Flaming balls of…. world news

Sep22

There’s been a surge of nasty news these past few weeks. Death, destruction, with the occasional bright spot of a new baby panda in the DC National Zoo, and the documentation of an adorable new monkey. (Not that those two stories are actually *in* this post, but they do exist…)

Middle East (See also Libya links)

Story of “Muhammed” Movie Gets Even Weirder (ontd_political)

Two Die in Pakistan as Film Violence Spreads (The Moderate Voice)

Letter from a Scared Actress (Neil Gaiman)– This is an important read that talks about the move that has been used to spark off the riots. (<– note, protests shouldn't *kill* people)

Fresh Protests as Prophet Cartoons Fuel Muslim Fury (The Moderate Voice)

Influence of Salafists Grows After Arab Spring (The Moderate Voice)

Anti-Islam Film, UN Human Rights and the Politics of Turmoil (The Moderate Voice)

The Prophet Motive (The Moderate Voice)

Manipulated Outrage and Misplaced Fury (Hudson Institute)

Middle East mobs freaking the hell out over YouTube video (Boing Boing)

Canada

Ontario dad wants option of pulling kids out of class based on religious beliefs (ontd_political)

Canada Breaks Off Relations With Iran (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

Questions surround security detail at Montreal shooting (Security Director News)

A mandatory $180 art school textbook about “prehistory to 1800” with no pictures, thanks to a lack of mysterious “copyright clearances” (Boing Boing)

Canadian mint claims copyright over pictures of pennies (Boing Boing)

China

Beijing hints at bond attack on Japan (ontd_political)

Japan firms stop China operations after protests (afp.com)

Artist Ai Weiwei captures footage of protesters attacking US ambassador’s car in Beijing (Boing Boing)

Japanese man attacked with hot noodles over Sino-Japan geopolitics (Boing Boing)

Egypt

Obama Makes News on Egypt, as Questions Rise on Benghazi Commando Raid (The Moderate Voice)

France

France’s Hadopi finally punishes someone for infringement — a guy whom everyone agrees isn’t an infringer (Boing Boing)

Germany

Court: saying ‘no’ not enough to stop sex (ontd_political) — I do not have enough curse words in my vocabulary to express my disappointment with this court.

Nude monk tripping on bad berries (Boing Boing)

Ghana

What Voices Count?: on Voter Fraud and Intimidation (Racialicious)

The Right to Information: A Building Block of Democracy [An African Election] (Racialicious)

Guatemala

Guatemala’s Volcan de Fuego erupts (Boing Boing)

India

Growing Backlash Over Indian Cartoonist Arrest (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

Obese elephants in Tamil Nadu given slimming help (BBC)

Indian Cartoonist Freed from Jail (Guest Voice) (the Moderate Voice)

Iraq

Kickstarting a hackerspace in Iraq (Boing Boing)

Iraq’s First Hackerspace Will Run on ‘Irrational Optimism’ (Wired.com)

Israel

Israel: Is Netanyahu Going ‘Crazy?’ (The Moderate Voice)

Sorry Bibi – Americans don’t want to fight your war (The Moderate Voice)

Haaretz Editorial Warns Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Not to Meddle in US Presidential Election (The Moderate Voice)

Japan

Japan Takes Cautious Tone in Dispute with Increasingly Assertive China (The Moderate Voice)

Libya

US Ambassador Killed as Libya Mob Storms Embassy (The Moderate Voice)

Secretary Clinton Calls Attack “Savage,” with Film Uproar Leaving Foreign Service Heroes Dead in Benghazi (The Moderate Voice)

If the Prophet Can be Insulted, then the Holocaust can be Questioned (Al Watan, Libya) (The Moderate Voice)

Remembering Sean “Vilerat” Smith, killed in Benghazi (Boing Boing)

Libyan Fatwa Court Calls Attack on Americans an ‘Offense to Islam’ (Al Watan, Libya) (The Moderate Voice)

Al Qaeda Says Libya Was Revenge Attack, US Deploys Forces (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

More signs point to “Media for Christ” firm behind “Innocence of Muslims” (Boing Boing)

