Reuters reports that Iran has banned National Geographic. Why? Well, the revered magazine apparently pissed off a few mullahs over incorrectly naming the gulf off the coast of Iran.

Iran insists on calling it the “Persian Gulf.” The magazine however labeled it “Persian Gulf,” but also placed in parentheses the words “Arabian Gulf,” because that is how it is referred to by other countries sharing that body of water. Sounds fair to me, but try and find reason among the illogical.

Via Steve Outing

10×10 is one slick news website that is visually driven.

"The site consists of a main page with a 10×10 grid of thumbnail images, each representing a top news story of the day, ranked in order of current importance. There's also a list of words on the right side. The words and images are linked for highlighting as you pass your mouse over."

Outing thinks this site is a "visual variant of Google News."

Via Mediabistro.com

You may not know the name Gary Trudeau. But it is quite likely you know his cartoon strip, Doonesbury. Well, the strip is unabashedly anti-Bush/Cheney.

Needless to say I am huge fan as I find his quality of satire to be really top notch. But apparently divergent viewpoints have no place in the American psyche. The comic strip which felt the ire of Republican readers in several newspapers across the country had already been dropped for his portrayal of the bungled war in Iraq. Now this. Toe the party line, or you will get dropped like a hot potato (or is that “potatoe,” Mr. Quayle?)

Despite what Dubya says about bringing the country together, I am afraid, very afraid of things to come.

Hold on a second, someone is knocking at my door …

Via Mediabistro.com

What sells. So sad!

Citing the bottom line, Reuters is increasing its staff in the Southern Indian city of Bangalore from 350 to almost 1,500. They aren't all positions that journalists can fill, however. If you are a bean-counter, you may just be the ticket. But be aware that they are being flooded by qualified applicants. So, the competition is pretty fierce.

“But this is payback time for centuries of colonisation. Britain occupied India, imposed the English language and left the country significantly poorer, so that 200 years later it is cheaper to get Indians to compile our crosswords and review the new Dido album.”

Read the rest of John O'Farrell's tongue-in-cheek column in The Guardian.