From Reuters: A Congressional panel has frozen $700 million in aid to Pakistan until it gives assurances it is helping fight the spread of homemade bombs in the region, a move one Pakistani senator called unwise and likely to strain
Good thing we’ve moved on from George W. Bush’s cowboy diplomacy and become a kinder, gentler United States–a nation that asks “pretty please” when foreign despots steal its military technology. From BBC News: President Barack Obama has said the US
New Jersey Nets owner and Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov has announced today that he will challenge Vladimir Putin for the Russian presidency. From the AP: The announcement Monday by Mikhail Prokhorov underlines the extent of the discontent with Putin, who
(AFP) Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s attempt to placate the masses who rallied against a disputed poll backfired on his own Facebook page Monday when it became flooded with irate comments. More than 10,000 people posted replies, many of them insulting,
PARIS (AP) – Enthusiasm for riskier assets such as stocks and the euro faded Monday as investors worried that Europe’s new pact aimed at fixing the continent’s debt crisis would be insufficient. Markets had rallied on Friday, when the European
In the “Israel [x] to Prevent Islamic Violence” headline template, today’s entry will definitely make it as one of the year’s top ten. From Reuters: Israel on Monday closed a footbridge it deemed unsafe at Jerusalem’s holiest and most volatile
From the New York Times: Tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets in Moscow on Saturday shouting “Putin is a thief” and “Russia without Putin,” forcing the Kremlin to confront a level of public discontent that has not
Call us crazy, but maybe–just maybe–at some point you’re only looking for an excuse. From Reuters: Palestinian leaders said on Saturday U.S. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich had invited more conflict in the Middle East by calling the Palestinians an
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) – After days of tension in Congo’s capital as the nation awaits election results, traffic began to flow once more, women selling cassava leaves took up their usual positions on the sides of roads and a few
From BBC News: Iranian TV has shown the first video footage of an advanced US drone aircraft that Tehran says it downed near the Afghan border. The film was captioned “RQ170 – advanced US spy plane” and carried on the
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistani police say assailants have fired rockets at tankers carrying fuel for U.S-led troops in Afghanistan, setting at least 10 vehicles on fire. The attack Thursday was the first since Pakistan closed the border for trucks
“She gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work.” Secretary Clinton is a lot more persuasive than we all thought–and internationally so, it seems. From BBC News: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United
From the Washington Post: The Air Force dumped the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill, far more than the military had acknowledged, before halting the secretive practice three years ago, records show. The
No preconditions, indeed. From Reuters: WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – The Obama administration is urging U.S. lawmakers to soften proposed sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank, Senator Mark Kirk said on Tuesday. Kirk, a Republican, is the co-author along with Democratic
From LIFE: President Franklin Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 — when Japan launched more than 350 fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes against the U.S. naval base in Hawaii — a “date which will live in infamy.” In fact, that Sunday
We in the western world should pay attention to the recent outbreak of protests disputing the results of Russia’s parliamentary elections. Like much of the Middle Eastern “Arab Spring” and the recent Occupy movement in the United States, social networking
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Residents of Tehran say that a web-based U.S. “embassy” to Iran has been blocked by the authorities, less than a day after it went online. The English- and Farsi-language website, designed by Washington as a virtual
Monday night, Russia deployed tens of thousands of police officers to handle protests against Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party. Confrontations between police and demonstrators became so heated, the AP reports fire bombs were used. From the Washington Post:
MOSCOW (AP) – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s party saw its majority in Russia’s parliament weaken sharply, according to preliminary results released Monday, a humiliating setback for the man who has steadily tightened his grip on the nation for nearly 12
CAIRO (AP) – Islamist parties captured an overwhelming majority of votes in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, setting up a power struggle with the much weaker liberals behind the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago. A
TEHRAN, Iran–Iran’s armed forces shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along the country’s eastern border, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. An unidentified military official quoted in the report warned of a strong and
PARIS (AP) – France is temporarily downsizing its embassy in Iran and will bring some employees and their families home, a French official said Saturday. The move is the latest fallout from protesters’ storming of the British embassy in Tehran
From Reuters: Crowds chanted “Death to Britain” at Tehran University on Friday prayers as a hardline Iranian cleric warned the U.N. and European Union against siding with London after students and militia stormed the British embassy in Tehran. Cleric Ahmad
Alternate Headline: Tons of Awesome Saddam Palace Swag Soon to Enter U.S.A. From Reuters: The U.S. military returned its biggest base in Iraq to the government on Friday, a huge compound near Baghdad airport that housed the American war operations
From the Washington Post: The Chinese have called it their “Underground Great Wall” — a vast network of tunnels designed to hide their country’s increasingly sophisticated missile and nuclear arsenal. For the past three years, a small band of obsessively
