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16 Sep 2011 12:10

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World: Helle Thorning-Schmidt: Meet Denmark’s first female Prime Minister

  • She’s got a lot of work ahead of her: Thanks in part to a “Red bloc” coalition between the Social Democrats and a handful of other parties (and in part due to economic issues), the center-left was able to topple the decade-long rule of the center-right. Many don’t think this will last, however, due to the many differences between the coalition parties. Part of Thorning-Schmidt’s successful pitch, by the way? A bizarre productivity-raising idea that involves increasing the work day by 12 minutes each day, or an hour each week. If you were to pitch this idea in the U.S., there would be cries of socialism so loud that you wouldn’t be able to hear yourself work. Spend 12 minutes surfing the Web and get over it, right? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Sep 2011 00:19

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World: There’s something world leaders don’t say every day

  • Berlusconi’s back: In a move that probably won’t help German-Italian relations, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was caught on tape referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as an “unf@#kable lard-ass.” These are harsh words from the lothario Berlusconi; while he’s admitted to being “a bit mischievous” with his sexual exploits, he’s also insisted that he treats women with the utmost respect. Hopefully this won’t spark an international crisis (Reuters photo). source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Sep 2011 15:58

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World: NASA’s animation of newly-discovered “Star Wars” planet

  • Meet Kepler-16b: We’ll admit, the selling of this story as the discovery of a “Star Wars” planet (so said in reference to Luke Skywalker’s desert home of Tatooine) seems a little silly. That said, dual suns are cool, and people generally don’t seem as interested in astronomy as we’d like, so we’ll forgive the attempt at pop-cultural publicity. As the animation illustrates, both of Kepler-16b’s suns would set on the same horizon. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Sep 2011 20:34

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World: Underwear bomber shouts “Osama’s Alive!” in courtroom

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, made the outburst while potential jurors were filling out questionnaires. Guess the trial on this one’s gonna be fairly painless. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Sep 2011 10:14

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World: Iran contradicts Ahmadinejad on fate of jailed American hikers

  • The two Americans are going to stay in prison for a bit longer. Reports of their imminent release are wrong.
  • An Iranian judiciary official • Basically contradicting what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said about the fates of American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, who have been held by Iran for two years for what effectively amounts to trespassing. Was Ahmadinejad simply making nice with Ann Curry? Or sounding nice for the United Nations? If so, that’s really lame. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Sep 2011 00:15

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World: China’s Wen Jiabao: Developed countries need to show fiscal responsibility

  • Countries must first put their own houses in order. Developed countries must take responsible fiscal and monetary policies. What is most important now is to prevent the further spread of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.
  • Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao • Telling all the deadbeat European nations to bump up their national credit scores before looking for a bailout from China. Wen previously said the country would lend a helping hand to Europe, which is suffering a crippling debt crisis. So, in case you were thinking of going to China for a little cash, you’re out of luck … unless you’ve proven yourself fiscally responsible (or China has a huge vested interest in seeing you succeed). Then China would be happy to let you into its deep coffers. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Sep 2011 16:30

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World: Libya’s Mustafa Abdel Jalil responds to Amnesty International

  • Libyan leader pledges respect for human rights: On Monday, Amnesty International released a report on Libya’s past six months of warfare. It found that while pro-Gaddafi forces committed widespread war crimes, there were also incidences of such crimes within the Libyan rebellion – torture, disappearances, and the mass killing of prisoners among them. The leader of Libya’s interim council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, has responded by vowing the new government will respect human rights (though it won’t be a secular one, as he says Libya will remain a moderate Islamic nation), and pledged to investigate claims of war crimes committed by his own fighters. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

13 Sep 2011 11:08

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World: Miss Universe Leila Lopes, from Angola, plans to work to fight HIV

  • As Miss Angola I’ve already done a lot to help my people. I’ve worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I have to do everything that my country needs … I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more.
  • The new Miss Universe, Leila Lopes • Describing what she plans to do to help as the new Miss Universe. The current Miss Angola is a bit of a trailblazer as far as beauty pageant winners go — she’s one of the few black women to win the Miss Universe title, and she had harsh words for anyone that might have a problem with that: “Any racist needs to seek help.” Not that we’re particularly huge fans of Miss Anything pageants, but considering her social stances, we can totally get behind this winner. Africa has a huge HIV problem, and needs any help it can get. Now it has a high-profile ambassador. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Sep 2011 17:12

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World: 24-year-old Libyan woman, “Nomidia,” provided key info to NATO

  • I was not on the radar. They were concentrating more on the guys and it was almost impossible to think that a girl was doing all of this.
  • Libyan NATO informant “Nomidia” • Speaking on the cover her gender gave her in providing information, much about the location of weaponry and tank storage in Tripoli, to the NATO alliance in Libya. Nomidia, 24, eventually developed contacts that gave her insider information about the conflict — the false-alarm capture of Saif al-Gaddafi, for example, she knew to be untrue well before news broke. In an interview with Reuters, Nomidia claims she provided NATO with three locations that were bombed — an arms storage site, a military camp, and an intelligence building. She spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that while Gaddafi’s regime is largely deposed, she still fears a “fifth column” of supporters who might target her or her family. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Sep 2011 21:51

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World: Al Jazeera sister network raided by Egyptian officials; network defiant

  • If broadcasting the truth is considered endangering stability, then it is an honor for any media outlet to be endangering stability.
  • Ahmed Zein, manager of Al Jazeera Live Egypt • Sounding defiant amidst a raid that took the network off the air on Sunday. The raid was not without warning — a couple of weeks before, the country’s minister of media, Osama Heikal, said that it would take actions against media outlets that “endanger the stability and security” of the country — which one could argue the happened with last week’s attack on the Israeli embassy. Al Jazeera Live Egypt is a fairly new sister network that cropped up in reaction to the Egyptian revolution, seen in the West as a coming out party for the Qatar-based network. The affiliate focuses on street protests. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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