UbuneBlog

Chinese author Mo Yan has won the Nobel Literature Prize for writing that mixes folk tales, history and the contemporary, the Swedish academy has announced. ”Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity of those in the writings of William Faulkner and […]

I like coffee. I like drinking coffee, I like talking coffee, and I occasionally like writing about coffee. Call it an addiction, but it’s one plenty of Australians seem to share. But where do you get the best coffee fix when you’re on the road? I compiled a list a few years ago, but I’ve […]

London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, has sought to woo talented French immigrants to the British capital and away from the “tyranny” they are suffering under Socialist President Francois Hollande, who has raised taxes on the rich. Speaking to a rally of Conservative Party members at the Tories’ annual conference in Birmingham today, Mr Johnson invoked the […]

A palm-sized Japanese satellite in orbit around Earth will flash a Morse code message that will be visible around the world from next month, the mission commander said on Friday. Researchers hope the satellite, measuring 10 centimeters cubed and launched from the International Space Station on Friday, will become the first orbiter to transmit an […]

The Assad regime in Syria brought about Muammar Gaddafi’s death by providing France with the key intelligence which led to the operation that killed him, sources in Libya have claimed. French spies operating in Sirte, Gaddafi’s last refuge, were able to set a trap for the Libyan dictator after obtaining his satellite telephone number from […]

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn wants to relaunch retro-brand Datsun with a price tag as low as $3,000 when it hits the road in 2014, a report said. The company will target drivers in developing nations—India, Indonesia and Russia—offering the barebones model at prices that put it well below current Nissan offerings, according to the […]

Philippine President Benigno Aquino announced Sunday that a deal had been reached with Muslim separatist rebels to end a decades-long insurgency that has left more than 150,000 people dead. “This framework agreement paves the way for a final and enduring peace in Mindanao,” Aquino said, referring to the southern third of the Philippines that the […]

North Korea hopes to complete within three years an ambitious but long-delayed hotel under construction in Pyongyang for 25 years, a travel firm said Friday after it was given rare access to the site. The hotel has come in for much criticism over the years, with Esquire magazine once dubbing it “the worst building in […]

Australians download music illegally more frequently, by head of population, than any other country. At the same time we also happily pay for downloads and still buy physical albums at a rate which surprises the industry worldwide. According to a survey of downloads from bit torrent sites conducted by Musicmetric, a self-described data and analytics […]

Prague’s homeless have found a way to profit from the city’s flourishing tourism industry: By offering an alternative to mainstream tour guides. The unorthodox chaperones show visitors another side to the city, from the people who know it best. The forays into Prague’s gritty underbelly offer visitors a glimpse at places inhabited by the city’s […]