Новости за 23.09.2015

A moment of relief, at last, in the gathering fury of the refugee crisis. Progress has been a long time coming, but the decision by EU interior ministers to push through a quota system counts as a step – and an important one – in the right direction. It will relieve the vastly overburdened Italy and Greece, speed up the asylum process for a total of 120,000 Syrians, Iraqis and Eritreans, and establish a framework through which Europe can begin to manage a crisis it has so far met with bluster and backsliding. Читать дальше...

A moment of relief, at last, in the gathering fury of the refugee crisis. Progress has been a long time coming, but the decision by EU interior ministers to push through a quota system counts as a step – and an important one – in the right direction. It will relieve the vastly overburdened Italy and Greece, speed up the asylum process for a total of 120,000 Syrians, Iraqis and Eritreans, and establish a framework through which Europe can begin to manage a crisis it has so far met with bluster and backsliding. Читать дальше...

Whether it is true that Alzheimer’s is a transmissible disease, the scientist whose job it is to determine that should not be influenced by the Chief Medical Officer, whose job it is to advise Government rather than influence the publication of research findings.

The suggestion that Alzheimer’s may be a transmissible disease, and the reluctance of government science advisers to countenance the idea, has parallels with what happened over “mad cow” disease in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

At the time, science advisers to the government took the cautious approach that there was 'no evidence' mad cow disease was a threat to human health

The nation lit up in mirth and disbelief this week at the allegations in Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott’s unauthorised biography of David Cameron. Conservative sources have flatly denied that the Prime Minister took part in a porcine hazing ceremony in the exclusive Piers Gaveston Society at Oxford, dismissing it as “utter nonsense” – but that has done little to quell the laughter and online joking.

Worrying about the execution of Isis men is not a popular cause, so it’s worth spelling out case for scrutiny

Mistakes can be avoided, if failures are confronted and learned from

They don’t do things in a rush in Germany. Here we are, a week into the biggest corporate scandal to engulf one of the country’s leading lights, and the board of the company concerned, Volkswagen, has only just met. The chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, has only now resigned.

In Mkomazi National Park, North Eastern Tanzania, the anti-poaching team have decided to hire some unusual employees for their infantry patrol.

Follow in the footsteps of your Six Nations heroes with some effective footwear

We're not greedy, confused, attention-seeking or un-Christian – and yes, we exist

A YouTube dating expert has taken to the streets of Shoreditch in East London to see how men react when they are given flowers by a woman.

As the Libyan war escalated in the spring of 2014 Mr and Mrs Sharma were visiting their two daughters in England. Mr Sharma, 72, was a professor of Mathematics in Benghazi University. He had lived with his 64-year-old-wife in Libya for 30 years. While staying with their daughters, their house was bombed and all their belongings were destroyed. Since 2014 they have lived with their daughter, Rajni Kapur, on whom they are now entirely dependent.

A GP has said that the Sharmas will likely die if they're sent back to their country of origin

Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed, journalists for Al-Jazeera's English-language news service, have been released from prison after being pardoned by Egypt's president, according to the Egyptian state-run news agency.

To any theatregoer, the story is familiar. After all, there isn’t much to tell; two vagrant men stand at the base of a tree and wait for Godot, who may or may not come. In this 50th year of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company and the final year of artistic director Mark Thomson’s 13-year leadership, the decision has been taken to focus on simplicity and star quality in this new version of Samuel Beckett’s 1953 masterpiece.

I once had a brainwave.  A big movie-musical in which Ethel Merman, Special Envoy, brings peace to the Middle East. Working title; Call Me Saddam. Such a pity Ethel died in 1984 or we'd have cleaned up. Pretty miraculous, then, that I feel no resentment towards Anthony Horowitz. 

Is the song recital an endangered art-form? Full marks to John Gilhooly, director of the Wigmore, for coming out of his corner to belabour the doubters and purveyors of shoddy goods. As he’s pointed out in this newspaper, song recitals these days are often given by opera singers who don’t bother to prepare, ‘and why would anyone whose first experience is of someone bluffing their way through pieces they barely know go back for more?’

His voice has a thrilling edge, and he colours his lines with delicate artistry

We all have a right to know how public authorities operate – they work on our behalf after all. Yet the battle to enshrine that right in law was hard won, with a Freedom of Information (FoI) Act not passed in this country until 2000: 234 years behind Sweden, 49 years later than Finland and 15 after Colombia.

What a beautiful idea

A woman has exposed her "cheating husband" by outing him on a digital advertising board next to a busy motorway.

The VW diesel crisis – Alastair Campbell has officially declared it a crisis – is fascinating. What was the thought process of those who designed the software that would cheat the emissions tests? “Nobody will ever know”?

Plus more Thatcher, modern liberalism and the loss aversion theory of the EU referendum