| Dion blasts Tories over Commonwealth climate deal
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion says Canada appears to be "backward" when it comes to tackling climate change issues at the Commonwealth summit in Uganda. Dion told CTV Newsnet on Saturday that Canada has blocked what would have been a significant deal setting out greenhouse gas emissions targets by Commonwealth countries. He and other critics say the Conservative government used its clout at the summit to stop environmental progress. "We want our country to be part of the solution, not part of the problem," Dion said. "With Mr. Harper, we will not be part of the solution, it is clear." Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he still wants binding targets in any new global climate change treaty -- he just wants them for every country.
The SNP and the mystery of the vanishing bobbies
THE Scottish Government suffered a major and embarrassing setback yesterday when Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, admitted his long-awaited plan to put an additional 1,000 police on Scotland's streets might not deliver a single extra officer. The SNP came to power in May promising to create 1,000 "new" police officers. .
Harlem takes on university in battle of town versus gown
It looked like a battle of the slogans. On either side of the campus square stood imposing library buildings bearing the names of Homer, Herodotus, Sophocles, Plato and the boast "By royal charter in the reign of George II". Gathered in the middle was a group of 200 protesters carrying their own competing signs: "Stop Columbia!", "Harlem not for sale!", "Say no to eminent domain!" The protesters had huddled on a rainy Saturday around a 10ft statue of Alma Mater - the mother of learning - confronted by the mother of all neighbourhood disputes. They had marched from America's most famous black neighbourhood, Harlem, to the centre of one of the world's pre-eminent universities, Columbia, in what amounts to the ultimate clash of town versus gown. That clash comes to a head this week: by next Monday the city's planning authority must decide whether or not to allow the redevelopment of 17 acres in west Harlem and let Columbia go ahead with a massive expansion of its campus that would cost it $7bn (£3.4bn) over the next 25 years.
'Act now - or millions face ruin from global warming'
CLIMATE change will reverse decades of development in Asia, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people, a coalition of aid agencies and environmental groups have warned. According to the coalition, "the human drama of climate change will largely be played out in Asia", with almost two thirds of the world's population finding themselves on the front line of global warming impacts. .
Brownsville police detectives are looking for a second car believed to have been involved in a major accident shortly ...
Brownsville police detectives are looking for a second car believed to have been involved in a major accident shortly before midnight Sunday in West Brownsville that sent at least three persons to local hospitals. Police officers responded to the major accident shortly before midnight reported at the 500 block of Military Highway and Midway Drive, Brownsville police spokesman Eddie Garcia said. Police report that Ulisses Hernandez, 18, of Madison Street, was driving a 1995 Lincoln Town Car when he lost control of the Lincoln and struck a utility pole. The five passengers in the car, Melissa Hernandez, 23; Jose Briseno Jr., 4; David Eduardo Garcia, 18; Tomas Ramos, 16; and Santiago Hernandez Jr., 18; all sustained injuries, he said. Briseno and Melissa Hernandez were transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, where they were listed in critical condition Monday night, Garcia said.
All children must read at six, says Cameron
David Cameron will put his party on a collision course with the teaching profession this week when he announces that virtually every child in the country will be expected to read by the age of six under a Conservative government. Cameron wants pupils to sit reading tests at the end of year one and the target will be for all, bar those with serious learning difficulties, to pass. Teachers say the plans will cause long-lasting harm to late developers by labelling them as failures at a young age. 'It flies in the face of international evidence that suggests children do better if they start formal education later on,' said Chris Davis of the National Primary Headteachers' Association. 'The target is too early. One of the worst things you can do with a very young child is give them the impression that they can't do something.
OUR CRITICS PICKS: Our Critics' Picks
Since its explosion in the early to mid-'90s, black metal has been inextricably linked to Norway, where the genre was made most infamous. But during that same time period, other Scandinavian outposts produced a number of bands rivaling the vitriolic aggression of Mayhem, Darkthrone and Immortal. Towering over them all is Sweden's Dark Funeral, whose relentless assault helped codify what underground purists would exalt as “tr00" black metal. Concerning themselves less with the atmospherics in which their peers dabbled, Dark Funeral's steadfast, bludgeoning approach has remained unwavering despite the countless lineup shifts that typically plague this corner of the metal world. Sharing the bill are Daath, whose progressive death metal inhabits the opposite end of the underground extreme metal spectrum.
Bilbray bill proposes stricter immigration enforcement
A new bill by Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, would require employers to verify that all of their new workers are in the country legally.One of the most vocal critics of illegal immigration in Congress, Bilbray said the bill also would call for an increase in the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents, intensify aerial surveillance at the nation's borders and increase the number of detention facilities. But critics say some of its supporters have co-sponsored the bill simply to appear tough on illegal immigration before the November elections. Since the bill was introduced Nov. 5, its list of co-sponsors has grown to 112, including 44 Democrats, making the bill more likely to move forward in the House, Bilbray said. The bill's main sponsor is North Carolina Democrat Heath Shuler."Congress has the responsibility to take action and respect the mandate given by the American people to enforce our laws, secure our borders and address illegal employment," Bilbray said.
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