Gawker outs director of “Innocence of Muslims” as softcore porn director (Boing Boing)

VIDEO: Americans killed in Libya honored at Andrews Air Force Base (The Moderate Voice)

Man believed to be “Innocence of Muslims” filmmaker once arrested for making PCP (Boing Boing)

Libya Attack: Who’s Behind the Inflammatory Video (The Moderate Voice)

The Pentagon on Libya (The Moderate Voice)

Report: Mysterious gentleman behind Anti-Muhammad movie an ex-meth cook (Boing Boing)

Snapshots from Benghazi (Boing Boing)

On the So-called Film that So-called Incited an Attack on US Consulate in Benghazi (The Moderate Voice)

If You Wondered: US Ambassador Chris Stevens’s Death (The Moderate Voice)

Official Details Benghazi Attack, Vows to Support Libya (Updates) (The Moderate Voice)

Mexico

Business Plan Remakes Meth Market (The Wall Street Journal)

Malaysia

Malaysia offers “spot the gay kid” seminars for teachers and parents (Boing Boing)

Native American Nations

For Native American Women, Scourge of Rape, Rare Justice (NY Times)

Pakistan

Three Killed as Pakistan Protests US-Made Film (The Moderate Voice)

Pakistan Conflict Fuels Marijuana Boom (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

Pakistan blocks YouTube over “Innocence of Muslims” (Boing Boing)

Philipines

Thin-skinned, plagiarizing Philippines Senator criminalizes “libel” with last minute stealth-attack on cybercrime bill (Boing Boing)

Poland

Rash of demonic possessions in Poland gives rise to ‘Exorcist Magazine’ (i09)

Dried riverbed reveals stolen architecture, unexploded artillery shells (Boing Boing)

Rome

“Lovers locks” to be cut from Roman bridge (Boing Boing)

Russia

No criminal charges for owners of Russian ‘slave’ factory (ontd_political)

Russia reveals large deposit of “extra-hard” diamonds in asteroid crater (Boing Boing)

United Kingdom

BitTorrent study finds most file-sharers are monitored. (ontd_political)

Every Women’s Refuge in the UK Could Close Due to Universal Credit (ontd_political)

Tim Berners-Lee blasts UK government’s Internet spying plan (Boing Boing)

New Transport Minister convicted in 2009 of careless driving in incident that left cyclist with broken neck (Road CC)

Act today to stop the Daily Mail’s campaign to establish opt-out censorship in the UK (Boing Boing)

Archaeologists believe they have found skeleton of King Richard III (Telegraph)

UK government is squatting on 1.67 million unused IPv4 addresses (Boing Boing)

UK Tories put a spam kingpin in charge of the party (Boing Boing)

Uruguay

Uruguay Takes ‘War on Drugs’ in New Direction: The State as Dealer (The Moderate Voice)

Yemen

Protester Shot Dead as Mob Storms US Embassy in Yemen (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

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 Insanity

Jul2

Remember, these are just the ones that have caught my eye. I make no representations as to continuity. *winks*

Olympics

G4S: the scandal-embroiled “private security” behemoth that will provide 10,000 “security contractors” to London 2012 (Boing Boing)

Scottish cops auto-Godwin Olympic sceptic (Boing Boing)

Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s supergran crimebuster on wheels (BBC)

Canada

Canadian government wants to fill airports with KGB-style hidden microphones (Boing Boing)

Hollywood’s secret, aggressive copyright lobbying campaign in Canada (Boing Boing)

Old-fashioned animation expresses Winnipeggers’ concern over mass-privatisation (Boing Boing)

Egypt

Egypt’s Turmoil Backdrop Election (The Moderate Voice)

BREAKING NEWS: Egyptian Court Rules Parliament Illegal (The Moderate Voice)

Germany

Photo released of Ray, the “forest boy” of Germany (Boing Boing)

Forest boy identified (Boing BOing)

Greece

Greece’s Pro Bailout Party Wins (For Now) (The Moderate Voice)

Mexico

Ex-Governor Calls Charges He Worked with Drug Cartels a ‘Desperate’ Campaign Stunt (El Universal, Mexico) (The Moderate Voice)

