Aussie kids call out govt

– Thousands of children walked out of school across Australia yesterday in protest against government inaction on climate change, prompting a rebuke from a minister who said they were setting themselves up for “failure”.

Children, parents and teachers gathered in Sydney’s central business district in lunch hour, chanting “ScoMo’s got to go”, referring to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

There were similar protests in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and elsewhere after students in the national capital of Canberra held a protest earlier in the week.

“This is just the beginning. This is our first strike, our first movement altogether ... We will keep leading more campaigns until something is done,” one of the protest leaders told the screaming, uniform-wearing crowd.

Australia is one of the largest carbon emitters per capita, partly due to reliance on coal-fired power plants. Earlier this year, the government also weakened its commitment to the United Nations Paris climate accord. – Reuters

Sydney

Buenos Aires

British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday she was focused on persuading lawmakers to back her Brexit deal at a vote in parliament on December 11 rather than preparing a plan B.

May secured an agreement with European Union (EU) leaders on Sunday that will see Britain leave the bloc in March next year with continued close trade ties. But the odds look stacked against her getting it through a deeply divided British parliament.

The deal has been criticised by