Doha Climate Summit

Thousands of climate experts, government negotiators and activists will gather in Qatar - which has the world’s highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions (ironically), busy streets with SUVs, sky-high towers, constant air-conditioning to beat temperatures as high as 50 degree Celsius - from November 26th to December 7th for the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference. 

The country will serve as host for the global climate conference to take place in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The summit is officially referred to as the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.

As the world is facing a grave climate change situation, the conference aims to carve an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to deal with global warming. It identifies the fact that carbon dioxide emissions, industrial emissions and other greenhouse gases affect the climate system.

Delegates meeting at Doha will aim at reviewing and framing a deal to slow down the process of climate change, such as floods, sandstorms, droughts, rise in sea levels and heat waves. The deal is meant to be reached by the end of 2015 and enter into force in 2020.

Who can share the dais?

Only nominated representatives of parties, observer states, accredited observer organisations and accredited members of the media can participate at COP18 and CMP8. 

Those Parties to the Convention (COP) that are not Parties to the Protocol may join in as observers in the Meeting of the Parties (CMP).

The conference is expected to witness delegates from 194 nations, 7,000 representatives of non-governmental organisations and more than 1,500 members of the global and regional media making the COP18 conference the largest Qatar has ever hosted.

Key Issues: 

Kyoto Protocol 2: The paramount issue that needs to be addressed this year is the Kyoto Protocol. The first commitment of Kyoto Protocol is set to expire by December-end of 2012, so, it is important to bring in effect a second Kyoto agreement commitment to abide by emission reductions that have been made by countries previously.

Deeper emission cuts: Another important issue is that the Doha climate summit must keep up with the momentum gained from the Durban Summit and the European Union (EU) and other countries must give more in order to keep up with their promise of limiting the global warming to 2 degrees as pledged earlier. 

Climate fund: Although United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged the world leaders to contribute and aid in financing the UN multibillion-dollar fund in order to fight climate change, but the road seems to be tough due to current global economic crisis, especially the Eurozone crisis and the financial downturn prevailing in the US. It is also evident that developing countries will pressurise developed nations to aid financing and technology to help them adapt to the impacts of climate change.

What should be done in Doha? 

With climate change and extreme weather conditions being witnessed across the world like the vast devastation caused by ‘Superstorm Sandy’ in the US, floods in Africa and the Philippines, Arctic ice melting at fearsome rate etc, it is the need of the hour that we realise the stark truth that climate change problem is growing ‘grave’. 

A report released by the World Bank says the present global mean temperature of 0.8°C above pre-industrial levels could rise to as high as 4°C by 2100, even if countries fulfil current emissions-reduction pledges, possibly resulting in extreme heat-waves, declining global food stocks and life-threatening sea-level rise.

So, at Doha COP 18 conference, it has to be understood that it time to act without any further delay or face the wrath of Mother Nature in the near future due to irreversible changes brought by wrongful human activities.

Experts believe that the conference will serve as a key milestone to host a negotiation process between rich nations and developing countries to bridge the ‘ambition gaps’ in the climate change issues. But, they are not very much hopeful and the least that they expect is an agreement on ‘Kyoto 2’ in 2015. 

At present, China, the United States and India are world’s three largest emitters of greenhouse gases, with China leading the chart and India at third place. 

Let’s wait and watch if the political will of the world leaders attending the crucial climate conference exists or we will have to wait for some more climate disasters to serve as eye-openers. 



1. capita 人均
2.session 會話
3. emissions 排放量4.Delegate 代表
5.accredited 認可
6. paramount 最重要的
7. pledged 承諾8.prevailing 現行
9.wrath 憤怒
10.irreversible 不可逆的

ZEENEWS
http://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/doha-climate-summit_5869.htmlLast Updated: Sunday, November 25, 2012, 18:23

psy,Gangnam style

How the Psy/MC Hammer AMAs mash-up came to be

We should've known something was up when Psy took the stage at the "American Music Awards" in a pair of Hammer pants.

The "Gangnam Style" artist had the AMAs audience on their feet doing his trademark dance when the lights suddenly dimmed and MC Hammer appeared on stage - still "Too Legit to Quit."

Younger viewers might've been a little lost when Psy stopped and went Hammer-time, as the "Too Legit" single came out just over 20 years ago. But, as the YouTube clip above proves,  Hammer hasn't lost his touch.

Backstage, Hammer told CNN that the performance came together with the aid of Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun.

“Scooter Braun connected us, and [when] I spoke with Psy I knew right away that he is a good guy. I like working with good people ... I loved doing it and we had a great time together," Hammer said.

"Psy is fantastic. He's shifted the planet. He's got the whole world dancing. And it's a rarity in this world. Only four people made that happen in history - James Brown, Michael Jackson, yours truly and Psy. ”

Psy, who even cajoled Hammer into pulling on his trademark pants once again, didn't have any nerves about hitting the old-school routine.

“Honestly, I practiced his move[s] 20 years ago," Psy said. "So I’ve done that for 20 years."

Don't remember the original? See if this jogs your memory:

Post by: CNN's KJ Matthews and Denise Quan contributed to this report November 19th, 201210:23 AM ET http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/19/how-the-psymc-hammer-amas-mash-up-came-to-be/?iref=allsearch 1.trademark  2.dimmed 變暗 3.rarity 稀有 4.cajoled  哄騙 5.clip 夾 6.fantastic 奇妙 7.routine 常規

a life of pi

he film is beating Feng Xiaogang’s historical epic "Back to 1942" at the Chinese box office.

HONG KONG – Ang Lee's Life of Pi has continued its staggering run in mainland Chinese theaters, beating off Feng Xiaogang’s historical epic, Back to 1942, for the second week running in the box office listings, with its current total earnings there surpassing its takings in the U.S.

According to 20th Century Fox, Life of Pi has now earned $68.3 million in China. Playing in a total of 11 foreign markets, the movie's foreign gross is $105.7 million.Despite being in its third week of release, takings of Lee’s 20th Century Fox production came to more than 160 million yuan ($25.6 million), according to official figures of box office earnings from Dec. 2 to Dec. 9 announced by state-backed portal China Film News. The amount matched the film’s takings the previous week.

Back to 1942, a challenging 2-1/2-hour drama about a horrendous famine which swept across the Chinese province of Henan during the second world war, came second in the charts at 150 million yuan ($24 million).

The failure to slice Life of Pi off the top will surely disappoint the film’s producers Huayi Brothers, who have worked for a long time with Feng, one of China’s most bankable directors who have constantly claimed top-spot during the traditional New Year holiday window in the country.

While beating off a homespun blockbuster is already a feat in itself, Lee’s film has also achieved the remarkable feat of seeing its Chinese takings eclipsing that in the U.S. As if to highlight the enormous potential of the Chinese market, Life of Pi has grossed more here than in the U.S., where the film has taken $61 million by Dec. 9.

The last time a U.S. film’s Chinese release took in more than its domestic takings is with Titanic 3D. Its earnings in China, 977.1 million yuan ($156.8 million), is three times that of in the U.S.

Coming a distant third in the Chinese box office rankings the past week is The Last Supper, the period drama from Lu Chuan. Its comparatively low earnings of 28 million yuan ($4.5 million) was probably caused by lukewarm reviews and news of the film’s publicists admitting to have employed Internet users to push up ratings at movie websites as a “reaction” against what they deemed as an organized campaign of mudslinging against the film.

1.gross 毛

2.portal 門戶

3.previous 前

4.horrendous 可怕的

5.famine 飢荒

6. bankable 銀行擔保的

7.homespun 樸素的

8.eclipsing 食

9.domestic 國內

10.comparatively 比較