| Culture shift: What’s behind a decline in drinking worldwide Posted: 03 Oct 2018 01:38 PM PDT ![Culture shift: What's behind a decline in drinking worldwide]( "Culture shift: What's behind a decline in drinking worldwide") Ben Wright, author of "Order, Order! The Rise and Fall of Political Drinking," says it's part of a larger shift in behavior among British politicians, driven by public scrutiny over social media and more women in politics who have upset the "old boys' club" that dominated British politics, and influenced drinking culture, for 300 years. Now officials often abstain from drinking heavily on the job for fear of appearing "unserious and frivolous," he says. Recommended: Iceland has largely kicked teen drinking.
|
| All for one? How key undecided senators may approach Kavanaugh vote Posted: 03 Oct 2018 01:09 PM PDT ![All for one? How key undecided senators may approach Kavanaugh vote]( "All for one? How key undecided senators may approach Kavanaugh vote") As the hours ticked by on the Kavanaugh hearing last Thursday, Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine was holed up in her Capitol office, watching. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Flake of Arizona, along with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, joined Senator Collins there.
|
| Breaking a taboo: Jerusalem elections and the Palestinian vote Posted: 03 Oct 2018 12:40 PM PDT ![Breaking a taboo: Jerusalem elections and the Palestinian vote]( "Breaking a taboo: Jerusalem elections and the Palestinian vote") It's only a little after 10 a.m., but the sun is already baking the sprawling limestone plaza in front of Jerusalem's City Hall and Palestinian Ramadan Dabash, a civil engineer, builder, and community activist from traditionally Arab East Jerusalem, is in the midst of making a dent in history. Mr. Dabash, who was submitting the paperwork inside needed to register his run for a seat on the Jerusalem City Council, takes a brief respite to explain why he is breaking decades of a Palestinian taboo – which has largely held since Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and subsequently declared the whole city its unified capital – to do so. "We, with our very own hands, we can change this situation – 51 years of neglect of East Jerusalem," he says.
|
| Indonesia’s gift-horse response to post-tsunami aid Posted: 03 Oct 2018 10:45 AM PDT ![Indonesia's gift-horse response to post-tsunami aid]( "Indonesia's gift-horse response to post-tsunami aid") Within 24 hours after an earthquake and a tsunami struck the island of Sulawesi last Friday, dozens of countries offered assistance to Indonesia. Not until three days later did President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, decide to accept international aid. Perhaps he was persuaded after a visit to the tsunami-hit city of Palu and saw the anger of residents over the government's slow response to the vast devastation from waves as high as 20 feet.
|
