December 2011
New Zealand Seen As Most Transparent Country In... →
New Zealand is now in sole possession of first place of the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.
The country scored a 9.5 out of 10 in the 2011 edition of the Berlin-based anti-corruption group’s annual survey-of-surveys. This year’s list used data culled from 17 surveys that look at factors such as enforcement of anti-graft laws, freedom of information and conflict of...
November 2011
1 tag
Mark Pieth: FIFA Needs New Anti-Corruption... →
International soccer’s governing body needs to implement anti-corruption controls for it to operate effectively in the future, said the new head of a governance committee.
Mark Pieth, a professor of criminology at the University of Basel who leads the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s bribery working group, was appointed by Fédération Internationale de Football...
EU Split On Iran Oil Embargo - Corruption Currents... →
The European Union is split on whether to go ahead with an import embargo on Iranian oil, diplomats said to the Wall Street Journal.
An intense debate among diplomats precedes a Thursday meeting of EU foreign ministers, who would have to sign off on the measures for them to go into effect. The EU is already planning to expand its Iranian companies and individuals sanctions list by 200, and to...
India corruption protesters dump snakes in busy... →
“I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world.”
– ‘Mayor’ Michael Bloomberg — ‘I Have My Own Army’ (via cultureofresistance)
The end of Altered Zones →
rawkblog:
I’m not sure why this feels really funny to me. Alt-Zones: Killed by dubstep?
New York Lawmaker Faces New Bribery Charges -... →
If you thought New York state politics couldn’t get any weirder, it just did.
Assemb. William Boyland Jr., less than three weeks after being acquitted of corruption charges in an influence-peddling case, was charged in a separate federal case with accepting bribes and soliciting kickbacks that showed possible influence-peddling over New York City government.
Prosecutors said Tuesday in an...
UN Sanctions Congolese Commander Named In Rape... →
A United Nations committee designated the commander of a Congolese armed group who was named in a U.N. report documenting mass rape in late July 2010.
Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, leader of the political wing of the Mai Mai armed militia group, who according to an Al Jazeera report has held campaign events as he runs for office, was implicated by the U.N. in a July 2011 report (pdf) that concluded...
I have a ticket to sell for Latterman's Thursday... →
UPDATE: Ticket has been sold. Good day to you all.
Khodorkovsky: A Movie Review And Interview With... →
My first-ever professional movie review.
Memo to business leaders in Russia: Don’t cross Vladimir Putin.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos and the subject of the new documentary “Khodorkovsky,” did just that. Khodorkovsky, once the richest man in Russia, will sit in a jail cell until 2016 due to two separate convictions his backers say are trumped-up charges stemming from a...
Judge Tentatively Tosses Lindsey Case, First... →
A judge tentatively tossed the high-profile bribery conviction of a California maker of emergency electricity towers, Lindsey Manufacturing, along with two executives of the company.
U.S. District Judge Howard Matz in Los Angeles issued a tentative ruling at a three-hour hearing Tuesday that overturned the first conviction at trial of a company for foreign bribery.
“It was a long time...
More than two-thirds of NYC students arrested at... →
capitalnewyork:
(via @WSJNY)
BREAKING VIA AP: Hard-line Iranian students storm... →
“Though the recession and continuing economic downturn has been devastating to...”
– As Public Sector Sheds Jobs, Black Americans Are Hit Hard - NYTimes.com
“What Kagan did that most impressed her early critics last year had nothing to do...”
– Her Honor
The Associated Press: A battle is raging for the... →
On billboards, on buses and in the halls of parliament, a battle is raging over the nature of Israel, raising ever more urgent questions over its future as a democracy.
Radicalized religious activists and conservative lawmakers see themselves as bulwarks against assaults on faith and country by rivals within multifaceted Israel and by the outside world.
Although the nationalist right...
“The Jets don’t win the game without Sanchez making those throws and...”
– The Mark Sanchez Meter: Week 12 | NBC New York
Document Says EU Recommends Iran Oil Import Ban -... →
European Union foreign ministers will recommend additional sanctions on Iran Thursday, including a possible oil import ban, according to a draft document seen by several diplomats who spoke to Dow Jones Newswires (sub req).
The draft is still the subject of negotiations and at least one country has objected, the diplomats cautioned, according to Laurence Norman’s report for Newswires.
The...
