Australia is the world’s biggest exporter and fourth biggest producer of coal, but its rich mineral wealth has had a serious impact on the environment.

The coal industry has made Australians the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitters per person ahead of the US.

Now the industry, which is the bedrock of the country’s industrial and economic success, says it is under threat as the government strives to introduce measures to reduce carbon emissions in the fight against climate change.

Labour unions have warned that the industry will have to slash production leading to the loss of as many as 25,000 jobs and earns the country $13 billion in exports.

But environmental campaigners say that Australia has a moral responsibilty to change.

Al Jazeera’s Tony Birtley reports from Newcastle, on Australia’s south east coast, home to the country’s coal industry.

Here’s one view expressed on Online Opinion, Australia’s online journal of social and political debate.

There’s an irony in the rushed construction of a new security fence around the Hazelwood power station, in anticipation of a community protest planned for next weekend.

The government, it seems, is more interested in protecting Hazelwood power station from protestors than protecting our future climate from Hazelwood.

Victoria has been shamed as the least climate-friendly state, running three of Australia’s four dirtiest power stations. And Hazelwood is one of the dirtiest in the developed world, originally scheduled to close this year but in 2005 given a lifeline by the State Government to 2031.

The timing is significant, because it reflects the core climate policy stance of the major parties: hang-on with dirty coal till 2030-35 and pray that by then carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology will work. For now, pour money into CCS research and stall on serious emission-reduction strategies.

This is reflected in the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Treasury modelling for the defeated legislation assumes than Australia’s actual emissions don’t drop below the 1990 baseline till 2035, when it hopes CCS will be commercially viable. The “drop” in emissions in the meanwhile is engineered by buying carbon credits at the cheapest price, presumably from Papua New Guinea and Indonesian forest offset schemes which are already showing signs of being scams in the making.

Another indication of the punt on coal is the federal government’s expansion of Australia’s coal export capacity. The two infrastructure projects announced in 2008 will result in destination nation emissions 17 per cent greater than Australia’s total emissions.

If you are going to bet your house on a horse, you would be very foolish not to be assured that it is going to hit the winning post first. But already CCS, badged as “clean coal” technology, is stumbling.

It won’t be ready in time. Recent analysis from a team at the Potsdam Institute in Germany, whose work was influential in the emissions reduction work published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is startling.

Coal’s technological fix will simply be too late.

A second assumption is that, once available, CCS technology will be able to capture all emissions for all existing power stations or that new power stations will be built to use the technology. The increasingly grim observations of global warming demand that we move to a zero-emissions energy system, and no one is promising that CCS will deliver such an outcome.

Recently the UK government admitted that proposals to require existing plants to fit CCS technology would force their closure on cost grounds. Retrofitting current generators isn’t worthwhile, so CCS depends on building a whole new array of coal-fired power stations if and when it works, at which point our carbon budget will already be in planet-threatening deficit. Waiting to see if that is technologically viable at scale, let alone cost competitive in two decades time, defies the principles of sensible risk management.

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The story in the UK Guardian:

The United States said it was prepared to accept North Korea’s offer for direct talks in an effort to persuade it to return to international nuclear disarmament negotiations.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters that no decision has been made on when or where such a meeting would happen. He also insisted that there has been no shift from previous US statements that Washington would only meet with North Korea as part of the six-nation nuclear negotiating process.

North Korea had pulled out of the talks in April, protesting international criticism of a rocket launch.

“If a bilateral discussion will lead us back to a six-party process, then why would we not do that?” Crowley asked.

He said consultations among President Obama, secretary of state Hillary Clinton and other world leaders about a possible US-North Korea meeting could happen at a UN meeting later this month.

Earlier this week, Stephen Bosworth, the US special envoy on North Korea met in Asia with officials from Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo to discuss the talks among the two Koreas, the US, China, Japan and Russia. North Korea, which conducted its second nuclear test in May, has said it will only talk one-on-one with Washington.

Bosworth said in Japan that Washington is open to bilateral meetings with Pyongyang but not as a substitute for multilateral disarmament talks.

The last six-nation talks took place in Beijing in December 2008. The US has shown no signs of easing pressure on North Korea, despite the release of two American journalists and five South Koreans detained there and other conciliatory gestures.

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South Africa spends more on healthcare than any other African country. But over half of that is spent treating HIV/Aids.

Overwhelmed and underfunded public hospitals are also struggling to cope with one of the highest tuberclosis rates in the world. While basic care is free in South Africa in public hospitals and clinics, over 80% of South Africans lack health insurance.

Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa reports from Johannesburg on the challenges of making healthcare affordable. More from the National Post:

A lack of leadership has left South Africa’s health system burdened by rampant HIV, poor maternal and child health services, and violent crime, doctors said in The Lancet.

“Although South Africa is considered a middle-income country in terms of its economy, it has health outcomes that are worse than those in many lower income countries,” South African doctors said in the British medical journal.

The journal published a series of articles highlighting the challenges facing South Africa’s health system, which has been transformed into a comprehensive national service 15 years after the end of apartheid.

But the country faces a collision of epidemics including AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as a high level of deadly violence and poor services for mothers and children, the articles said.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi described the country’s the health system as in trouble.

“Both the private and public sectors are in trouble. As government we take responsibility of the mistakes especially with regards to HIV/AIDS where wrong policies were adopted,” he said at a press conference.

“However, some of the problems we have inherited from apartheid and colonialism,” he added.

Motsoaledi met on Monday with a team of international experts, including the articles’ authors, in Johannesburg to discuss ways to battle South Africa’s health challenges, which the articles blamed on weak leadership.

