Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

02 Jul 2011 12:02

tags

World: Greece’s not-so-hot week ends with a blocked flotilla to Gaza

  • action Despite a ban blocking flotillas headed towards Gaza from leaving Greek ports, an American one attempted to do just that yesterday. It was turned away by the Greek coast guard, which reportedly pointed machine guns at flotilla passengers. This comes  on the heels of Greece’s austerity vote.
  • reaction As you might imagine, reaction to this news was emotional on both sides. “Greece sold its body to the banks and its soul to Israel and the United States,” said one activist on the flotilla. The ship was named “The Audacity of Hope,” meaning Obama was indirectly dragged into this situation, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jul 2011 14:01

tags

World: Hugo Chavez’s cancer surgery puts Venezuela in tough situation

  • Well, that’s no laughing matter. The Venezuelan leader — adored in some corners, criticized in others — finally made a statement on his bizarre leave of absence in the country he leads. He hasn’t just been hanging with Fidel Castro for kicks, guys. There was some real stuff going on. Cancerous cells, surgery, the whole bit. His vice president, Elías Jaua, says that he could stay out of the country for as long as six months, but he won’t take over his job in the meantime. So what does that mean for the country he leads? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jul 2011 10:21

tags

World: Now isn’t the the time to discuss Strauss-Kahn’s rebound

  • It is clear that if he wants to, Dominique must come to France and play a major political role. Whatever his status, his presence with us would be decisive for our success in [next year’s] presidential election.
  • Former French Culture Minister Jack Lang • Expressing excitement over the possibility that Dominique Strauss-Kahn might walk. Now, we’ve read a couple of articles like this Financial Times one this morning, and the celebratory tone of the whole thing weirds us out a ton. Even if it was adultery, instead of rape, that’d be enough to sink the hopes of a campaign in the U.S. But even by that token, we don’t know the full story yet, from Kahn’s angle or the victim’s. Now is not the time to discuss his presidential aspirations. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Jun 2011 17:27

tags

World: Nicolas Sarkozy grabbed during public appearance

  • The dangers of the rope-line: French President Nicolas Sarkozy was grabbed and pulled by a man while walking past a rope-line at a public event today. What we find most interesting about this: “Sarkozy says he will take no action against the man.” Now, we’d be shocked if this guy isn’t in a world of legal trouble right now, but for Sarkozy to openly state he’ll take no action against him sort of surprised us. If this happened to President Obama, we bet there would be a lot more emphasis and on this, both from the administration and the media. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2011 18:48

tags

World: Protests continue in Greece after austerity plan passes

  • Tumult, violence in Greece: Passions continue to run hot in Greece after the party-line vote in favor of a harsh new set of austerity measures — the new tax burden placed on minimum wage earners, in particular, has inflamed swaths of the public against the plan. Protests had been increasingly violent leading up to the vote, and have sustained after the plan’s passage — police have responded with teargas attacks on the protesting crowds. As always, we hope people find a way to keep themselves safe in all this. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2011 14:32

tags

World: North Korea is looking to avert a revolution

  • fear North Korea seems afraid of a revolution similar to those we’ve seen in the Middle East. They bought a lot of anti-riot gear from China, and there’s been extra police forces around. But where do the revolutions usually start? With the kids in college.
  • reaction North Korea has closed all of their universities until April 2012, blaming it on their ailing economy — all the students have to go work in factories. This might be true, but more than likely it’s not — they’re trying to keep those most likely to revolt from doing it. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2011 11:42

tags

World: Greek austerity passes parliament, ensuring international loan

  • 155-138 mostly along party lines source
  • » Harsh words for the opposition: George Papandreou, the leader of the Socialist Party, had this to say towards the opposition New Democrats in the heat of the all-important vote: “All of Europe knows that your party is responsible for the current situation.” The vote, which only one member of parliament on either side crossed lines for, means that the country will receive a $17 billion rescue plan to make it through the Summer, with a second, much larger one in the works. Meanwhile, outside parliament, large-scale protests continued unabated.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

28 Jun 2011 17:24

tags

World: Christine Lagarde named new head of IMF

  • The new face of the Fund: The International Monetary Fund’s hunt for a new managing director (in the wake of rape allegations against former leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn) has come to an end, and Christine Lagarde is the winner. Lagarde is currently a French Finance Minister (meaning the European grip on this position will continue), and will begin a five-year term as the IMF head on July 5th. Her first comments of relevance since the announcement, predictably, were about Greece: “If I have one message tonight about Greece, it is to call on the Greek political opposition to support the party that is currently in power in a spirit of national unity.” Translation: I’d really like you all to get going with this unpopular austerity plan, sooner rather than later. (photo via the World Economic Forum’s Flickr page) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2011 10:39

tags

World: Wildfire gets a little to close to Los Alamos’ nuclear waste

  • These drums are designed to a safety standard that would withstand a wildland fire worse than this one.
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory spokeswoman Lisa Rosendorf • Attempting to reassure people that, even as a large wildfire gets close to the birthplace of the atomic bomb — which has about 30,000 55-gallon drums of Cold War-era nuclear waste on the premises, located less than four miles away from the fire — that things are safe. Rosendorf says that it’s located in a place with few trees nearby, meaning that the fire would be unlikely to spread into that particular area, and if it did, it would not affect the drums. Let’s hope she’s right. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2011 10:23

tags

World: Greeks protest austerity vote; police officers are ready for them

  • 5,000 police officers deployed to deal with mayhem source
  • » 48-hour general strike called: With Greece facing a difficult austerity vote today, protesters have shown up by the thousands outside of the country’s parliament. The strike has shut down most public services, including transit. Airports and hospitals have also suffered the deep effects of the strikes. The passage of the measures, however, is key — a large loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund rests on their passage. If they don’t get it, they risk going into default, which would be very bad.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>