News Inventory

Black Caribbean pupils are being subjected to institutional racism in English schools which can dramatically undermine their chances of academic success, according to a new study. Researchers have uncovered evidence that teachers are routinely under-estimating the abilities of some black pupils, suggesting that assumptions about behavioural problems are overshadowing their academic talents. The findings, based on a survey which tracked 15,000 pupils through their education, add weight to the theory that low achievement among some black students is made worse because teachers don't expect ... Read More

In 2001, Sarah Palin drove from her Wasilla home, through the downtown streets of Anchorage, to a large home near the bluffs of muddy Cook Inlet. The home belonged to Bill Allen, one of the most influential businessmen and Republican donors in Alaska history. Allen ran the state's largest oil-contracting firm, the ominously named VECO Corp., which contracted with some of the biggest oil producers in the world. Palin was wrapping up her last term as mayor of Wasilla. She had higher political ... Read More

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A British woman plans to make a parachute jump over Mount Everest hoping to become the first woman ever to skydive over the world's highest peak, organizers said Sunday. Holly Budge, 29, plans to throw herself out from 465 feet above Everest, hurtling past it, before landing in a mountain meadow at 12,350 feet. She plans to attempt her dive in October after taking off from an airstrip in Syangboche in the Khumbhu region of northeast Nepal, home to Mount Everest, ... Read More

A great-grand father believed to be the world's oldest man has died at the age of 138. Habib Mian passed away early yesterday morning after a brief illness at his home in the Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. According to records Habib was born on May 28, 1870. The grand old man was a witness to the life and times of two kings of Jaipur, the dominance of the British Raj and the decades after the Jaipur princely state of the erstwhile Rajputana merged into the ... Read More

Dogs have become more intelligent, and even learnt a sense of right and wrong, through spending time with humans, a study shows. Although still controversial, recent research is beginning to support the view that an owner is perfectly correct when they pat their pet and coo "who's a clever boy then?" Because of the way owners have selected smarter and more empathic dogs down the generations, these pets now appear to have a limited "theory of mind", the capacity that enables us to understand ... Read More