Thailand’s main opposition Democrat Party has announced it will boycott snap elections set for 2 February. Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva told a news conference it would not be fielding candidates, saying: “Thai politics is at a failed stage”. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the election earlier this month in a bid to end weeks of mass protests. The head of the Thai army has warned the country’s political divisions […]
STORY HIGHLIGHTS Jo Becker: Outcry over Indian diplomat’s arrest overshadows issue of domestic worker abuse Becker: Routine strip search in U.S. is humiliating, degrading, and it’s rare in India She says domestic workers face slavelike labor, physical abuse, excessive hours Becker: Report found domestic worker abuse among diplomats who have immunity The uproar in India over the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York is growing. Indians are protesting […]
For decades, both parties supplanted a push for higher wages with well-intended public aid. The result: calamity 2013 is the year many Americans discovered the crisis of the working poor. It turns out it’s also the crisis of the welfare poor. That’s tough for us: Americans notoriously hate welfare, unless it’s called something else and/or benefits us personally. We think it’s for slackers and moochers and people who won’t pull […]
The United Nations says it fears casualties after attackers forced their way into a peacekeeping base in South Sudan’s Jonglei state. Rebels from the country’s second-largest ethnic group, the Nuer, attacked the base, targeting civilians of the majority Dinka ethnic community. South Sudan has been in turmoil since President Salva Kiir accused his ex-deputy Riek Machar of mounting a coup. The unrest, which broke out on Sunday, has killed […]
DNA analysis of early human remains from a Siberian cave has revealed the existence of a mystery human species. A team of researchers speculates that this could have been Homo erectus, which lived in Europe and Asia a million years ago or more. Meanwhile, the researchers report that they have also obtained the most complete DNA sequence ever from a Neanderthal. Details of the work appear in Nature journal. Finds […]
7,000 electricity customers without power in Northern Ireland, and another 3,500 in north-west England Nearly 900 homes also lose electricity in South Wales after a high-voltage electrical cable is blown down Air France and Ryanair aeroplanes seen landing sideways at Bristol Airport in dramatic videos and images Environment Agency has put in place 25 flood warnings and 117 flood alerts across England and Wales Republic of Ireland also affected as […]
Digital danger: ‘The bad guys are trying to steal your privacy, too’ Cyber criminals will still be out in force in 2014, but privacy is expected to come to the forefront of digital concerns. Along with scams, cyber security firms see a continued risk to citizens’ privacy with basic activities such as posting on social media sites, downloading apps on their smartphones and, of course, through indiscretions. “The bad guys […]
STORY HIGHLIGHTS European Space Agency’s Gaia has been tasked with making a 3D map of the Milky Way Telescope so sensitive that makers say it could measure a human thumbnail from Moon One of Gaia’s objectives is to help in hunt for exoplanets Mission applauded for building up most accurate charts of the cosmos What do you need to map a billion stars? A billion-pixel camera certainly helps. Scientists hope […]
As the US debates how to reform its immigration system – and deal with roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country – wealthy foreigners already have a legal route to a new life in America. A visa programme called EB-5 offers overseas investors the opportunity to get permanent residence – a green card – in return for $1m (£614,000). In areas with high unemployment, the visas are available […]
STORY HIGHLIGHTS Man cut off hand at work and searched for a surgeon for 7 hours The surgeon attached it to his calf where there was a good blood supply There have been about 20 such successful operations in all of China A worker operating a machine in a family workshop in China accidentally cut off his hand — which doctors were able to save by grafting it onto his […]
