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The Australian government’s plans to enact a law for an emissions trading scheme
have been thrown into chaos.
A revolt within the opposition Liberal Party means a key deadline for the Senate
to pass the legislation has been missed.
Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull had agreed with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to pass
the scheme in the Senate, where the government is in a minority.
If the Senate fails to pass the scheme, Mr Rudd can call a snap election.
That could be an appealing option, as he would be expected to win by a very big
margin, seriously damaging the Liberals.
The Senate adjourned on Friday – its last scheduled day of business in 2009 – but
agreed to return on Monday to continue debate on the package of 11 bills.
There have been mass resignations from the opposition front bench, and the party
is in open and angry rebellion.
Mr Turnbull said he would not stand down as leader. He warned that failure to
support the climate change bill would consign the Liberals to the political
wilderness.
“We would be wiped out,” he told Australian radio. “The vast majority of
Australians want to see action on climate change.
“If this legislation is knocked back, Kevin Rudd will have no choice but to go to
a double dissolution election. This is a fundamental plank in his platform.”
But that argument has not carried any weight with a strong rump in his party who
reject the scientific case that man is contributing to global warming, says the
BBC’s Nick Bryant in Sydney.
One leading climate change sceptic and senior party figure, Tony Abbott, has said
he will challenge Mr Turnbull for the leadership on Monday.
Mr Rudd had wanted to pass the bill – aimed at cutting emissions by up to 25% of
2000 levels by 2020 – in time for the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in
December.
It was initially rejected by the Senate in August and revised to include more
support for industry and farmers.
Australia is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide per capita.

Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch has shocked the UN-backed war crimes tribunal
by asking to be released on the final day of the trial.
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, had admitted being responsible for
overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people.
Duch commanded a prison from where thousands were killed in an orchard now known
as the “Killing Fields”.
His request for clemency cast doubt over the sincerity of his requests for
forgiveness from the victims’ families.
Duch, a former maths teacher, said he had co-operated fully with the tribunal and
had been detained since 1999.
“I would ask the chamber to release me. Thank you very much,” he said at the end
of his closing statement to the court.
His lawyer confirmed he was asking to be acquitted on the grounds that he was not
a senior member of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy.
The judges did not act on Duch’s request and closed proceedings. They are expected
to make a ruling on the verdict early next year.
Up to two million Cambodians died under Pol Pot’s brutal Khmer Rouge rule in the
1970s.
As many as 17,000 inmates are thought to have passed through the gates of the
prison which Duch controlled, known as S-21.
The vast majority were tortured, forced to “confess” to crimes against the regime
and then put to death just outside Phnom Penh.
Duch is the first of five leading Khmer Rouge figures to face the UN-backed
tribunal.
The joint trial of four other – more senior – Khmer Rouge leaders is expected to
start in 2011.

Japan’s finance minister has said the strength of the yen is harmful to the
country’s economy.
In trading the currency has touched 84 to the dollar, the US currency’s lowest
level since the mid-1990s.
A high yen damages the competitiveness of Japanese exports, which have been the
engine of the country’s growth.
Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said the government was watching closely, but did
not signal immediate intervention.
Everyone in Japan knows that the flimsy one yen coin is so light it can be made to
float on water, but now the currency is sinking to the bottom of the glass as the
dollar weakens.
Mr Fujii said the strength of Japan’s currency was “one sided” and harmful to the
economy.
With much of the relative strength caused by dollar selling rather than yen
buying, there may be little the government can do alone.
Japan is emerging from its worst recession since the end of World War II.
Figures out on Friday showed unemployment had fallen.
But the strong yen eats into the competitiveness of exporters like Sony, Toyota
and Honda.
Japan’s recovery is threatened by deflation, or falling prices.
And the strength of the currency threatens to make that worse too because imports
and raw materials become cheaper.

