Global warming team struggles with report
STOCKHOLM – Scientists working on a landmark U.N. report on climate change are struggling to explain why global warming appears to have slowed down in the past 15 years even though greenhouse-gas emissions keep rising.
Leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press show there are deep concerns among governments about how to address the issue ahead of next week’s meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Climate skeptics have used the lull in surface warming since 1998 to cast doubt on the scientific consensus that humans are cooking the planet by burning fossil fuels and cutting down CO²-absorbing forests.
The IPCC report is expected to affirm the human link with greater certainty than ever, but the panel is under pressure to also address the recent lower rate of warming, which scientists say is likely because of heat going deep into the ocean and natural climate fluctuations.
Putin says he may run for president again
VALDAI, Russia – President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he may run for a fourth presidential term in 2018, confirming the expectations of most Russians and frustrating those now working to restore free elections in Russia.
If Putin runs and wins, it would keep him in power for about a quarter century and make him the nation’s longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
Putin has largely rolled back Russia’s post-Soviet democratic achievements, sidelining the opposition, reducing the Parliament to a rubber stamp and establishing tight control over the media.
He insisted that Russia, only two decades away from the fall of the Soviet Union, is determined to become a democracy, but would find its own path despite criticism from the West.
“The kind of government that Russia should have should be determined by Russian citizens and not by our esteemed colleagues from abroad,” he said during an international conference, an annual event attended by Russia experts from the U.S. and Europe.
Putin, who served two consecutive four-year terms starting in 2000, became prime minister in 2008 to observe a constitutional limit of two consecutive terms. He remained in charge as prime minister, with his loyal associate, Dmitry Medvedev, serving as a placeholder.
Associated Press
