#1 — BBC | China ‘overtakes Germany as world’s largest exporter’
China’s exports rose 17.7% in December, state media has reported, suggesting the country has overtaken Germany as the world’s largest exporter.
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#2 — BBC | US warns of attacks on Uganda-Sudan planes
The US embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum has warned of a possible attack on Air Uganda planes.
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#3 — CNN | Petraeus: More security funds heading to Yemen, but not troops
Tampa, Florida (CNN) — The U.S. military does not intend to put ground troops in Yemen, a country where al Qaeda operatives have become an increasing threat, Gen. David Petraeus told CNN in an interview to be aired Sunday.
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#4 — NT Times | A Fox Chief at the Pinnacle of Media and Politics
In the fall of 2008, Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, went to his boss, Rupert Murdoch, with two complaints: he had heard that Mr. Murdoch was considering endorsing Barack Obama for president in The New York Post, and he had read a book excerpt in Vanity Fair suggesting that Mr. Murdoch was sometimes embarrassed by the right-leaning Fox News.
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#5 — DM | Brown’s election shambles
Gordon Brown is facing a new crisis after the man who once ran the Labour Party launched a devastating attack on his leadership and backed calls for him to step down.
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Times | Now Geoff Hoon savages Gordon Brown over Afghanistan war
#6 — DM | US ‘won’t share secret of beating roadside bombs’
The United States was accused last night of refusing to share with Britain the latest technology it uses against roadside bombs which have killed scores of Allied troops in Afghanistan.
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#7 — Times | Shortage of grit may leave millions stranded
Parts of Britain could come to a standstill this week as a shortage of grit leaves swathes of the road network untreated after new snowfalls. With Arctic conditions expected to continue into next weekend, millions of people could be stranded.
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#8 — Times | Rehab failures put closure of Guantanamo at risk
A new report questioning the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes for former terrorists is threatening to undermine President Barack Obama’s pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.
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#9 — Times | Google Earth helps find El Dorado
Since the time of the conquistadors, the legend of an ancient, lost civilisation deep in the Amazon forest has beguiled hundreds of explorers and led many to their deaths. Some called their dream El Dorado. Others, most notably Colonel Percy Fawcett, the gloriously moustached British explorer (and real-life model for Indiana Jones) named it the City of Z. But no one has ever returned from the Amazon with conclusive proof that such a place existed.
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#10 — Telegraph | Detroit bomber ‘singing like a canary’ before arrest
President Barack Obama is under fire over claims that the Christmas Day underwear bomber was “singing like a canary” until he was treated as an ordinary criminal and advised of his right to silence.
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Re: Ailes
This paragraph was crucial -
““Like Richard Nixon, like Spiro Agnew, Fox News can never see itself as the attacker,” he said. “They are always playing defense because they believe they are always under attack, which attracts people that have the same personality formation. By bringing that mind-set, plus the high energy seamless stream of the aggression of talk radio, he has found an audience.””
What FOX essentially does is present itself as embattled and oppressed by some far-reaching left wing conspiracy (the co-conspirator list so far is as follows: college professors, all other news networks, the New York Times, Islamists, Socialists, Democrats) and it attracts other socially privileged people who are scared of losing their power. It essentially magnifies the bunker mentality and puts on some slick figureheads to lead revolutions. The tea parties would have been a 1 month fringe movement of Alex Jones devotees if Fox hadn’t stepped into turn it into a virtual political party (where members openly endorse Glenn Beck for president).
Fox doesn’t report news; Fox makes news and saves you from having to decide. Before anyone re-hashes the usual arguments … a handful of moderate b-listers hardly counter-balances for Beck, Hannity et al.