UN wrongly linked global warming to natural disasters

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7000063.ece
THE United Nations climate science panel faces new controversy for wrongly linking global warming to an increase in the number and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods.
It based the claims on an unpublished report that had not been subjected to routine scientific scrutiny — and ignored warnings from scientific advisers that the evidence supporting the link too weak. The report's own authors later withdrew the claim because they felt the evidence was not strong enough.
The claim by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that global warming is already affecting the severity and frequency of global disasters, has since become embedded in political and public debate. It was central to discussions at last month's Copenhagen climate summit, including a demand by developing countries for compensation of $100 billion (£62 billion) from the rich nations blamed for creating the most emissions.

Spy drones will monitor U.K. citizens

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/
LONDON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Camera-equipped drones, developed by the British military for use in war, will be used in England to keep an eye on civilians from the sky, officials say.
Police in Kent and Essex counties plan to start using them in 2012 for routine monitoring of motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and illegal dumping, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.
Collaboration between the police departments and BAE Systems, maker of the drones, began in 2007, the Telegraph said.
A prototype for police use is expected to fly this year. Its high-resolution cameras can capture images from 20,000 feet.
"Fully autonomous unmanned air systems could be routinely used by border agencies, the police and other government bodies," BAE spokesman Andrew Mellors said.

Watchdog groups warn: ‘Corporate globalization’ of US elections is upon us

http://rawstory.com/2010/01/blogger-the-corporate-globalization
The Supreme Court may have ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission days ago, but the decision's shockwaves are still rippling across American democracy.
Key among them is a concern first raised by Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote in his dissent that the court, by removing all prohibitions against corporate or union money in U.S. elections, "would appear to afford the same protection to multinational corporations controlled by foreigners as to individual Americans."
"I guess this would be the corporate globalization of the U.S. electoral system," a blogger for watchdog group The Sunlight Foundation opined.

Tishman Surrenders Massive NYC Housing Complex

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/
Commercial real estate developer Tishman Speyer said it will hand over the massive New York residential complexes Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town to its creditors after Tishman defaulted on the $5.4 billion property.
The failure of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village marks one of the biggest commercial real estate failures in recent history and offers another sign of just how much trouble there is in the nation’s housing market.
In a statement, Tishman said “it has become clear to us through this process that the only viable alternative to bankruptcy would be to transfer control and operation of the property, in an orderly manner, to the lenders and their representatives.”