Propaganda 101?
thedeadline:
Earlier today a news agency with ties to the Iranian government, Fars, reported a “huge explosion” in Isfahan, near a suspected nuke site. The BBC, Haaretz and others picked up on the report. Immediately, there was speculation: was Israel somehow involved?
A little while later, Fars posted a small photo on its Web site. Allegedly it’s a photo of the scene of the explosion. There’s...
USA TODAY: Rep. Barney Frank (D - Mass.) won't... →
Arab League Approves Sanctions On Syria -... →
The Arab League approved sanctions on Sunday against Syria to penalize President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for a deadly crackdown on protesters.
Nineteen of the League’s 21 states approved the unprecedented sanctions. They are expected to bejoined by Turkey, an ally of Syria’s that has in recent weeks distanced itself from Damascus. Iraq, the country’s largest trading partner, abstained, and...
“Late in his first term, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg suffered a stinging defeat...”
– On Far West Side, Bloomberg’s Failed Olympic Plan Spurs Development - NYTimes.com
“At the northern end of the intersection is Riverside Drive; to the south is...”
– Debate Over Riverside Boulevard Meeting Drive on the Upper West Side - NYTimes.com
Ex-Wife Of Rabbi Caught With Hookers On Shabbat... →
journalofajournalist:
BEST. STORY. HEADLINE. EVER.
“By donating his art to his private foundation, Mr. Lauder has qualified for...”
– Estée Lauder Heir’s Tax Strategies Typify Advantages for Wealthy - NYTimes.com
“The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a...”
– Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13 billion (via pantslessprogressive)
Have you any questions on a Sunday evening? →
Latterman is in one week!!!!
exspectator:
humanupskirt:
sirsvenjensen:
SO STOKED!!!!
ME TOO. shit, i cant believe ill be in new york at a latterman show in a week.
You’re going to Sunday? I’ll be there, too!
I will also be there!
When it comes to environmental rules, business... →
The Associated Press compared the companies’ congressional testimony to company reports submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reports to the SEC consistently said the impact of environmental proposals is unknown or would not cause serious financial harm to a firm’s finances.
Companies can legitimately argue that their less gloomy SEC filings are correct, since most of the...
“Mr. Bannister flagged down a taxi, placed the stranger’s luggage in the trunk...”
– Unsolicited Taxi Hailing Can Lead to Summons, Per Obscure Rule - NYTimes.com
“More than a decade after England finally tamed the roving bands of hooligans...”
– In Argentina, Violence Is Part of the Soccer Culture - NYTimes.com
“So after cleaning the yard around his house — a big job, a gift to his wife — in...”
– Man Uses His Schizophrenia to Gather Clues for Daily Living - NYTimes.com
4 tags
“On nearly every count, the deal favors the owners, who had sought an overhaul...”
– N.B.A. and Players Reach Deal to End Lockout - NYTimes.com
Did the Novel "Native Speaker" Foreshadow The Liu... →
Journalistic Shorthand
moorehn:
One of the biggest disappointments in the development of professional newsrooms over the past 30 years - that is, as journalists morphed from drunken outsiders to clean-cut Woodward and Bernstein Ivy-League careerists - is how increasingly standard “news” writing consists of bloodless prose, inexact descriptions designed not to offend, impenetrable jargon, and politically correct...
You've got questions, I have answers. →
1 tag
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-20) →
mclusky (53)
Fucked Up (39)
Future of the Left (35)
Singapore Sling (14)
Priestess (11)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
NYPD Orders Officers Not to Interfere With Press |... →
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly has issued an internal message ordering officers not to unreasonably interfere with media access during news coverage and warning those who do will be subject to disciplinary action.
The message being read at police precincts citywide Wednesday came after journalists, including two from The Associated Press, were arrested covering Occupy Wall Street ...
Nigeria Fires Anti-Corruption Chief - Corruption... →
Nigeria fired the head of its chief anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
No reason was given for the unexpected decision made Wednesday, according to reports from the AP and the BBC.
Ibrahim Lamorde, who served as the commission’s director of operations, will be the acting replacement with “immediate effect,” according to a statement on the Nigerian...
“U.S. authorities raided the compound of a breakaway Amish religious group...”
– AP The man’s name is Mullet, and he cuts hair. Almost literally unbelievable. Learn more about why haircutting is so devastating to the Amish community here. — Sarah (via npr)