I HAVE been on a drive lately to encourage business travelers to get out of the back of the plane and move up to the better seats on long flights, even if it costs a little more. This does not make me a popular fellow with corporate managers who set …
A 13-year-old girl in Sri Lanka has identified four men including a local government politician who she says were involved in gang-raping her in the south of the country last month. It is one of a series of alleged rapes, especially of children. Such cases have recently been reported in …
In the West African nation of Mali, the situation is rapidly disintegrating for large swaths of population as Islamist radicals intent on imposing religious law are spreading their power. On the ground in a nation in peril. MOPTI – In the next few days, Hammadoun Boureima Dicko is going to call …
The captain of Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground killing more than 30 people in January, has said he is sorry for the disaster. In an interview on Italian TV, Francesco Schettino said he thought constantly about the victims. But he insisted others should also share the blame, …
A woman who tripped and fell downstairs while carrying her baby granddaughter has been successfully sued by her own family for causing head injuries that left the little girl severely disabled. The accident happened early one morning during a family holiday in a cottage near Forster, on the New South …
Officer inadvertently shoots wife in butt HARRISBURG, Pa., June 1 (UPI) — Prosecutors in Pennsylvania said a police officer who shot his wife in the buttocks was showing his gun to family and friends when it discharged. Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said Harrisburg police officer William …
A bomb in Thailand’s troubled Pattani province has killed three people and injured four. BANGKOK, May 29 (UPI) — A bomb in Thailand’s troubled Pattani province has killed three people and injured four others. The attack is the latest in a series of violent incidents that began in January 2004 …
Senators in the Philippines have found the country’s top judge guilty of failing to declare his wealth, paving the way for his removal from office. A majority of senators found Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona breached the constitution by not declaring assets worth $2.4m (£1.53m) in foreign currency accounts. …
Kenya’s urban sprawl is crowding out habitat for Africa’s king of the jungle. NAIROBI, Kenya — Lions prowled through posh suburban gardens here recently, frightening residents and reminding them that they live in Africa, after all. In the latest incident of growing conflict between humans and wildlife in East Africa, …
ROME — One of the most expensive and challenging salvage operations ever planned, the removal of the luxury liner Costa Concordia from granite rocks off the Tuscan coast, where it ran aground in January, will begin next week, the companies in charge announced Friday. The companies, Titan Salvage, which is …
The U.S. Senate, supposedly “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” has all but ceased to function. Judges aren’t being confirmed, executive appointments aren’t approved and basic legislation cannot be passed because of egregious abuse of the filibuster. The situation has become intolerable. When a new Senate convenes in January, it ought …
Edvard Munch’s pastel sold for $119.92 million Wednesday. I’d pay at least $119.92 for the original of this hilarious reimagining. It’s “Howard Dean’s Scream”, by James Warhola, from the January 2005 Mad Magazine. Munch’s painting has been riffed on endlessly in pop culture (including by lazy art directors). This is …