Scientific advances and onset of climate change will radically change careers, says report commissioned by government Adam Gabbatt The Guardian Forget the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker: in 20 years some of the most popular jobs could include vertical farmer, space pilot and body part maker, according to a government commissioned report. Shape of Jobs to Come predicts advances in science and technology, coupled with the expected onset of climate change, could make for career paths that are virtually unrecognisable today. The research company Fast Future was asked by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to compile … Continue reading Futurists predict fewer butchers, more space pilots – and spare legs for top football stars

Go to Hell, Pat Robertson: Haiti Needs Help, Not Stupidity Haiti is suffering, and the only response from Christians and other decent human beings is compassion, love, and all the concrete support we can supply. Tonight I am going to be with students from Haiti, and students who have family there. We are going to offer prayers and support for one another. This disaster has to become front and center in the hearts and minds of Americans. We should all be thinking of how to help. Instead, Pat Robertson opined on his TV show, the 700 Club that this happened … Continue reading Christian Taliban Pat Robertson and his nutty followers need to grow up or be slapped silly

By Stephen Zunes The United States may be on the verge of involvement in yet another counter-insurgency war that, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, may make a bad situation even worse. The attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight by a Nigerian and apparently planned in Yemen, the alleged ties between the perpetrator of the Fort Hood massacre to a radical Yemeni cleric, and an ongoing US-backed Yemeni military offensive against al-Qaeda have all focused US attention on that country. With a population of about 24 million, Yemen has almost as large a population as Saudi Arabia, yet … Continue reading Yemen left with little wiggle room

By Eli Clifton WASHINGTON – United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is traveling in the South Pacific this week to strengthen longtime US alliances with Australia, improve relations with New Zealand and bring some forward momentum to US-Japanese negotiations over the controversial relocation of the US air station in Okinawa. While not traveling to China and Japan, as US President Barack Obama did in November, Clinton’s trip will likely be dominated by the role of an increasingly powerful China in the Pacific, tensions in the US-Japanese relationship and vocal Chinese objections to the US decision last week to sell … Continue reading Clinton has some fences to mend

By Wu Zhong, China Editor HONG KONG – A Chinese millionaire’s record-setting donation of nearly US$9 million to his graduate school at Yale University has become explosive news in China, sparking a nationwide debate on whether he should have instead given the money to a Chinese school. Following a Yale announcement, one of China’s state-run newspapers, the Global Times, broke the story on January 8 that Zhang Lei, a graduate from Yale’s School of Management and the founder and managing partner of Hillhouse Capital Management – a New York-registered, Beijing-based company – would donate $8,888,888 to his alumni school. Sounding … Continue reading Yale donation sets tongues wagging

By Anil Netto PENANG – Now that the dust has settled on the attacks against nine Christian churches, eight on the peninsula and one in northern Borneo, Malaysians are left to reflect on the consequences. Many were horrified to learn that four church properties around the capital, Kuala Lumpur, had been hit with firebombs last Friday. Similar attacks followed in subsequent days in the states of Perak, Malacca, and Negri Sembilan on the peninsula, and another across the South China Sea in Sarawak. On Tuesday evening, stones were thrown at a Sikh temple, cracking a mirror at the shrine’s entrance. … Continue reading Malaysian attacks leave ash of confusion