Poland

President Komorowski Thanks Obama for Helping Dispel ‘Vicious, Unjustified Language’ (Dziennik, Poland) (The Moderate Voice)

Scotland

UPDATED: Scottish town council shuts down 9-y-o girl’s wildly popular school lunch blog (BOing Boing)

Spain

Spain’s Economic Recovery’s Biggest Hurdle: Public Trust? (The Moderate Voice)

Spanish activists raise money to sue bank boss at center of financial crisis (Boing Boing)

Spanish Rescue Package Will Further Bleed Taxpayers
(The Moderate Voice)
Syria

Conflict in Syria Now Threatens World Peace (Trouw, The Netherlands) (The Moderate Voice)

United Kingdom

UK government offers unlimited budget to pay ISPs to spy on us (Boing Boing)

Tories divided over UK spying bill, Home Secretary dismisses critics as “conspiracy theorists” who want to protect freedom for “criminals, terrorists and paedophiles” (BOing Boing)

UK-wide workshops on how to talk to your MP about Internet spying and censorship (Boing Boing)

UK economic crisis ends, Tories celebrate by committing £1.8B to spying (Boing BOing)

David Cameron’s daughter Nancy left behind at pub (BBC)

Royal Ascot employs dress code assistants (BBC)

World News Collection

Jun9

Some of these stories are getting dusty. Time to spread them around. Again, these are things that caught my eye.

Canada

Canada’s national archives being dismantled and scattered (Boing Boing)

Quebeckers take to the streets with pots and pans: a charivari (Boing Boing)

Arrêtez-moi quelqu’un! Vowing to violate Quebec’s anti-protest law (Boing Boing)

Canadian border guards demand inbound journalist’s mobile phone contacts, prohibit writing while in-country (Boing Boing) — Thought y’all had freedom of the press up there.

Toronto cop who arrested drunk-driving off-duty officer harassed by co-workers (Boing Boing)

Canadian politician: My internet spying bill would help us catch serial killers like Luka Magnotta (Boing Boing)

Austerity obliterates transparency: budget cuts mean cuts to Canada’s Freedom of Information (Boing Boing)

Austerity obliterates history: Canadian heritage docs no longer available through interlibrary loan (boing Boing)

Austerity obliterates ecology: Canadian budget to make environmental impact statements optional, class eco-groups as money-launderers (Boing Boing)

Petition to save Canada’s National Archive (Boing Boing)

The Librarian and the Hot Rod Shop (Boing Boing)

Canada’s warrantless surveillance bill is back, and bigger than ever, with surveillance powers for US gov’t, too (Boing Boing)

Gay porn actor in Canada wanted for killing friend, publishing dismembering videos, mailing body parts (Boing Boing)

Severed foot and hand sent to 2 Canada schools: More missing Magnotta murder parts? (Boing Boing)

Canadian psycho arrested in Berlin (Boing Boing)

China

Tens of Thousands Turn up for Tiananmen Vigil in Hong Kong (The Wall Street Journal)

Confronting America Requires Wisdom and Stamina – Not Warships (Huanqui, People’s Republic of China) (The Moderate Voice)

Google alerts Chinese when results censored (Boing Boing)

Egypt

Mubarak of Egypt: Sentenced to Life for complicity in murders of protesters (The Moderate Voice)

Greece

Greek politician punches female rival on TV chat show (Boing Boing)

Iran

Stuxnet, the worm that targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, was created by US and Israel (Boing Boing)

Mexico

Student Movement Dubbed the ‘Mexican Spring’ (The Nation)

Excerpt: Politics365 On The Rise Of The ‘Mexican Spring’ (Racialicious)

The Netherlands

Across West, Populists on Left and Right Find New Scapegoats (Trouw, The Netherlands) (The Moderate Voice)

Poland

Every Pole Must Protest Until Obama Apologizes (Dziennik, Poland) (the Moderate Voice)

Russia

Russian unlicensed protest fines increased 15,000 percent (Boing Boing)

Syria

UN Says Most of 108 Syria Massacre Victims Were Summarily Executed Not Killed In Artillery Fire (The Moderate Voice)

Syria: a slow retreat from the abyss (The Moderate Voice)

