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By , on May 21st, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> The Venezuelan opposition has released what it says is an audio tape revealing intrigue within the ruling socialist party of the late Hugo Chavez and Cuban meddling in the country’s affairs. The opposition says the tape is of a conversation between well-known state media presenter Mario Silva and a Colonel Aramis Palacios, identified as a Cuban intelligence agent, about a rift among Venezuela’s top leadership. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Venezuela opposition says tape shows ruling party rift
By , on May 21st, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> The printer isn’t working, so come back next week to finalise your divorce: The excuses made by a Wuhan marriage registry clerk are credited with thwarting 500 divorces <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Clerk praised for saving marriages with ‘broken printer’ excuse
By , on May 21st, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Guangzhou newly-wed Sara had been hoping for a private holiday when she landed at a Maldives luxury resort with her husband in March. But when six other Chinese “couples”- among them a elderly woman and her adult son – showed up at a sunset dinner, Sara was outraged. The dinner was advertised by the hotel as exclusively for newly-weds. “How could they have been so shameless just for a free meal?” the woman who was identified only as Sara later vented on her microblog. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Maldives resorts on the lookout for Chinese tourists on ‘fake’ honeymoons
By , on May 20th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Myanmar’s victims of sectarian strife were spared the full force of Cyclone Mahasen, but many are now returning to flimsy tents in flood-prone camps with the monsoon season weeks away. Myanmar’s Rakhine state is pockmarked with makeshift settlements for up to 140,000 people – mainly Rohingya Muslims – displaced by sectarian unrest last year that claimed about 200 lives and saw whole villages razed. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Cyclone Mahasen a ‘dress rehearsal’ for Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims
By , on May 20th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Hong Kong’s unemployment rate in April was 3.5 per cent – same as the level in March, government figures released on Monday showed. Increases in the unemployment rate in April were mainly observed in retail, manufacturing, and accommodation and food services sectors, the Census and Statistics Department said, while decreases were mainly seen in the insurance, wholesale and construction sectors. The city’s jobless has largely remained stable so far this year. The figures for January and February were 3.4 per cent. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Unemployment rate steady at 3.5pc for second month
By Justin Green, on May 20th, 2013 A sad story in the New York Times, which reports on the shocking decline of the High Plains Aquifer, the lifeblood of farmers from the South Dakota and Wyoming all the way down to west Texas. (I frequently refer to the Ogallala Aquifer, which is the largest in the High Plains system.) Two years of severe drought, coupled with the massive water demands for growing irrigated corn, have taken their toll on the source of the plains' Garden of Eden.
Continue reading When the Wells Go Dry in the Great Plains
By , on May 20th, 2013
Young children should hear about the dangers of pornography as soon as they have access to the internet, head teachers say.
Continue reading Pupils ‘need early porn warnings’
By , on May 20th, 2013
A man and a woman are found dead at the scene of a suspected gas explosion at a Nottinghamshire house.
Continue reading Second body found after house blast
By , on May 20th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> China has halted imports of New Zealand meat due to a certification dispute. Hundreds of tonnes of frozen mutton, lamb and beef from New Zealand have been stranded on Chinese docks after China halted imports from the country due to a certification dispute. China is New Zealand’s largest export market and its largest consumer of sheep meat. China has blocked all New Zealand beef and sheep meat that has arrived there in the past two or three weeks, said Dan Coup, trade and economic manager for the Meat Industry Association of New Zealand. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading China halts imports of New Zealand meat over certification dispute
By , on May 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Pakistani politician Imran Khan has blamed a rival political leader for the killing of a senior member of his party, who was gunned down outside her home in the violence-plagued city of Karachi. The killing of Zohra Hussain, 59, vice-president of the women’s wing of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Sindh province, came on the eve of a partial re-run in the southern city of the May 11 election. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Imran Khan blames exiled Altaf Hussain for killing Zohra Hussain
By , on May 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> A single winning ticket for a record US Powerball lottery jackpot worth US$590.5 million was sold in Florida, organisers said late on Saturday, but there was no immediate word about who won or where in the state the ticket was bought. The winning numbers from Saturday night’s drawing were: 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball number of 11, and the odds of winning were put at one in 175 million. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Winning ticket for record US$590.5m US Powerball lottery sold in Florida
By , on May 18th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Two directors from countries with tough film censorship brought bold and probing movies to the Cannes Film Festival on Friday — one exploring China’s social problems, the other delving into the mysteries of the human heart. Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” depicts facets of fast-changing China that the government prefers to avoid: corruption, greed, violent crime and the growing gap between economic winners and losers. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Iran’s Farhadi and China’s Jia make Cannes splash
By , on May 17th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> A Sichuan man, abducted and taken to Fujian province at the age of five, has finally found his way home after spending years trying to work out where he came from. And he says he could not have done it without the help of Google Maps, Fujian’s news portal nhaidu.com reports. Luo Gang, who was born in a small town in Guangan city, disappeared on his way to kindergarten 23 years ago, said his parents. Heartbroken, they did everything they could to find him, but to no avail. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Kidnapped child returns home after 23 years with aid of Google Maps
By , on May 17th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> AMSTERDAM (AP) — World stock markets rose steadily on Friday after two key indicators suggested the U.S. economic expansion will continue. The Conference Board reported that its leading indicator index for the U.S. increased 0.6 percent in April, following a 0.2 decline in March, due to recovering housing and labor markets. “In general, the (index) points to a continuing economic expansion with some upside potential,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, an economist at the private research association.
Continue reading World stocks strong into the weekend
By , on May 17th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a “dirty war” dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Former Argentine dictator Videla dies in prison at 87
By , on May 17th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> AMSTERDAM (AP) — World stock markets shrugged off suggestions the U.S. Federal Reserve may begin to reverse some of its asset purchase programs by the end of the summer, and were mostly higher ahead of key data releases Friday. The Conference Board is due to report on U.S. leading indicators after North American markets open, along with the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index. Analysts are expecting both to show an improvement from March. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading World stocks mostly higher
By David Frum, on May 17th, 2013 A couple of disclaimers here. The Toronto Star is a paper notoriously hostile to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. The video in question comes from unreliable sources. Etcetera and etcetera. Caveat lector.
Continue reading Is This Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s Newest Substance Abuse Scandal?
By , on May 17th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Almost two-thirds of Europe’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are still afraid to show their sexuality in public and most feel discriminated against, an EU report said on Friday, the International Day Against Homophobia. “Fear, isolation and discrimination are everyday phenomena for the LGBT community in Europe,” the director of the European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Morten Kjaerum, wrote in the report. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading EU poll reveals extent of homophobic abuse
By , on May 17th, 2013
Time-lapse imaging which takes thousands of pictures of developing embryos can boost the success rate of IVF, according to British research.
Continue reading Time-lapse imaging ‘improves IVF’
By , on May 16th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Ten rights lawyers petitioned a key National People’s Congress commission yesterday, calling for legitimising same-sex marriage on the mainland, ahead of today’s annual International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. The lawyers, from law firms across the mainland, signed a joint letter calling for the law committee of the NPC to study the legalisation of gay marriage. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Lawyers petition NPC commission to legalise gay marriage
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Venezuela opposition says tape shows ruling party rift
<!– google_ad_section_start –> The Venezuelan opposition has released what it says is an audio tape revealing intrigue within the ruling socialist party of the late Hugo Chavez and Cuban meddling in the country’s affairs. The opposition says the tape is of a conversation between well-known state media presenter Mario Silva and a Colonel Aramis Palacios, identified as a Cuban intelligence agent, about a rift among Venezuela’s top leadership. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Venezuela opposition says tape shows ruling party rift
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