From discounted sex to free sex
Want free sex while in Copenhagen? Well, you can get it, but you have to sign up online. A Danish sex workers' association named SIO is offering their service free of charge in a defiant response to a request by Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard, the Dutch news agency ANP reports. The mayor's first request on Monday prompted SIO to offer discounts on sex, but the one on Friday, in which the mayor called on hotel owners not to facilitate contact between their guests and prostitutes, was what prompted the freebies. SIO saw the request as discriminatory, and now all its members are offering free sex. Interested customers will find it difficult to be discreet, however, as they "have to register on our site, provide their identity and state that they are a conference delegate if they want to benefit from our generosity," SIO head Susanne Moeller told ANP. Four requests have been made thus far.
China, the poor man at dinner
He Yafei, the Chinese vice-minister of foreign affairs, has come up with a clever analogy to illustrate why his country feels it shouldn't have to suffer economically to reduce atmospheric carbon, likening China to a latecomer at an evening out.
"It's as if all of us are sitting for dinner, we've finished the main course, and then comes the dessert. A poor man walks in and sits down and has dessert and everyone says, 'Right, you have to pay for the meal,'" Agence France-Presse quotes Mr. He as saying.
Developing countries, including China, argue that they are newcomers to the carbon table and the wealthy countries, being chiefly responsible for the emissions leading to global warming, should foot the bill for gorging on greenhouse gases for the past 200 years or so.
Arrests for street protesters
Street protests began yesterday in Copenhagen, reported the Associated Press. They were centred around a meeting of corporate CEOs discussing business and climate change. The 200 protesters showed up banging drums and shouting, "Mind your business. This is our climate." At least 75 protesters were arrested.