JAGAZEEN

If UK policy making was a highway- it would be riddled with traffic- as the government makes u-turn after u-turn. The latest shock reversal has fallen upon the UK ‘Golden Visa’ scheme- which was due to be suspended in a drive of anti-corruption measures. Last Thursday, it was widely reported that the Tier 1 Investor Visa scheme would be closed to new applicants by midnight the same night- as concerns rose over the schemes facilitation of corruption. The news was spread by the likes of the BBC, the Times, and the Guardian, who quoted the immigration minister saying that they would ‘not tolerate people who seek to abuse the system’. But it appears that the announcement could have been heresy, misreported by the mass media: as no official confirmation followed the statement, and the next day, the platform was still open to applications. Now, it has come out that the scheme will not be suspended after all, as the Home Office confirms that: ‘The Tier 1 (Investor) visa is not ...

British Prime Minister Theresa May has appointed a new Universities Minister. It comes as the old one, Sam Gyimah, stepped down in protest of May’s Brexit plan, which he described as a ‘deal in name only’. Chris Skidmore will be the minister taking over the responsibility for decision making when it comes to Britain’s universities, science, research and innovation. He’s arrived to save the day! And it’s a rather mammoth amount of responsibility he’ll have- will he do a good job of it? Well, he’s only held the post for one day, so we’ve not got much to go on, apart from his voting history as the Conservative MP for Kingswood. Unfortunately, it’s not looking very good- particularly for those of whom he will be taking responsibility for- namely, the university students. In the past, Skidmore has voted against a number of rulings in the house of commons. He voted to scrap the Education maintenance Allowance, which supports students from low income families as they go into ...

With the uprise of Uber, and the use of tech to get around- It’s never been so easy not to drink and drive in the evenings. At the touch of a button you can summon a taxi, and be safely delivered from the pub to your front door, Without even getting your wallet out of your pocket. Smooth and simple. But not always. Some taxi users in Florida are being exposed to a stomach churning scam. According to el Nuevo Herald, several customers have been falsely accused of puking in the back of their uber on their way home. The accused is then held responsible for the clean-up costs, which normally fall at around 100 dollars. It’s been dubbed ‘vomit fraud’, and it’s becoming more and more common. Often, people will neglect to read their emails, or check their bank statements, so they won’t even know they’ve been duped. Others will struggle to prove their innocence and get a refund. The Miami police have said that ‘it’s difficult to consider this a crime’. I say, it’s ha...

We live in a digital world. It can be beautiful, it can be frustrating, and some people really are invested in this new future of the present. Their dedication follows a familiar format- sit down, shut up, and be ‘social’. I myself have been on holiday with a fair few ‘influencers’- a new term, coined to describe those social media users who have managed to establish credibility online. It’s a hard job, one that requires quite a lot of time and attention, but one which can be rather lucrative and rewarding. But not for those around you. The smartphone has this incredible knack of bringing you closer to the wider world, but making you oh-so-far away from those directly beside you. The Ibis Hotel chain has thought of a way to give you the best of both worlds. A service through which you can maintain your influencer rep, but also enjoy some time in the real world. How!? You may ask. Sign me up! You say. Woah there, is my response, slow down a sec- because though ibis has go...

Ikea's parent company, Ingka, has been left short-changed as it annual net profits suffer a droop.   Despite an increase in sales this fiscal year, net profits have plummeted by 40%- and ingka believes its online forays are to blame. But what does it mean for the furniture giant? Ikea’s business model is sturdier than even the most thoughtfully erected Skogstorp dining table- even so, like the best of them, Ikea has to tailor its strategy to suit the times. Last Fiscal year, the Ingka group invested 2.8 billion euros into its stores, customer fulfilment networks, shopping centres and renewables sector. It’s a lot of money, even for a supermassive global franchise- but Ingka’s investments don’t stop there.   Noticing a dip in the number of cars per household, a rise in carless individuals, the Ingka group has set their focus on satisfying the new, present day urbanite. They’ve been opening up a number of innercity stores and advice centres- moving away from the...

Swimmers in France have been warned to steer clear of the water- As a resident dolphin is getting a little too friendly with the bathers. The bottlenose dolphin, nicknamed Zafar, has for weeks been entertaining the public, and swimming with bathers and kayakers. But now authorities are getting a little nervous- it seems that the contact Zafar is seeking, gets more extreme with each day. As of yet, the dolphin has not been aggressive, but has been ‘rubbing up against people as they enter the water’- even in shallow depths. Zafar’s behaviour was taken at first as harmless dolphin hijinks- but the nail in the coffin came as the dolphin tossed a young female bather in the air with its nose. French officials now believe that the dolphin is frisky, and is vying for human attention. Dolphins are notorious for being highly intelligent and playful mammals. They are also known for being the only mammals beside humans that derive pleasure from intercourse. They also appear to h...

