8 January 2013 Last updated at 06:44 GMT
Searing temperatures fan Australia wildfires
High winds and record temperatures fanned fires in south-east Australia, after the prime minister warned of a "very dangerous day".
More than 130 fires are currently burning in New South Wales, 40 of which have not been contained.
An uncontrolled fire is burning by the Tasman peninsula, near areas already hit by blazes over the weekend.
Teams in Victoria are also fighting a blaze, as Australia's heat wave continues.
Four areas in New South Wales have been given a "catastrophic" fire danger rating, meaning that if fires break out they will be uncontrollable and fast-moving, so residents should leave.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said residents had to stay alert.
"The word catastrophic is being used for good reason," she said. "So it is very important that people keep themselves safe, that they listen to local authorities and local warnings.
"This is a very dangerous day."
Model Reformer in TroubleIreland Lobbies to Have Europe Share Banking Risk
By Christoph Pauly
Ireland's reform policies have been widely praised for helping it emerge from the crisis, but the truth is bleaker. If the government fails to get European taxpayers to assume some of the risk of its ailing banking sector, the country could soon require another bailout.
In his home country, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, 61, has a reputation for being somewhat wooden. But when he meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other top German politicians, he's capable of unaccustomed gallantry, as the Irish have noted with surprise. For instance, Kenny has recently proved that he's a master of the diplomatic art known as "air kissing."
The missing brothers of Kim Jong-un
January 8, 2013 - 4:05PM
Chico Harlan
Kim Jong-un is portrayed in North Korea's official state media as a leader without comparison, blessed with a supreme bloodline, flanked by a supportive wife and endowed with the "brilliant" ability to revamp the economy, command an army and guide the space program.
But one thing is notably absent from these descriptions: any mention of his two brothers, both of whom were once rumoured to be heirs to the family-run empire.
As Kim prepares for his nationally celebrated birthday on Tuesday, thought to be his 30th, his brothers are far away from the state-sanctioned spotlight, one living in secrecy in North Korea, the other apparently moving between China and Singapore.
Mozambique smelting profits should not fill foreign coffers, say campaigners
UK government and World Bank among investors accused of benefiting disproportionately from lucrative Mozal smelter
Tax campaigners are calling on Britain, the World Bank and private investors to return "excessive" profits from a flagship aluminium smelting project in Mozambique started as part of a recovery programme after the country's civil war in the early 1990s.
According to a report by Jubilee Debt Campaign in the UK, the Tax Justice Network and Justica Ambiental (Friends of the Earth Mozambique), the Mozal smelter – the biggest private-sector project investment in the former Portuguese colony – has benefited foreign interests much more than the people of Mozambique.
The report calculates that foreign investors, governments and development banks have received an average of $320m (£199m) a year from the smelter, in contrast to the Mozambique government's $15m. In other words, for every $1 paid to the Mozambique government, $21 has left the country in profit or interest to foreign governments and investors.
Is Iran's presence in Latin America a threat? The White House says yes.
When the White House signed a law countering Iran in Latin America recently, it was the most public strategy to date against Iran’s influence in the region.
By Sara Miller Llana, Staff Writer / January 7, 2013
When the United states government signed into law the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act, the US was quickly criticized for being stuck in the past.
The law was the White House’s most public strategy to date to counter Iran’s influence in the Americas, and gives the State Department 180 days to draw up a plan to “address Iran’s growing hostile presence and activity.” The US received prompt criticism from Iran who said the US “still lives in the cold war era and considers Latin America as its back yard.”
“It is an overt intervention in Latin America[n] affairs,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, quoted in Al Jazeera.
Rescued by a Bailout, A.I.G. May Sue Its Savior
Fresh from paying back a $182 billion bailout, the American International Group has been running a nationwide advertising campaign with the tagline “Thank you America.”
Behind the scenes, the restored insurance company is weighing whether to tell the government agencies that rescued it during the financial crisis: thanks, but you cheated our shareholders.
The board of A.I.G. will meet on Wednesday to consider joining a $25 billion shareholder lawsuit against the government, court records show. The lawsuit does not argue that government help was not needed. It contends that the onerous nature of the rescue — the taking of what became a 92 percent stake in the company, the deal’s high interest rates and the funneling of billions to the insurer’s Wall Street clients — deprived shareholders of tens of billions of dollars and violated the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the taking of private property for “public use, without just compensation.”
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