Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Mirek Topolanek, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and the head of the European Union, called United States President Barack Obama’s plan to spend almost US$2 trillion to revive the country’s faltering economy a “road to hell”. “The US treasury secretary talks about permanent action and we at our [EU …
Thursday, June 20, 2019 U.S. heiress Gloria Vanderbilt died on Monday at the age of 95, her son Anderson Cooper announced. She had advanced stomach cancer. Scion of the wealthy Vanderbilt family and the subject of a heavily publicized custody battle early in life, she later also became a performer, artist, and designer of porcelain, …
Tuesday, April 14, 2020 In February 2017, the Iranian Chess Federation announced two teenage chess players, Dorsa Derakhshani and her younger brother Borna Derakhshani, were banned from representing the national team. The federation announced their decision although Dorsa Derakhshani had previously decided and informed the chess federation she did not wish to play for Iran. …
Saturday, October 6, 2007 Few artists ever penetrate the subconscious level of American culture the way RuPaul Andre Charles did with the 1993 album Supermodel of the World. It was groundbreaking not only because in the midst of the Grunge phenomenon did Charles have a dance hit on MTV, but because he did it as …
Thursday, April 6, 2006 Patrick Owomoyela, a soccer player in the German national team, has achieved a preliminary injunction against the far-right NPD over a pamphlet of the party depicting Owomoyela. On the cover of the pamphlet concerning the upcoming Soccer World Cup in Germany, the NPD had shown the torso of a man wearing …
Sunday, August 21, 2005 A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not …
Saturday, June 4, 2005 There are often odd, unusual and controversial items up for sale on eBay – multi-million euro planes, the Pope’s old car and a young woman’s virginity, to name just a few. But how about the Prime Minister’s shoes? Shoes custom designed for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher have been put …
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 The San Diego, California suburb of Chula Vista has responded to the recent housing crisis with an aggressive blight control ordinance that compels lenders to maintain the appearance of vacant homes. As foreclosures increase both locally and throughout the United States, the one year old ordinance has become a model for …
Monday, November 2, 2020 The following is the sixth and final edition of a monthly series chronicling the 2020 United States presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories. This month’s spotlight on the campaign trail: the Free and Equal Elections Foundation holds two …
Monday, June 11, 2007 New Zealand Meteorologist Augie Auer has died, suffering a heart attack while dining with family members in Melbourne. He was on holiday celebrating his 67th birthday and 35th wedding anniversary with wife Susan and family. Auer was chief meteorologist at the MetService from 1990 until 1998, when Professor Auer became TV3’s …