Need to know: A year after he became chief of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus has officially handed command over to Gen. John Allen, leaving behind him a mixed legacy as the U.S. begins to drawdown its troops. "There has been no positive change since the beginning [of Petraeus' command], everything is getting worse each day," said Hashim Watanwal, a member of parliament from Uruzgan, one of Afghanistan's most dangerous provinces. Case in point: Watanwal was killed Sunday night, just three days after he spoke with GlobalPost, when armed gunmen stormed the Kabul home of Jan Mohammed Khan, a former Uruzgan governor and top Karzai aide. Gunmen also killed Khan in what was an audacious attack even by Afghan standards . The Murdoch mess keeps getting, well, messier. Top British cop Sir Paul Stephenson resigned on Sunday, saying his ties to the phone-hacking scandal harmed his ability to do his job. Dinners and health spas were involved. Read his full statement . Just hours earlier on Sunday, Rebekah Brooks, the former chief of News of the World's parent company, New International, voluntarily went in for questioning and was promptly arrested. |
| Want to know: Finally, some good news for Japan. On Sunday, in a penalty shootout, the Japanese women's soccer team beat the United States to take the Women's World Cup title. Nevermind the fact that many in Japan had never heard of the Women's World Cup until just days ago when Japan's upset victory over Germany made front-page news. The final match with the U.S. broke the record for tweets per second, according to Twitter, raising the bar to 7,196 from 6,939 - a record that was set just after midnight in Japan on New Year's Day. Other spikes include Osama bin Laden's death (5,106 per second) and the Super Bowl in February (4,064). One of the suspects in last week's Mumbai bombing , Faiz Usmani, reportedly died in the hospital after being questioned in connection with last week's serial blasts. The official report is that he died of a heart attack and that he had blood clots in his brain. Doctors said there were no signs of injuries on his body, though Usmani's family alleges that he was tortured during questioning. |
| Dull but important: With President Hugo Chavez on the mend from cancer surgery, Venezuelans are debating whether he will be strong enough to campaign for re-election next year. They're also mulling over what exactly Chavez has accomplished during his rule. Here's a report card on 12 years of Chavez, with controversial high marks in poverty and unemployment and some serious room for improvement on inflation and street crime. The U.N.'s highest court has ordered Thailand and Cambodia to draw troops out of disputed border turf surrounding an ancient temple and draw up a demilitarized zone. Will troops draw down or will U.N. orders spark bloody border battle? |
| Just because: China's movie industry is booming, but it has nothing to do with Harry Potter . The latest installment of the adolescent wizard has been delayed in China, though elsewhere in the world it smashed box office records this past weekend. China prefers to keep its movies closer to home. Despite the fact that box office receipts top $1.5 billion and more and more theaters are being constructed - 313 were built last year for a total of 6,200 screens - the government limits the release of wholly foreign-made films to 20 (about as many Chinese titles are released in a single month). Think Patriotic epics and period dramas, like "Wheat." Catch a peek behind the scenes. Swaziland's King Mswati III, whose country suffers the world's highest HIV infection rate, is pressing for mass male circumcision . His campaign is based on research that shows men without a foreskin on their penis are 60 percent less likely to contract HIV. And in case you were wondering, propaganda looks like this. As debate continues over whether to send food aid to impoverished North Korea, the state is happy to put out this video showing a Pyongyang department store ... with a few one too many bottles of lotion on the shelf. |
| Wacky: In the clearest sign yet that Vladimir Putin is indeed planning to come back to the presidency, a new social media group has called on girls across Russia to show their love for the leader ... by ripping open their shirts. It's called, "I Tear for Putin," (as in, I tear my shirt open for Putin). Watch what happens when Kremlin spin doctors wake up to social media. |
No comments:
Post a Comment