Mercosur was set up in March 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay under the Treaty of Asuncion. The 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto gave the body a wider international status and formalised a customs union.
Brazil and Argentina are Mercosur's economic giants. Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are associate members; they can join free-trade agreements but remain outside the bloc's customs union. Moves to include Chile as a full member were suspended after Santiago signed a free-trade deal with the US in 2002.
Argentine minister Ivan Heyn dies at Mercosur summit
BBC News - 18 hours ago
A senior Argentine official has been found dead at the Mercosur summit in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo. Undersecretary for foreign trade Ivan Heyn was found hanged in his hotel room, police said. He is thought to have taken his own life.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced.
Mr Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said.He suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months.His designated successor is believed to be his third son, Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be in his late 20s.North Korea's state-run news agency, KCNA, urged people to unite behind the younger Kim."All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public," the news agency said.
The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul says Mr Kim's death will cause huge shock waves across North Korea, an impoverished, nuclear-armed nation with few allies.The announcement came in an emotional statement read out on national television.The announcer, wearing black, said he had died of physical and mental over-work. A later report from KCNA said Mr Kim had had a heart attack.
The White House said it was "closely monitoring" reports of the death. The US remained "committed to stability on the Korean peninsula, and to the freedom and security of our allies", it said in a statement.South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak spoke to US President Barack Obama by telephone."The two leaders agreed to closely co-operate and monitor the situation together," a South Korean presidential spokesman said.
Asian stock markets fell after the news was announced.Isolated regimeMr Kim inherited the leadership of North Korea - which remains technically at war with South Korea - from his father Kim Il-sung.Shortly after he came to power, a severe famine caused by ill-judged economic reforms and poor harvests left an estimated two million people dead.His regime has been harshly criticised for human rights abuses and is internationally isolated because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Under Mr Kim's leadership funds have been channelled to the military and in 2006 North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. It followed that up with a second one three years later. Multinational talks aimed at disarming North Korea have been deadlocked for months.Mr Kim unveiled his son as his likely successor a year ago. Many had expected to see this process further consolidated in 2012."We have to be very worried because whenever there is domestic instability North Korea likes to find an external situation to divert the attention away from that - including indulging in provocation."Christopher Hill, former US representative to the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, said all parties needed to "keep cool heads".As for Mr Kim's son and successor, very little is known about him - including his exact age. He was educated in Switzerland and is the son of Mr Kim's reportedly favourite wife, the late Ko Yong-hui.He has an older brother, Kim Jong-chol, and a older half-brother, Kim Jong-nam - both of whom appear to have been passed over for the succession.
In a speech in Oxford on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, the prime minister called for a revival of traditional Christian values to counter Britain's "moral collapse".He said "live and let live" had too often become "do what you please".The PM said it was wrong to suggest that standing up for Christianity was "somehow doing down other faiths".Describing himself as a "committed" but only "vaguely practising" Christian, the PM admitted he was "full of doubts" about big theological issues. 'Don't do God'
But he staunchly defended the role of religion in politics and said the Bible in particular was crucial to British values."We are a Christian country and we should not be afraid to say so," he told the audience at Christ Church."Let me be clear: I am not in any way saying that to have another faith - or no faith - is somehow wrong."I know and fully respect that many people in this country do not have a religion.Mr Cameron said people often argued that "politicians shouldn't 'do God'" - a reference to a comment famously made by former No 10 spin doctor Alistair Campbell when Tony Blair was asked about his religion.
"If by that they mean we shouldn't try to claim a direct line to God for one particular political party, they could not be more right," the PM said.
"But we shouldn't let our caution about that stand in the way of recognising both what our faith communities bring to our country, and also just how incredibly important faith is to so many people in Britain."
Mr Cameron also said it was "easier for people to believe and practise other faiths when Britain has confidence in its Christian identity".
"Many people tell me it is much easier to be Jewish or Muslim here in Britain than it is in a secular country like France," he said.
"Why? Because the tolerance that Christianity demands of our society provides greater space for other religious faiths too.
"And because many of the values of a Christian country are shared by people of all faiths and indeed by people of no faith at all."
Police have raided a home in West Yorkshire as part of their inquiry into the so-called Climategate controversy at the University of East Anglia (UEA).
Officers from Norfolk Police and the Metropolitan Police searched the property and seized laptop computers and a mobile router.
The inquiry started after emails from the university's Climate Research Unit (CRU) were hacked in 2009.
They were published on the internet, sparking a climate change row.
The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) studied every email that had been hacked at the Climate Research Unit, based in Norwich.