There’s a man on the run, and his name is Dr Bum Bum. Wanted by the police for a surgery gone wrong, Denis Furtado, (aka Dr Bum Bum) has disappeared. Legal alarm bells were raised when a woman died in hospital, after receiving injections to enlarge her bottom. It is thought that Lilian Calixto received the procedure at Mr. Furtado’s home in Rio de Janeiro. Midway through, she fell ill, and was brought into hospital by Dr Furtado himself. There her condition worsened, and she died just a few hours later. The judge has since issued a warrant for the surgeons arrest, but Dr Furtado is nowhere to be found. A famous face on brazillian TV, the so-called Dr Bum Bum has almost 650,000 followers on Instagram. The fugitive plastic surgeon gained his bizarre nickname through his career, as he claims to have performed over 8000 bottom enlargement procedures. It is unknown how many of these were performed illegally. A rise in plastic surgery has seen unsafe procedures performed in...

Over the past year, the UK has near doubled the sale of arms to countries on the list of human rights abusers. According to figures published by pressure group Campaign Against Arms Trade, arms deal licenses worth 1.5 billion pounds were approved by Whitehall in 2017. That is a huge increase from the 820 million pound deals passed just a year earlier. The UK has secured arms deals with 18 of the 31 countries designated as human rights abusers on the recently published annual human rights report. The figures include a deal worth 1.13 billion pound to Saudi Arabia. This is a nation currently embroiled in a deadly conflict with Yemen, which, over the past 3 years, has left thousands of Yemeni civilians dead, and millions more injured. UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has said that the British government must be held complicit to these deaths. The UK government is actively arming and supporting regimes that they themselves believe to be guilty of human rights abuses- w...

Done deal, done deal, done deal. Dropped. Tribune media has abandoned the merger it had proposed to strike up with Sinclair Media. Should they have gone through with the deal, it would have made Sinclair a broadcast giant on the spectrum with Fox News. The Sinclair Broadcast Group is the largest operator of local TV in the US- it’s overwhelming support of President Donald Trump is often considered rather suspicious. The support is mutual. Donald Trump was a vocal supporter of the merger, which would have given Sinclair control of more than 200 tv stations broadcasting to 72% of the US population. On Twitter, in the wake of the deal falling through, Trump expressed his disappointment regarding the turn of events. “So sad and unfair that the FCC wouldn’t approve the Sinclair Broadcast merger with Tribune. This would have been a great and much needed Conservative voice for and of the People,” So why was the deal dropped? Sinclair’s acquisition had become increasingly ...

There’s something that has crossed my mind multiple times when cooking a fry up. Can an egg bought from the supermarket hatch into a chicken? As a child, I was told by my older brother that it would, as long as I kept the egg under my pillow at night- a sort of makeshift incubator if you like. You can imagine how that ended- more sticky sheets than cheeping chicks. But to back to the point. In south Korea, a heatwave has created just the right circumstances for an egg to hatch- without a mother hen or brooder lamp to egg it on. The balmy weather did all the work. It’s a rather unusual occurrence. Specially since the egg was sitting in a carton on a South Korean balcony. Experts say for an egg to develop normally, it must be exposed for a considerable length of time to temperatures a few degrees below 40 degrees Celsius. Like many regions in Korea, Gangneung, the chick bearing region, has been gripped by a heat wave, that has created just the right climate for chick...

A bid to modernise Argentina’s abortion laws has been shot down by lawmakers. The proposed bill would have permitted women to terminate their pregnancy within the first 14 weeks of conception. But after more than 15 hours debating, Argentinian senators voted overwhelmingly against relaxing the law. 31 voted in favour of legalising abortion, and 38 voted against. Pro-choice activists had high hopes for the bills passing. It had already been agreed by Congress, and Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri had already agreed to sign it. Currently, the procedure is permitted- but only in extreme cases of rape, or if there is a risk to a woman’s health. These loopholes will remain in place following yesterday’s vote. During the debate, Senator Mario Fiad said that any loosening of the current abortion bill would mean that the right to life is becoming the ‘weakest of rights’- He called the act of abortion- ‘tragic’. Opposition senators in the courtroom debating in favour of ab...

