New year, new laws

World will wake up to raft of changes in 2014

Countries around the world are ringing in the new year with a host of new regulations, appointments and legislation. Here are some of the most important and most intriguing

New year, new laws: world will wake up to raft of changes in 2014

Countries around the world are ringing in the new year with a host of new regulations, appointments and legislation Here are some of the most important and most intriguing

• Mark Rice-Oxley
• 
  
• theguardian.com, Tuesday 31 December 2013 13.44 GMT

Fireworks over the London Eye, in central London, as part of the New Year celebrations. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

If it feels like you're waking up to a slightly different world on Wednesday, then it's because you will be. 1 January is habitually a watershed for new rules, appointments and bylaws; 2014 is no exception.
So what is changing? Well, if you are driving in Oregon with children in your car, do not light up. It'll be illegal. And if you're driving in Switzerland, turn your headlights on. Even if it's the middle of the day.
While we're on the subject of lighting, if you live in Canada please remove those last incandescent lightbulbs – they won't be allowed any more.
Other things that are now to be banned: owning unregistered assault weapons in Connecticut; harassing celebrities and their children with long-lens cameras in California; hunting elephants in Botswana and injudicious calls to the London Fire Brigade (if you're a business you'll be fined for false alarms). Oh, and if you're an architect practising in Texas, you will have to get yourself fingerprinted. Don't ask why.
On the other hand, there are moments of great liberalisation to salute. Colorado on Wednesday will become the first state in the US to allow the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes. Also in America, for the first time it will be OK to be a gay Boy Scout, while for their British counterparts, it's OK to be an atheist. For Germans, liberalisation comes in more subtle ways, such as the new dispensation for universities and libraries, which will henceforth be allowed to upload "orphaned" works of art on to the internet without permission.
If you're Bulgarian or Romanian, welcome. Work restrictions across the EU for citizens of two of the poorest EU countries are lifted. But despite the dire warnings from the right (er, people who are supposed to believe in free markets no less) the indications are that there will be no sudden influx of Balkan builders.
In a less-observed border relaxation, it will become much easier for Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan as the Chinese authorities make a concerted effort to improve cross-strait ties.
And in the unlikely event that you are off to do some shopping in Latvia, leave your lats at home and take euros instead: the Baltic republic becomes the 18th country to join the single currency zone.
Indeed, institutional changes are a 1 January perennial. Russia takes over running the G8 for a year while Greece gets its turn to lead the EU. Democrat Bill de Blasio takes over as mayor of New York. And Barack Obama's new system of healthcare coverage, known as Obamacare, is formally launched with hundreds of thousands of newly insured Americans presenting a formidable test to a system that has endured a difficult birth.
Bill de Blasio will become New York mayor from 1 January. Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP Then there are more obscure new laws that frankly take some explaining. If you live in France, you can demand that your home be checked for electromagnetic waves. And if you are arrested, make sure the police address you as "vous" and not "tu", as they are required to do from 1 January.
If you die in Hungary, fear not: From Wednesday the state will reportedly provide a free grave, coffin or urn – and even a free shovel for gravedigging – to poorer sections of society.
The other thing that 1 January signifies is the start of a year dedicated to a certain issue or theme. So prepare yourself, and make any necessary adjustments to your schedule, to accommodate the International Year of Family Farming, the International Year of Crystallography and the International Year of Small Island Developing States.
Happy new year.
Those changes in full:

Europe

• Work restrictions across the EU are lifted for migrants from Romania and Bulgaria.
• Greece takes over EU presidency.
• Latvia joins the eurozone.
• The European fiscal compact, which forces countries across the eurozone to deliver a balanced budget, becomes operational.

UK

• New rules lengthen to three months the amount of time that migrants will have to wait before claiming benefits.
• London Fire Brigade becomes the first service in the country to introduce a charging scheme for callouts to false alarms at buildings such as hospitals, airports and student accommodation.
• Regulation of undercover police – new rules come into force requiring higher level of authorisation
• Average season ticket prices are due to rise by 4.1%
• Scout Association introduces pledge that removes the promise by Scouts to do their duty to God.
• The Defamation Act 2013 is set to change libel laws. Claimants will need to show they have suffered "serious harm" before suing.

France

• Individuals are allowed to import 10 (200 cigarette) boxes of cigarettes.
• Minimum hourly wage rises by 10 cents an hour to €9.53 (£8).
• "Red Bull" tax comes into effect on energy drinks – €1 a litre.
• Minimum hours to be considered "part-time" worker – 24 hours a week• Anyone can demand their home be checked for electromagnetic waves. Same applies to public spaces.
• New code of conduct for police insisting they use the more respectful and formal "vous" when addressing the public and suspects and have a number on their uniform so they can be identified.
• The validity period for a French identity card rises from 10 to 15 years

Germany

• The points system for driving licences will be simplified. Minor offences are punished with fewer points, but Germans will only need eight instead of 18 points to lose their driving licence.
• The tax for bars of silver will jump from roughly €1 to €2 an ounce.
• From 1 January Germans will make less money from subletting their flats. Previously, citizens were able to offset the average local rent for a 60 sq metre flat against tax, in the future they will be able to claim back no more than €1,000 a month.
• Universities and libraries will be allowed to upload "orphaned" works of art – artworks, photographs or books whose creator can no longer be identified – on to the internet without getting permission.Previously, they were only able to do so with the explicit permission of a copyright holder.

Switzerland

• Competition for new national anthem starts.
• Using car headlights in daylight hours becomes mandatory.

Russia

• Takes helm of the G8.

United States

The Boy Scouts of America has lifted a ban on openly gay members. Photograph: Mychele Daniau/AFP/Getty Images • Minimum wage rises in 14 states.
• Oregon: no smoking in a car with children.
• Colorado becomes the first state in the US to allow the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes.
• Affordable Care Act – individual mandate takes effect, requiring most Americans to buy health insurance.
• Guns that are considered assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines that have not been registered with Connecticut authorities will be considered illegal contraband.
• Photographers who harass celebrities and their children face tougher penalties under a Californian law backed by actors Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner.
• Bill de Blasio takes over as mayor of New York.
• Texas requires all architects to be fingerprinted.
• The Boy Scouts of America lifts a ban on openly gay members after the organisation's national council voted against the rule in late May.

