text: A court in Dong Thap Province sentenced a 35-year-old teacher to four years in prison for assaulting four of his colleagues with acid in March over personal and professional disagreements.
  On Tuesday, the Thanh Binh District People’s Court found Nguyen Minh Tien, a former English language teacher at Tan Phu Junior High School, guilty of “intentionally inflicting injury upon other persons.”
  Tien was also ordered to pay a total of over VND175 million (US$8,260) in compensation to his four victims, including a teacher, a principal and two district education agency officials.
  According to the indictment, Tien was upset after the district’s education agency dismissed his wife, Duong Que Anh - the principal of Tan My Kindergarten in the Mekong Delta province's Thanh Binh District.
  He'd also argued over his salary with Principal Nguyen Van Chien, of Thanh Binh Junior High School, where he worked before being transferred to Tan Phu Junior High School last October.
  In February, Tien asked Le Tri Tien, a chemistry teacher, to buy him a liter of hydrochloric and sulfuric acid for a total of VND200,000 (US$9.3).
  Duong Que Anh (C), the wife of Nguyen Minh Tien, cries as she attends a court in Dong Thap Province August 19, 2014. Photo credit: Nguoi Lao Dong
  On March 21, he took a bottle of acid to the office of Do Phuoc Vinh, chief of the district education agency.
  After pouring the acid into a glass and pretending it was water, Tien threw the liquid into Vinh’s face.
  Dinh Van Cang, deputy chief of the division, rushed to the office, after hearing Vinh’s screams and was also doused with the corrosive substance.
  Tien ran out of the office, got on his bike and headed to Thanh Binh Junior High School, about one and half kilometers away.
  During his trial, Tien confessed to having attacked Trang and Chien for other personal conflicts. He repeatedly cried and apologized to his victims.
  Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands, which is claimed by Vietnam, in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015.
  European governments are torn over how to respond to China's defeat in a legal battle over the South China Sea, fearful of alienating their second-largest trading partner and hampered by a maritime dispute among their own members.
  China angrily vowed to ignore the ruling by a court in The Hague dismissing its claim to much of the South China Sea. Its envoy to Washington said the verdict would "intensify conflict and even confrontation", though he also said Beijing remained committed to negotiations in disputes over the vital trade route.
  Despite U.S. pressure on the European Union to take a stand on the issue, the bloc has so far been unable to agree a common statement, leaving diplomats to argue over the wording acceptable to all 28 member states.
  The EU says it takes no position in the dispute between China and the Philippines, whose accusation that Beijing has violated its economic and sovereign rights was upheld in Tuesday's ruling by a five-judge tribunal under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNLCLOS).
  But the EU remains concerned by China's militarization of islands and reefs in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. It says it wants to see international law upheld.
  A maritime dispute between EU members Slovenia and Croatia has hampered the bloc's response. Croatia pulled out of an arbitration process in 2015 at the same court that ruled on the South China Sea case, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
  Croatia wants no mention of UNCLOS in the final statement, leaving other governments frustrated just as senior EU officials head to a summit of Asian and European leaders, known as ASEM, in Mongolia on Friday, wanting a common position.
  "We should be able to say that the finding of an international tribunal should be respected," said one diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions were still underway. "This is not about apportioning blame."
  Adding to the difficulties, eastern European countries including Hungary have been heavily lobbied by China in recent months. Beijing has offered lucrative contracts and investment in return for supporting the Chinese position on issues ranging from the South China Sea to Beijing's bid to be treated more favorably in trade disputes with Brussels, diplomats say.
  Britain and France have been most vocal in calling on China not to escalate tensions in the area, diplomats say. However, British diplomats in Brussels have taken a lower profile since Britons voted last month to leave the European Union, they say.
  Such divisions leave the EU looking timid to speak up for international maritime order and could undermine its standing, some analysts say.
  Even though a statement may eventually come, the wording has been significantly watered down in meetings over the past few days, and top EU officials largely side-stepped the issue at an EU-China summit in Beijing this week.
  At stake for the EU are China's long-awaited investment in the bloc's new infrastructure fund, negotiations to curtail Beijing's production in steel that European industry says is destroying local jobs and efforts to win European companies greater freedom to invest in China.
  While Donald Tusk, head of the European Council which represents national governments, did mention the issue in public remarks in Beijing, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was careful to say the bloc did not take a stance on sovereignty in South China Sea, although she also urged all countries to respect UNCLOS rulings.
  European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker kept the focus of his public remarks firmly on deepening investment ties and seeking to resolve the issue of steel overproduction.
  UAS Vision, picking up a Bloomberg report, noted that the demonstration in Blacksburg was conducted under the U.S. government’s Integration Pilot Program, which was unveiled last May. The Department of Transportation selected 10 government and tribal agencies to work with industry and academia to push the boundaries of drone technology at the same time that they wrestle with potential public unease and legal questions.
  This is YOU becoming the conscious architect of your thoughts. Allowing you to shape your own future in line with your desires. You getting more of what you want from life.
  When I was a child I was told to “Mind my P’s & Q’s”. Back then I took it to mean say “Please and Thank You”.
  To me, please often sounds like people are pleading. And it is used in many situations of pleading for something to be granted… “Please don’t do that”, “Please give me one”, etc.
  This isn’t an equal exchange, you become the underdog and they are the one’s who can grant your wish. You are giving away your power.
