Calgary: Deep freeze tests city shelters

The bitter cold has put local agencies to the ultimate test, forcing even the hardiest homeless people indoors and filling almost all of the available beds and mats at emergency shelters across Calgary.

On Monday, temperatures dropped to -30 C, with the wind chill making it feel as cold as -39 C. It's expected to warm up to -10 C this afternoon, before plunging into another deep freeze Wednesday.

The cold weather saw 2,355 homeless Calgarians turn to the city's emergency shelters on Sunday night, meaning there were fewer than 200 beds available at the various social agencies.

Environmental activists hiss at Australian PM's climate targets - The China Post

SYDNEY, Australia -- Environmental activists booed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd outside Parliament on Tuesday and called his new plan to reduce carbon emissions by as little as 5 percent by 2020 "the death of the Great Barrier Reef."

Protesters around the country joined demonstrations, throwing shoes at a puppet of Rudd in the southern city of Adelaide and raising a white flag in front of the leader's office in the east coast city of Brisbane. Activists said Rudd - who campaigned on a promise to cut pollution by 60 percent from 2000 levels by 2050 - had surrendered on the issue.