What a good idea! It sounds strange given the geopolitical tension around the world. But embracing Islam would be a whole lot more productive than condemning it. Now, being atheist, I’m not advocating religion. Rather, I’m suggesting that a positive attitude that embraces people would have better results than a divisive and condemning one that …
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APEC for climate change and trade
The principal messages from leaders meeting at the APEC summit recently concluded in Sydney Australia are to prioritise action to reduce climate change and to successfully conclude the WTO Doha round trade talks. These are entirely appropriate prime objectives. Unfortunately, the US, which is the largest per capita carbon emitter and world superpower, and Australia, …
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Making Money
Pratchett’s latest novel is on the stands. In today’s volatile world of money its bound to be revealing. We’ll review it in due course, but Pratchett is always brilliant.
Starchy veg, not meat, is the key to human’s brain development
Recent genetic studies reported in Nature Genetics suggest that human’s ability to digest starchy foods, like the potato, may explain our success on the planet. Compared with primates, humans carry extra copies of a gene, called AMY1, which is essential for making the salivary enzyme amylase that digests calorie-rich starches. The University of California …
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Iraqis want end to occupation more than ever
A survey for the BBC, ABC News and NHK of more than 2,000 people across Iraq shows that about 70% of Iraqis believe security has deteriorated in the area covered by the US military “surge” of the past six months. The relative optimism registered in November 2005 has deteriorated to the gloom of this year’s …
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Should you invest in the company or its management … ?
A 2004 study, recently updated, adds to the debate about whether management or the company is the important focus of investment screening. The study, written by Steve Kaplan of the University of Chicago, Berk Sensoy of USC and Per Stromberg of SIFR, found that over 90% of successful VC-backed companies have the same business model …
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Children’s play is critical to development
In the UK a group of experts wrote an open letter to the Daily Telegraph warning that overprotection of children is injurious to their health. Signatures to the letter were gathered by Sue Palmer, author of the book Toxic Childhood, and Dr Richard House, a senior lecturer in psychotherapy at Roehampton University. 300 signatories include …
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Life on earth is disappearing fast
The IUCN Red List for 2007 was published in early September with the leader: Extinction Crisis Escalates. There are now 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List and 16,306 of them are threatened with extinction, up from 16,118 last year. The total number of extinct species has reached 785 and a further 65 are only …
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Baghdad dividing wall counters peace
Construction of another dividing wall in Baghdad between Shula and Ghazaliya districts causes more division than unity. It is another sign of the primitive knee-jerk thinking of an administration resorting to primitive policy. The wall is an attempt to separate Sunni and Shia districts. But of course it also separates families, neighbours and communities, it …
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US August data modest
Retail sales and industrial output both slowed in the US in August. Shop sales grew 0.3% in August, below market expectations of a 0.5% rise and below July’s 0.5% increase, but excluding car sales, which are at their strongest in two years, retail spending actually declined 0.4% in August. Industrial output rose 0.2%, the slowest …
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