  If I’m ordering a coffee from someone I’ve never met as I pass through a city, I am not going to say “Can I have a coffee please?” I don’t think that’s polite. The person entered into a contract to swap their time to serve coffee…
  Super polite, so much so that when I visit the same coffee shop again over 6 months later the person remembers me… and that regularly happens to me, I get an instant smile when I walk back in.
  To start with, when I first arrive I say “Hello”. When the person has looked up to see me (often surprised that someone is actually saying hello, rather than ‘Ordering them’ to make a coffee without looking up from their smartphone), I ask them “How are you?” with a smile.
  Depending on what they say I may continue with the aim of making them feel good and valued (i.e giving them The Impression of Increase). When I get to the point of asking for a coffee I say, “Can I have an Americano, with cold soy thanks.”
  Then when they ask for the money, I pay and say something like “Awesome thanks”, before smiling and walking to the other end of the counter to receive my coffee, after of course chatting to the person making it…
  I’m going to make the person smile, maybe laugh (it’s actually quite easy) and I’m going to ‘Thank’ them multiple times.
  Basically interacting with the person as another human being, rather than a robot programmed to serve.
  The phrase “Thank you” comes from the word ‘think’ and it originally meant “I will remember what you did for me.”
  In fact sometimes I even go into the kitchen of a restaurant to say “Thank You’ before (some would say… and indeed my wife does) overly enthusiastically praising their gustatory genius, the culinary delights that enchant and even bewildered my senses.
  Gratitude is important, being thankful is important and it doesn’t have to involve pleading. Words are powerful things… both consciously and in how they program your unconscious thoughts, emotions and behaviours.
  I disagree… saying please shows respect and consideration for the effort the other person put in to help me
  I agree, it shows respect… so does thank you. If another person puts in effort to help you, they have already done the activity and Thank You is more appropriate… If I am asking a favour of someone, for example in an email, I will end it with ‘Thank you in advance for your assistance in this issue’ rather than ‘please help me’. Try saying both of those sentences and see how different they make you feel.
  I’m so happy u wrote this, I’ve never been a person that says ‘please’,but always say thank you. Thank you for writing this article.
  There have been many other blessing have come my way each and every day and thankful to be able to share in this experience
  Being thankful for all the good thing in your life is the Best way to start your day… even for all the little things in life that make life wonderful, ‘Gratitude for the taken for granted’ as I call it 🙂
  Hi John, Excellent content particularly when you are of a certain age and brought up a certain way – I also find I use ‘thanks’ and thank you more and more.
  Quite recently I have started adding ‘Thank you I really appreciate it’ which has brought me the exact same response to that you describe whenever I go back – I have even benefited from free large Black Americano’s even when there isn’t an offer on – being greeted with a ‘sorry about keeping you’ – ‘its on us today’ – which gives me another chance to say ‘thanks’ I really do appreciate it – so in summary it working well for me in the UK.
  Thanks again for the insight – take care and I really do appreciate you sharing the deeper insight to the emotions response – John
  Hi John, yep that happens to me too. Free coffees, complimentary drinks in restaurants, etc. Getting good service is simply about being nice, giving the ‘Impression of increase’ to people.Glad it resonated with you.
  Thank you for your article , although I do say please I say thank you much more. And yes the feeling is much better saying thank you or thanks.
  Saying thank you does feel so much better than please… and there are more opportunities to say thank you, before anyone has done anything for you: ‘thank you in advance’ and afterwards… Thanks for commenting Alma 🙂
  I have not read your articles, blogs or posts before, but I will be now. What you have said makes sense to me. Thank you for your words of wisdom and enlightenment. Many blessings to you for blessing me to open up new channels of thinking.
  The Bahamas celebrated 44 years of independence this week with an evening of music and entertainment followed by spectacular fireworks. Watch a ZNS Network news report here.
  The Bahamas celebrated 44 years of independence this week with an evening of music and entertainment followed by spectacular fireworks.
  More: Bahamas achievements admirable says Minister Pintard at 44th Independence Celebrations in #GrandBahama (MMTV): http://owl.li/MlSv30dCiAB
  Labour Minister Dion Foulkes took the opportunity this week to meet with Grand Bahama labour unions and businesses.
  In a statement by the Ministry of Finance the government has said that credit rating agency Moody's decision to place The Bahamas on review for a downgrade was "not unexpected" given the "undesirable state of the fiscal situation". Read the full statement here.
  Review of the 2018 Mid-American Conference baseball season. Includes Standings, leaders, player register and more.
  Radio show host, Gary Calligas will have Keith Carter and Michael Corbin, with Always Best Care Senior Services on his Saturday, May 6th �The Best of Times Radio Hour� at 9:05 AM on News Radio 710 KEEL to discuss their TK3 program as well as private duty home care services. You can also listen to this radio talk show streaming LIVE on the internet at www.710KEEL.com. and streaming LIVE on the RadioPUP app on apple and android devices. For more information, please visit these websites at www.thebestoftimesnews.com and www.hebertstandc.com. and www.abc-seniors.com This radio show is proudly presented by Hebert�s Town and Country of Shreveport featuring � Dodge, Chrysler, Ram, and Jeep vehicles and service.
  Krystal is the blogger behind Mrs. Regueiro’s Plate. She and I share a love for massive prop rooms and an adoration for California-based food photographer-stylists couples 🙂
  To celebrate, a few of Krystal’s friends were asked to prepare a dish inspired by her and her husband’s backgrounds, Filipino and Cuban (how much more exotic does that sound compared to “Texan” and “Georgian”). I settled on a dish using Cuban-style pulled pork and ultimately decided on sliders since they’re pretty much the perfect party food.
