The AP reports on a new campaign by musicians, including Rage Against the Machine and Massive Attack, to ban the practice of using loud heavy metal, hip-hop, and even children's songs to psychologically break down detainees for interrogation. Apparently, not every band has a problem with the practice, though.

Bassist Steve Benton of Drowning Pool, whose 2001 hit "Bodies" is a particular favorite of interrogators, had this to say:

"People assume we should be offended that somebody in the military thinks our song is annoying enough that played over and over it can psychologically break someone down," he told Spin magazine. "I take it as an honor to think that perhaps our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that."

Having only a vague recollection of these guys, I looked up Drowning Pool's entry on AllMusic.com, which features a picture of the band posing with Barack Obama. I'm guessing that was a very weird meeting.

Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images

Proposition 8's defeat in California isn't the only thing making headlines for the gay rights movement as of late. According to the Washington Post, gay Mexican citizens who seek asylum in the United States are facing an increasingly uphill battle. Changes to the general asylum policy and a few rejected cases have resulted in what many fear is the end of a practice that provided safety for dozens since the mid-1990s. 

Persecution based on sexuality, in a country where machismo and conservative Catholic ideals run deep, once made a strong enough case for gay Mexicans seeking refuge up north. But liberalized laws on homosexuality and an increase in gay pride efforts have made the case a harder sell. Mexico City now recognizes civil unions, and the city's gay pride parade draws more than a million people each year. 

So why should the United States leave open the possibility of asylum? Despite the gains, negative attitudes in Mexico about homosexuality persist, leading to workplace discrimination and brutality against gays. Between 1995 and 2006, more than 1,200 Mexicans were killed because of their sexual orientation. And for all the good they might have done for the country's gay rights movement, liberalized laws have provoked a backlash from homophobic parts of society -- including some members of the Mexican police force.

Another reason to leave the asylum option? Consider the impact these homophobic attitudes and actions have on the spread of HIV/AIDS. Men who have sex with men in Mexico are over 100 times more likely to contract HIV than the general population. Says Martin Martinez Sanchez, a Mexico City hospital employee, of gay men in the capital city:

They have sexual encounters in clandestine areas, and in parts of the city that are just horrible and dangerous... Later they go home and have unprotected sex with their wives. Many gays feel they have to have a wife for appearances."

For many, asylum might not just mean escaping discrimination -- it can mean a lifeline to better care. Mexico's routine medication shortages mean inconsistent treatment for the disease, which usually requires daily pill dosages. As long as prevention and treatment measures for AIDS lag, the United States ought to think twice before closing its doors.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Miss Vietnam 2008, 18-year-old Trãn Thi Thuý Dung, was stripped of her crown after officials discovered she hadn't completed high school. The scandal puts Vietnam in a tough spot, as it might not have a viable contestant to send to the Miss World competition on Nov. 15th.

Vietnam -- a country that's taking the bad news very seriously -- has an interesting history when it comes to beauty competitions. After the country's first national pageant in 1988, the grand prize, a bike, was stolen from the winner. Last July, Vietnam played host to the Miss Universe contest, with Jerry Springer and Scary Spice hosting the awards ceremony.

And yet, there is no formal requirement that contestants must complete a certain level of education before entering, a fact that Vietnam's contest organizers concede. The reaction over Thuý Dung's lost title has thus been mixed and the public has rallied to her defense.

Although other national pageants don't have such stringent rules (the United States gives its contestant winners a six-month window to complete high school), Le Ngoc Cuong, a spokesman for the contest, views a high-school diploma as vital. Otherwise, "lots of girls would drop out of school to focus on beauty pageants," he said.

As for Thuý Dung, crown or not, she's behaving like a true queen, sending a healthy message to young ladies of the world: She's going back to school, and says, "I wish Vietnam can still find the right candidate to send to Miss World, even if it isn't me."

It's easy enough to laugh at these guys...

...until you consider the amount of ink and pixels that respectable American papers have devoted to the famous Redskins curse. We all have our rituals.

Acrobats from the Jiangxi Acrobatic Troupe of China perform 'Candle Contortionists' at the 8th China Wuhan International Acrobatics Art Festival on Oct. 28, 2008, in Wuhan of Hubei province, China. The festival, one of the major acrobatics events in the country, attracts performers from more than 12 countries and regions.

Photo: China Photos/Getty Images

Sign of the times? The Bravo network is said to be planning a "docusoap reality show" set in Dubai:

[Dubai Project] will track a group of American and British expatriates, along with their entourages, as they work and play, pursuing the American dream in an Arab emirate. The potential series will track its cast members throughout all parts of Dubai, from its manmade beaches to its modern skyscrapers and nightclubs.

