Jun
03
2013
HONG KONG — They’re like George Carlin’s seven dirty words, except it’s not the FCC who’s banning them, but the Communist Party of China.
In a directive reportedly distributed last month to local party committees, China’s top propaganda officials issued new
restrictions banning discussion of seven topics deemed to be “dangerous Western influences.”
Titled “The Current Situation of the Ideological Front,” the report urges cadres to stop universities and media organizations from talking about a wide range of …
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Jun
03
2013
Apple may be getting all the attention from lawmakers and the news media for its offshore tax practices, but a new report finds that other major companies are using similar tactics to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars in profits.
At least 18 companies, including Nike, Microsoft and Apple, are stashing profits in offshore tax havens likely in a bid to avoid paying taxes, according to a new report from the Citizens for Tax Justice, …
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Jun
03
2013
HOUSTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sent the cases of six Texas death row inmates, including one of the infamous “Texas 7” gang of escapees, back to a lower court for reviews of whether attorneys in earlier stages of appeals let the men down.
The decisions are in line with last week’s ruling in another Texas case where the justices, in a 5-4 vote, said a condemned prisoner had deficient legal help early because …
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Jun
03
2013
Thousands of protesters have controlled Istanbul’s main square once more after two days of violent clashes with rampaging riot police, as Turkey’s prime minister vowed to press on with the controversial redevelopment that provoked the clashes.
Calling the protesters an “extremist fringe”, Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the opposition Republican People’s party for provoking the protests.
“We think that the main opposition party, which is making resistance calls on every street, is provoking these protests,” Erdogan said on …
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Jun
03
2013
Strong gusty winds, heavy smoke and heat continued to challenge more than 2,000 firefighters who worked into a fourth night on Sunday to suppress the fast-moving Powerhouse Fire that has consumed 25,000 acres within the Angeles National Forest and was headed toward a popular poppy reserve.
At least 1,000 people from the Lake Hughes and Elizabeth Lake areas remained evacuated from their homes as the blaze made a destructive march north toward the Antelope Valley Poppy …
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Jun
03
2013
Wendy’s, the world’s third largest burger joint, is having a makeover. From being “Wendy’s Old Fashioned Burgers” we’re now told it’s just “Wendy’s.” The ginger-haired befreckled Wendy remains on the logo, though in their TV spots she’s a hipper twentysomething. Yet behind the new facade lie some very old-fashioned attitudes.
Above all, like every corporation, Wendy’s exists for the sole purpose of bringing value to its shareholders. This is why shareholders at Wendy’s Annual Meeting in …
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Jun
03
2013
The trial of 25-year-old army Pfc. Bradley Manning begins on Monday, “the latest and most high-profile in a series of leak prosecutions brought by the Obama administration.”
As law professor Marjorie Cohn, describing The Uncommon Courage of Bradley Manning, wrote:
When he was 22 years old, Pfc. Bradley Manning gave classified documents to WikiLeaks. They included the “Collateral Murder” video, which depicts U.S. forces in an Apache helicopter killing 12 unarmed civilians, including …
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Jun
03
2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday said police can continue to take DNA from people they arrest without getting a warrant. The court’s five-justice majority said DNA testing was a legitimate police arrest procedure, like fingerprinting.
‘‘Taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment,’’ Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court’s five-justice majority.
But …
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Jun
03
2013
(Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused anti-government protesters on Monday of walking “arm-in-arm with terrorism”, remarks that could further inflame public anger after three days of some of the most violent riots in decades.
Hundreds of police and protesters have been injured since Friday in the riots, which began with a demonstration to halt construction in a park in an Istanbul square and grew into mass protests against what opponents call Erdogan’s authoritarianism.
He …
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