  Cuban pulled pork is seasoned liberally with a marinade of garlic, sour oranges, lime, and minced onion. The acidity creates a melt-in-your-mouth tender roast that’s excellent served slider-style on dinner rolls with thinly sliced red onions and melty swiss cheese. And you’ll have quite a bit of pulled pork leftover for other goodies like quesadillas, tacos, or just more sliders!
  Congratulations to Krystal and Eric! Thanks to Joelen for hosting and pulling together what promises to be a delicious celebration and roundup. And a special thanks to Tina for serving as this southeast Texan’s Cuban food technical support and sounding board. First round of margaritas is on me 🙂
  In a food processor or blender, add the onion, garlic, lime juice and zest, orange juice and zest, oil, oregano, and a generous pinch of salt and fresh ground black pepper.
  Pour the contents of the ziptop bag into your crockpot, rotating the roast so that the fat cap is on top, and cook 8-10 hours on low.
  Remove the roast from the crockpot and shred, discarding the fat and bones. Reserve ~3 cups of pulled pork for the sliders and store leftovers tightly covered in the fridge (I pour some of the cooking liquid over the shredded meat before storing to keep it from drying out).
  Toss the pulled pork with a couple tablespoons of cooking liquid and the juice from the quartered lime.
  Cut rolls in half, spread mustard, and then top with a generous mound of pulled pork, a slice of swiss cheese torn to fit the slider, and sliced red onions.
  Oh Yum! These look mouth-watering good. I’m a big fan of Cuban Pulled Pork. . . . My best friend’s father makes an incredible recipe – I just don’t know if he’ll share it with me! Until then – this looks like it will be the perfect fix!
  Awww, thanks Shawnda! These are absolutely gorgeous and a great contribution to the foodie fiesta shower! I might stuff myself silly with these tasty finger sandwiches, but all in the name of carbs for little cookie, right? Thanks again for participating in my virtual shower. XXOO!
  holy moly… these look delicious!!!! and the photos are GORGEOUS, as always!!! Glad I could help… Second round of margs are on me! 😉
  My mouth is watering! I love Cuban pork sandwiches, so I’m thinking these have a good portion of that flavor profile. Definitely trying this one! Not going to be able to resist topping mine with pickles. Fabulous picture too, girlie!
  I’ve not eaten much Filipino food but I’ve spent some time in Cuba and LOVE the food. These sliders are just magic!
  These look so delish. And I hear you on the background thing. We’re Oklahoman and Oregonian. That’s a whole lot of syllables…none of which sound as fun as Cuban and Filipino.
  Krystal and I were talking about the giant room of props when we met this November. That’s the stuff dreams are made of!
  Over the last few years pulled pork has become one of my ultimate, most favorite foods. So I’m always on the look out for new ways to prepare it. This looks like a huge winner. Great addition to the virtual shower. 🙂
  PUBLISHER of the Business Connect Blessing Magenga scooped the outstanding business leader of the year (2018) at a glittering MegaFest leadership awards ceremony yesterday.
  Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony Magenga said she felt greatly honored and paid tribute to her staff and family for the support.
  “I’m grateful for the award and would like to thank my family and team that have supported me throughout my career. I am also humbled by the recognition by MegaFest,” said Magenga
  Before venturing into business Magenga served as a trailblazing Marketing executive at some of the leading daily and weekly publications in the country and has over 20 years experience in the advertising and marketing industry.
  She went into business at the turn of the millennium when she formed the Twin Investments trading as the Business Connect and grew the business to become one of the foremost publications in the country.
  In 2002 she was appointed as the first woman chair of the Advertising Media Association (ADMA) owing to her extensive and varied experience in the advertising industry.
  She holds the distinction of been the sole woman publisher in Zimbabwe and was nominated as the ZNNC businesswoman of the year in 2006. In July 2007 she won the ZNNC national businesswoman of the year accolade.
  Her entrepreneurship prowess was again shown when she founded the SMEs International Expo in 2011 which has to date grown into the premier networking event for SMEs in the country.
  The event attracts exhibitors from within and outside the country and this year will celebrate its 8th anniversary.
  Her passion is to develop people and small businesses to ensure their potential is realized and make meaningful contribution to the development of the country and economy. She is also engaged in a number of philanthropic projects.
  You dont have to be a guest of the hotel to take advantage of the cigar lounge which is to the rear of the hotel and up a short flight of stairs.
  The staff were fantastic and the range of cigars extensive. You could also get bar service from the comfort of the lounge ,so no need to go downstairs to order a cold beer or glass of wine.
  Internationally renowned and multi-award winning cigar merchant Edward Sahakian's eponymous Cigar Shop and Sampling Lounge at the Bulgari has established itself as the premier Knightsbridge destination for connoisseurs in search of truly exceptional vintage cigars. Specialising in rare Havanas that are quite simply unobtainable elsewhere, the cigars are sourced from Edward Sahakian's private collection, which has been assembled over the last forty years.
  The provenance and condition of each cigar is unimpeachable and unparalleled and this gem of a location has rapidly established itself as an international landmark for cigar lovers who find themselves in the British capital. Run by Edward and his son Eddie, the cigar shop at the Bulgari offers such treasures as the fabled Davidoff 80 Aniversario, the Gran Corona made in Cuba for the 80th birthday of Zino Davidoff in 1986; the Churchill sized Davidoff Dom Perignon and a near complete range of Cuban Davidoffs.
