Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Russia Is Collecting Saliva from Muslim Women Because Terrorism

With less than a 100 days till the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia is really ramping up its security -- in decidedly creepy ways. Russian officials are taking saliva samples from orthodox Muslim women in Dagestan in an effort to gather DNA data in case...

Published Thu, Oct 31 2013 10:56 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Russia, Eastern Europe

Mapped: The Sites of the World's 200 Scariest Horror Movies

"The Geography of Horro r ," a Halloween-themed interactive map by the software company Esri, plots the locations of 200 horror movies, from Psycho (which evidently took place along California's interstate 10, somewhere between Blythe and...

Published Thu, Oct 31 2013 9:15 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, Culture

Is the Muslim Brotherhood Using Puppies as Bombs? (Spoiler: No.)

Here's a story fit for Halloween from CBS's New York affiliate (hat tip to journalist Patrick Galey ): According to reporter Amy Dardashtian, Muslim Brotherhood members marching on Tahrir Square were caught "using puppies as gas bombs --...

Published Thu, Oct 31 2013 8:47 AM by FP Passport

Saudi Arabia to Its Illegal Laborers: Get Out by Sunday, or Go to Jail

Saudi Arabia has long relied on foreign workers to fill millions of low-paying construction, clerical and service jobs, in many cases illicitly. But as the government cracks down on illegal workers, tens of thousands of Filipino and Indonesian migrants...

Published Thu, Oct 31 2013 8:16 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Human Rights, Economics, Labor, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Arab World, Yemen

Morning Brief: Syria Meets Deadline to Destroy Chemical Production Facilities

Syria Meets Deadline to Destroy Chemical Production Facilities Top news: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the international watchdog charged with overseeing the destruction of President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons...

Published Thu, Oct 31 2013 8:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Tiananmen Attack Spotlights China's Beleaguered Uighurs

0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false On Oct. 28, a jeep plowed into a group of pedestrians and burst into flames on the avenue next to Tiananmen Square, the massive public square in Beijing that's the symbolic heart of the Chinese capital. According...

Published Wed, Oct 30 2013 1:54 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China

When Saudi Women Get Behind the Wheel, Male Supporters are Jailed

Saudi authorities have found a novel way of punishing women who defy the country's driving ban: jailing the men who support them. Around 50 women got behind the wheel on Oct. 26, in an act of civil disobedience. While some of the women were stopped...

Published Wed, Oct 30 2013 1:00 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Politics, Women, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Arab World

Bugged Bears, Spy Irons, and the Pope: Global Spying Went Nuts Today

The Pope is being targeted by U.S. eavesdroppers. Julian Assange is sending packages with video cameras and GPS trackers. The Russians are using teddy bears to snoop on G-20 officials. Spy chips are popping up in electric irons. Oh, and the NSA, it turns...

Published Wed, Oct 30 2013 11:53 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia, Intelligence, National Security

Why Do Smugglers Keep Hiding Gold in Airplane Toilets?

A Bangladeshi cleaning crew found nearly $2 million in gold bars the other day in an airplane toilet. An unknown culprit, who fled the Dhaka airport, the flydubai plane, and the 65+ pounds in gold before he could be apprehended, tried to smuggle 280 bars...

Published Wed, Oct 30 2013 10:21 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Fun Stuff, South Asia, India

How Apple Helped China Reclaim Taiwan, and More Mapping Messes

Taiwanese officials are up in arms after discovering that Apple maps refers to their country as a province of China -- in simplified Chinese characters, no less. The government filed a complaint with the company Tuesday, demanding that it drop the China...

Published Wed, Oct 30 2013 9:34 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, International Relations

Morning Brief: Officials Knew About NSA Program Targeting Merkel

Officials Knew About NSA Program Targeting Merkel Top News: With officials in Washington scurrying to distance themselves from revelations that the NSA monitored the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a group of senior officials both within the...

Published Wed, Oct 30 2013 6:03 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Another Massive Photoshop Fail in China

Now viral in China: A failed attempt at photo doctoring. On the evening of Oct. 29, Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, lit up with mockery at an image (above) posted online Oct. 12 by the government of Ningguo, a small city in China's central Anhui...

Published Tue, Oct 29 2013 4:51 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Internet

Peru's Air Force Opens a UFO Office, and It's Twitter-Friendly

Mulder and Scully never made it to South America during their decade-long search for extraterrestial life, but if they had, they would have certainly found an ally in Peru. Indeed, the Peruvian Air Force is reviving their own version of the X-files: an...

Published Tue, Oct 29 2013 10:27 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Culture, South America

Morning Brief: U.S. Senate Intel Leader Orders Review of NSA Spying

U.S. Senate Intel Leader Orders Review of NSA Spying Top News: In a marked reversal, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Community and previously a stalwart defender of the NSA's activities, ordered a review of the NSA's...

Published Tue, Oct 29 2013 4:31 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Election Day in the Philippines Means 500 Guns, 191 Knives and 68 Grenades

The Philippines boasts one of Asia's oldest democracies. But as it struggles to rein in political violence and corruption, that distinction is exactly a point of pride. On Monday, more than 40,000 villages in the Philippines voted in municipal elections...

Published Mon, Oct 28 2013 1:37 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Politics, Southeast Asia, Democracy

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Russia Is Collecting Saliva from Muslim Women Because Terrorism

Mapped: The Sites of the World's 200 Scariest Horror Movies

Is the Muslim Brotherhood Using Puppies as Bombs? (Spoiler: No.)

Saudi Arabia to Its Illegal Laborers: Get Out by Sunday, or Go to Jail

Morning Brief: Syria Meets Deadline to Destroy Chemical Production Facilities

Tiananmen Attack Spotlights China's Beleaguered Uighurs

When Saudi Women Get Behind the Wheel, Male Supporters are Jailed

Bugged Bears, Spy Irons, and the Pope: Global Spying Went Nuts Today

Why Do Smugglers Keep Hiding Gold in Airplane Toilets?

How Apple Helped China Reclaim Taiwan, and More Mapping Messes

Morning Brief: Officials Knew About NSA Program Targeting Merkel

Another Massive Photoshop Fail in China

Peru's Air Force Opens a UFO Office, and It's Twitter-Friendly

Morning Brief: U.S. Senate Intel Leader Orders Review of NSA Spying

Election Day in the Philippines Means 500 Guns, 191 Knives and 68 Grenades