Samsung is pushing back this week’s planned public launch of its highly anticipated, $2,000 folding phone after reports that reviewers’ phones were breaking. The company had been planning to release the Galaxy Fold on Friday, with a 3 May release date in the UK, but instead it will now run more tests and announce a…
Month: April 2019
Bolsonaro’s motorbike escapade provokes helmet backlash
It was the latest populist ruse from a president who wishes to portray himself as a man of the people: a late-night motorbike ride designed to show Jair Bolsonaro had two wheels firmly on the ground. But the Easter escapade – a video of which was duly published on the social media accounts of Brazil’s…
‘Stigma does not go away’: Mumbai’s dedicated LGBT health clinic
Vivek Sharma has travelled 20km from his home to the congested eastern suburb of Mumbai for his HIV treatment. But the journey is no hardship for the 23-year-old student. “My file was shifted to this clinic. I am so happy that this has finally happened.” Sharma, who is bisexual, is waiting in the reception of…
Trump issues Earth Day message without mentioning climate change
Donald Trump issued on Monday an Earth Day proclamation that omitted any mention of climate change or the cavalcade of environmental threats posed by deforestation, species loss and plastic pollution. The president chose instead to praise the benefits of a “strong market economy”. In response, one leading climate scientist said Trump’s environmental policy was “in…
Antidepressants: is there a better way to quit them?
Antidepressants can save lives. At best, they work. At worst, they are a sticking plaster, hopefully enabling people to hold it all together until they get other help in the form of talking therapies. Either way, they are not supposed to be long-term medication. But whether depression is now better diagnosed or we live in…
Myanmar court rejects final appeal by jailed Reuters journalists
The highest court of Myanmar has denied the final appeal of the two Reuters journalists who were imprisoned for their reporting on the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, upholding the seven-year prison sentence and dashing the last hope that justice would be served. The swift ruling, by Myanmar’s highest court, was a devastating blow to…
Japanese city gets its first ever female politician
Misuzu Ikeda has struck a rare blow for Japanese women in politics by becoming the first female candidate to be elected to the local assembly in the southern city of Tarumizu. Ikeda hugged supporters on Sunday night when she finished third out of 17 candidates for the 14-seat assembly in Tarumizu, which is officially recognised…
Leader of militia at US border boasted of training to kill Obama – FBI
The leader of an armed group that is stopping undocumented migrants who cross into the US from Mexico once boasted about training to assassinate Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and George Soros, an FBI agent said in court papers on Monday. Larry Mitchell Hopkins, leader of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), whose camouflage-wearing armed members claim…
Jared Diamond: So how do states recover from crises? Same way as people do
Click:ink defoamer It is hard to imagine that the renowned environmental historian Jared Diamond’s new book Upheaval could have arrived in the UK at a more timely moment. The subtitle screams its urgent relevance: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change. If that advice isn’t needed by our political class right now, you wouldn’t want…
California authorities seek woman who dropped seven puppies in dumpster
Authorities are trying to identify a woman who was captured by security cameras tossing seven newborn puppies into a dumpster in southern California. The Riverside county Department of Animal Services released surveillance video of the woman pulling up to a dumpster behind an auto parts store in Coachella on Thursday afternoon. The video showed her…