Politics

A sick world: We live longer, with more pain and illness

(Reuters) – The world has made huge progress fighting killer infectious diseases, but as a result we now lead longer and sicker lives, with health problems that cause us years of pain, disability and mental distress. This “devastating irony”, as researchers describe it, is the main conclusion of a five-year study that forms the most comprehensive assessment of global health… Read more →

Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigns

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has resigned after being charged with breach of trust following a long-running investigation. Mr Lieberman has also resigned as deputy prime minister, and said he would fight to clear his name of the charges. The case against him relates to a financial scandal dating back more than a decade. His resignation comes five weeks before… Read more →

Iran Congratulates North Korea On Rocket Launch

Iran congratulated North Korea on Wednesday for its “successful” launch of a long-range rocket, an incident which provoked global condemnation, and denied having a role in preparing the launch. Tehran “congratulates the people and the government” of North Korea on “the successful launching of the satellite-carrying rocket,” Iran’s armed forces deputy chief, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, told the Fars news… Read more →

Greek unemployment climbs

http://www.euronews.com/ The jobs news from Greece continues to be relentlessly bad. The latest official figures for the third quarter of the year show the jobless rate rose to 24.8 percent of the workforce. It was the highest quarterly unemployment rate since this data series started in 1998. For comparison, it was 23.6 percent in the previous three month period and just… Read more →

UK: Terror-related arrests up by 60%

The number of people arrested for terrorism-related offences has increased by more than 60%, according to official figures. Some 228 suspects were arrested in England, Wales and Scotland in the 12 months to the end of June, compared to 140 in the previous year. Eighty-two of the 228 were charged. Security for the Olympics is thought to have contributed to… Read more →

Chinese airplane enters Japanese airspace over Senkakus for 1st time

A Chinese government airplane entered Japanese airspace over the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on Thursday in the first such airspace intrusion in Japan, prompting an immediate protest from the Japanese government. The Air Self-Defense Force scrambled F-15 fighter jets to the area after one of China’s State Oceanic Administration airplanes was spotted at 11:06 a.m. about… Read more →

For North Korea, next step is a nuclear test

(Reuters) – North Korea’s next step after rattling the world by putting a satellite into orbit for the first time will likely be a nuclear test, the third conducted by the reclusive and unpredictable state. A nuclear test would be the logical follow-up to Wednesday’s successful rocket launch, analysts said. The North’s 2009 test came on May 25, a month… Read more →