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28 Feb 2011 21:52

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World: Libyan opposition figure Abdel Fattah Younes: Gaddafi will likely die

  • Gaddafi will either commit suicide, which is unlikely as suicide is a sin in Islam; or he may go out for others to kill him – he and his rifle in a bloody and fatal confrontation against a huge force. However under such difficult situations, human behaviour cannot be predicted. The second scenario is 90% likely to happen.
  • Former Libyan official (and current opposition supporter) Abdel Fattah Younes • Explaining, in an article for Al Jazeera English, what he thinks will happen to his former boss, Muammar Gaddafi. Younes, the former interior minister and head of Special Forces, says he quit partly because the “victims were too many for no justification.” Read everything he wrote. It’s really good. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 21:15

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World: Did the Ivory Coast break a UN embargo to buy helicopters?

  • three the number of attack helicopters the Ivory Coast’s president, Laurent Gbagbo, may have received from Belarus recently
  • zero the number of helicopters Gbagbo’s government is supposed to be able to get, according to the UN’s 2004 arms embargo on the country; oops source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 20:58

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World: Jaycee Lee Dugard’s captors: We confess to everything

Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, who reportedly kept Dugard in captivity for almost two decades, chose to confess partly to ensure a lighter sentence for Nancy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 15:32

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World: Christchurch, New Zealand begins burying their dead


  • The sorrow in Christchurch: We won’t add anything to this, except to offer the deepest sympathies possible. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 13:47

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World: Profiles in denial: Muammar Gaddafi edition

  • All my people love me. They would die to protect me.
  • Muammar Gaddafi • Speaking to veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour, who sent this quote out on her Twitter account. Big credit to Amanpour, who’s previously obtained surprising access to Gaddafi, and has helped the international community to learn what the besieged in Libya already know so well — the man is insane. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 11:04

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World: Hosni Mubarak won’t be able to high-tail it out of Egypt, guys

  • yes Ousted leader Hosni Mubarak is reportedly still in Egypt even after leaving office, and is hiding out in his residence in Sharm el-Sheikh.
  • no Were he to want to leave, he would be unable to, because the country’s attorney general just blocked him from leaving. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Feb 2011 10:53

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World: Come visit sunny Egypt, now with one less dictator for life!

  • In terms of reviving tourism, the problem is currently Libya, not us. The whole region is very hot right now.
  • Sylvia Tours Egypt managing director Karim Mohsen • Making a pitch that people should consider having their next trip in Egypt, which has calmed down a tad since Hosni Mubarak left office a couple of weeks ago. To drive the point home, many young Egyptians are pushing an “Egypt is Safe” campaign, cleaning monuments and taking people to Tahrir Sqare as a tourist attraction. “Please tell your friends not to fear the revolution. This is the new Egypt and it welcomes you,” said one young student about the country. And really, the revolution is just another reason to check out a piece of Egyptian history! Right? Right?!? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

28 Feb 2011 10:42

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World: Oman’s leader trying to appease protesters very generously

  • 50,000 the number of government jobs Sultan Qaboos has promised will be installed in the country
  • $390 the amount Oman’s unemployment program would pay job-seekers each month until they find work source
  • » But it’s not working: While Sultan Qaboos doesn’t appear to be in danger of losing his leadership role, protesters are still unhappy and are pushing for political reforms in the country. “We want new faces in the government and we have a long list of social reforms,” said civil servant Habiba al-Hanay. “We just hope he will hear us and make changes.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Feb 2011 20:02

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World: Is John Boehner backing off government shutdown stance entirely?

  • Americans want the government to stay open, and they want it to spend less money. We don’t need to shut down the government to accomplish that. We just need to do what the American people are asking of us.
  • John Boehner (in expected statements) • Discussing the next steps his party plans to help encourage spending cuts. Note that he appears to be backing away from the idea of a government shutdown. Perhaps hard-line stances are proving a little too, uh, risky for the GOP right now?  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Feb 2011 11:28

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World: Next on the list of popular Middle East uprisings? Oman

  • Protests in the country turned deadly today. The country, situated between Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen on the Mideast pie chart, has seen its share of anti-government protests pop up. Today, two anti-government protesters in the industrial town of Sohar were killed in clashes with police. State media claimed that the protesters were trying to storm a police station. “Police and anti-riot squads confronted this group of wreckers in a bid to protect people and their properties, which caused casualties,” the report said. The protests in the country are a little different, by the way, because they have largely emphasized loyalty with Sultan Qaboos, one of the world’s longest-serving political leaders. The sultan, in response to a prior protest, recently reshuffled his cabinet. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
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