After Philippines Birth Control Law Passes, Churches Call for Resistance

MANILA — After losing a battle to stop the passage of a contentious birth control law, Roman Catholic Church officials on Tuesday dug in and instructed their millions of followers to campaign against the measure in communities, schools and homes. “Let us intensify the moral spiritual education of our youth and children so that they can stand strong against the threats to their moral fiber,”...

Read More..

In Spain, Having a Job No Longer Guarantees a Paycheck

Samuel Aranda for The New York TimesRaul, a truck driver in Castellón, Spain, hoped last month to be paid from a government fund. Courts are jammed with requests. VALENCIA, Spain — Over the past two years, Ana María Molina Cuevas, 36, has worked five shifts a week in a ceramics factory on the outskirts of this city, hand-rolling paint onto tiles. But at the end of the month, she often went unpaid....

Read More..

The New Old Age Blog: In the Middle: Why Elderly Couples Fight

George and Gracie (let’s call them that because using their real names would make them even unhappier than they already appear to be) are in their 80s and married for more than 65 years. Until recently they seemed to ride the waves that are inevitable in any marriage that spans nearly seven decades; through good and bad, they were partners and best friends.But lately — ever since her hospitalization...

Read More..

The New Old Age Blog: In the Middle: Why Elderly Couples Fight

George and Gracie (let’s call them that because using their real names would make them even unhappier than they already appear to be) are in their 80s and married for more than 65 years. Until recently they seemed to ride the waves that are inevitable in any marriage that spans nearly seven decades; through good and bad, they were partners and best friends.But lately — ever since her hospitalization...

Read More..

In Europe, a Push for Higher Phone Fees

BERLIN — When the authorities have tinkered with European telecommunications rules, it has usually been to lower prices for consumers, whether through retail price controls on mobile roaming fees or mandatory cuts in regulated interconnection charges. But this year, to encourage more investment in high-speed broadband networks, regulators are considering helping the biggest operators...

Read More..

Car Bomb Kills at Least 17 in Pakistan Tribal Region

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A powerful car bomb exploded near government offices in a town in the northwestern tribal belt on Monday, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens, local officials said. The car bomb attack in the Khyber tribal agency followed a Taliban assault on nearby Peshawar international airport over the weekend that left at least 15 people dead, 10 of them militants, underlining...

Read More..

As Gold Is Spirited Out of Afghanistan, Officials Wonder Why

Zalmai for The New York TimesA Kabul jewelry shop. Officials are concerned about gold being flown out of Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan — Packed into hand luggage and tucked into jacket pockets, roughly hewed bars of gold are being flown out of Kabul with increasing regularity, confounding Afghan and American officials who fear money launderers have found a new way to spirit funds from the country....

Read More..

Dr. William F. House, Inventor of Cochlear Implant, Dies

Dr. William F. House, a medical researcher who braved skepticism to invent the cochlear implant, an electronic device considered to be the first to restore a human sense, died on Dec. 7 at his home in Aurora, Ore. He was 89. The cause was metastatic melanoma, his daughter, Karen House, said. Dr. House pushed against conventional thinking throughout his career. Over the objections of...

Read More..

Dr. William F. House, Inventor of Cochlear Implant, Dies

Dr. William F. House, a medical researcher who braved skepticism to invent the cochlear implant, an electronic device considered to be the first to restore a human sense, died on Dec. 7 at his home in Aurora, Ore. He was 89. The cause was metastatic melanoma, his daughter, Karen House, said. Dr. House pushed against conventional thinking throughout his career. Over the objections of...

Read More..

Egyptians Turn Out for Referendum Vote

Egyptians including these women in Cairo voted peacefully on Saturday in a referendum on an Islamist-backed draft constitution. The hope was that the result, after a second round next Saturday, would end three weeks of violence, division and distrust between the Islamists and their opponents over the ground rules of Egypt’s promised democra...

Read More..