Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Malaysia Busts 80+ Lovers in Valentine's Day Raids Muslims face up to two years in jail »

NEWS ABOUT: Communism

Cuba Embargo Has Backfired: Time to End It

(Newser) - The Cuban embargo has failed to encourage democracy there, and the president-elect should do something about it, writes Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. It's time to “bring five decades of counterproductive American policy toward Cuba to a definitive end.” While engagement with other Communist regimes has worked... More »

Cuban Players Ditch US Hotel, May Plan to Defect

Cuba's soccer prez denies the 2 men ever left for United States

(Newser) - Two Cuban soccer players fled a US hotel in Virginia yesterday and may plan to defect, the Washington Post reports. Pedro Faife, 24, and Reynier Alcantara, 26, are slated to play in a World Cup qualifier tonight and have not turned themselves in to Customs—but Cuba's coach doesn't expect... More »

Korean 'Mata Hari' Was More Likely a Patsy

1950 execution of 'spy,' seductress was result of witchhunt: inquiry

(Newser) - In the thick of Cold War suspicion in 1950, South Korean socialite Kim Soo-im was executed as a wily seductress who passed secrets from her US army lover to another in North Korea. But the hasty trial and execution of the 'Korean Mata Hari' was based on charges trumped up... More »

Posh Related to Marx Comrade

Revolutionary who fled to England is Victoria Beckham's great-great-great-grandfather

(Newser) - Victoria Beckham’s girl-power roots go a lot further back than her Spice Girls days: The pop icon is the great-great-great-granddaughter of a 19th-century communist who worked with Karl Marx, Reuters reports. A German historian discovered the link between Posh and revolutionary Carl Heinrich Pfaender who was chummy with Marx... More »

Cuban Youth Prefer Facebook to Revolution

They're resigned to small freedoms, not sweeping change

(Newser) - Cuba's youth are restless, but many are more concerned about access to Facebook, flat-screen TVs, and trips abroad than political change, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Young people say that they pressured Raul Castro to allow cell phone and computer ownership, but they remain disillusioned about the prospects for greater... More »

Sorry, Veterans, Vietnam Is Profitable Now

American companies move to Hanoi, reap benefits of communism

(Newser) - More expensive Chinese labor has American enterprises heading to Vietnam, moving Harold Meyerson to wonder, in the Washington Post, why 58,000 US soldiers died trying to defend democracy there. "American business, backed by the American government, has realized that the problem with communism wasn't that it was undemocratic... More »

China's One-Child Policy Leads to Nation of Angry Men

Huge gender imbalance spurs skyrocketing crime rate

(Newser) - China’s got a big problem, one of its own making. The nation's one-child policy, now 30 years old, has resulted in a land of angry, testosterone-filled young men unable to find wives, writes Mara Hvistendahl in the New Republic. Finally worried about the world's biggest gender imbalance and its... More »

Ailing Fidel Appears on TV

Former Cuban president chats with Hugo Chavez about food, fuel crises

(Newser) - An animated Fidel Castro appeared on state-run Cuban TV yesterday, in the first such broadcast of the ailing revolutionary since January. Castro, standing in some parts of the video, was seen chatting in a garden with his brother Raul, the current Cuban president, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the AP... More »

Book Reawakens Doubts About Polish Hero Walesa

Did the country's democratic pioneer collaborate with Poland's secret police?

