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09 May 2011 21:25

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World: U.S. government: “Real intelligence” found durin Bin Laden raid

  • We expect to learn more how bin Laden communicated, who he communicated with and how often he did it, what guidance did he pass on, what questions were passed on, how he operated, how he ran al Qaeda and what did other people expect from bin Laden.
  • A U.S. intelligence official • Discussing what they’ve learned from the death of Osama bin Laden. Rather than devolving into a mere symbol of al-Qaeda, the official suggested that the U.S. gained “real intelligence” from the raid, though much of that intelligence shows that planned attacks were merely “aspirational” in nature. Still, knowing the inner-workings of an organization known for its coordinated attacks is a huge deal. Other notable news from the raid: The group of Navy SEALS were prepped for a possible fight with Pakistani military and police — which is why the group was fairly large. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 17:27

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World: Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s new top dog

  • Meet the new boss, not like the old boss: Ayman al-Zawahiri is now broadly considered to be al-Qaeda’s new top man. The 59-year-old has been within the organization for years, working as a strategist from the days of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole until today — in recent years he’d been more vocal, through audio and video releases, than even the vastly more popular Osama bin Laden. His ascension is generally viewed as good news for the opponents of al-Qaeda; Zawahiri is Egyptian, which is a distinct area of racial tension within al-Qaeda, and while he’s a successful strategist, most consider him utterly lacking in the charisma or leadership ability that made bin Laden such a dangerous figure. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 14:03

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World: Pakistan pushes back against bin Laden insinuations

  • We didn’t know! In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s killing in Pakistan last week, one pressing question has been this: how on earth could a U.S. ally (made so by the billions in aid America gives them each year) acting in competent good faith not have known that bin Laden was living less than a mile from a huge military academy? In a town swarming with retired military officials? Pakistan denies any knowledge or wrongdoing here, but that’s just it — this is a situation in which any admission of wrongdoing is so diplomatically catastrophic that no government would ever cop to it, regardless of how it would make them look. What do y’all think? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 13:40

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World: South Korea to North: renounce nukes and you can join summit

  • South’s idea of nuke security is the North not having them: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has told the North that dictator-for-life Kim Jong-Il (also called “The Dear Leader” or “The Great General” by his population of brutally oppressed, starving citizens) can attend a summit on nuclear security if and only if he renounces his nuclear weapons. If this seems like a stretch, you’re not alone; Kim Jong-Il almost certainly has no interest in such a deal, as his nukes are the biggest thing internationally protecting his totalitarian rule (which uses concentration camps as both a means to forced labor for the state, and an end to disobedient citizens). This seems, sad to say, like Lee Myung-bak making an empty offer, one the North will ignore in the same spirit. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 11:29

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Biz, World: Foxconn’s dilemma: Worker suicides down, but so are profits

  • positive Factory workers at China’s Foxconn plants, where they build iPhones, iPads and a bunch of other iStuff, aren’t committing suicide nearly as much as they were a year ago, thanks in part to reforms put in place after Apple twisted their arm.
  • negative Despite a large jump in revenue for the company, their earnings were down — which, unfortunately, might be a reason for others to not follow suit. Good Magazine suggests we, as consumers, should stop taking advantage of “misery discounts.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 01:35

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World: Egyptian counter-revolution? Hard-line Salafist Islam gains steam

  • The roots of Egypt’s sectarian violence: When Hosni Mubarak was in power, his influence repressed the salafis, a hard-line but influential Islamic sect in the country, ensuring they would not hold strong influence over the country’s militant Sunni Muslims. But with Mubarak out of power, they’re taking advantage of the opporutunity, most recently during the sectarian violence that engulfed two churches near Cairo. “There is no security in Egypt,” said Rober, a member of one of the churches that was destroyed in the conflict. “This is only the beginning. I’m afraid for my sister, for my mother, from the salafis.” Yasmine El Rashidi, a Cairo-based columnist for the New York Review of Books, recently described the scene as a counterrevolution, which might be a little strong, but nonetheless underlines the severity of what’s happening right now. Keep an eye on this. It could be bad. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 May 2011 11:22

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World: Budget bill surprise: The U.S., China can’t collaborate on science

  • We don’t want to give them the opportunity to take advantage of our technology, and we have nothing to gain from dealing with them. China is spying against us, and every U.S. government agency has been hit by cyber-attacks. They are stealing technology from every major U.S. company. They have taken technology from NASA, and they have hit the NSF computers … You name the company, and the Chinese are trying to get its secrets.
  • Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) • Describing the reasoning behind his addition to the recent spending bill that blocks two key U.S. government scientific groups — NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology — from collaborating jointly with China on any scientific projects. (Wolf has his reasons — his office was attacked in 2006 by Chinese hackers, so he’s been there.) While the White House is pulling the “foreign policy is OK!” card to work around this, it still sets a strange precedent that rolls back decades of collaboration. Now that Osama bin Laden is gone, is China the new boogeyman? Or do we need to keep our neighbor to the East out of the cookie jar? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

08 May 2011 10:27

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World: Egyptian Christians, Muslims in fresh sectarian violence

  • A round of sectarian violence: After a set of rumors suggested a woman was being held against her will in a Coptic Christian church in a suburb of Cairo, Muslims reacted by causing violence around the church in question — and setting fire to a nearby church. Around ten people were killed, with another 186 injured; the Egyptian government plans to try 190 people detained for the violence, which a couple of people in this video suggest was an attempt by the old regime to flare up tensions between Muslims and the Coptic Christian minority. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 May 2011 10:06

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World: Alleged Libyan rape victim escapes to Tunisia amid backlash

  • I still do not know what I am going to do. Of course I’d like to see my family.
  • An alleged Libyan rape victim • Revealing to the world that weeks after loudly revealing her brutal plight to a hotel full of journalists, she has left Libya and relocated to Tunisia as a refugee. She escaped, she says, in a military car wearing a head cover that covered everything except one eye. After a “very tiring” trip, she is currently staying at the French embassy in Tunis while she considers her fate. Let’s hope she never has to go back, or if she does, it’s at a time when the culture around her better understands her plight. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 May 2011 22:49

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Tech, World: Chinese iPad 2 scalpers, Apple Store employees in bloody brawl

  • A Beijing location had to close temporarily. In a series of photos that can only be described as harrowing, an array of smashed windows, bloody faces and confused crowds littered the SanLiTun Apple Store after an altercation broke out. The altercation, reportedly between scalpers and employees of the Apple Store, put a dark spin on the country’s iPad 2 launch. Scalpers, by the way, were there to buy the products to resell at much higher prices in regions of the country where the iPad isn’t yet available. (Editor’s note: Some images are graphic.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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