Colin Freeman

Nota: Este archivo abarca los artículos publicados por el autor desde el 1 de enero de 2008. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

MundoAsia,

In the endless guessing game about what really goes in the court of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, two questions are causing even more intrigue than normal. The first is whether the portly Mr Kim has had to have surgery on his feet, the result of tottering around in Cuban heels designed to boost his height. And the second is whether those same feet are now are now quaking in their boots at the prospect of being referred to the International Criminal Court.

As The Telegraph reported on Wednesday, the human rights committee of United Nations general assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a move to have Mr Kim investigated by the Hague for crimes against humanity.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaSanidad y Salud Pública, ,

Watching a medic robing up before entering an Ebola treatment ward, it is hard to imagine how they could possibly end up being infected by the virus.

As the video above shows, the process takes nearly 20 minutes, and involves donning up to four different sets of gloves, overalls and masks, the idea being to leave absolutely no patch of skin uncovered. As an additional precaution, each set of clothing is bound with tape and ligaments to prevent it slipping loose, and before any medic enters the ward, a "buddy" medic checks over their uniform to ensure every seal is perfect.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfricaInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional,

Yayirus Abel, a disc jockey and bar owner, never saw the faces of the masked Islamist gunmen who rampaged through his home town of Ganye in eastern Nigeria. But as he recalls how they shot him at point-blank range, one detail about their appearance sticks in his mind. None of them looked older than 14.

“They were standing with Kalashnikovs and chanting 'Allah Akhbar’ (God is Great),” he said this week as he sat outside the charred remains of Racey’s, a mudhut disco the gunmen torched. “But while they had masks on, you could see how small and thin they were – the one who shot me was just a kid.”…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaEconomía

Brussels bureaucrats are not known for their humorous side, nor indeed are German politicians or Eurozone finance chiefs. But anyone wandering through Syntagma Square in Athens these days could be forgiven for thinking that someone in the EU hierarchy clearly has a sense of mischief.

In recent weeks, after five years as a battleground between Greek police and anti-austerity protesters, the square has been undergoing repairs to its marble. The refurb marks not the end of Greece’s austerity years – far from it – but the start of what many might otherwise assume was a drunken New Year’s prank by someone in Brussels’ protocol and scheduling department.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfricaInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional,

Among the raft of al-Qaeda groups that sprung up round the world after 9/11, the Somali branch of the franchise was not one of the more promising start-ups. A direct product of life in the most lawless corner of the planet, al-Shabaab’s followers were considered too violent and quarrelsome even to work with each other, never mind pose a threat to the rest of the world. For all their videos declaring themselves “at Bin Laden’s service”, the joke among Western intelligence agencies was that even al-Qaeda’s high command, like everyone else, would struggle to get anything organised in somewhere as chaotic as Somalia.…  Seguir leyendo »