Germany

Global warming is changing the Earth's climate so fast that influential scientists fear it is already outrunning our ability to prevent the planet from overheating.

John Holdren, US President Barack Obama's chief scientific adviser, is only the latest to suggest radical geo-engineering measures may have to be considered to keep the Earth habitable.

"It's got to be looked at. We don't have the luxury of taking any approach off the table," he said. He recently compared the crisis with being "in a car with bad brakes driving towards a cliff in the fog".

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Wood is becoming a hot commodity in a new low-carbon world.

Power companies are burning more trees because the renewable fuel can be cheaper than coal and ignited without needing permits to release carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.

Published: October 6 2008 09:39 | Last updated: October 6 2008 12:07

S. Korean banks struggle to raise dollars

On the basis that public funds seem to be going into banking systems in broadly alphabetical order – starting with America, Belgium, Germany and last week moving to Iceland and Ireland – it looks like time up for Korea. And right on cue, Asia’s fourth biggest economy is exhibiting signs of panic. On Monday, Korea’s finance minister urged banks to sell overseas assets to raise foreign funds and promised them access to the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Short term funding rates jumped to a seven and a half year high, while the won, one of the world’s worst performing currencies, fell a further 5 per cent against the dollar.

16th September 2008, on Yahoo Finance...

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080915/wall_street.html

Stocks retreat amid new Wall Street landscape
Monday September 15, 11:51 am ET
By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Stocks fall but pare steepest losses after Lehman bankruptcy, Merrill sale; AIG remains worry

ABN Amro has launched a new range of stock market indices, designed to outperform traditional benchmarks with the aid of market timing. The new indices, which will be independently calculated by Standard & Poor's, will be called the ABN Amro Alpha range.

The indices are based on the observation that investors tend to reduce risk in the approach to the end of the month or to public holidays such as Christmas. ABN Amro believes this is because traders usually have to report profits and losses at the end of these periods. They accordingly wish to "lock in" their gains.