Zurich puts Sandy storm damage claims at $700 million

ZURICH (Reuters) - Zurich estimates that damage claims relating to tropical storm Sandy, which hit the United States in October, will amount to $700 million in its fourth-quarter earnings.

The Swiss insurer's announcement on Monday also said that it expects $58 million of "reinstatement premiums due on reinsurance covers". The company gave no further explanation. It is due to report quarterly earnings on February 14.

The storm, which killed 132 people in the United States and Canada on October 29, led to power outages, disruptions of public transport and massive damage to infrastructure.

U.S. insurer AIG said it expects post-tax losses of at least $1.3 billion from Superstorm Sandy, while Travelers Companies Inc and Swiss Re estimated their claims burdens at $650 million after tax and $900 million before tax respectively.

Sandy is expected ultimately to be the second-costliest catastrophe in U.S. history, with insured loss estimates as high as $25 billion. The costliest catastrophe was hurricane Katrina in 2005.

(Reporting By Katharina Bart; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and David Goodman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zurich-puts-sandy-storm-damage-claims-700-million-074059570--finance.html

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Nanaimo Sports | Recreation | Travelling Squares Christmas Dance ...

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Saturday, December 8th, 2012
7:30 PM to 10:30 PM

Travelling Squares caller Garry Dodds and cuer Pat Zeeman will provide a lively evening of dancing to seasonal music. At 7:30 there will be a plus workshop and at 8:00 we begin the program of mainstream dancing and rounds. We will have a collection box for non-perishable goods for the Loaves and Fishes. Santa is going to drop in to dance with us. Visiting square dancers are always welcome. Merry Christmas!

Source: http://www.harbourliving.ca/event/travelling-squares-christmas-dance/2012-12-08/

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Source: http://nikkileatherwood4.posterous.com/nanaimo-sports-recreation-travelling-squares

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Source: http://nicholas80.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/nanaimo-sports-recreation-travelling-squares-christmas-dance.html

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Source: http://gonzalesarturo399.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/nanaimo-sports-recreation-travelling-squares-christmas-dance.html

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Source: http://mlyvyn.posterous.com/nanaimo-sports-recreation-travelling-squares-37334

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Colombia's Cloud Forests Imperiled by Climate Change, Development

High in the Andes and finally open to scientists after years of conflict, Colombia's cloud forests host rich biodiversity, which is being lost before its even documented

By Autumn Spanne and DailyClimate.org

Cloud forest in Cachipay, Cundinamarca, Colombia. Image: Flickr/Aztlek

ANTIOQUIA, Colombia ? Five hours by truck and mule from the nearest town, a rumbling generator cuts through the silent night to power large spotlights as botanists crouch and kneel on large blue tarps spread across a cow pasture. It's nearly midnight, and the team works urgently to describe every detail of the dozens of colorful orchids, ferns and other exotic plants they have collected that day in Las Orqu?deas National Park, one of the single most biologically diverse places on the planet.

For nearly two weeks, each day begins and ends like this. At 6 a.m., the botanists emerge from their tents, just before the sun peeks over the mist covered mountains. They down a breakfast of cornmeal arepas and steaming bowls of agua de panela, a local drink made from boiled sugar cane. Then they don their rain gear, cross the river on a dubious bridge made of a single log and trudge along narrow, muddy trails before fanning out into the cloud forest.

Their mission: To collect as many species of flowering plants as possible and return to base camp before heavy afternoon rains swell the river to dangerous levels. They're racing a different clock, too. Climate change and development are beginning to erase these irreplaceable ecosystems. The researchers are scrambling to understand what is here before it disappears.

The scientists are carrying out a three-year project, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, to create a comprehensive inventory of all the vascular plants in this park. It's a considerable undertaking. At least 3,000 plant species ? including the more than 200 species of orchid for which the park is named ? are believed to inhabit Las Orqu?deas. Potentially hundreds of plants have yet to be identified by science.

What makes this park in northwestern Colombia a global biodiversity hotspot is its location at the intersection of the Choc? and the Tropical Andes, two of the richest biogeographic regions in the world. But for the better part of two decades, Las Orqu?deas, like many other ecologically important areas in Colombia, was largely off limits to scientists because portions of the park had become the unofficial territory of armed groups in the country's decades-long conflict.

All over the mountain tropics of South America, the race is on identify unique, often endemic species before natural resource exploitation and climate change converge to threaten them. Before scientists can document the impacts of climate change, they must be able to establish a baseline for how these ecosystems function. But in Colombia, which may have the greatest biodiversity of any country on earth, research is often decades behind; field expeditions can be dangerous, making funding hard to come by.

Today, the Colombian government is holding peace talks with the largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the conflict has retreated from Las Orqu?deas over the past several years. Yet the high mountain ecosystems of the Colombian Andes remain besieged. As the country becomes more secure, mining, timber, agriculture and ranching are expanding rapidly, leading to massive deforestation and contributing to temperatures that are rising significantly faster than at lower altitudes.

"The Andes is actually the most diverse region of the planet," said Paola Pedraza-Pe?alosa, a Colombian botanist at the New York Botanical Garden who is co-leading the Las Orqu?deas research. "Here we have a great diversity of plants that has no parallel in the rest of the world, but also the Andes is one of the most deforested areas."

Like coral reefs and glaciers, the tropical Andes are among the most vulnerable to the dual impacts of climate change and human population pressures. About a sixth of the world's biodiversity ? perhaps two million species of plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms ? can be found in the region. About 10 percent have been identified.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a18b89af3a01effa082051c255dffe5f

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Bersani wins big in Italian centre-left primary

ROME (Reuters) - Pier Luigi Bersani won a run-off primary by a huge margin on Sunday to become the Italian centre-left candidate for prime minister in national elections early next year.

