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18 Apr 2011 15:49

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World: Taliban captures engineers in Farah province

  • twelve Iranian engineers in Afghanistan have been kidnapped by the Taliban
  • five Afghans who were working with the Iranians were also captured source
  • » It happened in Farah province, near the Iranian border. Afghanistan’s embassy in Tehran called for swift action, as Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said he wants “Kabul authorities to exercise their responsibilities with regard to Iranian nationals and to take firm and swift action on this kidnapping.”
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2011 11:25

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World: Poll: Japanese people want PM Naoto Kan to step down over quake

  • 70% of those polled think Naoto Kan should step down source
  • » A revolving door: Were Naoto Kan to step down, he’d be the fifth prime minister in a row to step down or lose an election after a year or less on the job. From Shinzō Abe to Yasuo Fukuda to Taro Aso and Yukio Hatoyama, the job has not proven a stable one. And Kan is nearing his one-year mark in the position. But none of his recent predecessors had to deal with a crisis nearly as crazy as the double-teaming of Fukushima and the Sendai quake.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 20:58

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World: Goodluck Jonathan scores huge lead in Nigerian presidential vote

  • 31.1 million votes counted so far in Nigeria, but millions to go
  • 19.4
    million     number of votes current president Goodluck Jonathan has, a seemingly-insurmountable lead
  • 8.4
    million     number of votes his closest opponent, ex-military leader Muhammadu Buhari, has source
  • » A difficult lead to top: While eight of the 36 states in oil-rich Nigeria still uncounted — a vote count large enough for Buhari to catch up — he would need a lot of votes. That said, some religious conflict will likely come to play in the eight uncounted states, which are largely Muslim. Jonathan, who became president after the death of the last president, is Christian.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 11:30

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World: Hillary Clinton visits Japan in show of post-quake support

Here she is with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. Hillary does a great job keeping that presidential poise even as Secretary of State, doesn’t she? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 10:13

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World: Large death toll after massive storms tear through the Southeast

  • 44+ the death toll reported in the wake of this weekend’s massive storm front
  • 23+ of the victims were North Carolina-based — 14 in one single rural county — the most of any state
  • 100+ number of twisters reported throughout the Southeast over the weekend source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Apr 2011 20:58

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World: Wow: Fidel Castro’s brother Raul suggests term limits for Cuba

  • two the number of terms — five years each — Raul Castro just suggested Cuba limit its elected officials to
  • 47 the number of years his brother Fidel led the communist nation for; which explains why this is a surprise source
  • » A rare meeting: Raul made the suggestion at a meeting of the Communist Party Congress — the first get-together of the organization in 14 years. Raul said the country needed the changes to encourage a “systematic rejuvenation of the whole chain of party and administrative posts.” Let’s face it, Raul Castro (the 79-year-old younger brother) isn’t going to live forever. No word on what his brother thinks of this.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Apr 2011 17:25

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World: “Walk to Work”: Did Uganda shut off Twitter & Facebook?

  • No, no, it is not us; it seems it is the government that has blocked the service. Even us, we are crying like you.
  • A Warid telecom engineer in Uganda • Expressing frustration that Facebook and Twitter reportedly no longer working in the country. The report — which would be the second bout of social media downtime the country has faced in the past few months — suggests a degree of par-for-the-course suppression as Ugandan citizens plan a “walk to work” protest for Monday, to fight against quickly-increasing food prices. Which, by the way, has been a root cause of much of the unrest throughout northern Africa of late. (hat tip John Ness) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Apr 2011 22:11

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World: TEPCO: Paying displaced residents … but cutting our workforce

  • 50k the number of households near Fukushima eligible for payments from TEPCO
  • ¥1M the amount that could be offered to each household — roughy $12,000 total
  • ¥50B the amount that would be offered based on that assessment —around $600 million source
  • » Raising money by cutting jobs? While Company President Masataka Shimizu didn’t speculate on what the final amount might be, he did point out a possible way to pay for said payments to local residents. They’re looking at cutting jobs to streamline operations and pay the people affected by the accident. “We must pursue rationalization that regards nothing as sacred,” he said. “We will make utmost efforts to raise funds.” Now, maybe we’re wrong here, but doesn’t it seem weird to cut employees after a massive disaster that had at least some root in safety issues?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Apr 2011 14:09

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World: In Canada, the money — not just the credit card — goes plastic

  • Sir Robert Laird Borden gets a plastic makeover: Do we need any more proof that paper’s a dying medium? Last month the Bank Of Canada announced details about their polymer-based $100 bills, which offer more security due to the basic fact that plastic is harder to counterfeit than paper. The first ones roll off out of the mint in November, and the $50 bill will change over in 2012. “Canada’s new bank notes will have innovative security features that are easy to verify,” said the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney. “The leading-edge technology in these notes will expand the frontiers of bank note security.” And on top of all this, the money is safer from the elements than paper. Are there any disadvantages to making bills out of plastic? (Above: Samples of paper $100 bills, via Bank Of Canada’s Flickr page. | EDIT: Oshea-green points out that Australia led the way with plastic money of their own starting in 1988. Every bill they’ve made since 1996 has been polymer-based.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Apr 2011 13:54

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World: Syria’s Assad orders detainee release; torture reports abound

  • Reports of torture coming from Syria: As the Assad government in Syria released some of the people arrested during the violent crackdown in the port city of Banias, many of the detainees accused their captors of torture. This shouldn’t come as a fantastic surprise, as Assad’s regime has been known to use tactics such as torture for a while now, but it’s yet another reminder of the basic, raw humanity that’s at stake in these political uprisings. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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