  Other rarities include the majority of Reserva and Gran Reserva cigars as well as a carefully curated selection of the very best Edicion Limitadas made in Cuba since the turn of the century: aficionados will be pleased to find such cult cigars as the Cohiba Sublime Edicion Limitada 2004 and the Cohiba Double Corona Edicion Limitada 2003. Whether buying a single cigar to taste in the fully-equipped wood panelled sampling room, with its state of the art air purification system, or purchasing an entire box of cigars customers can rely on expert advice. Moreover the cigar shop offers the additional service of storage and long term ageing of customers' cigars. Upon consigning cigars, customers are presented with a written and photographic inventory that is regularly updated. Given the exceptional and often irreplaceable nature of these cigars, security is of paramount importance and cigars are stored in a locked, temperature and humidity controlled vault on site, which replicates the conditions of the Sahakians' own 'keep'. Cigars at the Bulgari are stored at 11 degrees centigrade and at a relative humidity of 68%, which remains unvaried throughout the year to ensure an even pace of maturation.
  August 1413. For days on end, a raging storm blows in from across the North Sea. Its driving winds cause the dunes below the Scottish town of Forvie, on the coast of what is now Aberdeenshire, to be whipped up into a petulant sand storm that sweeps inland. Within a month, the town has been buried below thirty metres of sand. Across the North Sea, in Sweden, a sudden dip in temperature causes the harvest to fail for yet another year running, reducing much of the population to such misery that they resort to baking bread from the bark of trees.1
  Climate change is not new. As the warm medieval period gave way to the colder modern era, ferocious storms drowned scores of towns and villages in the lowlands flanking the North Sea. In many instances, the settlements disappeared literally overnight. In just two floods, in the years 1240 and 1362, 60 parishes in the province of Schleswig were swallowed by the sea, with the loss of half the agricultural land. One-third of a million people drowned in one sea flood that struck the Dutch and German coasts.
  Such events reveal the devastating suddenness of climatic change and its impacts on humans. However, the disruption and misery caused by past abrupt swings in climate are likely to pale into insignificance when compared to the potential upheavals that could be triggered by rising levels of human-made greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide).
  Few scientists now seriously doubt that the earth's climate is changing and that, if corrective measures are not taken soon, humanity will slide into a period of intensified climatic disequilibrium. "The balance of evidence suggests there is a discernible human influence on global climate", concludes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body charged with assessing the causes and likely impacts of climate change, in a report peer-reviewed by 2,000 of the world's leading scientists.2 Unless action is taken to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, warns the IPCC, average surface temperatures will rise by between 1.5°C and 4.5°C by the end of the next century.
  To put that rise in perspective: over the past two million years, temperatures on earth have never been more than 2°C warmer than at present. Within a century -- hardly any time at all in the history of the earth -- our descendants and those of other living creatures could face temperatures well outside their evolutionary experience. The implications for many species, including humans, are potentially catastrophic.
  One of the central predictions of the climate scientists is that weather extremes -- such as storms, hurricanes, floods, droughts and severe winters -- will become more frequent, with significant implications for human livelihoods. The impacts will not be the same around the globe, however. Some regions (particularly drylands in the Third World) are predicted to dry out, causing severe land degradation; others, such as Britain, to become considerably colder because of changes in the Gulf Stream.3
  Rising sea levels and the flooding of low lying islands and many coastal areas. As the oceans warm, their waters will expand, causing the sea level to rise. Melting ice sheets will add to the problem. By the end of the next century, a rise in average sea levels of 50 centimetres may be expected, with more significant local effects. Further sea level rises are likely to follow as the warmer water reaches the deeper ocean. "Even if there were to be no further changes in climate, sea level rise will continue for hundreds of years," warns Sir Robert May, Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government, in a report prepared for Prime Minister Tony Blair in September 1997. Low lying coastal areas of Britain could be drowned, along with islands such as The Maldives, seven per cent of Bangladesh and many other coastal areas. In Malaysia, the coast is expected to advance some 2.5 kilometres inland.4 Should the East Antarctic Ice sheet melt, as some scientists now forecast, the seas could rise by as much as 30 metres, threatening such cities as London, New York and Bombay.
  Increased drought and flooding as hydrological cycles are disrupted. Desertification is expected to spread and intensify in many parts of Africa, whilst South-East Asia is already experiencing less predictable monsoons which have decreased in some areas, yet caused large-scale flooding in others, such as Nepal, Burma, India and Burma.
  An increase in insect-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever, as warmer weather permits insect species to extend their range. Agricultural pests will also increase. The IPCC warns that locust swarms may become common in southern Europe. Animal diseases such as African swine fever are also likely to "jump" countries in a warmer world, and may begin breaking out where they are currently unknown.
  Severe land and water pollution as toxic chemicals now bound up in the soil or held in coastal landfills are re-released due to flooding.
