On Dec. 8, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt took the rostrum before a joint session of Congress to ask for a declaration of war on Japan.

A day earlier, at dawn, carrier-based Japanese aircraft had launched a sneak attack devastating the U.S. battle fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Europe’s worst financial crisis in generations is forging a new European Union, pushing Britain to the sidelines and creating a more integrated, fiscally disciplined core of nations under the auspices of a resurgent Germany.

Britain is facing isolation in Europe after prime minister David Cameron vetoed a radical change to the treaty governing the European Union.

All EU countries except Britain signed a "new fiscal compact" treaty giving Brussels ultimate authority over the way EU governments raise taxes and spends revenue.

After two years of foot-dragging on deepening integration, 26 member nations are set to approve a series of tough new rules that will include "automatic consequences" for countries whose public deficits exceed 3 per cent of GDP.

Euro zone members agreed to a treaty that requires stricter fiscal discipline, but efforts to reach unanimity among the members of the European Union failed as Britain refused to go along.

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Lack of urgency in the Durban meeting halls and pressing issues elsewhere threaten to block progress as the UN climate summit enters its final days.

Some delegates said there was no clear process for bridging divides.

Others suggested that the EU summit on Thursday and Friday would see European leaders "thinking of the euro crisis, not the climate crisis".

Most nations appear to want a strong deal - but the exceptions are some of the world's most powerful countries.

HOW do you feel after imbibing a bit of red wine? Euphoric, excited, or perhaps simply cheery? Or are you one of those drinkers prone to suffering a nagging feeling of guilt, combined with an uncomfortable sensation inside your head?

Well now, thanks to new research by Victorian scientists, you could instead simply feel content that you are doing your bit for the environment, as well as for the nation's dairy herd.

New research has found a convenient and practical use for the leftover material from wine-making that will help two sometimes fiercely competing worlds; the environment and agriculture.

When fed the stems, seeds and skins that were left over from making red wine, material known as grape marc, the methane emissions from dairy cows dropped by 20 per cent.

One wonders about charitable souls when they loose it...:

Leaders in the charity sector have questioned the wisdom of a prominent youth worker who has joined Clubs Australia to fight the Government's proposed poker machine reforms.

Youth Off The Streets founder Father Chris Riley has become the face of the clubs' campaign against the reforms, which include mandatory pre-commitment technology.

Father Riley appears on a pamphlet that will be sent today to almost 50 electorates across the eastern states.

from Crikey …..

Menadue: media missing the boat on asylum-seeker coverage

Individuals and companies have strayed too far from recognising the importance of human relationships.

US President Barack Obama's administration has rejected Republican calls to fire the ambassador to Belgium after he suggested that Israeli actions against Palestinians, including settlement building and military strikes, were partly to blame for anti-Semitism in Europe.

Ambassador Howard Gutman, who is Jewish and the son of a Holocaust survivor, said in a speech that a new type of anti-Semitism had emerged in Europe that was not "classic bigotry" but instead linked to "continuing tensions" between Israel and the Palestinian territories and other Arab neighbours.

One of Britain's largest lobbying companies has been secretly recorded boasting about its access to the heart of the Government and how it uses the "dark arts" to bury bad coverage and influence public opinion. An undercover investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, published in The Independent today, has taped senior executives at Bell Pottinger:

Ideas erupt from the mind of Newt Gingrich — bold, unconventional and sometimes troubling and distracting.

On Monday, Mr. Gingrich sought to do damage control on the latest of his Big Thoughts to land him in hot water — helping children bootstrap their way out of poverty by paying them to mop and clean their schools, and rolling back child labor laws that he has called “truly stupid.”

Former Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has urged his successor Tony Abbott to support a conscience vote on the issue of same-sex marriage.

The ALP national conference at the weekend changed its platform to one of support for gay marriage, voting for Labor MPs to be allowed a conscience vote on the issue.

Opinion polls reveal the community is in support of same-sex marriage with a Galaxy Research poll released yesterday showing 76 per of Coalition voters back a conscience vote.

Mr Abbott continues to insist the Coalition strongly opposes any change to the Marriage Act, but he has not vetoed a conscience vote.

"If Australia is going to lift the ban on a country which has not signed a non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, it is hoped it is also applied to Pakistan the same way."

Currently Pakistan has not made any request for uranium from  Australia yet, but Abdullah said this may change in the future.