At the urging of Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Law Library of Congress has surveyed 40 jurisdictions and the European Union to see which ones have set down rules for Bitcoin.
The conclusion: not many countries have locked down their legal interpretation of the virtual currency...
Thailand election: Several hurt in Bangkok gun battle →
The violence erupted during a stand-off between supporters and opponents of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The shots were fired as demonstrators blockaded a building where ballot papers are being stored, in an attempt to prevent their distribution.
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There was no word on who was responsible for the gunfire. It is was also unclear whether those struck were government supporters or opponents.
Before the attack, protesters had attacked a car and set off a series of small bombs.
In Ukraine, fascists, oligarchs and western expansion are at the heart of the crisis →
You'd never know from most of the reporting that far-right nationalists and fascists have been at the heart of the protests and attacks on government buildings. One of the three main opposition parties heading the campaign is the hard-right antisemitic Svoboda, whose leader Oleh Tyahnybok claims that a "Moscow-Jewish mafia" controls Ukraine. But US senator John McCain was happy to share a platform with him in Kiev last month. The party, now running the city of Lviv, led a 15,000-strong torchlit march earlier this month in memory of the Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera, whose forces fought with the Nazis in the second world war and took part in massacres of Jews.
Lovely!
Reality's always more complex than the headlines. But sometimes decidedly more depressing, too...
Keystone XL pipeline passes final US environmental review →
I'm not sure if I should be surprised it happened, or that it took so long...
9 questions about Ukraine you were too embarrassed to ask →
A good primer on the situation in Ukraine.
Drone strikes in Pakistan: Leaked official document records 330 drone strikes in Pakistan →
The Bureau is today publishing a leaked official document that records details of over 300 drone strikes, including their locations and an assessment of how many people died in each incident.
The document is the fullest official record of drone strikes in Pakistan to have yet been published. It provides rare insight into what the government understands about the campaign.
It also provides details about exactly when and where strikes took place, often including the names of homeowners...
Rebels in Syria Claim Control of Resources →
Islamist rebels and extremist groups have seized control of most of Syria’s oil and gas resources, a rare generator of cash in the country’s war-battered economy, and are now using the proceeds to underwrite their fights against one another as well as President Bashar al-Assad, American officials say.
"...American officials say." It'd be nice to see actual people quoted.
Nevertheless, eminently plausible that some anti-Assad irregulars are trying to exploit what's now in their territory, though there are always logistical (and social) problems they need to solve.
Is China About To Plunge Into Financial Crisis? →
The most reliable indicator of financial crisis is the pace of growth in debt (not the size, but the pace). Over the last five years, debt levels in China have increased by 71 percentage points. Looking back over the past 50 years, there are about 33 cases of countries with similar debt run-ups—22 of them plunged into a credit crisis, and all suffered a major economic slowdown.