21 Jan, 2013

Chris Hedges: A Time for ‘Sublime Madness’ – Truthdig

Posted on Jan 20, 2013 By Chris Hedges The planet we have assaulted will convulse with fury. The senseless greed of limitless capitalist expansion will implode the global economy. The decimation of civil liberties, carried out in the name of fighting terror, will shackle us to an interconnected security and surveillance state that stretches from [...]

20 Jan, 2013

China set to lead smartphone market in 2013

China Daily

2013-01-18 (China Daily) – China will cement its lead as the world’s largest smartphone market in 2013 as the nation is expected to sell 240 million smartphones, nearly one-third of global shipments, industry analysis firm Canalys said on Thursday. Analysts said Chinese manufacturers will dominate the domestic market and are well positioned to enter overseas [...]

20 Jan, 2013

China increases holdings of US debt

By ZHANG YUWEI in New York and CHEN JIA in Beijing (China Daily)

Beijing, 2013-01-18  – China, the biggest foreign creditor of the United States, increased its holdings of US Treasury bills to $1.17 trillion in November, up $200 million from the previous month, the Treasury Department disclosed on Wednesday. According to the department’s monthly Treasury International Capital report, November saw a rebound in foreign demand for US [...]

20 Jan, 2013

10 simple things that make us happy – Indian Express

It’s the little things in life that give us the greatest moments of happiness, a new survey has revealed. The researchers found that5 nothing can beat the burst of pleasure you get on at discovering a forgotten 20-pound note in the pocket of an old coat. The next best thrill is being notified that you’ve [...]

20 Jan, 2013

Maha Kumbh Mela: Now a Harvard University case study – Indian Express

The Maha Kumbh Mela, considered the largest public gathering in the world, will be the subject of a case study at Harvard University, which will study the logistics and economics behind it and the “pop-up mega-city” that comes to life in Allahabad during the religious event. A team of faculty and students from Harvard’s Faculty [...]

20 Jan, 2013

Banking system shows signs of instability on rising NPAs: RBI – Indian Express

The banking system has recently shown signs of moderate rise in instability due to increase in non-performing assets (NPAs), the Reserve Bank has said in a working paper. “The movements in the banking stability indicator…that there are symptoms of a moderate rise in instability of the banking sector in recent periods perhaps due to the [...]

20 Jan, 2013

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi defends ‘crony’ donations – Hindustan Times

Myanmar pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday defended her party’s controversial decision to accept donations from businessmen close to the former junta for its education fund. “Let them donate if they donate for good things,” the opposition leader and lower house lawmaker told AFP in the capital Naypyidaw. “I don’t understand why we [...]

20 Jan, 2013

Tour guide exams another example of national licensing frenzy | The Japan Times Online

Colin P.A. Jones wondered if he was alone in laughing out loud at a question about impaired thinking in the national nursing exam (“Stop thinking — the exam is about to start,” Zeit Gist, Dec. 18). There is no end to this national licensing frenzy, and it brought to mind another fiasco: tour guide certification [...]

20 Jan, 2013

787 scare poses threat to suppliers | The Japan Times Online

AFP-Jiji The grounding of two Dreamliner fleets Wednesday not only dents the reputation of U.S. aviation giant Boeing Co. but also threatens to deal a blow to Japanese firms that make around a third of the aircraft, analysts said. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways halted all flights on the next-generation plane after an ANA [...]

20 Jan, 2013

Suicides fall under 30,000 for first time in 15 years | The Japan Times Online

Kyodo The number of suicides last year slipped below 30,000 for the first time in 15 years, falling 9.4 percent from 2011 to 27,766, the National Police Agency said in a preliminary report Thursday. The annual figure remained between 20,000 and 26,000 from 1978 to 1997 before hovering above 30,000 since 1998. Last year 19,216 [...]

20 Jan, 2013

Dreamliner battery probe may take months: GS Yuasa | The Japan Times Online

GS Yuasa Corp., the company that makes batteries used on Boeing Co.’s new 787 planes, said Thursday it may take months to complete an investigation into what caused an emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways Co. Dreamliner. The company needs to find out whether the emergency landing Wednesday in Kagawa Prefecture was caused by [...]

19 Jan, 2013

Underclass of restaurant employees in Sydney grossly underpaid

Diners in Sydney’s A-list suburbs are unknowingly exploiting an underclass of employees who are being grossly underpaid, Fairfax Media has found. Widespread cash-in-hand payments are resulting in hospitality workers being paid more than a third below the minimum wage, which is currently $15.96 per hour. Fairfax has established restaurants in Manly, Neutral Bay and the [...]