Asia

• The visa process for mainland Chinese visitors to Taiwan will be streamlined in an effort to bolster cross-strait ties

Africa

African elephants drinking along a riverbank at dusk in Botswana. Photograph: Frans Lanting/ Frans Lanting/Corbis • Botswana, home to a third of the global elephant population, bans commercial hunting amid growing concerns about the decline in wildlife species.
• Deadline for the controversial "indigenisation" of businesses in Zimbabwe. The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act obliges foreign-owned companies operating in the country to cede at least a 51% controlling stake to black Zimbabweans. Those who refuse face possible arrest.
• Travel for Kenyans, Rwandans and Ugandans to each other's countries will become much easier with the use of national identity cards as travel documents and the issuance of a single east African tourist visa
Reporting team: Dan Roberts in Washington, Kim Willsher in Paris, Alex Hern, Dan Milmo, Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing, Philip Oltermann in Berlin, and Dan Nolan in Budapest
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Fury with MPs is main reason for not voting – poll

Fury with MPs is main reason for not voting – poll

Poll reveals anger, not boredom, lies behind drop in political engagement

• We may live in the digital age, but our politics are still analogue
• We must all share the blame for our 'useless' politicians
• Political anger and apathy a reflection of voter 'kidiocy'

  
  

  Poll reveals anger, not boredom, lies behind drop in political engagement

• Tom Clark and Rowena Mason
• 
  
• The Guardian, Thursday 26 December 2013 20.18 GMT

The Houses of Parliament at dusk. Rage against politicians is the dominant sentiment across just about every sub-stratum of the electorate. Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters

Nearly half of Britons say they are angry with politics and politicians, according to a Guardian/ICM poll analysing the disconnect between British people and their democracy.
The research, which explores the reasons behind the precipitous drop in voter turnout – particularly among under-30s – finds that it is anger with the political class and broken promises made by high-profile figures that most rile voters, rather than boredom with Westminster.
Asked for the single word best describing "how or what you instinctively feel" about politics and politicians in general, 47% of respondents answered "angry", against 25% who said they were chiefly "bored".
Negative sentiments vastly outnumber positive, with only 16% reporting feeling "respectful" towards people doing a difficult job, while a vanishingly small proportion of 2% claim to feel "inspired".
Responding to fears about disengagement by young people from politics, the Tory MP Chloe Smith, a former minister at 31, told the Guardian there was a danger of a political disconnect between young and old, with "generations far apart and not talking to each other". One of her ministerial briefs included improving voter engagement.
"I think there is an existential problem coming for traditional forms of British democracy, which it is in everyone's interests, all of us as democrats, to respond to," she said. "We have to demonstrate what politics is for, why a young person's individual action in voting matters."
When Harold Wilson won the 1964 election, more than three quarters of people cast their vote and turnout was roughly equal across the generations. But according to data from Ipsos Mori, at the last election 76% of over-65s were still voting, while only 46% aged 18-24 were going to the ballot box.
Rage is the dominant sentiment across just about every sub-stratum of the electorate, but is especially marked among men, northerners, voters over 45 and the lower DE occupational grade.
Labour voters, too, are disproportionately cross. But supporters of Ukip, the party that put itself on the map in 2013 with big gains in local elections, reflect the mood of the times most intensely: more than two-thirds, 68%, say the thought of politics and politicians makes them more angry than anything else.
Deborah Mattinson, a former pollster to Gordon Brown and now an expert at BritainThinks, believes politicians have not begun to grasp the scale of the problem. "Voter disengagement is getting worse and worse," she says. "Nobody is really taking it seriously enough."
Recent high-profile celebrity interventions on the subject have served to underline the growing disconnection. The former England footballer Michael Owen told the Guardian for the paper's series on voter apathy that he had never voted.
Russell Brand expressed the disaffection of many in October when he told Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight that he had never voted because he "can't be arsed", adding later: "The only reason to vote is if the vote represents power or change. I don't think it does."
After the interview, which received more than 10m hits on YouTube, Paxman said he understood Brand's decision, dubbing Westminster politics a "green-bench pantomime … a remote and self-important echo-chamber".
Reflecting such sentiments, the polling shows that ennui is more marked among the young, rivalling fury as the dominant feeling about politics among voters aged 18-24, who are evenly split 34%-34% between boredom and anger.
Boredom is marked in one other group, too – those voters of all ages who admit to being unlikely to vote. But even among those who rate their chance of turning out as four or lower on a 10-point scale, the angry marginally outnumber the bored, by 41% to 40%. When asked what puts people off voting, the cause of that anger is the perception that politicians do not keep their promises. Nearly two voters in every three, 64%, nominated the failure of governments to honour their pledges as something that would put them off casting a ballot – higher than any other factor.
In the week that the former Labour minister Denis MacShane was jailed for fraud, the continuing damage done to parliament's reputation by the expenses scandal of 2009 is also plain – 46% of respondents identify the sense that "MPs are just on the take" as a thought that would discourage them from turning up at the polling station.
Only around a third of potential voters, 34% of the total, say they are put off by careerist candidates who "don't say what they believe". Just 26% regard the parties as "so similar that [voting] makes little difference", and only 25% see the failure of the parties to "represent my mix of views" as a particular problem.
Meanwhile, the mechanics of democracy – the focus of thinktank proposals for automatic postal ballots or weekend voting – emerge as a virtual irrelevance.
Only 2% of the electorate regard the inconvenience of registering and then casting a vote as a reason not to do so, suggesting that proposed measures such as weekend or electronic voting are unlikely to make a big difference to election turnout.
Other findings though suggest that Britons remain convinced that politics matters. An overwhelming 86% told ICM that the "decisions politicians make" are either "very important" or "fairly important" to their own lives, as against just one in ten who said that such choices were "not that" or "not at all" important in day-to-day life. And there is remarkably little difference between voters and non-voters here: even among those unlikely to turn-out some 80% do believe that political choices will affect them.
Furthermore, Britons continue to talk politics regularly. A clear majority of the electorate as a whole, 62% of respondents, claim to discuss "politics or the sort of issues affected by politics" with friends and family at least once every fortnight, and a substantial minority of 29% claims to do so at least "every few days". Across the population, the pollster estimates an average of 72 political discussions a year. ICM finds somewhat less frequent political discussion among the youth and among likely non-voters, but even among these disaffected groups such conversations will crop up in more weeks than not.
ICM Research interviewed an online sample of 2023 adults aged 18+ online on 20-22 December 2013. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

