Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

30 Sep 2011 16:11

tags

World: YouTube removes protest videos at request of UK government

  • When viewers in the UK attempt to watch videos of the protest, they are met with the message, ‘This content is not available in your country due to a government removal request.’
  • Paul Watson on YouTube’s new partnership with the UK government over protest videos • The British government is hoping the removal of certain protest images from the popular video sharing website will prevent copycat demonstrations from forming in the future. The British government isn’t the only one requesting YouTube pull demonstration videos: A geographic search reveals the US government has also requested YouTube remove certain videos along with keyword searches. (EDIT: Due to the source of the article, we did a fact-check and confirmed that videos were in fact banned by YouTube due to a UK government request.) source

02 Jun 2011 17:07

tags

World: Yemen’s Sanaa airport closed amidst chaotic violence

  • The scene in Yemen: The depressing, daily drumbeat of violence, upheaval and power struggle continues, and in this case, things are looking like they could get a lot worse before any better. The airport in Sanaa has closed, amidst some of the most sustained, violent clashing in Yemen since the initial protests against the Saleh government. source

09 May 2011 14:03

tags

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

22 Feb 2011 13:56

tags

U.S.: Protests against Yemen’s government, President continue in Aden

  • “Not even for one week”: A glimpse of what’s going on in Yemen as the tour of Middle East upheaval continues. President Ali Abdullah Saleh clearly doesn’t care for these movements against him, and isn’t being particularly coy or diplomatic about it. Yemen’s death-toll is thought to have grown to double-digits of late, and protests against Saleh continue to rage in Aden. source

21 Feb 2011 13:58

tags

World: Yemeni President Saleh cries incredulousness at protests

  • Why do you turn to violence? Why do you turn to the destruction of things? This is an infection, it’s not in our culture, it’s not in our tradition.
  • Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh • On the groundswell protests against his government. He also referred to the protest movement as being “like a flu,” which while a rather crude way to describe the forces stacked against him is not wholly without merit. The middle east appears to be reaching a critical mass of anti-ruling party mentality, as the victories and adversities of protesters in other states provide limitless fuel and momentum for still more revolution. So, disrespect aside, the pathological reference bears some fruit. source

14 Feb 2011 14:57

tags

World: Higher Military Council in Egypt issues timeline for reforms

  • 2 months maximum expected before Egypt’s constitutional referendum source

10 Feb 2011 13:36

tags

World: Might all this Muslim Brotherhood hand-wringing be overdone?

  • 15% reported support for Muslim Brotherhood, poll claims source
 

18 Jan 2011 15:08

tags

World: Early struggles for Tunisia’s new government

  • two days since Tunisia’s coalition government took charge following a climactic revolution
  • four coalition ministers who have already quit over lack of personnel change from the old regime
  • one political party threatening to pull out unless there’s a purge of the old regime’s members source

30 Oct 2010 12:27

tags

Biz, Tech: Does the U.S. think companies should patent genes?

  • NO they think that genes are part of nature and shouldn’t be source
  • » Why this is a big deal: Well, among other things, this is a change of policy for them, one that could make it harder for the biotechnology and medicine industries to keep innovations unique. We wish that the government would make this distinction on software patents over trivial things. See, that’s where a change in decision is necessary.

10 Oct 2010 11:19

tags

Politics: Poll: Most Americans think the government sucks at doing its job

  • 55% of people polled say that they think government isn’t paying attention to the big issues
  • 80% of Republcians say that the government’s priorities are completely misplaced
  • 20%think it may not even be possible for the government to be run efficiently source