Grain prices snap higher as hot weather persists

Prices for corn, wheat and soybean futures rose sharply Monday as hot weather continues to blanket the Midwest and threaten crops planted there.

The heavily traded December contract for corn shot up 37 cents, or 5 percent, to settle at $7.30 per bushel Monday. Corn has been rising sharply since June 21, when it settled at $5.50 per bushel.

Wheat for September delivery rose 22 cents to $8.2825 a bushel and soybeans for November delivery settled at $15.4775 a bushel, up 42 cents.

Strong demand for soybeans from China also kept prices high.

Scott Strand, an analyst with Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis, said more price increases for grains and beans could be on the way.

'The next 10 days look pretty dry across the Midwest, further reducing the yield prospects for corn,' Strand said. 'Corn is following the weather very closely, as are soybeans.'

Energy prices rose broadly. Crude oil gained $1.54 to $85.99 a barrel, an increase of almost 2 percent. Heating oil rose 3.91 cents to $2.749 a gallon, wholesale gasoline rose 4.34 cents to $2.7594 a gallon and natural gas rose 10.7 cents to $2.883 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Metals prices mostly rose.

Gold for August delivery rose $10.20 to finish at $1,589.10 an ounce. September silver increased 54.4 cents to $27.44 an ounce.

September copper rose 2.2 cents to end at $3.4315 per pound, October platinum edged down $3.60 to $1,445.90 an ounce and September palladium rose $3.55 to settle at $583.90 per ounce.



This news article is brought to you by CLASSIC-CARS - where latest news are our top priority.

More sunshine needed for Ivorian main crop: farmers

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Weather conditions last week in Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions boosted flowers on trees for the 2012/13 main cocoa crop, but more sunshine is needed in coming weeks to strengthen the crop, farmers and analysts said on Monday.

Farmers said the weather was mostly cloudy as the April-to-September mid-crop harvest tails off.

In the western region of Daloa, which produces about a quarter of Ivory Coast's national output, farmers reported one good downpour and mostly overcast weather during the week.

'Flowering is ongoing. The weather is not very sunny at the moment, but it is fine for now,' said Koffi M'Bra, who farms near Daloa. 'We will need more sunshine in order for the next main crop to develop properly.'

Similar growing conditions were reported in the southern regions of Divo and Agboville and in the western regions of Gagnoa and Duekoue.

In the southeastern region of Aboisso, one analyst reported 35 mm of rain fell over three days last week, compared with 35.1 mm the previous week. Farmers said a persistent lack of enough sunshine could hit the development of flowers and prevent a good start of the main crop.

'In July, the trees are covered with flowers and they need a lot of sunshine. If the weather stays overcast for several weeks, we'll not have cocoa at the start of harvest,' said Jean Tano, who farms in the outskirts of Aboisso.

In the western region of Soubre, in the heart of the Ivorian cocoa belt, 59 mm of rainfall was reported last week compared with 8 mm the previous week.

Farmers said more sun was needed to avoid diseases in plantations from next month and also ensure an abundant main crop.

'Rains in the past weeks enabled the trees to flower. What is needed now is a lot of sunshine. If not, brown rot will start appearing in some farms by next month,' said Stephane Balou, who farms in the area.

In the eastern region of Abengourou, another analyst reported 18 mm of rainfall last week, compared with 58 mm the week before.

Farmers said that, while plenty of flowers continued to sprout in farms, the fungal black pod disease was damaging many pods from the last stage of the mid-crop due to the humid weather.



This news article is brought to you by SAVING MONEY - where latest news are our top priority.

More Storms In North Texas Weather Forecast

='en' xmlns:fb='http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml' xmlns:addthis='http://www.addthis.com/help/api-spec' >

This news article is brought to you by SELF-IMPROVEMENT - where latest news are our top priority.

Storms in Forecast, Cooler Weather

='en' xmlns:fb='http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml' xmlns:addthis='http://www.addthis.com/help/api-spec' >

This news article is brought to you by CATS - where latest news are our top priority.

Extreme heat persists in U.S. but relief arriving Monday

(Reuters) - Another day of scorching temperatures blanketed the United States from Iowa to the East Coast on Saturday, but forecasters said some of the areas hit hardest by the prolonged heat wave would soon get relief.

The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings for cities including Washington, where temperatures reached 103 Fahrenheit (39 Celsius) by 1 p.m., New York and Philadelphia, where temperatures hovered near or at triple digits.

'It's hotter than hell,' said John Ghio, a tourist from St. Louis after visiting the White House. 'We're going to get a cold drink, catch the subway and go back to our hotel to cool down.'

Nearby, a family from China posed for photos in front of the U.S. Treasury. They were debating whether to go on to the Washington Monument or wait until the sun went down.

'Too hot,' said Xiao Duan, 30, of Beijing. 'My father says it's like we're being burned by flames.'

A cold front from Canada was expected to move south and break the record-setting heat and drop temperatures to below average levels over much of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states by Monday, the weather service said.

Severe weather, including thunderstorms and damaging winds, was likely to accompany the cooler temperatures, forecasters said.

Areas around Midwestern cities Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis will start to experience less extreme heat this weekend, said Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com.

But Sosnowski said Saturday would likely be the worst day of the heat for people in the East and the central Appalachians.

'As the cooler air from the northwest begins to make its move, the air will get compressed in the region,' he said on AccuWeather.com. 'When air is compressed, it heats up.'