16 Jan, 2013

Court convicts Jewish terrorist Teitel of murdering two Palestinians – Haaretz

Jerusalem District Court convicted the Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Teitel on Wednesday on two counts of murder and additional counts of assault. The indictment, which had been revised, claimed Teitel was in good mental state and therefore is responsible for his actions. Teitel was convicted in the murder of two Palestinians in 1997 and two [...]

16 Jan, 2013

Get out and vote! – Israel Newspaper Tells Arabs in 3-language Editorial

Arab citizens are an important and inseparable part of Israeli society, and they contribute to it in many fields. As a national minority, they both enrich and challenge Israeli democracy, and therefore, it’s appropriate for them to have political representation that reflects their proportion in the Israeli population. Read the rest: Get out and vote! [...]

13 Jan, 2013

Noam Chomsky: The responsibility of privilege – Al Jazeera English

“If you look at his policies I think that’s what they reveal. I mean there’s some nice rhetoric here and there but when you look at the actual policies … the drone assassination campaign is a perfectly good example, I mean it’s just a global assassination campaign.” On Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in the [...]

12 Jan, 2013

PressTV – US national security set for de-Israelization?

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In truth, the CIA has been gutted and turned over to foreign control, other agencies crippled and the Department of Homeland Security and, to a lesser extent, the FBI, have become little more than Mossad “front” organizations. The most controversial appointment since the Israel lobby took control of America’s government, some say 1967, some use [...]

12 Jan, 2013

IPS – Morphine Kills Pain but its Price Kills Patients

BULAWAYO, Jan 11 2013 (IPS) – It took Gily Ncube’s daughters two weeks to sell enough chickens to raise the 18 dollars needed to buy the morphine tablets their mother takes every four hours. In a country where unemployment is estimated at 70 percent, 18 dollars for a bottle of 60 tablets of 10 milligrammes [...]

12 Jan, 2013

Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources

It’s time for a new kind of economy We’re overusing the earth’s finite resources, and yet excessive consumption is failing to improve our lives. In Enough Is Enough, Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neill lay out a visionary but realistic alternative to the perpetual pursuit of economic growth – an economy where the goal is enough, [...]

12 Jan, 2013

The high cost of cheap meat in the German diet – DW.DE

The publication of “Meat Atlas” is intended to encourage a bit of reflection, says Böll foundation board member Barbara Unmüßig. “We’re eating at the expense of people in the third world,” she says. In the world’s poorest countries, 10 kilos of meat per year per person is usually unaffordable. The production of feed for industrialized [...]

12 Jan, 2013

Asia Times Online : A wider war looms in Myanmar

CHIANG MAI – Recent weeks have seen some of the heaviest fighting in Myanmar’s decades-long civil war with government forces launching determined attacks against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic guerrilla force in the far north of the country. For the first time ever, the government has used helicopter gunships and modern, sophisticated attack [...]

12 Jan, 2013

Asia Times Online: Jewish Lobby Biggest Obstacle to Iran Deal

The Iran nuclear crisis stands an good chance of de-escalation in 2013 if both sides show the necessary flexibility. Conditions include the US and its allies agreeing to tolerate Iran’s enrichment program at a low ceiling and higher degree of transparency, and Iran consenting to a technical formula regarding its enriched pile of uranium. The [...]

12 Jan, 2013

UK heading for triple-dip recession, NIESR warns

Pressure mounted on the chancellor to moderate his austerity programme after analysis by a leading thinktank showed the UK economy heading for a triple-dip recession and high profile employers Honda and Jessops cut hundreds of jobs The National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said in its monthly health check that the economy shrank [...]

12 Jan, 2013

Banker jumped from rooftop London restaurant under ‘enormous amount of pressure’

The inquest heard how Mr Lambrechets, from Cobham, Surrey, had contemplated ending his life after he was unable to transfer cash from his native South Africa to pay for school fees for his children. The man who hired him at Investec Asset Management, Domenico Ferrini, told the court how Mr Lambrechts had moved to the [...]

12 Jan, 2013

Jimmy Savile: Report that reveals 54 years of abuse

Savile was a monster who in the words of detectives today, was hiding in plain sight. The report by the Metropolitan Police and the NSPCC has revealed a man who used his celebrity status and outwardly well-intended works to gain access to and ultimately rape and sexually exploit hundreds of vulnerable young star-struck victims – [...]

12 Jan, 2013

IPS – Closing Europe’s Borders Becomes Big Business

ATHENS/WARSAW, Jan 9 2013 (IPS) – The European Union is implementing a new border management system with tougher migration control the core aim. Major security and weapons companies are already reaping the benefits. Frontex, the EU border agency, has financed major weapons and security equipment producers to present their equipment in demonstrations. European national border [...]

