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26 Oct 2010 09:51

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World: One of Saddam Hussein’s top aides sentenced to hang

Tariq Aziz was one of Saddam’s most public faces during the former Iraq leader’s regime of terror. Which explains why Aziz has been sentenced to a similar fate. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Oct 2010 09:34

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World: Highlights from Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Index

  • 1st is Denmark, which suggests that very little is rotten there
  • 22nd is the U.S., which fell out of the top 20 due to the financial crisis
  • 78th is China, which may not like Google but is less corrupt than you think
  • 146th is Iran; they’re tied with Libya (both are too high on this list, honestly)
  • 154th is Russia, which makes a lot of sense if you know Russia
  • 164th is Venezuela, which at least has a fan in Oliver Stone, right?
  • 172nd is Sudan, which has Darfur and child soldiers to answer for
  • 175th is Iraq, what with their undecided election and everything
  • 176th is Afghanistan, what with their bags of money and everything
  • last is Somalia, which makes lots of sense considering it’s Somalia source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 21:00

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World: Protip: Don’t hold outdoor swimming competitions in 100-degree heat

  • If the water temperature was 87 degrees, that’s so warm … it’s hard for your body to get rid of the heat.
  • Extreme survival expert Ken Kamler • Discussing what happened to Fran Crippen, a U.S. competitive swimmer who died in a race in the United Arab Emirates over the weekend. Crippen was swimming in very extreme conditions – it was over 100 degrees outside and the water temperature was around 87 degrees, which is the average temperature of hot tub water. Hot tubs are already warm and sweaty enough without the movement. But Crippen was swimming a ten-kilometer race. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 11:04

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World: Nearly two weeks in, French strikes proving very costly

  • €200+
    million     the amount that the French strikes are costing the country per day, at minimum (as high as €400 million)
  • €2.4
    billion     the minimum amount this could be hurting their economy; it could be as high as €4.8 billion source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2010 09:53

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World: Great! Afghan government taking money from Iran, won’t stop

  • They have asked for good relations in return, and for lots of other things in return. And we have also asked for lots of things in return in this relationship. This is a relationship between neighbors and it will go on and we will continue to ask for cash help from Iran.
  • Afghan president Hamid Karzai • Admitting his government takes money from the Iranian government (a payment of around $1-2 million every other month, by the way). But here’s the kicker – even though they’ve been called out for it, they don’t plan to stop. The U.S. has been funding your nation for how many years, buddy? This is something you just don’t do if you’re working with the U.S. In other news, Karzai wants his country’s local media to “defame The New York Times just as they have defamed us.” The Times broke the story a couple days ago. Karzai claims they wrote it to defame his chief of staff, Umar Daudzai. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 12:01

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World: Wikileaks: Nick Clegg (smartly) chooses not to shoot the messenger

  • I think anything that suggests that basic rules of war, conflict and engagement have been broken or that torture has been in any way condoned are extremely serious and need to be looked at.
  • British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg • Suggesting that the British government needs to investigate the torture claims brought forth by Wikileaks’ massive Iraq War data dump. Just yesterday, the country’s Ministry of Defense, which condemned the group for releasing the data. Clegg, on the other hand, has a very refreshing response to the whole thing: “We can bemoan how these leaks occurred, but I think the nature of the allegations made are extraordinarily serious.” If only more world leaders would take that approach to Wikileaks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 11:40

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World: Haiti’s real cholera fear? A massive outbreak in Port-Au-Prince

As high as the cholera outbreak’s death toll has been so far, the real danger is if it devastates massively-populated Port-Au-Prince. A few cases have already hit. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 Oct 2010 10:04

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World: Haiti: Cholera death toll rising

  • 200+ dead from cholera epidemic in Haiti source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Oct 2010 22:43

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World: Massacre at Mexican party; second in last year

  • 13 dead in shooting at Mexico border city source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Oct 2010 19:20

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World: A few key facts revealed in Wikileaks’ latest document leak

  • 15k the number of new civilian casualties Iraqi Body Count added to their list in the wake of Wikileaks’ latest data dump – the total number is over 122,000
  • 680 Iraqis were killed in often-violent “escalation of force” encounters near military checkpoints; some victims included pregnant women and the mentally ill
  • 80% the share of civilian deaths in the overall death count, according to Iraq Body Count – around 150,000 deaths, including over 3,000 by friendly fire
  • » Did the U.S. hide torture? The most controversial fact revealed in the reports, barring the release of the reports themselves, appears to be the U.S. military’s complicit role in hiding torture. It’s something that UN representative Manfred Nowak is straight-up calling out the Obama administration for. “There is an obligation,” he said. “to investigate whenever there are credible allegations torture has happened – and these allegations are more than credible – and then it is up to the courts on the one hand to bring the perpetrators to justice and also on the other hand to provide the victims with adequate reparation for the harm they have suffered.” Other human rights groups have pinpointed the British government for similar reasons.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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