 |  | | The Post-Qadhafi Libya |
 WITH the death of Moamer
Qadhafi the Arab spring has
claimed a third victory. The
Libyan people have the
chance to build a just and
democratic system of governance after
42 years of autonomous rule by the
colonel, his family, his cronies and his
tribe. No wonder there are such scenes
of jubilation throughout the country.
Qadhafi´s removal will be a source of
great relief to the new government of
Libya, whatever its ultimate composition.
Qadhafi had billions of dollars at
his disposal, in cash and gold, with
which he was threatening to fund an
insurgency and derail the revolution.
Nevertheless, the new regime would
probably rather have captured Qadhafi
alive to make a show of his trial, as the
Iraqi interim government did with
Saddam Hussein in 2004. Such a trial. |
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| |  | | PARTY OF
POLLUTION |  LAST month President
Obama finally unveiled a
serious economic stimulus
plan - far short of what I´d
like to see, but a step in the
right direction. Republicans, predictably,
have blocked it. But the
new plan, combined with the
Occupy Wall Street demonstrations,
seems to have shifted the
national conversation. We are, suddenly,
focused on what we should
have been talking about all along:
jobs.
So what is the GOP jobs plan?
The answer, in large part, is to
allow more pollution. So what you
need to know is that weakening
environmental regulations would
do little to create jobs and would
make us both poorer and sicker.
Now it would be wrong to say
that all Republicans see increased
pollution as the answer to... |
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| | Alberta cautions EU against
ranking oil sands fuel dirty |  THE government of Alberta,
home to the bulk of Canada´s
oil sands, has written to EU
experts voicing "grave concerns"
that the bloc´s plans to
rank unconventional oil as a
highly polluting fuel are
unfair and a potential threat
to trade ties.
With the letter, the provincial
government joins Ottawa
and the oil industry in a
Canadian full-court press to
sway the European Union
away from labelling one of the
country´s most lucrative
exports as inherently dirty.
"The proposed measure has
been deliberately crafted in
such a way as to discriminate
specifically and uniquely
against oil sands derived
fuels," said a copy of the letter
seen by Reuters.
"Alberta believes that... |
| | Budget airlines ride crest of SE Asia boom |  FIVE years after Southeast
Asia´s biggest airport by passenger
capacity opened in
Bangkok, hailed as the dawn
of a new breed of Asian
mega-airports, the sleek,
wave-shaped passenger terminal
is already running at
over-capacity.
The overflow of passengers
at one of the world´s largest air
hubs illustrates an aviation
boom that is accelerating in
Southeast Asia, even as airlines
in Europe and the
United States cut capacity and
fleets to salvage profits.
From Bangkok to Kuala
Lumpur to Singapore, airlines
in the region of 550 million
people are expanding fleets
and adding capacity even as
the International Air
Transport Association (IATA),
a trade body, warns... |
| | ´EU banks need to raise $140bn´ |  EU FINANCE ministers
neared agreement on Saturday
on forcing banks to raise just
over euro100 billion ($140 billion)
to ensure they have
enough cushion to weather further
losses on their Greek
bonds as well as market turmoil,
a European official said.
In order to help Athens dig
out of its debts — and hopefully
keep a cap on the amount of
money they have to loan
Greece — the 17 countries that
use the euro agreed Friday to
ask banks to take bigger writedowns
on Greek bonds. A new
report suggests the value of
Greek bonds might need to be
slashed as much as 60 percent.
Taming Greece´s debts is
an important part of the euro
debt crisis puzzle, but it could
make banks... |
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