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30 Dec 2010 13:35

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World: Ivory Coast could celebrate new year by falling further into abyss

  • A few things happen on January 1st, guys. First of all, it’s the new year, which is always sort of a big deal. Secondly, it’s the site’s second anniversary, which means we expect cake, but probably won’t get it because nobody cares enough about this site to make a cake. But third, and most importantly, some really crazy stuff could go down in the Ivory Coast. See, supporters of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara are holed up in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, but supporters of Laurent Gbagbo are talking about plans to “liberate” the hotel on the first of the year, leading the UN’s new envoy to the country to say things like “on the brink of genocide.” This could be extremely bad, and we’d rather have a crappy anniversary that everyone ignores than to see a country like the Ivory Coast, which has been through hell and civil war, fall into that trap again thanks to the current unrest being caused by Gbagbo’s controversial hold on power. source

30 Dec 2010 10:08

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World: Number of former Israeli presidents convicted of rape? One.

It’s good to note that Moshe Katsav, who was convicted of raping two former employees and harassing another, backed out of a plea deal to fight this in court. Bad idea. source

29 Dec 2010 10:32

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World: Bad idea: South Korea working on unification plans with the North

  • Let’s say you’re South Korea. North of you is one of the world’s most volatile countries, North Korea, and they’re your sworn enemy. West of you is China, the 900-pound gorilla of Asia. Now, let’s say you’re the president of South Korea, like this guy in the middle here, Lee Myung-bak. How do you handle this situation in such a way as to anger both of them at once? Here’s how – bring up plans to unify the two Koreas. Could you guys at least wait until Kim Jong-il is dead and his frumpy kid who skated into the job is the leader? You know they have the bomb, right? source

29 Dec 2010 10:11

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World: Danish newspaper targeted over rage-inducing Mohammed cartoons

  • 5 arrested over plot over five-year-old cartoons; attention span ≠ short source

29 Dec 2010 09:55

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World: Not willing to share: China limiting exports of rare earth minerals

China produces 97 percent of the world’s rare-earth materials, used in all sorts of ways. But now China doesn’t want to share so much anymore – and other countries are pissed. source

28 Dec 2010 20:52

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World: Not even peer pressure enough to get Laurent Gbagbo to resign

See this guy in the middle here? Well, he (along with two other African leaders) went to the Ivory Coast today to see if he could get Laurent Gbagbo to resign. Not so much. source

28 Dec 2010 09:39

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World: The Ivory Coast nearly couped yesterday – in Paris, that is

These dudes are blocking off the Ivory Coast’s French embassy. Why? Supporters of should-be-winner Alassane Ouattara took it over for a bit yesterday. Uh-oh. source
 

27 Dec 2010 08:24

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World: Julian Assange is writing a book. Here’s how much he’s gonna make

  • So, in case you couldn’t guess otherwise, Julian Assange is broke. Running a site like Wikileaks does not make one rich, and now that banks are clamping down on the organization, he’s forced to take desperate measures. Which means that the inevitable book is coming down the pipe a little sooner than anyone might have guessed. Which means, within a year, we’re going to see a movie, with Neil Patrick Harris playing our boy Julian. Probably. Anyway, here’s how much this autobiography thang is going to make him:
  • $502k coming from British publisher Canongate Books Ltd.
  • $800k more coming from American publisher Alfred A. Knopf
  • $1.7M total, which will go towards his legal defense source
  • » Our question: Will Bank of America, PayPal, Mastercard and Visa block payments to Knopf or Canongate Books? Because they’re directly helping Wikileaks.

25 Dec 2010 21:59

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World: Ivory Coast’s presidential instability leading to mass exodus

  • 14,000 people headed for Liberia, stat source
  • » To emphasize: This is not a trip one takes lightly. The people evacuating the country have been walking for hours and days to reach a river dividing the two countries. At that point, they have to make an arduous journey on a barge to reach Liberia. The level of work they’re putting in to leave the country suggests that something bad’s about to go down.

25 Dec 2010 21:34

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World: Christmas Day attack on starving Pakistanis hits new level of evil

  • So, it’s one thing to attack people living lives in normal conditions. That’s pretty awful on its own. But when you attack those who are starving and attempting to receive food from the World Food Program in Pakistan, that’s a whole new world of evil you’re entering. We feel awful for those who were hurt, and get behind Obama’s statement on this: “Killing innocent civilians outside a World Food Program distribution point is an affront to the people of Pakistan, and to all humanity.” The more than 43 people killed and 100 injured didn’t deserve treatment like this from anyonesource