  Increased conflict as people are forced to move because their lands have become uninhabitable. Up to one million people may have to evacuate flooded islands in the Pacific, South-East Asia and the Indian Ocean, and a further 50 million are at risk. Seven million could be affected by coastal flooding in Vietnam and 3.3 million in Indonesia. According to the Chinese government, some 30 million people may be displaced in China due to climate change. For India, the figure is put at 30 million and for Bangladesh, 15 million.5
  Major disruptions to food supplies, exacerbating hunger and malnutrition. IPCC scientists predict that grain yields could decline by 10-15 per cent in Africa, Latin America and Asia within the next 50 years, due to climate-induced soil degradation, increased pests, drought and floods -- a prediction which, if accurate, could place one in eight of the world's people at risk of famine. In the US and Europe, the yields of many major crops are also predicted to fall.6
  The collapse of many ecosystems (forests and coral reefs, for example) which are unable to respond fast enough to "move with temperature change" -- leading to sharp increases in the rate of species loss.7
  Major infrastructure and other financial costs due to storms, flooding, drought-related wildfires and other climatic disruptions. Property losses due to storms and climatic factors have already been considerable in recent years. In 1995, extreme weather caused $100 billion worth of damage worldwide, with insurance companies paying out $9 billion. As damages mount, warns Dr Jeremy Leggett, chief executive of Solar Century and a former science director at Greenpeace, the $1.4 trillion insurance industry could be in danger of collapse, "with knock-on economic consequences which are completely ignored in most analyses of climate change."8
  "A major recent study has attempted to assess the economic value of the 'ecosystem services' delivered by natural ecological processes: soil formation, water supplies, nutrient cycling, waste processing, pollination and much else. The assessment, necessarily very rough, is around £10-34 trillion per year, with a best guess of around £21 trillion, most of it outside the market. This is roughly twice the conventional global GNP, at around £11 trillion per year. Large swathes of this £10-34 trillion are at risk from the possible environmental and ecological changes sketched by the IPCC."9
  Such predictions do not take full account of potential "positive feedback" mechanisms that could unleash an avalanche of effects which will reinforce global warming, sending surface temperatures soaring even higher than predicted. As the earth warms, for example, vegetation and forests will be become increasingly desiccated, with the result that their ability to absorb CO2 is diminished: CO2 levels will thus rise still further, causing yet more warming and undermining even more the ability of vegetation to regulate climate. If the average surface temperature reaches around 18°C -- which the IPCC predicts will happen by the end of the next century -- plants could lose their ability to regulate climate altogether.
  Once such feedback mechanisms come into play, rates of surface temperature rise could increase. Recent analysis of ice core samples from Vostok, Russia, for example, has led scientists at the Rome-based Global Dynamics Institute to suggest that there could be runaway feedbacks triggered by the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere predicted for mid-way through the next century. For example, the release of massive quantities of CO2 and methane as a result of the melting of the permafrost could cause temperatures to rise by 12-20°C, three to five times the maximum rise predicted by the IPCC, based on its assessment of feedback effects.10
  Other researchers warn that changes in ocean currents resulting from runaway warming could result in the Gulf Stream shifting course or ceasing to flow. Were this to happen, Britain, which relies on the warming influence of the Gulf Stream for its climate, could find itself oscillating between bitter chills and heat waves -- a prospect described as "awesome" by Robert May. Agriculture, in particular, would be particularly badly affected, since farmers would have few reliable guides as to when to reap and when to sow -- or, indeed, what crops would be most suitable for the next growing season.
  Put simply, humanity -- or, more accurately, that part of humanity responsible for increasing atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases -- stands accused of "conducting a gigantic scientific experiment with the planet, and the consequences could be disastrous."11
  Although it is impossible at present to predict accurately how global warming will affect a given locality, the signs are that climate change is already under way. As Robert May notes:
  "In the UK, climate change may already be having an appreciable effect. Of the five warmest years in Central England's 337-year-old temperature records, three have occurred in the past 10 years. 1990 as well as 1987 (the year of the 'hurricane') was a particularly bad year for storms in Europe."12
  Other areas, too, have experienced unpredictable and extreme climatic conditions. California, Peru, southern Africa, the north-west United States, Queensland and northern China have all been hit by the worst droughts in a century. In Greece, water shortages in some coastal areas have been so severe that supertankers have been called in to transport water to local towns and villages. In Indonesia, drier than usual weather (linked to an unprecedented "El Niño" event, itself linked to global warming)13 have combined with social, political and economic factors to create wildfires throughout the province of Kalimantan on Borneo: throughout last summer, the entire region was smothered in dense haze and smoke. Drought-related wildfires have also engulfed large areas of Mongolia, Siberia, Zimbabwe and Australia. Meanwhile, the worst floods and storms in a century have caused havoc in parts of eastern Australia, Bangladesh, the east coast of the US and north-west Europe.14
  In 1992, alarmed by the prospects of climate change, most of the world's countries signed up to a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits countries to stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations at a "safe" level "on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities."15 At the 1992 Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, most of the countries agreed to return their emissions of "greenhouse gases" to 1990 levels by the year 2000. Few are doing so. Indeed, emissions in the US have risen.16
  A central problem lies in the failure of countries to reach an international consensus on the principles that should govern the apportioning of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, if such emissions are to be reduced to acceptable levels. Since 1990, many observers have warned that, unless this consensus is secured prior to negotiations over the size of the commitments that individual countries should make, the outcome will be politically divisive, piecemeal, unsustainable and ultimately ineffective.
  Unable (or unwilling) to find common ground for agreeing the principles that should govern the global sharing of emissions reductions, the major players -- the US, the EU, China and the G77 Group of Developing Countries -- have pushed forward with their own national, or regional, agendas. The cuts cart has been placed before the framework horse, with the result that political clout and national self-interest, rather than the politics of collaboration, has determined what action (or lack of it) is taken. If ever there was a time when principles needed to inform practice, this is it.
  The chances of effective international action thus depend critically on the willingness of governments to settle their differences and agree a collaborative framework for addressing climate change.