Sceptics claimed the emails undermined the integrity of the CRU, which was later cleared of any wrongdoing after an independent inquiry.
At the end of November of this year, thousands of emails from the UEA appeared on a Russian computer server. This is also being investigated as part of the police inquiry.
No-one was arrested in the raid, which took place on Wednesday, said Norfolk Police.
Members said their "best estimate" was that green policies would add £110 to bills per household in 2020.Claims that the costs of wind farms and other low-carbon technology will lead to sharp rises in fuel bills are wrong, government advisers say.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says increases in bills over the past few years have been largely due to higher wholesale gas costs.
It emerged recently that an estimated 1.5m people are in fuel debt in the UK.
The combined gas and electricity bill for typical households could go up from £1,060 in 2010 to £1,250 in 2020, according to analysis by the committee.
But further energy efficiency measures - such as loft and wall cavity insulation - could see the projected 2020 bill fall to £1,085 per household, it said.
CCC chief executive David Kennedy said the committee had analysed the impact of investing in technology including offshore and onshore wind, nuclear and carbon capture and storage.
Mr Kennedy said the cost of this investment was "significantly" outweighed by the benefits - including a reduced reliance on imported fossil fuels.
Looking back, the CCC said an analysis of the average dual fuel energy bills showed an increase of £455 over the six years 2004 to 2010.
However, 80% of this rise was unrelated to low-carbon measures and the biggest contributor was rising gas prices, which added around £290 to bills.
Mr Kennedy said that some people had claimed that energy bills were "through the roof at the moment" because of investment in green energy - but the committee's analysis showed this "clearly" was not the case.
A second claim that investment in low-carbon technology over the next decade would drive bills to "astronomical levels" was also untrue, he said.
CCC chairman Lord Adair Turner said: "Over the next decade, we anticipate a rise of around £100 in the average bill as a result of investment in low-carbon power capacity, which will benefit the UK in the long run."
Fuel poverty
The committee's analysis comes against a background of increased concern about rising fuel costs.
In November it was revealed that the number of people with energy debts had risen by a quarter for electricity and a fifth for gas.
Campaign group Consumer Focus and charity Citizen's Advice say energy prices increased by seven per cent last winter and warn that further rises of 14% this winter could push more people into debt.
An independent report by Professor John Hills published in October found that 2,700 people died each year from problems linked to fuel poverty such as respiratory or cardiovascular disease.
And government figures released over the summer suggested that more than a fifth of all households in the UK in 2009 were affected by fuel poverty - meaning they spend more than 10% of their income keeping warm.
Professor Hills called for a new definition of fuel poverty, which focuses on people with low incomes driven into poverty by high fuel bills.
Most of the 5,500 remaining soldiers have now left Iraq, with security in the hands of the Iraqi authorities.
President Barack Obama, who came to office pledging to bring troops home, said the US left behind a "sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq".
Some 4,500 US soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis have died in the war.
It has cost the US some $1tr.
Republicans have criticised the pullout citing concerns over Iraq's stability, but most Americans support the move.
In a speech to troops just returned from Iraq in North Carolina on Wednesday, Mr Obama hailed the "extraordinary achievement" of the military and said they were leaving with "heads held high".
"Everything that American troops have done in Iraq, all the fighting and dying, bleeding and building, training and partnering, has led us to this moment of success," he said.
"The war in Iraq will soon belong to history, and your service belongs to the ages."
He said the war had been "a source of great controversy" but that they had helped to build "a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people".
The US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta has arrived in Baghdad for the ceremony, which he said earlier would "mark the end of the combat effort that we've made as a country".
Some 1.5 million Americans have served in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003. In addition to those who died, nearly 30,000 have been wounded.
Troop numbers peaked at around 170,000 during the height of the so-called surge strategy in 2007, but as of this week only about 5,500 remained. Many of them have already left for bases in Kuwait prior to flying home.
The last combat troops left Iraq in August last year. A small contingent of some 200 soldiers will remain in Iraq as advisers, while some 15,000 US personnel are now based at the US embassy in Baghdad - by far the world's largest.
'Ruin and mess'
Some Iraqis have said they fear the consequences of being left to manage their own security.
Baghdad trader Malik Abed said he was grateful to the Americans for ridding Iraq of Saddam Hussein, but added: "I think now we are going to be in trouble. Maybe the terrorists will start attacking us again."
But in the city of Falluja, a former insurgent stronghold which was the scene of major US offensives in 2004, people burned US flags on Wednesday in celebration at the withdrawal.
"No-one trusted their promises, but they said when they came to Iraq they would bring security, stability and would build our country," Ahmed Aied, a grocer, told Reuters news agency.
