TENS of thousands of protesters have joined rallies across Australia on a day of worldwide demonstrations calling for action to tackle climate change.
Some of the first rallies in what is being billed as a “global climate strike” began in Sydney and Canberra, with demonstrators calling on leaders in Australia, the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas, to take more drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Global Strike 4 Climate said protests are being staged in 110 towns and cities across Australia today, with an estimated 300,000 people taking part. Organisers are demanding government and businesses commit to a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Inspired by climate change activist Greta Thunberg, similar rallies are planned across the globe, with 800 events set to take place in the US.
MEANWHILE, North Korea has praised US president Donald Trump for saying Washington may pursue an unspecified “new method” in nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang.
Talks have been stalled for months by disagreements over trade-offs between sanctions relief and disarmament steps. In a statemenT, North Korean diplomat Kim Myong Gil, who will be leading planned working-level talks with Washington, also praised the US president’s decision to fire his former national security adviser John Bolton, who advocated the “Libya model” of unilateral denuclearisation as a template for North Korea. Pyongyang has repeatedly demanded that Washington reconsider its stance.
ELSEWHERE, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau says he is wary of being definitive about how many times he has worn brown or blackface because he did not recall the recent pictures that have surfaced.
Trudeau’s election campaign is trying to contain a growing furore after a yearbook photo surfaced of him in brownface at a 2001 costume party and two other similar incidents came to light.
Canada’s Global News television network broadcast a brief video of Trudeau in blackface while raising his hands in the air and sticking out his tongue.
The network said it it is not clear when and where it was taken. The prime minister at first did not answer repeated questions about how many times he wore blackface or brownface.
He later said he did not recall the pictures.
FINALLY, Google’s top boss has said the tech giant is planning to invest 3 billion euros (£2.6 billion) to expand its data centres across Europe in the next two years.
Chief executive Sundar Pichai said it will bring the company’s total investments in the continent’s internet infrastructure to 15 billion euros (£13.2 billion) since 2007.
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