Society

The rule of law thrives best in wealthy nations like Sweden and the Netherlands but is dismal in poorer countries like Pakistan, Kenya, and Liberia, according to the Rule of Law Index released by the World Justice Project (WPJ). The Rule of Law Index, which assessed 35 countries around the world, noted that high-income countries generally respect the rule of law more than poor countries. At the same time, however, it found wide differences in performance on specific variables within and between...

Germany is increasingly turning xenophobic. One in three Germans believe that the country has too many foreigners, and over one in ten want a Führer at the helm of affairs, a survey released by a left-wing Berlin think-tank said Wednesday. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation, affiliated to the Social Democratic Party (SPD), published the study titled Die Mitte in der Krise - Rechtsextreme Einstellungen in Deutschland 2010, or “The mainstream in the crisis – Right-wing extremist attitudes in Germany,”...

Ideas, perspectives are usually the domain of the elite. Certainly, in terms of finding a space. But a new anthology is breaking ground. It has urban planners, washermen, and even a maid discussing what sort of city Delhi could or should be. Delhi, most agree willy-nilly, is in a mess. The glitz created by the Commonwealth Games is grossly superficial; it glosses over the hardships that the Games have caused to many. Too many, for comfort. As the city is re-imagined, dug up and built upon, the...

Comments posted on Facebook about a female mathematics teacher has resulted in 16 students of a leading private school suspended from their school in the Indian city of Chandigarh. The students, all from Class 12 of Vivek High School, have been suspended for three months, according to the Times of India. Asaf Parvez, son of a high-ranking government official, recently got low marks in his mathematics exam. He then posted his answer sheet on Facebook with rude and abusive comments about the...

A Montana woman drove 1,500 km from Montana to a museum in Loveland, Colorado so she could destroy a controversial piece of art featuring Jesus. Kathleen Folden has been arrested for damaging a print that portrays Christ engaged in a sex act. The woman entered the Loveland Museum Gallery on Wednesday, used a crowbar to break glass over the art and ripped the print, the Associated Press reported quoting the Loveland Reporter-Herald. Folden was reported to have been screaming, "How can you...

Those of us cricket fans who had seen it, are never likely to forget it. April 18, 1986. Australasia Cup final at Sharjah. Set to chase 246, Pakistan are down to the last ball with four runs needed for a victory over India. Chetan Sharma comes in and lets go a full toss. And over the ropes it is hit by Javed Miandad. A great cricketing moment that. And also one of the most talked-about moments in modern cricketing history. The judgment passed by all and sundry has always been this: that Sharma...

The story now in Moscow is about two groups of journalism students making calendars for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin aimed at his 58th birthday. The first posed in saucy lingerie, the second has hit back with a hardhitting realistic one. The first calendar, called "Vladimir Vladimirovich, We love you. Happy Birthday Mr Putin," featured 12 journalism students of Moscow State University (MGU). The 259-ruble ($8.73) calendar, which hit the markets on Tuesday, came with captions like “You...

A woman was injected with HIV-infected blood by two of her daughters who were after her property. Bharathi, a 59-year-old woman who lives in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, has now fallen ill and been admitted to a hospital. One of the two daughters works as a nurse in the same hospital, and she allegedly injected the HIV-infected blood into her mother. After a while, Bharathi's condition worsened and she was admitted to another hospital where the doctors confirmed she was infected...

Almost a third of Muslim women in the US who wear hijabs (headscarves) are concerned about applying for work, researchers have found. Almost two-thirds say they are aware of instances where women wearing hijabs have been refused work. Professor Sonia Ghumman from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Shidler College of Business and Professor Linda A Jackson from Michigan State University recently examined the expectations that women who wear hijabs have regarding their employment opportunities...

People in the US are drinking more than they did 20 years ago. Researchers are attributing a variety of factors, including social, economic and ethnic influences and pressures, to this increase. Researchers from the UT Southwestern School of Health Professions compared data of 1992 (with 42,862 respondents) and 2002 (43,093 respondents) across both sexes and three major ethnic groups, and noticed an increase in consumption of alcohol. There was also a rise in drinking five or more drinks in a...