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Memorial Crackdown Helps Sustain Iran’s Protest Movement
Crying “Death to the dictator!” supporters of Iran’s opposition movement charged once more into the breach on July 30, defying a government ban on protests by gathering in the thousands at Iran’s largest cemetery to honor slain victims of the government’s crackdown. The protest was timed to coincide with the traditional Shi’ite practice of observing the 40th day of mourning following a death — the deceased in this case being Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose videotaped shooting at a June 20 demonstration against the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made her a global icon of Iran’s protest movement
Boko Haram, ‘Nigeria’s Taliban’: How Big a Threat?
The immediate crisis may be over in Nigeria, but the threat of violence remains. Government security forces today attacked a mosque filled with Islamist militants, killing scores of fighters and forcing more to flee
Recession reality bites Japan’s anime industry
Given the magnitude of Japan’s recession, it should perhaps come as little surprise that the fantasy-obsessed animation industry has received a hard dose of reality. Yasuo Yamaguchi, executive director of the Association of Japanese Animators, said the industry has been rocked by the country’s deepest recession since World War II.
U.S. announces sanctions on North Korean corporation
The United States on Thursday imposed economic sanctions on a North Korean company that the United Nations said is linked to the country’s nuclear weapons program.
Alleged rebel diary ties Ecuador president to FARC guerrillas
A diary reported to have come from a top Colombian guerrilla leader killed last year says key officials in Ecuador accepted money from the rebels and had connections with Mexican drug gangs.
The Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrest: When Race Matters
One of the most telling, and overlooked, aspects of the brouhaha over the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the particular cast of Gates’ defenders. There was Deval Patrick, the fresh-faced black governor of Massachusetts, who called the arrest “every black man’s nightmare.” There was Vernon Jordan, noting that the event “tells us that the election of Barack Obama did not automatically erase racism.” There was former Congressman Harold Ford, moderate to a fault, passionately insisting that once Sergeant James Crowley realized Gates had not broken into his own home, the officer should have said, “I’m sorry you’re upset, sir
New Taliban rule book calls for fewer suicide attacks
A new Taliban military "code of conduct" calls for restrictions on suicide attacks aimed at avoiding the killing of civilians, but U.S. and Afghan military officials dismissed the document as propaganda, calling it hypocritical. The booklet, obtained by CNN in northwestern Pakistan, has emerged during a crucial moment in the fight between troops and militants in Afghanistan, where battles are raging in the country’s Helmand province and troops work to establish stability for the upcoming presidential elections.
Obama’s weapon: A dose of homecoming king charm
As President Obama pushes forward with his agenda, he may find that a homecoming king’s likeability is just as integral as the power and authority inherent to the Oval Office. “I just don’t think you can be effective without being liked,” said Bruce Newman, a professor of marketing at DePaul University and editor of the Journal of Political Marketing. Newman describes Obama’s leadership as a “two-pronged support system of both being popular but yet having the respect.” “I don’t think you can be effective without that first step of making that emotional connection with the voter, but to continue to be effective, it’s not enough,” he said
Deputy leader killed as Nigerian military raids Islamic sect
Nigeria’s military has claimed it raided the compound of a fundamentalist Islamic sect and killed one of its top leaders, as the battle intensified between government troops and Islamist forces in the country’s north Thursday. At least 400 rebels, civilians and troops have died since the fighting began Sunday, triggered by the arrest of some members of the sect, known as Boko Haram.