U.S. and West ‘Morally Accountable’ for Syria Massacre (Global Times, China) (The Moderate Voice)

America and the ‘Global War Against Syria’ (Al Baath, Syria) (The Moderate Voice)

Syria is Another Iraq, with Israel Thrown In (An Nahar, Lebanon) (The Moderate Voice)

New Syrian Massacre Reported: Syria Blocks UN Monitors From Scene (The Moderate Voice)

Tibet

In Tibet, a mother of 3 burns herself alive in protest of Chinese rule (Boing Boing)

United Kingdom

Baroness Warsi’s expenses under scrutiny (BBC)

Julian Assange loses extradition fight in UK court, lawyers have 14 days to appeal (Boing Boing)

The Luvilee Jubilee: underwhelmed by opposition to Her Majesty’s Big Day (Boing Boing)

Austerity Jubilee: unemployed workers tricked into being Jubilee stewards, denied toilets, left to camp in the rain (Boing Boing)

Vietnam

Soldier’s Letters from Vietnam Finally Reaching Loved Ones (The Moderate Voice)

The Course of World Events

May26

As always folks this is just stories that caught my eye. (Also – plague of rats in Hamelin. If the BBC can’t keep a straight face, I ain’t even trying.)

Olympics

Official Protesters of the London Olympics suspended on Twitter (Boing Boing)

Space Hijackers create Official Protesters programme for the London 2012 Olympics (Boing Boing)

Afghanistan

Why Afghan Women Risk Death to Write Poetry (NY Times Magazine)

Argentina

In Latin America, Only Argentine Leader Stands with Obama on Gay Marriage (La Informacion, U.S.) (The Moderate Voice)

Azerbaijan

Sign a petition for a “guilt-free Eurovision” — keep the pressure up on Azerbaijan (Boing Boing)

Canada

Canadian MP: ripping a CD is like stealing a pair of shoes (BOing Boing)

Sickening profile of Canada’s weapons-grade patent trolls (Boing BOing)

Quebec cops kettle and mass-arrest demonstrators (Boing Boing)

Canada’s telcos secretly backing revival of “dead” warrantless surveillance bill (Boing Boing)

Toronto neighbours turn their laneway into a garage-door art-gallery (Boing Boing)

Canada’s warrantless surveillance bill is, improbably, dead (Boing Boing)

China

BREAKING: Chinese Dissident Chen Guangcheng Arrives on American Soil (UPDATED) (The Moderate Voice)

UPDATE: Mr. Chen Has Left China — China’s Military Visit to the U.S. and Mr. Chen’s Pending Release: Just Mind Games? (The Moderate Voice)

Colombia

Colombia Government Must Come Clean on Battle Drones (El Tiempo, Colombia) (The Moderate Voice)

France

France’s New Socialist President Hollande Has Three French Riveria Homes (THe Moderate Voice)

Finland

Finnish court: open WiFi owners not responsible for copyright infringement (Boing Boing)

Germany

‘Lost Nation’ of Germany is NATO’s Biggest Problem (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany) (The Moderate Voice)

Pirates win more seats in German state elections (Boing Boing)

Balancing Act from Germany’s Angela Merkel (The Moderate Voice)

German police fired 85 bullets in 2011 (Boing BOing)

Greece

Will Greece Elect Pro-Bailout Government? (The Moderate Voice)

Greece Heads To Elections, Economy May Head Off Cliff (The Moderate Voice)

Political Meltdown in Greece: New Elections Increasingly Likely (UPDATED) (The Moderate Voice)

Iran

Iranian cartoonist sentenced to 25 lashes (Boing BOing)

Italy

Earthquake and bombs in Italy: An eyewitness report from Jasmina Tesanovic (Boing BOing)

Libya

Libya: Inside Gadhafi’s secret surveillance network (Boing BOing)

Convicted Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrah Dies of Cancer in Freedom in Libya (The Moderate Voice)

Mexico

Mexican drug cartels now using Claymore mines (Boing Boing)

49 Decapitated Bodies: Mexico’s Drug War and P.R. Nightmares Continue (The Moderate Voice)

Netherlands

War Crimes trial for Ratko Mladic begins in The Hague (Boing Boing)