"Now they are walking out, leaving behind killings, ruin and mess."
Concerns have also been voiced in Washington that Iraq lacks robust political structures or an ability to defend its borders.
There are also fears that Iraq could be plunged back into sectarian bloodletting, or be unduly influenced by Iran.
The conflict, launched by the Bush administration in March 2003, soon became hugely unpopular as claims that Saddam was hiding weapons of mass destruction and supporting al-Qaeda militants turned out to be untrue.
It descended into sectarian conflict, costing tens of thousands of Iraqi lives.
Mr Obama announced in October that all US troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011, a date previously agreed by former President George W Bush in 2008.
Canada will formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the minister of the environment has said.
Peter Kent said the protocol "does not represent a way forward for Canada" and the country would face crippling fines for failing to meet its targets.
The move, which is legal and was expected, makes it the first nation to pull out of the global treaty.
The protocol, initially adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, is aimed at fighting global warming.
"Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past, and as such we are invoking our legal right to withdraw from Kyoto," Mr Kent said in Toronto.
He said he would be formally advising the United Nations of his country's intention to pull out.
'Impediment'
He said meeting Canada's obligations under Kyoto would cost $13.6bn (10.3bn euros; £8.7bn): "That's $1,600 from every Canadian family - that's the Kyoto cost to Canadians, that was the legacy of an incompetent Liberal government".
He said that despite this cost, greenhouse emissions would continue to rise as two of the world's largest polluters - the US and China - were not covered by the Kyoto agreement.
"We believe that a new agreement that will allow us to generate jobs and economic growth represents the way forward," he said.
Beijing criticised Canada's decision. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said it went "against the efforts of the international community and is regrettable".
Mr Kent's announcement came just hours after a last-minute deal on climate change was agreed in Durban.
Talks on a new legal deal covering all countries will begin next year and end by 2015, coming into effect by 2020, the UN climate conference decided.
"The Kyoto Protocol is a dated document, it is actually considered by many as an impediment to the move forward but there was good will demonstrated in Durban, the agreement that we ended up with provides the basis for an agreement by 2015."
He said that though the text of the Durban agreement "provides a loophole for China and India", it represents "the way forward".
Canada's previous Liberal government signed the accord but Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government never embraced it.
Canada declared four years ago that it did not intend to meet its existing Kyoto Protocol commitments and its annual emissions have risen by about a third since 1990.
EIJING Dec 13 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday Canada's decision to quit the Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gas emissions was "regrettable" and called on the country to continue abiding by its commitments on climate change.
On Monday, Canada became the first country to announce it would withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Canada, a major energy producer, has long complained that the agreement is unworkable because it excludes many significant emitters from binding action.
China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases from human activity, has long insisted the Kyoto Protocol remain a foundation of international efforts to curb these emissions causing global warming.
"It is regrettable and flies in the face of the efforts of the international community for Canada to leave the Kyoto Protocol at a time when the Durban meeting, as everyone knows, made important progress by securing a second phase of commitment to the Protocol," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a news briefing.
"We also hope that Canada will face up to its due responsibilities and duties, and continue abiding by its commitments, and take a positive, constructive attitude towards participating in international cooperation to respond to climate change."
China's state news agency, Xinhua, denounced as "preposterous" Canada's decision, calling it "an excuse to shirk responsibility".
"Canada's so-called reason for dropping out of the agreement is preposterous and completely an excuse to shirk responsibility," Xinhua said.
The commentary urged Canada to "retract its decision and return to the Kyoto Protocol, so that it can make positive contribution to the cause of global emissions reductions."
At recently concluded climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa, China won an extension of the protocol until 2017, but also bowed to pressure to launch later talks for a new pact that would legally oblige all the big emitters to take action.
Under Kyoto, poorer countries including China, take voluntary, non-binding steps to curb the growth of emissions while they focus on economic development, and rich nations must sign up to quantitative cuts in emissions.
The United States has refused to join the protocol and argued that China and other big emerging emitters should come under a legally binding framework that does away with the either-or distinction between advanced and developing countries. (Reporting by Chris Buckley and Sui-Lee Wee, Editing by Ken Wills and Paul Tait)
Project POTICO: Sustainable Palm Oil on Low Carbon Degraded
Land in Indonesia
Diverting oil palm plantations onto degraded lands in Indonesia to combat
illegal logging, protect the environment, and create sustainable
livelihoods.
Indonesia’s tropical forests are being cleared at a record rate, with oil palm plantations
emerging as a major threat. One consequence of this deforestation is that
Indonesia is now, according to some estimates, the third largest global emitter
of greenhouse gases. Although the country may have 15-20 million hectares of
degraded land, oil palm—as well as timber and rubber—plantations continue to
push into virgin forests.
