Jan 09, 2009 -
The leader of a polygamous community in Canada says authorities are engaging in religious persecution by charging him with practicing polygamy.
Winston Blackmore claims there are tens of thousands of polygamists across Canada, but that his religious sect is being targeted and authorities are disregarding his right to religious freedom. He told the media: "This is not about polygamy, to us this is about religious persecution.
- 103 Comments
Jan 09, 2009 -
The number of visitors to China dropped by two million last year to 130 million, despite the enormous fanfare and draw of the 2008 Olympics. It was the first decline in visitor numbers since 2003, when an outbreak of SARS knocked the country off desired vacay location lists.
The slump has been attributed to the weak economy, which hasn't been kind to the tourism industry as a whole, stricter visa restrictions before the Beijing Olympics, as well as a May earthquake in the southwest of the country.
- 3 Comments
Jan 08, 2009 -
The Consumers Union wants Congress to delay the nation's transition to digital television because it believes the program to help American's transition has been underfunded and poorly implemented. It was announced earlier this week that the $1.3 billion dollar program to offset the cost of buying converter boxes is all tapped out.
All full-power television stations in the US are required to stop using the old method of transmitting TV signals, known as analog, and start broadcasting exclusively in a digital format on Feb.
- 18 Comments
Jan 07, 2009 -
President-elect Barack Obama, President Bush, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton (that's all of the surviving past presidents) met up for lunch at the White House today in a historic gathering. Collectively the bunch has more than 30 years of presidential experience.
- 60 Comments
Jan 07, 2009 -
India's government-run Air India airline has dumped 10 female fight attendants who were grounded last year for being overweight. A report says the firings occurred after the cabin crew was warned about meeting minimum physical fitness standards (as in, not being thin enough, apparently) and given "sufficient time to lose weight." The report also says the flight attendants were offered alternative ground assignments, which they understandably refused.
- 22 Comments
Dec 29, 2008 -
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was voted Russia's third most popular historical figure in a nationwide poll that ended this weekend. Stalin's notable superlative comes despite the famine and purges (which included sending people to labor camps and millions of deaths) that marked his dictatorship.
The "Name of Russia" contest was run by the Rossiya state television channel for about six months and closed Sunday night with a final vote from the Internet or cell phones.
- 12 Comments
Dec 11, 2008 -
The last time New Orleans saw snow was a white Christmas day in 2004, and the Southern city has only been painted white 17 times since 1850. But this morning residents woke up to as much as six inches of snowflakes.
Today marks the earliest date for snowfall in the city, and the rare weather found some unprepared.
- 31 Comments
Dec 10, 2008 -
Just like all presidents before him, the President-elect plans to be sworn in using his full name: Barack Hussein Obama. Although Obama said that by using his full name, he's just doing what every other president did, he also told the Chicago Tribune, that he has a unique opportunity to renovate relations with the Muslim world. He hopes to "create a relationship of mutual respect and partnership in countries and with peoples of goodwill who want their citizens and ours to prosper together."
- 122 Comments
Dec 10, 2008 -
A South Carolina Ford dealer wants Americans to put the brakes on buying foreign cars, and he's using the radio to accelerate the spread of this message. In a controversial ad the local dealer chastises Toyota customers saying:
All you people that buy all your Toyotas and send that money to Japan, you know, when you don't have a job to make your Toyota car payment, don't come crying to me. All those cars are rice ready.
- 76 Comments