A black Islamic flag is flying over the U.S. embassy in Tunisia after it was stormed by a mob of protesters today – as anger at an American-made anti-Islam film resulted in chaos across the world. Symbols of America and U.S. embassies have been targeted around the globe in a fourth day of protest after Tuesday’s deadly raid on the American consulate in Libya. In Tunisian capital Tunis, a mob overran the U.S. embassy compound, scaling the walls and setting fire to cars before tearing down the Stars and Stripes and replacing it with the symbol of Islam. It is not thought any U.S. staff were in the embassy in Tunis, where an American school has also been set on fire. A large cloud of black smoke rose around the U.S. embassy as stone-throwing protesters and police waged a pitched battle. Thousands of demonstrators massed outside the embassy and several were seen climbing the outer wall of the embassy grounds and raising a flag on which was written the Muslim profession of faith. The protesters chanted ‘Obama, Obama, we are all Osamas’. Police responded by firing tear gas, live rounds killing two protesters and wounding 28. A group of several dozen protesters briefly managed to enter the embassy compound and set fire to cars in an embassy parking lot. They were pushed back outside by police and special forces who continued to arrive on the scene. It was the worst incident in clashes around the world – with angry protesters ransacking a KFC and Hardee’s restaurant in Lebanon, police firing on protesters in Yemen, and unrest in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey and Jerusalem. One protester was killed in Lebanon and twenty five wounded by police who opened fire as they cracked down on the mob who turned their anger on the American fast food chains. A KFC in the northern city of Tripoli was set alight after the mob – many wearing face masks- ransacked the interior. In Sudan, the American embassy was also attacked and smoke could be seen rising from the compound. Officials said a mob had been expelled from the compound with one protester killed. A spokesman said protesters had been ejected from the embassay in Sudan, adding ‘they didn’t get far’. Elsewhere, police have fired on protesters outside the US embassy in Yemen today as a group of 2,000 attempted to march on the compound. It also emerged that Libya had closed its air space over Benghazi airport temporarily because of heavy anti-aircraft fire by Islamists aiming at U.S. reconnaissance drones flying over the city, after President Barack Obama vowed to bring the ambassador’s killers to justice. It adds to unrest in Bangladesh where tens of thousands have taken to the streets, and India – where there are widespread protests in Muslim Kashmir. youtube
Passengers On Air France Flight Asked For Cash For Gas SMH at this… An emergency layover in Syria’s capital was bad enough. Then passengers on Air France Flight 562 were asked to open their wallets to check if they had enough cash to pay for more fuel. The plane, heading from Paris to Lebanon’s capital, diverted amid tensions near the Beirut airport on Wednesday. Low on fuel, it instead landed in Damascus, the capital of neighboring Syria, where a civil war is raging. An Air France spokesman explained Friday that the crew inquired about passenger cash only as a “precautionary measure” because of the “very unusual circumstances.” Sanctions against Syria complicated payment for extra fuel. He said Air France found a way to pay for the fill-up without tapping customer pockets — and apologized for the inconvenience. The airline had never resorted to such a request before, he said. The plane took off for an overnight layover in Cyprus then landed safely in Beirut on Thursday.
Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful , we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage. We were horrified to see footage of a massacre in a village called Houla… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : YouTube Blog Discovery Date : 26/05/2012 15:24 Number of articles : 2
You’ve heard about Bully , right? The anti-bullying documentary featuring real video of real teenage bullies tormenting real peers, interspersed with experts and victims alike expounding on our ongoing bullying epidemic? Of course you have, because when The Weinstein Company wasn’t shoving its 2012 Oscar crop down your throat, it was protesting way too much about a ratings “controversy” that would require youngsters under 17 to attend the doc with a parent or guardian. God forbid! Because the last thing we want is parents and teens watching and ideally discussing a film about bullying, right? I privately vowed not to succumb to this most ironic of Weinsteinian pursuits : The most legendary bully of the modern Hollywood era releasing a movie about bullies, and then publicly bullying the MPAA over the last week with his outraged! Campaign! To overturn Bully ‘s R rating for language! For the children! No, really: “I have been compelled by the filmmakers and the children to fight for an exception,” Weinstein said in a statement . ” I want every child, parent, and educator in America to see Bully , so it is imperative for us to gain a PG-13 rating.” That was followed by a riotous threat to take “a leave of absence from the MPAA” after the rating was upheld on appeal (by reportedly one vote, which was awfully convenient for the press-release narrative, but hey). Such altruism, Harvey, seriously. But what do we do when commentators as smart and influential as Andrew Sullivan are taking Harvey’s bait not once , not twice but three times , or when the tired, transparent King’s Speech / Blue Valentine -esque gambits that evoke Harvey’s singular genius transcend PR stuntery to become… uh, this: a ” Human Rights Petition ” launched by a Michigan high-schooler seeking a PG-13 for Bully : When I was in 7th grade, a few guys came up behind me while putting my books in my locker. They called me names and asked me why I even bothered to show my face at school because no one liked me. I ignored them because I was scared of what else they might say and who else they might tell if I stood up to them. When I went to shut my locker, they pushed me against the wall. Then they slammed my locker shut on my hand, breaking my fourth finger. I held back tears while I watched them run away laughing. I didn’t know what to do so I stood there, alone and afraid. I just heard that the Motion Picture Association of America has