Netherlands becomes first EU nation to enshrine Net Neutrality in law (Boing Boing)

Mormons Perform ‘After-Death’ Baptisms of Dutch Royals (Trouw, The Netherlands) (The Moderate Voice)

Pakistan

American ‘Grandees’ Should Pay Debt to Pakistan and be Grateful (The Frontier Post, Pakistan) (The Moderate Voice)

Acid victims fear backlash over Saving Face (International Tribune)

Poland

Poland’s future of copyright (Boing BOing)

Dire Straits for Europe Absent Less Nationalism and More Cooperation (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland) (Moderate Voice)

Russia

Microsoft invests in Russian company that attacks BitTorrent swarms (Boing Boing)

Sweden

Swedish telcoms giant Teliasonera complicit in mass surveillance in the world’s worst dictatorships (Boing Boing)

Thailand

Roasted gold-leaved foetus collection was for black magic (Boing BOing)

Tibet

Four people dead on Mt. Everest, one still missing (Boing Boing)

Turkey

Migratory bird confused for avian spy (Boing BOing)

Uganda

Uganda Re-Introduces Draconian Gay Law as Answer to Obama (Modern Ghana, Ghana) (The Moderate Voice)

United Kingdom

Publishers Association Chief Calls Opponents of Copyright Laws Thieves (Writers Write)

London cops want to suck your phone dry in an instant (Boing Boing)

UK civil servants routinely snoop on citizens’ private financial and health information (Boing Boing)

Russell Brand testifies to Parliament about drug policy, channels Groucho Marx (Boing Boing)

Yemen

Yemen massacre triggered by donkey “rape” (Boing Boing)

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean senator proposes ending AIDS crisis by mutilating women and preventing them from bathing (Boing Boing) — You, sir, are an asshole.

Goblins attack Zimbabwe family (BOing BOing)

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)

Up, Down, Back and Forth, World News from Around the Globe

Oct22

As always, these are just the events that captured my attention.

There’s more under the #OccupyWallStreet post, since that went world wide this week.

I have no predictions on what’s going to happen next. But, my, it is exciting isn’t it?

#hackergate
Just when you thought the story was over:

Tom Watson to attend NewsCorp board meetings with “details of previously undisclosed surveillance methods” (Boing Boing)

European Union

EU vs Facebook: Facebook’s dossiers on Europeans breach EU privacy laws (Boing Boing)

Australia

New South Wales Parliament rejects motion to sack Magistrate with bi-polar disorder (ontd_political)

Belarus

Belarus central bank sells off its office furniture (The Guardian)

Bhutan

In Bhutan’s young democracy, a Dragon King comes of age (ontd_Political)

Canada

Canadian Tories admit that Canadians don’t want DRM rules, push for them anyway (Boing BOing)

Texas conservatives reject Harper’s crime plan (ontd_political)

Canadian government advice defines abortionists as terrorists (Boing Boing)

Mother of former UW student who was charged in campus poster spree says her son is sick, not a women-hater (ontd_political)

Ottawa councillor’s bullied son commits suicide (ontd_political)

China

Mother’s fight to exonerate executed son galvanizes China (ontd_political)

China’s “Steve Jobs-style” Innovators (ontd_political)

France

France orders ISPs to block site showing police misconduct videos (Boing Boing)

French Polynesia

Yachtsman eaten by cannibals. Or not. (Boing Boing)

Greece

Greece: Mother of All Strikes Ahead of Tough Austerity Vote (The Moderate Voice)

Iran

Wall Street Uprisings Herald Victory of Islam and Iran! (Kayhan, Islamic Republic of Iran) (The Moderate Voice)

Israel&Palestine

Remembering Gaza (ontd_political)

Prominent Palestinian prisoners to be freed in swap with Israel (ontd_political)

Italy

Rome Burns (Boing Boing)

Japan

Japan: High radioactive cesium concentrations found in plankton off Fukushima shores (BOing Boing)

Tokyo radiation hotspot ‘not linked to Fukushima’ (ontd_political)

