The fresh ideas that can help save our world
Climate change, ageing, joblessness, a healthcare crisis: tomorrow is a tangle of problems. The solution may lie not in politics, but in a 'social innovation' movement that is generating groundbreaking ideas
Gdynia, near Gdansk, does not compare to San Francisco or Shanghai as one of the great urban centres of ideas and invention. But last month it was giving both cities a good run for their money when it came to buzz and intellectual energy.
This former fishing village in Poland, now a city of 250,000 people, was chosen to host the first international winter school in social innovation, which attracted 70 experts from all corners of the globe, including Korea, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Australia and the UK. All were seeking new, creative solutions to the increasingly serious social challenges of our times. Some were looking to solve problems relating to health; others were exercised by the problem of wealth (or rather the lack of it). Youth joblessness was a theme, as was ageing. No profit motive was attached or product pitch involved. This was just people offering ingenuity and services.
Was the Desert Fox an honest soldier or just another Nazi?
The reputation of Erwin Rommel, a German general admired by Churchill, is now looking tarnished
Germany's memorial to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is perched on a hillside overlooking the middle-class town of Heidenheim an der Brenz where he was born 120 years ago. The words inscribed on the white limestone monument describe the legendary Second World War general as "chivalrous", "brave" and as a "victim of tyranny".
Last week, however, nearly half a century after it was proudly unveiled, a group of angry protesters carried out a night raid on the memorial and smothered it with a banner proclaiming: "No more monuments for Nazi generals". Only days earlier, the memorial had been defaced with graffiti and holed with chisels.
Al-Qaeda implants itself in Africa
MARTIN VOGL SOKOLO, MALI - Dec 04 2011 06:38
The first time the members of al-Qaeda emerged from the forest, they politely said hello.
Before leaving, they rolled down the windows of their pick-up truck and called over the children to give them chocolate.
That was 18 months ago, and since then, the bearded men in tunics like those worn by Osama bin Laden have returned for water every week. Each time they go to lengths to exchange greetings, ask for permission and act neighborly, according to locals, in the first intimate look at how al-Qaeda tries to win over a village.
Besides sweets, the men hand out cash. If a child is born, they bring baby clothes. If someone is ill, they prescribe medicine. When a boy was hospitalised, they dropped off plates of food and picked up the tab.
That was 18 months ago, and since then, the bearded men in tunics like those worn by Osama bin Laden have returned for water every week. Each time they go to lengths to exchange greetings, ask for permission and act neighborly, according to locals, in the first intimate look at how al-Qaeda tries to win over a village.
Besides sweets, the men hand out cash. If a child is born, they bring baby clothes. If someone is ill, they prescribe medicine. When a boy was hospitalised, they dropped off plates of food and picked up the tab.
Top Ulfa leader held in Myanmar
NISHIT DHOLABHAI
Senior Ulfa leader Jiban Moran, the second-in-command to commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, was taken into custody of Myanmarese authorities today along with an Indian journalist amid reports that Barua, too, has been arrested from a camp in Myanmar.
Myanmar authorities picked up Moran, a trusted deputy among the few like Drishti Rajkhowa, still loyal to Barua, was picked up close to the India-Myanmar border along with an Indian journalist today.
The journalist was going to Myanmar to interview Barua, ostensibly with Moran.
“We have information about Jiban Moran and your journalist friend but not about Paresh Barua,” Union home secretary R.K. Singh told The Telegraph.
DEA launders Mexican profits of drug cartels
Some of same concerns from Fast and Furious gun program arise in these operations
By GINGER THOMPSON
Undercover American narcotics agents have laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington’s expanding role in Mexico’s fight against drug cartels, according to current and former federal law enforcement officials.
The agents, primarily with the Drug Enforcement Administration, have handled shipments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal cash across borders, those officials said, to identify how criminal organizations move their money, where they keep their assets and, most important, who their leaders are
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