News – Lets Do the Time Warp Again!

Americas

Dick Cheney goes back in time to pimp the Iraq/alQueda link yet again. He might want to get back to us after he reconciles the evidence to the contrary with his broken record rhetoric. Ultimately, it matters little. Whatever presence was there before, it’s nothing compared to the presence that is there now because of our actions. Or inactions, as it applies.

The military has been testing it’s ‘pain ray’ weapon. They say about 600 of their test subjects have been exposed roughly 10,000 times to the device and so far only one real injury, an airman receiving second degree burns from the device. Not too bad.

There’s a strong movement looking to get any movie with smoking slapped with an automatic R rating. I can see why this would be pushed for. I might even be a bit sympathetic toward it, but I’d prefer a more case by case sort of rule. Tiny, casual snippets of smoking are hardly bad. If the main character is a smoking fiend.. well, then I might consider it.

Middle East

Moqtada Sadr’s militia might have stood down, but he’s continuing to stir up trouble. He’s branding the US an archenemy of Iraq and encouraging Iraqis to be uncooperative. The turn out for a recent rally to that effect was on the high side. Note, they’re swinging about the old Iraq flag, not the new one.

Egyptian mediators have passed along a list from the captors of Israeli Cpl Gilad Shalit, listing the prisoners they want freed in exchange for him. Israel has yet to respond and the list is reported to have at least 1000 names. Others say 500. Either way, that’s a lot of people for one man.

The Daghmash family, in central Gaza City, are suspected to be the ones holding captured BBC reporter Alan Johnston.

The UK sailors held by Iran tell of their captivity.

Jalal Sharafi, an Iranian diplomat seized months ago and freed last week, claims the CIA tortured him while he was being held.

Africa

China prods Sudan’s leadership about being more flexible over Darfur. It would be nice if China leaned on them some with those billions they invested in Sudan’s oil industry.

It’s suspected that Eritrea is aiding the insurgency in Somalia as a sort of proxy war against Ethiopia, which has troops in the country.

Asia/Pacific

China puts into place new regulations to try and squeeze some of the illegality from their organ transplant industry.

Looks like a solution has been found over the frozen funds that North Korea wants in return for making progress on their nuclear disarmament.

Europe

The Basque separatist group Eta has delivered a statement saying they’re ready to look into peace proceedings if Spain’s government ends attacks against them.

Turkish authorities continue to skirmish with Kurdish rebels in Turkey. I’ms still debating how long until that mess spills over into northern Iraq.

General

Some strains of flu are showing resistance to the drugs we produce to combat them. This is something that I’ve known about as an issue for some time. In part because the overuse of penicillin and the like are leading to these bugs evolving resistances far too quickly to be comfortable. It will be a bad thing indeed should we not be able to keep ahead of them until we can understand how to keep them from evolving in these ways.

The Blogs look at the released British sailors, New York’s circumcision-as-HIV-prevention campaign and this year’s Ivy League admission stats.

Today’s Papers has an op-ed in the NYT asking Mitt Romney to stop blurring Mormonism and Evangelical traditions, leaks from lawyers who tried Serbia for war atrocities, the Army Corps of Engineers is still counting more than 70,000 claims for damages from Hurricane Katrina and more in the one page news.

Amusements

With nothing else to do ’till the mud dries up, folks in northern Vermont wait for a piece of concrete to fall through the ice

Someone in a school has been ordering porn, who could it be?

Internationally known fighter for freedom of West Papua arrested for masturbating on a train. Bonus: three times in the same day, twice with a camera on him

It is customary for cosmonauts to pee on a tire before they take off to space

Don’t click on the red button

Old hotness: Feeding the homeless. New hotness: Giving homeless cell phones

Thailand hopes holy sour candy will stop road accidents. No, really. That’s the headline

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop Barcelona’s Olympic Park

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these happy Bangladeshi cricket players

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: Easter egg hunts gone bad