At a Tokyo radiation hotspot, weirdness abounds (Boing BOing)

Libya
(UPDATE V) Being On The Right Side Of History — For A Change (The Moderate Voice) – WARNING: Graphic Images

Gaddafi killed in hometown, Libya eyes future (Reuters)

Qaddafi: Reports that ‘They Got Him,’ Perhaps Killed Him (UPDATED) (The Moderate Voice)

BREAKING NEWS Reuters: A Captured Wounded Moammar Gadhafi Reported Dead UPDATE: Purported Cellphone Photo of Wounded or Dead Dictator Released (The Moderate Voice)

Why We Love the Porn of War (Forbes)

President Obama’s Remarks on the Death of Muammar el-Qaddafi (White House)

The Day Gaddafi Died: Photos (warning, graphic content) (Boing Boing) – WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

Gadhafi’s Death and The Word on the Street (Guest Voice) (The Moderate Voice)

Gaddafi is dead (ontd_political)

Muammar Gaddafi killed (Boing Boing)

Poland

Anna Grodzka Becomes Poland’s First Openly Transgender Member Of Parliament (ontd_political)

Saudi Arabia

Saudi men arrested over viral video about poverty in Riyadh (Boing Boing)

Spain

Spain’s Basque Separatist ETA Group Announces “Definitive” End to Violence (The Moderate Voice)

Basque Separatists Declare Halt to Violence (ontd_political)

Spain’s stolen babies, and the families who lived a lie (ontd_political)

Tibet

Nun becomes ninth Tibetan to self-immolate as protest against Chinese military repression

Turkey

Turkey’s Kurds long for “Kurdish Spring” (ontd_Political)

United Kingdom

The government’s controversial NHS bill for England has cleared a crucial hurdle after peers rejected a proposal to send it for further scrutiny. (ontd_political)

Why are more people opting for legal name-changes than ever before? (Boing Boing)

May vows Hillsborough facts in full (ontd_political)

Proud World Keep on Burnin’

Aug18

I think the big story this week is the fact that London is burning. I’m not sure how long it’s going to last, but I’d have to say I’m not surprised. London protests aren’t always the calmest…

#hackergate

Piers listened to voicemails; Guardian editor also used voicemail ‘hack’ (boing boing)

WSJ publisher quits, Murdoch’s British chief leaves as mogul tries to stem hacking scandal (ontd_political)

The Six Worst Things to Happen to Rupert Murdoch Today (ontd_political)

Rebekah Brooks arrested (boing boing)

The Most Incredible Thing Fox News Has Ever Done (ontd_political)

Rebekah Brooks arrested by hacking police (ontd_political)

Fox & Friends lash out at News of the World critics (boing boing)

Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson quits (BBC)

#hackgate: Continuation of the fustercluck (ontd_political)

Damning 2007 letter asserts that phone hacking was an open practice at News of the World

Strauss-Kahn

Nafissatou Diallo speaks out at press conference (ontd_political)

Nafissatou Diallo, Dominique Strauss Kahn, Race, Immigration, and Power (Racialicious)

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: New York meeting suggests accusers could unite (ontd_political)

IMF

Court to investigate Lagarde for abuse of authority (ontd_political)

East Africa

East Africa Drought Linked to La Niña (Discovery News)

Help East Africa post (ontd_political) – A list of donation sites/humanitarian aid in the area.

On the Ground in the Horn of Africa (White House)

One of the roots of Somalia’s famine -> American Imperialism (ontd_political)

Latin America

Sustainable Development, Not ‘Green Economy’ (IPS)

Australia

Nancy ‘the White Mouse’ Wake has died (ontd_political)

Lest we forget: the amnesia preserving Australian self-image (ontd_political)

Australian police: Man arrested in fake bomb case (ontd_political)

Brazil

Uncontacted Amazonian tribe may have been killed by drug trafficers (ontd_political)

Poor Brazilian women see job prospects widen (ontd_political)

Canada

Ford administration wants homeless removed from streets (ontd_political)

Canadian scholars & public interest groups oppose Canada’s Internet spying law (boing boing)

Edmonton teen needed help, not a virtual posse hunting her down (ontd_political)

