Instant View - Retail sales edge lower as forecast in March

LONDON (Reuters) - Unusually cold weather hurt British retail sales in March, official data showed on Thursday, confirming the fragile state of the country's economy in the first three months of 2013.

ANALYST COMMENT

ROSS WALKER, RBS

"They're pretty much as expected. The main story here is just retracing some of the unusual strength in February. The monthly numbers here can be extremely volatile, we have Easter timing complications and maybe the weather had some effect as well.

"So the three months volumes growth of 0.4 percent is moderately encouraging, and I think it should help to underpin some resumption of GDP growth in Q1."

AMIT KARA, UBS

"The headline print was broadly in line with market expectation. But looking ahead, the picture is rather mixed - we have employment gains fading off now and labour earnings data is very weak. But on the flip side, there is some relief from lower oil and commodities prices which will provide a little bit of respite. But in the big picture, households are likely to continue to struggle this year.

"This is part of the downward adjustment of lifestyles that is the structural feature of this downturn that we're suffering."

PETER DIXON, COMMERZBANK

"In terms of the headline figures, they were broadly in line with expectations, with a decline of 0.7 percent. You have to see this in the context of the sharp rise in February, so we shouldn't have been too surprised they fell.

"For Q1 as a whole, the numbers were marginally positive, so that gives us some hope that we may be able to avoid a contraction in Q1 GDP when the numbers are released next week."

ALAN CLARKE, SCOTIABANK

"It's obviously disappointing that it's down just under a percentage point on the month, but given that it jumped by 2 percent the previous month it was always going to give back some of that prior strength. Beyond the near term volatility, the underlying trend is ok."

PHILIP SHAW, INVESTEC

"It's close to consensus, so not a huge surprise. Sales do seem to have been affected by the very cold March, as evidenced by the 3.1 percent drop on the month in sales from clothing stores. One hopes April will see a rebound from these figures."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/instant-view-retail-sales-edge-lower-forecast-march-084223990--business.html

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Lawmaker Passes Resolution to Honor Himself (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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TSA official says no employee furloughs expected

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A senior Transportation Security Administration official says so far, so good for airport travelers wary of the effects of automatic spending cuts that took effect March 1.

TSA Deputy Administrator John Halinski tells a congressional panel he doesn't expect furloughs for his agency, which staffs airport security across the nation. And, he says that longer wait times at check points have not yet materialized as a result of so-called sequestration, as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned last month.

Halinski says Thursday the budget bill signed recently by President Barack Obama gave the agency additional money for security officers and long wait times have been averted for now.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-18-US-Spending-Cuts-Airline-Security/id-b49118dabc104408833e13f69888a556

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Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Exacerbates Climate Change

The Keystone XL Pipeline would move enough tar sands oil to result in another 181 million metric tons of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere yearly. A new report prepared by environmental group Oil Change International (OCI) analyzes what the climate change impacts of the proposed pipeline might be.

Consultants hired by the U.S. State Department determined that completing the Keystone XL Pipeline that would transport tar sands from Canada to Texas would have no impact on greenhouse gas emissions, largely because they assumed that the tar sands oil would flow regardless. But the new report challenges that assertion, noting that the tar sands are stranded in Alberta and face few good pipeline prospects, either to Canada's west coast or via reversing the flow of existing pipelines to North America's east coast. "Other options like rail or truck are not feasible for the transportation of large quantities," said Elizabeth Shope, anti?tar sands advocate with environmental group the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a conference call with reporters, noting that such alternative transportation more than triples the cost of moving tar sands oil. "It's increasingly clear that without Keystone XL, the tar sands will not be able to expand at such a reckless pace."

If Keystone XL is built, and an additional 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil flows south each day, the climate change impacts will be "unacceptable," said former NASA climatologist James Hansen on the conference call. "Yet, governments are not only allowing the development of any fossil fuel that can be found, but particularly unconventional oil like tar sands and shale oil." Based on an estimate of 598 kilograms of greenhouse gases per barrel of oil, Keystone's more than 300 million barrels a year would result in more pollution than that emitted by 37.7 million passenger cars.

Of course, Keystone XL might not be used at full capacity at all times and industry estimates of the greenhouse gases associated with producing and burning tar sands oil can be as low as 482 kilograms per barrel, depending on whether the tar sands were mined or not. "We'll continue to drive [that number] down," says Greg Stringham, vice president for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). "If the oil is going to be consumed anyway, then it has to come from some source, and we think we should be the preferred source."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Keystone XL tar sands oil would result in additional greenhouse gas emissions of 27 million metric tons annually compared with conventional oil. Regardless, the tar sands represent a significant chunk of potential carbon emissions, and those from tar sands have increased in recent years?up 16 percent since 2009, according to CAPP. Keystone XL itself would exacerbate that?the U.S. State Department notes that the greenhouse gas emissions from just the pipeline's pumps would be 4.4 million metric tons per year, roughly the same as one average U.S. coal-fired power plant.

Present economic trends may help keep tar sands carbon underground, however. The recent gusher in shale oil from North Dakota and elsewhere may reduce the demand for tar sands oil here in the U.S., at least in the short term. But such shale oil may not represent a significant improvement in the long run for the climate. As Steve Kretzmann, executive director of OCI, noted in response to Scientific American, the flares of methane from such oil wells are visible from space. "Methane is a potent greenhouse gas as well," he added. "Frankly, I don't think we even have a very good estimate of how bad that [shale oil] is."