  Equity and everybody's rights to equal ecological space, however, are surely the starting points. No individual should be denied the possibility of surviving climatic change because of their poverty, race, class, gender, religion or geographical location. Likewise, any "solution" that denies people in the South the resources and technologies that they may seek to build (or rebuild) sustainable livelihoods in a rapidly warming world, whilst permitting the use of those resources and technologies in the North, would be profoundly hypocritical.
  If equity is to form the basis for allocating future emissions of greenhouse gases, then Northern countries should shoulder the prime responsibility for making cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The developing countries are not the ones which have created the problem of global warming -- and expecting them to forgo development options in order to correct a problem caused mainly by others is patently unfair. Right now, the world's richest countries, with 20 per cent of the world's population, emit 60 per cent of the world's global warming gases. Clearly, it is they -- rather than Indian or Chinese peasants who, per capita, emit a fraction of the greenhouse gases emitted by citizens in developed countries -- who should take the lion's share of responsibility for combating global warming.
  Equity also presupposes, however, that everyone takes responsibility for keeping their future emissions within ecological limits. As British political commentator Peter Jay notes:
  "Obviously, the huge gap between rich and poor countries in terms of current per capita emissions cannot be closed overnight or even in a decade or two. But, unless there is some recognition that eventually no one group of human beings should expect to have an internationally recognised right to consume more of the world's limited capacity to absorb greenhouse gas emissions (and other global pollutants) than any other group, it is hard to see how a globally effective policy can be built by international consent."17
  A willingness on the part of all countries to accept future limits on greenhouse emissions is therefore necessary. But on what basis should emission cuts, now and in the future, be allocated? Many Southern countries argue for emission targets to be set on a per capita basis, rather than merely a percentage increase or reduction over 1990 levels. The aim would be for per capita emissions globally to converge, allowing developing countries to increase their per capita emissions upwards, while those of developed countries would contract to meet them. This jointly-agreed pattern of carbon use would take place under an agreed carbon ceiling.
  Accepting per capita emissions as the cornerstone of any future framework for controlling emissions may open the way for negotiating a long-term agreement that takes account of the differing circumstances and means of all countries; meets the developing countries' demands for fairness; accepts the need for eventual limits by developing countries; and meets the prerequisite for an effective long-term international agreement to avoid dangerous climatic change.
  One proposal, originally put forward by the London-based Global Commons Institute (GCI) and subsequently taken up by the Africa Group of Nations,18 suggests a three-fold process for building such a framework:
  First, countries would set an internationally agreed global ceiling on CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere for the next century. This ceiling would be negotiated internationally and the agreement would include a scientific review process every five years to allow the target to be revised up or down in the light of new knowledge.
  Second, countries would agree a global "carbon emissions budget" for each year of the next century in order to reduce global CO2 concentrations progressively to within the agreed ceiling. The rate at which the "emissions budget" declined year by year would be a matter for negotiation.
  Third, countries would agree to allocate the annual CO2 budget among each other on a per capita basis and with a view to per capita emissions converging by an agreed date. Sharing the right to use the world's atmosphere on an equal basis is the fairest and most durable way of dividing the CO2 budget. As with all the other "targets" in the proposal, the year for convergence would be a matter of negotiation.
  In effect, the proposal would tie parties into a negotiated, but flexible, programme for reducing emissions which would also ensure that, within a fixed period, no one enjoyed the right to emit more than their fair share of greenhouse gases, as agreed by the international community.
  The resulting process of "contraction and convergence" would thus see those in the North cutting emissions, whilst those in many countries of the South would be able to increase their emissions for a period determined by the agreed ceiling, the resulting global carbon budget and the agreed convergence date within it.
  It is clearly easier and cheaper to avoid future emissions in developing countries where, for example, fossil fuel-fired power stations have not been built on any scale, than it is in fully industrialised countries where it will take a generation to reverse existing dependence on fossil fuels. However, the South's ability to leapfrog fossil-fuel dependency may depend on their access to clean, energy-saving technologies currently being developed in North as well as South. Given sufficient political pressure, Northern industrial interests may be persuaded to "gift" such technologies. In the short-term, however, initially rising allocations of emissions entitlements in developing countries could be traded with industrialised countries whose allocations are contracting from the outset.
  Such "emissions trading", however, would need to be strictly regulated if it is not to be exploited by companies seeking to dump outdated, polluting technologies on the South or to use the threat of doing this via "relocation" as a means of driving down the pay and conditions of workers. Care must also be taken lest emissions trading become a means of postponing action to curb emissions as companies buy up the South's future development options.
  It is thus critical to place emissions trading firmly within the framework set by contraction and convergence. As GCI puts it, "Contraction only makes sense if one accepts the science of climate change. Convergence only makes sense if one accepts the need for contraction and the need for equity. Trading emissions only have a place if they are set in the discipline of contraction and convergence and if used as a tool for achieving flexibility within the overall constraints that contraction and convergence defines. Otherwise they would simply make matters worse."
  As GCI is at pains to point out, the concept of linking contraction to convergence does not in itself dictate future emissions targets -- but the negotiated application of the concept does. In effect, "contraction and convergence" provides a framework through which targets might be set on an equitable basis and then applied internationally.
  GCI's own view is that the targets would need to be considerably more stringent than those put on the table at the December 1997 meeting of parties to the Climate Convention in Kyoto. One problem is that although scientists now recognise that humanity is dangerously close to the cliff's edge, they do not know exactly how close. The current scientific consensus is that anything more than a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations over pre-industrial levels -- 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv) -- which on current trends will happen by the year 2040, is "likely to cause dangerous climate change".19 To keep global CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere below that level would require global CO2 emissions to be reduced progressively by 60-80 per cent of 1990 emissions.
