"Water projects the priority after bad year for droughts, floods" from South China Morning Post

"Boosting water infrastructure will be the focal point of this year's first policy document issued jointly by the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council, state media says."

"Year the weather blew hot, cold, wet and dry" from South China Morning Post

"China experienced its most volatile weather in more than a decade last year, with everything from severe drought to floods and snow storms."

"Queensland's coal recovery to take months" from The Australian

"QUEENSLAND'S massive coal supply chain could take up to four months to fully recover from the flood crisis, which has forced the continued closure of one of global mining giant Rio Tinto's operations.

"Jammu-Srinagar highway opened for one-way traffic" from INDIA TODAY

"The 300-km Jammu-Srinagar Highway, the only road link to Kashmir valley, was reopened for one-way traffic on Sunday, a day after it was closed due to snowfall near Jawahar Tunnel in Qazigund."

"Fatality confirmed in Australian flooding;airport to close for weeks" from CNN

"Massive flooding that has swept through Queensland, Australia, and claimed at least one life will likely force the evacuation of at least 1,000 people and close a regional airport for weeks, an emergency agency said Sunday."

"Traffic to Mobile Travel Sites Up 200% During NYC Blizzard" from NY Convergence

"The company says that traffic to its travel-related sites was up 200 percent in the past two days. The most traffic came from iPhones and Android devices, perhaps marking the first time business travelers were using more Android devices than Blackberry devices, according to Mobilized."

"Sugar output forecast slashed" from South China Morning Post

"Sydney: Australia slashed its 2010/11 sugar production forecast by 27 per cent after eastern canefields were flooded during harvesting, the government's commodities forecast says."

"Fog causes 52 crashes" from South China Morning Post

"SICHUAN - Fifty-two rear-end collisions involving 137 cars on Monday morning on the Chengdu bypass between Wenjiachang and Shuangliu were blamed on heavy fog that reduced visibility to less than five metres, the Huaxi Metropolis Daily reports. Nine people were injured. The accidents caused traffic chaos for three hours."

"Drop in surface wind speeds an early warning for industry" from South China Morning Post

"The average speed of surface winds over most regions in the northern hemisphere have dropped significantly in the past three decades, according to a study published online by Nature magazine last month."


"Tang Jianping, an associate professor at Nanjing University's College of Atmospheric Sciences, said meteorologists on the mainland noticed a long time ago that winds were slowing down. The increase in surface drag caused by urbanisation might explain the slowdown near cities, but it could not explain why monsoon winds from the sea had slowed as well, he said."

"Wholesale produce prices rising" from ABC Rural

"Wholesale prices for some fruit and vegetables have doubled due to flooding across eastern Australia.

There's reported shortages of particularly pumpkin, watermelon and cherries, with prices up more than a dollar on last year."

"Sugar Falls as India Demand May Wane; Cocoa Drops; Coffee Rises" from Bloomberg

"Sugar prices in New York fell for the third time this week on concern that India, the world's largest user, will tax imports, reducing demand. Cocoa dropped, and coffee climbed.

India will consider imposing a duty on sugar imports after assessing the domestic production in the third week of December, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters in New Delhi. Before today, prices jumped 23 percent this quarter as adverse weather damaged global crops."

"Hit by heaby rains, Australia cuts wheat export forecast" from South China Morning Post