Author: HR News Desk

In 2018, a small unmanned drone operated remotely from Amsterdam carried abortion pills across the Irish border into Belfast, part of a campaign by Dutch organisation Women on Waves designed to highlight the far more restrictive abortion laws then in force in Northern Ireland compared with the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. A campaign dubbed the “Abortion Drone,” or “abortion robot,” successfully flew abortion pills into Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2018, in a symbolic act of civil disobedience aimed at Northern Ireland’s abortion laws. Operated remotely from Amsterdam, the small unmanned aerial vehicle carried the medication…

Restoration work on Samara’s famous Constructivist “Factory Kitchen” building has missed its deadline ahead of the 2018 World Cup, prompting authorities to cover the unfinished landmark with a decorative banner bearing the tournament’s symbols rather than complete the repairs in time. Samara’s celebrated “Factory Kitchen,” one of the most significant surviving examples of Soviet Constructivist architecture anywhere in the world, will be covered with a banner featuring the 2018 World Cup’s symbols after restoration work failed to meet its deadline ahead of the tournament. Officials had originally promised the building would be fully restored by December 2017, before pushing the…

Saudi Arabia has become the first country in the world to grant citizenship to a robot, announcing the decision during a technology conference in Riyadh for Sophia, a humanoid robot built by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, in a moment that has pushed decades-old debates about artificial intelligence into new social and political territory. Saudi Arabia has granted citizenship to a robot for the first time in history, bestowing the status on Sophia, a humanoid robot developed by Hanson Robotics, during the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh. The announcement, made by the country’s king, marks what many are calling a…

Around 6,000 climate activists from across Europe gathered in Germany’s lignite coal districts for a ten-day Climate Camp, culminating in mass civil disobedience actions that shut down a major coal-fired power plant and saw thousands form a human chain around one of the country’s largest open-pit mines. Thousands of European climate activists converged on the heartland of Germany’s coal industry for a ten-day gathering that combined protest with grassroots organising. Around 6,000 people took part in Climate Camp, held in Germany’s coal-mining districts from 18 to 29 August, with a main camp based near Erkelenz serving as a hub for…

Spanish archaeologists have discovered an exceptionally well-preserved Roman shipwreck off the tiny island of Cabrera, believed to have been carrying garum, a prized fermented fish sauce, in what researchers describe as one of the most intact ancient wrecks ever found in Spanish waters. Marine archaeologists in Spain have uncovered a remarkably well-preserved Roman shipwreck that sank roughly 1,800 years ago off the small island of Cabrera, near the southern coast of Mallorca. The vessel, thought to have been transporting garum, a fermented fish sauce prized across the Roman world, was located in waters 70 metres deep and documented by professional…

Zygmunt Bauman, the Polish-born sociologist whose work reshaped how scholars understand modernity, the Holocaust and consumer society, has died aged 91, leaving behind a body of work built around his best-known concept of “liquid modernity.” Zygmunt Bauman, the Polish sociologist best known for connecting modernity, the Holocaust and the rise of consumer culture, has died at the age of 91. Bauman was forced to leave Poland in 1971 amid an anti-Semitic campaign, later settling in the United Kingdom, where he became a professor of sociology at the University of Leeds. Over a career spanning several decades, he developed some of…

Dutch police say they have received several tips in the hunt for three former members of Germany’s Red Army Faction believed to be hiding in the Netherlands, days after a reward of up to €80,000 was offered for information leading to their arrest over a series of armed robberies. The Dutch National Police Unit said on Thursday morning that it had received several tips in its search for three former members of Germany’s Red Army Faction, or RAF, who are believed to be living somewhere in the Netherlands. The tips are now being investigated. The development follows a reward of…

Several major outlets, including the Daily Mail, the BBC and the Independent, reported that Iranian bodybuilder Sajad Gharibi was heading to Syria to fight the Islamic State group, but the claim turns out to be false, and Gharibi himself says he never intended any such thing. An eye-catching story spread across international media this week claiming that Sajad Gharibi, an extravagantly muscle-bound Iranian bodybuilder known online as the “Iranian Hulk,” was travelling to Syria to fight against militants from the Islamic State group. It made for a compelling headline, but the claim simply isn’t true. Gharibi has never said he…

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkish security forces have killed 5,359 people identified by Ankara as PKK militants since July last year, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency, as Turkey continues cross-border operations against the group in Iraq and Syria amid ongoing disputes over civilian casualties. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that Turkish security forces have killed 5,359 people identified as fighters for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, since July of last year, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. The figures relate specifically to individuals Turkey identifies as PKK militants, rather than the wider…

On a disused landfill site on the outskirts of Calais, an entire improvised society took shape as thousands of migrants, hoping to reach Britain, built shops, schools and places of worship out of almost nothing, even as French authorities began demolishing parts of the camp and Paris and London clashed over who should take responsibility for the people living there. An estimated 5,000 people were living in the makeshift refugee camp known as the “Jungle” on the outskirts of Calais, most of them hoping to eventually reach the UK and claim asylum there. Built on the site of a former…