The European Parliament has voted against a set of rules intended to safeguard “net neutrality” in the EU. A series of amendments to a regulation on how internet traffic is managed in Europe were all rejected by MEPs. Proponents of net neutrality, who demand that web traffic be treated equally by networks, have already criticised the move. The existing legislation, ...

A court in the western Indian state of Gujarat has refused to dismiss charges of sedition against a firebrand young leader of the Patel caste. However, the court told the police to drop charges of “promoting enmity between two communities or groups” against him. Hardik Patel, 22, was caught on camera earlier this month telling his supporters to “kill policemen ...

The president of the European Council has warned that the migrant crisis could threaten the cohesion of the EU. Donald Tusk told the European Parliament the challenge was the biggest the EU had faced for a decade. Meanwhile Parliament President Martin Schulz accused European governments of putting national interests above finding solutions as a community. The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) ...

Rescue efforts are being stepped up to help those affected by the magnitude-7.5 earthquake which hit remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday. More than 360 people are known to have died, most of them in Pakistan, and at least 2,000 were injured. Rescue teams have been sent to remote mountainous areas where the impact of the quake is ...

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has confirmed that the Turkish military has attacked Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said Turkey shot at its forces in the town of Tal Abyad on Sunday. The YPG has been a key ally of the US in fighting the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. Turkey fears ...

Processed meats – such as bacon, sausages and ham – do cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Its report said 50g of processed meat a day – less than two slices of bacon – increased the chance of developing colorectal cancer by 18%. Meanwhile, it said red meats were “probably carcinogenic” but there was limited evidence. But ...

According to a new research, last two decades have seen a rise in the life expectancy in every province of China, but the large inequalities between provinces remain, suggesting that localisation of policies will be crucial to government health reforms Two new studies reveal for the first time how health in different regions of China has changed in recent decades. ...

Federal authorities have confiscated shipments of a lethal-injection chemical that Arizona and Texas tried to bring in from abroad, saying such imports are illegal — a move that compounds the nation’s severe shortage of execution drugs. The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it impounded orders of sodium thiopental, an anesthetic that has been used in past executions in ...

A 40-hour, 10-week theatrical intervention program can improve social abilities of children with autism, finds a new study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. The program known as ‘SENSE Theater’ was developed by Blythe Corbett, an associate professor at the Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.The study showed that children with autism who participated in the program showed considerable ...

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology indicates that shopping addiction is more common among depressed women with low self-esteem.The study, which reveals some definite tendencies among individuals due to which they develop a shopping dependency, also shows that the women tend to visit shopping malls more often as it helps them to avoid unpleasant feelings.According to ...