‘This Place Saved My Life’: Inside the Rainier Hotel (ontd_political)

Chile

What the fuck is wrong with some people? (ontd_political)

The buried story of Los 33 (mindhacks)

Chile miners sue government for negligence (ontd_political)

China

Tibetan monk self-immolates to protest China (boing boing)

Artist Ai Weiwei speaks on conditions of imprisonment: “mental torture” (Boing boing)

Colombia

Indigenous languages thriving in Colombia (Al Jazeera)

Denmark

Shepard Fairey beat up in Copenhagen: by thugs, and by local media (Boing Boing)

Egypt

King Tut’s Treasures Return Home (Discovery News)

Egypt’s iconic antiquities chief fired (Google News)

Germany

Experts Baffled by Mysterious Underground Chambers (Der Spiegel)

Strange tunnels of Austro-Germany (boing boing)

Remains of Nazi Rudolf Hess Exhumed (Discovery News)

India

Anti-corruption activist arrested in India, begins fast in custody (ontd_political)

Anna Hazare arrest: A million mutinies erupt across India (ontd_political)

Indonesia

Indonesian Survivor of Mob Attack by Islamists Is Sentenced (ontd_political)

Israel

More than 250,000 demonstrate across Israel to protest high cost of living (ontd_political)

Israel & Palestine

Boycott the state, not just the settlements (ontd_political)

IDF forces arrest 12 people protesting for social justice in West Bank (ontd_political)

Japan

Who is the man living in Fukushima evacuation zone? (boing boing)

Japan Held Nuclear Data, Leaving Evacuees in Peril (ontd_political)

Japan demonstrates against Korean entertainment (ontd_political)

What sulfur particles in California can tell us about Fukushima (boing boing)

Firsthand from Fukushima: Xeni on The Madeleine Brand Show (radio) (boing boing)

Japanese cabinet approves plan to set up new nuclear watchdog (ontd_political)

Kenya

Preying on poverty – Sex tourism in Kenya (ontd_political)

Libya

Libyan Women Challenge Mindset Created by Tyranny (ontd_political)

Libyan rebels claim Gaddafi son killed (ontd_political)

Libya: Britain using Celt mercenaries to suppress riots (boing boing)

New Zealand

New Zealand Parliament may lose Internet access due to insane new copyright law

Nigeria

Nigeria oil spills have created ecological disaster, report says (ontd_political)

Palestine

Last keffiyeh factory in palestine turns to social media to stay in business (ontd_political)

Philippines

Filipinos cry sacrilege over art with Christ, phallic symbols (ontd_political)

Poland

Poland’s former deputy PM Andrzej Lepper dead at 57 (ontd_political)

Somalia

The territorial control fight contributes to the humanitarian catastrophe (ontd_political)

Famine in Somalia: The Lives We Can Save (White House)

A tortured choice in famine: Which child lives? (ontd_political)

South Africa

World Athletics 2011: Oscar Pistorius in South Africa squad (BBC)

South Korea

South Korea to abandon “real name” internet policy (boing boing)

Syria

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain recall ambassadors from Damascus, as President Assad replaces his defence minister. (ontd_political)

Syrian ministry hacked (boing boing)

Thailand

Thai Tourists Died from Bed Bug Pesticide (Discovery News)

News on the Earth goes round and round

Jun11

You know what’s harder than keeping track of what’s happening in the world today? Thinking up new and unusual titles for said round up. Pretty soon we’re going to be doing dated “world news roundup” posts, and *then* my muses will be sorry.

Then again, probably not. Muses have no shame.

European Union

E.coli strain gripping Europe is rare and ‘super toxic’ (ontd_political)

Olympics

Iranian women’s national soccer team banned from Olympic qualifying tournament (msnbc)

United Nations

UN report says 3 Strikes copyright termination is illegal (Boing Boing)

Australia

Teenager joins in class action over false arrests (Sydney Morning Herald)

Fair Work Australia rules in favour of $19.40 pay rise for lowest earner (ontd_political)

Rape victim to sue Australian Government after being jailed in UAE for adultery (ontd_political)

Australia’s misplaced it’s X-Files (ontd_political)