The weather service's excessive heat warning stretched from Iowa to Pennsylvania, and from New York state down to southern Virginia, capping a week during which more than 3,500 daily temperature records fell across the country.

The number of deaths attributed to the extreme heat and violent storms during the past week continues to rise.

More than two dozen people have died, including three this week from heat-related illnesses in Ohio, where a late-June storm knocked out power to more than 600,000 people.

Authorities discovered the bodies of two women, one in her late 60s and the other in her mid-80s, and a man in his 70s, in homes without electricity, said Dr. Jeff Lee, deputy coroner in Licking County, Ohio.

'They were all found inside homes that were closed up and not ventilated,' Lee said on Saturday. 'The extra heat along with the cardiovascular and pulmonary problems (they suffered from) caused their deaths.'

Approximately 62,000 AEP Ohio customers remained without power on Saturday morning in that state, where the temperature was expected to pass the 100-degree mark.

In West Virginia, where some people have been without power since violent storms hit a week ago, Appalachian Power said nearly 80,000 customers still had no electricity. MonPower reported about 42,000 outages in the state as of Saturday evening.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Additional reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Philip Barbara)



This news article is brought to you by CRUISING - where latest news are our top priority.

Maldives eyes $100 million tourist tax for CO2 plan

LONDON (Reuters) - A voluntary tax on tourists who visit the luxury resorts and white sands of the Maldives could raise up to $100 million a year towards the country's aim to become carbon neutral by 2020, President Mohamed Waheed said.

The Maldives is made up of 1,192 low-lying islands in the Indian Ocean. With average ground level of 1.5 meters above sea level, it is also the world's lowest country and one of the most vulnerable as climate change raises sea levels.

The Maldives is perhaps most famous for its 100 island resorts, which attract around a million visitors each year, mainly from Europe and the United States.

In 2009, former President Mohamed Nasheed outlined a plan for the Maldives to become the world's first carbon neutral country, having net zero carbon dioxide emissions, by 2020.

Under Nasheed, who said he was forced to resign on February 7 at gunpoint after a coup, there were proposals to enforce a $3 tax on tourists to help fund the plan.

Waheed, who was Nasheed's vice president and took over the presidency, said the country now preferred a voluntary tax.

'We have proposed the idea of a voluntary fund for air travelers coming to the Maldives. Even if each tourist contributed $10, that's $10 million (a year) for us and a substantial contribution to the carbon neutral program,' he told Reuters this week.

An airport construction project agreed last year will require $27 from each visitor and Waheed does not want to further burden the tourism industry, which officially accounts for 30 percent of the Maldives' $2.1-billion economy, but is thought to be closer to 75-80 percent.

'I believe most of the tourists who come to the Maldives are environmentally conscious and quite happy to make a contribution to making the Maldives carbon neutral,' Waheed added.

RENEWABLES

The Maldives is reliant on imported fuel, like diesel, to generate electricity, which is estimated to have cost its economy around $240 million last year.

It has now embarked on a $1.1-billion plan to generate 60 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020. Around 50 percent would come from solar photovoltaic power and the remaining 10 percent from wind energy and biofuels, Waheed said.

The country is rapidly trying to introduce solar in the capital Male and three islands which make up the greater Male area, covering about a third of the population.

It has plans to install about 2-3 megawatts (MW) of solar in the Male area but it would probably need 40 MW to meet electricity demand.

The Maldives also needs to construct more environmentally friendly buildings and switch its fossil-fuel reliant land transportation to electric vehicles or hybrids.

'We are a little bit behind schedule (on the renewables plan) but we hope we will be able to catch up over the next 5 years or so,' Waheed said.

'Male is not the most ideal island location right now - it doesn't have 'green' buildings but a lot of companies are interested in developing them.'

Out of 100 resorts on the islands, 7 are considered to be 'ecofriendly', which means they try to minimize their carbon footprint, and one resort should get 'carbon neutral' status by next year, he said.

The Maldives is also hoping to receive about $30 million from the Climate Investment Funds, channeled by various development banks to help poorer countries pilot low carbon projects. This should leverage around $120 million of capital which would also help scale up the Maldives' renewables program, Waheed said.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)



This news article is brought to you by DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE - where latest news are our top priority.

Extreme heat persists in U.S., but relief in weekend forecast

(Reuters) - The Midwest and Eastern United States faced another day of scorching temperatures on Saturday, but forecasters said some of the areas hit hardest by the prolonged heat wave would soon get relief.

The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings on Saturday for cities including Washington, D.C., where temperatures were expected to reach 100 to 105 Fahrenheit (38 to 41 Celsius), and New York City and Philadelphia, where temperatures could also hit triple digits.

A cold front from Canada was expected to break the record-setting heat and drop temperatures to below average numbers over much of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states by Monday, the National Weather Service said.

Severe weather, including thunderstorms and damaging winds, was expected to accompany the cooler temperatures, forecasters said.

Areas around Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis will start to experience less extreme heat this weekend, said Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com.

But Sosnowski said Saturday would likely be the worst day of the heat for people in the East and the central Appalachians.

'As the cooler air from the northwest begins to make its move, the air will get compressed in the region,' he said on AccuWeather.com. 'When air is compressed, it heats up.'

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Eric Beech)



This article is brought to you by DAILY HOROSCOPE.