A funeral company in London has got themselves into a spot of trouble, all over their ‘distasteful ad campaign’. Displayed in stations all over the underground, the ad shows a joyous couple running toward the beach with coffin shaped surf boards. Aside from the morbid subject matter, the advert is actually very aesthetically pleasing. The low budget beach scene makes you crave a holiday. Unfortuntaly, the trips offered in the ad are one way only. The company has defended their adverts, claiming that they are trying to break down the taboo’s around death with their edgy ads. Another one spotted on tube trains around London looks just like an ad for paracetomol. Headaches? Aches and pains? Sore Throat? Shivers?  Time to write your will. Though the ads have been banned by Londons transport federation, a few people are praising the iinovation of the ads. We are all going to die, and ignoring death and treating it with such a stigma can only lead to bad actors controll...

The Western and Central railways in India have a complaint to make. After launching a complaints and questions hotline for their customers, the number issues by railway staff has been overrun by text messages from the public. But the texts are not of a grievous nature. Rather the opposite actually, the railway stations have received more texts wishing them good morning than they have received actual complaints. It seems rather pleasant, and something most people might appreciate- but officials at the station are less than pleased. They have deemed the well-wishers a ‘nuisance’ and a ‘waste of time’. People are speculating that the texts are a result of a trend in India which sees’s people sending messages to their entire contact list, to wish loved ones goodmorning, good night, or happy rest. The issue is that oftentimes these messages come with a picture, which clogs the system, slowing down smartphones worldwide due to high bandwidth usage. The complaint station at th...

We all have our tactics to save a buck or two- but how thrifty are you? A 23-year old from Alberta, has managed to lower his car insurance premium, by changing his legal gender from Male to female. In Canada, women pay a lesser amount for car insurance than men. So in order to secure his dream car, this man sacrificed his manhood. But was it worth it? It depends on how you look at it. By switching to the ladies policy, the thrifty driver managed to bring down his quote by 3000 dollars. According to the Insurance bureau of Canada, women under the age of 25 pay a lower insurance, as they have less of an opportunity to get into an accident. In Canada, to be legally recognized as a woman, all a man needs to do is get a letter from their doctor confirming that they are no longer a man, and wants to be identified as a woman. If a quick fix of the birth certificate means that men will get into fewer accidents on the roads, then perhaps all men should make the change. Unfortu...

Today is all about the wild weather of the world. In Greece, wildfires of ‘biblical’ proportions have destroyed homes, killing dozens of families. Rescuers continue to sweep the wreckage in search of missing people- thousands more have been left homeless- their houses charred to ashes. In Laos, a dam has collapsed. At least three thousand people still in need of rescue, after they were stranded atop buildings due to flash flooding. An unprecedented heatwave in Japan has been declared a natural disaster, as the death toll mounts nears a hundred, with 22,000 hospitalized for heatstroke. The heat shows no sign of abating. But despite these stories peppering the global headlines, And despite the snowballing repetition of phrases like ‘hottest month in the history of human civilization’- No one seems to be acknowledging the giant, flaming elephant in the room. Our climate is changing. The news today, regarding climate change- talks about Mary Robinson, who is launchin...

An Islamic State terrorist has been found guilty of a plot to behead Prime Minister Minister Theresa May, and blow up Downing Street. Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman had planned the attack, intending to kill any guards in his way, attack the prime minister with a knife, and then to ‘matyr himself’ with a suicide vest. The 20-year-old North London resident’s plans were foiled, however, when a covert operation led by MI5, the FBI and the Metropolitan Police led him into the hands of the law. Officers posing as ‘fellow terrorists’ provided a rucksack filled with dummy explosives to the man, who had pledged allegiance to IS, before accepting the rucksack. As Rahman walked away, with what he believed to be a bag filled with a pressure cooker bomb and a suicide vest, he was arrested. The 20-year-old was convicted of Terrorism by the Old Baily, and was tried for assisting and Engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism. The court heard that Rahman became determined to at...

The CEO of Tesla and Space-x, Elon Musk, has got a staggering 22.3 million twitter followers to his name. What he chooses to tweet, therefore, has crucial public significance. An intelligent man to say the least, it is rather unlikely that Musk is oblivious to the depth of his influence. Nevertheless, the filter that Musk should have installed to prevent any Trump-esque uproar- has been malfunctioning in recent days. A series of angry social media conflicts have popped up- between musk and Wall Street analysts- musk and journalists- and musk and his employees. Most recently, came an outburst wherein Musk hailed a British rescue worker, integral to the rescue of the trapped football team in Thailand, a ‘pedo’ on Twitter. It’s a slip which has led many to question the entrepreneur’s leadership abilities, and even his mental stability. Musk has since deleted the tweet- but the damage is done. Said damage extends to Musk’s many entrepreneurial pursuits. Including electri...

