April 2013 - Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Morning Brief: Tensions with North cause jitters in South Korean markets

Tensions with North cause jitters in South Korean markets Top news: Senior officials say North Korea has moved two mobile missile launchers to an unknown location in the east of the country, possibly to demonstrate its ability to strike Japan or U.S....

Published Fri, Apr 05 2013 5:34 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Obama may be taking a pay cut, but he's no president of Uruguay

A day after President Obama announced that he will give back five percent of his salary this year in solidarity with federal workers facing furloughs, skimming $20,000 from his $400,000 annual wage, other U.S. political figures are following suit. On...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 5:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Politics, Economics

Petitioners object to Pakistani candidate's lack of beard

In one of the odder reasons we've come across for stonewalling a politician's bid for office, two men have formally objected to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Shahbaz Sharif's candidacy in Pakistan's May 11 elections, citing the absence...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 3:45 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Pakistan, Culture, Politics, Fun Stuff, South Asia

Roger Ebert's favorite foreign films

I don't have much to say about the death of Robert Ebert, a great film critic and incredibly prolific writer. I'm sure the encomiums are flying fast and furious. But one thing I do find notable about Ebert, and little-appreciated, is his popularization...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 2:50 PM by FP Passport

Former Bush officials rally behind CIA officer involved in torture tape scandal

Nothing brings former colleagues together like enhanced interrogation. This week, former Bush administration officials John Yoo and Marc Thiessen rallied to the defense of a newly promoted CIA officer under pressure for her reported support of enhanced...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 1:00 PM by FP Passport

Is this the first unfiltered threat out of North Korea?

Determining what's a credible threat out of North Korea is something of a fool's errand. Official ultimatums by Pyongyang routinely evaporate into nothing. But what happens when U.S. spies uncover threats never intended for mass consumption? CNN's...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 11:30 AM by FP Passport

Is China secretly hoarding the world's fish?

It looks like rare earth elements aren't the only commodity China has been allegedly keeping to itself. According to a recent study published in the journal Fish and Fisheries , the Chinese have been drastically underreporting the number of fish that...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 10:40 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, East Asia, China, Food/Agriculture

How many American think tanks are run by women?

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE With the news this week that the very smart Anne-Marie Slaughter, of "Having It All," State Department, and Twitter Fight Club fame, has been tapped to succeed Steve Coll as head the New America...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 10:00 AM by FP Passport

Saudi Arabia reportedly sentences man to paralysis in 'eye-for-an-eye' judgment

It occurred to me that I perhaps pick on Saudi Arabia unfairly on this blog, having previously harped on its nasty habit of beheading and crucifying convicts (now apparently imperiled by a dearth of qualified swordsmen ) as well as its record of flogging...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 9:45 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Human Rights, Middle East, Saudi Arabia

Kim Jong Un is owning the media right now

Kim Jong Un may be a dangerous, totalitarian man-child, but he knows how to work the press. For the last 30 days, the 30-year-old leader has manipulated global news wires in a way even his late father would envy. In the month of April, web interest in...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 8:50 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: U.S. to deploy missile-defense system to Guam

U.S. to deploy missile-defense system to Guam Top news: The United States will deploy a land-based missile defense system, The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), to Guam in response to recent threats by North Korea, which U.S. Defense...

Published Thu, Apr 04 2013 5:48 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Singapore’s prime minister is funny

On Tuesday, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long visited the United States and met with President Obama. That night, in a speech to U.S. businessmen, Lee told a few jokes about China. AP reports : He drew laughs - and some groans - with his quips...

Published Wed, Apr 03 2013 5:50 PM by FP Passport

Rick Sanchez wages flame war against Muslim Brotherhood Twitter feed

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo's Twitter feed disappeared for about an hour today following an online sparring match with a feed operated by the office of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy over Jon Stewart's impassioned defense of Egyptian satirist...

Published Wed, Apr 03 2013 5:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, Diplomacy, Freedom, Politics, Middle East, Media, Internet, Egypt

Saudi women might not be allowed to ride bikes after all

When it comes to women's rights in Saudi Arabia, things always seem to move one incremental step (or, in this case, cycle) forward, two steps back. On Monday, AP reported that al-Yawm , a Saudi daily, had cited an unnamed Saudi religious police official...

Published Wed, Apr 03 2013 3:20 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Women, Saudi Arabia, Arab World

Pakistani youth may be the most pessimistic demographic in the world

Ahead of Pakistan's May 11 general election -- the first time in the country's history that an elected government is expected to (peacefully) hand over power to another elected government -- the British Council has conducted a survey of Pakistani...

Published Wed, Apr 03 2013 2:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Politics, Elections, South Asia, Democracy