(Bloomberg) -- Eighty-six years old and still job hunting.
Wong Siu-ying had to stop passing out leaflets on a Hong Kong flyover when she hurt her knee in August. With two-thirds of her social security income spent on rent and no steady allowance from her three children, retirement isn't an option.
Read more... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-23/grandmas-vie-for-jobs-as-asia-s-worst-aging-crisis-looms-in-h-k-
The crisis in Ukraine has plunged US-Russian relations to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Crimea is now Russian territory. Although prisoners of war have been exchanged and both sides have agreed to pull back heavy weapons, the accord signed on February 12 in Minsk has failed so far to stop the fighting in Eastern Ukraine.
Read more... http://www.businessinsider.com/china-could-be-the-big-winner-of-the-ukraine-crisis-2015-2
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, said on Thursday the dispute had caused delays of "pockets of merchandise" and that the potential cost had been included in the company's earnings forecasts this week.
The deal was welcomed by groups such as the National Association of Manufacturersand the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
Read more... http://www.businessinsider.com/severe-congestion-at-americas-busiest-ports-is-about-to-be-eased-2015-2
(Bloomberg) -- Greek lenders are urging central bank Governor Yannis Stournaras to seek additional emergency cash as deposit outflows accelerate, according to three people familiar with the situation.
Deposit withdrawals picked up after talks between Greece and its euro-area creditors on extending its bailout ended in acrimony in Brussels Monday night, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Stournaras meets European Central Bank Governing Council colleagues in Frankfurt tomorrow as Greek banks exhaust their current allocation of emergency funds, the three people said.
Read more... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-17/greek-banks-said-to-need-more-emergency-funds-as-deposits-drop
Listen to the buzz about foods and dietary supplements, and you'll believe they can do everything from sharpen focus to enhance memory, attention span, and brain function.
But do they really work? There's no denying that as we age, our body ages right along with us. The good news is that you can improve your chances of maintaining a healthy brain if you add "smart" foods and drinks to your diet.
We can opine anecdotally on how legal marijuana sales changed Colorado in 2014, and we've done just that recently — read my "year in the life of the world's first marijuana editor" essay here.
But since we're journalists we also track down the hard numbers that show legal marijuana's definitive impact on the state in this first year of recreational pot sales. And a glance at the numbers, statistics and calculations below will give you a very clear picture of what legal, regulated, first-of-its-kind marijuana looks like in the Rocky Mountains.
Read more... http://www.thecannabist.co/2014/12/26/pot-sales-taxes-statistics/26031/
Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned Thursday amid a standoff between powerful Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa.
The different parties involved in the conflict are backed by outside forces who've been adversaries in other battle zones across the Middle East. The Houthis are backed by Iran while the Yemeni government has been supported by the USA, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Al-Qaeda also has a significant presence in the country, and is now the only force still actively fighting the Houthis.
Read more... http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/01/21/yemen-conflict-fueled-by-saudi-arabia-iran/22104779/
Dr Tony Perry, a pioneer in cloning, has announced precise DNA editing at the moment of conception in mice.
He said huge advances in the past two years meant "designer babies" were no longer HG Wells territory.
Other leading scientists and bioethicists argue it is time for a serious public debate on the issue.
Designer babies - genetically modified for beauty, intelligence or to be free of disease - have long been a topic of science fiction.
Read more... http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30742774
There should probably be a law—of marketing, of psychology, of thermodynamics—holding that every commercial product, given a long enough tenure on the planet, will eventually end up being sold in a vending machine. Cupcakes. Kale. Crabs. Caviar. Lobster. Beer. Pizza. French fries. Smartphones. Underwear.
And now… pot.
After medicinal marijuana was legalized in Washington state in 2012, dispensaries sprang, almost fully formed, from a previously underground market. In short order—the second law of vendodynamics being what it is—something else sprang up to sell edibles while avoiding the awkward middleman of a human: the vending machine, gone to pot.
Read more... http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/02/the-radical-efficiency-of-the-pot-vending-machine/385165/