Ultimately, the campaigners hope that the Obama administration will reject the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal, noting that its social cost?in health care, property loss, agricultural impacts and more from climate change?would amount to some $4.5 billion annually. "We need to put a price on carbon emissions, which makes fossil fuels pay their true costs to society," Hansen added. And although Alberta currently boasts a carbon price of $15 per metric ton, it is not enough?at less than a dollar per barrel?to keep greenhouse gas pollution from the tar sands in check. Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/keystone-xl-oil-pipeline-exacerbates-climate-change-103000967.html

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North Dakota governor signs 'fetal pain' measure (The Arizona Republic)

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Stanford scholar Adam Johnson wins Pulitzer Prize in fiction

By Brooke Donald

L.A. Cicero

Adam Johnson

Adam Johnson, an associate professor of English at Stanford, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Orphan Master's Son, his novel set in North Korea.

The Pulitzer committee called the book "an exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart."

Johnson spent several years researching the book, his third, reading historical accounts and propaganda about the isolated country. He also read personal narratives from the few people who have defected and managed to visit North Korea under a tightly controlled state-sponsored trip.

In an interview with Stanford News, Johnson said he felt very fortunate to win the prize and hoped it would help shed light on the dire situation in North Korea.

"Through my research, I came to care very deeply about the people of North Korea," Johnson said.

He said for so long people have thought of North Korea as a place of buffoonery or evil, and many people questioned why he chose the country as the setting for his novel.

"People thought I was crazy to be writing on North Korea. They said, 'You're just some dude in California!' But one of the things I discovered through my research is that most North Koreans can't tell their story. It's important for others to hear it, though. So I had a sense of mission to speak about the topic,? Johnson said.

He said the story of North Korea is well-suited for fiction because most journalists and nonfiction writers can't get facts verified there.

"It's an unverifiable place,? Johnson said. ?But to the fiction writer, the myth, the legend, the fables are all powerful tools to create a psychological portrait."

Johnson praised Stanford's Creative Writing Program and the university's commitment to good writing.

"It's just a place where storytelling is valued above all else," Johnson said. "I couldn't have written the book without Stanford and its support of creative writing. From all parts of the university, the narrative is valued. I know it's a place where people are excited about stories."

Johnson, who came to Stanford in 1999, is the author of Emporium, a short-story collection, and the novel Parasites Like Us, which won a California Book Award. His books have been translated into 16 languages. He was also a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow.

This quarter, Johnson is teaching Narrative and Narrative Theory, and earlier this year he taught a senior seminar, Historical Fiction.

Professor Eavan Boland, who directs Stanford's Creative Writing Program, said she and her colleagues are thrilled for Johnson's honor.

"This is a wonderful recognition for a wonderful achievement," Boland said. "And he has so many admirers and friends in this program who will be absolutely delighted and not at all surprised."

Johnson's award comes after a year in which no prize was given in the fiction category. Last year's absence in fiction angered many booksellers and publishers. It was the first time the fiction prize had not been awarded since 1977.

Previous authors who have won the distinguished fiction Pulitzer include Wallace Stegner, who founded Stanford's Creative Writing Program, and N. Scott Momaday, a former faculty member of Stanford's English Department.

Also honored with a Pulitzer Prize this year, in Poetry, for Stag's Leap was Stanford alumna Sharon Olds, who graduated in 1964.

The Pulitzer committee described the work as "a book of unflinching poems on the author's divorce that examine love, sorrow and the limits of self-knowledge."

Media Contact

Brooke Donald, Stanford News Service, (650) 725-0224, brooke.donald@stanford.edu

Corrie Goldman, director of humanities communication: (650) 724-8156, corrieg@stanford.edu

Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/april/adam-johnson-pulitzer-041513.html

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Obama: North Korea can?t put nukes on ballistic missile

Military officials applaud together with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, during the Unhasu concert in Pyongyang,??President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that North Korea likely does not have the ability to arm a ballistic missile with nuclear warheads. He also compared the Stalinist regime?s recent belligerent rhetoric to a child?s temper tantrum.

NBC News? Savannah Guthrie asked Obama to clarify whether Pyongyang?which has tested nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles before?could combine the two.

?Based on our current intelligence assessments we do not think that they have that capacity,? the president said. ?But we have to make sure that we are dealing with every contingency out there. That?s why I repositioned missile defense systems: to guard against any miscalculation on their part.?

Asked whether North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un is unstable, Obama told NBC: ?I?m not a psychiatrist. And I don?t know the leader of North Korea.?

But he described Pyonyang?s escalating rhetoric over the past six weeks as ?provocative? and ?unnecessary? and vowed not to reward it.

?You don?t get to bang your spoon on the table and somehow you get your way,? the president said. Still, the volatile standoff isn?t over, Obama said.

?All of us would anticipate that North Korea will probably make more provocative moves over the next several weeks,? he said. ?But our hope is, is that we can contain it and that we can move into a different phase in which they try to work through diplomatically some of these issues.?

?This is the same kind of pattern that we saw his father engage in, and his grandfather before that," Obama said. ?If they want to rejoin the community of nations, that path is available to them."

The interview was conducted Monday, shortly before the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-north-korea-t-put-nukes-ballistic-missile-133056723--politics.html

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