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7,000 key NHS clinical staff made redundant amid enforced cuts

7,000 key NHS clinical staff made redundant amid enforced cuts

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA, says £20bn savings drive to blame, as doctors and nurses are made redundant

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA, says £20bn savings drive to blame, as doctors and nurses are made redundant

• Denis Campbell
• 
  
• The Guardian, Tuesday 31 December 2013

Department of Health has disclosed that 4,620 frontline staff were made compulsorily redundant between 2010-11. Photograph Bernardo Bucci/Corbis

An "arbitrary" straitjacket on the NHS's budget by Whitehall is leading to job losses, recruitment freezes and inadequate care for patients, the leader of the country's doctors warns on Tuesday.
Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association, said forcing the NHS in England to make £20bn of "efficiency gains" by 2015 at a time of rising demand for healthcare was wrong and damaging.
Porter was speaking to the Guardian after the Department of Health (DH) admitted that 7,060 NHS clinical staff, such as doctors and nurses, have been made redundant since the coalition took power in 2010, at the same time as David Cameron was pledging to protect the service's frontline from cuts.
Responding to a freedom of information request, the DH disclosed that 4,620 frontline staff were made compulsorily redundant between 2010-11 and 2012-13, and a further 2,430 voluntarily redundant.
Labour, which obtained the DH's response, said it did not specify how many of each type of staff were made redundant. But the 7,060 total does include doctors, nurses, midwives, health visitors, ambulance staff and qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff, the DH said.
"The key thing to remember is that there's effectively a policy that results in redundancies because the single most important policy determinant in the NHS is the spending limits on it imposed by the government", Porter said.
"This is resulting in frontline redundancies and also in a widespread recruitment freeze. Some people are being made redundant but other posts aren't being filled. A significant number of [NHS] trusts are imposing a complete recruitment freeze," he added. The inability to hire new staff is "caused by the same driver as these redundancies, the Nicholson Challenge", Porter said, referring to the £20bn savings drive named after NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson, which began in 2011. "Certainly the way it's working out some people are losing their jobs as a result."
The NHS's budget should be based on population growth and people's health needs "rather than arbitrary Treasury spending limits. The result of having a ringfence [around the NHS's budget] is widespread spending cuts across the NHS, which are being made at a time when need is increasing. That should cause us to stop and re-examine what's more important here. Are Treasury spending limits the best way to proceed? I think not."
Porter voiced concern that, despite several major reviews of NHS care and safety by Robert Francis QC and the service's medical director, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, having emphasised the link between inadequate staffing and lapses in care, redundancies and recruitment freezes were undermining that.
Andrew Gwynne, the shadow health minister, said the 7,060 redundancies were "devastating for David Cameron. They reveal the hollow truth behind his pledge to protect the NHS frontline. Despite all the warnings on the need for safe staffing levels, ministers made experienced doctors and nurses redundant."
However, the DH pointed out that official figures show that there are nearly 7,700 more clinical staff working in the NHS than in May 2010. Renewed focus on care standards in the wake of Francis's report into the Mid Staffordshire scandal, and widespread demands for "safe staffing" levels, have forced many hospital trusts to take on extra personnel in recent months, especially nurses, even though their budgets are under pressure.
Some 2,740 of the 7,060 redundancies occured in 2011-12, the first year of the Nicholson Challenge, and a further 2,420 the year after. The DH said that £10.8bn of the £20bn target had been achieved by halfway point in April this year.
Labour also released a ministerial response to a parliamentary question which showed that a total of 7,435 fewer training places for nurses have been commissioned by the NHS in England over the last three years compared with 2009-10, when they were in power. In that year there were 20,829 training places available for would-be nurses, but that fell to 20,092 in 2010-11, then 17,741 in 2011-12 and then 17,219 in 2012-13.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, welcomed a recent 9% agreed increase in nurse training numbers after staffing levels had become "eroded as a result of short-sighted attempts to save money". But, he added: "The NHS still has a mountain to climb in undoing the cuts that have already been made. In particular, we are concerned that some highly skilled specialists may be disproportionately targeted for cuts. The importance of safe staffing levels must be accepted throughout the NHS, and local organisations must be properly resourced to make them a reality for every patient."
From next April all trusts will have to publish details every month of how many nurses have been on duty in each ward, with patients able to see at a glance if expected new guidelines on minimum staffing levels have been met, as part of a raft of changes to improve care and openness following Mid Staffs.
The NHS in England employs more than 1.35 million people.
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Michael Schumacher shows 'slight improvement' but remains critical

Schumacher 'shows improvement'

Former F1 champion has second operation after ski accident as offical confirms helmet split in two when he fell

• Journalist disguised as priest tried to enter room
• Update: summary of what the doctors said
• Schumacher kept in state of hypothermia
• Disaster lurked in pristine Alpine resort of Méribel
• Schumacher shows improvement, doctors say

  
  

  Former F1 champion undergoes second operation after Alps ski accident as offical confirms his helmet split in two when he fell

  
  
• Lizzy Davies in Grenoble and Anne Penketh in Paris
• 
  
• theguardian.com, Tuesday 31 December 2013 12.35 GMT

Neurosurgeon Professor Stephan Chabardes, Professor Jean-Francois Payen, and Professor Emmanuel Gay. Photograph: Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images

