guardian.co.uk Society:
Human beings should not be defined by their illnessMy wife and I helped our children learn to read with the help of Biff, Chip, Kipper and friends who starred in the Oxford Reading Tree books. We could not help but smile at how racially correct the books were, with people of all colours and creeds. And quite right too. The (Read More)
The Guardian:
Official news agency says death sentences carried out on pair who added industrial chemical to infant formulaChina executed two men today for their roles in a tainted milk powder scandal in which at least six children died and more than 300,000 became sick.Zhang Yujun was executed for endangering public safety and Geng Jinp (Read More)
The Guardian:
There's a lot of dispute about whether "medmal" reform really produces significant cost control. I'm told that in Michigan, where these reforms are law, it hasn't really changed much. Last month, at the request of Orrin Hatch, the CBO issued a report on estimated savings of a medmal reform package that would cap real damage (Read More)
guardian.co.uk Society:
Loving couples should have access to marriage, regardless of their sexuality: this is one institution that has never been staticTom Freeman and Katherine Doyle, from Holloway, London, hope to make history tomorrow morning by becoming the first straight couple to apply for a civil partnership in Britain. Their application is (Read More)
The Guardian:
A painful 'parting of friends' followed my Catholic conversion. As Rowan Williams meets the pope, we must pray for reconciliationThe medium is the message. The church, united in faith and love, singing its song of glory to God, speaks eloquently of the reversal of the Tower of Babel. On the first Pentecost, folk from around (Read More)
guardian.co.uk Sport:
• Betting irregularities in football also on agenda• Meeting to take place on 2 December in Cape TownFifa's president Sepp Blatter has called an extraordinary meeting of the world governing body's executive committee in response to the Republic of Ireland's controversial defeat by France in the World Cup play-offs.The meeti (Read More)
The Guardian:
Distinguished translator of Chinese classics jailed during the Cultural RevolutionWhen they came during the Cultural Revolution to take away Yang Xianyi, China's distinguished translator who has died aged 94, he had one regret – that he was hauled off to prison, accused of being a British spy, in his old slippers. "My only (Read More)
The Guardian:
Wall Street will never be fair while industry lobbyists wander the halls of Congress, sucking the life out of financial reformThere are more than 15 million people unemployed and almost 2 million people set to lose their homes to foreclosure this year. But there is good news: the Wall Street banks are as profitable as ever (Read More)
The Guardian:
• Investors seek safe haven from weaker dollar• Metals prices gain from hopes of economic upturn Commodities such as gold and copper are booming as investors seek refuge from economic uncertainty and buy alternative assets. Industrial metals are also benefitting from bets that an improvement in the world economy will lead t (Read More)
The Guardian:
A News of the World reporter who suffered from a culture of bullying led by former editor Andy Coulson, who is now David Cameron's head of communications, has been awarded almost £800,000 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.Matt Driscoll, a sports reporter sacked in April 2007 while on long-term sick leave fo (Read More)
The Guardian:
More than 20,000 new students joined the University of the Third Age this yearAt the local church hall on a late autumn afternoon in Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, more than 100 wannabe-students are queueing to sign up to a new university. The atmosphere is chatty, tea is being brewed, and there's an air of excitement about (Read More)
The Guardian:
A turbulent life has kept England's head coach realistic about his side since the Ashes triumphI think all your life experiences affect how you coach," Andy Flower says on a quiet afternoon in Johannesburg. The former Zimbabwe Test cricketer, now coaching England, has already steered his new team to an Ashes victory last su (Read More)
The Guardian:
Many children in orphanages throughout the developing world have at least one parent who is alive, a charity claims today.According to research by Save the Children, 98% of children in residential care in central and eastern Europe, 94% of those in Indonesia and 90% of children in Ghana are not actually orphans but have at (Read More)
New York Times:
A 29-year-old Canadian woman who says she's too depressed to do her job claims that her employer's insurance company stopped paying her disability benefits because she posted some photographs of herself on Facebook in which she appeared to be happy.
. (Read More)
The Guardian:
A year after the biggest private sector rescue in history, why was the business world in such an ungrateful mood?As humiliations go, telling a reluctant prime minister to get off stage to make way for the opposition parties must rank high up anybody's list. But today's CBI conference was an unforgiving place for politician (Read More)