(Newser) - A new book is stirring up an old debate in Poland: Did democratic hero Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity union and former president, collaborate with the secret police? Walesa has successfully defended himself against the claim for 15 years, in and out of court. But historians working with police... More »

Hard Workers in Cuba Will Finally Get Their Due

Wages will be tied to productivity

(Newser) - Raul Castro has ordered employers to create new salary structures that include extra pay for increased productivity—a bold departure, by Cuban standards, from Socialist orthodoxy, the Miami Herald reports. Under the current system, workers get a flat fee based on their job descriptions with no hope for incentives. Low... More »

US Firms Complicit as China Fortifies Police State

'Bush would do what they are doing here in a heartbeat if he could,' expert says

(Newser) - Free Tibet protests 3 months ago allowed China to road-test a new security network before the summer Olympics, Naomi Klein writes in Rolling Stone. Under the so-called “Golden Shield,” China is now installing closed-circuit cameras nationwide linked to facial recognition and other biometric software—technology from big-name US... More »

Castro Victim's Family Wins Record Verdict

Juror: $253M award shows world not to 'mess' with Americans

(Newser) - Two Miami residents won a record $253 million lawsuit against Cuba yesterday after Florida jurors approved a wrongful death claim on behalf of their father. The case involved the death of Rafael del Pino, a naturalized US citizen and ex-Castro ally who was imprisoned after turning against the Cuban dictator,... More »

Dressed-Up Pyongyang Hid Grim Reality

N. Korean capital masked poverty for NY Philharmonic's visit

(Newser) - North Korea's capital was prettied up last month to show off the country's nonexistent prosperity to the New York Philharmonic and the accompanying press corps, the LA Times reports. The visitors to Pyongyang ate luxurious meals in newly painted hotels, but after they finished, the lights went out. "As... More »

Raul Castro Is New Cuban Prez

But brother Fidel won't be far away

(Newser) - Raul Castro will succeed long-ruling brother Fidel as the president of Cuba, reports the Miami Herald, after members of the National Assembly voted today. The current defense minister and first VP of the national committee, 76, was the only candidate endorsed by a nominating committee, and his ascent is expected... More »

Steely Raúl's Time Is Now

Low-profile No. 2, Fidel's 'organizational glue,' steps into Cuba's top job

(Newser) - The Castro brothers overthrew a dictatorship and won a revolution together, but while charismatic Fidel was the public face giving passionate seven-hour speeches, steely Raúl quietly got it done—ruthlessly sending dissenters to the firing squad, earning him the nickname "the Prussian." As Fidel fades, writes the... More »

Oscar Niemeyer Threw Life a Curve or Two

The Brazilian architect, famed for his spiraling designs, turns 100

(Newser) - Oscar Niemeyer turned 100 this weekend, but the famed Brazilian architect is still planning for the best years of his life: he’s still developing bold designs—including a museum that resembles a giant eye—starting a magazine, and he recently remarried. Niemeyer, who soared to fame in 1956 after... More »

China’s Hot Seller: the Bible

It sells by the millions, but isn't allowed in bookstores

(Newser) - It's not in China's bookstores, but the Bible remains one of the country's bestselling books, the Times of London reports. Today China's one authorized Bible publisher, Amity Printing, proved it by producing its 50th millionth copy. Yet Bibles remain a hot issue in China, for police sometimes arrest Bible smugglers,... More »

Gorbachev Goes Easy on Putin, for Now

Ex-leader defends prez, even as Kremlin rolls back democracy

(Newser) - Gorbachev remains pals with Putin, even as the Russian prez pares back reforms that Gorbachev holds dear, the Wall Street Journal reports. The former leader reserves his blame for the Kremlin, and spares Putin, calling him "a very normal person"—even after Moscow shut down Gorbachev's political party... More »

Secret Poll: Cubans Want Vote

Three-quarters would like say in Castro succession

(Newser) - Three-quarters of Cubans surveyed in an unorthodox poll want to vote on Fidel Castro’s successor, 79% say the current government can't fix the country’s problems, and 83% want changes in the economic system, USA Today reports. The 600 respondents weren’t told they were being polled—and the... More »

China Picks New Politboro Young Bloods

Youngest may vie for top spot in 5 years

(Newser) - The Chinese Communist Party named its newest leaders yesterday, including the man favored to succeed current president Hu Jintao, reports the Washington Post. Xi Jinping, 54, is the son of a Chinese guerrilla leader who rose to the top of the Shanghai branch of the Communist Party, making him a... More »

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne