Posts Tagged ‘Russia’
Asia
Wildfires have been ravaging Russia for the past two weeks, destroying homes and air quality in many cities. Firefighters are doing all they can, but yesterday they were joined by Prime Minister Vladamir Putin. Putin’s approval ratings have been dropping, and he’s hoping that stopping the wildfires will win him political favor.
Latin America
Finally, some good news about clothing manufacturers! Alta Gracia, a new label under Knights Apparel, is a clothing factory that pays its workers in the Dominican Republic a living wage, which is three times what other apparel workers make. Knights Apparel is the biggest college logo supplier, so college groups like United Students Against Sweatshops are heavily promoting the brand.
Middle East
President Obama is not the only one who gets to keep his beloved Blackberry. Blackberry owners in Saudi Arabia have some more time with their PDA. The government wanted to ban Blackberrys because the devices scramble messages and other countries, like the United Arab Emirates, also plan on enforcing a ban. Currently, the government is trying to create a Blackberry server in the Saudi Arabia so that Blackberrys can be used without scrambling messages- something the country says is a security risk.
Africa
Human rights organizations speak out against Somalia’s use of child soldiers, who are partially funded by the US government.
Asia
China and Taiwan have started trading with each other! Could better political ties be in the future?
Australia
Congratulations to Australia’s newest Prime Minister, Julia Gillard!
North America
It’s 2010, but this story about Russian spies sounds like it’s straight out of the 1950s.
South America
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Farmers in Peru turn to coca production again to support themselves.
You know, just some warheads. Courtesy of Wikicommons.
Have you had a drill in school where you curl up under your desk and hope that the Soviets don’t drop a nuke on you?
Believe it or not this was a standard practice in US schools not long ago. Clearly American school desks were once quite robust if they could protect children from nuclear annihilation.
With poorer school desks available today, we were relieved to learn that the Russians and the Americans have agreed to reduce their arsenals of nuclear weapons. (Check the link for our explanation.)
Today, President Obama and Russian President Medvedev are set to sign the “new START” (START = Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) in Prague, signaling a new wave for American nuclear policy. To go along with this big meeting, the Obama administration just released the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).
This is something you DON'T hit your mom with. Courtesy of WikiCommons.
So grounded.
Minnesota Twins leadoff man Denard Span hit a hard foul ball that struck his mom in the chest during Wednesday’s game.
Drillin’ for Criticism… Obama’s Oil Drilling Plan Under Fire
Is there an Olive oil crisis on April 1?!?
Revealed… Chechen Militant Claims Responsibility for Moscow Bombing
Image Courtesy WikiCommons via Shayan Sanyal
Well, he was just saving you time…
Police say a motorist fleeing officers in Cleveland abandoned his car and jumped a fence — landing in what turned out to be a prison yard.
Considering responses… Russia mourns their lost and the world awaits the next step.
So what’s in the mystery meat… FDA cracks down on food fraud.
We here at USDemocrazy are not exactly history experts (too short of an attention span), but we were pretty sure that the Cold War was over. But then yesterday there was all of this news circling around about Russia and nuclear weapons and treaties and stuff.
So, we began to wonder — did we get sucked into some kind of “Back to the Future” plot?
Turns out no. (Would have been fun.) Actually, as we know, nuclear weapons are still a huge deal in foreign policy post-Cold War, and so the U.S. and Russia’s nuclear relations are getting more lip service over the past few days.
Basically, the United States and Russia have reached an agreement that would reduce their nuclear arsenals and would replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991 (START), which expired last year. Exciting! …read more.
A television station in Georgia (the country, not the state) broadcasted a fake news story about Russia invading them.
Three U.S. citizens were killed in Mexico during a gang fight, on their way home from a birthday party.
A top Taliban member was arrested! Oh wait, that’s not good news?
Is Putin re-building the Union? How a common currency could instigate Soviet memories…
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed terrorist? “Jihad Jane” helped target cartoonist.
Colleen LaRose … was “the weird, weird, weird lady who lived across the hall,” neighbor Eric Newell tells the Allentown, Pa., Morning Call. ”We always called her the crazy lady.”
credit Owl-pictures.com
You don’t mess with this owl: Talk about one tough bird. Police in southern Indiana said a great horned owl flew through the pre-dawn darkness into the front of a moving Ford F-250 pickup truck — and survived even as the collision mangled the truck’s radiator.
Politics part… Senate Finance Committee has approved the health care reform bill on a 14-9 vote, with Sen. Olympia Snowe the only Republican who voted “yes.”
Russia says “Nyet”… “Russia Resists U.S. Position on Sanctions for Iran”
Thanks to Wikicommons
We at USDemocrazy are always impressed by strong leaders. For this reason, our editors are a constant source of disappointment.
So, with the news late last week of President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, we decided to dedicate this week’s Awesome Sites collection from the World Wide Web to the websites of world leaders!
We’ve got all sorts… and they are quite varied and curious.
Is the Comedian and Chief back? Obama has a grand old time on the Late Show.
Back from exile. Forcefully removed leader of Honduras returns; the world holds it breath.
Wild times as President. Personal pressures, a drunk pizza craving Boris Yeltsin and more were part of Clinton’s time in the oval office.
Michael Steele laughs at Arlen Specter on T.V. Did we just hear a collective “Awwwww…” from the left?
I’ve search your person, you pockets, and your luggage. Now may I have your D.O.B. to make sure you’re not lethal?
Hey Google! Thanks for saving our butts! Love, Twitter.
“Russian Vodka Consumption Shocks Even Russians.” We believe that is enough said.
Is it to early to measure the stimulus’ effects ?
Sick of BORING in-flight safety videos? Fly Air New Zealand. The airline’s staff wear nothing but body paint during a flight safety video to attract passengers’ attention and hopefully save lives.
From the darkness of covert warfare… to the limelight!
A lot has changed in Russia these past nine years… Well, maybe not.
It’s raining cats and dogs! …And moose.
Thanks to the Huffington Post
NEWS FLASH!!! The Swine Flu has been ERADICATED!!!
That’s right, thanks to “brave” bloggers like USDemocrazy (and maybe with a little help from the World Health Organization [WHO]), the term Swine Flu will not be heard again!
Instead, the WHO will call that strain of flu by its scientific name H1N1 influenza A. (All right, maybe we exaggerated bit in the paragraph above.)
So why the name change? Well, it seems that it’s bad for marketing (and the pigs’ self esteem). Pork producers are finding drops in demand for pork.
The name is also not that accurate. According to the United Nations Food Agency, the flu cannot be transferred by pig meat, and in fact might not even be carried by pigs.
Does this mean our porker pals are off the hook? Not quite.
Recently Egypt’s government decided to kill 350,000 pigs hoping to stave of the Swine Flu H1N1 influenza A. Russia banned the import of American pork.
On a closing note, Swine Flu H1N1 influenza A may not be the end-of-times pandemic people have feared. Scientists believe that H1N1 is a relatively mild flu.
Although people have died from H1N1, remember that the regular flu claims 36,000 lives in America yearly.
So calm down and hug a pig.