  As GCI points out, significant climatic damage is already being caused at current atmospheric CO2 concentrations, which stand at just 30 per cent above pre-industrial levels. GCI therefore suggests that a future carbon budget resulting in an atmospheric CO2 concentration of no more than 450 ppmv (60 per cent above the pre-industrial level) by the year 2100 should be agreed as the maximum upper limit. This could then be negotiated downwards as evidence of climatic damage and human causation became more apparent.
  Under this carbon budget, with a convergence date of, say, the year 2030, the per capita emissions entitlement globally at convergence would be about one tonne of carbon per person per year. To reach that figure, Britain would need to reduce its emissions by 50 per cent and the US by 77 per cent. Meanwhile, China would be permitted to increase its emissions by no more than 41 per cent and Bangladesh by no more than 2354 per cent. Thereafter, all would progressively reduce their emissions pro rata to a final per capita entitlement of 0.2 tonne of carbon per year by the year 2100.
  Support for the principle of setting emission limits on a per capita basis has already been expressed by leading negotiators from China20 and India, in addition to the Africa Group. The US, meanwhile, has neither ruled in nor ruled out the notion of per capita emissions. The space for negotiation is thus open. Indeed, as the prestigious science journal, Nature , remarks:
  "Many now feel that an international commitment to per capita based targets, rather than absolute goals, is most likely to produce a solution at Kyoto that both rich and poor countries will be prepared to swallow."21
  The case for equity being placed at the centre of climate policies within countries is as strong as it is for placing equity at the heart of any international framework for addressing dangerous climate change.
  People do not confront climate change on an equal basis. Within Britain, for example, income inequalities and poverty are on the rise. The numbers of people living in poverty (defined by the EU and OECD as earning less than half the average household income) rose from five million in 1979 to 14.1 million in 1992/93 -- one quarter of the country's population. Any policy for reducing carbon emissions must address this reality: if fairness is not an evident and primary characteristic of the policy, it will not happen.
  Take energy conservation. The current payback for energy-efficient domestic equipment, cooling and heating systems, ranges between about five and 15 years. This is beyond the means of many households, particularly those with minimal savings and/or low income expectations. A government-led initiative -- backed by public money -- to ensure well-insulated housing is thus urgently required. There are an estimated eight million households in Britain which are currently unable to afford adequate warmth in the home because of the energy inefficiencies of the buildings in which they live. Even without climate change, this needs rectifying; but expecting such households to contend with the colder climate predicted for Britain should the Gulf Stream fail, without government backing for home insulation, is simply unrealistic. Failure to provide that backing would restrict warm homes only to those who had the financial resources to insulate them. This would be socially divisive and morally unacceptable.
  Similarly, many of the policy instruments which have been suggested for curbing carbon emissions could prove extremely regressive if they are not set within an equity-based framework. A carbon tax, for example, has many arguments in its favour. But poorer households and local economies which were developing self-help schemes in a cash-poor environment could be paralysed by high carbon taxes, while richer households would be barely affected by them. Moreover, carbon taxes are inherently "top-down" policies, offering little scope for a sense of ownership in the collective task of reducing carbon emissions, although the funds generated could finance such reductions. If the policy is regarded as unfair, however, it is less likely to be politically acceptable.
  There is, therefore, a case for considering a complementary instrument, which is particularly effective in precisely those areas in which carbon taxes are weakest. Allocating all adults in Britain an annual "carbon quota" as an entitlement, for example, would mean that equity became the fundamental basis of a carbon reduction policy. It would also give users a sense of ownership in national (or regional) programmes to reduce emissions, in addition to rewarding low users of carbon and other greenhouse gases, since they could sell any entitlement they did not use.22
  No one single instrument or measure operating by itself is likely to achieve the cuts in carbon emissions that Britain and other industrial countries are probably going to have to make over the coming century. Rather a portfolio of measures -- operating within a framework aimed at ensuring the most equitable outcomes -- will be required.
  Such measures do not entail hurling citizens back to the stone age. On the contrary, many offer to make a considerable contribution to increasing employment, improving public health and hence addressing these and other causes of social and economic exclusion. The energy efficiency sector, for example, is highly labour intensive. Employment is generated in the manufacture, delivery and installation of energy-saving materials and technologies, in addition to the jobs involved in project management, marketing, advice and monitoring.23
  A leaked report from the European Commission, for example, estimates that installing a million solar roofs throughout the European Union by the year 2010 could generate 50,000 new jobs.24 Friends of the Earth, meanwhile, estimate that some 226,000 new jobs could be created by a climate policy aimed at reducing Britain's carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent by the year 2010.25 Such a programme would include insulating some eight million homes in Britain within the next 15 years, effectively eradicating the "fuel poverty" that condemns at least 15 million people to shivering through every winter.
  Moving away from fossil fuels towards renewables, energy efficiency and conservation is potentially self-financing over the longer term. However, in the short-term, it will require considerable resources up-front in terms of grants, loans, tax breaks and other incentives. Although money can be saved by measures such as the cancellation of nuclear programmes and mega-road schemes, high public expenditure will be needed if, for example, public transport is to be improved to levels where car use is dramatically curtailed. Lubricating the transition will be costly, regardless of whether the service is eventually provided publicly or privately.