It’s Amazon Prime-Day. A big day for online marketplace Amazon- And a big day for mindless consumption. But this year’s event is sub-prime, as the Amazon servers tremble under the weight of the consumer traffic- leaving many shoppers unable to complete their purchases. At the same time, warehouse workers in Germany, Poland and Spain have announced that they will be striking midway through prime day. They’ll throw in their metaphorical aprons, so as to draw attention to the malpractice of the company- and its tendency to overwork and underpay its staff. Workers and unions have called for shoppers to boycott the sale, which yesterday propelled Jeff Bezos net worth to $150 billion. The Amazon CEO now enjoys the status of richest man on earth, ‘worth more’ than Bill Gates at the peak of his career. While Bezos enjoy the fruits of his laborers, those toiling away in the warehouse experience dehydration, exhaustion and injuries, as they try to keep up with jacked-up demand ...

It has been a turbulent week in Northern Ireland, with civilian riots and petrol bomb attacks consuming Derry and Belfast. The violence culminated in an attack on the Belfast home of Gerry Adams, the former leader of the Sinn Fein political party. ‘Loyalists’ have been blamed for the disorder- which has ended in a number of arrests. Over the weekend, a 22 year old man was arrested and charged with possession of explosives and intent to ‘endanger life’. A teenager arrested on Friday on suspicion of ‘attempted murder of police’, has been released unconditionally. A number of others have been detained for possession of petrol bombs, and disorderly behavior, whilst a variety of ‘industrial, firework type devices’ have been seized by police. Many of those involved in the violence are youths, some not yet in their teens, as young as eight years old. Chief constable George Hamilton released a statement, revealing how ‘it is believed that the violent dissident republican group...

A bunch of beauty contestants in Saudi Arabia have got the double-hump, after being disqualified from a beauty pageant. Why were they ejected from the competition? Well, they were accused of receiving Botox injections to make them more attractive. But what’s so weird about that? It’s curious, because the botoxed beauties were not people, per se, but camels. Saudi media reports that a veterinarian was caught synthetically altering the appearance of a caravan of camels; injecting the four legged friends with silicon, as well as surgically reducing the size of their ears. Apparently, camels with larger, more prominent features are considered more beautiful, And the most beautiful camel can win up to 57 million dollars. Clearly, a lot is at stake here. The business of camel beauty in Saudi Arabia, can be rather lucrative if the camel in question has long lips and a muscular demeanor. But as well as being in clear violation of animal rights, the alterations are against t...

Nearly half of the 630 migrants that arrived in Spain onboard the Aquarius ship, would like to seek asylum in France. France has said that it will work with Spain to deal with the asylum applications, examining each asylum seeker on a case by case basis. This comes as Spain’s new socialist government released a statement, outlining the migrants ‘willingness to seek asylum in France’. The French government has offered to welcome some of the people travelling on the ship. Until such arrangements have been made however, those aboard have been granted special permission to stay in Spain for 45 days. After being turned away from ports in Italy and Malta- the Spanish government permitted the humanitarian rescue ship to dock in Valencia. Those aboard the Aquarius, a humanitarian ship run by the French charity SOS Mediterranean, are not considered regular migrants, as they have been given special rights to reside from Spain. Rescued off the Libyan coastline on June the 9 th - Th...

The UK Conservative MP who blocked a bill to criminalize ‘Upskirting’ has been the brunt of all sorts of abuse. The entrance to Sir Christopher Chopes Commons office, as well as his home, has been decorated with women’s knickers. This ‘pants protest’ has been played by activists in favour of criminalizing the act of candidly taking photos up womens skirts. Nobody should see my pants unless I want them too- one protester said. Chopes sees the criticism as wholly unwarranted. He has defended his right to block the bill, saying that rather than acting in a perverse way (as many have accused him of) he was instead defending democracy. He said that the motion was put up to vote on a Friday afternoon, before it was given proper chance for discussion. Despite Chopes hesitation to pass the law, prime Minister Theresa May has taken the bill into her own hands- and to the relief of many, the law shall be changed. The government has cited ‘upskirting’ as an invasion of privacy,...

