SYRIA
Syrian opposition rejects US initiative
The opposition Syrian National Council has accused the US of conniving to replace it, ahead of anti-Assad regime talks starting Sunday in Qatar. Despite a denial from the US, observers say a new grouping could emerge.
US State Department spokeswomen Victoria Nuland said while Washington had backed the Syrian National Council (SNC) for more than a year, it now wanted a more broadly-based opposition to the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Nuland said a leadership for a future Syria must include "not only the Sunni population, but the Alawis, the Druze, the Christians, the Kurds, any other minority groups, women."
"This is not a matter of the US dictating," Nuland said, adding that the SNC had struggled to establish its legitimacy as the voice of dissenters inside Syria and those in exile.
US State Department spokeswomen Victoria Nuland said while Washington had backed the Syrian National Council (SNC) for more than a year, it now wanted a more broadly-based opposition to the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Nuland said a leadership for a future Syria must include "not only the Sunni population, but the Alawis, the Druze, the Christians, the Kurds, any other minority groups, women."
"This is not a matter of the US dictating," Nuland said, adding that the SNC had struggled to establish its legitimacy as the voice of dissenters inside Syria and those in exile.
The Challenge for Beijing's New LeadersChinese No Longer Bow to Autocratic Rule
By Bernhard Zand in Beijing
The time of autocratic rule has passed for China's Communist Party. At one time it was understood that the people would obey, and everyone would get rich in return. But economic success will no longer suffice. Now the Chinese are demanding freedom and security too.
There wasn't a word to be found in China last week about the story that had splashed across headlines for several days everywhere else in the world. Not a single mention was afforded the $2.7 billion (€2 billion) that the New York Timesreported has been amassed by the family of outgoing Prime Minister Wen Jiabao during his time in office.
But there was a brief blurb in the "Quotable" section on page two of the state-run China Daily News that quoted Ma Yun, chairman of the China's largest e-commerce company, the Alibaba Group, saying: "A person should never try to possess both money and political power. ... The two things, when brought together, are like detonating dynamite."
Ma was reportedly commenting on a book named after a 19th century business tycoon, if anyone wants to believe that. In reality, the quotation highlights how even journalists bullied by the state are finding ways to skirt censorship and speak the truth -- and get the last word in on a prime minister they have had to praise for 10 long years before he retires.
Africa 3.0 is here
We're Kevin Bloom and Richard Poplak, and for the last two years we've been traversing Africa, attempting to uncover the forces that are reshaping it.
Our starting proposition is now an acknowledged fact: during the first decade of the 21st century, while the West was engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, China was executing its plans for African expansion. The effect of this Chinese advance has been immense, on the one hand sparking interest from a range of economies – both emerging and developed – that do not want to miss out, and on the other driving growth rates that are amongst the highest in the world.
"Africa 3.0" is how we would describe the continent’s latest iteration, where Africa 1.0 was the era of European colonialism and Africa 2.0 the years of post-independence. Here, you are engaging with the online component of a three-medium approach to the telling of this epochal story.
How America’s music stars are voting with their voices this election
A pop star's endorsement is still a valuable commodity in the US presidential race –but this time around the artists aren't so enthusiastic. Chris Mugan asks why they went quiet
When Bruce Springsteen took to the stage in Ohio to headline a campaign event for Barack Obama, it was not the fact that the Boss had aligned himself with the Democrat presidential candidate that provoked interest, but that it had taken him so long to decide this battle was worth fighting.
Four years ago, Springsteen was among the most vocal musical backers of the youthful politician. This time, the pop and rock communities are largely noticeable by their absence from the campaign trail. Looking at their contributions, the picture is one of cynicism and mixed messages that suggest this time their commitment is less than whole and the issues much less clear.
Krakow's mini-boom in IT attracts Polish and foreign techies
Some 70 multinational firms have opened, employing 20,000 skilled workers – Poles and foreigners alike – in Krakow, which some call a small Silicon Valley of Central Europe.
By Robert Marquand, Staff writer / November 2, 2012
One of the clearest illustrations of “brain gain” in Poland comes from the southern city of Krakowwhich is experiencing a mini-boom in information technology – at a time when much of Europe’s tech scene is in a windless ocean.
The global reverse migration – turning brain drain to brain gain in many countries – is obvious here: Some 70 IT and multinational firms have opened, employing 20,000 skilled workers – Poles and foreigners alike.Cisco opened in May, and its 90-person staff will soon climb to 500. Google moved an R&D office here. State Street, Capgemeni and Lufthansa, Shell, Brown Brothers, and Philip Morris, to name a few, are all present.
The hopeful call Krakow a small Silicon Valley ofCentral Europe. And the buzz here is a magnet for brain gain: It’s a small oasis of Polish bohemia with 14 colleges and universities, and a bar-arts-and-film scene, and – not destroyed like Warsaw in World War II – it retains its Austro-Hungarian architectural charm.
Leaving our mark: Fossils of the future
3 November 2012 Last updated at 00:34 GMT
From our cities, to our farms, to our rubbish, humans have firmly stamped their mark across the planet. In part two of a two-part feature, Andrew Luck-Baker, from the BBC's Radio Science Unit, explores the legacy our civilisation will leave in the rocks of the future. You can read part one here.
Humanity's impact on the globe is so great and varied that we have launched a new geological time period in the Earth's history. Its name is the Anthropocene - the human epoch.
Fossil fuel emissions, climate change, agriculture, accelerated species extinction, chemical pollution and megacities will all express themselves in various ways in sediments in the seas, lakes and rivers in our times, scientists say.
Millions of years from now, those layers of sediment will have been compacted into rock such as sandstones, mudstones and limestones.
But what traces of human civilisation would future scientists find in the strata of the Anthropocene epoch?
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