The former Formula one champion Michael Schumacher has undergone a second operation to treat brain injuries sustained in an off-piste skiing accident, as his doctors said they had seen a "slight improvement" in his condition.
In a press conference at the university hospital in Grenoble where the seven-times world champion was airlifted on Sunday, doctors said they had decided, in conjunction with the Schumacher family, to carry out more surgery following a modest improvement in his condition and a brain scan on Monday afternoon.
Michael Schumacher. Photograph: Diego Azubel/EPA The medical update came as the prosecutor's office in the Alpine resort town of Albertville, which is overseeing the investigation into Schumacher's accident, confirmed that his helmet had split in two when he fell. "It broke apart in two pieces," an official from the prosecutor's office told the Guardian.
However, the official said it was too early to infer that the helmet had broken because of the high speed at which Schumacher was skiing downhill. "It's too early to draw conclusions about excessive speed," said the official. "It will take two or three more days to know exactly what happened."
During the operation, which began at 10pm and lasted two hours, a haematoma was removed from Schumacher's brain and the intracranial pressure further decreased. A fresh scan carried out on Tuesday morning had confirmed "signs … of slight improvement," said Jacqueline Hubert, director of the hospital.
But the doctors warned that the driver's condition remained critical, with more bruising and more lesions that had yet to be treated. He remains in a medically induced coma following the accident, in which he fell and hit his head on rocks in the ski resort of Méribel.
"The situation is better controlled than yesterday," said chief anaesthesiologist Jean-Francois Payen. "We cannot say he's out of danger but today … we have bought a bit of time."
The decision to go ahead with the operation had been taken in conjunction with the Schumacher family. His wife, Corinna, two children and brother are all at the hospital with him, said Gérard Vaillaint, a leading brain surgeon and friend of the German driver.
Vaillaint, with the Grenoble medical team, refused to enter into prognostics and said any attempt to predict Schumacher's future, even over the next few days, was pointless.
Emmanuel Gay, chief of neurology at the hospital, said: "We cannot say it's over. We can say there are highs and lows … but it's a bit better than it was yesterday."
Gay said the medical team had been "a bit surprised" by their patient's modest improvement. "But, careful," he added, "there is still a long way to go."
Schumacher, 44, has been in the hospital in the eastern French city since Sunday at 12.40pm, when he was airlifted from a smaller hospital in the Alpine town of Moutiers. He had been skiing down an unmarked slope near Méribel with his 14-year-old son when he fell and hit his head.
On Monday the doctors treating him said his condition was "life-threatening" and said they were working on an hour-by-hour basis to save him. On Tuesday, despite the signs of improvement and a second successful operation, they insisted it would be premature to say the battle was over.
The scan had revealed multiple haematoma on Schumacher's brain. The second operation had been carried out to remove one of them which, on the left of the brain, was accessible and removal of it did not present large risks.
For the moment, the doctors said, there was no question of Schumacher being woken from the medically induced coma, which is designed to ease the swelling on his brain. Equally, added Payen, there was no immediate possibility of his being transferred to another hospital nearer to home.
The gravity of the retired champion's condition has prompted figures from across the sporting world to express their shock at the accident and solidarity with a man regarded as one of the greatest racing drivers in Formula One's history.
The current world champion, Sebastian Vettel, a fellow German who has been dubbed "Baby Schumi" by his country's media, led a chorus of support and concern. "I am shocked and hope that he gets better as quickly as possible. I wish his family much strength," he said on Monday.
The British driver Jenson Button, another former world champion, said: "My thoughts are with Michael Schumacher at this tough time. Michael more than anyone has the strength to pull through this."
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said she was "extremely shocked along with millions of Germans".
Schumacher is thought to have been skiing downhill between two marked pistes below the jagged peaks of the Dent de Burgin when he fell, hitting the right side of his head.
Investigators from the Gendarmerie based in the resort of Bourg St Maurice were on the mountainside on Monday attempting to establish the exact circumstances of the accident, which occurred at an elevation of 2,100 metres.
On Monday the prosecutor Patrice Quincy, based in Albertville, the home of the 1992 Winter Olympics, told the Guardian: "The victim lost his balance and banged his head extremely violently on small rocks concealed by the snow."

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Planet likely to warm by 4C by 2100, scientists warn

Planet will warm by 4C by end of 2100, scientists warn

New model taking greater account of cloud changes indicates heating will be at higher end of expectations

• 2013: good year for science, mixed bag for policy

  
  

  New climate model taking greater account of cloud changes indicates heating will be at higher end of expectations
• Damian Carrington
• 
  
• theguardian.com, Tuesday 31 December 2013 14.02 GMT

The role clouds play in climate change has been something of a mystery – until now. Photograph: Frank Rumpenhorst/ Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa/Corbis

Temperature rises resulting from unchecked climate change will be at the severe end of those projected, according to a new scientific study.
The scientist leading the research said that unless emissions of greenhouse gases were cut, the planet would heat up by a minimum of 4C by 2100, twice the level the world's governments deem dangerous.
The research indicates that fewer clouds form as the planet warms, meaning less sunlight is reflected back into space, driving temperatures up further still. The way clouds affect global warming has been the biggest mystery surrounding future climate change.
Professor Steven Sherwood, at the University of New South Wales, in Australia, who led the new work, said: "This study breaks new ground twice: first by identifying what is controlling the cloud changes and second by strongly discounting the lowest estimates of future global warming in favour of the higher and more damaging estimates."
"4C would likely be catastrophic rather than simply dangerous," Sherwood told the Guardian. "For example, it would make life difficult, if not impossible, in much of the tropics, and would guarantee the eventual melting of the Greenland ice sheet and some of the Antarctic ice sheet", with sea levels rising by many metres as a result.
The research is a "big advance" that halves the uncertainty about how much warming is caused by rises in carbon emissions, according to scientists commenting on the study, published in the journal Nature. Hideo Shiogama and Tomoo Ogura, at Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies, said the explanation of how fewer clouds form as the world warms was "convincing", and agreed this indicated future climate would be greater than expected. But they said more challenges lay ahead to narrow down further the projections of future temperatures.
Scientists measure the sensitivity of the Earth's climate to greenhouse gases by estimating the temperature rise that would be caused by a doubling of CO² in the atmosphere compared with pre-industrial levels – as is likely to happen within 50 years, on current trends. For two decades, those estimates have run from 1.5C to 5C, a wide range; the new research narrowed that range to between 3C and 5C, by closely examining the biggest cause of uncertainty: clouds.
The key was to ensure that the way clouds form in the real world was accurately represented in computer climate models, which are the only tool researchers have to predict future temperatures. When water evaporates from the oceans, the vapour can rise over nine miles to form rain clouds that reflect sunlight; or it may rise just a few miles and drift back down without forming clouds. In reality, both processes occur, and climate models encompassing this complexity predicted significantly higher future temperatures than those only including the nine-mile-high clouds.
"Climate sceptics like to criticise climate models for getting things wrong, and we are the first to admit they are not perfect," said Sherwood. "But what we are finding is that the mistakes are being made by the models which predict less warming, not those that predict more."
He added: "Sceptics may also point to the 'hiatus' of temperatures since the end of the 20th century, but there is increasing evidence that this inaptly named hiatus is not seen in other measures of the climate system, and is almost certainly temporary."
Global average air temperatures have increased relatively slowly since a high point in 1998 caused by the ocean phenomenon El Niño, but observations show that heat is continuing to be trapped in increasing amounts by greenhouse gases, with over 90% disappearing into the oceans. Furthermore, a study in November suggested the "pause" may be largely an illusion resulting from the lack of temperature readings from polar regions, where warming is greatest.
Sherwood accepts his team's work on the role of clouds cannot definitively rule out that future temperature rises will lie at the lower end of projections. "But," he said, for that to be the case, "one would need to invoke some new dimension to the problem involving a major missing ingredient for which we currently have no evidence. Such a thing is not out of the question but requires a lot of faith."
He added: "Rises in global average temperatures of [at least 4C by 2100] will have profound impacts on the world and the economies of many countries if we don't urgently start to curb our emissions."
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Más de 130.000 muertos en Siria en casi tres años de conflicto

