Πρόωρες εκλογές τον Οκτώβρη[ 372 ]

Πρόωρες εκλογές προκήρυξε ο πρωθυπουργός

Ο πρωθυπουργός Κ.Καραμανλής απευθύνει διάγγελμα και ανακοινώνει τη διεξαγωγή πρόωρων εκλογών

Αθήνα Τεταρτη 02-09-09

Προηγούμενο άρθρο: Ανοίγει τα χαρτιά του για τις πρόωρες εκλογές ο Κώστας Καραμανλής (2/9/2009) Δείτε το βίντεο... Πρόωρες κάλπες ανακοίνωσε την Τετάρτη με τηλεοπτικό του διάγγελμα ο πρωθυπουργός Κώστας Καραμανλής, επικαλούμενος τις ανάγκες της οικονομίας και τη δεδηλωμένη πρόθεση του ΠΑΣΟΚ να οδηγήσει ούτως ή άλλως τη χώρα σε εκλογές με αφορμή την Προεδρική εκλογή, στις αρχές του 2010. Ο πρωθυπουργός δεν ανέφερε την ημερομηνία διεξαγωγής των εκλογών, όμως όλες οι πληροφορίες αναφέρουν ότι θα είναι στις 4 Οκτωβρίου. Ο κ. Καραμανλής έχει ήδη ενημερώσει τον Πρόεδρο της Δημοκρατίας για τις αποφάσεις του και πρόκειται να επισκεφθεί την Πέμπτη στις 12:00 μ.μ. τον κ. Κάρολο Παπούλια για να του ζητήσει διάλυση της Βουλής. Στο διάγγελμά του ο Κ.Καραμανλής αναφέρθηκε εκτενώς στην οικονομική κρίση, τις προκλήσεις που υπάρχουν για την Ελλάδα το επόμενο χρονικό διάστημα και τις αλλαγές που είναι απαραίτητες. Περιέγραψε μάλιστα το 2010 ως χρόνο «πολύ δύσκολο και καθοριστικό για το μέλλον», προσθέτοντας ότι «εάν δεν δράσουμε άμεσα οι κίνδυνοι θα είναι μεγάλοι». Παράλληλα, έκανε την αυτοκριτική για όσες αλλαγές δεν προχώρησαν, λόγω των αντιδράσεων. Ο πρωθυπουργός μίλησε για τρεις προτεραιότητες: νοικοκύρεμα του κράτους, πόλεμος κατά τις φοροδιαφυγής, διαρθρωτικές αλλαγές. Στόχος μου, είπε ο πρωθυπουργός, ήταν να προωθήσω αυτές τις αλλαγές ως το τέλος της θητείας της κυβέρνησης, αλλά, όπως πρόσθεσε, η εκπεφρασμένη πρόθεση της αξιωματικής αντιπολίτευσης να οδηγήσει τη χώρα σε εκλογές το Μάρτιο του 2010, με αφορμή την επανεκλογή του Κ.Παπούλια, θα οδηγούσε σε μία παρατεταμένη προεκλογική περίοδο με καταστρεπτικά αποτελέσματα. Ο κ. Καραμανλής μίλησε για «ακραία ανευθυνότητα απέναντι στους θεσμούς, την οικονομία και τον τόπο», «πρωτοφανή μικροπολιτική σκοπιμότητα» και πολιτικό «εκβιασμό» σε ό,τι αφορά την πρόθεση του προέδρου του ΠΑΣΟΚ να προκαλέσει εκλογές με αφορμή την Προεδρική εκλογή. «Η χώρα δεν αντέχει, ειδικά στη σημερινή συγκυρία, μια προεκλογική περίοδο μέχρι τον Φεβρουάριο, και μάλιστα με μια αξιωματική αντιπολίτευση που σδυστυχώς πολιτεύεται με ανευθυνότητα και λαϊκισμό. Τα πάντα θα παρασυρθούν στη δίνη ενός έντονα προκελογικού κλίματος και αυτό είναι ό,τι χειρότερο για την οικονομία», είπε ο κ. Καραμανλής. Πρόσθεσε δε ότι θα ήταν «συμπεριφορά ανευθυνότητας» να αφήσει την αξιωματική αντιπολίτευση να πάρει το 2010 τις πολιτικές συνέπειες αυτής της επιλογής. «Μου είναι αδιανόητο να αφήσω τον τόπο να σύρεται επί έξι μήνες στη δίνη μιας καταστροφικής για την οικονομία προεκλογικής ατμόσφαιρας, μόνο και μόνο για να χρεωθεί ο αρχηγός της αξιωματικής αντιπολίτευσης τις πολιτικές συνέπειες της καταψήφισης του Κάρολου Παπούλια» είπε και ζήτησε «νωπή λαϊκή εντολή». «Τα αναγκαία μέτρα και η αναγκαία οικονομική στρατηγική απαιτούν σταθερότητα και ήπιο πολιτικό κλίμα. Επειδή όμως η λήψη των αναγκαίων μέτρων για την οικονομία δεν μπορεί να περιμένει, το συμφέρον του τόπου επιβάλει μία και μόνη διέξοδο, ξεκαθάρισμα του πολιτικού τοπίου, έτσι ώστε μια κυβέρνηση με νωπή λαϊκή εντολή να δράσει άμεσα και αποφασιστικά», υπογράμμισε. Επισημαίνοντας ότι έχει «απόλυτη εμπιστοσύνη στην ωριμότητα των πολιτών» ο κ. Καραμανλής τούς κάλεσε «να αποφασίσουν ποιος διαθέτει το σχέδιο και τη βούληση για να αντιμετωπίσει τις οικονομικές προκλήσεις» και να διαλέξουν ανάμεσα στον δύσκολο δρόμο που αποτελεί τη μόνη διέξοδο για τη χώρα, συνιστά πρόταση ευθύνης και οδηγεί σταδιακά στην ανάκαμψη και στον εύκολο δρόμο της άλλης πλευράς, που αποτελεί επιλογή ανευθυνότητας και οδηγεί σε αδιέξοδο και θα βαθύνει την κρίση, με πολύ μεγάλο κοινωνικό κόστος». Newsroom ΔΟΛ

