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World News Once a Week |
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| Published Thursday, September 4, 2008 |
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| Reuters/Rupak de Chowdhuri: Flood-displaced people eat at a relief camp in India. |
Issue 115
This week, the wires were so full of breaking stories that news junkies could practically mainline Reuters feeds straight
to the jugular. The hits just kept on coming: Historic Obama speech! Shocking VP pick! India underwater! Voiceover guy dies! Not to mention the ongoing Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, which began life as a disorganized mess
before it developed into a force to be reckoned with. That's in contrast to Hurricane Gustav, which weakened before hitting Louisiana; great news for the residents of New Orleans, but perhaps a bittersweet pill to swallow for the GOP, which scrambled to bow before the storm's power, then watched it fizzle.
Republicans soon had a more potent storm to deal with — one that descended from far colder waters. Yes, Sarah Palin's daughter
is preggers, but that was hardly the only PR setback of the week for McCainiacs. Trying to put aside the bizarre background noise, the Alaska governor stirred the party's base
with a rip-roaring address that overshadowed earlier speeches from Rudy Giuliani, Joe "Benedict Arnold" Lieberman, and President Bush (who emphasized his 923-mile distance from McCain). With the convention winding down, take
time to catch your breath — there's much more where this week came from.
- Benjamin Hart |
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 A Note on Our Sources |
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| Top Stories |
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US hands over Anbar to Iraqi forces
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The US military granted the Iraqi government control over Anbar province on Monday, marking a turning point in the movement to withdraw foreign troops from Iraq. Anbar — a former al-Qaeda
stronghold and training ground — saw more American casualties than any other province over the past five years. However, the
growing strength of local police forces and anti-insurgent Sunni Awakening-movement patrols has established a climate of relative calm.
Still, certain issues threaten regional stability. Many leaders of the Awakening movement skipped the handover ceremony in
Ramadi, claiming under-representation in the Shi'a-dominated central government. Iraq's democratic election laws also remain
in flux as debates continue over the autonomy of oil-rich Kirkuk province.
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GOP contenders Palin comparison
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It was a whirlwind week for the GOP. When John McCain reached beyond left field and into the bleachers to tap Alaska governor
and dyed-in-the-wool conservative Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential pick, he delighted many right-wing Republicans who have been hesitant to embrace him. However, a number of issues soon surfaced that raised
questions over the campaign's vetting process.
Aside from criticism of Palin's relative inexperience, she is accused of firing her brother-in-law for personal reasons, and is defending herself against allegations that she once favored Alaska's secession. Then there was
the revelation that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, which drew unwavering attention from pundits and gossips alike.
Despite all the distractions, Republicans insist they'll stick with their "game changer."
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Thai government under siege
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Thailand's political unrest turned deadly on Monday when a mob attacked anti-government protestors occupying the country's administrative headquarters. At least one person was killed in the violent confrontation. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej subsequently declared a state of emergency and ordered army units to blockade city streets, although the military has been reluctant to comply. The protesters accuse
Samak's party of corruption and vote-buying, charges echoed by the country's independent Election Commission.
The crisis pits supporters of the country's recently elected People's Power Party against a loose opposition coalition that
banded together to depose now-exiled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a 2006 coup. The opposition claims that Thailand's one-person, one-vote democracy gives too much weight to the country's rural majority.
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| Newswire |
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Japan's prime minister steps down
Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda resigned on Monday, in the face of a dreary national economy. Despite offering a ¥11.7 trillion stimulus package, the Liberal Democratic Party leader failed to court public support for his last-ditch fiscal policies.
| Daily Yomiuri | Times, UK |
Overseas adoption agreement collapses
The US and Vietnam have indefinitely suspended their child-adoption program following a US report on fraud, corruption, and
black-market baby dealing in the Vietnamese market. The move leaves more than a thousand prospective American parents looking elsewhere to adopt.
| International Herald Tribune | Washington Post |
Canadian premiership up for grabs
Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper is preparing to call for early elections this weekend, as partisan bickering grinds Ottawa to a halt. Harper hopes to turn
widespread fears of a recession into a majority victory for his rebounding Conservative Party.
| Globe and Mail | Toronto Star |
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| Science & Technology |
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Scientists launch expedition to save frogs
A team of British herpetologists — experts on amphibians — is on a quest to locate and study some of the world's rarest frogs.
The researchers hope to learn more about a deadly fungus that has decimated global frog populations.
| BBC | Wildlife Extra |
Web 2.1 to be pay-as-you-go?
Comcast announced plans to curb web surfers' bandwidth usage, following the lead of various regional Internet providers. While the
250-gigabyte cap will not affect the average user, some fear that the move sets a troubling precedent by increasing restrictions
on consumers.
| ABC News | CNET |
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| Blogosphere |
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Pimp my Internet?
With Google surprise-launching its Chrome browser — in a long-shot bid to unseat Microsoft's Internet Explorer — web denizens speculated on the new application's transformative
powers, who has the most to fear from it, and how the market is reacting to Google's latest innovation.
| The Inquisitr | Seeking Alpha |
Hollywood voiceover king dies at 68
In a world where summer blockbusters are only worth it for the previews, one voice resonated alone at the threshold of human hearing. Those bass chords belonged to Don LaFontaine, who left an indelible echo in the eardrums of moviegoers everywhere.
| Underwire (WIRED) | AdFreak (Adweek) |
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| The Week in Pictures |
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Click to see the full-size image and caption.
 Michael Dalder
 David Moir
 Jitendra Praka
 Thaier al-Sudani
 Yevgeny Volokin
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*Unless otherwise noted, all photos are courtesy of Reuters.
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| Local Stories |
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'River of Sorrow' floods India
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| Reuters/Rupak de Chowdhuri |
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Monsoon rains triggered a devastating flood of the Kosi river in India's northern Bihar region, forcing millions of people to evacuate. Emergency-aid officials fear that the unsanitary
conditions in refugee camps may trigger an epidemic of waterborne disease.
| Washington Post | Guardian |
Russian activist killed by police
Police "accidentally" shot and killed a Russian activist and website owner, Magomed Yevloyev, in Russia's semi-autonomous Ingushetia region. Yevloyev was a well-known antagonist of the republic's
Moscow-backed government; the incident recalled the assassination of prominent Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya in 2006.
| Washington Post | Moscow Times |
Caveat emptor: Sicilian houses for €1
The new mayor of Salemi, Sicily, is selling houses in his city's ancient center for a single euro. However, under the unconventional proposal,
buyers must restore the dilapidated, centuries-old structures, which were largely abandoned after an earthquake in 1968.
| Times, UK | Guardian |
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| Masthead |
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Managing Editor
Benjamin Hart
Deputy Editor
Eli Dvorkin
Contributing Editors
Jennifer Chen
Nick Earhart
Doug Levy
Andrew Phillips
Production
Adda Birnir
Tom Starkweather
Andrew Steinmetz
Publishers
Mark Mangan
Sascha Lewis
Design
Groundwave Design Corp.
Production Design
Jonathan Rahmani
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