31/12/2013 - 15:17

Más de 130.000 muertos en Siria en casi tres años de conflicto

31 Dic 2013

Beirut (AFP)

Más de 130.000 personas han muerto desde el inicio del conflicto en Siria hace casi tres años, informó este martes el Observatorio Sirio de Derechos Humanos (OSDH).
Según la ONG, con sede en Londres y que recaba información con una extensa red de civiles, médicos y militares en Siria, 130.433 personas han perdido la vida desde el inicio del conflicto, en marzo de 2011. Entre ellas, 46.266 civiles.
Entre los fallecidos, figuran más de 7.000 niños y más de 4.600 mujeres, dijo el observatorio. La ONG señaló que 52.290 combatientes partidarios del presidente Bashar al Asad perdieron la vida, así como 32.000 soldados regulares y 262 refuerzos del movimiento chiita libanés Hezbolá.
En el lado rebelde, la organización da cuenta de 29.083 fallecidos, entre ellos 6.913 combatientes de grupos yihadistas como el Estado Islámico de Irak y Levante.
El OSDH informó del fallecimiento de otras 2.794 personas sin identificar. El conflicto en Siria comenzó en marzo de 2011, tras manifestaciones pacíficas que desembocaron en una sangrienta guerra civil.
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Maliki quiere evitar escalada de violencia al retirar ejército de Al Anbar

31/12/2013 - 16:33

Maliki quiere evitar escalada de violencia al retirar ejército de Al Anbar

31 Dic 2013

Bagdad (AFP)

El primer ministro iraquí, Nuri al Maliki, anunció el martes que el ejército se retirará de la provincia de Al Anbar, en un intento de evitar una escalada de violencia tras el cierre de un campamento de manifestantes antigubernamentales, indicó un comunicado oficial.
Esta retirada es una de las exigencias de decenas de diputados que habían presentado su dimisión tras el desmantelamiento del campamento en Ramadi, cabecera de la provincia de Al Anbar (oeste). El cierre del campamento ha provocado enfrentamientos entre soldados y hombres armados que han dejado una quincena de muertos en 24 horas.
Éste fue instalado un año atrás por sunitas opuestos a Maliki, de origen chiita. Una quincena de personas han muerto desde el lunes.
Este martes se registraron nuevos choques con resultado de cuatro muertos en Ramadi, tras la clausura del enclave, el más importante de la colectividad sunita, según fuentes médicas y policiales. Las autoridades afirman que el campamento estaba infiltrado por elementos de Al Qaida, que huyeron el lunes tras su desmantelamientos.
La policía se abocó a destruir las tiendas el lunes, sin que hubiera efusión de sangre durante las tareas
Pero, esto luego provocó la reacción de hombres armados, tras lo que se registraron diez muertos.
Estos grupos armados están integrados por elementos hostiles al gobierno de Maliki, miembros de tribus locales que rechazaban la destrucción del campamento, y partidarios de un diputado sunita, Ahmed al Alwani, detenido el sábado pasado, según el corresponsal de la AFP en Ramadi y fuentes policiales.
Maliki pide reinstalar la administración y a la policía
Según un comunicado publicado en su página en internet, Maliki llamó "a las fuerzas armadas a consagrarse a la persecución de Al Qaida en el desierto de Al Anbar" y a reinstalar "la administración en las ciudades y a la policía local y federal".

Un grupo de hombres se reúne para el funeral de una persona asesinada en un enfrentamiento con las fuerzas de seguridad iraquíes en Ramadi, capital de Anbar, el 31 de diciembre de 2013

El 22 de diciembre, el primer ministro calificó al campamento de "cuartel general de Al Qaida", y llamó a los contestatarios a retirarse "en un breve plazo".
El cierre del campamento representa una relativa victoria para Maliki, aunque corre el riesgo de atizar la cólera de la minoría sunita del país. Ésta se considera discriminada y denuncia una campaña de "represión" por parte del gobierno y de la mayoría chiita.
Esta exasperación de los sunitas es un factor clave en la escalada de violencia que se ha desencadenado en los últimos meses en Irak, provocando miles de muertos, un balance sin precedentes desde 2008 (cuando el país salía de una guerra confesional devastadora), como resultado de ataques, atentados y asesinatos.
Esta retirada del ejército de las ciudades de la región era una de las exigencias de los 44 diputados que presentaron su renuncia el lunes de noche, tras el desmatelamiento del campamento.
En abril pasado, un operativo similar contra otro campamento de sunitas en Hawijah (norte) provocó un enfrentamiento con decenas de muertos, y provocó una oleada de ataques en represalia.
El movimiento de protesta sunita comenzó a fines de diciembre de 2012, como consecuencia de la detención de los guardaespaldas de un influyente político de este origen, Rafeh al Issawi, entonces ministro de Finanzas.
Si bien el gobierno hizo algunas concesiones, como la liberación de detenidos o el aumento de los salarios a los milicianos sunitas opuestos a Al Qaida, no ha respondido a lo esencial del problema, o sea, la discriminación de la que se sienten víctimas los sunitas, y los brotes de represión, según los expertos.
Desde el comienzo de 2013, más de 6.750 personas murieron a causa de la violencia en Irak, de acuerdo a un balance establecido por la AFP y por fuentes médicas y de seguridad.
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Três anos de conflito na Síria deixam mais 130.000 mortos