Bomb in Athens Stock Market [ 371 ]

Greek stock market to operate despite attack

By Renee Maltezou

Bomb damages Athens stock market, one hurt

(Reuters) Wed Sep 2, 2009 2:57am EDT

ATHENS- A car bomb blew up outside the Athens stock exchange on Wednesday, slightly wounding one woman, damaging the building and setting eight vehicles ablaze, Greek police said.

The Athens bourse said it would open normally despite the attack, the latest of several against business and police targets since the December 2008 police shooting of a teenager sparked Greece's worst riots in decades.

The powerful blast came after an anonymous early morning warning call to a Greek newspaper. It blew out windows on several floors of the stock exchange and hurled debris hundreds of meters (yards) away from the building.

"It was an explosive device. The remains of it were found in a damaged car," said Greek police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis.

Police said a home-made bomb exploded at the same time outside a government building in the northern city of Thessaloniki, causing minor damage but no injuries.

A car dealership near the Athens bourse was seriously damaged by the bomb, planted in a white van which was parked on the side of the building and which was completely destroyed by the blast.

The chairman of the Athens Stock Exchange, Spyros Kapralos, said the damage to the building was substantial but officials were working hard to open for trading.

"Despite the huge material damages caused to the building by today's explosion, both the Athens and the Cyprus stock markets will operate normally," the bourse said in a statement.

The Athens stock exchange normally opens at 7:30 a.m. EDT. Athens and Nicosia share a trading platform.

The area was cordoned off by anti-terrorist police scouring for evidence.

Leftist and anarchist guerrilla groups have claimed responsibility for several attacks against businesses, cars and police this year, culminating with the assassination of a policeman in his car in June.

It was not immediately clear whether one of them was behind Wednesday's attack.

(Additional reporting by Dina Kyriakidou and George Georgiopoulos; Writing by Dina Kyriakidou: Editing by Dominic Evans)

Severe Storms....[ 370 ]

Earth Observatory

Severe Storms

This collection of images featuring the strongest hurricane, cyclone, or typhoon from any ocean during each year of the past decade includes storms both famous—or infamous—and obscure. The judging is based on the storm with the highest wind speed, using lowest minimum pressure as a tie-breaker when needed. The images were all captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra or Aqua satellites, and they are all shown at the same scale.
Of the decade’s most powerful storms, two were in the Atlantic/Caribbean basin, five were in the Pacific north of the equator, and three were in the South Pacific. Even without looking at the table below, you can identify which storms were in the Northern Hemisphere and which were in the Southern: because of the Coriolis force, northern cyclones rotate counterclockwise, while southern storms rotate clockwise. All storm categories are based on the Saffir-Simspon Hurricane Scale.

