BOLLULLOS PAR DEL CONDADO: The washbasin in Juana Alonso's bathroom is brand new, but no water comes out of the tap. No bulbs hang from the light fittings.The house is unfinished; no one was meant to be moving in -- but Juana couldn't wait.Along with dozens of neighbours, desperate victims of Spain's...
BANGKOK: The behaviour of Thailand's Buddhist clergy has been thrust under the spotlight after footage emerged of three monks flying in a private jet, wearing earphones and sunglasses and travelling with a Louis Vuitton luxury bag.The video, which has been viewed nearly 200,000 times on YouTube, has prompted fevered debate in the Buddhist-dominated kingdom over monks' adherence to austere principles which include living without possessions, beyond a handful of robes....
WASHINGTON: Some children with autism have weak brain connections in regions that link speech with emotional rewards, possibly signaling a new pathway in treatment, researchers said Monday.The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is the first to suggest that the reason why children with autism display an insensitivity to human speech may be linked to faulty circuitry in the brain's reward centres....
KUALA LUMPUR -- A total of 290 Year 6 students attended an annual motivational camp organised by Petronas recently under its Program Sentuhan Ilmu Petronas (PSIP) to help them prepare for the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination to be held later this year.The three-day intensive learning camp aimed at equipping the Year 6 students with tips to answer examination...
ARDMORE: Justin Rose completed the long and, at times, painful journey from boy wonder to failed pro and then on to major winner at the US Open on Sunday.The 32-year-old Englishman held his nerve down Merion Golf Club's testing home stretch to win his first major title by two strokes from Phil Mickelson and Jason Day on a day of high drama....
SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Wednesday accused the opposition of a pattern of misogynist behaviour, branding a menu for a party fundraiser "grossly sexist and offensive" after it featured a quail dish named after her that offered "small breasts" and "huge thighs". The menu was used at a dinner in March for Mal Brough, a former government minister under prime minister John Howard and now an opposition candidate for the September national elections....
RIO DE JANEIRO: Tourists planning to flock to Brazil for the World Cup a year from now should brace for some of the world's highest housing, restaurant and transport prices.Prices have gone through the roof, particularly in this country's tourism gateway city, which this month is one of the hosts for football's Confederations Cup and in July welcomes Pope Francis for a major Catholic Youth festival....
WASHINGTON - Ninety-two percent of music festival goers are more likely to bring a smartphone to an event than cash or ID, but many fail to guard against loss or theft, an industry survey Wednesday indicated. Symantec, maker of Norton security software, quizzed 6,500 adults in 11 countries who have attended big music events at least twice in the last two years to gauge the role of smartphones in their festival-going experience....
OSAKA-- A 116-year-old Japanese man listed as the world's oldest person died early Wednesday morning in western Japan's Kyoto Prefecture, Xinhua news agency reported. Jiroemon Kimura, born in 1897, died of natural causes at the municipal hospital in his hometown of Kyotango City at 2:08 a.m. local time on Wednesday....
MANILA: In a caged ring at a newly built sports arena in the Philippine capital, 20 martial artists from around the world try to choke out, knock down or submit each other for thousands of paying fans.Scantily clad ring girls saunter on stage in between rounds to loud rock music and cheers, part of the razzle and dazzle of professional mixed martial arts, or MMA, that is hugely popular in the United States and is growing in Asia....
