COP21: Paris climate deal 'more likely' after terror attacks
Nearly 150 global leaders are gathering in Paris amid tight security for a critical UN climate meeting.
The conference, known as COP21, starts on Monday and will try to craft a long-term deal to limit carbon emissions.
Observers say that the recent terror attacks on the French capital will increase the chances of a new agreement.
Around 40,000 people are expected to participate in the event, which runs until 11 December.
The gathering of 147 heads of state and government is set to be far bigger than the 115 or so who came to Copenhagen in 2009, the last time the world came close to agreeing a long term deal on climate change.
While many leaders including Presidents Obama and Xi Jinping were always set to attend this conference, the recent violent attacks in Paris have encouraged others to come in an expression of solidarity with the French people.
Hong Kong's 'pink' dolphins under threat from airport and Macau bridge
Conservationists fear Hong Kong’s unique dolphins are at risk of disappearing due to loss of habitat and pollution from two major construction projectsSunday 29 November 2015 06.53 GMT
Conservationists have warned that projects to expand Hong Kong’s airport and build a new bridge to Macau could result in the loss of the city’s beloved “pink” dolphins.
Dolphin numbers have declined sharply in Hong Kong harbour over the past few decades, and campaigners fear that the large-scale construction work will drive the mammals away for good.
The Chinese white dolphin – popularly known as the pink dolphin due to its pale pink colouring – draws scores of tourists daily to the waters north of Hong Kong’s Lantau island.
It became Hong Kong’s official mascot for the handover ceremony in 1997, when Britain returned the territory to China. But despite the affection felt towards the dolphin, there may soon be none left.
The proposed construction of a third runway at Hong Kong’s busy Chek Lap Kok airport could be the nail in the coffin, according to campaigners.
Syrian air strikes mean civilians seeing their family killed by a faceless enemy - leaving Isis free to choose a face for us
The Prime Minister states that complexity should not be an excuse for non-intervention. True. But complexity is not an excuse, it is an important reality
The decision to bomb Isis in Syria in response to the Paris attacks would be a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that is much closer to home – most of the attackers were French or Belgian – and one driven by emotion, not logic. Shocked by terrible tragedies on their doorstep, people in Europe have a sense that ‘something must be done’. And so we turn too easily to the question of military action, as if that were the only option.
It is wrong and dangerous to think that an “evil death cult” with near global reach can be defeated by air strikes. If Sun Tzu’s theArt of War teaches us that knowing your enemy is key to success, do we know who Isis are? Whom it is that we would be bombing? Isis-held territory is not populated solely by radicalised, blood-thirsty jihadists. They are there, certainly, but they are also in Paris, Brussels and London. Those in Isis-held territory are the same people who were in Saddam-held territory, or in Assad-held territory, or in territory held by the Free Syrian Army. Isis-held territory is populated, for the most part, by ordinary civilians whose survival is dependent on getting on with whoever wields power at that particular time.
Why Russia needs China to buy its weapons
Despite intellectual property concerns, Russia recently agreed to sell 24 Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets to China - a deal worth $2 billion. But what is driving Moscow to seek deeper trade ties with Beijing? DW examines.
The deal, announced last week by Russian defense conglomerate Rostec, makes China the first foreign contractor of the multi-role Sukhoi Su-35 (main picture), an upgraded and highly maneuverable fighter jet. While the deal has yet to be confirmed by Beijing, Russian daily newspaper Kommersantquoted Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov on November 19 as saying: "The protracted talks on Su-35 deliveries to China have ended. We have signed the contract."
The agreement reportedly includes not only the supply of 24 jets to the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) for a total of $2 billion ($83 million per unit) but also the delivery of ground support equipment and reserve aircraft engines. The first batch of the planes, with the NATO reporting name Flanker-E, is expected to be delivered next year.
A win-win situation?
Russian sales of advanced weapons to China, including modern combat aircraft, are not new. Indeed, throughout the post-Soviet period, China has been one of Russia's most important customers for arms exports. The Chinese have been purchasing systems, such as the Su-27 fighter jet, and advanced surface-to-air missiles, from Russia for over a decade.
Lie detectors, solitary: How South Korea screens refugees
SEOUL |
South Korea has spent decades screening refugees from a hostile neighbor but some enemy agents manage to get through, underlining the challenges Western nations face in dealing with a far larger influx of people escaping the war in Syria.
Seoul uses lie detectors, interrogation and a screening process that includes keeping people in solitary confinement to catch North Korean agents among genuine asylum seekers.
Still, between 2003 and 2013, of the 49 North Korean spies apprehended in the South, 21 entered the country posing as refugees, according to the country's justice ministry.
"The question of spies slipping through is always a problem, and we need to make the process more meticulous and advanced," said Shin Kyung-min, the ranking opposition member of the South Korean parliament's intelligence committee.
"But it's not like we can stop taking in North Korean defectors because of that," Shin told Reuters.
Thousands of Arab Israelis protest Islamic Movement ban
Thousands of Arab Israelis marched Saturday in northern Israel to protest against the decision to ban the radical wing of the Islamic Movement, with its leader denouncing the Jewish state.
Under a sea of Palestinian flags, the descendents of Palestinians who remained in Israel after its creation in 1948 chanted "We are not terrorists" and "We are stronger than the ban".
Israel banned the Islamic Movement's northern wing on November 17, accusing it of having instigated violence at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site that sparked weeks of Palestinian unrest.
At Saturday's protest in Umm al-Fahm, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Tel Aviv, its leader denounced what he called Israeli "terrorism" in an address to the crowd in Umm al-Fahm.
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