News week 3
18 Dec 2015
'This is a load of cobblers!' Boris Johnson grilled over garden bridge
“This whole thing is a load of cobblers!” huffed a flustered Boris Johnson, sitting at his round table in London’s City Hall on Thursday afternoon. “We need to get on and build this bridge … you just cannot bear the idea that a great project is going ahead. That is what this is all about. A load of cobblers.”
It was the surreal climax to what felt like something of a festive garden bridge pantomime. The fairy lights of a Christmas market twinkled through the windows while tourists shuffled along the south bank clutching cups of mulled wine, oblivious to the heated debate going on inside the chamber. The mayor had been summoned, along with the head of Transport for London Mike Brown and its planning director Richard de Cani, to explain themselves to the Greater London Authority’s Oversight Committee over the murky genesis of the proposed garden bridge. And Boris, chief bridge booster, was getting increasingly hot under the collar.
The cross-party committee was here to get to the bottom of why the garden bridge project has followed such an unconventional, fast-tracked process sinceJoanna Lumley first wrote to Johnson in 2012 with an idea for a fairytale crossing. Following a calm, level-headed line of questioning, they asked how the mayor first heard of the bridge idea; if he knew Lumley was an Associate at Heatherwick Studio [the bridge’s architect] when they met; how many meetings they’d had before the official tender was launched; why TfL’s own legal advice about how to procure the project was ignored; and why the strong criticisms of the process in the internal audit were removed.
It was a forensic grilling, aided by a weighty stack of confidential documents released after countless Freedom of Information requests, that was batted back by a combination of Boris bluster and procedural admin-speak from Brown and de Cani.
Credit:http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2015/dec/18/boris-johnson-grilled-over-garden-bridge
19 Dec 2015
Philippines storm death toll hits 35 as rains threaten to worsen flooding
President declares ‘national calamity’ as nation struggles to recover from typhoons Melor and Koppu
Heavy rains pummelled the whole of the Philippines on Saturday, threatening to aggravate flooding that has prompted the government to declare a state of “national calamity”.
The death toll after a week of devastating weather has risen to 35, according to confirmed reports from national and local disaster monitoring agencies.
A tropical depression that has weakened into a low pressure area brought rains to the central Visayas islands and Mindanao, the main southern island, according to the government weather station.
Cold monsoon winds blowing from the north-east brought rains to Luzon, the main northern island, where large farming communities have been submerged in mostly waist-deep floods from typhoon Melor, which hit at the start of the week.
Areas inundated by Melor have barely recovered from floods brought by typhoon Koppu in October.
In 2013, super typhoon Haiyan wiped out entire fishing communities in the central islands, leaving 7,350 people dead or missing.
20 Dec 2015
Making the most of your eyebrows
Strengthen your eyebrow look by faking it till you make it
The legacy of Cara D lives on above the pouting eyes of every teenage girl, every woman on the train. Eyebrows continue to be described as “bold”, meaning big, dark, “there”. But for those not blessed with a strong natural brow, or those who plucked the life out of them in the 90s, the tools to help fake them are better than ever, from shadows to highlighters, and enough tiny brushes to set up a doll’s art school.
Get the look
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21 Dec 2015
Crown slips as Miss Universe 2015 host names the wrong woman as winner
Crown swiftly removed from Miss Colombia and given to Miss Philippines after host realises his mistake at the end of the ceremony in Las Vegas
The Miss Universe 2015 contest has ended in confusion and disarray after the host mistakenly named the wrong woman as the winner.
Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo from Colombia had already been crowned and was standing on stage to cheers from the Las Vegas audience when mortified host Steve Harvey returned to announce the error.
“OK, folks, um, I have to apologise,” he said, walking back on stage while Arevalo was proudly waving to fans, holding the winner’s bouquet and wearing the Miss Universe sash.
“The first runner-up is Colombia,” he went on, “Miss Universe 2015 is Philippines.”