Storm Date of image, Maximum Wind Speed km/h (mph), Minimum Pressure millibars, Basin (area)

• Damrey May 9, 2000 290 (180) 878 Western Pacific
• Faxai December 22, 2001 290 (180) 915 Western Pacific
• Zoe December 28, 2002 285 (177) 890 South Pacific
• Maemi September 10, 2003 280 (174) 910 Western Pacific
• Chaba August 23, 2004 290 (180) 879 Western Pacific
• Wilma October 18, 2005 295 (183) 882 Atlantic/Caribbean
• Monica April 24, 2006 285 (177) 905 South Pacific
• Dean August 18, 2007 280 (174) 907 Atlantic/Caribbean
• Jangmi September 27, 2008 260 (162) 905 Western Pacific
• Hamish March 8, 2009 240 (149) 925 South Pacific

Many North Americans will recognize Hurricanes Dean (2007) and Wilma (2005). Wilma holds the record for the most intense Atlantic Basin storm on record (based on air pressure), and it made landfall on the island of Cozumel, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Florida. After cutting a devastating path through the Caribbean, Hurricane Dean made a rare Category 5-strength landfall in Mexico.

Even residents around the Western Pacific Basin might not remember the names Damrey (2000) or Faxai (2001); both of these Category 5 super typhoons came and went through the remote Pacific without ever approaching land. Other storms inflicted great damage. Super Typhoon Maemi (2003) was the costliest typhoon ever to hit Korea, killing more than a hundred people. Super Typhoon Chaba (2004) pummeled both the Northern Marianas Islands and Honshu, Japan. Super Typhoon Jangmi (2008), which made landfall across northern Taiwan as a Category 3 storm, was not only the strongest storm of 2008, it was also the only storm worldwide to reach Category 5 strength.

Of the three South Pacific cyclones to appear in this collection, Monica (2006) and Zoe (2002) were nearly equal in terms of strength. Monica crossed the Cape York Peninsula as a Category 2 cyclone, but emerged over the warm waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria and intensified into a Category 5 storm before its second landfall on Northern Territory’s Top End. Cyclone Zoe (2003) traced an erratic path through the Solomons Islands, avoiding major land masses, but the eye passed over the tiny, sparsely populated island of Tikopia at the height of the storm. As of August, Cyclone Hamish, which skirted the northeastern coast of Australia without making landfall, was leading the competition for strongest storm of 2009. With the Atlantic and Pacific hurricane seasons still underway, it remains to be seen whether Hamish will hold on to its title.

Data on maximum wind speed and minimum pressure for Atlantic Basin storms comes from the National Hurricane Center; for Western Pacific storms, from the Japanese Meteorological Agency; for South Pacific storms, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Mexico, Hurricane Jimena[ 369 ]

Powerful Hurricane Jimena hones in on Mexico resort

(Reuters) Tue Sep 1, 2009 12:58pm EDT

Play Video

By Jason Lange

LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Jimena, an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, slammed Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Tuesday, drenching the Los Cabos resort area where tourists hunkered in boarded-up hotels.

Rain poured down from gray skies as Jimena's howling winds hit the tip of the peninsula, home to world-class golf courses, yachting marinas and lively all-inclusive hotels. The hurricane was set to make landfall in the early hours of Wednesday in a sparsely populated area farther up the peninsula.

Hotels nailed boards over their windows and wrapped exposed furniture with plastic. A swanky beachfront hotel at Cabo San Lucas tied a fountain statue of sea god Neptune to palm trees and anchored a lobby chandelier to the ground with ropes to prevent them from blowing away.

Residents, many of them poor hotel workers or builders, huddled into shelters and some U.S. tourists found themselves trapped as flights out were full or canceled.

"It makes me a bit anxious. I've never experienced anything remotely like this," said real estate investor Reg Wilson, 36, from Orange County, California, who was unable to get on a flight out.

"I have no idea what to expect. We don't have a lot of options so we just have to ride this out."

Jimena came close overnight to being declared a Category 5 hurricane -- the top of the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale and potentially devastating -- but then winds calmed slightly to 145 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

People in Los Cabos were still scared. "I've never seen a storm this big in the 23 years I have lived here," said Caterina Acevedo.

Jimena's winds knocked down a power line, which lay on the ground firing sparks into the air.

Mexico has no Pacific oil installations or significant coffee and mining interests in the area. The port of Cabo San Lucas was closed.

A meeting of economy officials from dozens of countries to discuss tax havens, hosted by the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, had to be moved from Los Cabos to Mexico City as the storm threat grew.

EMERGENCY SHELTERS

Much of Baja California is desert and mountains that are popular with nature lovers, surfers, sport fishermen and retirees. Los Cabos, normally bathed in brilliant sun from dawn to dusk, was rainy and windy.

