Six In The Morning

Some climate scientists, in a shift, link weather to global warming
Drought and intense heat in the last decade leads some to believe there's enough evidence to establish a statistical pattern. It's a break with mainstream scientific thought.

By Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times October 12, 2012, 10:33 p.m.
The worst drought in half a century has plagued two-thirds of the nation, devastating farms and stoking wildfires that scorched almost 9 million acres this year. Withering heat blanketed the East Coast and Midwest, killing scores of people and making July the hottest month ever recorded in the U.S. And in the Arctic this summer, polar snow and ice melted away to the smallest size ever observed by man. Extreme events like drought, heat waves, intense rainfall, flooding and fires have prompted many people to reconsider the connection between the weather and the changing climate. Now, a handful of scientists are among them. In a break with the mainstream scientific consensus, a few prominent climate scientists now argue that there have been enough episodes of drought and intense heat in the last 10 years to establish a statistical pattern of extreme weather due to global warming.

Pakistanis Fear Resurgent Taliban in Swat Valley
Tuesday's shooting of a 14-year-old advocate of girls' education in Pakistan has shocked and appalled the world. Doctors say Malala Yousufzai will most likely survive the attack, but it has still left Pakistanis outraged -- and afraid that a return of the Taliban's fundamentalist rule might lie ahead.

By Hasnain Kazim in Islamabad
People in Mingora, Pakistan, speak of a "very strange feeling" that has crept over them since Tuesday. The gruesome images are suddenly back, memories of the Taliban marauding through the streets, throwing women on the ground and whipping them, and publicly executing their rivals. The extremists ruled here in northern Pakistan's Swat Valley for two years, until the Pakistani military drove them out in the spring of 2009. But the shooting that took place here on Tuesday has brought back their fears, people say. It's as if the Taliban had never left. Merchants, teachers and workers say that two men tried to kill a young schoolgirl on a bus in the middle of the day.

Wyclef Jean faces criminal probe over Haiti charity
Rapper will have to explain how fund backed by celebrities managed to burn through $16m in two years

GUY ADAMS SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER 2012
Wyclef Jean, the hip-hop artist and former candidate for the presidency of Haiti, said yesterday he was "committed to ensuring that things are made right" amid news of a criminal investigation into the finances of his personal charity. The musician's lawyer, Avi Schick, confirmed that Jean's Haitian aid organisation, Yele, went out of business in August, leaving a trail of legal disputes and unpaid debts. Regulators in the US, where it was registered, are now attempting to establish how the non-profit organisation burned through $16m (£10m) in public donations in just over two years.

Linguistic differences color Belgian vote
Linguistic and cultural splits run deep despite changing demographics in Belgian communities. The rise of nationalist parties is also playing into the lead-up to Sunday's municipal election in Belgium.


In Antwerp, outspoken Flemish nationalist Bart de Wever is using his tilt at the mayorship to kick-start a campaign that could end in the dissolution of Belgium. Meanwhile in the outer suburbs of Brussels, a more subtle Belgian drama is being played out. A look at one town shows that in these municipalities, the language people speak and the context in which they speak it is front and center of the political campaign. The Brussels Metro Line 1 rumbles east from the headquarters of the European Commission out to the city limits. Several stops and 10 minutes later, it approaches the invisible border between the mainly French-speaking greater Brussels and the officially Dutch-speaking Flanders.

UN Security Council set to pass Mali resolution
The UN Security Council is poised to adopt a draft resolution paving the way for military intervention in Mali on Friday, French officials said.

12 OCT 2012 09:33 - SAPA-AFP
French officials say the UN Security Council is poised to adopt a draft resolution paving the way for military intervention in Mali. The resolution seeks a detailed plan within 30 days from West Africa's Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas), the African Union and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on an international military intervention in Mali in a bid to oust militants from the country's north.

Soap operas put the spotlight on Brazil's new middle class
Traditionally soap operas in Brazil were aspirational, often starring wealthy characters. But now they are intended to reflect the lifestyle of the new middle class that rose up over the past decade.

By Rachel Glickhouse, Guest blogger / October 12, 2012
Two of Brazil's recent primetime TV shows feature the country's rising star of the moment: the new middle class. Cheias de Charme, or Full of Charm, just concluded a five-month run at 7 p.m., receiving an average viewership of 34 points, higher than recent novelas, or soap operas, in the same time slot. Avenida Brasil, Globo's 9 p.m. novela, ends in several weeks and enjoys a large viewership, reaching up to 65 percent of Brazilian TVs. The fact that two of the most watched television programs on Brazil's most watched television network showcased this group is telling, with a number of interesting implications. Traditionally, novelas were aspirational, often starring wealthy characters. Now, with the two novelas this year, they're intended to be relatable, a reflection of the tens of millions from the C class, or the new middle class.