Europe rejects ban on Arctic oil drilling
Moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic rejected by European Parliament vote amid intense lobbying by oil industry
The European Parliament's industry committee has rejected attempts to introduce a moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, overruling a contrary vote by its environment committee last month.
The key vote in the industry committee yesterday (9 October) instead proposed a new directive to ensure that companies have "adequate financial security" to cover the liabilities that could be incurred by any accidents.
Drilling companies would also have to submit to national authorities a safety hazard and emergency response report at least 24 weeks before the planned start of operations.
Born in Denmark, lived in Yorkshire, led the CIA to al-Qa'ida's leader in Yemen
Jonathan Brown on the extraordinary double life of motorcycling outdoor pursuits enthusiast Morten Storm
When Morten Storm arrived in Luton ten years ago he cut quite a swathe. The beared former cage fighter had served a prison sentence in his native Denmark but said he had put a life of drugs and crime behind him. He had also converted to Islam.
At first the ex-biker appeared to embrace the moderate teachings of his Islamic centre, but before long he was an outspoken supporter of extremist groups such as al-Muhajiroun and a devoted follower of Osama bin Laden – even naming his eldest son after the late al-Qa'ida leader.
CORRUPTION
Ex-politicians convicted in Brazil vote-buying scandal
Brazil's Supreme Court has convicted three top aides of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of corruption in a landmark ruling. The three were found guilty of buying support for Lula's leftist government.
The court on Tuesday found Lula's former chief of staff Jose Dirceu, co-founder of the ruling Workers' Party, guilty of running a vote-buying scheme between 2002 and 2005, during the president's first term in office. The scheme saw monthly payments to politicians in exchange for their votes in Congress.
The head of Lula's ruling Workers' Party (PT) at the time, former guerrilla Jose Genoino, and its treasurer, Delubio Soares, were convicted of corruption.
The Egoists' HourDebt Crisis Gives European Separatists a Boost
By Fiona Ehlers, Hans Hoyng, Christoph Schult and Helene Zuber
The debt crisis is fueling the fortunes of separatists in a handful of European Union countries. Affluent regions in Spain, Britain, Belgium and Italy no longer feel a sense of solidarity with poorer parts of their own countries -- but they want to remain part of the EU.
Artur Mas stood there like a veritable head of state, flanked by the Catalonian flag with its four red stripes on a yellow background. Standing in the Gothic inner courtyard of the Palau de la Generalitat, the seat of the regional government in Barcelona, he offered sharp criticism of the central government in Madrid, calling the distribution of burdens within Spain "unfair and disloyal." Catalonia, he said, must free itself of Spain's complicated café para todos, or coffee for all policy, the system that sees the country divided into 17 "autonomous communities". Mas has little regard for Spain's complicated alliance of regions.
Deep Read: Uganda's 50 years of restless freedom
As Uganda celebrates 50 years of independence, Daniel Edyegu wonders how much has changed since those dark days of colonial rule.
"Let us pause for a moment and look back at the path we have travelled ... What other aims have we, today, on looking forward? One of our first needs must be national unity. The narrow ambitions of a tribe, a sect, or a party must be subordinated to the greater needs of one complete Uganda ... on attaining independence, this government [Uganda] has more needs to bear, heavier than those that any other government before has borne."
These excerpts from the October 9 1962 speech by the late Apollo Milton Obote, Uganda's first prime minister, on the occasion of the country's independence at Kololo air strip in the capital Kampala, will resonate clearly as Uganda marks 50 years of self-rule on Tuesday.
US officials say frantic search failed to find envoy in Benghazi
On eve of congressional hearing, State Department offers detailed account
By Tabassum Zakaria and Andrew Quinn
U.S. State Department officials on Tuesday offered their most detailed description yet of the dramatic events in Benghazi that led to the death of a U.S. ambassador, but they backed away from earlier assertions that the events were triggered by protests against an anti-Islam video.
The officials were briefing reporters on the eve of a congressional hearing into on the attack last month, which is expected to focus on security missteps by the department.
They described frantic and prolonged efforts to rescue Ambassador Christopher Stevens from a smoke-filled "safe haven" inside the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi where he apparently died of asphyxiation.
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