AP - Black-clad men flagellating themselves with chains in grief at the martyrdom of a revered Shiite Muslim figure marched Tuesday through the city of Karbala as a pilgrimage marred by deadly attacks neared its conclusion.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
AP - Canada’s top general warned lawmakers Friday that prolonged debate over the military mission in Afghanistan could be encouraging the Taliban to step up attacks on Canadian forces to coerce an early withdrawal.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
AFP - Lawyer Raj Kumar Pandey says he has filed at least 200 court cases in the past 10 years accusing people of disrespecting the national flag — a crime in India.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
AP - Brazil’s debt crisis is over and the country has emerged as a net foreign creditor for the first time, the Central Bank said.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
AP - Powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr opted Friday to keep the cease-fire order for his Mahdi Army militia in place for another six months, a step that will hold down U.S. and Iraqi casualties while bolstering al-Sadr’s importance as a political player as Iraqi factions jostle for power.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
AP - A Venezuelan passenger plane slammed into a steep mountainside in the Andes, killing all 46 people on board, officials said.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
AP - Elishia Stevenson wanted an apology when she was bitten by a swan. So she wrote to Queen Elizabeth II.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
AP - Violent protests rocked Serb-dominated northern Kosovo on Friday, as mobs chanting “Kosovo is ours!” hurled stones, bottles and firecrackers at U.N. police guarding a bridge that divides Serbs from ethnic Albanians.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
AP - The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Friday that Iran is defying a U.N. Security Council ban on uranium enrichment and accusing the U.S. and its allies of fabricating information to back up claims that Tehran is making nuclear weapons.
Written from Yahoo! News: World News by news.
“Fairtrade purports to work within the market economy but its rise has been largely based on marketing subsidies and public-sector procurement,” says Tom Clougherty, policy director of the Adam Smith Institute. Despite huge pressures on the public purse, local councils are squandering large sums becoming Fairtrade towns and cities, distributing posters and leaflets to nanny people into only buying Fairtrade. Meanwhile, the Fairtrade Foundation has received over £1.5m from the Department for International Development. It wants more. In December, reminiscent of 1970s-style industrial policy, it called for £50m of development aid to be spent as “strategic investment” on Fairtrade.
Fairtrade coffee is not actually the most ethical form available
Monday sees the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, the time each year when we are hectored into paying more for a cup of coffee. Charities, politicians and primary school teachers will deliver the scheme as an undisputed good. With all this effort, it is a pity Fairtrade does not work.
Written from alex.singleton@telegraph.co.uk (Alex Singleton) by news.