They Had Their Cake…And What Good Did it Do Them? October 16, 1793: 215 years ago, Marie Antoinette met a violent end at the hand of the furious French people who blamed her extravagant lifestyle and flippant irresponsibility for their hunger and the country’s bad economy, among many other national maladies. Though intellectuals like Thomas Paine encouraged the idea of exile to America, France advocated death by guillotine. That woman, 38 and seemingly harmless, did not deserve her fate.

Vietnam Incarcerating Journalist: Nguyen Viet Chien, a Vietnamese journalist who exposed his government’s corrupt “siphoning of aid money” to finance soccer match bets was sentenced to two years in prison for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interest of the state.” Chien, however, stood by his reporting, saying:

“With my journalist conscience, I can say I never have any other purpose in mind when writing my reports but exposing wrongdoing and fighting corruption.”

Internet Phone Calls May be Undermining Investigations on Terrorism: As programs like Skype become more popular, police are having a harder time keeping track of where each call is coming from and to whom it’s being made, a check they engage in in order to fish out terrorism or the threat of it. They’re finding this medium more difficult to monitor as it does not, unlike mobile phone companies which maintain such records for billing purposes, keep lists of who has made which calls when and from where.

Stocks Falling in Asian Pacific Markets: Shortly after Wall Street lost eight percent of its value, stocks plummeted in the Asian Pacific Markets. Indexes from the following areas: India, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan have all shown the burn.

No Separation Between Bulgarian Mob and State: Bulgaria’s mob is back in the political arena, operating by a typical “no holds barred” credo (e.g. burning opponents’ houses) to stay in power and manipulate those others who won’t move aside.