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

01 Jun 2011 16:54

tags

World: Syrian protesters rally around memory of Hamza al-Khatib

  • The face of a protest: The above is a childhood picture of Hamza al-Khatib, a slain Syrian boy whose image has become a rallying symbol for the opposition to the rule of Bashar al-Assad. Activists have claimed Syrian security forces al-Khatib tortured and killed by. Be warned, there are extremely grisly images and video floating around the internet of the boy’s corpse that are about as hard to look at as anything, so please be careful. The Syrian protest movement has now galvanized around this boy’s memory, and protesters have plastered this specific image across signs and banners — a chilling reminder of the routine brutalities the Syrian people, even their children, have suffered under Bashar al-Assad’s reign. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 11:02

tags

World: German E.coli outbreak making people sick, pissing off Spain

  • 1,500 people, mostly in Germany, have been sickened by E.coli — a dramatic increase
  • 16 people have died in the outbreak; 365 new cases of the disease were discovered Wednesday
  • ??? the source of the outbreak — initially thought to be Spanish cucumber source
  • » Contradictions and conflict: Despite the findings of new cases by the Robert Koch Institute, a German disease control agency, European Union Health Commissioner John Dalli was recently on record for saying this: “According to the latest information we have available from Germany, it appears that the outbreak is on the decline. Fewer people have been hospitalized over the past couple of days than before.” Uh, not so much. Also, Spain (already struggling with the highest unemployment of the European Union) is very upset that their cucumbers were slandered by Germany, and is considering legal action. Either way, if you’re in Europe — particularly Germany — you might want to be extra-careful when eating food.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2011 10:08

tags

World: NATO decides to keep with the Libyan airstrikes until September

  • 90 more days of continued NATO airstrikes over Libya source
  • » The goal? To protect the people of Libya: At least that’s how the NATO Secretary-General explains it. “This decision sends a clear message to the Gaddafi regime. We are determined to continue our operation to protect the people of Libya,” says Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2011 17:23

tags

World: Smokers of the world, quit! Today is “World No Tobacco Day”

  • Never a bad time: The new, concerning report on cell phone use isn’t the only place you’ll hear the word “carcinogenic” being used today; May 31st is World No Tobacco Day, a cause that could probably benefit from a slightly less clunky title. The World Health Organization estimates that some 6 million people die each year from tobacco-related illness. Anti-smoking measures within the U.S. have blossomed over the last decade, with smoking bans in public places, restaurants, and bars becoming more and more prevalent across the states — check here for a list of smoking bans applicable in your area. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2011 16:33

tags

World: Egyptian general says female protesters got “virginity checks”

  • “Not like your daughter or mine”: An Egyptian general, speaking on condition of anonymity, has alleged a heinous violation of the women of Egypt, though he doesn’t see it that way. The general admitted that during protests on March 9th, the military performed “virginity checks” on women. The reason? “We didn’t want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren’t virgins in the first place. None of them were.” It goes without saying that this rationale is nonsensical, disgusting, and beneath the contempt of a modern civil society. General Mamdouh Shaheen has denied these charges. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2011 11:21

tags

World: Ratko Mladic loses extradition fight, visits his daughter’s grave

  • During the Bosnian War, Mladic’s daughter committed suicide. The former general, who faces war crimes charges for his role in the war, got the chance to visit Ana today. Mladic lost his fight against extradition to The Hague — which his lawyer fought, claiming that Mladic wasn’t in good enough health for travel and is too frail to stand trial. Once the judge signs the extradition order, expected today, he’ll be headed on a plane to face tribunal. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 16:48

tags

World: Defecting Libyan Generals: We’re keeping our troops

  • eight Libyan Generals defected to Italy today, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry
  • 100+ Libyan soldiers accompanied their generals, who met with Italian intelligence agents in Tunisia source
  • » This comes the same day that South African President Jacob Zuma is meeting with Gaddafi to try and negotiate a cease-fire between him and rebels. Will these defections spur a change of heart in Gaddafi, convincing him to finally relinquish power and allow his crumbling regime to die? Probably not, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed just in case.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

30 May 2011 11:28

tags

World: Libya: Can South African president Jacob Zuma pull off a deal?

Our boy is reportedly in Libya to try to broker a power-sharing deal between Gaddafi and the rebels. Will the South African president’s presence get Gaddafi (shown) to budge? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2011 11:06

tags

World: Close friend: Ratko Mladic lived an normal life through 2002

  • He lived normally until 2002. Everybody came by to pay their respects… He was not the type of person to sit around and do nothing.
  • Ratko Mladic’s friend, Aleksandar Mihailovic • Revealing that his former neighbor, the suspected war criminal for whom he built a house, lived a fairly normal life in Belgrade between the end of the Bosnian war and 2002, when he disappeared without a trace for nearly nine years. Mihailovic (a real-estate magnate) paints a picture of a man engaged with his community — one who liked telling stories, eating at restaurants and playing soccer. He, however, spoke with the blessing of the Mladic family, emphasizing in no uncertain terms that he came out on the side of the former general. “Everything that happened followed the fall of Srebrenica,” he said. “Do you think a person of such capability, such professionalism, would allow what is undeniably a horrible crime?” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 May 2011 13:33

tags

World: Amid divisions, Israel investing lots of money to improve Jerusalem

  • $100 million to keep Jerusalem an “undivided capital” source
  • » Israel’s long-term plan: While Obama continues to push Israel to return to their 1967 borders, Prime Minister Benjamain Netanyahu has plans for the capital, now a single piece thanks to the Six-Day War, which changed those borders. “The city was united 44 years ago,” he noted, “and we returned to our ancestral lands. Since then Jerusalem has flourished.” The multi-year package would increase funding for tourism, education grants and also give bio-technology companies incentives to work in the long-divided city.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>