Christmas Day blaze guts Australia homes
A Christmas Day bushfire has destroyed more than 100 homes in Australia's Victoria state, officials say.
Officials said 98 homes had been razed in Wye River and 18 at Separation Creek. No injuries are reported.
Hundreds of firefighters have been battling the blaze along the famous Great Ocean Road in Victoria's south-west, popular with holidaymakers.
A change to cooler weather and rain has greatly reduced the threat, but some emergency warnings remain in place.
Some 1,600 residents and tourists from the popular tourist spot of Lorne were evacuated on Friday amid fears that a wind change would push the fire towards the town, but were allowed to return on Saturday.
Many of those forced to leave their homes had to spend Christmas night in hastily-arranged shelters.
China expels French journalist who questioned treatment of Uighurs
Ursula Gauthier, from L’Obs magazine, was attacked in state media for article criticising Beijing government’s approach to Muslim minority in Xinjiang
China is expelling a French journalist who questioned its treatment of its Muslim Uighur minority in the north-western region of Xinjiang, her employer, the weekly l’Obs news magazine, has said.
Ursula Gauthier, the magazine’s Beijing correspondent, needs to leave China by 31 December after authorities refused to renew her visa.
Shortly after publishing a story that suggested China was using the Paris attacks to justify crackdowns on Uighur people, Gauthier was the subject of editorials in state-controlled media and even death threats, L’Obs said.
Several media reported that the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs had asked her to publicly withdraw her report.
The Revenant: Why the author of the novel adapted for a Leonardo DiCaprio film isn't allowed to talk about it
Michael Punke is the US ambassador to the WTO, and is prohibited from doing any side work that might enrich him
It was a Washington DC lawyer’s dream come true, a Hollywood premiere for a film based on the novel he wrote in his spare time. But when The Revenant, the highly anticipated new film adapted from Michael Punke’s book, had its big opening in LA – the evening featured Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Oscar-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu – the author was nowhere to be seen. He was 10,000 miles away in Nairobi, finalising an international agreement enacting a $1.3tr (£873bn) trade deal covering GPS devices, semiconductors and touch screens.
Mr Punke, 51, may be having the literary moment of a lifetime – more than a decade after his novel was released – but as the deputy US trade representative and ambassador to the World Trade Organisation in Switzerland, he’s missing out on a lot of the fun. In fact, he wasn’t even allowed to talk about The Revenant – released in the UK next month – for this article. Federal ethics rules prohibit him from doing any side work that might enrich him and potentially abuse his high-ranking office in the process.
2015: a year of fake outrage and backlash that made us feel better
When #BoycottStarWarsVII began trending on Twitter in October, Lord Humungus (@DarklyEnlighten, before the account was suspended) was smiling in some deep pocket of the internet. Humungus created #BoycottStarWarsVII to bemoan the number of nonwhite actors with roles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the latest installment of the franchise. People had every right to be upset over this racist hashtag, especially when it began trending. But it wasn't really what Humungus said or did that caused #BoycottStarWarsVII to start trending; instead, everyone who voiced their disagreement with him by loudly repeating and retweeting his argument was to blame.
"Reverse outrage" is the righteous internet backlash against an initial statement or display of outrage — think a boycott or a call to action — however founded or unfounded it may be. It works like a tsunami, starting with an initial shock that's followed by quiet as the bluster and bombast retreats like a low tide, then returns in a megaton surge, often aided by the media. The irony is that in the rush to prove one's moral superiority by speaking out against some racist, sexist, or otherwise hurtful sentiment (whether it's a hashtag or a viral video about a coffee cup), the sentiment is frequently amplified on a scale that wouldn't have been possible had people not taken the bait.
Why corruption is holding Africa back
By Milena Veselinovic, for CNN
If you live in Liberia, arranging to see a doctor might unfortunately not be as simple as booking an appointment.
Seven out of 10 people in the country say they have had to pay bribes to access basic services like healthcare and schooling, according to Transparency International, a global watchdog.
This number is the highest in Africa, but in the latest poll -- which the NGO conducted with Afrobarometer, an organization which publishes surveys on African governance -- 58% of people said they thought bribery was increasing.
"Poverty and exclusion"
"Corruption creates and increases poverty and exclusion. While corrupt individuals with political power enjoy a lavish life, millions of Africans are deprived of their basic needs like food, health, education, housing, access to clean water and sanitation," said José Ugaz, chair of Transparency International, in a statement.
Soviet-era cable cars keep Georgian town going
Cable-car system is Chiatura's public transport, and it has been running for free, 24 hours a day, since 1952.
Chiatura, a mining town in northern Georgia, boasts one of the oldest aerial tramways in the world.
Even today, the rusting cable cars are still used to ferry commuters and miners in and out of the city centre.
The cable car system is the public transport for the city, and it has been running 24 hours a day since 1952.
It was first installed to ferry workers, as well as ore and manganese, which was discovered in the hills above the city in the 19th century.
Marina Dzigvashvili has been a cable-car operator in Chiatura for the past 17 years. She said that the cable car is the fastest, if not the most comfortable, means to transport people who live up the hill.
"You need just two minutes to come here by cable car, but the bus takes an hour at least," Dzigvashvili told Al Jazeera.
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