The West is silent as Libya falls into the abyss
World View: In 2011, there was jubilation at Gaddafi's demise. Not any more: the aftermath of foreign intervention is calamitous and bloody
IPCC: rapid carbon emission cuts vital to stop 'severe' impact of climate change
Most important assessment of global warming yet warns carbon emissions must be cut sharply and soon, but UN’s IPCC says solutions are available and affordable
Climate change is set to inflict “severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts” on people and the natural world unless carbon emissions are cut sharply and rapidly, according to the most important assessment of global warming yet published.
The stark report states that climate change has already increased the risk of severe heatwaves and other extreme weather and warns of worse to come, including food shortages and violent conflicts. But it also found that ways to avoid dangerous global warming are both available and affordable.
“We have the means to limit climate change,” said Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “The solutions are many and allow for continued economic and human development. All we need is the will to change.”
Violent protests erupt in France after activist killing
Demonstrators in France have clashed violently with police in the wake of the killing of a 21-year-old environmental activist last week. Remi Fraisse's death was the first during a protest in mainland France since 1986.
Violent protests erupted Saturday in two French cities against alleged police brutality, injuring several people.
Police use rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds that had gathered to protest the killing of 21-year-old environmental activist Remi Fraisse, who was killed last Sunday during a clash with police at the site of a controversial dam project in southwestern France.
Dozens of protesters were arrested in the northwestern city of Nantes and the southwestern city of Toulouse. Demonstrators hurled bottles of acid and stones at police in Nantes, where at least five officers and three protesters were injured. In Toulouse, protestors smashed bank windows and damaged public property.
Early investigations have suggested that Fraisse may have been killed by a police stun grenade.
Republicans favoured in 'the Seinfeld election'
November 2, 2014 - 12:12PM
Nick O'Malley
US correspondent for Fairfax Media
Washington: It is hard to exaggerate just how unloved and how ineffective the current Congress, which faces midterm elections on Tuesday in the United States, has been.
The metrics are there, of course. This Congress has passed less legislation than any other in modern American history – around a tenth of that enacted by the infamous "do-nothing" Congress of 1947-1949.
The American people know how badly they have been let down, too. Though US President Barack Obama remains deeply unpopular, with a job approval of around 42 per cent, he is streets ahead of Congress, which enjoys the approval of just 13.4 per cent of its citizens, according to the Real Clear Politics poll average.
Police reputation and morale at stake in Hong Kong protests
By John Ruwitch
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police have been pushed and pulled in all directions during weeks of pro-democracy street protests, obeying orders to clear protest sites, allow protest sites to stay put, push back demonstrators and protect them from attack.
With no end to the standoff in sight, the police, long known as "Asia's finest", risk being cast as enforcers for an unpopular central government in Beijing or failing in their duty to ensure the city remains one of the safest in the world.
"Your friendly 'bobby on the beat' image ... has been taken for granted in Hong Kong," said Steve Tsang, head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham in England.
Tokyo Olympic stadium: Sports cathedral or white elephant?
Olympic stadiums are a problem.
In Athens, many of the 2004 stadia now stand abandoned and overgrown. Beijing's hugely expensive 2008 "Bird's Nest" may have become a tourist attraction, but has been rarely used for anything else.
Even London's "cheap" 2012 stadium is having a troubled and expensive rebirth as a football arena.
So what lessons has Tokyo taken away from all this? Huge and expensive state-of-the-art stadiums are a bad idea? Apparently not.
'Ridiculous'
Tokyo's 2020 Olympic stadium will be bigger and more expensive than any of its recent predecessors.
Renowned British architect Zaha Hadid has designed it. Some have likened it to a spaceship, others to a giant bicycle helmet.
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