flickering pictures

Surely it had nothing to do with the title of G&R’s new record. And since when do Chinese foreign affairs officials moonlight as music critics?
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports:

In a rare comment on rock’n’roll, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang dismissed the creative output of US rock band Guns N’ Roses as […]

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Why shallots? Why not shallots?
From the Times of India:

India would make Pakistan a barren land in the next six years by blocking its water through construction of dams in violation of the Indus Water Treaty, Pakistan Indus Water Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah said on Monday.
[…] Dismissing India’s claim that it had stopped Pakistan’s water […]

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The remains of German billionaire Friedrich Karl Flick have apparently been stolen for ransom, on the same day that the skeleton of famed astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was identified.
The thieves who made off with Flick’s body in Austria somehow managed to get through the solid granite slabs that surrounded his remains before carting off a solid-zinc […]

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According to a new study, nearly a third of Canadians diagnosed with asthma may not actually have it. The CBC reports:

In Monday’s online issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dr. Shawn Aaron of the Ottawa Health Research Institute and his colleagues looked at 496 adults from eight Canadian cities — Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, […]

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With the world’s oceans expected to rise dramatically this century, the new president of the tiny island republic of Maldives is getting proactive about climate change.
The Guardian reports:

The U.N. forecasts that the seas are likely to rise by up to 59cm [nearly two feet] by 2100, due to global warming. Most parts of the Maldives […]

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Two teenaged girls were brutally killed in the Indian village of Kaluvas during the Hindu festival of Diwali, apparently because they had visited boys to wish them a happy holiday. The girls’ fathers were reportedly part of the mob that killed them.
The Times of India reports:

Rajender Shivran, who claims he couldn’t sleep under the […]

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Not that it’s any of my business, since I’m not American, but on behalf of the rest of the world, congratulations on choosing the best person for the job. We — and 52% of America — could be wrong about him, and we’ll have four years to find out, but in terms at least […]

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It’s been an exciting few days in Iran. First, a government stunt meant to encourage healthy eating habits ended rather badly. The Daily Mail reports:

The meat had been cooked, the sandwich almost assembled and assorted Guinness Book of Records dignitaries were patiently waiting by to give it their official stamp of approval.
But cooks […]

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CNN reports:

Exxon Mobil, the leading U.S. oil company, said its third-quarter net profit was $14.83 billion, [or] $1,865.69 per second, nearly $400 a second more than the prior mark.

No U.S. company has ever earned more profit in a single quarter.
To put things into perspective, $14.83 billion is enough to wipe out the crippling external debts […]

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Because they’re idiots, that’s why.

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