Stupidity of the Hip

US actress Cameron Diaz has apologised for wearing a bag with a political slogan that evoked painful memories in Peru. The voice of Princess Fiona in the animated Shrek films visited the Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru's Andes wearing an olive green bag emblazoned with a red star and the words "Serve the People", perhaps Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong's most famous political slogan, printed in Chinese. The bags are marketed as fashion accessories in some cities around the world, but in Peru the slogan evokes memories of the Maoist Shining Path insurgency that fought the government in the 1980s and early 1990s in a bloody conflict that left nearly 70,000 people dead.

The history of today:
1950 : Korean War begins
1876 : Indians defeat Custer at Little Big Horn

Stupid celebrity quotes:
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
- Hillary Clinton
"We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees."
- Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks
“I’ve got taste. It’s inbred in me.”
- David Hasselhoff

President Hugo Chavez urged soldiers on Sunday to prepare for a guerrilla-style war against the United States, saying that Washington is using psychological and economic warfare as part of an unconventional campaign aimed at derailing his government. Dressed in olive green fatigues and a red beret, Chavez spoke inside Tiuna Fort—Venezuela's military nerve-center—before hundreds of uniformed soldiers standing alongside armored vehicles and tanks decorated with banners reading: "Fatherland, Socialism, or Death! We will triumph!" "We must continue developing the resistance war, that's the anti- imperialist weapon. We must think and prepare for the resistance war everyday," said Chavez, who has repeatedly warned that American soldiers could invade Venezuela to seize control of the South American nation's immense oil reserves.

A teenage schoolgirl will appeal to the High Court on Friday to overturn a ban on her wearing a "purity ring" at school to symbolize her decision to abstain from sex before marriage. Lydia Playfoot, 16, from West Sussex, says the silver ring is an expression of her faith and should be exempt from the school's rules on wearing jewelery. "It is really important to me because in the Bible it says we should do this," she told BBC radio. "Muslims are allowed to wear head scarves and other faiths can wear bangles and other types of jewelery. It feels like Christians are being discriminated against."

In an extraordinary outburst aimed at America's failure to tackle global warming, Al Gore says that if scientific agreement on the climate crisis had been reached sooner it would have been easier to "galvanise the public and persuade Congress to act". The failed presidential candidate claims that the stronger scientific consensus he knew was about to emerge meant "we in the US were about to shift into high gear in addressing the climate crisis". Mr Gore argues that if he had made it to the White House, he would have been able to use the office as a "bully pulpit" to achieve change.

Jim Frederickson, the research director at the Composting Association has called for data on worms and composting to be re-examined after a German study found that worms produce greenhouse gases 290 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Worms are being used commercially to compost organic material and is in preference to putting it into the landfill. The German government wants 45% of all waste to be composted by 2015. "Everybody... thinks they can do no harm but they contribute to global warming. People are looking into alternative waste treatments but we have to make sure that we are not jumping from the frying pan into the fire," said Frederickson.

To meet the needs of today's global economy, some states are now requiring that all students learn a foreign language. But Pennsylvania has decided that such a mandate would be "irresponsible," because it would cost too much and because there are too few certified foreign language instructors, said state board of education Chairman Karl Girton. After years of debate, the board last month voted to drop a proposal that would have required all students to have at least survival skills in a modern foreign language or meet other standards in a classical one.

During an appearance on the wildly popular Piolín in the Morning radio show in Los Angeles, Sen. Ted Kennedy broke into lively rendition of "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes (Don't Give Up On Me)." They also discussed immigration reform. Hear the audio.

Though the next president will probably command soldiers in two separate wars, few of those hoping to win the job can say they've ever seen combat or even taken abuse from a drill sergeant. Of the 18 announced Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, only Republicans John McCain and Duncan Hunter have served on the front lines. Three others served in noncombat roles and another two served in the reserves.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are to go Iran 'as early as practicable' to resolve issues over Tehran's nuclear programme, the UN nuclear watchdog agency said. The announcement follows talks between IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei and Iran's chief negotiator Ali Larijani, who flew into Vienna on Sunday, the IAEA said in a statement. 'Dr Larijani invited the IAEA to send a team to Tehran to develop an action plan for resolving outstanding issues related to Iran's past nuclear programme,' it said. 'The IAEA intends to send a team as early as practicable.'

An increasingly crowded market for 24-hour news is facing a new rival -- a channel from Iran whose self-proclaimed aim is to break the "stranglehold" of the West over the world's media. Iran's state broadcaster is to launch "Press TV" on July 2 at a time of mounting international tension over its nuclear program, complete with international journalists brought in from foreign countries including Britain. The Tehran-based channel is promising the usual diet of on-the-half-hour news bulletins, talk shows and documentaries familiar to viewers of established names like CNN and BBC World but with a distinctly Iranian spin.

To avoid serving prison sentences for tax evasion, Ed Brown and his wife, Elaine, have locked themselves off from the world on their own terms. From behind the 8-inch concrete walls of their 110-acre hilltop compound, the couple taunt police and SWAT teams and play to reporters and government-haters with references to past standoffs that turned deadly. Residents want the Browns' circus to end before their small town along the Connecticut River becomes the next Ruby Ridge or Waco.

Convicted tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown of Plainfield aren't the first Americans to claim they shouldn't have to pay income tax, and they likely will not be the last, given the amount of debate the issue has sparked on the Internet. But legal scholars are quick to point out the U.S. Constitution -- the document many anti-government folks like the Browns hold most sacred -- does in fact allow an income tax. Article 1 enumerates the powers of Congress, including "the power to lay and collect taxes ... to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States ..."

Bobby Cutts Jr. and his alleged accomplice are expected to be arraigned today on charges of killing a 26-year-old pregnant Ohio woman. Cutts, a former police officer, and his former classmate Myisha Ferrell remained behind bars in the murder case of single mom Jessie Davis.

Zhou Fenying is a living witness to the dark history that still poisons China's relations with Japan more than 60 years after World War Two. When Zhou was 22, Japanese soldiers came to her village in eastern China, grabbed her and her sister-in-law and carted them off to a military brothel, she says. Now 91, Zhou has broken decades of silence to speak of her traumatic experience as a "comfort woman" -- the euphemism the invading Japanese used to describe women forced into sex slavery.

As many as 1.2 million hospital patients are infected with dangerous, drug-resistant staph infections each year, almost 10 times more than previous estimates, based on findings from a major new study. And 48,000 to 119,000 hospital patients a year may be dying from methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, infections — far more than previously thought, the study's data suggest.

State Sen. Jenny Oropeza broke ranks with many Democrats on Wednesday, and voiced her opposition to a bill that would require dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered. Oropeza's public opposition comes as the bill awaits hearing in the Senate. "I oppose (Assembly Bill) 1634," the Long Beach Democrat said in a written statement. "It is too severe a solution to a noble objective. Further, I am concerned about the economic consequences for the city of Long Beach's convention business. It will hurt public safety and other vital city services." As it is worded now, the bill would require most cats and dogs four months old and up to be spayed or neutered. Failure to do so could result in a $500 fine for owners.