31/12/2013 - 15:39

Três anos de conflito na Síria deixam mais 130.000 mortos

31 Dez 2013

Beirute (AFP)

Mais 130.000 pessoas morreram desde o início do conflito na Síria há quase três anos, informou nesta terça-feira a ONG Observatório Sírio de Direitos Humanos (OSDH).
Segundo a ONG, 130.433 pessoas perderam a vida desde o início do conflito em março de 2011, entre elas, 46.266 civis.
Entre os mortos, figuram mais de 7.000 crianças e mais de 4.600 mulheres, segundo a ONG.
A ONG assinalou ainda que 52.290 combatentes partidários do presidente Bashar al Assad perderam a vida, assim como 32.000 soldados regulares e 262 reforços do movimento xiita libanês Hezbollah.
Do lado rebelde, a organização fala de 29.083 mortos, entre eles 6.913 combatentes de grupos jihadistas como o Estado Islâmico do Iraque e Levante.
O OSDH informou sobre a morte de outras 2.794 pessoas sem identificar.
O conflito na Síria começou em março de 2011, depois de manifestações pacíficas que resultaram em uma sangrenta guerra civil.
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Ataque do exército sírio mata 10 civis em Aleppo (ONG)

31/12/2013 - 15:25

Beirute (AFP)

Pelo menos 10 civis morreram nesta terça-feira na explosão de um obus disparado pelo exército sírio que atingiu um ônibus em Aleppo, no 17º dia de uma ofensiva contra os redutos rebeldes desta cidade do norte da Síria, segundo uma ONG.
O obus atingiu o ônibus no bairro rebelde de Tariq al-Bab, anunciou o Observatório Sírio dos Direitos Humanos (OSDH), que teme um balanço mais grave pelo estado de alguns feridos.
Entre as vítimas estão duas crianças e uma mulher, segundo a ONG, que tem uma ampla rede de fontes civis, médicas e militares no país.
De acordo com o OSDH, um segundo obus caiu na região quando os habitantes tentavam ajudar as vítimas do primeiro ataque.
Um vídeo divulgado na internet e que não pôde ter a procedência confirmada mostra uma multidão ao redor de um ônibus em chamas. Algumas pessoas transportavam corpos e uma mulher gritava.
A segunda explosão é ouvida a uma certa distância.
No domingo, o OSDH anunciou que desde 15 de dezembro pelo menos 517 pessoas, entre elas 151 menores de idade, em ataques aéreos do exército nas zonas rebeldes de Aleppo e sua província.
Os bombardeios aéreos da ex-capital econômica síria foram condenados por vários países e organizações humanitárias internacionais. O regime afirma que ataca os "terroristas" que se misturam com a população civil.
Aleppo, uma das principais frentes do conflito que afeta o país em mais de dois anos e meio, está dividido desde o verão de 2012 entre os setores rebeldes e as zonas controladas pelo regime.
Segundo o OSDH, o regime tenta avançar nos bairros rebeldes, situados em sua maioria no leste de Aleppo, utilizando as mesmas táticas que utilizou para recuperar o controle de outras cidades.
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Putin diz que lutará contra os terroristas até sua eliminação total

31/12/2013 - 15:02

Putin diz que lutará contra os terroristas até sua eliminação total

31 Dez 2013

Moscou (AFP)

O presidente russo Vladimir Putin declarou nesta terça-feira que a Rússia continuará com a luta contra os terroristas até sua eliminação total, em sua primeira reação pública aos dois atentados suicidas que deixaram 34 mortos em Volgograd (sudoeste).
"Queridos amigos, nós nos inclinamos ante as vítimas dos terríveis atentados. Estou certo de que vamos continuar com força e sem pausa a luta contra os terroristas até sua eliminação total", declarou Putin em um discurso para o Ano Novo pronunciado em Jabarovsk, Extremo-Oriente russo, segundo as agências russas.
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Volta ao Irã ex-negociador nuclear próximo a Rohani

31/12/2013 - 13:55

Teerã (AFP)

Um ex-negociador nuclear iraniano próximo ao presidente iraniano Hassan Rohani retornou ao Irã depois de ter sido condenado em 2008 a dois anos de prisão condicional por uma ação contra a "segurança nacional", indicou a agência oficial Irna.
"Voltei ao Irã para ficar", declarou segunda-feira à noite aos jornalistas Hossein Mousavian, que participou do funeral da mãe do ministro das Relações Exteriores, Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Mousavian, na mira do governo do presidente Mahmud Ahmadinejad, mudou-se há alguns anos nos Estados Unidos, onde concedia entrevistas em que apostava em um acordo entre o Irã e as grandes potências sobre o programa nuclear.
Em 2008, ele foi condenado a dois anos de prisão condicional e a cinco anos de perda de cargo público por ação contra a "segurança nacional".
Mousavian foi porta-voz da equipe de negociadores nucleares liderados por Rohani entre 2003 e 2005.
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Insurgentes do Sudão do Sul anunciam retomada de Bor

31/12/2013 - 13:48

Juba (AFP)

Os rebeldes voltaram a ocupar nesta terça-feira a estratégica cidade de Bor, no estado sul-sudanês de Jonglei (leste), anunciou o porta-voz do movimento, Moses Ruaik Lat.
"Nós controlamos Bor", afirmou. O porta-voz do exército do país, Philip Aguer, desmentiu imediatamente a informação, afirmando que os combates "não terminaram".
O Sudão do Sul vive intensos combates desde 15 de dezembro, quando o presidente do país, Salva Kiir, acusou o ex-vice-presidente Riek Machar, destituído em julho, de tentativa de golpe de Estado.
Desde então, diversas fontes citam milhares de mortos e 180.000 deslocados. Também citam massacres, estupros e assassinatos de caráter étnico.
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Rússia enterra vítimas e aumenta medidas de segurança

31/12/2013 - 13:43

Rússia enterra vítimas e aumenta medidas de segurança

31 Dez 2013

Moscou (AFP)

