Suspect in Mekong massacre pleads guilty in Chinese court

Suspect in Mekong massacre pleads guilty in Chinese court


Suspect in Mekong massacre pleads guilty in Chinese court

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:59 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Burmese drug runner and five members of his gang have pleaded guilty in a Chinese court to murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River, state media said, in a case that has marked China's growing law enforcement role beyond its borders.


Archaeologists Find A 6,500 Year Old Dental Filling

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 06:49 PM PDT

Scientists may have uncovered the earliest known dental filling - proof that even our ancestors had to go to the dentist.


Deaths in drone attack in Pakistan

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:45 PM PDT

Vehicle carrying three people destroyed in attack in Dattakhel area of North Waziristan tribal district, official says.


Returned Vietnam diary gives son glimpse of father

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:47 PM PDT

In this Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 photo, Vu Dinh Son, left, cries as he is given a diary and other mementos of his father by army officer Nguyen Xuan Nang in northern province of Hai Duong, Vietnam. Son was just two-year-old when his father was killed in fighting the American army in its doomed campaign in Vietnam. On Friday, Son was handed the wartime diary written by his father that had been returned by the United States, giving him a fresh glimpses of a man he never knew. The pocket-sized book was originally brought to Vietnam in June by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was handed a bundle of letters written by an American soldier that had been kept in Vietnam in an exchange that symbolized closer ties between the two nations. (AP Photo/Tran Van Minh)Vu Dinh Son was 18 months old when his father left home to fight American forces in Vietnam, and just 2 when the man was killed in a foxhole encounter with U.S. Marines. But the son now has fresh glimpses into the life of the father he never knew thanks to a wartime diary, returned to him courtesy of the United States.



US missile strike kills 4 militants in NW Pakistan

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:32 PM PDT

Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. drone has fired two missiles at a vehicle in northwest Pakistan, killing four suspected militants.


Like A Passport, The IRS Goes Everywhere

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:24 PM PDT

Photo credit: Wikipedia If you're a U.S. citizen or permanent resident you must annually file a tax return reporting your worldwide income. If you have "foreign"---meaning non-U.S.---accounts over $10,000, you must annually file an FBAR. See FBAR Penalties Just Got Even Worse. Starting in 2011, if your foreign financial assets exceed $50,000 (subject [...]


How Investment Drives Engagement

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:03 PM PDT

This week, Baba Shivand I taught a class at the Stanford Graduate School of Business called, "Using Neuroscience to Influence Human Behavior." The course focused on the science behind how consumers make decisions. During the class, we walked through my Desire Engine framework, a four-step cycle that creates preferences and usage [...]


How the AARP Made $2.8 Billion By Supporting Obamacare's Cuts to Medicare

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 05:13 PM PDT

As you know if you've been reading this blog, Obamacare cuts $716 billion from Medicare in order to pay for its expansion of coverage to low-income Americans. It's one of the reasons why seniors are more opposed to the new health law than any other age group. So why is it that the group that purports to speak for seniors, the American Association of Retired Persons, so strongly supports a law that most seniors oppose? According to an explosive new report from Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), it's because those very same Medicare cuts will give the AARP a windfall of $1 billion in insurance profits, and preserve another $1.8 billion that AARP already generates from its business interests.


'Dark Souls' Easter Egg Spotted In 'Borderlands 2' - Time To Engage In Some Jolly Cooperation

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 05:05 PM PDT

Gearbox included a fantastic 'Dark Souls' Easter Egg in its new shooter, Borderlands 2.


Ivory Coast closes border with Ghana

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:37 PM PDT

Interior minister Hamed Bakayoko says attack "organised, ordered, and executed from Ghanaian territory".


Myanmar president says democracy won't change China friendship

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:45 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Myanmar's transition to democracy will not change the country's traditional friendship with China, Myanmar President Thein Sein was cited as telling Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, amid concerns in China its neighbour could become a U.S. ally. Chinese officials and media have expressed concern Washington's renewed interest in slowly democratizing Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, could be part of U.S. designs to dilute China's influence there and encircle China with pro-U.S. states. ...


Myanmar president says democracy won't change China friendship

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:45 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Myanmar's transition to democracy will not change the country's traditional friendship with China, Myanmar President Thein Sein was cited as telling Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, amid concerns in China its neighbour could become a U.S. ally.


Mexico stays on gun probe despite US report

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:10 PM PDT

Mexican prosecutors say they will continue investigating the botched-gun smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious even after a U.S. Justice Department internal watchdog report concluded that more than a dozen officials should be disciplined.


The Measure of a Woman

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 04:01 PM PDT

Spiranthes spiralis, Frankenhöhe, Germany, together with a measuring stick (metric scale) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) On the same day that Forbes released its list of the richest 400 people in the US, one of my closest friends hit the big six-oh. Sixty is one of those milestone birthdays that left my friend, [...]


Why Are There Still So Many Bad Leaders?

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:42 PM PDT

Tons of research and all our human instincts tell us good leaders are important. Why are there still so many awful ones?


Libyan Islamist militia swept out of Benghazi bases

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 07:52 PM PDT

Army members talk as they check an armed militia base they stormed with pro-government demonstrators in BenghaziBENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A Libyan Islamist militia was swept out of the eastern city of Benghazi in a popular protest against the armed groups that ran into the early hours of Saturday morning, Reuters witnesses said. At least one person was killed and 20 wounded, a hospital source said, as militias tried to fight the demonstrators from a heavily fortified base. Gunfire could be heard in the area before the fighters were forced out. ...



Mitt Romney, Iran And Dirty Bombs -- So Very, Very Wrong

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:36 PM PDT

Mitt Romney is wrong on so many levels. Iran is not a dirty bomb threat in the least. Dirty bombs have nothing to do with nuclear bombs, nothing to do with fissile material like enriched uranium or even plutonium, and nothing to do having a weapons program.


Debased Dollar Getting On Brazil Fin Min's Nerves

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 03:11 PM PDT

Brazil Finance Minister Guido "Currency War" Mantega fires a shot at Wall Street...and Washington.


Libyan Islamist militia swept out of Benghazi bases

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:53 PM PDT

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A Libyan Islamist militia was swept out of the eastern city of Benghazi in a popular protest against the armed groups that ran into the early hours of Saturday morning, Reuters witnesses said.


Portugal government gives up on levy, to mull alternatives

Posted: 21 Sep 2012 07:15 PM PDT

Portugal's PM Coelho speaks as he is flanked by Finance Minister Gaspar and Foreign Affairs Minister Portas during a debate in parliament in LisbonLISBON (Reuters) - In an about-face, Portugal's government has agreed to negotiate alternative solutions to a social security tax hike that sparked the worst backlash to austerity since last year's EU/IMF bailout, an official statement said on Saturday. After an eight-hour meeting of the presidential state council that was besieged by protesters and ended long after midnight on Saturday, the council said the negotiations would now proceed between the government, unions and employers. ...