Like smoking. Lawmakers in Iraq are proposing legislation that would overhaul the war-ravaged nation’s tobacco industry and basically make it a lot like New York City under Mayor Bloomberg. The New York Times summarizes some of the new changes being proposed that are sure to make life better for Iraqis. Read more »
Australia is having some problems with its Asian neighbors: They’re worried about the future military threat China presents and the current environmental impact Japan is creating with its whale hunting in Antarctic waters.
The Russians are keeping the UK’s Royal Air Force busy, forcing them to scramble at least 20 times. It’s like the Cold War all over again!
A Protestant farmer in Ireland isn’t too happy that six of his sheep—all pregnant—were spray painted with the Irish tricolour in what has been characterized “as an ongoing campaign of intimidation” by the Belfast News Letter. |Belfast News Letter|
Similar to the women-haters in Uganda, the Sudanese have also adopted a perverse form of Islam that mandates strict dress codes for females. A woman is facing 40 lashes for wearing “trousers that were too tight and a blouse that was too sheer” according to the country’s real life fashion police. |CNN|
The United States announced that it will punish Bolivia by retracting “import duty waivers,” arguing that the small country isn’t doing enough to fight its massive cocaine production. Translated: if the CIA doesn’t gets a cut, we can’t do business. |AP|
The Japanese can’t catch a break. When they’re not ducking for cover from biblical style animal rain on the mainland, it’s deadly Nomura’s jellyfish approaching their coastal waters. Researches are warning of an imminent and “catastrophic invasion this year” of the massive, species-stinging sea creatures. And these aren’t your typical jellyfish, they can “grow up to 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) in diameter and weigh as much as to 220 kilograms (about 450 lbs).” They create havoc for commercial fisherman by overloading nets, decimating fish populations, and stinging the shit out of them. |PinkTentacle|
Photo by Y.Taniguchi/Niu Fisheries Cooperative |via|
In addition to Club Med-ready tourists, blue jeans, and whole lot of wheat the United States is the premiere exporter of illegal guns to Jamaica, accounting for “eighty percent of the weapons seized in the Caribbean island” according to the Associated Press. How do so many of these firearms “pour into violent slums”? Mostly because American authorities are more concerned with imports than exports. Says a Jamaican police commissioner: “There aren’t any checks or any controls on goods leaving the United States. Yet anything leaving here, we have to make sure it’s double-checked and tripled-checked for drugs.” In semi-related news, Dancehall veteran Ninja Man still can’t get bail in his murder case. |AP|
Photos by Ricardo Arduengo/AP
So that whole stereotype about Australians being hardcore and stuff? Totally true. A surfer that lost his hand in a shark attack in February has returned to the water and enjoyed it. |TimesOnline|
The UN released some report on drugs and it appears that cocaine production in Colombia has dropped off significantly. However, evidence suggests that Peru and Bolivia are picking up the slack as their cultivation of the coca crop increases dramatically. |AP|
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