A Rússia se prepara para iniciar 2014 com fortes medidas de segurança e com o sepultamento das primeiras vítimas dos dois atentados suicidas que deixaram 33 mortos em Volgogrado, a poucas semanas dos Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno de Sochi.
Volgogrado começou a enterrar os mortos do atentado de domingo na principal estação de trens da cidade, atribuído pelas autoridades a uma mulher-bomba procedente da região do Daguestão, no Cáucaso Norte.
O presidente russo, Vladimir Putin, que não fez qualquer pronunciamento público depois dos atentados, pode citar os ataques em seu tradicional discurso de Ano Novo.
O Kremlin ordenou na segunda-feira ao serviço antiterrorista um reforço da segurança depois da explosão de um ônibus elétrico, menos de 24 horas depois do atentado na estação central de Volgogrado, a antiga Stalingrado.
O balanço total dos dois atentados subiu a 33 mortos, anunciou o porta-voz do ministério local de Situações de Emergência, Dmitri Ulanov.
"Morreu em um hospital de Volgogrado uma vítima da explosão na estação ferroviária em 29 de dezembro, o que elevou o número de mortos a 18", disse o porta-voz.
O porta-voz informou ainda que o balanço do atentado cometido na segunda-feira contra um ônibus elétrico subiu de 14 para 15 mortos.
O balanço anterior era de 31 mortos no total: 17 na explosão de domingo na estação central de trens de Volgogrado e 14 no ataque de segunda-feira contra o ônibus.
O ministério da Saúde informou na segunda-feira à noite que seis feridos estavam em condição crítica e 13 em estado grave.
As duas explosões, não reivindicadas, foram atribuídas a suicidas e os investigadores apontaram semelhanças entre os explosivos utilizados, dando força à tese de ataques coordenados.
Festejos anulados em Volgogrado

A Rússia se prepara para iniciar 2014 com fortes medidas de segurança e com o sepultamento das primeiras vítimas dos dois atentados suicidas que deixaram 33 mortos em Volgogrado, a poucas semanas dos Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno de Sochi.

O Ano Novo é a celebração mais popular na Rússia e o início do período de festas marcado pelo Natal ortodoxo.
Milhares de pessoas se reunirão na Praça Vermelha, ao lado do Kremlin, na noite de 31 de dezembro, com medidas de segurança reforçadas, como o aumento das operações nas estradas e a presença de cães farejadores em locais públicos.
Em São Petersburgo, a segunda maior cidade do país, as autoridades decidiram cancelar a queima de fogos de artifício depois dos atentados.
Na cidade de Volgogrado, em estado de alerta, foram canceladas todas as festividades por decisão da comissão antiterrorista, enquanto as autoridades da cidade pediram aos moradores que não usem fogos de artifício.
Mais de 4.000 policiais e oficiais das forças especiais foram mobilizados na cidade, onde 90 pessoas foram interrogadas, segundo a agência oficial Itar-Tass.
Alexander Bortnikov, diretor do serviço secreto, pediu a compreensão dos moradores para as "medidas necessárias".
Para analistas, os atentados pretendem criar um clima de terror no país antes dos Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno de Sochi (7 a 23 de fevereiro).
O líder da rebelião islamita, Doku Umarov, pediu em julho que seus simpatizantes impedissem "por todos os meios" as Olimpíadas.
O governo dos Estados Unidos ofereceu ajuda a Moscou para reforçar a segurança do evento esportivo, anunciado como um dos mais caros da história com um orçamento de de 50 bilhões de dólares.
A Rússia não respondeu a proposta de Washington, mas o Kremlin informou que Putin enviou uma mensagem de Ano Novo ao presidente Barack Obama, na qual destaca a intenção de Moscou de "seguir participando no diálogo construtivo e no fortalecimento da confiança e da compreensão" entre os dois países.
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US home price gains slow again in October: Case-Shiller

• 31/12/2013 - 16:12
  
  

  US home price gains slow again in October: Case-Shiller

  
  

  31 Dec 2013

  0
  Washington (AFP)

  

  US home prices rose slightly in October, marking a continued softening in the housing market recovery, according to a report released Tuesday.
  The S&P Case-Shiller 20-city composite home price index rose 0.2 percent in October, following a monthly gain of 0.7 percent in September. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the index was up 1.0 percent.
  The index posted a gain of 13.6 percent year-over-year, the largest annual increase since February 2006, but smaller than the 13.8 percent rise expected by analysts.
  The annual gains have been in double-digit territory since March 2013, but "monthly numbers show we are living on borrowed time and the boom is fading," said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee.
  Ten cities posted price gains month-on-month, led by Las Vegas with an increase of 1.2 percent.
  Nine cities saw prices fall, while New York prices were flat.
  The price slowdown in part reflects the rise in mortgage interest rates since the Federal Reserve revealed plans in May to cut its stimulus program, a move The Fed finally took earlier this month.
  In mid-December, the Fed began to reduce its monthly asset purchases by $10 billion to $75 billion.
  "The key economic question facing housing is the Fed's future course to scale back quantitative easing and how this will affect mortgage rates," Blitzer said.
  "Other housing data paint a mixed picture suggesting that we may be close to the peak gains in prices. However, other economic data point to somewhat faster growth in the new year. Most forecasts for home prices point to single-digit growth in 2014."
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US stocks open higher as banner 2013 winds down

• 31/12/2013 - 15:51

  
  

  New York (AFP)

  

  US stocks Tuesday opened higher following a report showing rising home prices as investors kicked off the final session of a banner year for equities.
  Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 33.90 points (0.21 percent) to 16,538.19.
  The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.95 (0.16 percent) at 1,844.02, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 10.17 (0.24 percent) at 4,164.37.
  Home prices for the 20 biggest US cities rose a seasonally adjusted 1.0 percent in October compared with the prior month, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home price index.
  US stocks in 2013 enjoyed by far their best year since the financial crisis five years ago, with the Dow gaining 25.9 percent, the S&P 500 jumping 29.1 percent and Nasdaq up 37.6 percent as of Monday's close.
  The jump in the Dow was the best percentage gain for that index since 1996, according S&P Dow Jones Indices.
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Putin warns 'terrorists' face total destruction

• 31/12/2013 - 15:07

  
  

  Moscow (AFP)

  

  Russian President Vladimir Putin holds talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, on December 30, 2013

