THE iECONOMY
Signs of Changes Taking Hold in Electronics Factories in China
By KEITH BRADSHER and CHARLES DUHIGG
Published: December 26, 2012
CHENGDU, China — One day last summer, Pu Xiaolan was halfway through a shift inspecting iPad cases when she received a beige wooden chair with white stripes and a high, sturdy back.
At first, Ms. Pu wondered if someone had made a mistake. But when her bosses walked by, they just nodded curtly. So Ms. Pu gently sat down and leaned back. Her body relaxed.
The rumors were true.
When Ms. Pu was hired at thisFoxconn plant a year earlier, she received a short, green plastic stool that left her unsupported back so sore that she could barely sleep at night. Eventually, she was promoted to a wooden chair, but the backrest was much too small to lean against. The managers of this 164,000-employee factory, she surmised, believed that comfort encouraged sloth.
Italians, backed by the Catholic Church, aim to stop Sunday shopping
A law that deregulates store hours in Italy, allowing businesses to operate on Sundays in order to stimulate economic growth, has fueled opposition since its inception a year ago.
By Giulia Lasagni, Contributor
Italians are fighting a government lift of regulations on business operation hours, insisting that the move will eventually hurt the small shops and values that have long been the foundation of the Italian business community.
The deregulation, put into effect January 2012, removes restrictions on business operating hours, including Sundays and holidays. It is intended to stimulate competition in what has traditionally been a highly regulated market. However, it has been vehemently criticized by many shop owners, and the campaign against it has received a boost from the powerful Catholic Church.
Campaign organizers argue that working on Sunday has forced employees to sacrifice "important values" and benefited big companies at the expense of small businesses.
Mental illness, poverty haunted Afghan policewoman who killed American
December 27, 2012 - 7:18AM
The Afghan policewoman suspected of killing a US contractor at police headquarters in Kabul suffered from mental illness and was driven to suicidal despair by poverty, her children told Reuters on Wednesday.
The woman was identified by authorities as Narges Rezaeimomenabad, a 40-year-old grandmother and mother of three who moved here from Iran 10 years ago and married an Afghan man.
On Monday morning, she loaded a pistol in a bathroom at the police compound, hid it in her long scarf and shot an American police trainer, apparently becoming the first Afghan woman to carry out such an attack.
EGYPT
Egypt turns to ailing economy, Morsi defends vote
President Mohammed Morsi has signed into law Egypt's controversial new constitution and told the nation that its next task is to fix the economy. Egypt's pound has neared an all-time low, prompting a rush at the banks.
In his latest televised address Wednesday, Morsi said Egypt's economy faced "huge challenges" but had "great opportunities to grow." He said he was considering a cabinet reshuffle to as part of his plan to attract investors.
His office had earlier announced that Morsi had formally signed into law the constitution, which the opposition has condemned as being too Islamist. The text got 64 percent approval in a two-stage referendum that drew only a third of all eligible voters.
Kenya: Fears of another violent election
Alliances forged by Kenya's presidential contenders are lining up a repeat of a ethnic-based contest that exploded in the 2007 vote.
Alliances forged by Kenya's main presidential contenders for elections in March are lining up a repeat of a largely ethnic-based contest for political power that exploded into bloodshed in the 2007 vote.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya's founder president, lead the two main opposing camps for the March 4 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The head-on rivalry between Kenyatta, from the predominant Kikuyu tribe, and Odinga, a Luo, raises the spectre of the tribal clashes that followed the 2007 election and killed more than 1 200 people, uprooting thousands more from their homes.
Best slapdowns of 2012
Wickedly withering words from famous names including Madonna, Barack Obama and Karl Lagerfeld
The Guardian,
January
"Welcome to Twitter... @RupertMurdoch. I've left you a Happy New Year message on my voicemail!"
John Prescott reacts to the media mogul's nascent social media presence
John Prescott reacts to the media mogul's nascent social media presence
"If I'm just like a virgin, Ricky, why don't you come over here and do something about it?"
Madonna bites back at Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes, after the comedian claimed the singer had not yet lost her virginity
Madonna bites back at Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes, after the comedian claimed the singer had not yet lost her virginity
"I don't think we should go to the moon. I think we maybe should send some politicians up there."
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul responds to his rival Newt Gingrich's suggestion that the US install a permanent lunar base
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul responds to his rival Newt Gingrich's suggestion that the US install a permanent lunar base
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