Civil protection authorities opened emergency shelters in schools for the area's poorest residents, many of whom live in plywood shacks, but few seemed keen to leave. Empty city buses waited for voluntary evacuees.

"It's very worrying. I had to come here because I was with a friend in a cardboard house," said construction worker Rene Carrera, 33, at a school turned into a shelter.

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The geo-engineering ...[ 368 ]

Engineering Earth 'is feasible'

By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News...1-9-09 Reducing carbon emissions remains the prime solution, the authors write A UK Royal Society study has concluded that many engineering proposals to reduce the impact of climate change are "technically possible". Such approaches could be effective, the authors said in their report. But they also stressed that the potential of geo-engineering should not divert governments away from their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Such engineering projects could either remove carbon dioxide or reflect the Sun's rays away from the planet. Suggestions range from having giant mirrors in space, to erecting giant CO2 scrubbers that would "clean up" the air. Ambitious as these schemes seem, the report concluded that many of them potentially had merit, and research into them should be pursued. The authors stated, however, that some of the technology was barely formed and there were "major uncertainties regarding its effectiveness, costs and environmental impacts". One of the technologies considered "too risky" was pouring iron filings into the ocean to grow algae which, the authors said, could cause "substantial damage" to marine life and freshwater, estuary and coastal ecosystems. Buying time The study stressed that engineering approaches would only have a limited impact, and that efforts should continue to be focused on reducing CO2 emissions. "(Governments) should make increased efforts toward mitigating and adapting to climate change and in particular agreeing to global emissions reductions of at least 50% on 1990 levels by 2050 and more thereafter," the authors wrote. But, they continued, there should be "further research and development" into geo-engineering options "to investigate whether low-risk methods can be made available if it becomes necessary to reduce the rate of warming this century". Injecting sea salt into the clouds could cool the planet Of the two basic geo-engineering approaches, the report concluded that those involving the removal of carbon dioxide were preferable, as they effectively return the climate system closer to its pre-industrial state. But the authors found that many of these options were currently too expensive to implement widely. This included "carbon capture and storage" methods, which require CO2 be captured directly from power plants and stored under the Earth's surface. Current proposed methods also work very slowly, taking many decades to remove enough carbon dioxide to significantly reduce the rate of temperature rise. Of the carbon removal techniques assessed, three were considered to have most potential: 1. CO2 capture from ambient air: This would be the preferred method, as it effectively reverses the cause of climate change. 2. Enhanced weathering: This aims to enhance natural reactions of CO2 from the air with rocks and minerals. It was identified as a prospective longer-term option. 3. Land use and afforestation: The report found that land-use management could and should play a small but significant role in reducing the growth of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. CO2 capture and storage is still "too expensive", the report says So-called solar radiation management methods do not take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and, according to some climate models, may be ineffective in altering shifts in rainfall patterns and storms, the report said. Geo-engineering and its consequences are the price we may have to pay for failure to act on climate change. Professor John Shepherd, University of Southampton But the authors said that the door should not be shut to the approach, which could be a faster way to reduce the rate of increase in global temperatures. Some suggestions include: a giant mirror on the Moon; a space parasol made of superfine aluminium mesh; and a swarm of 10 trillion small mirrors launched into space one million at a time every minute for the next 30 years. The study also said that many of these approaches had huge logistical demands, and it could take several decades for them to be implemented. But if temperatures rose to such a level where more rapid action needed to be taken, three techniques were considered to have most potential: 1. Stratospheric aerosols: Previous volcanic eruptions have effectively provided case studies of the potential effectiveness of this method. 2. Space-based methods: These were considered to be a potential technique for long-term use, but only if major problems of implementation and maintenance could be solved. 3. Cloud albedo approaches: These include "cloud ships" which would send sea water into the clouds to make them more reflective. The report also highlighted an inadequate international legal framework for cross border projects. Afforestation could play a small role in reducing atmospheric CO2 "The greatest challenges to the successful deployment of geo-engineering may be to social, ethical, legal and political issues associated with governance rather than scientific issues," it pointed out. The authors urged an appropriate international body, such as the UN Commission for Sustainable Development, to establish a method for developing treaties to determine who would be responsible for research that might have global risks and benefits. Professor John Shepherd, a researcher from the University of Southampton, chaired the Royal Society's geo-engineering study. He said: "It is an unpalatable truth that unless we can succeed in greatly reducing CO2 emissions, we are headed for a very uncomfortable and challenging climate future. "Geo-engineering and its consequences are the price we may have to pay for failure to act on climate change."