Worries over Dubai’s debt problems have driven down Europe’s share markets for the
second day running.
The main share indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt all opened more than 1%
lower.
The moves follow news from the state-owned Dubai World that it would delay paying
some of its debt. Earlier, Asia’s markets were down sharply.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei fell 3.2% to 9,081.52. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index
ended down 4.84% at 21,134.5.
Oil prices also fell. US crude dropped 4.5% to $74.51 a barrel and London Brent
Crude was down $1.26 to $75.73.
The biggest underlying fear is that Dubai’s problems could reignite the financial
turmoil of the credit crisis. That would lower global demand for a whole range of
commodities, including oil.
Dubai World is the emirate’s flag bearer in global investments.
It has a central role in the direction of the emirate’s economy and has four main
areas of operations: Transport & Logistics, Drydocks & Maritime, Urban
Development, and Investment & Financial Services.
Its assets include DP World, one of the largest marine terminal operators in the
world, which sparked a national security debate in the US when it moved to take
over six of the country’s ports.
Back home, its own maritime ambitions are driven by Dubai Maritime City which is
aiming to turn Dubai into a major ship-building hub.
Perhaps the most easily visualised area of operation is Nakheel, the property
developer behind projects such as The Palm Islands and The World.
Its fourth main business area is Istithmar World, which is the group’s investment
arm.
The Gulf state, which has less oil money than many of its neighbours, became a
trading and tourism hub with global ambitions.
It said on Wednesday it would ask creditors of the state-owned Dubai World and
Nakheel to agree to a standstill on billions of dollars of debt as a first step
towards restructuring.
Dubai World, the conglomerate that led the emirate’s expansion, had $59bn (￡36bn)
of liabilities as of August, a large proportion of Dubai’s total debt of $80bn.
Nakheel was the builder of the landmark palm tree-shaped island developments off
Dubai.
The news shook markets that are recovering from the collapse of the US housing
market and contagion that threatened to rupture the global financial system last
year.
“The panic button’s been hit again,” said Francis Lun, general manager of
Fulbright Securities.
Banks and builders were hit hardest as they are the most likely to be exposed to
firms with property at the sharp end of the slump.

GPs need to go “full throttle” to get as many vulnerable patients as possible
vaccinated against swine flu, the government’s immunisations chief says.
More than 1m people in the UK have been vaccinated a month into the programme –
one in 10 in the priority groups.
Professor David Salisbury said he would have hoped for more at this stage, but
accepted doctors were doing their best.
It comes as the number of deaths in a week has hit a record high. The UK total now
stands at 245 – up from 214.
This is a reflection of the fact that a greater proportion of people are ending up
in hospital and in critical care than at the start of the pandemic.
However, latest figures show the number of new cases of infection is falling or
remaining steady across the UK.
In England, there were 46,000 cases, down from 53,000. Scotland reported just over
21,000, almost the same as last week.
GPs said the immunisation programme was being slowed down because of the way the
vaccines were being delivered to them.
Doctors have to mix the doses themselves because the vaccine has a 24-hour self-
life.
However, each batch contains 10 doses, meaning GPs have to be confident they can
vaccinate that many patients within a day or else the jabs have to be thrown away.
Dr Richard Vautrey, of the British Medical Association, said: “With seasonal flu
we can vaccinate opportunistically – when patients come in for other appointments.
“But because of the way the swine flu one is being manufactured we have to make
sure we have enough patients so the vaccine is not wasted.
“It is slowing it down, but to be fair I think it needed to be that way to get the
amount we needed manufactured.”
He also said the programme was taking time as some doctors would have only
received their first batches in the last week or two.

Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua has a heart condition, his spokesman has said,
after he flew to Saudi Arabia on Monday for medical treatment.
Mr Yar’Adua has acute pericarditis, or inflammation of the lining around the
heart, his spokesman told the BBC.
He said the president, 58, was responding well to treatment. Officials earlier
denied rumours that the president was seriously ill.
Mr Yar’Adua has had a chronic kidney condition for at least 10 years.
He has been unable to perform a number of official duties because of recurring
health problems.
President Yar’Adua has twice been flown to Germany for emergency treatment and it
is the second time he has visited hospitals in Saudi Arabia.
He has refused to say exactly what condition he suffers from, and has repeatedly
said in interviews that his life is “in the hands of God”.
BBC health reporter Michelle Roberts says most cases of pericarditis clear up with
rest and medication within a few weeks, although patients will initially need to
be treated in hospital to check for complications.
Our reporter says occasionally pericarditis is triggered by cancer, which is
something doctors need to check for.
Rarely patients may need surgery if the pressure around the heart becomes too
great, a complication that could potentially be fatal, she adds.
Presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said the president felt pains after
performing Friday prayers last week.
“At about 3pm Friday November 20, after he returned from the Abuja Central Mosque
where he performed Muslim prayer, President Yar’Adua complained of a left-sided
severe chest pain,” he said, reports Reuters.
Mr Adeniyi said the initial diagnosis was pericarditis, which has since been
confirmed.
Officials had earlier been quoted as saying the president intended to make the
Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca this week.
Analysts say his continued ill-health poses a problem for Nigeria’s constitution.
If he were to step down or die, he would be replaced by Vice-President Goodluck
Jonathan, who is from the country’s southern Niger Delta region.
But according to the ruling People’s Democratic Party’s own formula for sharing
power among the country’s regions, the president must be a northerner.

