AUSTRALIA

AUSTRALIA

The Sydney Morning Herald, May 23: Time and numbers have just about run out for Hillary Clinton. At this late stage in the long struggle against Barack Obama to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, it would surely be in her party’s and her own interests for her to stand aside with good grace. She has already proved beyond doubt that she is no quitter — hanging on tenaciously as her supporters flirt with despair, remorselessly upbeat, pulling off comeback victories in primary contests in key states. Yet she is now in danger of being perceived as something worse than a quitter: a spoiler who is putting the Democrats’ prospects of winning the White House at hazard. Senator Clinton does not see it that way.

Kentucky win

Her good win this week in Kentucky (she lost in Oregon) seems to have stiffened her resolve to stay in the race at least until the final ballots have been held, in South Dakota and Montana, on June 3. Not that these will significantly change the overall electoral mathematics, which have moved inexorably against her. ... She is within her rights, but it makes no sense.

The good news for the Democrats is that she and Senator Obama have stopped attacking each other personally. Senator Clinton now declares that, once the nomination is decided, the party will unite behind the candidate, although she adds the cheeky rider, “whoever she may be”.

BRITAIN

The Observer, London, May 25: Old technology has a noble history of refusing to die. For decades, vinyl has defied the march of the compact disc. Radio was not killed by television. Nearly every desk in every office in the land is piled with barricades of A4, resisting the proselytisers of paperlessness.

Of course, as counter-examples, one might cite the telegram or Betamax. The important factor is not how old a medium might be, but whether or not it serves a purpose better than anything put up to replace it. One invention that passes the test with ease is the mass of printed pages, bound in a portable volume — the book.

Literary festival

This weekend, bibliophiles have descended on Hay-on-Wye for the town’s 20th literary festival. The event has gone from being a cosy bookish get-together to a great cultural jamboree, what Bill Clinton once described as “the Woodstock of the mind.”

New technology has also increased the sheer volume of work published. But a good story, like a good song, has a way of standing out from the crowd. The recipe for success, for creating a literary sensation, is still talent, fired by inspiration, delivered with conviction. A great book remains stubbornly, enigmatically, inimitably analogue.

JAPAN

Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, May 28: The primary goal of the recent climate conference in Kobe was to push forward negotiations for a new climate change protocol to follow the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol, which requires industrial nations to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, expires in 2012. The success of a post-Kyoto agreement depends on whether big emitters that now are, as developing countries, not bound to any emissions reduction targets will commit themselves to international efforts by slashing emissions of heat-trapping gases.

In particular, attention is on China, one of the world’s two leading polluters along with the United States.

Long-term target

Cutting global emissions in half by 2050 was the long-term target the G-8 leaders agreed to “consider seriously” during their summit last year in Germany. Industrial nations need to bear a bigger share of the burden if this goal is to be reached.

The chairman’s summary also made a well-calculated request of developing countries.

The global warming challenge facing the leading powers is how to set convincing emissions targets and make attractive proposals that will induce developing countries to join the fight against harmful climate change.

As host of this year’s G-8 summit, Japan will be tested by this challenge to its diplomatic leadership.