By Sharon Otterman, New York Times, February 21, 2011
CAIRO — The military and civilian leadership controlling Egypt in the wake of a popular revolution took several high-profile steps on Monday to reassure Egyptians that it shared their fervor for change and to signal to foreign leaders that the move to full civilian rule would be rapid....
By Sardar Ahmad, Agence France Presse, February 21, 2011
KABUL — A recent wave of deadly Afghan suicide attacks with mass civilian casualties shows that insurgents waging a war now in its tenth year are resorting to bombing "soft" targets, officials and experts say.
In the last three weeks more than 100 people, most of them innocent bystanders, have died in six suicide attacks.....
By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times, February 18, 2011
CAIRO —...Sheik Qaradawi, a popular television cleric whose program reaches an audience of tens of millions worldwide, addressed a rapt audience of more than a million Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square to celebrate the uprising and honor those who died.
“Don’t fight history,” he urged his listeners in Egypt and across the Arab world, where his remarks were televised. “You can’t delay the day when it starts. The Arab world has changed.”....
Ministry of Gossip @latimes.com, February 18, 2011 | 6:10 pm
...Just a year after gushing to Architectural Digest about the major renovations she made to the property, Aniston has decided to offload it for an asking price of $42 million. She purchased the pad in 2006 for $13.5 million.
"My life needs to be simplified and clear out the clutter," she said in a recent interview....
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted on Friday to choke off cash to fund President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, intensifying a fight with Democrats over budget cuts and deficits.
The House move against the 2010 healthcare law -- one of Obama's main legislative victories -- is certain to be rejected by the Democratic-led Senate, but it has raised tensions over federal spending that could lead to a government shutdown....
By "Anonymous," Al Jazeera Opinion, February 16, 2011
A loosely organised group of hackers has been targeting oppressive regimes and has said this is just the beginning.
Al Jazeera's editorial note: The author identifies as part of Anonymous, a loose collective of internet hacktivists which uses the technological infrastructure on which the globalised world depends to maintain a vigilante presence online.
By James Glanz and John Markoff, New York Times, February 15, 2011
An eye-opening report on the
....dark achievement that many had thought impossible in the age of global connectedness....
Because the Internet’s legendary robustness and ability to route around blockages are part of its basic design, even the world’s most renowned network and telecommunications engineers have been perplexed that the Mubarak government succeeded in pulling the maneuver off.