  President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned "terrorists" they face total destruction, after Russia was hit by double suicide bombings in its southern city of Volgograd that claimed 34 lives.
  "Dear friends, we bow our heads in front of the victims of the terrible acts of terror. I am sure we will toughly and consistently continue to fight against terrorists until their total destruction", he said.
  Putin made the comments in a New Year's address from the Far Eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk, which is seven hours ahead of Moscow and where he met with victims of devastating summer floods.
  "In the current year, we have encountered problems and have been challenged by serious experiences, including ones like the inhuman acts of terror in Volgograd," Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
  Curiously, his New Year's address that was broadcast earlier to the inhabitants of Russia's furthest flung time zones of Magadan and Kamchatka did not mention the Volgograd attacks.
  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin had broken with a longstanding traditional by departing from the traditional New Year's address which is normally recorded days in advance at the Kremlin.
  "Here (in Khabarovsk) he made his New Year's wishes and this became his New Year's address. So he basically broke a long-standing tradition."
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'Blast reported' in Chiswick, west London - Bosham house-sitter murder victim named as Valerie Graves

• Blast reported' in west London

  'Blast reported' in Chiswick, west London

  
  An air ambulance has been despatched following reports of an explosion at a flat in Chiswick, west London.
  About 30 firefighters were called to a fire at the ground floor flat in Edensor Gardens just before 15:00 GMT.
  A London Fire Brigade spokesman said the flat was thought to be occupied but there were no reports of any injuries.
  "Initial reports suggested an explosion but we are still investigating," the spokeswoman added.
  

• House-sitter murder victim named

  31 December 2013 Last updated at 15:27 GMT
  

  
  

  Valerie Graves had suffered a serious head injury

  Continue reading the main story
  

  Related Stories

  • Murder probe after woman found dead

  A woman who was found murdered while house-sitting in West Sussex has been named by police.

  Valerie Graves, 55, is believed to have been staying at the property in Smuggler's Lane, Bosham, near Chichester, with her family while the owners were on holiday.
  Ms Graves, of Bracklesham Bay, was found dead at the house on Monday, having suffered a serious head injury.
  Sussex Police said she had two grown-up children.
  Det Ch Insp Jon Fanner said it was a "rare incident" for Bosham, which he described as a "safe area".
  "At this stage we are keeping an open mind as to the motive, but we are appealing for witnesses who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously in the area from late afternoon on Sunday December 29 to around 9am on Monday December 30," he said.
  

  Police said they were keeping an open mind as to the motive

  "We have increased our neighbourhood policing patrols in the village.
  "If anyone has any information or concerns, I would urge them to speak to one of the officers who are there."
  A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, told the Press Association: "They [the owners] have people staying in the house while they are away for the holidays, it could be friends, it could be family.
  "It is not rented out, people come because it is a nice place to visit.
  "I am just very sad for our neighbours and for everybody.
  "You can't imagine coming back from holiday to this, it must be just horrendous."

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• UK gears up to welcome in New Year

  31 December 2013 Last updated at 15:41 GMT
  

  
  

  UK gearing up to welcome in New Year

  Last year's celebrations in London were watched by 250,000 from the riverbanks and almost 13m on their TVs

  Continue reading the main story
  

  Related Stories

  • Crowds and fireworks welcome 2014
  • New year weather forecast Watch
  • London to 'taste' New Year's party

  Millions across the UK are gearing up to celebrate the start of the New Year, with parties, music and fireworks.

  Peach-flavoured snow and edible banana confetti will fall on 50,000 revellers gathering by the River Thames for London's "multi-sensory" firework show.
  In Edinburgh, the Pet Shop Boys will headline a concert in Princes Street Gardens before fireworks at the castle.
  There will be more fireworks in Cardiff, while Belfast's City Hall will be lit up with rainbow colours.
  Party atmosphere In what is being billed as "the world's first multi-sensory fireworks display", Londoners and city visitors will be doused in apple, cherry and strawberry mists and big orange-scented bubbles.
  Partygoers in an area the size of three football pitches will be able to taste and smell the party atmosphere.
  

  John Pattison from Newcastle has been reserving his viewing spot on the Thames Embankment since 10.30 GMT

  Another 100,000 or so are expected to line the Thames, despite being beyond the reach of the mist and bubbles. They will be given packs of fruit sweets and LED wristbands.
  London Mayor Boris Johnson said there was "no better way" to celebrate the highs of 2013 and the start of an exciting new year than by seeing "one of the world's most dazzling firework displays, now augmented in more ways than one".
  Buses, the Tube, DLR, tram and some National Rail services in Greater London will run all night and will be mostly free from 23:45 GMT until 04:30.
  

  Three days of celebrations in Edinburgh began on Monday with a city torchlight procession

  Edinburgh's famous Hogmanay street party, part of three days of celebrations, is expected to draw some 80,000 people.
  The Pet Shop Boys are sharing the Concert in the Gardens stage with the 1975 and Nina Nesbitt, while the street party will have music on three stages from the likes of King Creosote and Django Django.
  Traditional Scottish music will be playing at The Keilidh, an outdoor dance event.
  Edinburgh, Inverness, Stirling and the Aberdeenshire town of Stonehaven will be united in a choreographed moment at 20:14, to mark the new year, with spectacles such as fireworks, light installations and fire sculptures.
  Simple Minds will headline the Open Air in the Square event in Stonehaven, where a fireball swinging procession will also take place in the old town.
  In Stirling more than 5,000 people are expected at an outdoor party at Stirling Castle Esplanade, headlined by Deacon Blue.
  In Glasgow bagpipers, drummers and dancers are performing during the city's "Hogmanayday" on Tuesday between 12:00 GMT and 22:00.
  Mystery runner In Wales, 1,200 runners are expected to join the annual Nos Galan evening road race near Mountain Ash in the Cynon Valley.
  The four-mile race has been run for 55 years in honour of 18th Century athlete Griffith Morgan and is always led by a "mystery" international sporting star, whose identity is revealed on the night.
  In Belfast, lights at City Hall will countdown to midnight, and in Londonderry its last few hours as the UK City of Culture 2013 will be marked with a church service in the cathedral.
  Forecasters say a band of showers, possibly bringing hail and thunder, is likely to pass across the UK throughout New Year's Eve afternoon and evening.
  By midnight, skies should clear in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but there is still a risk of rain in the south of England.
  Temperatures across the UK, as the new year is seen in, will range from 4C to 9C, BBC Weather's Nina Ridge says.
  

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