NewsTrust - Australia - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Wind farms can increase night time temperatures, research reveals

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Damian Carrington - Apr. 29 - Study in US claims building of huge wind farms in Texas has increased night temperatures by up to 0.72C Large windfarms can increase local night time temperatures by fanning warmer air onto the ground, new research has revealed. The study used satellite data to show that the building of huge wind farms in west Texas over the last decade has warmed the nights by up to 0.72C. "Wind power is going to be a part of the solution to the climate change, air pollution and energy security problem," said Liming Zhou, at the University of Albany in New York. "But understanding the impacts of wind farms is critical for developing management strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of wind power." West Texas has seen rapid expansion of wind farms , with turbine numbers rising from 111 in 2003 to 2358 in 2011. Zhou's team compared the land surface temperatures at the wind farms with other areas across this period and detected a clear rise at night. They note, however, that the effect on the ...

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The World from Berlin: 'Dear God, Let's Get it Over With'

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:04:00 -0700

Der Spiegel - Sep. 22 - DPA A pope protester awaits the pontiff's arrival on Thursday. The pope's visit to Germany this week promises to be difficult. Abuse scandals among priests worldwide have dimmed enthusiasm for the leader of the Catholic Church, even in his homeland, and

NewsTrust Rating: 2.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Why we're still split over the atom

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Sydney Morning Herald - By Deborah Smith - Mar. 20 (Opinion) - The Fukushima nuclear crisis will have a lasting impact in Australia. Comfortably reliant on enormous coal reserves - and with Homer Simpson helping shape attitudes to nuclear power - Australia is most unlikely to adopt this energy source to tackle climate change in the near future. Twenty-five years after the Chernobyl disaster, with community concerns focused on the hazards of a warming world, there had been signs of a public reconsideration of nuclear as a low-carbon option. But any fledgling support is now likely to evaporate, researchers say. Advertisement: Story continues below Australians have long tended to have polarised views on nuclear energy. And those in each camp still see things very differently after events of the past week in Japan.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The sexist media coverage of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is up for re-election.

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Slate - By Chloe Angyal - Aug. 19 (Opinion) - But even with a truncated season for punditry, the Australian media have hit all the same sexist notes about Gillard that the American media played in their coverage of women in politics like Hillary Clinton, Elena Kagan, and Sarah Palin. Since she has

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Young Australians eye future World Cup

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

United Press International - Jun. 17 (Opinion) -

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Tax reprieve for savers

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Sydney Morning Herald - Apr. 20 (Editorial) - Bringing savers into line would erase this inequity between different investment vehicles. This is important because often it is those on lower incomes - students, younger savers, older retirees - who have their money in term deposits and at-call savings accounts. They stand to gain the most from the opportunity to boost savings in midlife, rather than retirement, enabling them to spend more on education or buying a home.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Australia 'whitewashing' security situations

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The Age - By Andra Jackson - Apr. 13 (Opinion) - People are still fleeing Afghanistan because minorities are being abused and they have nowhere else to go, according to the CEO of refugee support group, Refugee Survivors and Ex-Detainees.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Australia attacked over internet plans

