UN praises US Senate effort to cap greenhouse gas emissions; IMF to calculate climate costs; Ukraine pres. backs Tymoshenko for PM...

6 December :: UN says US Senate plan to cap greenhouse gas emissions is step in right direction for US, for public health worldwide, in effort to reduce climate change impact; after new Australian gov't ratified Kyoto Protocol at Bali talks, US is only developed nation not signed on, while Bush admin. representative at Bali says the Senate proposal will not alter gov't policy at present... IMF to publish data and analysis on costs of climate change in 2008, in connection with talks about ways to "climate-proof" economies against the ill effects of volatile climate conditions... Reuters reports "Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko accepted on Thursday the leader of a pro-Western 'orange' coalition, Yulia Tymoshenko, as prime minister"; Tymoshenko and Pres. Yuschenko were allies in the 2004 'Orange revolution' that brought their pro-Western gov't to power, she was his first PM, but split after intense infighting; Parliament now needs to vote on her candidacy... Italian politician has shocked nation, outraged Jews, by saying gov't should treat immigrants according to a Nazi policy that punished 10 Italians for every one Nazi killed; policy is infamous throughout Italy, because Italians who opposed Nazis were brutally killed by Hitler regime, the 10-to-1 concept obviously asserting that group persecution or targetting of innocents, however light the punishment, violating democratic principles fundamentally; a front-page editorial in Il Giornale, a conservative paper that often sides with Bettio's party wrote "Even if he was drunk or his brain short-circuited [...] he must be condemned without appeal"... Fmr Mass. governor and fmr. GOP frontrunner, Mitt Romney, has used a speech in Texas to assure voters his Mormon faith will not intervene in his decisions as president; some analysts have attributed Romney's slipping poll numbers to skepticism about the Mormon church and the perception that he would take advice from church leaders...

Al-Qaeda wants to retake al-Andalus; 10,000 march in Jena, Louisiana, to support jailed teen...

22 September :: Al-Qaeda has announced its intention to recapture the medieval caliphate of Al-Andalus, which covered much of modern Spain; alleged 2nd in command al-Zawahiri says retaking Maghreb and Al-Andalus is an 'obligation', will begin with assault on Spanish, French interests in north Africa, threatening to kidnap westerners working or living in areas where it operates... Two French nationals, one Italian and six Algerians, injured in suicide attack, terrorist group calling itself Al-Qaida pour le Maghreb islamique (AQMI) —or Al-Qaeda for an Islamic Maghreb— claimed responsibility for "first strike" against western Interests in the territory of the medieval western caliphate; AQMI is reportedly operating in Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania as well... 10,000 protesters march in Jena, Louisiana, to call for release of Mychal Bell, whose conviction on charges of aggravated battery, conspiracy, was thrown out by appeals court, demand justice for African-American students accused of attempted murder for beating student who allegedly participated in racial threats, which included nooses hanging from oak tree; DA Walters said of the nooses strung up "I cannot overemphasize what a villainous act that was. The people that did it should be ashamed of what they unleashed on this town", while the NY Times quotes Latese Brown, a 40-year-old demonstrator saying, "If you can figure out how to make a school yard fight into an attempted murder charge, I’m sure you can figure out how to make stringing nooses into a hate crime"...