A British court has ordered Liberia to pay two Caribbean-registered investment
funds more than $20m (￡12m) for a debt that dates back to 1978.
The sum awarded to the firms – described as “vulture funds” by critics – is
equivalent to about 5% of the Liberian government’s budget this year.
Liberia says it has no money to pay the debt back and has accused the firms of
profiting from poverty.
The country is recovering from a 14-year civil war that ended in 2003.
The details of the case are still unclear, but it is thought Liberia borrowed
$6.5m from the US-based Chemical Bank in 1978 and that debt may have been resold a
number of times.
The two funds requested London’s High Court to grant a summary judgement in the
case – making Liberia liable for the debt without the need for a full hearing.
In 2002 a New York court ruled that Liberia owed $18m – the current case is an
attempt to collect that sum plus interest.
At the time of the New York case Liberia was wracked by civil war and did not
offer a defence.
Liberia’s legal advisers think that if the funds do succeed in collecting the
money, they will make a very large profit.
Ahead of Thursday’s ruling, Liberian Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan told
the BBC’s Network Africa programme the country could not afford to repay the debt.
“Our lawyers are going to work tooth and nail to battle this,” he said.
He added that he hoped that the international community would take action to make
sure that “these people that survive on poverty do not thrive”.
UK activists are lobbying the government to change the law so such cases cannot be
heard in UK courts.
Nick Dearden, of Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: “Currently these companies don’t
have to tell us anything about themselves because they’re registered in tax havens
- they can just turn up in London and sue one of the poorest countries in the
world.”
He called the High Court’s ruling “disappointing but not surprising”.
Very little is known about the funds – Hamsah Investments and Wall Capital.
Hamsah was awarded more than $11m in a similar action against Nicaragua.
BBC economics correspondent Andrew Walker says vulture funds are controversial –
especially when they target nations already receiving debt relief on what they owe
to rich countries.
Sometimes that debt relief frees the resources to pay creditors who take legal
action, our correspondent says.
The solicitor representing Hamsah has not yet responded to requests for comments
on the case.

Two foreign journalists held captive by militants in Somalia for more than a year
have told the BBC of their joy and relief at being freed.
“I’m so happy to be free; it feels like a dream,” Canadian Amanda Lindhout said.
Her Australian colleague Nigel Brennan said he was still “in shock”.
Details of the release are not yet known, but a ransom demand was made.
Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, and journalists and
aid workers are frequently seized.
Ms Lindhout and Mr Brennan have now been flown to Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya.
Bob Mills, a former Canadian MP who acted as an intermediary for the Lindhout
family, told the BBC’s World Today programme the news was “a wonderful Christmas
present”.
He said he did not know if a ransom had been paid.
“I know the Canadian government’s position is not to pay ransom,” he said, but
pointed out that individuals may have done.
Ms Lindhout told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation she found the conditions of
her captivity extremely difficult.
“It was extremely oppressive. I was kept by myself at all times. I had no-one to
speak to. I was usually kept in a room with a light, no window,” she said.
“I had nothing, nothing to write on or with. I was given very little food. I was
allowed to use the toilet exactly five times a day. So basically my day was
sitting on a corner, on the floor, 24 hours a day for the last 15 months.”
She is reported to have told Canada’s CTV that she was physically abused and
forced to make calls to media outlets throughout her ordeal, as her captives
wanted a ransom to be paid quickly.
“There were times that I was beaten, that I was tortured,” she said.

