BELGRADE, Serbia — Kosovo is well known for the war and consequent NATO campaign against Serbia. Armed conflict ended in 1999, and the forces of the Western alliance took control of the Serbian province, where they maintain a fragile peace over the area. Tuesday, the young state celebrated seven years of independence, but a fancy and expensive ceremony is not … Read more
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia is currently experiencing many floods, as is common at this time of year. The country’s emergency services and relief groups are well known for helping many people, but many more go almost unnoticed, slipping through the net of helpers so often seen on TV screens here. Mister Udi, who this reporter met on his … Read more
SARRE-UNION, France – It’s Sunday shortly before 5 p.m. and the police have been advised of the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in eastern France. According to initial reports, 300 graves have been degraded. It’s just a huge fields of rubble that the perpetrators have left behind them. No statements, no claims –the steles were just broken. A huge monument honoring the … Read more
MADRID, Spain — AENA, the world’s largest airport operator, has been floated on the stock market in Madrid. Josè Manuel Vargas, the company’s CEO, indicated in an interview with the Financial Times that the company’s entry onto the stock market preceded a wider move towards a more global reach for the company. However, while the … Read more
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — Last month, a group from Methodist churches in the United States traveled to Cambodia as part of an outreach program targeting females, mainly in the countryside. Their main goals were to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to provide additional education that is otherwise mostly out of the reach of … Read more
The sixth taste has been identified — fat. Deakin University scientists put fat through a series of tests to see if it met the strict requirements of a taste, and found conclusive evidence that fat made the grade. The findings could hold new promise in the fight against obesity. “Research from animal and human studies provide … Read more
PARIS — French newspaper “Le Monde” revealed last night after a large investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that between 2005 and 2007 more than €180 billion would have transited through a private bank in Switzerland, where world leaders, including kings and celebrities, hid their savings. According to the news organization, an HSBC subsidiary would have … Read more
Animal rights activists will welcome this news with enthusiasm: the Wyss Institute at Harvard University has developed a chip that could save the lives of millions of laboratory animals. The chip would imitate the operation of complete organs and thus predict more effectively the effects of treatment on humans. Animal experimentation is subject to much debate on … Read more
BERLIN, Germany — Two weeks since the coalition of the radical-left Syriza party won the elections in Greece, freshly assigned Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis completed his tour of the European capitals in Berlin last Thursday, Feb 5. In the German capital, Varoufakis’ meeting with his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, in a call for a … Read more
The wedding that was to join one of the most famous American serial killers, Charles Manson, now 80 years old, and 27-years-old Afton Elaine Burton (renamed “Star” by Manson) finally will not take place. Indeed, after filing a marriage license application last November, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton confirmed this week that … Read more
According to the latest information from authorities, 31 of the 58 people who were on board (53 passengers and five crew members) died in the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight GE 235 Wednesday morning, 11 a.m local time. The plane left the capital towards the small island of Kinmen, next to the Chinese mainland but … Read more
The prevailing assumption about dark matter is that has no interaction with light, but European physicists who investigated a possible signature of dark matter at the edges of theM101 Pinwheel galaxy now believe that light may be interacting with dark matter to produce “light halos” — detectable glows around the edges spiral galaxies. “Dark Matter can … Read more