News
Australia continues to laugh in the face of global economic chaos,
posting higher than expected levels of growth yesterday, driven by, surprise surprise, WA's continued talent for digging shit out of the ground. Also rosy was Queensland's recovery from the summer that we'd rather not talk about, while Victoria's economy is basically along for the ride. That's the spirit, Victoria!
In an unexpected but very much welcome shift, the Obama White House has made
ending discrimination against homosexual and transgender people a new pillar of its foreign policy. While this doesn't expressly provide for the removal of aid to transgressor countries, it's still a nice first step to have such gestures out in the open.
An Australian Shi'ite Muslim is facing the prospect of 500 lashes and a year in jail in Saudi Arabia, because he blasphemed the Prophet Muhammed. Although the incident in question sounds more like he was dobbed in by a particularly vindictive Sunni while calmly enjoying his Koran. Diplomatic efforts are ongoing, while a good travel warning might be "Don't speak to anyone about anything while in Saudi Arabia".
In what could be the first scenario in a cheery game of "Syrian Security Force or Mexican Drug Cartel?",
close to three dozen bodies were dumped around the restive Syrian city of Homs on Monday, all people who had previously been kidnapped by the regime. This contributed majorly to the overall Monday death count of 50, one of the worst since the uprising began. Fortunately, the Arab League hasn't been mollified by Damascus' earlier vague efforts to comply with their demands and the crippling sanctions stay in place.
This is why you can't have nice things, Russia.
After violently suppressing an 8000-strong protest against voting irregularities in Sunday's parliamentary elections, the Russian authorities wheeled out their own youth brigade
to pump tens of thousands of Putin supporters on to the streets. Who were, funnily enough, not violently suppressed. No arguing with that then.
In Pakistan, President Ali Zadari was flown out of the country yesterday amid rumours that he'd had a heart attack and that everyone else was swooping in to steal his position. There's still something so pleasingly retro about the idea that just by being out of the postcode you open yourself to potential coups. Like the world's own little Game of Thrones. Just, you know, with real world consequences. And nuclear weapons.
Oh, and a Pakistani terrorist group, who may or may not have deep financial ties with the country's security agency, the ISI, has
claimed responsibility for the bombing in Kabul yesterday which killed almost 60 people. Our steadfast ally in the war on terror continues to prove its worth.
Features
As rumours of an internal coup intensify,
this Atlantic exploration of the fraught relationship between the US and Pakistan and the flaky, flaky security of their 100-odd nuclear warheads does not make for relaxing reading.
On Obama's speech yesterday and the battlelines of the coming Presidential election.
The strange and in no way isolated world of lobbyists who lobby on behalf of dictators.
Oddities/Curiosities
A woman in America is suing her psychological clinic, alleging that after she went in to be treated for anorexia
they used hypnotherapy to implant memories of belonging to a baby-eating Satanic cult. Which I feel would not really encourage you to pursue other healthy eating options.
And in Zimbabwe, hotbed of feminist insurrection, three women have been arrested for being part of a nationwide syndicate that is allegedly
raping men, stealing their semen and then using them in rituals to ensure business success. Man, there has got to be an easier way.
Bravo New York Times, bravo.
Video
To drink and drive may make you a bloody idiot, but drink and read the news and I think you're some kind of hero.