For the politically inclined, Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s increasingly regular YouTube announcements have become a source of unintentional comedy.
Part of the humour stems from the fact that Howard is so obviously not comfortable with the medium. If this is an attempt to appear ‘with it’ when it comes to new technology, it’s not working.
Howard's latest video, released today, is aimed squarely at young people: entreating school and uni leavers to drop backpacking in Europe or that Central American volunteering expedition in favour of a year in military. Question is, will even the ‘groovy’ SMS registration of interest option be enough to convince people to go sign up?

I’m a bit partial to Tony Blair’s charms myself, so this video — in which a 4-year-old girl responds rather emotionally to Blair’s resignation — gave me the “awww shucks.� A future member of Young Labour if ever there was one!

If you like perving on other people’s style choices, you’ll love Street Peeper.

Street style celebrations are near ubiquitous these days, but this site is special, featuring photography from five continents and more than 20 cities (the lass we’ve pictured is from Berlin). And if you want extra icing on your cake, it also gives you the dish on exactly what these everyday style icons are wearing, so you can emulate their looks yourself. Bliss.

Police in Tehran are cracking down on dress rules, in a move that would see most YEN readers arrested.

According to Agence France-Presse, since the 1979 Islamic revolution, all post-pubescent females have been required to wear a veil and a long coat that covers all bodily contours, but in recent years some young women have started to flout the laws, wearing shorter, fitted coats and skimpier headscarves. Now young people in Westernised clothing are being arrested and even beaten.

The crackdown has been reported as a colour story  in the Australian press, but it has a very serious side: how would you like it if you didn’t have the freedom to choose what you put on your own body?

Say goodbye to ‘water cooler’ conversation —
with San Francisco leading the charge, a
growing number of US cities are calling for a
ban on the use of public money to purchase
bottled water. Restaurants are following suit,
deleting the bottled water option from their
menus in the name of environmental responsibility.

Bottled water consumes huge amounts of oil in
its production and transportation — with most discarded bottles ending up as landfill.
When one in six people worldwide has no dependable, safe drinking water, dropping $2 whenever you want a drink is an indulgence we
can’t afford.

The US Presidential election isn’t for another 16 months, but the nomination campaigns are in high gear, especially online – and candidates aren’t the only ones getting in on the act. Our fav faux clips so far are the ones spoofing the stiff competition between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama – check out BarelyPolitical.com’s ‘I got a crush on Obama’ and Taryn Southern’s ‘Hot4Hill.’ Somehow we can’t see anyone doing the same for John Howard.

It’s a tricky conundrum: overseas travel can open your eyes to our big wide world… but it also contributes to its destruction. Air travel contributes more to global warming than anything else — the food you eat, the car you do or don’t drive, the electricity you use. The good news is that carbon offset groups such as Climate Friendly and Greenfleet allow you to offset your flights for as little as $5 (for a Sydney to Melbourne flight). But such offsets are optional, and don’t change the reality of the tonnes (literally) of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere every time you board that plane. So, what’s the solution? Carbon tax on flying? Fewer flights and longer holidays (the fun option)? Staying home? Let us know what you think.