  An unacknowledged question in both the domestic and international debates on climate change, therefore, is whether the measures needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are compatible with the low-tax, deregulatory regimes demanded by an increasingly globalised economy. Within the South, for example, structural adjustment programmes imposed by the International Monetary Fund have slashed public spending and stripped away much social and environmental legislation. In the North, a similar process has been underway, as governments have sought to attract foreign investment and improve the competitiveness of domestic industry.
  Such policies -- in particular, the emphasis on deregulation and curbing public expenditure -- pose a direct threat to attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Attempts to curb future emissions of greenhouse gases through tighter regulation or increased green taxes are likely to be challenged by treasury ministers and industrial interests, which will argue that they undermine international competitiveness. As one Canadian official attending a pre-Kyoto meeting recently warned: "Although climate change is an environmental problem, all we're talking about over here are the trade and competitive implications."26
  There is, thus, an urgent need to begin a debate about a radically different approach to organising national economies and international trade. More and more, it is being suggested that instead of policies being geared towards increased international competitiveness, the rebuilding and protection of local economies should become the basis of a new politics. Fostering neighbourhood democracy and re-rooting economic power in the local community would also reduce transport and open up the possibility of increasing public expenditure to set in place the programmes that an equity-based approach to climate change demands.27
  Dangerous climate change is real and it is happening. Placing equity at the heart of policies to address it is critical, not simply on moral grounds but also to gain the public support necessary to implement the needed cuts in emissions. At the international level, Britain should press for policies based on the principles of contraction and convergence. Within this:
  Countries should agree a global "carbon emissions budget" consistent with not exceeding that ceiling; and
  Countries should agree to share that budget on the basis of convergence to equal per capita entitlements globally.
  Within Britain, the issue of equity is just as central. In order to achieve reductions in carbon emissions on the required scale, the British government should set a human rights based framework that would place equity at the heart of any programme of emission cuts. Within that framework, a portfolio of measures should be given urgent consideration:
  Detailed measures to implement a transformation in energy use (technologies, standards, removal of subsidies for energy wastage, changes in planning regulations);
  Tradable quotas based on an entitlement to all adults; low users would have the positive reward of being able to sell their entitlement. Companies would tender for quotas.
  More widely, there is an urgent need for public debate on the direction of current economic policies and, in particular, the priority given to international competitiveness. Policies aimed at reducing public expenditure and cutting back social and environmental regulations in order to improve competitiveness directly threaten the possibility of implementing an effective greenhouse gas reduction programme. A new politics, based on co-operative efforts to protect climate through rebuilding and protecting local economies is urgently required.
  3 May, R., Climate Change, Note prepared by Sir Robert May , Downing Street, London, September 1997.
  7 May, R., Climate Change, Note prepared by Sir Robert May , Downing Street, London, September 1997.
  8 Quoted in Retallack, S., "Kyoto: Our Last Chance", The Ecologist , Vol. 27, No. 6, November/December 1997.
  9 May, R., Climate Change, Note prepared by Sir Robert May , Downing Street, London, September 1997.
  12 May, R., Climate Change, Note prepared by Sir Robert May , Downing Street, London, September 1997.
  13 Such events occur when upwelling ocean currents from Antarctica along the western seaboard of South America get suppressed by warm equatorial waters flowing eastward across the Pacific Ocean. The result is drought from South-East Asia all the way to South Africa, whilst the south-western United States suffers torrential rain. El Niño events used to occur approximately once every seven to ten years. Since the mid-1980s, however, one El Niño has followed hard on the heels of another. This has been linked to the warming of ocean currents.
  20 Sung, J., Speech to China Council for International Co-Operation on Environment and Development, 5 October 1997.
  23 Jenkins, T., "Climate and Sustainability", Paper prepared for Globe UK, House of Commons, London, November 1997.
  Po Teletubbies bodysuit with internal pouch for belly stuffing and headpiece. Dress up as Po, the youngest of the four Teletubbies, and step out of the Tubbytronic Superdome, ready to make all sorts of enchanting discoveries! Your friends will love your antenna, in the shape of a ring for soap bubble dipping!
  I am a massive fan of decent vintage clothing, especially when it comes to headwear and snap backs from the fresh prince era! Here we have some superb conditioned examples of 1990’s headwear sourced out and found by Zone7Style, what makes Zone7 different from the rest of vintage suppliers is that they only stock the best quality of garments unlike the more ‘high street’ vintage suppliers that just fill their stores with a load of old crap. Zone7 however have an extensive list of contacts that is always growing – growing along with the amount of dope vintage garments they hand pick (ensuring the highest possible quality) on their travels.
  Back to the caps and here we have the usual favourites such as the Raiders cap, old school west Coast vibes perfect for the sun we are currently getting here in the UK. The black and orange colour way of the Syracuse Orange Men cap is very dope and again perfect for the summer months ahead. the Redskins logo is also an instant favourite of mine, not sure why, i think like the Raiders logo it’s just one of those teams logos that always gets a second look. Lets face it though, the highlights here have to be the all leather caps shown last, so 90’s it hurts and if you ask me very very dope. I prefer the Charlotte Hornets colour way personally who’s logo i have always thought was cool. Again i really like the black and orange colour way but when the hat is leather i feel that’s enough to get noticed in itself – is the all leather and then black and orange colour way a bit too much?? Maybe i am wrong, maybe it’s just me but saying that how can i knock 1990’s vintage all leather caps?? All in all very fresh!