The case of Rom Houben, thought to have been in a coma for 23 years, but
apparently conscious all the time, raises a horrifying prospect: how can you cope
being trapped in your body, aware of everything but unable to communicate with the
outside world?
Mike Cubiss can vividly remember the tiles on the kitchen floor and how cold they
felt.
He was waiting for the ambulance, afraid he might die, but unable to move or say
goodbye to his wife.
On an ordinary day in 2002, as he prepared to take his three sons to school, and
his wife got ready for work, Mike collapsed. The aftermath was locked-in syndrome.
Public awareness of the condition today is largely a result of The Diving Bell and
the Butterfly, a book by French magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, later turned
into a film.
The syndrome is typically caused by a lesion in the pons, effectively the part of
the brain stem that acts as a bridge between brain and body. The most common cause
is a stroke.
In its “classical form” those with the syndrome are almost completely paralysed
and sometimes only able to move their eyes up and down, or to blink. They cannot
move but they are fully conscious.
“It has nightmarish qualities, robbed of all function and trapped in a body in
which you can’t communicate,” says Dr Mark Delargy, director of the brain injury
programme at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dublin.
“Another aspect is that it is often diagnosed at a very late interval. The person
could be in hospital, considered to be in a coma state or vegetative state [and]
it’s only discovered some months after the person has been surviving, that they
are actually not in a vegetative state.
“It’s often family members who believe that their nearest and dearest have some
intellect. They are not believed for a while. Eventually someone spots what the
family have seen.”
In Rom Houben’s case, his mother always believed he could communicate. And the
idea that the family may establish a line of communication first is familiar to
Lorna Elwick who became partially locked-in in 1993, when she was 40.
“I had a particularly bad headache at work one day,” says Lorna, communicating via
a special computer. “The ache was centred round the lower part of my head, at the
back, and my neck. I also couldn’t speak. Over three days I went three times to
both my GP and A&E. Neither had any ideas, I wasn’t scanned but just given strong
painkillers.
“It was September 2002. I can remember everything, from initially experiencing a
loud buzzing in my ears, knowing it was something serious.
“I asked the boys to get my wife [Wendy] as we were all at home – she was getting
ready for work as a practice nurse, I was going to drive the boys to school. Our
boys were aged 12, 10 and eight then; first day back at school after the summer
hols. I was sitting down in the kitchen and as Wendy spoke to me my speech very
rapidly deteriorated from slurring to nothing.
“I never lost consciousness and I could hear Wendy calling the ambulance. I was
frightened that if I closed my eyes I would die. They moved me to the floor to
keep my airway safe – it was tiled and I remember how cold it felt. I wanted to
say goodbye to Wendy as I thought might die, but could not speak. All the way in
the ambulance I kept my eyes open for that reason.

Unusually warm and cold periods in Earth’s pre-industrial climate history are
linked to how the oceans responded to temperature changes, say scientists.
The researchers focused particularly on intervals known as the “little ice age”
and “medieval warm period”.
In the journal Science, they report that these climate “anomalies” were likely
caused by changes to El Nino and the North Atlantic Oscillation.
They say studying the past in this way could help refine climate models.
“We reconstructed patterns of [the Earth's] surface temperature during those two
intervals,” explained Professor Michael Mann from Pennsylvania State University in
the US, who led the study.
He and his colleagues reconstructed 1,500 years of the Earth’s climate –
collecting clues from “proxies” such as ice cores, tree rings and coral. These can
be used to track hundreds of years of climatic changes.
He explained that the data allowed the team to estimate how natural factors,
including volcanic eruptions and changes in the Sun’s output, altered the climate
in the past.
“We then put these estimates into the climate models,” he told BBC News.
The models revealed that these natural factors altered the Earth’s surface
temperature, which kick-started feedback mechanisms – El Nino or the North
Atlantic Oscillation (NOA).
This produced the regional patterns in climate associated with the medieval
climate era and the little ice age.
“El Nino and the NOA are dynamical patterns that can lead to shifts in rainfall
and drought patterns, and influence hurricane activity,” explained Professor Mann.
“They redistribute heat around the globe, leading to warming in one region [of the
planet] and cooling in another.”
The findings have allowed the team to assess which models might be missing some of
the “regional mechanisms” that influence the climate.
A key thing the team discovered was that, in the past, when the planet has been
warmed by natural factors it has responded with another feedback mechanism known
as the La Nina effect.
This can be thought of as the opposite of El Nino – a sort of “colder phase” of El
Nino phenomenon.
Professor Mann explained that a “La Nina-like climate” brings colder than normal
temperatures in the eastern and central tropical Pacific and drier than normal
conditions in the desert southwest of the US”.
Most climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
show that the Earth will respond in an El Nino-like way to global warming.