With the world cup fast approaching, those that have managed to bag a ticket for the game will be hastening to pack their suitcases. Most will be flying in and out of Moscow, Russia’s capital, and central hub. I too, will be heading out to the motherland- so I have been researching some hot spots to relax, in what promises to be a rather hectic month of sunshine and sports chat. The Babochki Café has an interesting premise- a truly unique place to hang out with friends- or so they say. And it’s all down to their specialized gimmick. In this café, rather than paying for your coffee and cake, patrons will pay for the time they spend there- sort of like a parking meter, but you’re the car, and the parking space is the café. One minute at the café costs just 1.5 rubles, while an hour costs 90- which adds up to about one dollar fifty. Tea, coffee and snacks are free, as is the video game room and access to quiet meeting rooms and sofas. Babochki, in Russian, translates to bu...

Cow’s milk might be a thing of the past- as non-dairy foody types prepare to jump onto the latest fad. For the alternative milk market- this one really could be revolutionary- it’s Cockroach milk. Mmmmmmmm. The liquid is secreted from the insects in the form of crystals, normally used to nourish its hatchlings.   A unique blend of proteins, fats and sugars, the milk of the pacific beetle cockroach, otherwise known as Diploptera Punctata is extremely nutritious. In fact, a single crystal of the milk is guaranteed to contain more than three times the energy of an equivalent measure of normal cow’s milk. Is the idea of cockroach secretions getting up in your collar? Are you itching to go and locate this delicacy? I very much doubt it. And on the line of dairy free, there are a few factors that might put you off. For one, scientists are boasting that this milk is cruelty free. But the cockroach will die in the process of extracting the crystals. And because the critt...

We are nearing that time of year again, when students bound up in coursework are released onto the streets in their black caps and gowns. That’s right folks, it is time for many hardworking scholars to graduate to level three, the real world. Graduation is a funny time. It’s an archaic ceremony where students are encouraged to pay through their teeth for a mortarboard and cloak, so that they can pretend to be Harry Potter when they collect their degree. Maybe there’ll be tears, most will be relieved it’s all over- and some will be lamenting their poor procrastination habits that left them both penniless and degreeless. On the other end of the spectrum, those in the top quartile of their class will receive high honors for their hard work. These honors are just as archaic as the graduation ceremony- those in the top 10% of their class will graduate with a summa cum laude. This is a latin phrase, meaning ‘with the highest honour’. But one student had their success censored,...

China is planning to abandon a policy that restricts the number of children each family can have. According to a report seen by Bloomberg, the move will draw one of the world’s longest and most controversial social experiments to a close. Introduced in 1979, the one child policy was implemented as a strategy to slow the populations growth rate- the Chinese government claims that the one child policy has prevented 400 million births. But this figure is widely disputed by critics, who claim that China’s birthrate was already in decline, and all the policy did was encourage alarming rates of female infanticide. In 2016, the rule was relaxed to allow families to birth two children. The easing of the policy helped increase the number of births in the country by almost 8%, according to state media reports. But more is needed in order to combat the rapidly ageing population. With birthrates in rapid decline since the 1980’s, the pressure is on President Xi JinPing as he makes m...

Despite what Donald Trump says, climate change is real, and it’s upon us. One species that stand culpable for the threat of our extinction, are the cows. Or more exclusively, their grassy bovine butts. You see, cows produce a lot of methane gas. Pungently scented, methane is also an incredibly powerful greenhouse gas. Methane fumes are puffing in from the pastures at an accelerated rate- If we compare it to carbon dioxide, which is chugged out by our four legged friends of the metropolis (the cars), methane traps thirty times more heat in our atmosphere. We are being dutch-ovened by the livestock, and something needs to be done about it. That is why one group of researchers from the California Dairy Research Programme have been blessed with the task of studying cow gas, and they’ve been given a quarter of a million dollars to do so. It’s a noble job, and perhaps the future of mankind depends on it. Nevertheless, the task of prevent a cow from passing wind is somewhat ...

We’re nearing the end of what seemed to be a long, long week, and I for one am keen to recline- But not so keen that I would lay down in a coffin. Try telling that to Professor Veeranut Rojanaprapa, who has newly opened the Kid Mai Death café in Bangkok- where the star attraction is the white coffin that customers are encouraged to lock themselves into. The entrepreneur calls it ‘the ideal place to practice death’ after noshing down on some cake. The Buddhist ‘exhibition’ is modelled on the ‘death awareness’ teachings from the Buddah himself, a fundamental topic in the religion. Buddhists are encouraged to be aware that the end could be round the corner. ‘If you know you will die tomorrow, you will not waste time trying to avenge your enemies, or counting your money.’ At the Kid Mai Death café, patrons can choose from a selection of themed beverages. ‘Pain’, and ‘suffering’ cakes can be eaten and washed down with ‘last day’ lattes. Customers are also encouraged to plan ...