Myanmar's new Parliament nominated on Thursday three pro-military candidates for the presidency, signalling only nominal changes ahead and no real shift away from an army-dominated status quo. The nomination of three members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the military junta's political arm, represents only a cosmetic change with paramount leader, Senior General Than Shwe, expected to continue wielding behind-the-scenes power. Analysts say Prime Minister Thein Sein is likely to win Friday's vote and become the submissive front man in a new phase of military-managed civilian rule in the resource-rich country…
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Visualising the US national debt: David McCandless updates Tetris for the recession.
Continue reading …Over the past month, the moon has made a complete orbit around the Earth, but Bill O’Reilly is no closer to believing the science behind it. In fact, O’Reilly is expanding on his earlier claims that the tides are completely unexplainable —apparently not the result of gravitational effect of the…
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Anti-government protesters in Egypt weathered a night of clashes and thousands remain camped out in Cairo’s main square Thursday. The military took up positions in the streets between supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak. (Feb. 3)
Continue reading …When Ken Feinberg doled out compensation to victims of the BP oil spill, he argued they should trust his decisions because he’s an independent party—but considering he’s getting paid by BP, that’s not entirely true, a judge ruled yesterday. Feinberg, who administrates the $20 billion compensation fund, must now…
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Congressman Mark Foley resigned after it was revealed that he sent sexually suggestive messages to underage male pages at the US House of Representatives. But as AP’s Suzette Laboy reports, Foley is trying to make a public comeback. (Feb. 3)
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Photo: grough Last week the new UK government announced its plan to sell off English forests . The forests are state-owned and run by a government agency. It is proposing to sell them to charities and private companies. Now a new government report says that it will cost more to sell off the forests than to keep them. Thousands have signed petitions and joined protests. This has turned into a huge embarrassment for the government, as it alienates … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Road crews and driveway shovelers have their hands full as the cleanup begins from a massive snowstorm that dumped snow and ice across the Midwest and Northeast. (Feb. 3)
Continue reading …Bogus tax returns by federal and state prisoners have soared over the past 5 years, reaching $295 million in scam refund claims in 2009. But under pressure from the Senate, the FBI and Bureau of prisons finally got their act together and signed a memo of understanding to crack down…
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