In partnership with NewPage Corporation, WRI is spearheading a new
project in Indonesia called “POTICO” to curb new oil palm plantations from
clearing virgin or primary forests. The project will convene and lead a number
of partners to implement land swaps that divert planned oil palm plantations
onto degraded lands and bring the forests that were slated for conversion into
sustainable management. The strategy would relieve pressure on virgin forests
and curb illegal logging. As a result, the strategy would reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, conserve the country’s biodiversity, and enhance sustainable
livelihoods of local people.
Dilemma:
Deforestation and Development
Spanning 90 million hectares, the forests of
Indonesia constitute 10 percent of the world’s remaining tropical forests and provide people with a variety of benefits or ecosystem services. For instance, local communities
rely on the forests for food, medicine, freshwater, and building material. The
global community relies on them for carbon sequestration, timber, and tourism.
In addition, the forests of Indonesia are a biodiversity “hotspot,” with new
species discovered every year.
The expansion of oil palm plantations into Indonesia’s forests has led to
biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions of global significance. At the
same time, continued expansion of oil palm plantations will be necessary to meet
rising demand for palm oil and to fulfill Indonesia’s production and poverty
alleviation goals. The planted area of oil palm plantations in Indonesia has increased from
about 600,000 hectares (ha) in 1986 to 6 million ha in 2006, with a total of
almost 20 million ha planned by 2020. If past patterns
continue, the majority of expansion will likely occur at the expense of forests. Many oil palm
plantations are already planned on forested land. [
Indonesia’s Degraded
Land: A Missed Opportunity?
At the same time, Indonesia has millions of hectares of “degraded land” —areas
cleared of forests long ago and now containing low biodiversity and low carbon
stocks. If the plantations currently planned on forests were instead diverted to
this degraded land, oil palm expansion could continue but significant
deforestation, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions would be
avoided. Oil palm companies, however, face four obstacles to successfully diverting
planned oil palm plantations away from forests and onto degraded lands:
Technical. There is no publicly available, systematic
methodology for identifying degraded land that is biophysically suitable,
economically viable, and socially available for sustainable oil palm expansion.
Companies lack coherent guidance on what constitutes land suitable for
sustainable expansion, stemming from an absence of agreement on a common
definition of “degraded” among various interest groups.
Legal. In many areas, physically degraded land is legally
classified as “forest” and therefore is unavailable for agricultural expansion,
while forested land is legally classified as “non-forest” and therefore is at
risk of conversion.
Social. Oil palm plantation projects face high risk of
costly social conflict due to land tenure issues. This is especially a problem
on degraded lands which tend to have more claims than forested areas.
Financial. Many companies already have concessions to clear
forest for oil palm, and forgoing this conversion represents a significant
opportunity cost, particularly in cases when the company expected to generate
income from the sale of timber that is cleared during plantation establishment.
These companies will likely require a financial incentive to change their
expansion plans.
Proposed Solution: Project
POTICO
Project POTICO links the expansion of sustainable palm oil onto degraded land
with avoided deforestation through land swaps. This ensures that oil palm
plantations can keep expanding to meet demand—generating local revenues and
jobs—while halting deforestation. POTICO harnesses a combination of sustainable
revenue streams— e.g. certified palm oil, certified timber, carbon offsets, or
other locally appropriate options—to demonstrate the financial viability of this
model for developing plantations. Project POTICO consists of implementing pilot POTICO deals on the ground, and
taking the concept to scale by promoting replication. A POTICO deal diverts a planned oil palm plantation from forest onto degraded
land and ensures the sustainable management of the forest previously slated for
conversion. Under a POTICO deal, WRI will partner with a private company with a
concession on forested land that has committed not to convert the forest.
Instead the company will establish a plantation on a similarly-sized piece of
degraded land and pursue certification from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. WRI and
partners will assist the company in identifying degraded land suitable for
sustainable palm oil production, facilitate the process of gaining free prior
and informed consent (FPIC) of local people, and engage relevant local and
national government officials. For the forest previously slated for conversion,
WRI will work with the company to design and implement a locally appropriate
business plan to ensure it remains managed as forest. In addition to facilitating individual POTICO deals, WRI will work with
partners to conduct research and other activities to enable others to replicate
the concept. These activities include mapping degraded land, legal analysis,
documentation of free prior and informed consent process, capacity building for
local government officials on land use planning, policy analysis, and engagement
with government officials and industry groups.
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