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30 Aug 2011 10:20

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World: Weird timing: Gaddafi’s only daughter gives birth in Algeria

Aisha Gaddafi, referred to as the “Claudia Schiffer” of the Arab region in this CNN article, reportedly just gave birth a day after leaving Libya with her mom. She lost a daughter during a NATO airstrike in April. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2011 11:12

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World: Border between Tunisia, Libya opens up, ensuring supply chain

  • Tripoli needs lots of food. There is nothing there … we’re bringing this to them and then we’ll do more runs as needed.
  • Libyan man Lassad Trabelsi • Regarding the decision to open up the main border between Tunisia and Libya. Trabelsi was one of many people driving trucks through through the crossing in order to get supplies, which has been tough considering, you know, the deadly civil war in the country. And Tunisians are ready to help. “We’re ready to supply whatever our brothers need,” said one supplier who set up near the border. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Aug 2011 23:23

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World: Gaddafi as a wizard

  • He looked like a wizard recovering from an evening of drinking who had wandered into the picture by mistake.
  • The Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri • In a comedic psuedo-obituary to Muammar Gaddafi’s career. Petri also notes that Gaddafi often “looked like he’d shot a couch and was wearing it on his back as a trophy, after an intense struggle in which the couch nearly prevailed.” There’s more to the article than just ribbing the dictator’s physical appearance, of course, but those descriptors are just too rich to pass up. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Aug 2011 22:20

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U.S.: Libyan rebel nabs Gaddafi’s hat

  • This rebel made out like a bandit, scoring Muammar Gaddafi’s hat during a raid of the likely-soon-to-be-deposed leader’s compound. A pretty good memento, if you ask us. The interview gets bittersweet midway through, when the rebel starts recounting the deaths of his friends. The whole thing is worth watching, if only to hear a first-hand account of the rebel experience.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2011 10:47

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World: Delayed reaction of the day: Silvio Berlusconi’s plea to the Libyan rebels

  • Now, you might not know this, but there’s a bit of a civil war going on at the moment in Libya. The rebels are fairly close to victory — so close they can smell it. So, right on cue, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a former colonial leader of Libya who was once an ally to Gaddafi and a reluctant partner in the NATO campaign in Libya, has urged the rebels “to abstain from any violence.” Now … look. We can see that there is obvious danger of things escalating, and the rebels do need to be careful to approach the situation carefully. But seriously, this is the wrong time for this comment if he’s going to make it. This is, like, a war, man. Things like this happen. But to tell the rebels to drop their weapons now, at a key time in the country’s history where they’re about to win, seems just a little bit tone-deaf to the current situation. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2011 10:20

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World: Muammar Gaddafi: A man of many contrasts losing his grip on power

  • More than any of the region’s autocratic leaders, perhaps, Gaddafi was a man of contrasts. He was a sponsor of terrorism who condemned the Sept. 11 attacks. He was a brutal dictator who bulldozed a jail wall to free political prisoners. He was an Arab nationalist who derided the Arab League. And in the crowning paradox, he preached people power, only to have his people take to the streets and take up arms in rebellion.
  • The Associated Press • In a lengthy piece glancing over the long rule of Muammar Gaddafi. It’s a good read that goes a long way to explain the often-confusing nature behind a man who gave North Africa fits for decades, and even occasionally showed up in the West to offer up a little bit of fresh weirdness. No place was that more obvious than when he went to the United Nations to speak in 2009. It was a weird, rambling speech that left more that a few world officials bewildered. In some ways, though, it proved the leader’s last big gasp. Less than two years later, it appears that his regime has been all but taken away. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Aug 2011 00:09

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About, World: Tips and tricks: How to follow the Twitter action in Tripoli

  • Recently, our friend Matthew Keys had a pretty good idea called Quotse. Pretty much, the whole idea is that he drops his news-gathering secrets to those who might find a use for it. The piece he wrote about YouTube searches for breaking news stories was particularly helpful. In that spirit, we’d like to drop a couple of suggestions of our own. How do you parse through Twitter during really complex cases like Tripoli, where you’re hearing things from so many directions that you may not know where to start? As you guys might have noticed last night, we had to change our techniques on the fly because Twitter changed the way its search engine works. Anyway, here are some tips we’ve built up from that experience, as well as things we’ve learned over the years:
  • Basic tools Some like TweetDeck; we don’t. You can get lost way too easily. Fortunately, there are alternatives like HootSuite, which does the same thing with less visual clutter. It’s good to be fluent with multiple Twitter apps. We also dig Echofon. Also, if you find certain users to be trustworthy, put them in a Twitter list. Here’s our Tripoli list.
  • Intermediate tricks One of our favorite tricks for following a breaking news story is to do a search for a topic with the name of a popular image service behind it. Examples: “tripoli yfrog,” “libya twitpic” or “#feb17 youtube.” The result? Sometimes you might catch things — amazing photos, for example — before anyone else. Be sure to credit the source.
  • Advanced queries Twitter supports searches which don’t seem particularly obvious. For example, you can search by latitude and longitude. Use this tool to find your location, then paste it into this setup: “geocode:(your code),15mi”. Now, put that into Twitter. Pretty awesome, right? It’s not perfect (there are false positives aplenty), but it’s a great start.
  • » The key part? Use your head. Not every piece of information is a gem. Confirm information as much as possible, don’t accept info based on one report, keep an eye on Twitter accounts that have proven trustworthy with information in the past, and keep changing your searches as stories evolve.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 Jul 2011 12:54

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World: Libya update: Possible NATO ceasefire, Gaddafi may leave

  • ceasefire?NATO forces are considering a ceasefire in Libya for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan which begins Aug. 1. Critics of the plan are worried it could backfire, while NATO leaders are afraid that a continued bombing campaign could lead to backlash from the Muslim community.
  • withdrawal?Meanwhile, the French are saying that Gaddafi is ready to leave power — so that ceasefire might not be necessary. Negotiations between the French and Gaddafi have been difficult, but now it seems that the dictator is thinking about leaving. That would probably be best for all involved. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jul 2011 00:46

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U.S.: Rebel leaders in Libya face possibly-irrelevant treason charges

  • 21 Libyan rebels to be charged with national security crimes source
  • » It’s worth noting that these rebel leaders are being tried in absentia, as they’re currently busy doing rebel stuff. Additionally, if and when Gaddafi’s government falls, the outcome of these trials will likely be inconsequential. Nevertheless, it’s an indication of the regime’s confidence in its ability to triumph that they’re proceeding with the trials anyway. Whether this portrayal of confidence is genuine or tactical remains to be seen.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jun 2011 10:20

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World: Libya: Gaddafi’s got a warrant out for his arrest. Uh-oh

The International Criminal Court issued the warrant, along with another one for his son Saif al-Islam and another for intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, over crimes against humanity. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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