12 Jan, 2013

It’s official: Indian students shunning Britain

LONDON: There has been a 24 per cent drop in the number of Indian students coming to Britain to study during the 2011-12 academic year, latest official figures show, reflecting concerns generated due to visa restrictions imposed on non-EU students by the David Cameron government. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the number [...]

11 Jan, 2013

How China Should Deal with Declining U.S. Hegemony

By Xue Fukang (China Daily)

2013-01-11 – Now China is the world’s second-largest economy, some have argued a bipolar world is more likely than a multipolar one. However, China should not seek to establish a bipolar world. Choosing not to seek hegemony demonstrates China’s foresight and clear thinking. After its reform and opening-up, as its national power has improved, China [...]

11 Jan, 2013

20 Facts About The Collapse Of Europe – Chinadaily Forum

The economic situation in Europe is far worse than it was a year ago, and it is going to continue to get worse as austerity continues to take a huge toll on the economies of the eurozone. It would be hard to understate how bad things have gotten – particularly in southern Europe. The truth [...]

11 Jan, 2013

Toys“R”Us, Inc. Reports Drop in December 2012 Holiday Sales Results

WAYNE, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– January 10, 2013 – Toys“R”Us, Inc. today reported its comparable store net sales and total sales for the month of December 2012. For the month of December, the U.S. Domestic segment reported a comparable store sales decrease of 1.8%. The Learning toy category generated the strongest comparable store sales growth, offset by [...]

10 Jan, 2013

Chinese Economist Warns of Global Interest Rate Risk

By Zhang Monan, China Daily / Project Syndicate

Beijing, 2013-01-09 – Since 2007, the financial crisis has pushed the world into an era of low, near zero, interest rates and quantitative easing, as most developed countries seek to reduce debt pressure and perpetuate fragile payment cycles. But there is a strong risk that real (inflation-adjusted) interest rates will rise over the next decade. [...]

10 Jan, 2013

Changing Mindset, Ways of Doing Business, Helps Laos Become a WTO Member

Geneva, WTO Media release, 9 Jan 2013 – The World Trade Organisation has officially informed Laos of its acceptance as a member. The General Council formally agreed to this on 26 October 2012, paving the way for the southeast Asian country to become a member in early 2013. Travel & tourism is one of 10 [...]

10 Jan, 2013

Survey: Chinese Bankers Say Liberalisation Has Hit Bottom Lines

By Li Tao in Hong Kong, China Daily

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhuanet) — More than 56% of bankers surveyed in a poll say liberalization policies are adversely affecting their bottom lines  Chinese banks expect to see much slower business growth from 2012 to 2014, and about 70 percent of bankers predict they will see a less than 20 percent increase in their profitability [...]

9 Jan, 2013

EU Report: European Jobless Levels Highest in 20 Years

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Brussels, 8 January 2013, European Commission Press release – After five years of economic crisis and the return of a recession in 2012, unemployment is hitting new peaks not seen for almost twenty years, household incomes have declined and the risk of poverty or exclusion is on the rise, especially in Member States in Southern and [...]

9 Jan, 2013

Global Trades Union: 13 Things to Make the World a Better Place in 2013

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2 January 2013 (ITUC Media Release): The International Trades Union Congress has released its wish-list of 13 policies and actions that it feels will make the world a better place in 2013, as follows: An end to senseless austerity in Europe and the attacks on rights by the “Troika”; Collective bargaining and social protection floor [...]

8 Jan, 2013

Chinese View: US, EU Printing Money Furiously to Shift Debt Burden

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(People’s Daily Online Commentary), January 07, 2013 – The United States and the European Union have adopted the policy of quantitative easing, and kept their money-printing machines running around the clock over the past few years. This has increased the imported inflationary pressure facing China, and reduced the value of its huge foreign exchange reserves. [...]

5 Jan, 2013

Noam Chomsky On The Gravest Threat to World Peace

As numerous polls have shown, although citizens of Arab countries generally dislike Iran, they do not regard it as a very serious threat. Rather, they perceive the threat to be Israel and the United States; and many, sometimes considerable majorities, regard Iranian nuclear weapons as a counter to these threats. In high places in the [...]

18 Dec, 2012

Malaysian Jurist’s Message to America: Deal With Your Own Culture of Violence

Prof Chandra Muzaffar

Kuala Lumpur, 17 December 2012 – The whole world condoles with the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. It is a terrible tragedy: 27 people dead, 20 of them six and seven year-old kids. It is the worst school massacre in the history of the United States. Senseless, [...]

18 Dec, 2012

USA Land of disposable people – Pravda.ru

While the USA goes around the world expounding on the virtues of its way of life, it is obvious that those in charge place little value on human life. They are willing to kill thousands, even millions, for profit, for power, for money, for oil and resources. An inordinate amount of the national budget is [...]