The camera panned straight to a stunned Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, who started slowly walking to the front of the stage. For a few awkward moments the two women stood side by side, in front of a TV audience of millions from around the world, before Harvey explained that he read the card naming the winner and runner-up in the wrong order.
Associated Press contributed to this report
22 Dec 2015
Nations urged to improve climate pledges by April 2017
Climate Home: Date UN shuts book for signing Paris agreement is the moment for world to show it’s cutting carbon faster, says Dutch thinktank
The slogan on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, after a global agreement on climate change was signed. Photograph: Li Genxing/Xinhua Press/Corbis
In a new global warming pact, countries set out milestones over the next five years in a bid to bridge the gap between national targets and what science recommends.
Climate offers from 187 out of 195 countries fail to cap warming to the upper limit of 2C this century. Instead the planet is set to heat up at least 2.7C, according to the UN.
That’s why a “global stocktake” of pledges to reduce greenhouse emissions or “intended nationally determined contributions” is slated for 2018. And by 2020, the pact encourages – but does not require – countries to submit updated plans.
But instead of allowing the years to pass by, a group of researchers involved in drafting countries’ pledges is calling for action today.
A suitable time to do this is 21 April 2017, the day the official signature book closes at UNHQ in New York, The Hague-based body says. The agreement will take effect in 2020, provided 55 countries accounting for 55% of global emissions ratify it.
The EU has ruled out any increased ambition in its 2030 pledge until the next Commission is appointed in 2020. Analysts say it is unlikely top emitters the US, China or India will revise their INDCs before 2020.
Argentina and Canada however are due to review their pledges, following recent changes of government.
23 Dec 2015
Thailand's junta releases poll showing 99.3% of citizens happy with its performance
Coup leaders have promised to return country to democracy in 2017 but continue to use powers to stifle dissent
Thai junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha salutes at a military ceremony in 2014. A junta-produced opinion poll says that 99.3% of Thais are happy with the military govrnment’s rule. Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA
Thailand’s military junta, which took power in a coup last year and has smothered public criticism of its rule, has conducted a poll that found more than 99% of Thais are happy with its performance.
The National Statistics Office released the results of the poll, which questioned 2,700 people nationwide, one day before the government was due to present its one-year performance review.
Thailand’s rulers, who toppled the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra in a coup in May 2014, have stifled the media and banned political gatherings. They have promised to bring stability to a country that suffered months of bloody protests.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has attempted to boost morale in the country while also detaining journalists, academics and activists. The general wrote a new song this week for the end of the year titled “Because You Are Thailand” in an attempt to boost morale.
“I have only two hands and breathe alone. There may not be enough power to make a dream come true,” the song goes. “But if we join hands and breathe together, the day we hope for is not far away.”
It is not clear if the lyrics refer to general elections, which the military has promised to hold but not until at least 2017 as part of a complicated roadmap that can be delayed at several points.
Prayuth’s other tune, written a month after his military took power and called “Returning Happiness to the People”, is frequently played on state media.
The performance poll found 98.9% of respondents were confident in the government’s efforts to solve Thailand’s problems and 99.3% said they were satisfied with the overall performance.
24 Dec 2015
Christmas travellers told to expect road and rail delays across England
Roadworks and speed restrictions in place at 43 locations, with several major train routes closed for maintenance
The roadworks affect 196 miles of routes across England, the Highways Agency said, after it lifted 400 miles of roadworks in time for the festive season. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA
Travellers hoping for a painless festive getaway have been warned to expect delays on major railway lines and nearly 200 miles of major roads.
The roadworks affect 196 miles of routes across England, the Highways Agency said, after it lifted 400 miles of roadworks in time for the festive season.
Adding to the strain on the road network, major rail routes including the Heathrow Express and a busy stretch of the west coast mainline will close fromChristmas Eve night until early next week. Fast rail services to the UK’s two biggest airports – Heathrow and Gatwick – are to shut down from Thursday evening, with the Gatwick Express closed for 10 days.
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