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Charles Arthur - Mar. 30 - US is also 'concerned' at plans to block flow of information and experts say state-controlled check will slow browsersAustralia came under fire today from the United States for its proposed internet filtering system, which, if implemented, would be the strictest of any democracy.A US state department official said that it had raised concerns with Australia over the plans, which are to be voted on by its parliament."We remain committed to advancing the free flow of information, which we view as vital to economic prosperity and preserving open societies globally," Michael Tran, a state department spokesman told the Associated Press."We don't discuss the details of specific diplomatic exchanges, but I can say that we have raised our concerns on this matter with Australian officials."Internet companies Google and Yahoo have already condemned the proposal as a heavy-handed measure that could restrict access to legal information.Australia's communications minister, Stephen Conroy, said the filter would block access to sites that include child pornography, sexual violence and detailed instructions in crime or drug use. The list of banned sites could be updated based on public complaints. But he declined to say what the US had told Australia.National censorship of overseas sites is becoming a trade issue. Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, told the Guardian last week :"Since services and information are our most successful exports, if regulations in China effectively prevent us from being competitive, then they are a trade barrier."Many countries – including the UK – use filtering systems to limit access to outlawed material: in the UK the independent Internet Watch Foundation lists sites internet service providers (ISPs) are asked to block. The list is secret, and frequently updated. In Germany and Canada ISPs use similar blocking systems; in Italy gambling sites are blocked.But critics say that the Australian plan, which has been proposed repeatedly over the past five years, exceeds what is necessary and strays into matters of free speech."Our primary concern is that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide," Google wrote in its submission to the Australian government, suggesting that the filter – which would be mandatory and state-controlled – would slow browsing speeds.The company said it already had its own filter to block child pornography."Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available and we agree," Google said. "But moving to a mandatory ISP-level filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond such material is heavy-handed and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information."Lucinda Barlow of Google Australia told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the proposal raised the possibility of banning politically and socially controversial material and went beyond filters used in Germany, Canada and Italy. Other critics say the filtering would put Australia in the same censorship league as China.Yahoo said the filter would block many sites with controversial content such as euthanasia discussion forums and gay and lesbian forums that discuss sexual experiences. Yet it would not block peer-to-peer file-sharing, nor prevent predators approaching children in chat programs or social networking sites.Conroy said his department would take the comments from Google and Yahoo into consideration before sending a proposal to parliament later this year.The US State Department sided with Google in its row with China over censorship when in January the search engine company complained that its systems had been hacked into in what it implied was an attack all but government-sanctioned by China. Last week Google moved its search systems to the Chinese island dependency of Hong Kong. The communist government responded by blocking searches from the mainland for forbidden topics such as the pro-democracy movement.David Vaile of the Cyberspace Law and Policy Center at the University of New South Wales said China and Australia had markedly different approaches to restricting the Internet."China's filter is explicitly about discouraging access to and discussion of certain clearly political topics," he said, while Australia's filter would focus on specifically restricted material.While some critics of Australia's filter have said it puts the nation in the same censorship league as China, Vaile pointed out that the freedom-of-speech argument used by American companies follows a legal tradition that other countries do not necessarily share.Yahoo and Google are accustomed to the protections of the First Amendment of the US constitution,which guarantees freedom of speech and elevates it to a very high legal status, Vaile said."In Australia there is no equivalent," he said. "There is no law that says you've got free speech. Having a lack of any legal protection for free speech for any effective restraint on [filters] is something that's worrying."AustraliaCensorshipInternetUnited StatesYahooGoogleUS economyTelecommunications industryPornographyCharles Arthurguardian.co.uk ? Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Ruling denies justice for Australian crash victims

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Sydney Morning Herald - By Danielle Teutsch - Dec. 13 (Comment) - THE families of the Australians killed in the Garuda plane crash in 2007 are angry and disappointed that the pilot will escape a prison term and will be able to return to flying if he chooses.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

US climate debate may be sidelined

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Age - By Fergus Green - Sep. 29 (Opinion) - Despite the compelling case for bold US leadership through concerted international and domestic action, any attempt by a new administration to reduce US emissions -- or to promise to do so -- earlier and more substantially than major emerging economies such as China and India will meet with staunch resistance from fossil-fuel producing and dependent industries which have extraordinary influence in the Congress.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Clutches of a dictatorship

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Australian - By Greg Sheridan - Aug. 07 (Opinion) - My attitude to China hasn't changed much since 1985. I still love its culture but detest its politics. After the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, there was for a little while a renewed sense of counterfactual optimism. If the Communist Party had to resort to murdering its people in large numbers in the central square, surely its days were numbered. In fact that analysis has so far proved absolutely wrong. The party has undoubtedly managed the Chinese economy well and lifted the living standards of hundreds of millions of people. It deserves a lot of credit for that. But it has shown it is still perfectly willing to imprison or kill its people if they pose a threat to its rule.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Carbon play an act of belief

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Australian - By Jennifer Hewett - Jul. 19 (Opinion) - The prospect of sacrifice for the common good always looks more attractive the more distant it is, particularly in an economic climate that suddenly looks a lot more frightening. Still, the immutable law of politics is that governments can win through if they persuade people there are long-term benefits to be had, no matter how tough it seems in the short term.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer