Puffs of Smoke and other News

Should Alcohol be Legalised in Libya? (Global Voices) — I’m totally biased on this question. Yep. It should be. Then, you can control the quality and tax the Hell out of it. And all the good Muslims can look down on the Muslims who drink. And the Catholics in the country can laugh and get drunk like the priests. The Jews can drink wine like the rabbis. And everyone else can just roll their eyes at all of them.

Malaysia

Malaysians Support Army Offensive Against Sabah ‘Terrorists’ (Global Voices)

Mexico

Mexican eco-terrorists declare war on nanotechnology, threaten scientists (Boing Boing)

Moldova

Moldova Without Government: What’s Next – East or West? (Global Voices)

Myanmar

Myanmar’s Exiled Broadcaster to Return Home (Global Voices)

Pakistan

Angry Mob Torches Christian Neighbourhood in Pakistan (Global Voices)

Rome

Election of First Latin American Pope Stuns Analysts (Moderate Voice)

Pope Francis: A New Center of Gravity (Moderate Voice)

The New Pope Speaks to Vatican Crowd (VIDEO) (The Moderate Voice)

New Pope, Jorge Bergoglio, is Argentinian (Global Voices)

Bergoglio, Age 76, A New Pope (The Moderate Voice)

Argentine Pope Elected (The Moderate Voice)

New Pope Elected: Live Blogging (AFP) (Moderate Voice)

Cardinals Poised to Begin Historic Conclave (Moderate Voice)

Breaking the Silence: Secrets of Papal Elections (The Moderate Voice)

As cardinals gather to elect Pope, Catholic officials break into a sweat over news that priests share €23m building with huge gay sauna (The Independent)

Russia

How Using Twitter Can End Your Political Campaign in Russia (Global Voices)

Propaganda & Mystery in Russia’s Browder-Magnitsky Case (Global Voice)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Court Sentences Reformists to 10 and 11 Years in Prison (Global Voices)

Serbia

“Ten Years Without Zoran Djindjic”: Serbia Honors Slain Politician (Global Voices)

South Korea

South Koreans Rip ‘Chicken Hawk’ Politicians As War Rhetoric Heats Up (Global Voices)

Taiwan

Taiwan Denies Entry to Anti-Nuke Visitor Ahead of Protest (Global Voices)

Tunisia

Self-immolations Continue in Tunisia (Global Voices)

United Kingdom

LibDems leave over support for secret trials; I resign from the party (Boing BOing)

Venezuela

The Curious Case of Hugo Chávez and Peru (Global Voices)

AP: Chavez made “meager” gains, only reduced poverty, didn’t build the world’s tallest building (Boing Boing)

The Curious Case of Hugo Chávez and Peru (Global Voices)

Death of Hugo Chavez a CIA Plot? Views from Venezuela, Bolivia and Russia (The Moderate Voice)

Vietnam

Digitizing the National Library of Vietnam (Global Voices)

Creeped out by the World… news

Oct5

Remember, this is drained through the filter of my interest…

United Nations

U.S.-led “war on drugs” questioned at U.N. (The Moderate Voice)

European Union

EU working group produces the stupidest set of proposed Internet rules in the entire history of the human race (Boing Boing)

Middle East

Alleged Anti-Muslim Film Maker Arrested, in Court (The Moderate Voice)

Man behind “Innocence of Muslims” video ordered jailed for violating fraud probation by using computers (Boing Boing)

Bahrain

CNN suppresses its own award-winning doc on human rights abuses in Bahrain; has commercial ties to the regime (Boing Boing)

Canada

Art textbook with no art: school trying to fix it (Boing Boing)

Denmark

Michael Sinan, Mr. Gay Denmark 2012, On Being Out And Proud As A Muslim (Huffington Post)

Egypt

Let Us Boycott and ‘Put on Trial’ Those Who Mock Muhammad) (Gomhuria, Egypt (The Moderate Voice)

‘Prophet Mohammad Endured Personal Insults without Retaliating’ (Web Site of the Grand Mufti, Egypt)

France

French doctors on trial for cancer radiation overdoses (The Guardian)

Greece

Greek State Tries to Stem Neo-Nazi Rise (The Moderate Voice)

Honduras

Pinochet 2.0: US economist talks Honduras’ military dictator into establishing a private city owned and regulated by offshore corporations (Boing Boing)

India

Walmart Aims for First India Store in 12-18 Months (The Moderate Voice)

Italy

Eurocrisis Spurs Italy’s ‘Big Baby’ Boom: Grown Children Living with Parents (The Moderate Voice)

Iran

Iranian cleric beaten and hospitalized by “badly covered” woman (Boing Boing)

Mexico

In Mexico, Breaking Out of Jail the Easy Way (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

New Zealand

New Zealand’s spies illegally bugged Kim Dotcom, complicity may go all the way to the prime minister’s office (Boing Boing)

Prime Minister of New Zealand apologizes to Kim Dotcom for letting spy agency wiretap him (Boing Boing)

Pakistan

Pakistan Rejects Filmmaker Bounty as Muslims Keep Up Protest (The Moderate Voice)

Pakistan Minister Offers Bounty for Anti-Islam Film-Maker (The Moderate Voice)

New Film Protests in Pakistan as Death Toll Rises to 21 (The Moderate Voice)

Panama

Panama’s new copyright law is the worst in the history of the universe (Boing Boing)

Russia

Pussy Riot Punks and the ‘Innocence of Christians’ (Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia) (The Moderate Voice)

Spain

Man dresses as car seat in attempt to move to Spain without the usual red tape (Boing Boing)

After Spain Nixes New Fiscal Deal, Catalonia Considers Independence Push (The Moderate Voice)

United Kingdom

UK government spent millions arming and training Congolese and Sudanese soldiers (Boing Boing)

UK banks use robo-callers to make fraud-check calls, conditioning customers to hand out personal information to anonymous machines that phone them up out of the blue (Boing Boing)

Pranksters crash final speech of corporate tax avoidance taxman, posh hilarity ensues (Boing Boing)

Spinnin’ ‘Round and ‘Round – world news

Jul7

Somehow I never seem to get ahead of these stories. Wonder why? Okay, so maybe there’s too much news in the world. This is what’s made it through my filter.

Olympics

London 2012: Oscar Pistorius set to make history at Olympics (BBC)

Sarah Robles: The strongest woman in America lives on $400 a month (Boing Boing)

US Olympic Committee says sorry to knitters whom it claimed “denigrated” the games (Boing BOing)

European Union

Powerful EU committee rejects ACTA – now it’s unanimous (Boing Boing)

EU: software licenses may be sold by consumers (Boing Boing)

Australia

Aussie parliamentary committee hates ACTA, too (Boing Boing)

Australians find a vampire-like mosquito that breeds and lurks beneath cities (i09)

Stephanie Rice, gold-medal swimmer, criticized for wearing racy swimsuit (Ontd_Political)

Are Australians Really Dumb, Drunk and Racist? (Ontd_political)

Canada

Canada expands citizen’s arrest powers for private security personnel (Security Director News)

“Every Inuit in Nunavut knows someone in their family or in their community that is hungry that day” (ontd_political)

Canadian fed court: linking isn’t copyright infringement, neither is excerpting an article (Boing Boing)

Canada creates new national security program (Security Director News)

Montrealers protest peacefully, reports conspicuously absent from mainstream media (ontd_Political)

Canada’s apocalyptically crap copyright law passes (but it could have been worse) (Boing Boing)

Rohinton Mistry’s fairy-tale about Canadian neocons (Boing Boing)

China

As Shenzou 9 returns to earth, China makes space history: analysis from Miles O’Brien + Leroy Chiao (video) (Boing Boing)

China Unearths Over 100 New Terracotta Warriors (Discovery News)

Chinese corruption and looting on a vast scale: industry, government, and military (boing Boing)

Ecuador

Assange seeks asylum at Ecuador embassy (Boing Boing)

Offering Assange Asylum May Have Negative Consequences for Ecuador (Hoy, Ecuador) (The Moderate Voice)

Egypt

Hosni Mubarak Reported “Clinically Dead” (The Moderate Voice)

Egypt’s Morsi Says He’ll Rethink Camp David Accord and Build Stronger Iran Ties (The Moderate Voice)

Egyptians Elect MB Islamist Morsi (The Moderate Voice)

Ahmed Shafik Reportedly To Be Egyptian President (The Moderate Voice)

Germany

Germany sets world record for amount of solar power generated in a single day (Ontd_science)

Iran

Iran Twice Threatens to Walk Out of ‘Complicated and Difficult’ Talks (Kommersant, Russia) (The Moderate Voice)

Japan

Illegal downloaders now facing jail as Japan passes new laws (The Vinyl Factory)

Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu Undercut! (The Moderate Voice)

Mexico

Political Refugee Assange Deserves His Freedom – and Our Nation’s Thanks (La Jornada, Mexico) (The Moderate Voice)

PRI Wins Mexican Elections (The Moderate Voice)

Mexican doctors successfully remove 33-pound tumor from body of 2-year-old child (Washington Post)

DEA’s ‘El Chapo Fiasco’ Sets Drug War Back for ‘Years’ (El Universal, Mexico) (The Moderate Voice)

Mexican media scandal: secretive Televisa unit promoted PRI candidate (The Guardian)

Nepal

Belgian tourist missing in Himalayas found dead with her head cut off (Boing Boing)

New Zealand

Kim Dotcom raid was illegal, New Zealand judge rules (Boing Boing)

North Korea

North Korea rebranded: Kim Jong Un attempts to give country new image by allowing residents to have mobiles and eat pizza (Daily Mail UK)

Pakistan

CIA fake vaccine program will have wide-ranging effects on health of Pakistani children (Boing Boing)

Pakistan cracks down on pot-bellied police (Reuters)

Palestine

Girls FC (Al Jazeera)

Poland

The Mystery Unfolds of Poland’s ‘Extraterritorial’ CIA Prison (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland) (The Moderate Voice)

America’s ‘Trojan Horse in Europe’ is About to Bolt (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland) (The Moderate Voice)

Republic of the Congo

Gorillas Rebuilding After Ebola Outbreak (ontd_political)

Russia

Why the Kremlin Opposes Assad’s Immediate Ouster (Izvestia, Russia) (The Moderate Voice)

Good Guys vs. Bad Guys: Russia Today is the Latter (Gazeta, Russia) (The Moderate Voice)

Court prohibits all gay pride parades in Moscow for the next 100 years (ontd_political)

Israelis and Russians Bound Again by Battle Against Nazis (Kommersant, Russia) (The Moderate Voice)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi man executed for ‘witchcraft and sorcery’ (BBC)

Switzerland

Switzerland is one gigantic booby-trap (Boing Boing)

Syria

Defense Update: Syrian Downing of Turkish Reconnaissance Aircraft — Questions Are Raised (UPDATED) (The Moderate Voice)

Defense Update: Tensions over Syrian Downing of Turkish Fighter Jet (UPDATED) (The Moderate Voice)

Moscow’s Military Action in Syria a ‘Gift’ to Washington (An Nahar, Lebanon) (The Moderate Voice)

United Kingdom

UPDATED: Home Secretary to UK net activists (Boing Boing)

London police crowdsource the panopticon (boing Boing)

Assange to UK cops: No, I will not come out of my Ecuadorean embassy (Boing Boing)

UK immigration test to focus on Shakespeare and Christianity instead of human rights and civics (Boing Boing)

100,000 Poems Dropped Over London (Writers Write)

G4S boss predicts mass privatisation of UK police forces (Boing Boing)

UK spying bill is King George III 2.0 (Boing Boing)

Jimmy Wales to UK Home Secretary: don’t render Richard O’Dwyer to the USA (Boing Boing)

Zambia

Bike Zambia to fight HIV/AIDS (Boing Boing)

World News Roundup

May8

Wow, I’m a bit behind on this. Some of these stories may have lost their bloom, but I still think they’re important.

International Court

Charles Taylor Guilty Of War Crimes (The Moderate Voice)

Olympics

Private security at London Olympic site illegally harasses photographers shooting from public land (Boing Boing)

East London residents warned of surface-to-air missiles sited on their roofs for the Olympics (Boing Boing)

Olympics 2012: A Bruce Schneier Moment
(Charlie’s Diary)

European Union

Merkel sleepless over Hollande (The Moderate Voice)

Left Kind Of Wins In France; Chaos Wins In Greece
(The Moderate Voice)
At Stake Today In Europe — The Rule Of Banks (The Moderate Voice)

European Elections: And So the Left Was Right (The Moderate Voice)

Afghanistan

American ‘Scandals’ Pile Up as Afghan Pullout Nears: (Die Zeit, Germany) (The Moderate Voice)

Armenia

Armenian political rally ends in tragedy when political hydrogen balloons burst into flames (Boing Boing)

Austria

House built upside-down in Austria becomes tourist attraction (Boing Boing)

Brazil

Brazil’s copyright societies indicted for fraud, new law demands efficient, transparent collecting societies (Boing Boing)

Canada

Ebook Price Fixing Nightmare Continues: Apple Facing Three Class Action Suits in Canada (Writers Write)

Canada’s national copyright office doesn’t understand copyright ( Boing Boing)

Canadian Universities have one week to reject an insane copyright licensing deal that raises the cost of course materials by more than 600% (Boing Boing)

Vancouver’s Supervised Drug Injection Center: How Does It Work? (The Awl)

China

Have Beijing Leaders Absorbed Chen Guangcheng’s Message? (Le Monde, France) (The Moderate Voice)

Meet Peng Peng, a newly cloned “good fat” sheep in China (photo) (Boing Boing)

Publishers in China Start Printing Advertisements on Book Covers (Writers Write)

Additional Thoughts on the Chen Guangcheng Episode. (The Moderate Voice)

China wants to name Dalai Lama’s successor. Dalai Lama: “LOL!” (Boing Boing)

China Relents on Chinese Dissident (The Moderate Voice)

Chen Guangcheng ‘Deluded’ by Western Media Attention (Global Times, People’s Republic of China) (The Moderate Voice)

Chen Guangcheng is West’s Latest ‘Tool’ to Undermine China’s Political System (Global Times, People’s Republic of China) (The Moderate Voice)

France

Sarkozy Kicked Out (The Moderate Voice)

France Heads to the Polls: Will Nicolas Sarkozy Survive? (The Moderate Voice)

CERN scientist sentenced to 5 years in terrorism case (Boing Boing)

Guatemala

10MM images from Guatemala’s National Police go online: disappearances, STD experiments, more (Boing Boing)

In Guatemala, pirate Mayan radio connects marginalized indigenous communities (Boing Boing)

Iran

Iranian finance/tech manager publishes 3,000,000 bank accounts’ details and PINs (Boing Boing)

Iran Says It Is Copying Captured Drone (The Moderate Voice)

Iraq

Iraq’s Political ‘Sheep’ Keep Blaming America (Al Qabas, Kuwait) (The Moderate Voice)

The ‘Calamitous’ Results of America’s Iraq Withdrawal (Le Monde, France) (The Moderate Voice)

Mexico

Now Mexicans Returning to their Native Country (The Moderate Voice)

Three journalists slain in Mexico’s Veracruz (Al Jazeera)

Netherlands

The Netherlands: Normal Life for Dementia Patients (The Moderate Voice)

Pakistan

Pakistan and America: Preparing for a Timely ‘Divorce’ (Le Monde, France) (The Moderate Voice)

Peru

877 dolphins wash up dead in Peru. Why? (Boing Boing)

Russia

Savage beatings for pro-democracy, anti-Putin protesters in Russia (Boing Boing)

South Africa

Rape in South Africa: Still All Too Common (The Root) — ditto on the not watched comment

United Kingdom

Pirate Bay enjoys 12m extra visitors on day one of court-ordered UK censorship (Boing Boing)

UK Border Authority orders Heathrow to suppress evidence of massive customs queues (Boing Boing)

UK MPs: Rupert Murdoch is “not a fit person” to run an international corporation (Boing Boing)

Powerful US Senator wants to know more about the Murdoch empire’s UK crimes (Boing Boing)

Building covered in old clothes (Boing Boing)

The Pirate Bay must be blocked by UK ISPs, court rules (BBC News)

UK nightclub bouncers demanding access to your Facebook profile as a condition of entry (Boing Boing)

The Winnemem Wintu Nation

Winnemem Wintu Nation Fights Against The Clock To Preserve Their Heritage (Racialicious)

News of the World -Feb

Feb4

I so can’t think of any catchy titles – what with 74 dead in a football (soccer to Americans) riot in Egypt and 16 dead in the snowfall in Europe. I just don’t have the energy to be anything but snarky and slightly disgusted with the state of the world. Beyond that, here’s the news that’s caught my eye:

MegaUpload
(b/c this one gets its own section b/c it seems to be crossing all sorts of borders)

The MegaUpload Shutdown Effect (Boing BOing)

Attorney General set to destroy tens of millions of users’ legitimate MegaUpload files (Boing Boing)

MegaUpload raided, founder arrested; Anonymous launches mass DDoS against entertainment companies and US law enforcement (Boing Boing)

Twitter

Twitter adopts country-specific censorship regime – how will that work? (Boing Boing)

Twitter caves to global censorship, will block content on country-specific basis as required (Boing BOing)

EFF: “What Does Twitter’s Country-by-Country Takedown System Mean for Freedom of Expression?” (Boing Boing)

Twitter’s early-bird special on censorship (Boing Boing)

United Nations

UN Report: Al Qaeda strengthened by NATO’s Libya War (The Moderate Voice)

European Union

European Court Says UK Cannot Deport Terror Suspect (Boing Boing)

Chief ACTA Eurocrat quits in disgust at lack of democratic fundamentals in global copyright treaty (Boing Boing)

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Questions Turn into Concern and Doubts (The Moderate Voice)

Inspector found Afghan goat giveaway “lacked accountability” (Muckrock)

Canada

Toronto teens send Lego Minifig up 78,000 feet (Boing BOing)

Straight dope on Canada’s new copyright law, ACTA, and SOPA (Boing Boing)

Major labels demand that SOPA be folded into Canada’s new copyright law, C-11 (Boing Boing)

China

Tibet: China’s bloody crackdown on Tibetan protesters escalates, as self-immolations continue (Boing Boing)

China: dissident on trial after Skypeing poem (Boing Boing)

Microblogging in China: Unstoppable!? (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

Cuba

Cubans Desperate to ‘Rip’ Prison at Guantanamo Out of their Land (Juventud Rebelde, Cuba) (The Moderate Voice)

Falkland Islands

Latin America Must End British Colonialism and U.S. Imperialism (Opera Mundi, Brazil) (The Moderate Voice)

France

French court rules that it’s illegally anticompetitive for Google to provide free maps API (Boing Boing)

Guatemala

Guatemala: at long last, ex-dictator Rios Montt in court over possible genocide charges (Boing BOing)

Iran

Severe Sanctions on Iran – is it too little and too late? (The Moderate Voice)

Iraq

(UPDATED) Yet Again, No Accountability For Marines In Iraq (The Moderate Voice)

Japan

After nuclear disaster, a harsh winter for Fukushima’s abandoned pets (big photo gallery) (Boing Boing)

Mexico

Mexico Drug Violence – ‘Business is Business’ (La Jornada, Mexico) (The Moderate Voice)

New Zealand

Here’s the utterly inconsequential recording that resulted in NZ PM John Key ordering raids on the free press (Boing Boing)

North Korea

Associated Press Independence in Doubt after ‘Deal’ with North Korean Regime (The Daily North Korea, South Korea) (The Moderate Voice)

Norway

Strange and intrusive bathroom rules at Norwegian companies (Boing Boing)

Pakistan

President Obama Finally Admits to the Obvious: Murderous Drone Attacks (The Nation, Pakistan) (The Moderate Voice)

Poland

Polish MPs wear Guy Fawkes masks to protest ACTA (Boing Boing)

Poland’s Prime Minister wants to put the brakes on ACTA (Boing Boing)

Portugal

Talking Taxes: Warren Buffett, His Secretary, and the Grocer (World Meet)

Russia

In Russia, tiny protest sparks big police response: LEGO minifigs, South Park dolls, and Wall-e demonstrate for democracy (Boing Boing)

Slovenia

Slovenia’s ambassador apologizes to her children and her nation for signing ACTA, calls for mass demonstrations in Ljubljana tomorrow (Boing Boing)

South Korea

South Korea indicts man for retweeting North (Boing Boing)

United Kingdom

Woman, 25, asked for ID to buy teaspoons as they could be used as drug paraphernalia (Nothing to do with Arbroath)

London’s anti-ACTA demonstration, one week from TOMORROW (Pub date Feb 2) (Boing Boing)

Tourists deported from U.S. for Twitter jokes (Updated) (Boing Boing)

Scunthorpe photographer faces down abusive security guards at Golden Wonder factory who want to enforce imaginary law against taking pictures from the public pavement (Boing Boing)

What a World, What a World

Dec22

World events that have caught my eye. Some of them big. Some of them small. Some of them, that no one in a year will remember at all.

European Union

Analysis: Europe’s austerity zeal risks killing the patient (Reuters)

Bangladesh

So she’ll learn to write with her left hand _and_ go back to school anyway (ontd_political)

Burkina Faso

What is Victoria’s Secret? Child Labor (ontd_political)

Canada

Canadian MPs use bogus video-game industry data to defend hated DRM law they’re about to ram down the country’s throat (Boing Boing)

Czech Republic

Vaclav Havel, 1936-2011 (Slacktivist)

Bahrain

UPDATED: Danish human rights activist arrested in Bahrain, faces torture: will Danish foreign minister intervene?

Egypt

Protesters Torch Famed Institute of Egypt: Rare Books, Manuscripts and Maps All Destroyed (Writers Write)

Egypt Youth Delusioned – We Were Better Off with Mubarak (The Moderate Voice)

Iraq

‘Stubborn’ Iraqis Mistaken to Demand America Withdraw (Sotal Iraq, Iraq) (The Moderate Voice)

Israel

How Can Israel Please the American Government, Media, and “Experts”? It Can’t (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

Japan

Wild monkeys and boars enlisted to help measure Fukushima radiation in Japan (Boing Boing)

Japan’s Prime Minister Declares Fukushima Plant Stable (New York Times)

New Zealand

Baby Seal Breaks into House and Promptly Takes a Nap (ontd_Political)

North Korea

Kim Jong-Il Dies (The Moderate Voice)

North Korean diplomacy, with a side of slaw (Boing Boing)

Kim Jong Il is dead (Slacktivist)

North Koreans grieve loss of Dear Leader (Boing BOing)

(Video Animation) Kim Jong-il Dead, North Korea’s Future Uncertain (The Moderate Voice)

Kim Jong Il Dead (Political Cartoon) (The Moderate Voice)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Woman Beheaded for ‘Witchcraft’ (ABC News)

Sweden

Everyday Swedes take over management of nation’s Twitter account (Boing Boing)

Syria

Is Syria’s election a sham?(The Week)

Thailand

Lese Majeste -15 Years For Insulting The King (The Moderate Voice)

United States – Native Nations

Why Are Indian Reservations So Poor? A Look At The Bottom 1% (ontd_political)

United Kingdom

Receding Inflation In Britain (New York Times)

London cops apologise to young photographer who was told that shooting Armed Forces Day parade was “anti-social,” “gay,” “stupid” and an offense under the Terrorism Act (Boing Boing)

News and World Events – Um, oy veh?

Nov26

So, no fancy title. But I need to clean out my tabs and reading files. And so, here we have a bunch of articles that caught my attention and I think need to be passed on.

European Union

Sterilised Roma woman wins human rights appeal (Human Rights Europe)

European Court of Justice: spying with national copyright censorwalls is illegal (Boing Boing)

Left, right, left: how political shifts have altered the map of Europe (The Guardian)

#hackergate

News of the World shredded hard-drives, laptops (Boing Boing)

J.K. Rowling Testifies During Phone Hacking Inquiry (Writers Write)

Aussie senator: News Corp offered me favorable coverage if I killed legislation it didn’t like (Boing Boing)

Cambodia

Lucky iron fish persuades Cambodian women to cook with iron, stave off anemia (Boing Boing)

China

Vladimir Putin scoops Chinese peace award (The Guardian)

Denmark

Man doused himself with petrol (Politiken)

Egypt

Egypt: 33 dead in Tahrir protests, as “Arab Spring” mirrored in bloody Fall (Boing Boing)

Egypt in turmoil before first free elections (The MOderate Voice)

Egypt police detain, beat, sexually assault US-based journalist Mona Eltahawy; other journalists also targeted (Boing Boing)

Estonia

Estonian Marathon Bans Black Runners (Racism Daily)

First Nations

Canadian indigenous band declares state of emergency due to horrific conditions, government takes no notice (Boing Boing)

Greece

Greece, the CDS Market, and BNP (Brad deLong)

Iran

Iran stares down America and the UN over its nuclear hopes (The Moderate Voice)

Libya

Ethnic Hatred Taints Liberated Libya (Racialicious)

New Zealand

New Zealand Prime Minister sends police to raid major news outlets over covert recording of negotiations with far-right party (Boing Boing)

New Zealand Election Mandates Social Media Blackout (The Moderate Voice)

Pakistan

Pakistan telecom censors ban 1,500 words that must not be texted (Boing Boing)

Russia

Russian social media erupts as Putin apparat tries to suppress video of booing crowd (Boing Boing)

Thousands of Russian nationalists march in Moscow (Associated Press)

Serbia

Citizens hold protest against asylum seekers (B92)

Spain

Europe Ailing Economy Consquences: Conservatives Expected to Win Big In Spain (The Moderate Voice)

Spain Conservatives Get Huge Win: Rajoy Warns “No Miracles” (The Moderate Voice)

Sweden

Swedish Pirate Party MEP Amelia Andersdotter, on taking office at long last (Boing BOing)

United Kingdom

Criminals fall for beer sting (The Guardian)

Wide World Events

Nov17

There’s still massive shifts happening across the world and they’re as hard to predict for the lay person as plate techtonics.

These are the bits that caught my attention.

#hackergate

James Murdoch, “the first Mafia boss in history who didn’t know he was running a criminal enterprise” (Boing Boing)

NewsCorp shareholders revolt against Murdoch family (Boing Boing)

Africa

Al Qaeda Threatening Positive Progress in Africa (The Moderate Voice)

European Union

Europeans: EU to vote on ACTA, get informed and involved! (Boing Boing)

Argentina

Three-Eyed Fish Discovered Near Argentinian Nuclear Facility (io9)

Canada

How Toronto Lost Its Groove (ontd_political)

Torture victims target Bush’s Surrey visit (ontd_political)

China

China Completes Second Orbital Docking (Discovery News)

Egypt

Egypt: “social media activist” hero Alaa Abd El-Fattah jailed for another 15 days (Boing Boing)

France

Hostages freed by al-Qaeda arrive home in France (ontd_political)

French court sends EDF execs to jail for hacking, spying on Greenpeace (Boing Boing)

Germany

After 43 years, Germans finally to see Star Trek Nazi episode on network TV (ontd_political)

Greece

Hopes Raised in Europe and U.S.: Greece Swears in New Prime Minister Lucas Papademos (The Moderate Voice)

Greenland

Greenland ice sheet melting at unprecedented rates (ontd_political)

India

Is It Time For India To Try On Its Super Power Shoes & Start Being One? (The Moderate Voice)

Israel

Ex-Israeli President to serve 7 years for rape (ontd_political)

Israel & Palestine

Judge Goldstone’s Offensive Apology for Apartheid (ontd_political)

Italy

New PM Monti looks to form new cabinet (ontd_political)

Berlusconi To Resign (The Moderate Voice)

Berlusconi Bye Bye? (Boing Boing)

Presto Panico: Berlusconi Screws The Pooch, Italy, Maybe The World (The Moderate Voice)

Berlusconi to neo-fascists: “I’ll be back.” (Boing Boing)

Bye-bye, Bunga-bunga: “Addio Berlusconi” (Boing Boing)

Iran

Op-ed by US hiker jailed in Iran: solitary confinement is torture (Boing Boing)

Is There A Middle Ground In Dealing With The Threat Of A Nuclear Iran? (The Moderate Voice)

BREAKING: Massive Explosion Reported at Military Base West of Tehran (UPDATES) (The Moderate Voice)

Japan

ICYMI: Crowdsourcing radiation data inside Fukushima hot zone, Xeni in Japan (Boing BOing)

Hacking geigers: Safecast crowdsources radiation data in Japan after Fukushima disaster (Boing Boing)

What’s the fallout for pets abandoned in Japan’s Fukushima hot zone? (Boing Boing)

Safecast draws on power of the crowd to map Japan’s radiation (Boing Boing)

New International Report Shreds Japan’s Carefully Constructed Fukushima Scenario (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

Inside Fukushima: 8 months after disaster, foreign journalists get first look at crippled nuclear plant (Boing Boing)

Tsunami dead were idiots for being too slow, says minister (ontd_political)

Libya

Gaddafi Said To now be Buried in Secret Location along with others. (The Moderate Voice)

Mexico

Anonymous Spokesman Flees Over Safety Concerns (Discovery News)

Mexico helicopter crash kills Interior Secretary Blake Mora (ontd_political)

Prostitutes, pot, pet peacocks, and plasma TVs found in Mexico prison raid (Boing Boing)

Mexico: moderator of online discussion forum about narcos reported as tortured, decapitated by narcos (UPDATED) (Boing Boing)

Mexico: Nuevo Laredo online says murdered man wasn’t blogger or “social media” reporter, but scapegoat for terror (Boing Boing)

Mexico’s “War on Drugs” leads to catastrophic rise of murder, torture, “disappearance” (Boing Boing)

Report: “No proof” man killed in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico was social media user (Boing Boing)

Mexico: Interior Minister killed in mysterious chopper crash 3 years after predecessor’s death in mysterious plane crash (Boing Boing)

Malaysia

Stolen government of Malaysia certificate used to sign malicious fake Adobe software update (Boing Boing)

The Netherlands

Halal and kosher hit by Dutch ban (ontd_political)

Russia

Russia Mars Probe May Fall to Earth in January (Discovery News)

Toxic Russian Mars Probe Heads Back to Earth (Discovery News)

Russian Mars Probe ‘Considered Lost’ (Discovery News)

Russia’s Mars Mission May Be In Trouble (Discovery News)

Sweden

School head on rape claim: ‘boys will be boys’ (ontd_political)

Switzerland

Muslims outraged over pig parts dumped at Swiss Mosque site (ontd_Political)

Syria

Human Rights Watch reports “Crimes against humanity” in Syria (Boing Boing)

Thailand

Flood-hacking in Thailand (Boing Boing)

United Kingdom

UK City Forcing Taxi Drivers To Record All Passengers (Consumerist)

‘Can He Speak English?’ Westminster Official Asks Welsh Teacher And Former Union President (ontd_political)

UK religious, political leader calls gay rights Advocates ‘Gaystapo’ (ontd_political)

Secret documents reveal the flimsy case for Ofcom to give into BBC’s public TV DRM demands (Boing Boing)

British man calls police after confusing the Moon for a UFO (io9)

Sales tax is still regressive, gravity still sucks, and George Osborne is still a delusional ideologue (Boing Boing)

The Stimulus Worked (The Moderate Voice)

Liberal whingers are wrong – we should shut our libraries (ontd_political) — Just a note. In answer to the first question – I went to the library two weeks ago and I’ve got one of the books sitting on my desk right now. So /insert rude gesture here/

Venezuela

BREAKING: Wilson Ramos Rescued, Safe in Venezuela (The Moderate Voice)

New, Old, and In Between World News

Nov1

The world continues to explode with news. Below are just some of the bits I’ve captured. From earthquakes to dictator’s to human rights. These have caught my attention.

Africa

Open For Questions: Crisis in the Horn of Africa (The White House)

European Union

EU Leaders Meet. Ordinary Europeans Weep. Bankers Celebrate. (The Moderate Voice)

Oh No He Didn’t: Sarkozy tells Cameron to ‘shut up’ on eurozone (ontd_political)

Argentina

Former Argentine naval officer Alfredo Astiz has been jailed (ontd_political)

Australia

Australian detention centres breaking people – report (ontd_political)

Canada

Mystery feet identified (Boing Boing)

Air Canada flight attendants blocked from legal strike, says labour board (ontd_political)