ing on life-saving aid programmes,” it adds. In the year 2010-11, Spain cut its aid budget – the sixth largest in Europe – by nearly a third. Greece cut its much smaller programme by 40%, the Data study says. A new report by the aid watchdog Data shows that European debt crisis has led to cuts in government development aid to poor countries The report is published as part of a l…
…ivate individuals and organisations, potentially causing huge personal, economic and image damages to a vast number of people. In addition, the Pirate Party understands they may have violated Articles 197 and 198 of the Spanish Penal Code by misappropiating personal data. The widespread damage caused by the sudden closure of Megaupload is unjustified and completely disproportionate to the aim inte…
recalled three lots of the steroid Methylprednisolone Acetate on September 26 according to the FDA. The drug is primarily used to relieve back pain. The drug was administered to patients in their late 40s to early 80s. Tennessee’s S. Thomas Hospital, ground zero for the outbreak with a suspected 15 cases as of Wednesday with two in critical condition, reported having 2,000 vials of the stero…
1.8 billion servings of the drink every day. But for the last six decades, none has been in Burma. That’s because of US trade sanctions on the military junta which ruled the country from 1962 to 2011. Those sanctions were suspended a few months ago, as the country began to move towards democratic reforms. But the company said on Monday its first delivery had arrived and local production woul…
…ged. But today’s announcement that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting the couple’s first child – third in line to the throne – has come after the deal was agreed. In October 2011, David Cameron announced that the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state had agreed to give female royals the same rights of succession as their brothers. “Put simply, if the…
an see some broad and interesting trends. “Asian countries tend to work the longest [hours], they also have the highest proportion of workers that are working excessively long hours of more than 48 hours a week,” says Jon Messenger, an ILO expert on working hours. “Korea sticks out because it’s a developed country that’s working long hours,” he says. “Norm…
An outbreak of rare fungal meningitis in the US has now affected 47 people in seven states, Center for Disease Control (DCD) officials say. Doctors at about 75 medical clinics are being warned to alert patients who received suspect steroid injections. Five people have died from the illness, which the CDC has linked to products from a Massachusetts-based pharmacy firm. Officials say they found con…
…suspended operations as well as shipments from the site A one-time charge currently estimated at USD 120 million related to the recall and improvement efforts will be taken in the fourth quarter of 2011 by Novartis Consumer Health Inc. Novartis is fully committed to maintaining high quality standards of its products Basel, January 8, 2012 – Novartis Consumer Health Inc. (NCH) informed custom…
voting and national juries decides the winner. Each country awards points to 10 competitors based on judges’ scores and a public vote, with 12 points being the maximum awarded. Earlier this week 37 countries competed in the semi-finals for 20 places, with the Eastern European candidates dominating the list of finalists. Sweden’s Euphoria – a club hit by singer Loreen that has alr…
at an average of 89.68 years, five years higher than anywhere else on earth, according to the CIA World Factbook. The country with the worst life expectancy is the African state of Chad at a shocking 48.69 years. Life expectancy in America ranks 51st in the CIA’s table at 78.49 years – lower than Canada (81.48), Australia (81.90), New Zealand (80.71), Japan (83.91), the UK (80.17) and…
e Bonnie Tyler claims she has “a fighting chance” of becoming the first British winner in 16 years, but bookmakers William Hill revealed her current odds stand at 50/1. Denmark has odds of 4/6 to win the contest, with its closest competition coming from Norway and Ukraine. “Emmelie looks very hard to beat and she could spark the biggest payout in the Eurovision’s long and d…
he said. “Now I am here I think the responsibility is pretty heavy-duty. But I am really thrilled to representing my country in this contest. “It’s my job, I am singer and I do have 45 years of experience. So I hope it has some bearing on whatever the results will be.” The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most watched television events in the world, with 125 million v…
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) say 15 people have now died from an outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to steroid injections to treat back pain. CDC said the latest death occurred in Indiana – the second in the state. In all, nearly 200 people in 13 US states have been affected. A company in Massachusetts earlier recalled more than 17,000 vials of steroid it had sent to more than…
se overall lending capacity by 60 billion Euros • Targeting 60 billion Euros of unused structural funds to help small enterprises and create youth employment • A pilot launch of EU project bonds worth 4.5 billion Euros for infrastructure improvements, focusing on energy, transport and broadband. In Brussels, both Italy and Spain were pushing the eurozone bloc to agree steps to reduce the interest…
y for a baby to enter the world in 2013. Despite their economic dynamism, none of the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – score impressively. Brazil ranked 37, China came in 49th and India was 66th and Russia came in 72nd out of 80 countries listed in the index….
