Prostitution Laws Struck Down (Canada)
• thestar.com via Rense.comA Toronto judge has struck down Canada’s prostitution laws, saying provisions meant to protect women and residential neighbourhoods are endangering sex workers’ lives.
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World News
North Korean leader's son rises as likely successor
• ReutersNorth Korea's ailing leader Kim Jong-il has named his youngest son as a military general marking the first stage of a dynastic succession. It was the first time the 20-something Kim Jong-un had been mentioned by name in the North's media, and his app
QUEEN OF ENGLAND FORCED TO SURRENDER CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT (PALACE) FINANCES!!!!!!!!!!!
• godlikeproductions.com"The Queen has been forced to give up the ultimate right to manage the Palace's financial affairs in a secret deal signed by Palace aides and the Government, The Independent has learned."
Summit on illegal tobacco trade
• BBC NewsDet Sgt Allan Orr of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency will tell delegates that the illicit tobacco trade was not a victimless crime. He said those behind it were often involved in drug dealing and human trafficking.
Roma, on Move, Test Europe’s ‘Open Borders’
• NY TimesThousands of Romania’s Roma, also known as Gypsies, are heading for the relative wealth of Western Europe, and setting off a clash within the European Union over just how open its “open borders” are.
Obama's Science Adviser: Don't Call it 'Global Warming'
• News Link(CNSNews.com) - John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, says that the term "global warming" is "a dangerous misnomer” that should be replaced with “global climate disruption."
EU calls France’s Gypsy expulsions ‘a disgrace’
• APFrance’s deportations of Gypsies are "a disgrace" and probably break EU law, the European Union’s executive body declared Tuesday in a stinging rebuke that set up a showdown with French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative government.
Who Killed One of Russia’s Top Spies?
• Richard SilversteinMaj. Gen. Yuri Ivanov, deputy head of Russian intelligence service known as GRU, died in Syria recently. Speculation is rampant that he was assassinated. He had been staying in the northwestern Syrian resort of Tartous when he disappeared, with his
Sweden to reopen rape probe of WikiLeaks founder
• News LinkA top Swedish prosecutor said Wednesday she would reopen a rape investigation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, overturning a previous ruling to quash a probe of the Australian.
Cuba eases property laws, could open door to golf
• APCuba has begun allowing foreign investors to lease government land for up to 99 years, a step toward a future that could be filled with golf courses ringed by luxury villas, beachfront timeshares and vacation homes for well-heeled tourists.
Kenya ratifies new constitution
Ernest HancockIn a referendum earlier this month, nearly 70 per cent of Kenyan voters approved the new constitution which addresses corruption, political patronage, land grabbing and tribalism.
Body of suspected British spy found
• APDetectives searching for a missing British spy said Wednesday they had launched a murder investigation after a body matching the man's description was discovered stuffed in a bag in his apartment near the headquarters of the MI6 spy agency.
33 trapped Chile miners found alive after 17 days, but it could take 4 months to get them out
• APChile's president euphorically waved the note, written deep inside a collapsed mine, that his country waited 17 agonizing days to see: "All 33 of us are fine in the shelter," one of the trapped miners wrote in red letters.
Surge in Britons exported for trial
• Daily TelegraphThe number of people in Britain seized under the controversial "no-evidence-needed" European Arrest Warrant rose by more than 50% last year. They can spend long periods in jail for crimes which are not crimes in Britain.
Pakistan: The Untold Disaster
• The Daily BeastTraveling through Pakistan with his television crew, Jonathan Miller uncovers the truth about a slow-moving disaster—and argues why we should care. I was sitting in the front seat of our four-wheel drive when, last week, two women wearing burqas appr
Pakistan flood crisis raises fears of country's collapse
• Saeed Shah and Jonathan S. Landay via McClatchyThe humanitarian and economic disaster caused by the worst floods in Pakistan's history could spark political unrest that could destabilize the government, dealing a major blow to the Obama administration's efforts to fight violent Islamic extremism.
India eyes Google and Skype in security crackdown
• APIndia may ask Google and Skype for greater access to encrypted information once it resolves security concerns with BlackBerrys, which are now under threat of a ban, according to a government document and two people familiar with the discussions.
Turkey Accused of Using Chemical Weapons against PKK
• der SpiegelGermans confirmed the authenticity of photographs that show PKK fighters killed by chemical weapons. The evidence puts increasing pressure on the Turkish government, long been suspected of using such weapons against Kurdish rebels.
Senior Khmer Rouge cadre jailed for mass murder, torture
• ReutersThe first Khmer Rouge commander to face a U.N.-backed tribunal was sentenced to 35 years in prison for overseeing 14,000 deaths in the 1970s, but he'll serve about half that, angering many Cambodians. A 67-year-old former prison chief known as Duch,
UK Gov't. starts to steal UK bank accounts
• News LinkU.K. Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to use “hundreds of millions of pounds” from dormant bank accounts to fund community projects, while Business Secretary Vince Cable said lenders “ripped off” customers.
Lockheed wins $9 billion deal to supply fighter jets to Canada
• Dana Hedgpeth via The Washington PostBethesda defense giant Lockheed Martin said Friday that it secured a roughly $9 billion deal to sell the Canadian government 65 of its new fighter jets, a move that industry analysts called a positive sign for one of the company's biggest and most cl
South Korea develops cruise missile
• heraldsun.com.auSOUTH Korea has developed a long-range cruise missile capable of striking nuclear sites and military targets in North Korea, news reports say.
82 police injured in Belfast's 2 nights of riots
• APNorthern Ireland's political and security leaders condemned Irish nationalist militants Tuesday who injured 82 police officers during two nights of rioting sparked by the province's annual parades by the British Protestant majority.
Belgium's plan to wash its dead down the drain
• Daily MailIt could hardly be said to be the most dignified of send-offs. Undertakers in Belgium plan to eschew traditional burials and cremations and start dissolving corpses instead. The move is intended to tackle a lack of burial space and environmenta
Russia-US spy swap appears to be in motion
• Yahoo NewsThe largest Russia-U.S. spy swap since the Cold War appeared to be in motion Thursday, with a Russian convicted of spying for the United States reportedly plucked from a Moscow prison and flown to Vienna.
Russia seeks spy swap for agents in U.S.
• ReutersIn an espionage drama worthy of the Cold War, Russia wants a spy swap to return home its suspected agents arrested in the United States last month, a lawyer involved in the affair said. The swap plans include exchanging a Russian nuclear expert jaile
Remains of chess champion Bobby Fischer exhumed
• News LinkThe remains of US-born chess champion Bobby Fischer have been exhumed in Iceland to establish a paternity claim.
Russian Mayor Irks Security Agency, and Suffers
• NY TimesShe filed a lawsuit against the resort [which turned out to be owned by the KGB], and asked the regional prosecutor to open a criminal inquiry. A criminal inquiry was indeed opened — against Ms. Kazakova.
France to look at possible U.S. sub link to sinking
• ReutersSuspicions a US submarine accidentally sunk a French fishing boat, killing 5 sailors, will be investigated by magistrates, a French appeal court ruled. The Bugaled Breizh sank mysteriously in the English Channel in January, 2004, a day before NATO fo
Peaceful Protesters Attacked, Arrested While Cop-Car Arsonists Left Alone
• Prison PlanetAn eyebrow-raising photograph of one of the anarchists who set fire to a Toronto police car during anti-G20 protests this past weekend shows him wearing Nike clothing, a potential indication that provocateurs dressed up as black-bloc “anarchists” wer
