various feminist causes and had organised public events to raise awareness of a host of issues, from eradicating domestic violence to the need for more women's toilets in China.
. . .
For more than a month, the women were subject to continual interrogations by police.
. . .
"My male friends, they have 'man clubs' where they share their connections, work opportunities and experiences, and support each other," she reasons. "Why not have a professional women's circle for corporate women to share their experiences?"
. . .
"One thing I know for certain is that those detentions may have deterred some people, but more likely that most people just become more careful and more aware of the dangers they are facing," Ms Zhang continues.
. . .
"Before [the detentions], many outside China didn't know we had women's rights activists in China. It's a good thing in some ways," she says.
"But we need spontaneous participation from women and a push for more women to wake up," she says. "Only when calls for change come from women can they be heard in our society."
|
|
|
|
|
Meteor Blades is known to offer an enlightening Evening Open Diary - you might consider checking that out tonight if you haven't already.