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Apple Faces Fresh Criticism of Factories

Hilmar Schmundt and Bernhard Zand Spiegel Online International
Apple might have abandoned manufacturing supplier Foxconn in the wake of a scandal over deplorable working conditions in its Chinese factories, but it seems that labor rights violations are also rife at Pegatron, its new partner.

Turkey: Uprising’s Currents Run Deep

Conn Hallinan Dispatches from the Edge
The unrest gripping Turkey has less to do with headscarves and Islam than with politics and economics, fueled by a growing discomfort with the AKP’s policies of privatization, its push to centralize authority in the hands of the country’s executive branch, and its silencing of the media. The three are not unrelated.

Tomgram: Eduardo Galeano, Robots, Drugs, and Collateral Damage

Eduardo Galeano TomDispatch
Eduardo Galeano, one of the great global writers, takes us from 1916 to late tomorrow night via eight little excerpts from his new book, Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History, reminding us of what some really newsworthy moments were like. Think of it as a kind of highlight reel from almost a century of the American way of war. Tom

Sports Direct: 90% of Staff on Zero-hour Contracts

Simon Neville The Guardian
Employers are increasingly hiring workers as "on-call" employees, with no guarantee of minimum hours of work, leading to severe underemployment and scheduling difficulties. One British firm now employs almost all workers on "zero-hours contracts." The Labour Party is attempting to outlaw the practice.

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The Strip | By Brian McFadden New York Times

Status and Stress

Moises Velasquez-Manoff New York Times
There’s a direct relationship among health, well-being and one’s place in the greater scheme. Based on studies by the British epidemiologist Michael Marmot, “the higher you are in the social hierarchy the better your health.”