Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner on the United Arab Emirates troops serving in Afghanistan, where they deliver humanitarian aid and occasionally get into it with the Taliban. From the BBC: … It is going to come as a surprise to most people that for the last five years, an Arab Muslim army has been operating [...]
Fri, March 28 2008 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
More in this post from Steve Herman, editor of the BBC news website, at The Editors blog. But in the meantime, the new BBC home page is live. The Beeb offers a tour; you can customize this new home page. From the posting: I'll go into more detail about the changes once you’re able to [...]
Fri, March 28 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From AP via CTV.ca: New data confirming slowing growth in Google Inc.'s paid clicks renewed debate Thursday on Wall Street over whether the Internet search company's revenue can quickly adjust to changes it made in how it generates clicks. Citing data that comScore Inc. released after the market closed on Wednesday, analysts said growth in [...]
Fri, March 28 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From the Guardian: BBC Radio 4 newsreader Charlotte Green's famously steadfast composure on the Today programme deserted her this morning as she dissolved in a fit of giggles live on air while reading an obituary – sending the press office into meltdown. Green's perfect enunciation is so constant it is an article of faith among [...]
Fri, March 28 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
Globe and Mail columnist Ivor Tossell on the bottomless appetite for lists online — and how Cracked has turned them into an art form. From the Globe and Mail: … no medium has thrown itself bodily at the art of iffy lists like the Internet. If lists have proven themselves the ideal format for puffy [...]
Fri, March 28 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
You can see Fitna the Movie here (the title means “Ordeal” or “Strife,” in Arabic). Here's the BBC story. Here's one from the Washington Post. Frankly, it's one nasty little propaganda film. And unfortunately, one could make the same type of film about Christianity (see the book The End of Faith to see what I mean; [...]
Fri, March 28 2008 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From AP via CTV.ca: Former “Nightline” reporter Dave Marash has quit Al-Jazeera English, saying Thursday his exit was due in part to an anti-American bias at a network that is little seen in (the U.S.). Marash said he felt that attitude more from British administrators than Arabs at the Qatar-based network. Marash was the highest-profile [...]
Fri, March 28 2008 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From the March 27 Washington Post: The United States has escalated its unilateral strikes against al-Qaeda members and fighters operating in Pakistan's tribal areas, partly because of anxieties that Pakistan's new leaders will insist on scaling back military operations in that country, according to U.S. officials. Washington is worried that pro-Western President Pervez Musharraf, who [...]