former Israeli prime minister and Likud opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel launched an air strike against Syria on September 6, aafter weeks of refusing to confirm the operation. It appears the rationale for the strike is that Syria had nuclear weapon making materials from North Korea. While this may have been true and …
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Be The Change – book now
Be The Change 2007 will take place in November. Supported by The Independent newspaper, The Sky’s The Limit is a collaboration between Be The Change, the World Future Council, The Converging World, the new economics foundation and Rights and Humanity. In three days of presentations, panels, world cafés – and with film and music – …
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Is ‘Do Unto Others’ Written Into Our Genes?
An article by the New York Times based on a series of recent articles and a book, “The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt, a moral psychologist at the University of Virginia, who has been constructing a broad evolutionary view of morality that traces its connections both to religion and to politics. Here’s an extract: Of …
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EU encourages open IT as it upholds monopolistic judgement on Microsoft
The European Court of First Instance reaffirmed that Microsoft had abused its market power by adding a digital media player to Windows, undercutting the early leader, Real Networks. It also ordered Microsoft to obey a March 2004 commission order to share confidential computer code with competitors. The court also upheld the record fine levied against …
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Blackwater plays a Hollywood reality show
A great name for a security company staffed with mercenaries paid to look after top American officials in a hot spot with immunity from prosecution for killing anyone. Will Matt Damon be the good guy? In fact, Blackwater USA is a private contractor employed by the US State Department. The ban on their operations for …
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TV beats family, hands-down
Sad but unsurprising results of a UK survey show that children spend far more time watching TV than spending time with family, or anything else. A survey of of 1,800 families with primary school-age children was part of research accompanying the government-backed Booktime literacy project. The survey suggested that children were more likely to be …
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NBC Universal to allow free TV show downloads
NBC Universal is going to make some of its TV shows available for free web download. Under NBC Direct consumers will be able to download programmes on the night that they are broadcast and keep them for seven days. They would also be able to subscribe to shows, guaranteeing delivery each week. The files, which …
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Watching Myanmar atrocities
The past couple of weeks have brought an unusual bout of coverage of politics in Myanmar. But now the killing has started publicly. Unfortunately we will do nothing. Myanmar has suffered under a brutal military regime that has been propped up by oil deals with western companies and countries while it enslaves and tortures peaceful …
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Iran’s defiance of the security council might motivate arms reduction …?
Iran’s defiance of security council resolutions (declared again this week by President Ahmadinejad at the UN general assembly) is discomfiting, but not unreasonable. Iran’s stubbornness is fueled by the autocratic approach of the security council and its members, particularly the US. Iran’s testament that the security council should lead by example is more appropriate than …
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Global CSR review by EIRIS
EIRIS‘ new report “The State of Responsible Business” details growing corporate responsibility in businesses worldwide. The study, “The State of Responsible Business: Global corporate response to environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges” casts a wide net, offering an overview of current corporate responsibility. It also points out trends in corporate responsibility. Generally, more and more …
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