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OSLO (Reuters) - This year is on track to be the second warmest since records began in the 1860s and floods in Pakistan or a heatwave in Greece may herald worse disruptions in store from global warming, experts said on Friday.

"2007 is looking as though it will be the second warmest behind 1998," said Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at Britain's University of East Anglia, which provides data to the U.N.'s International Meteorological Organization.

"It isn't far behind ... it could change, but at the moment this looks unlikely," he told Reuters, based on temperature records up to the end of April.

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H.R. 2847, the Green Jobs Act of 2007, is modeled on the Green Jobs Corps created under the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights' Reclaim the Future initiative. The House Education and Labor Committee passed the bill — authored by Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, and Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass. — on a 26-18 vote Wednesday.

"Oakland's Green Jobs Corps program shows how it's possible to create jobs and strengthen the economy while addressing urgent environmental challenges, especially global warming," committee chairman George Miller, D-Martinez, said Thursday. "I'm proud of the fact that some of the best ideas for tackling global warming are originating in the Bay Area. "The Green Jobs Act would essentially take Oakland's program national, helping to prepare workers from coast to coast for green-collar jobs," he...

The bill would authorize up to $125 million to create national and state job training programs, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, to train workers in energy-efficient buildings and construction, renewable electric power, energy-efficient vehicles, biofuels development and other green industries.

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BEIJING - Three seemingly unrelated events may not constitute a trend. But they certainly deserve attention when they shed light on the relationship between the United States and China, which is fast becoming the most important bilateral connection in the world.The first is the much-heralded breakthrough in Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's negotiations with North Korea. After more than a year in which the six-party talks were suspended, North Korea returned to the table and agree...

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DiVosta Building Corp. has announced 38 more layoffs in the past week.

The Palm Beach Gardens-based builder, owned by Pulte Homes, has laid off roughly 350 of its 550 employees this year during the housing slowdown.

Florida Building Products LLC, a Palm Beach Gardens company affiliated with DiVosta, recently announced 16 layoffs.

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SAN FRANCISCO - Chrysler Group said Wednesday it has joined a group of companies and environmental organizations pushing the federal government to enact laws aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

At the same time, Cerberus Capital Management, which is in the midst of purchasing 80 percent of Chrysler from parent DaimlerChrysler AG, is aggressively lobbying against tougher fuel standards that they warn could cripple the auto maker, according to the Detroit News.

Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan declined to comment on what the report called a Cerberus blitz on Capitol Hill, saying that "we know there will be an increase and we support it _ we just need to make sure it's technically feasible."

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