Category: International

Bizarre, International

Controversial French Runner Stripped Of Gold After Stripping During Race

220px-Mahiedine_Mekissi_Meeting_Areva_2009Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad is truly a nightmare to any competitor due to his speed and an equal menace to himself due to his lack of control. Mekhissi-Benabbad has faced continuing controversies over thuggish or plain stupid acts in competition. The most recent, as shown in the video below, was to strip off his shirt while handily winning the European 3000m steeplechase. It would have been his third consecutive gold medal but the judges stripped him of his win for acting, again, like an adolescent. I remain a bit old-fashioned on athletes acting out in such cases. Indeed, I am one of the few people who seem to continue to support the ban on excessive celebration in the NFL and the rule against trash talking.

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International, Media

Greenwald Accuses NPR Of “Laundering CIA Talking Points” In Story Involving Firm With Undisclosed Agency Ties

220px-Glenn_greenwald_portraitCIAGlenn Greenwald has called out National Public Radio in a recent interview for a story by Dina Temple-Raston for a story that it aired on how a study had found “tangible evidence” that leaks by Edward Snowden had harmed security by showing terrorists that they have to develop more sophisticated encryption programs. However, that study was the work of a firm named “Recorded Future,” which Greenwald claims has been funded by the CIA to the tune of millions of dollars. Greenwald chastises Temple-Raston and NPR for not informing listeners that the source is a CIA funded outfit. He accuses NPR of essentially airing CIA talking points.

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

The Faces Of ISIS Facebook: Australian Boy and English Rapper Pose With Severed Heads on Islamic State Social Media

article-2723659-20794D3A00000578-930_634x487article-2723659-2080250B00000578-342_634x478We recently discussed the homicidal hunk from ISIS who is all the rage with Muslim women looking for a husband to watch martyred. The extremist Sunni movement has been reaching out to Westerners to join their self-declared caliphate and thousands have reportedly responded. Now even more disturbing pictures have been posted with a father from Australia having his seven-year-old son holding up a severed head in celebration and a former British rapper (right) doing the same. Beheadings are viewed by ISIS as a traditional Islamic form of execution and a type of macabre celebration of their view of Islam. Severed heads feature prominently on ISIS (or Islamic State) social media postings.

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International, Politics, Religion, Society

“La Mort aux Juifs”: Leading Jewish Group Demands Change In Town’s Name of “Death to Jews”

Rashi_woodcutAnd you thought the Redskins controversy was bad.

There are reports this week is of a bizarre confrontation where the Simon Wiesenthal Centre has asked the French government to rename a small village in central France that is currently called “Death to Jews” (La Mort aux Juifs). However, the town is resisting the efforts to change the name that dates back to the 11th Century.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion

Kenyan Legislature Considers New Law To Allow Foreign Homosexuals To Be Stoned In Public

609px-Coat_of_arms_of_Kenya.svgThe anti-homosexual movement in Kenya continues this week with an infamous bill that would reportedly allow foreign homosexual people stoned to death in public. The law would allow such executions for foreigners who commit one homosexual act while imposing a life sentence on Kenyan nationals.

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Academia, Criminal law, International

Visiting Cornell Professor Arrested For Allegedly Molesting Sleeping Woman On Flight

planecaseEun-jong Lee, 47, a visiting professor of Human Ecology Design at Cornell University has been arrested after he allegedly groped a sleeping woman’s breast on a flight from Tokyo to Newark, New Jersey. He has been charged with abusive sexual contact, a felony carrying a maximum two-year prison term and a $250,000 fine.

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Bizarre, International

Saudi Arabia Deports Men For Being Too Handsome

omar-borkan-al-gal

Submitted By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

No, this is not The Onion website. Reportedly Omar Borkan Al Gala and two other attractive men were deported by Saudi Arabia because they were too handsome and debauchery would ensue.

Telegraph reports the men were delegates of the United Arab Emirates for the Jenadrivah Heritage and Cultural Festival. They attracted more than just the ladies it seems.