…le personality had been changed by the deterioration of her voice through smoking and drug abuse Gary Catona – one of the world’s leading voice coaches – first met Whitney Houston in 2005, at which point she could barely speak. He says he managed to get her voice to return by around 75 per cent, but she never fully recovered before she would then “take off” and damage it again. H…
Australian PM Julia Gillard has issued an apology to people affected by the country’s forced adoption policy between the 1950s and 1970s. Tens of thousands of babies of unmarried, mostly teenage mothers, were thought to have been taken by the state and given to childless married couples. Many women said they were coerced into signing away their children. Speaking in front of hundreds of the…
Rio+20, the UN sustainable development summit in Brazil, has ended with world leaders adopting a political declaration hammered out a few days previously. Environment and development charities say the Rio+20 agreement is too weak to tackle social and environmental crises. Gro Harlem Brundtland, author of a major UN sustainable development report 25 years ago, said corporate power was one reason f…
ged our economy into a crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, hardworking Americans holding the bag. In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly 4 million jobs. And we lost another 4 million before our policies were in full effect. Those are the facts. But so are these: In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than 3 million jobs….
he army will round up young men and summarily execute them, as it did in Muadhamiya,” activist Abu Kinan told the Reuters news agency, referring to a nearby suburb where the bodies of as many as 40 men shot at close range were reportedly found in buildings after troops pulled out. Earlier, the army had used multiple rocket launchers located at the nearby Talat Qawqaba military base and artil…
…can ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica Pope Benedict XVI has previously faced criticism for appointing mainly Europeans as cardinals. It is the second consistory of the year. In February he created 22 new cardinals including 16 Europeans, seven of whom were Italian. By adding six non-Europeans to the number of 114 cardinal electors, the Pope has slightly shifted the geographical demographic of…
112 suspects have been arrested in 22 European countries in an online child pornography investigation, Europe’s police agency, Europol, says. According to Europol director Rob Wainwright, the suspects allegedly shared videos of children and babies being sexually abused and raped. 19 men face charges in Denmark, where police seized dozens of computers and thousands of hours of video images….
…president on an anti-austerity ticket, said on Thursday there were “points in common on growth”. “Merkel has moved in the direction I wanted,” he told French TV channel France 2. Adding that he and the German leader had also agreed on the financial transaction tax, he said they still needed to find agreement “on stability”. “There are ongoing discussions,…
Investigators in the US have raided the premises of Massachusetts pharmaceutical company New England Compounding Center (NECC) linked to fungal meningitis outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised concerns about sterility and cleanliness at the NECC. So far 16 people have died from a rare fungal form of meningitis, apparently after using contaminated drugs. More than 200 people in 1…
Barack Obama administration has bought up 22 million gallons of gas to help get residents of some of the areas worst affected by Hurricane Sandy back on the road. The administration has purchased up to 12 million gallons of unleaded fuel and up to 10 million gallons of diesel fuel that will be distributed in New York and New Jersey to supplement private sector efforts. The Federal Emergency Manag…
Jennifer Lawrence wears blue body paint to portray X-Men’s Mystique
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2013 Billboard Music Awards: Taylor Swift picks up 8 statues including Top Female Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist
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China urges North Korea to release Yu Xuejun’s fishing boat captured for $100,000 ransom
Oklahoma tornado kills one person and injures dozens
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Syrian troops seize strategic rebel stronghold in Qusair
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