PUBLIC MARKS from ravi with tag hypocrisy

Humans inflicted $47 trillion worth of damage to the environment from 1961 to 2000, according to a new study, and poor nations are disproportionately footing the bill. Taking their estimates a step further, the researchers conclude that high- and middle-income nations owe poor nations $3.2 trillion for the damage their development has caused.

US coffee chain Starbucks is denying Ethiopia earnings of £47m ($88m) a year, according to Oxfam.

"That echoes very much the demonology of Nazi Germany when Hitler said it was the Jews' fault and the problems were brought upon themselves. There is a faint echo of that in a lot of the rubbish we have been seeing in the media recently."

NYT gives examples of Leiberman's self-serving shifting positions on Iraq.

Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, told a press conference the omission was because the timing was "a little bit tight" for publication. She said she anticipated the war being dealt with more fully in next year's report. But the authors did find sufficient time to include criticism of the Lebanese-based guerrilla group Hizbullah, and one of its backers, Syria, over attacks on Israel and to provide a figure for Israeli, but not Lebanese, casualties.

...I think they thought [the Iraqi invasion] might clean their own skirts a little since most of what Saddam did that was really terrible, he did when he had the full support of the Republican administrations in the 80's -- of which Dick Cheney was a part.

Venezuela has intensified its calls for the US to extradite one of its nationals who it blames for the bombing of a Cuban plane 30 years ago.