given an “R” rating to Bully — a new film coming out soon that documents the epidemic of bullying in American schools. Because of the R rating, most kids won’t get to see this film. No one under 17 will be allowed to see the movie, and the film won’t be allowed to be screened in American middle schools or high schools. Wow. OK. Setting aside the exploitation of a young woman’s traumatic bullying experience and the blatant untruth that an R-rating precludes Bully ‘s exhibition in American middle schools or high schools (as though Congress passed some constitutional amendment outlawing parental permission slips), there is no fundamental “human right” dictating that Weinstein Company releases must be viewable by everybody. What’s happening presently in Syria is a human-rights issue. This is a crass, cynical marketing ploy by a man who eats Oscars and shits Tonys . Let’s also not forget many distributors’ long-standing frustration with what they term the inconsistency of the MPAA ratings board — the application of one ratings standard to Film A and another to Film B (often perceived as a major studio vs. indie conflict, but if The Weinstein Company isn’t a major after Sunday night , then nothing is). As it did a little over a year ago with The King’s Speech , the board counted the F-bombs and issued the R-rating consistent with numerous prior films it had also rated R. About time, right? Not for Harvey, who knew both the box-office impositions that The King’s Speech and Bully would face when he got into bed with each of them and the MPAA mileage he could milk from both contretemps. The kvetching commenced immediately. In other words, this isn’t the MPAA’s problem, and anyone who attempts to persuade you that it is is either misinformed or a bald-faced liar. Or he’s Harvey Weinstein, who can be both those things in equal measure but most often plays the showman middle with mastery beyond reproach. This, however, with Harvey himself publicly invoking his “school-age children of my own” and openly acknowledging in one statement how “the Cincinnati school district signed on to bus 40,000 of their students to the movie – but because the appeals board retained the R rating, the school district will have to cancel those plans”? This is just… gross. It’s also socially counterintuitive, as noted by at least a couple of Sullivan’s readers who chimed in on the matter today: “At a movie theater on Friday night, I saw numerous young children (ages 5-10, or so) in line with their parents to see the R-rated Act of Valor , the new action movie/recruitment video starring active-duty Navy SEALs that goes as far as depicting torture. I’m assuming that those parents thought that seeing our country defended on screen so violently would be a positive, character-building experience for their children. Although I would personally disagree, every parent does and should have the right to make those decisions for their children. My hope and expectation is that parents would bring their children to see Bully as well.” “What the R rating for Bully does mean is that teenagers (supposedly) can’t see it with their friends, where they might decide to be assholes and cheer for the bullies throughout. This might be a good thing.” Amen. Anyway, the panic continues and barring some sort of bleep-tastic editing revisions, Bully is and shall remain rated R for strong language. Or maybe we can make it silent, black-and-white and splice in a certain charismatic Jack Russell terrier ? Whatever it takes, Harvey! Whatever it takes. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . [Top photo of Harvey Weinstein at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards: Getty Images]
First, there’s this: Hope you saw that yesterday (or just now). Meanwhile… * The NBA is back . The Heat look unstoppable (and, frankly, with a year of loathing/schadenfreude behind us, entirely watchable). The Lakers and Celtics look creaky. The Clippers look overrated. The Warriors look lost. And the Thunder make me feel good about my prediction they would win the NBA title. * NFL Week 16 in Review… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Dan Shanoff Discovery Date : 25/12/2011 18:05 Number of articles : 2
BEIRUT — An assault by the Syrian army killed more than 20 people in the increasingly fractured city of Homs on Monday, according to activists who decried what they called a five-day assault on civilians. Videos uploaded Thursday onto YouTube showed a city at war, with the frequent thump of heavy artillery and rattle of gunfire down alleyways that people in videos identified as the Baba Amr suburb… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Sleuth Discovery Date : 26/12/2011 11:51 Number of articles : 2
The End of the Murderous Assad Regime May Be Near– A top general in Syria defected on Friday and released video urging the army to quit killing freedom protesters and join the Free Syrian Army. General Riad El As’ad directed … Continue reading → Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Gateway Pundit Discovery Date : 31/07/2011 14:16 Number of articles : 3
While the US continues its bombardments in a country that the Defense Secretary today admitted posed no national-security threat and was not a “vital national interest” to the US, an equally brutal crackdown on a rising rebellion continues in Syria, a nation that helps support and control much of the region’s terrorism. Demonstrations in the Hotair: Lieberman: Maybe We Should Go Into Syria,… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Katy Pundit Discovery Date : 28/03/2011 18:55 Number of articles : 2
Thousands took to streets today in a number of Syria cities following Friday Prayers protesting the prevalence of oppression and corruption in the country, and calling for reform. In Damascus, and in an attempted to prevent planned march from the historic Umayyad mosque in Old Damascus, authorities locked protesters inside mosque and began beating them with batons. In the city of Homs, protesters gathered… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Weekly Standard Blog Discovery Date : 18/03/2011 19:00 Number of articles : 2
Image via Boston With the flow of oil from the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico capped and most of the spilled oil skimmed from the water’s surface, incoming CEO Robert Dudley said last weekend that it was time for BP to “scaleback” its cleanup efforts, the AP reported . E… Read the full story on TreeHugger
