Posts under ‘news’

Welsh bass baritone Bryn Terfel and teenage singer Hayley Westenra lead the nominations for the fifth classical Brit awards next month.
Violinists Nigel Kennedy and Vanessa Mae, and the world’s first opera band Amici Forever will join the ceremony on 26 May at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
TV news presenter Katie Derham returns for a fourth year [...]

Welsh bass baritone Bryn Terfel won the prizes for best album and male artist at this year’s Classical Brit awards.
Italian opera star Cecilia Bartoli was named best female artist at the event, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
British conductor Sir Simon Rattle won orchestral album of the year for his recording of Beethoven’s Symphonies with [...]

North Korea says it may be willing to return to six-party international talks on its nuclear weapons programme, state media have reported.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is said to have made the announcement to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao before he left Pyongyang after a three-day visit.
But Mr Kim said the return would be dependent on [...]

And, asked about a quote attributed to him in which he equated six million deaths in the Holocaust with the flat earth theory he replied that “European law” stopped him explaining.
“I can’t tell you why I used to say those things anymore than I can tell you why I have changed my mind,” he said.
Mr [...]

Scientists have unravelled the mechanism by which the fungal disease chytridiomycosis kills its victims.
The fungus is steadily spreading through populations of frogs and other amphibians worldwide, and has sent some species extinct in just a few years.
Researchers now report in the journal Science that the fungus kills by changing the animals’ electrolyte balance, resulting in [...]

It is not always easy to spot a war crime.
The displacement of civilians from their homes by an enemy army is not necessarily a war crime.
It can be argued that the displacement is being carried out for the protection of the civilians.
It only becomes a war crime if the expulsions can be proven to be [...]

The new president said on his first day in office that France needed to bring in more reforms quickly.
There is a demand for change. Never have the risks of inertia been so great for France as they are now in this world in flux where everyone across the world is trying to change quicker than [...]

There are still some close contests to come, with the Democrats intent on moving into staunch Republican territory.
Votes are still being counted in Alaska – one of the Democrat’s most surprising target states, whose Senate delegation has been solidly Republican since 1981.
Incumbent Republican Senator Ted Stevens has been a dominant figure in Alaskan politics since [...]

Concern is growing in the US about how to stop drugs being smuggled into the country from Mexico. There are also fears that the rampant violence between Mexican drugs cartels could spread across the border.
The boundary, some 2,000 miles (3,200km) long, between Mexico and the US is reported to be the busiest international border.
Every day, [...]