The beauty of the Internet is getting to say exactly what you want in a public forum, right?(Well that and stalking ex-boyfriends and shopping at work, but I digress.) The ability to speak one's mind in bytes and blips has
landed one blogger with a jail sentence for extremism. A Russian man who called the local police “scum” and calling for the clean-up of the force he blogged that the police should be burned in the town square twice a day. For this posting, was convicted of “inciting hatred or enmity” and given a one-year suspended sentence.
Money could very well be the root of all evil — though in the latest study of corrupt countries, it's actually the lack of money that sparks trouble. The new report by Transparency International
found that in two-fifths of the world's nations, corruption continues to intensify — a trend that can be traced to economic realities. In the countries found to be the most corrupt, 40 percent are classified by the World Bank as low income.
Transparency International's rankings range on a scale from 10 (on the up-and-up) to 1 (rampant corruption).
Could this be the good news from Iraq that we've been waiting for. After five years of struggle, Iraq may be holding the line on two major fronts: al-Qaeda and its finances. The positive news is buoyed this morning by the report that Iraq
may agree to a timetable for US withdrawal.
In the
latest bout of violence Sri Lanka has seen since the
ceasefire broke in January, 27 Tamil Tiger rebels and two government soldiers have been killed on the frontlines of their brutal civil war. This bloodshed coincides with an attack on a journalist and a British High Commission official from unknown assailants. The country's situation isn't often the lead story on Countdown but the mounting death toll makes it impossible to ignore.
Part of the reason for the media's silence is that it's a country that's not only dangerous for its citizens, but the media trying to report on the situation.
The building schedule for skyscrapers and a memorial planned for New York City's Ground Zero have been tossed out by the World Trade Center owners, due to unrealistic goals and rising costs.
Planners
will announce a new timetable this September, seven years after the Twin Towers fell, according to BBC. Officials previously promised that the Freedom Tower, set to replace the destroyed towers while taking the title of the nation's tallest building, would be complete in 2006, then 2011, and finally in 2013.
Planners promise that the next date will be realistic, rather than emotional.
