Yesterday’s ballot for the parliamentary seat of Barnsley Central resulted in abject defeat for Liberal Democrat candidate Dominic Carman, who came in sixth place, polling fewer votes than the far right British National Party (BNP). This wasn’t the first time the doughty anti-BNP campaigner Carman performed worse than the party he …
How Not to Arrive at an Indian Wedding
Ah, the perils of oneupsmanship. Kanwar Singh Tanwar was hosting a reception to honor his son’s wedding this week, and the main event was to be the arrival of a helicopter, a thoughtful little wedding present from the bride’s parents. This was not just any helicopter—of the kind that nouveau-riche farmers might merely rent to arrive at …
Prince Harming: Links with Gaddafi Spell Trouble for the Queen’s Son
There are, it seems, three ways to endanger your job if you’re a public figure: you can call into a radio show to denigrate your boss as a clown, you can claim an affection for Hitler, or you can be linked to the Gaddafis. Howard Davies, the head of Britain’s prestigious London School of Economics, has just tendered his resignation over …
Renault’s Spy Caper: Industrial Espionage, Or Slick Ruse?
Is the dramatic mystery surrounding the spy scandal at French carmaker Renault deflating like a particularly gravity-prone soufflé? That seems to be the main conclusion of recent media reports contrasting earlier allegations that China, international espionage rings, and just about any other convenient suspect was behind the purportedly …
Clinton Applauds Al Jazeera, Rolls Eyes at U.S. Media
When addressing the U.S. Foreign Policy Priorities Committee on March 2, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued for more funding for her department on the grounds that the U.S. is losing an “information war” around the world. Once-hallowed media institutions like Voice of America are a shadow of their former selves, while …
New Info Campaign Tells French Citizens How To Be Burqa Vigilantes
It’s not exactly “wear a burqa, go to jail”, but the French state has begun a sloganeering information campaign aimed at dissuading a crime that has fueled growing public concern. As part of that effort, the government is reminding Muslim women who wear the full-body veil that they’ll soon be legally prohibited of being seen in …
Ripples of a Revolution: A Jasmine Crackdown in Vietnam
Nguyen Dan Que heard the call for revolution. But so did the government. On Feb. 28, the 68-year-old doctor and dissident was detained by Vietnamese authorities for posting internet messages that threatened the “stability and strength” of the country’s ruling party. He has since been released, but must attend daily “interrogation …
Global Briefing, Mar. 3, 2011: Ten Stories to Start Your Day
Two Cities— Ian Lee tours Tripoli, a city that feels like an “oasis,” even as violence swirls around it; Andrew Lee Butters chronicles life in Benghazi, the rebel town left to rot.
Frenemies — Wired‘s Spencer Ackerman is skeptical about the U.S. military’s plan to net jihadis via social networks Facebook.
Traffic Cops …
Hey, You Sitting in Beijing Traffic? Big Brother is Watching
The news was packaged innocuously enough. In order to alleviate Beijing’s horrible traffic jams, a new project called the Dynamic Information Platform for Public Travel would use residents’ cellphones to track where they were and figure out how to make traffic flow more smoothly. The People’s Daily, the Chinese government’s …
An ‘Interim’ Peace Deal? Israel’s Netanyahu Tries to Reheat a Souffle
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be forgiven for feeling just a wee bit lonely, right now. Events in the Middle East are increasingly passing him by, leaving him on the sidelines as the region’s history is being remade. And on Wednesday, one of Israel’s most senior veteran diplomats, Ilan Baruch, resigned from the …
In Yemen, the chum’s in the water, and the sharks are circling
It’s been a topsy-turvy day in Sana’a. First, a Yemeni official said President Ali Abdallah Saleh had ‘initially accepted” a 5-point plan proposed by the opposition parties — which included the demand that he step down by the end of the year. Then the official called my colleague Oliver Holmes and said the plan’s provisions had been …
March 3: Happy Mistress Day!
Mark your calendars: March 3 is Mistress Day in China. How are you going to celebrate this special occasion? According to the Shanghai Daily and the Global Times, an Internet community of third wheels has decided to designate 3/3 as their exclusive day. Here’s the scoop from the Global Times:
“An online forum advocating
…
EXCLUSIVE: Is Yemen’s Saleh Set to Step Down?
Update: TIME quoted a government source claiming President Saleh had agreed to a five-point proposal circulated by the opposition. That proposal included his stepping down within nine months. However, the source later said that the proposals that the regime looked favorably on were not the same as those circulated earlier in the …