“Failures in leadership and stewardship and weak management have led to inadequate implementation of what are often good policies,” South African researchers said in one article.

Former president Thabo Mbeki for years denied the threat posed by AIDS, questioning whether HIV causes the illness and delaying the rollout of life-prolonging drugs.

Lancet editor Richard Horten said the election of President Jacob Zuma earlier this year offered an opportunity to redress the mistakes of the past.

“The catastrophic failure of previous leadership to address certain health issues has broken the trust of the South Africa public and betrayed the trust of the international medical community,” he said.

The articles highlighted gaping differences in health care among South Africa’s provinces, pointing to the lack of national coordination.

In the Western Cape, home to Cape Town, 80% of tuberculosis cases were cured in 2007. In KwaZulu-Natal, where the port city of Durban is located, the rate was as low as 40%. Poor mother and child services mean South Africa was among just 12 nations that saw child mortality increase since 1990, the journal said.

AIDS remains the biggest challenge to South Africa’s health system, with 5.5 million people living with HIV — about 17% of the world total.

But many people with HIV also suffer from tuberculosis, while ailments like obesity, heart disease, substance abuse and anxiety and depression are also on the rise, the articles said.

South Africa’s alarming crime rate poses another burden to the health system, the articles said, including the high incidence of homicide, domestic abuse and rape.

The violent death rate in South Africa is nearly five times the average worldwide, according to the report.

“Violence is profoundly gendered, with young men (aged 15-29 years) disproportionately engaged in violence both as victims and perpetrators,” the researchers said.

“Half the female victims of homicide are killed by their intimate male partners and the country has an especially high rate of rape of women and girls.”

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The number of hippos in Colombia descended from the pair imported by Pablo Escobar has grown to over 30 and is expected to reach a 100 by 2020.

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The violence was caused by a row between the government and the leaders of the ancient kingdom of Buganda.

Despite claims the security forces have things under control there are still reports of violence and beatings. More from All Africa:

Ugandan police have used excessive force during clashes with rioting supporters of a local monarch in which at least 10 people died, according to a human rights watchdog.

The clashes erupted on 10 September in the capital, Kampala, sparked off by a planned visit by King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi of Buganda kingdom to the central district of Kayunga on 12 September.

Kayunga is part of Buganda kingdom, but a minority community in the area is opposed to the trip. Kingdom officials say the central government is trying to thwart the visit.

“The available evidence raises serious concerns that police used excessive force in confronting demonstrators,” Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement. “A thorough investigation is needed to find out who is responsible.”

Riots continued across the city and in several neighbouring districts on 11 September, with local media reporting five more people gunned down by the police. The Ugandan police deny the allegations.

The government has also suspended four Luganda language FM stations on the grounds that they were instigating violence.

Kings Without Clout
Before the British colonized it in the 19th century, Uganda comprised several kingdoms – most of which eventually lost their political clout. In 1976, kingdoms were abolished by President Milton Obote. In 1993, President Yoweri Museveni restored them, but as cultural institutions.

The main kingdoms include:

Uganda’s largest and most politically powerful kingdom, Buganda is located in the central region along the shores of Lake Victoria. Kampala is also home to Mengo, the seat of the Kabaka (king).

The Baganda are the largest ethnic community in Uganda, with an estimated five million people.

During the colonial era, Buganda became the most influential kingdom in Uganda when the British rewarded it for its collaboration by giving it territories that belonged to the western kingdom of Bunyoro.

Many Baganda have, for several years, unsuccessfully lobbied the government to introduce a federal form of government that would give some autonomy to the regions.

The current kabaka is Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II.

The kingdom of Bunyoro, with about 700,000 people, is in western Uganda along the shores of Lake Albert. It casts itself as the oldest East African kingdom, and is ruled by an Omukama.

Historically one of the most militarily powerful kingdoms, Bunyoro opposed colonization and paid for it with the loss of some territory.

Much of the oil recently discovered in Uganda is in this region.

The current Omukama is Solomon Gafabusa Iguru 1, the 27th king of Bunyoro.

Traditionally, the Acholi people of northern Uganda were organized in groups of clans presided over by a Rwot, or paramount chief.

Two decades of war in the north between the government and Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, however, forced about two million Acholi to abandon their homes and seek refuge in camps.

Currently, the kingdom is using traditional Acholi justice systems – such as mato oput, where the offender confesses his crime and is absolved – to try to build peace and reconciliation.

The current Rwot is David Acana Onen II.

On the eastern shores of Lake Victoria where the source of the River Nile is located, Busoga is one of the country’s oldest kingdoms. Ruled by a Kyabazinga, the kingdom has about two million subjects.

A succession struggle followed the death in 2008 of the previous Kyabazinga, Henry Wako Muloki. In June, Prince Edward Columbus Wambuzi installed himself as the new Kyabazinga, but opposition remains.

Also in western Uganda, the Toro kingdom – with about 800,000 subjects – was formerly part of Bunyoro; its leader is also called the Omukama.

Currently, the kingdom is using traditional Acholi justice systems – such as mato oput, where the offender confesses his crime and is absolved – to try to build peace and reconciliation.

The current Rwot is David Acana Onen II.

On the eastern shores of Lake Victoria where the source of the River Nile is located, Busoga is one of the country’s oldest kingdoms. Ruled by a Kyabazinga, the kingdom has about two million subjects.

A succession struggle followed the death in 2008 of the previous Kyabazinga, Henry Wako Muloki. In June, Prince Edward Columbus Wambuzi installed himself as the new Kyabazinga, but opposition remains.

Also in western Uganda, the Toro kingdom – with about 800,000 subjects – was formerly part of Bunyoro; its leader is also called the Omukama.

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