Monday, April 12, 2010
Διάσκεψη για διαχείριση υδάτων [ 910 ]
Kathimerinh.gr , April 12, 2010
Ελληνική αποστολή μεταβαίνει στη Βαρκελώνη προκειμένου να συμμετάσχει στην Υπουργική Διάσκεψη Υδάτων στο πλαίσιο της «Ένωσης για τη Μεσόγειο».
Αντικείμενο της διήμερης Υπουργικής Διάσκεψης αποτελεί η υιοθέτηση της Μεσογειακής Στρατηγικής Υδάτων, της προώθησης δηλαδή, της ολοκληρωμένης διαχείρισης των υδατικών πόρων, της προστασίας του υδάτινου περιβάλλοντος και της αποτροπής κοινωνικών και περιβαλλοντικών εντάσεων στην περιοχή της Μεσογείου.
Η Μεσογειακή Στρατηγική θα υιοθετηθεί από 42 χώρες της περιοχής και της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, αλλά και από την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή αποδεικνύοντας την αναγκαιότητα λήψης αποτελεσματικών μέτρων προστασίας του θαλάσσιου οικοσυστήματος της Μεσογείου.
Εκπροσωπώντας την υπουργό Περιβάλλοντος, Ενέργειας και Κλιματικής Αλλαγής κ. Τ. Μπιρμπίλη, ο Ειδικός Γραμματέας Υδάτων κ. Ανδρέας Ανδρεαδάκης δήλωσε ότι:
«Η Ελλάδα έχει αναπτύξει σημαντικές πρωτοβουλίες και δράσεις στο πλαίσιο της Ένωσης για τη Μεσόγειο αξιοποιώντας και την εμπειρία της ως ηγέτιδας χώρας του Μεσογειακού Σκέλους της Ευρωπαϊκής Πρωτοβουλίας για το Νερό. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, πέρα από την τεχνική και διοικητική υποστήριξη της διαδικασίας είχε πολύ σημαντική συμμετοχή στη διαμόρφωση του κειμένου που πρόκειται να υιοθετηθεί. Στις προθέσεις μας είναι, πριν το τέλος του χρόνου η Ελλάδα να παρουσιάσει μία πρωτοβουλία για την αντιμετώπιση των επιπτώσεων της κλιματικής αλλαγής στην περιοχή της Μεσογείου, ενισχύοντας τις προσπάθειες προστασίας των υδάτων της περιοχής».
www.kathimerini.gr με πληροφορίες από ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
Zoo Visitors see lions up close [ 909 ]
New facility at Hiroshima zoo allows visitors to see lions up close
HIROSHIMA -(Mainichi Japan) April 12, 2010-
A new exhibit where only a single sheet of reinforced glass separates visitors from the lions they watch was unveiled at the Asa Zoological Park in Hiroshima City on April 10. The exhibit, called "Leo Glass," is the only one of its kind in Japan.
Before the new exhibit, lions at Asa Zoological Park were separated from visitors by enclosures and ditches, with nine meters being the closest possible distance between visitors and lions. The new exhibit, however, has only a single 20 millimeter sheet of reinforced glass as a barrier. As a visitor, the effect when a lion approaches is powerful.
Children and adults alike enjoyed the new exhibit, with exclamations like, "They're so close!" and "Their fangs are amazing!" One visitor said with a laugh, "I felt like I was going to be eaten!"
ΕΛ.ΑΣ:"Η επιχειρησιακή τακτική του Ε.Α"... [ 908 ]
30 billion euros on Greek rescue package.. [ 907 ]
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Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also Chairman of the Eurogroup, speaks during a news conference with European Commissioner for Finance Olli Rehn (not pictured) in Brussels April 11, 2010. Euro zone finance ministers agreed unanimously at a Eurogroup teleconference on Sunday on how to help Greece if needed. (Xinhua/Reuters)
English news.cn Apr 12 00.14 BRUSSELS, (Xinhua) --
Eurozone finance ministers on Sunday hammered out further details of a Greek rescue package, pledging 30 billion euros (41 billion U.S. dollars) in the first year to bail out debt-hit Greece if necessary.
Finance ministers from the 16-nation euro zone held a rare conference call to find a deal on the remaining details of the Greek rescue package after fresh concerns over a debt default by Athens hit the markets and pushed up the borrowing costs of the Greek government.
"We are now operational if the mechanism has to be activated," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in Brussels Sunday after chairing the ministers' conference call. " The initiative for activating the mechanism rests with the Greek government."
Juncker said all euro zone countries would contribute to the bailout package and provide loans to Greece on bilateral basis as agreed by European Union (EU) leaders at a summit last month.
The total amount would be 30 billion euros for the first year, with further support to be decided later on when there is a necessity, Juncker said.
Juncker said the total amount would be shared by eurozone countries in accordance with their capital base in the European Central Bank (ECB), and the bilateral loans would be coordinated by the European Commission and paid via the ECB.
Editor: Mu Xuequan |
Space Coast economy...[ 906 ]
Space Coast's future up in the air
Miami Herald.,, Mon April 12th, 2010
From time to time over the last two years, Suzy Mast Lee -- a Miami Herald photo editor -- has taken time off to photograph a shuttle launch. She's gotten close, once nine seconds from blast-off, before each launch she wanted to shoot was scrubbed because of poor weather or other problems.
Last week she finally was able to snap what has become an iconic Florida image: the space shuttle hurtling skyward from the Kennedy Space Center.
Mast got her pictures just in time. Only three more shuttle missions remain until NASA pulls the plug on the program. Barring a last-minute reprieve, the last shuttle launch is scheduled for September.
The whole Space Coast is feeling a sense of urgency these days as the countdown to the final blast-off nears. As Jim Wyss writes in today's cover story, that's because in the past three decades the shuttle program has become intimately linked with the Space Coast economy.
The end of the shuttle program will result in the direct loss of more than 9,000 jobs across Florida; thousands more indirect jobs also will be affected. The shuttle program contributes an estimated $1.9 billion annually to the region's economy.
Hotels as far away as Orlando sometimes fill up as a shuttle launch approaches, and merchants, restaurateurs and hoteliers in communities such as Satellite Beach, Titusville, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, and Merritt Island do a brisk business when the space aficionados arrive.
It's not that the United States is giving up on manned space missions but rather that it wants to encourage private companies to begin shuttling cargo and people to the International Space Station.
That, of course, will take time and lots of money to develop. It's possible that in time such private businesses will grow up along the Space Coast. But meanwhile, the local economy will take a serious hit.
Space tourism -- that is providing adventure travel to people who want a taste of what the astronauts experience -- also offers promise for the Space Coast.
But other locations around the world are off to an early start in such ventures. Virgin Galactic, the front-runner, has, for example, selected New Mexico as the site for its tourism launches. It helped that New Mexico sweetened the pot with a pledge of $200 million to build a spaceport.
President Obama is scheduled to visit the Space Coast Thursday to deliver a speech. It's a sure bet that residents will be avidly listening to gauge not only the United States' commitment to space but also to the strip of Florida coast that has witnessed such historic moments in the quest to conquer the stars.
Mimi Whitefield is business enterprise editor.