Copenhagen Climate Change Summit Ends With No Binding Deal

Five nations, including the US and China have reached an agreement at the recent Copenhagen climate change summit, but it is not legally binding.

Gordon Brown has called it "progress" and intends to lead a campaign for a legally binding contract. President Obama said it was a foundation for global action, but admitted there was "much further to go".

Several nations, including Tuvalu and Venezuela said they will not accept the deal in its present form. In order for the deal to be seen as an official UN agreement, all 193 nations at the talks must sign it.

In its present form, the deal promises £18.5bn for developing nations to cope with climate change over the next three years and £61bn a year by 2020.

The five nations that have come up with the deal are the US, China, Brazil, India and South Africa. The countries have, according to Obama, "agreed to set a mitigation target to limit warming to no more than 2C and, importantly, to take action to meet this objective". It also includes a method to verify emissions reductions of industrialised nations - a measure China had initially refused to go along with.

The Copenhagen talks were disrupted earlier in the week when the G77-China delegation walked out over concerns they were being overlooked. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters: "I will not hide my disappointment regarding the non-binding nature of the agreement here...In that respect, the document falls far short of our expectations."

French President, Nicholas Sarkozy said ""The text we have is not perfect,.... If we had no deal, that would mean that two countries as important as India and China would be freed from any type of contract....The United States, which is not in Kyoto, would be free of any type of contract. That's why a contract is absolutely vital."

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven was not impressed with the climate change deal either: "The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport.....There are no targets for carbon cuts and no agreement on a legally binding treaty," he observed. "It is now evident that beating global warming will require a radically different model of politics than the one on display here in Copenhagen."

Men's Guide To Buying Lingerie

The Christmas lingerie buying ritual can be a real nightmare - the world of silk, knickers and cup size can cause even the bravest of men to develop an involuntary twitch.

The advice from seasoned lingerie advisors is to that doing a little homework can ease a lot of the stress, just like you would if you wanted a new motorbike. Men generally go into the lingerie department with a general idea of what they want, but a bit sketchy on specifics and scared of making a mistake.

Before you leave the house, chaps, refresh your memory about what fabrics, colours and styles your lady wears and make sure you know what size she is. Its almost impossible to guess what size someone is just by looking at them, and she's not going to be too pleased if its miles too small or big.

Also bear in mind that what you would like to see her in, isn't necessarily what she would want to wear herself, so skipping past the bright red satin might be a good idea. Don't be afraid to ask the assistants for advice about the latest fashions - they've helped hundreds of men negotiate the lingerie minefield. If all else fails, go for black. It's always glamorous and sophisticated and never goes out of style.

Another Codeshare Agreement For Etihad

Etihad has entered into negotiations for yet another codeshare agreement, this time with ANA. ANA has applied to the Japanese government for regulatory approval, and assuming goes well, the codeshare will come into effect on 1 March 2010.

ANA will add its 'NH' code to the four weekly flights to Abu Dhabi and Nagoya from 1st Feb 2010 and in return, flights between Nagoya and both Sapporo and Fukuoka will have an 'EY' code.

From 28 March 2010, the codeshare agreement will be extended to include ANA operated services between Narita and Osaka Itami. This coincides with Etihad's new Japanese flights between Abu Dhabi and Narita.

The good news for passengers enrolled in the frequent flyer programs of bot airlines is that they will be able to accrue and use mileage on both operator's flights.

Abu Dhabi is already developing links with Japan in the fields of energy and the environment. Abu Dhabi, already possessing rich energy sources of its own is expected to expand its tourism and business in the coming years, helped by the recent acquisition of a permanent place in the F1 calendar. It has a prime location in the UAE, close to Dubai and with easy access to the rest of the Emirates.

Noughties Hottest On Record

Data released by the Met Office and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has shown the first decade of this century to be "by far" the hottest on record, with 2009 being the fifth warmest in 160 years.

The statistics are being made available to the delegates from around the world at the Copenhagen climate change conference. Average global surface temperature has risen by 0.15C per decade since the middle of the 1970's, it is only in continent of North America that temperatures were cooler than average.

WMO secretary-general Michel Jarraud said that the final analysis would not be complete until early next year; but the UN agency always issues a summary during the annual climate negotiations in order that delegates have the latest information.

1998 has been cited as the warmest year, coinciding with strong El Nino conditions. La Nina has since contributed to more depressed temperatures, but another strong El Nino is now developing, with the possibility of a new global record temperature in the next year or two, according to NASA's GISTEMP unit. Other researchers however, believe that temperatures will stabilise for up to a decade as other natural cycles keep the ocean's surface relatively cool, with rapid warming taking place after that.

The data released by the Met Office comes from over 1,500 of the 5,000 land surface monitoring stations worldwide. "This subset release will continue the policy of putting as much of the station temperature record as possible into the public domain," said the agency's statement.

"As soon as we have all permissions in place we will release the remaining station records - around 5,000 in total - that make up the full land temperature record.

"We are dependent on international approvals to enable this final step and cannot guarantee that we will get permission from all data owners."

Mr Jarraud said that weather agencies belonging to the WMO had agreed in 1995 that they would, in general, make data "essential for the protection of life and property" freely available, but added that some agencies did not release all their data.

"But whether they all release or not will not alter what we are saying, because the vast majority is already open."

Making The World A Smaller Place

The advent of commercial flights all over the world has made destinations we could only dream about even three generations ago just a few hours away.

The present recession has hit the aviation industry with massive losses being recorded in some airlines and others ceasing to exist. However, the worst has passed now and some airlines are negotiating codeshares and other mutually beneficial arrangements in order to move forward.

Etihad Airways and Air Malta now allow passengers to buy connecting flights to Abu Dhabi via Frankfurt on a single ticket. It also means Etihad has a choice of 80 connecting flights from Dubai.
Etihad is expanding in India too. It is to connect India with North America, focussing on the corporate travellers, and also plans to introduce flights to Cape Town and Athens.

In order to reduce the impact of the recession in India, Etihad chose to replace its wide bodied fleet with narrow bodied aircraft and redesign its routes so that it reached a wider range of destinations in North America.

The end result is a success for Etihad, working with other airlines has enabled it to continue expanding and escape the worst effects of the recession.