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23 May 2010 22:12

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World: Party leader on Ethiopia’s election: “The whole thing is a farce”

Apparently the government threatened to withhold food aid from those who voted for the opposition. (Oh yeah, the guy in the center is wearing a John Deere hat.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 May 2010 11:29

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World: Sri Lanka may have violated human rights in Tamil Tigers conflict

  • Two human rights groups reportedly have the goods on them. A year after the end of a longstanding civil war in Sri Lanka, both Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group are suggesting there’s evidence that the Sri Lankan army brutalized men, women, and children in an attempt to end a 30-year war. In HRW’s case, they have photos that we don’t want to see. Sri Lanka’s government dismisses the claims. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 00:45

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Politics, World: Thailand’s use of military force may hurt long-term

  • Was the military force used against the Red Shirt protesters a good idea? At least one expert says no. “By opting for a military rather than a security solution, the government has lost the opportunity to craft a settlement for an orderly transition,” said University of Leeds professor of southeast Asian politics Duncan McCargo. McCargo notes that the Red Shirts had lost their leader and the country had the chance for diplomatic talks (including some mediated by the UN), but passed on them them. Now, the country has deep, violent conflicts instead of compromise. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 00:40

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World: How volatile is Thailand’s government, anyway? Very

  • 1946 the year King Bhumibol Adulyadej took power
  • 20 number of prime ministers the country has had since then
  • 3.2 the average number of years the prime ministers get to server
  • nine number of coups the country has had during Bhumibol’s reign source
  • » It’s a rough system of government. In 1932, absolute monarchy ended in the country. Since then, 17 constitutions have been drafted. Only two of those allowed for entirely elected (rather than appointed) parliaments. Current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was appointed to the job after Thaksin Shinawatra was booted from office during a corruption trial that dissolved his political party. Thaksin was protested against, too. Those protesters wore yellow.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 May 2010 10:24

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World: Right out of the gate, the new British PM’s office cuts its pay

  • 5% across the board cuts for the coalition government source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 May 2010 21:14

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Biz, U.S.: The federal deficit blew the roof off of April’s record

  • 19 straight months of federal
    deficit increases source
  • » Why it’s alarming this time: It’s relatively rare for deficit increases to happen in the month of April, due to the fact that it’s tax season and lots of revenue is coming in. In fact, there’s been an April surplus 43 of the last 56 years. Even crazier, the increase this April was four times bigger than last April, from $20 billion to $83 billion. That’s also twice the Wall Street estimate of $40 billion.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2010 00:02

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U.S.: Depressing: Food stamp usage continues to break records

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 May 2010 10:57

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Biz: Which mortgage firm is asking for another government handout?

The company lost $13.1 billion in their last quarter, so now they’re hitting up the government for another $8.4 billion. Fannie’s too big to fail. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 May 2010 11:16

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World: Thailand’s red shirts on deal with prime minister: Try again, dude

After two months, they’ve reached a sorta-agreement with the prime minister. But they won’t leave until parliament gets a dissolution date. So much for making things easy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 10:47

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World: Thai Red Shirt protesters plan to further intensify their protests

They can’t convince the Thai government to push up elections, but since many protesters are rurally-based, they are able to block police from reaching the capital. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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