15 Dec, 2012

Soviet-style disintegration awaits US: Gorbachev

The last head of state of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, has warned the US of an imminent Soviet-like collapse if Washington persists with its hegemonic policies. Speaking at a Thursday conference on the future of the Middle East and the Black Sea region in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Gorbachev noted that [...]

13 Dec, 2012

Five Unbelievably Creepy Surveillance Tactics | Alternet

Since the erosion of Americans’ civil liberties depends on high levels of public apathy, some of the most dangerous privacy breaches take place incrementally and under the radar; if it invites comparisons to Blade Runner or Orwell, then someone in the PR department didn’t do their job. Meanwhile, some of the biggest threats to privacy, [...]

10 Dec, 2012

British rule was crime against humanity: author ‘corrects’ history – Hindustan Times

This is a powerful indictment of what passes off euphemistically as the benevolent Raj. British colonial rule of India and China (two countries under study), author Rajendra Prasad says, was nothing short of a terrible crime against humanity. In what is undoubtedly a path-breaking study, Prasad dives into newspapers, books, pamphlets, booklets, journals, confidential notes, [...]

9 Dec, 2012

Bollywood favourite Sabyasachi pushes sari revival | GulfNews.com

As the platform-heeled models sashay past the flash of cameras to the sound of U2, Sabyasachi Mukherjee surveys the progress of his campaign to drag the sari from the back of the closet onto the catwalk. “Too many women think of the sari as something that is very backward and not cool,” said the award-winning [...]

9 Dec, 2012

Noam Chomsky: What the American Media Won’t Tell You About Israel | Alternet

December 3, 2012 – An old man in Gaza held a placard that read: “You take my water, burn my olive trees, destroy my house, take my job, steal my land, imprison my father, kill my mother, bombard my country, starve us all, humiliate us all, but I am to blame: I shot a rocket [...]

8 Dec, 2012

The Demographic Challenge: Older Americans Worry About Being “Thrown Over Economic Cliff”

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Pennsylvania volunteers and staff today met with members of the state’s Congressional delegation and other key members of Congress involved in the lame duck discussions to avert a so-called “fiscal cliff.”  The AARP volunteers and staff urged the members of Congress not [...]

8 Dec, 2012

National Geographic Unveils New Phase of Genographic Project: Grant Applications Sought

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WASHINGTON (Dec. 5, 2012)—The National Geographic Society today announced the next phase of its Genographic Project — the multiyear global research initiative that uses DNA to map the history of human migration. Building on seven years of global data collection, Genographic continues to shine new light on humanity’s collective past, yielding tantalizing clues about humankind’s [...]

8 Dec, 2012

US$6 billion Election bill: What a Waste of Corporate Money

JURIST Guest Columnist Ciara Torres-Spelliscy

JURIST Guest Columnist Ciara Torres-Spelliscy of the Stetson University College of Law discusses the proposed statutory and regulatory reforms that could curb the rising levels of spending by corporations in political campaigns… Source: JURIST – Forum, Dec. 3, 2012, http://jurist.org/forum/2012/12/torres-spelliscy-campaign-finance.php . The US has just gone through its most expensive election ever. The projected price [...]

8 Dec, 2012

Pew Research Center: Anti-Americanism Down in Europe, but a Values Gap Persists

By Richard Wike, Associate Director, Pew Global Attitudes Project

Released: December 4, 2012 – Europeans generally reacted to President Obama’s re-election with a mixture of excitement and relief, just as they did four years ago. For many across the Atlantic, Obama’s 2008 victory signaled the end of the Bush-era estrangement between the U.S. and its Western allies, and the emergence of an America that [...]

6 Dec, 2012

TSA creating all new watch list for Americans

Being absent from a federal no-fly list might not mean you won’t be hassled the next time you enter an US airport. The Transportation and Security Administration is constructing a new list of known “low risk” passengers. According to the November 19 Federal Register newsletter put out by the US government, the TSA is trying [...]

5 Dec, 2012

“Big Brother” Grows Bigger: Online Public Records Search Available for Adults in All 50 U.S. States

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Detroit, Michigan (PRWEB) December 04, 2012 — Public records are one thing that leave a paper trail that can be documented. The Inteligator company is now offering its public records search tool online for adults to use. This service is available in all 50 states although not all states release all forms of public data. [...]

3 Dec, 2012

Saudi female blogger: Why don’t men cover their faces?

My cousin and I are staring outside the window. We are looking at the garden where my male cousin and his friends are playing. This is the garden where we used to play together. They used to be our friends once upon a time, these are the boys we used to play with. But what [...]