Just 19 countries out of 193 have sent letters of intent to the United Nations to be part of a global climate change accord, the UN's climate chief says.
Countries met in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December in pursuit of a legally binding deal to follow the Kyoto protocol on limiting global warming.
Poor response to climate deadline
Tough old soldier battles new enemy: Suicide epidemic
Rhodes is among a small cadre of senior non-commissioned officers and officers who're opening up about their journeys back from the brink of suicide — efforts that top military commanders applaud as they battle a suicide epidemic.
The open support from the military's uppermost ranks for openly discussing a topic long considered taboo is a revolution triggered largely by both greater awareness and pressure to curb record-high suicide rates.
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Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From AIG Shadows:
The idea of secret banking cabals that control the country and global economy are a given among conspiracy theorists who stockpile ammo, bottled water and peanut butter. After this week’s congressional hearing into the bailout of American International Group Inc., you have to wonder if those folks are crazy after all.US firm kicked out of Peru mining group for pollution
Peru's mining, oil and energy association (SNMPE) said Saturday it has expelled US mining company Doe Run from its roster for not cleaning up its pollution problems, which environmentalists say are among the worst in the world.
TVNL Comment: America's wonderful global footprint.
Haaretz: World isn't buying Israel's explanations anymore
There is one little problem: The world isn't buying Israel's explanations and it isn't prepared to condemn Palestinian obduracy. Obama has split the blame for the stagnation between the two sides and has also taken some of it upon himself ("We raised expectations").
American envoy George Mitchell's appeal to the members of the Quartet that they urge Abbas to return to talks, has gone unanswered. This week he completed another frustrating visit to the region, with zero results.
Iraqi father vows to pursue U.S. lawsuit against Blackwater
The last chance for victims of the bloody Nisoor Square shootings to have their day in court may rest on a Charlotte firm's lawsuit accusing Blackwater of reckless conduct in Iraq.
Mohammed Kinani, an Iraqi businessman whose 9-year-old son died in the 2007 shootings, said the North Carolina-based security firm has threatened him and offered him $20,000 to stop asking questions. "I said I don't want anything," Kinani said. "All I need is for the Blackwater president to apologize for killing of my son. They refused to apologize."
Tony Blair admits Saddam threat was overstated
Tony Blair opened himself up to a charge of misleading Parliament today when he told the Iraq inquiry that by any objective analysis the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapons programme had not increased after 9/11.
That statement directly contradicted Mr Blair's warning to MPs in September 2002 – six months before the invasion – that Saddam's weapons programme was "active, detailed and growing".
TVNL Comment: Hey troops, and families of dead troops...how do you feel about that? That means George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and your hero Colin Powell also lied...but we knew that already!
Obama to seek major increase in nuclear weapons funding
The Obama administration plans to ask Congress to increase spending on the U.S. nuclear arsenal by more than $5 billion over the next five years as part of its strategy to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually rid the world of them.
Blair denies 'covert' deal with Bush to invade Iraq
Mr Blair has used the hearing to mount an impassioned defence of the decision to go to war, telling the panel: "This isn't about a lie or a conspiracy or a deceit or a deception.
"It's a decision. And the decision I had to take was, given Saddam's history, given his use of chemical weapons, given the over one million people whose deaths he had caused, given 10 years of breaking UN resolutions, could we take the risk of this man reconstituting his weapons programmes or is that a risk that it would be irresponsible to take?"
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