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Bizarre, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

eTyranny: Islamic State Has The Perfect Match For You

Islam-Yaken_2999102cIslamic State jihadists have worked hard to establish the image of murderous extremists who slaughter innocent people and destroy ancient religious temples and shrines. However, various newspapers are reporting, the group appears to be eager to show on social media that they are also domesticated as well as hip in recruiting new followers. Appearing across social media are images of Islam Yaken, a young Egyptian law student who left his affluent family in Cairo to become a soldier for Islamic State with signature sword and slaughterous slogans. At the same time, the ladies of Islamic State are recruiting Western and European women to come and hook up with jihadi in a bizarre version of eHarmony or JDate. JihadDate is a bit different. It promises that, if lucky, you can watch your loved one martyr himself — I kid you not.

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International, Politics, Society

Report: Obama Administration Used USAID and HIV Prevention Workshop As Cover For Spying In Cuba

1369987959_USAIDWe previously discussed how the CIA used a doctor in an international vaccination program to help locate Osama Bin Laden. The use of such a cover violated international agreement and led to other doctors being attacked or barred from areas as suspected CIA operatives. Under huge international pressure, the Obama Administration finally agreed not to use such programs as covers for the CIA this year. However, a new story alleges that the CIA used young, undertrained Latin Americans for spying in Cuba while working as part of a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in dealing with HIV prevention and other subjects.

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Free Speech, International, Politics, Society

Russian Parliament Enacting Laws Curtailing Bloggers And Online Media Come Into Effect

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Russian FlagThe Russian Parliament passed worrying laws that will certainly have a chilling effect on free speech in Russia. Now these laws are in effect and certainly prove to be useful to the government in stamping out dissent and non-sanctioned information.

BBC news reports bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers must register with the mass media regulator, Roskomnadzor, and conform to the regulations that govern the country’s larger media outlets.

Internet companies will also be required to allow Russian authorities access to users’ information.

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International, Politics, Society

One Hundred Years Ago Today, Germany Declared War On France. Presidents Commemorate Centennial In Unity

hollande-gauck-walking-centennial-wwi

Submitted By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

On August 3, 1914 Europe began the worst human disaster known to that time when the German Empire declared war on France. The subsequent world war would cost the lives of at least fourteen million individuals and shattered the fabric of society that had evolved for centuries. The devastation that was once Germany set in motion a chain of events and underlying conditions that would lead Europe into the Nazi terror of the Second World War.

Today, the presidents of Germany and France presided over a ceremony in the French region of Alsace marking the beginning of the conflict between their nations with an affirmation of their continued solidarity to maintain peace between their nations and of Europe generally.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, International, Justice, Politics, Society

Uganda Constitutional Court Strikes Down Anti-Homosexuality Law

Submitted By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Coat_of_arms_of_ugandaThe nation’s top constitutional court invalidated the Uganda’s highly controversial anti-homosexuality law, citing improper parliamentary procedures. The opinion cites that the Speaker of the House acted illegally when she allowed the original bill to be voted for passage by MPs despite the lack of a quorum in the chamber. Afterward, President Museveni signed the legislation into law.

Activists held the decision as a significant victory in for civil rights in Uganda, but will this be only a temporary legal reprieve?

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, International, Lawyering, Politics, Society

“We Tortured Some Folks”: Obama Admits United States Committed Acts Violating Federal and International Law

President_Barack_Obamatorture -abu ghraibFollowing the admission that the CIA hacked Senate computers and lied to Congress, President Obama today affirmed that it did indeed torture people. This admission (while belated) is an important recognition by the United States of what is obvious from a legal standpoint. However, that also means that CIA officials violated both federal and international law. The question is why Obama began his first term by promising CIA employees that they would not be tried for what he now describes as “tortur[ing] some folks.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International

Final Flight Leg: British Woman Arrested After Beating People on Flight With Prosthetic Limb

DRUNKWOMAN_2993122cA 48-year-old woman caused a Thomson Airlines flight to diverted to Gatwick airport after she began to yell profanities, throw food, and beat people with her prosthetic leg. The airline response below is quintessential British.

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Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Saudi Court Hands Down Sharia Sentence To Gay Man: 3 years in Jail and 450 Lashes

300px-fomfr_whipWe have another grotesque application of Sharia law out of Saudi Arabia. A court in Medina has applied Islamic law to sentence a man to three years in jail and 450 lashes for being gay. The unnamed 24-year-old man was arrested after a sting operation by the notorious Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) where they arranged a meeting over social media.

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