Showing 1 - 4 of 4
Planes overbooked since 1940s
News, Stephen Mihm, Published on 17/04/2017
» The revelations that airlines overbook as a policy and that they can forcibly remove passengers when their calculations go awry has shocked millions from Chicago to China. But it's a problem as old as the airline industry itself.
Suu Kyi's no Mother Teresa or Mandela
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/04/2017
» 'I'm just a politician," said Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in a recent interview with the BBC. "I'm no Mother Teresa." Fair enough: She has a country to run, and an army to hold at bay. But she's no Nelson Mandela either, and that has deeply disappointed some people (including fellow holders of the Nobel Peace Prize) who expected better of her.
Asean's role with N Korea
News, Editorial, Published on 17/04/2017
» While Thailand has been partying, the first winds of war in years have been stirred in Northeast Asia. US President Donald Trump has effectively warned North Korea that further nuclear or ballistic missile tests will have physical consequences. Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un has replied with predictable threats of military retaliation. The region is on tenterhooks, partly because China still refuses to step up responsibly.
Empathy and difficult choices
Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 17/04/2017
» That skinny woman clad in a sari carrying an infant in her arms waited for me in front of the bus door. A few small children wearing dirty torn clothes gathered around my legs looking up at me. Like robots, they repeatedly uttered words "Sawasdee, Maharanee [meaning a queen]. Khob khun kha", begging me to give them money. These sights and sounds were common at all pilgrimage sites in India I visited recently. Initially, I felt pity for them until I asked the guide and friends if I should give them money. They warned me against more beggars' arrivals.