News from the world
Thirty degrees below – and at least a hundred dead: Europe's big freeze
03.02.2012 08:22
Independent: With record snowfalls, icy winds, and thousands of people trapped in remote villages, much of Central and Eastern Europe is in the grip of a cold snap that has caused more than 100 deaths. Temperatures in parts of Ukraine and other Eastern European countries are hovering around -30C...
No Need to Panic About Global Warming
01.02.2012 10:34
WSJ: There's no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to 'decarbonize' the world's economy.
Editor's Note: The following has been signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article:
A candidate for public office in any contemporary democracy may have to consider what, if...
Blue balls theories rage after Dorset storm mystery
30.01.2012 15:39
BBC: A number of theories have been put forward to explain the presence of blue jelly spheres found in a Dorset garden.
Steve Hornsby from Bournemouth reported the 3cm diameter balls came raining down last Thursday during a hailstorm.
Theories include the balls being crystals used in floral...
European Parliament rapporteur quits in Acta protest
30.01.2012 09:13
BBC: Negotiations over a controversial anti-piracy agreement have been described as a "masquerade" by a key Euro MP.
Kader Arif, the European Parliament's rapporteur for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta), resigned over the issue on Friday.
He said he had witnessed...
Reuters Magazine: The one percent war
27.01.2012 11:38
Reuters: When Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist who has studied and advised most of the leaders in the former Soviet Union, visited Kiev in late 2004, at the height of the Orange Revolution, he returned to his office in Washington, D.C., with a surprising observation. Most reports depicted the...
Subculture of Americans prepares for civilization's collapse
26.01.2012 10:04
(Reuters) - When Patty Tegeler looks out the window of her home overlooking the Appalachian Mountains in southwestern Virginia, she sees trouble on the horizon.
"In an instant, anything can happen," she told Reuters. "And I firmly believe that you have to be prepared."
Tegeler is among a...
Bird-Flu Virus Engineered in Wisconsin Lab Isn’t Fatal, Scientist Says
26.01.2012 09:11
Bloomberg: An airborne strain of avian flu engineered in Wisconsin isn’t lethal and can be blocked with existing medicines, the study’s lead scientist said.
While the mutated virus was contagious among laboratory ferrets, it didn’t kill any of them, said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor of...
Shoichi Yokoi, the Japanese soldier who held out in Guam
25.01.2012 09:19
BBC: It's exactly 40 years since a Japanese soldier was found in the jungles of Guam, having survived there for nearly three decades after the end of WWII. He was given a hero's welcome on his return to Japan - but never quite felt at home in modern society.
For most of the 28 years that...
IMF's Christine Lagarde warns of '1930s moment'
24.01.2012 10:43
BBC: IMF chief Christine Lagarde has warned the world faces an economic spiral reminiscent of the 1930s unless action is taken on the eurozone crisis.
Ms Lagarde, speaking in Berlin, warned of a danger of rising unemployment if governments did not act together.
She said the Fund needed 500bn...
Europe's top judge: Cameron is wrong about human rights
24.01.2012 10:32
Independent: Europe's most senior judge launches an attack on David Cameron today, accusing the British Government of pandering to the tabloid press in its criticism of the European Court of Human Rights.
Writing in The Independent on the eve of the Prime Minister's visit to Strasbourg, where...
Megaupload file-sharing site shut down
20.01.2012 11:03
BBC: Megaupload, one of the internet's largest file-sharing sites, has been shut down by officials in the US.
The site's founders have been charged with violating piracy laws.
Federal prosecutors have accused it of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue. The firm...
Cruise captain 'committed errors', say ship's owners
16.01.2012 08:16
BBC: The company operating a cruise ship that capsized after hitting rocks off western Italy on Friday says the captain may have "committed errors".
He appears to have sailed too close to land and not to have followed the company's emergency procedures, Costa Crociere said in a...
Sex gets better with age say scientists
13.01.2012 10:12
The Telegraph: Sex really does get better with age because older women get satisfaction from physical closeness, research has found.
New findings reveal that almost two thirds [61 per cent] of women as old as 80 were satisfied with their sex lives, even though just one in five reported a high...
Budvar Beer Exports Reach Record High in 2011
05.01.2012 12:56
WSJ: PRAGUE — State-owned Czech brewery Budvar, which has been fighting a long legal battle with American brewer Anheuser-Busch over the use of the “Budweiser” brand, says its 2011 exports rose by 7.8% to reach a record high.
Budejovicky Budvar NP says it exported more than 650,000 hectoliters...
Moody men 'more attractive' than happy men
05.01.2012 10:38
The Telegraph: Happy men don't get the girl because women find moody looking men far more attractive, according to scientific research.
The study suggests that flashing a 'winning smile' is not the way to a woman's heart.
Indeed, men who swagger or look gloomy are much more likely to get pulses...
Meryl Streep attends premiere of The Iron Lady at the British Film Institute in London
05.01.2012 07:44
The Telegraph: Meryl Streep revealed tonight she wanted to show the "human being" behind Margaret Thatcher's fearsome reputation.
The Oscar-winning actress plays the former British Prime Minister in controversial biopic The Iron Lady which premiered at the BFI in London.
Streep said: "I...
In Queen Victoria’s glorious footsteps
05.01.2012 07:40
The Telegraph: When the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee in June she will face fewer diplomatic dilemmas than her great-great grandmother, the empress of India.
Sixty years on, the Queen was in no mood for great celebration. Her beloved husband, Albert, had died 36 years before. The days of...
Switzerland's Best Fondue
03.01.2012 08:17
WSJ: Size is not Switzerland's main asset. If the country were a U.S. state, it would rank 42nd in size, right between West Virginia and Maryland. The drive between its two biggest cities, Zurich in the northeast and Geneva in the southwest corner, takes just three picturesque hours, past church...
French breast implant fears spread around world
23.12.2011 09:30
(Reuters) - Fears over the safety of breast implants made by a now defunct French firm spread to Australia, South America and across Europe on Thursday as French officials prepared to decide if thousands of women should have their implants surgically removed.
The silicone gel implants,...
Too late to contain killer flu science, say experts
23.12.2011 09:29
Independent: US government's hopes of suppressing details of controversial research may be doomed, say scientists
Attempts to suppress details of the controversial experiments that have created a highly infectious form of bird flu virus are likely to fail, according to scientists familiar with...
In ad for newsletter, Ron Paul forecast "race war"
23.12.2011 09:28
(Reuters) - A direct-mail solicitation for Ron Paul's political and investment newsletters two decades ago warned of a "coming race war in our big cities" and of a "federal-homosexual cover-up" to play down the impact of AIDS.
The eight-page letter, which appears to carry Paul's signature at...