Bersani has said repeatedly that in power he would stick to tough budget commitments made by technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti, but seek to soften the impact on workers and the poor and put more emphasis on economic growth.

Markets have expressed some wariness over an alliance between Bersani, who is head of the center-left Democratic Party and a former communist, and a party called Left, Ecology and Freedom.

"They won and we did not," Bersani's rival for the center-left candidacy, fellow Democratic Party member Matteo Renzi, said at a rally in his native Florence, where he conceded defeat.

"Congratulations and we wish you well."

With some 80 percent of the 9,200 polling places reporting, Bersani had 60.8 percent of votes to 39.1 percent for Renzi. The results were in line with two exit polls.

Bersani, 61, will now stand in national elections, likely in March, against a still-to-be-chosen center-right candidate to take over from Monti.

The contrast was strong between the bald, slow speaking professorial Bersani and Renzi, who bounced around platforms at rallies in open shirts and jeans.

Renzi had painted himself as a Kennedy-esque reformer, saying Italy's largest center-left party needed a big shakeup.

He had accused the older generation of the Democratic Party of failing to present a credible alternative, allowing former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center right to govern for so long.

Monti, favorite of the business community, has said he will not be a candidate next year but might come back if the election does not provide a clear winner.

Another possible future role for him is as president of the republic and guarantor that austerity reforms agreed with Italy's European partners continue.

Italy's gross public debt is equivalent to 126 percent of national output, according to the IMF.

Berlusconi's scandal-plagued right, forced from government by the financial crisis a year ago, is in disarray.

Berlusconi said on Monday he would wait to see who wins the center-left primary before deciding whether to run himself. He has repeatedly changed his mind in the last few weeks on whether to do so.

Some analysts said the victory by Bersani might spur Berlusconi to get back into the game.

"Indeed, a Bersani-led PD is likely to embolden Silvio Berlusconi to form his own party in the hope of keeping the center left out of power and reviving the fortunes of Italy's center right," said Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London.

(Additional reporting by Silvia Ognibene in Florence and James Mackenzie in Rome; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bersani-seen-winning-italys-centre-left-primary-exit-192649816--spt.html

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White House warns Syria on use of chemical weapons (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/268097199?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Signal Mountain Considers Lifting Ban On Rock Climbing ? The ...

Twenty years after a spate of climbing accidents led Signal Mountain officials to prohibit rock climbing in the community, aficionados of the sport are asking that the ban be rescinded.

?The town is rightly proud that its residents enjoy extensive opportunities for outdoor recreation,? climbers Britt Reynolds and Michael Worzel said in a letter requesting the change, ?yet one of those opportunities is singled out and prohibited. We propose that the town remove (the 1992 ordinance prohibiting rock climbing) from the town statutes, or create a new ordinance that reverses it.?

A similar request was made in 2009, at which time council members voted to continue the prohibition.

Friday, during its regular monthly work session, the council held a lengthy discussion with Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Worzel about possible impacts of lifting the ban.

The two enthusiasts cited a number of reasons in favor of the change, including:

? Rock climbing offers health and economic benefits to the community of Signal Mountain . . . Given the proven mainstream nature of rock climbing, it is now counter-intuitive and misplaced for the town to prohibit the safe and healthy use of this resource.

? Rock climbing is safer than hiking, and rock climbing injuries are rare. Thus, the town?s emergency and safety departments will not be unduly burdened or overextended in responding to climbing injuries or emergencies.

? The town is legally protected from any potential liability of a climbing-related injury by the Tennessee Recreational Use Statute.

? The town?s parks and recreation department will not be unduly burdened by climbing management, or by costs and labor associated with trails and infrastructure . . . The SCC pledges to be a partner in climbing management in Signal Mountain, and can offer considerable resources in the way of funding, volunteers and stewardship. SCC volunteers put in thousands of hours of work each year . . . In addition, trash pickup, tree plantings, invasive species removal, vegetation management . . . and general and/or necessary conservation work are done in relationship with land managers who allow climbing.

Mr. Reynolds, a Signal Mountain resident, said many people either are unaware of or ignore the current ban and go rock climbing inside the town anyway. He chooses not to do that, he added, because he wants to be able to climb ? legally ? with his children.

Mr. Worzel, who serves as executive director of the Southeastern Climbing Coalition, noted that climbing is one of the fastest growing sports in the nation and counts more than a few Signal Mountain residents among its enthusiasts.

?Many local towns and municipal areas across the country allow rock climbing,? he and Mr. Reynolds noted in their letter. ?From Lookout Mountain, Tennessee to Boulder, Colorado . . . climbing is recognized for its health and economic benefits. . . . We hope that you see how the benefits of climbing for residents and visitors significantly outweigh the costs, and we hope you will consider removing the ordinance which bans rock climbing in this great town.?

Posted in climbing

Tags: britt-reynolds, change, children, climbing, council-members, country, inside-the-town, lifting-the-ban, michael-worzel, rock-climbing, signal, signal-mountain, southeastern, tennessee

Source: http://zyj88888.com/signal-mountain-considers-lifting-ban-on-rock-climbing-the-chattanoogan/

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Source: http://frances69.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/signal-mountain-considers-lifting-ban-on-rock-climbing-the.html

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Would You Like To Work In A Longaberger Basket? Yes - I Said IN

The Longaberger Basket Company loves their handcrafted maple wood baskets so much that their corporate office is a giant replica of one of their baskets! Although it looks like one of their maple wood baskets, it is actually a steel structure ?that is plastered over with stucco. ?Now how cool would it be to go to work in a basket everyday???

Source: http://rainingcatsandblogs-snt.com/post/3539820/would-you-like-to-work-in-a-longaberger-basket-yes-i-said-in

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