Peak oil within five years, report warns | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Peak oil within five years, report warns | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "The risk to the UK from falling oil production in coming years is greater than the threat posed by terrorism, according to an industry taskforce report published today.

The report, from the Peak Oil group, warns that the problem of declining availability of oil will hit the UK earlier than generally expected - possibly within the next five years and as early as 2011.

Oil supply could then rapidly decline, or even collapse, the report warns, with potentially devastating implications for the UK economy.

The report was issued today by the recently established UK industry taskforce on peak oil and energy security, a group of eight companies including transport firms Virgin, Stagecoach and FirstGroup, engineers Arup, architects Foster and Partners, and energy giant Scottish and Southern.

Entitled The Oil Crunch, the report argues that the risk of an early peak in oil production poses a bigger threat to UK society than tightening gas supplies, terrorism or the short-term impacts of climate change."

Kashmir's vanishing glaciers | How green was my valley? | The Economist

Kashmir's vanishing glaciers | How green was my valley? | The Economist: "AFTER a hard climb up the eastern flank of the Kolahoi glacier, Ghulam Jeelani, a geo-hydrologist from the University of Kashmir, catches his breath. This is the Kashmir valley’s only year-round source of water. But it is melting at an alarming rate. The glacier is a dirty brown colour, wrinkled with crevasses. It looks more like an enormous mudslide than a frozen reservoir of fresh water. Mr Jeelani says that the glacier is in “ablation”—shrinking through melting. If present trends, which are blamed on climate change, continue, he concludes with a shrug, “In ten years there will be no Kolahoi glacier.”

This threatens the livelihoods of millions, and the Kashmir valley’s reputation as one of the world’s most beautiful places, made ugly only by decades of human conflict. The region, disputed by India and Pakistan, is riven by a bloody insurgency. The reopening this week of lorry trade across the “line of control” dividing Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir was a rare moment of optimism. It followed months of anti-Indian protests that have reinvigorated the valley’s secessionists."

Pakistan's economic meltdown | The last resort | The Economist

Pakistan's economic meltdown | The last resort | The Economist: "A NUCLEAR-ARMED front-line state in the “war on terror”, Pakistan faces economic meltdown. On October 22nd the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said discussions would begin within the next few days on emergency financial support. How much was still to be determined. Pakistan needs a lot, urgently.

The economy is close to freefall. Inflation is running at about 30%. The rupee has devalued by about 25% in just three months. The fiscal deficit is a whopping 10% of GDP. Foreign-exchange reserves cover just six weeks of imports. A $500m Eurobond matures next February, but the market has already decided it is junk. The country needs at least $3 billion in short order, and a further $10 billion over the next two years to plug a balance-of-payments gap. Without it, default abroad might well coincide with political anarchy at home.

Pakistan’s new president, Asif Zardari, has made desperate begging trips to Saudi Arabia, America and China. To no avail. The Saudis are dragging their feet on a Pakistani request for $5.9 billion-worth of finance in the form of deferred oil payments. The Chinese seem to have done their due diligence and concluded that they cannot blithely advance billions to an increasingly dysfunctional state."

Kids less likely to graduate than parents, report shows - CNN.com

Kids less likely to graduate than parents, report shows - CNN.com: "Your child is less likely to graduate from high school than you were, and most states are doing little to hold schools accountable, according to a study by a children's advocacy group.

The numbers are dismal: One in four kids is dropping out of school, a rate that hasn't budged for at least five years.

'The U.S. is stagnating while other industrialized countries are surpassing us,' said Anna Habash, author of the report by Education Trust, which advocates on behalf of minority and poor children. 'And that is going to have a dramatic impact on our ability to compete,' she said.

In fact, the United States is now the only industrialized country where young people are less likely than their parents to earn a diploma, the report said, citing data compiled by the international Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development."

Pakistan Will Require Up to $15 Billion in Aid - WSJ.com

Pakistan Will Require Up to $15 Billion in Aid - WSJ.com: "Pakistan will need as much as $15 billion over the next two or three years to extricate themselves from a severe financial crisis and will require up to $4 billion of that in the next month, senior officials from Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday."

Argentina Makes Grab for Pensions Amid Crisis - WSJ.com

Argentina Makes Grab for Pensions Amid Crisis - WSJ.com: "The government proposed to nationalize the private pensions, which would provide it with much of the cash it needs to meet debt payments and avoid a second default this decade."

Glory Days Fade for U.S. Farmers - WSJ.com

Glory Days Fade for U.S. Farmers - WSJ.com: "Many Midwest farmers worry that the combination of lower crop prices and high costs will usher to an end, by next year, one of the most flush periods in American farm history. This year, the U.S. Agriculture Department is predicting that U.S. net farm income will hit $95.7 billion, up 10.3% from last year's $86.8 billion and nearly double the $58 billion of two years ago."

Triage Time

A fine line between panic, swift action - The Boston Globe: "Triage time. Furqan Nazeeri, a serial entrepreneur who runs an Arlington start-up focused on environmental issues, posited that there are three kinds of companies in times like these.

Venture capitalists are going through their portfolios and categorizing their investments into three buckets:

Expectant: So badly wounded that it is not worth expending resources to attempt to save them. On the battlefield, these casualties get morphine.

Priority: Badly injured, but rapid and focused attention can save them. These casualties get almost all of the scarce time and medical resources.

Routine: Walking wounded. These casualties are lightly wounded and there is little cost in delaying treatment until after the battle is over. On the battlefield, these casualties get left alone in a position of cover."