Rap News Episode 12: YES WE KONY. It's March, and the Internet delivers 2012's first globe-consuming meme: the unstoppable, Stop-Kony 2012 video, which has highlighted the plight of African child soldiering like never before. But is it really good? Is it really bad? Or is the world really more complex than 'good guys' and 'bad guys'? Whatevers; one thing's for sure, th... (more)
Two leaders of a protest over land grabs in a southern Chinese village were elected to replace the officials they helped oust, in a case that underscored the Communist Party’s challenges in defusing social unrest.
Lin Zulian was elected the village chief and Yang Semao his deputy, in a vote that saw thousands of people fill out ballots March 3, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. Five other seats on the village committee in Wukan, located in southern China&r... (more)
A shocking video has appeared on the Internet showing Libyan rebels torturing a group of black Africans. People with their hands bound are shown being locked in a zoo-like cage and forced to eat the old Libyan flag. "Eat the flag, you dog. Patience you dog, patience. God is Great," screams a voice off-camera.
What kind of defense could Iran actually mount against an attack on its nuclear and military infrastructure by Israel and/or the United States?
First of all, discount all the TV pictures of Iranian missiles being fired and troops marching in review. They are designed to boost civilian morale at home. Ironically, Western media has used them to trumpet Iran’s alleged military threat. One major US TV network, NBC, even has a fixed logo on its reports from Iran: "... (more)
Japan’s yakuza organized-crime groups, having operated openly in their home country for more than a century, are facing tougher treatment by an overseas foe: the U.S. Obama administration.
The largest of Japan’s yakuza organizations, the Yamaguchi- gumi, and two of its leaders will have their U.S. assets frozen and transactions barred under sanctions announced yesterday by the Treasury Department. The group earns “billions of dollars” a year from crimes in ... (more)
Police in southwestern China opened fire on protesters in a Tibetan enclave during a clash Jan. 24, the second straight day of deadly protests in the area, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The confrontation occurred after a crowd gathered two days ago near the Chengguan Police Station, Xinhua said yesterday, citing an unidentified police officer. The crowd refused to disperse and then stormed the station with knives, gasoline bottles and stones, according to the report.... (more)
Hrm, the way the headline is written is rather deceptive, is this the US trying to meddle in China's affairs? - Chris
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the U.S. and Israeli intelligence services of the involvement in the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a deputy director of Iran’s largest uranium enrichment plant, died in a car bomb explosion in Tehran on Wednesday. Local police sources said a motorcyclist attached a magnetic mine to his car.
Leaning out a hand, the motorcyclist attaches a magnetic explosive device – sometimes called a “sticky bomb” — to the door nearest the man he is trying to kill and then speeds off. Seconds later, the bomb is detonated by remote-control. It is so sophisticated that only the target is killed. Those sitting next to him, or in front or behind him, escape with just cuts and bruises.
Wednesday’s target was Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, killed in his vehicle in fro... (more)
Can you imagine if Iran did this to the US? This is a nuclear POWER plant, they're mass murdering the scientists working on it. - Chris
No one should doubt that President Barack Obama is prepared to use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon if sanctions and diplomacy fail, the president’s former special assistant on Iran said.
Obama has “made it very clear” that he regards a nuclear- armed Iran as so great a threat to international security that “the Iranians should never think that there’s a reluctance to use the force” to stop them, Dennis Ross, who se... (more)
Polish prosecutor 'shoots self after news conference'
A Polish military prosecutor has shot himself in the head after cutting short a news conference in his office, officials and media reports say.
Col Mikolaj Przybyl was defending a military investigation into media leaks related to the air crash that killed the Polish president in 2010.<... (more)
Join Rick as he explores the most surprising and fascinating land he's ever visited: Iran. In this one-hour, ground-breaking travel special, you'll discover the splendid monuments of Iran's rich and glorious past, learn more about the 20th-century story of this perplexing nation, and experience Iranian life today in its historic capital and in a countryside village. Mo... (more)
enezuelan President Hugo Chavez hinted that the U.S. may be behind a “very strange” bout of cancer affecting several leaders aligned with him in South America.
Chavez, speaking a day after Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, said the Central Intelligence Agency was behind chemical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s and that it’s possible that in years to come a plot will be uncovered that shows the U.S. spread ... (more)
I intended to post sporadically or not at all this week, and that’s still my plan, but there is a new Washington Post article which contains three short passages that I really want to highlight because they so vividly capture the essence of so much. The article, by Greg Miller, is being promoted by the Post this way... (more)
Back during the initial swing of protests in Bahrain, and when the Khalifa regime’s crackdown was at its harshest, dozens of medical professionals were arrested for the crime of treating as patients those protesters who had been injured by violent Bahraini security forces. At the time, the authorities slapped trumped up charges on them like “attempting to overthrow the government” and “spreading false news.” After international condemnation, mainly from rights group... (more)
Dramatic scenes of public mourning continued in the North Korean capital on Thursday following the death of Kim Jong Il who had led the country for 17 years. North Korean state television broadcast pictures of school children sobbing as they laid white flowers for their leader in the Kim Il Sung square in central Pyongyang. Kim Jong Il died at the age of sixty nine of ... (more)
