Positive News Update

INTERNATIONAL NEWS


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
and Israeli Prime Minister to meet

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet
next week, and efforts to halt the latest
convulsion of Israeli-Palestinian violence
are sure to dominate the agenda.

On Monday, Abbas appealed to militant groups
to take the first step in forging a new ceasefire
with Israel, saying the alternative would be the
collapse of the Palestinian coalition government.

Diplomats begin work on climate accord

More than 1,000 diplomats from 166 countries
and organizations began work Monday on a new
accord to control greenhouse gases, as they
negotiated the key elements of a treaty to
succeed the 10-year-old Kyoto Protocol,
which expires in 2012.

Democratic Republic of Congo:
More rebels hand in arms in Ituri

Another group of militias from one of the last
active rebel movements in the troubled Ituri
district of eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) has handed in its weapons under
an ongoing demobilization, disarmament,
and reintegration (DDR) process, United
Nations sources said.

LEDs emerge to fight fluorescents

As lightbulbs are being banned worldwide
due to their contribution to global warming,
light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are stepping
into the void by being more energy efficent,
bright, and long-lasting.

Consumers haven't warmed to compact
fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) which take less
energy than traditional bulbs but the
quality of light has not been satisfactory.

Solar power heads mainstream
as costs drop

Advances in solar technology should make
the renewable energy more cost-effective
and allow its use to spread more quickly
to the public -- making it mainstream in
three or four years -- says an environmental
research group report.