The new project is said to be close in tone to Bravo's upcoming docusoap "Miami Social," which follows a group of young professionals living in Florida.

Let's hope it covers court cases, too.

Afghans are about to get a path to riches that has nothing to do with poppy fields. A Kabul-based production company has just bought the rights to produce an Afghan version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

A run of 52 episodes is slated to start filming next month. The winnings won't be quite seven figures; the main prize will be 1 million Afghanis, or about $21,000. Given the country's woeful literacy rates, I'm curious to see what types of questions they'll develop, but I have no doubt the show could catch the attention of a large number of Afghans, who have embraced television in droves since the fall of the Taliban.

I just can't wait to see who the Afghan Regis will be.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Colin Powell appears to have traded statecraft for stagecraft. The former Secretary of State hopped on stage with the Nigerian hip-hop group Olu Maintain last night at the Africa Rising Festival at London's Royal Albert Hall. Powell danced to the group's song, "Yahoozee," and even took the microphone to sing a few lines. The song celebrates "Yahoozee," a term used for those who defraud people using the Internet, a booming industry in Nigeria. Whether Powell knew the subject matter of the song remains a mystery.

More disturbingly, Powell's performance continues a worrying trend of international statesman trying to branch out into hip-hop careers. The world had only recently recovered from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's rap tribute to Jay-Z when it was hit with Powell's bombshell. Who's next, Robert Gates?

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Without taking anything away from former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for his work as an “outstanding international mediator” in conflicts from Indonesia to Northern Ireland, the entire institution of the Nobel Committee has grown so self-important that this is a worthwhile opportunity to question its judgment and ultimately its usefulness.

The 1973 Peace Prize, awarded to then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho for their role in the Paris Peace Accords, remains a head-scratcher. Kissinger played a major role in expanding the U.S. bombing campaign across Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, while Tho’s government would soon violate the Accords by launching a military invasion of South Vietnam that culminated in the 1975 fall of Saigon.

The Nobel Prize in Literature also has been guilty of sins of omission. Many of the last century’s most celebrated writers, such as Leo Tolstoy, Graham Greene, Vladimir Nabokov, Mario Vargas Llosa and Philip Roth, have been ignored by the Committee. Greene and Nabokov were considered in 1974, but eventually lost out to Swedes Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson -- who just happened to be Nobel judges themselves.

The Literature Prize is awarded by a committee selected by the Academy, founded by the Swedish King Gustav III in 1786, while the Peace Prize is awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament. In any other context, the idiosyncratic tastes and political beliefs of these elite Scandinavians don't exactly make headlines. Why the entire world pauses to honor the selections of an otherwise unknown group of people remains a mystery.

In the end, the Nobel Prize reveals more about society's collective obsession with honorifics than it does about the world's great leaders and writers.

David Silverman/Getty Images

Lebanon plans to charge Israel with violating a food copyright by marketing provisions such as hummus and falafel as Israeli, Fadi Abboud, the president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association announced Monday. Abboud contends that these foods are historically Lebanese, and that Israel's appropriation of them has cost the Levantine country profits "estimated at tens of millions of dollars annually."

Lebanon's case will likely rely on "the feta precedent," said Abboud. Six years ago, Greece was able to win a monopoly on the production of feta cheese from the European Parliament by proving that the cheese and had been produced in Greece under that name for several millennia.

The origins of hummus remain shrouded in mystery, but attempts to claim the food as a "national dish" remain a reliable way to start nationalistic squabbles across the region. Bringing this case to the courts, however, is unlikely to win the Lebanese government points even with a domestic audience. Most likely, it will simply reinforce the belief that while Hezbollah readies its rockets against Israel, all the Lebanese state can muster is frivolous lawsuits.

"Balloon Dog" by Jeff Koons. Photo by Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

U.S. artist Jeff Koons opened a controversial show in Paris this week at the Hercules salon in the Château de Versailles. From a gargantuan balloon dog to his famous porcelain statue of Michael Jackson and Bubbles, Koons "redecorated" Louis XIV's former hunting lodge inside and out. He even filled Marie Antoinette's room with vacuum cleaners. Of course, as NPR reports, some in France were not amused:

Koons' sculpted rabbits and dogs "don't belong at the palace of Versailles, they belong at Disneyland," said journalist and radio host Anne Brassie.

Arnaud-Aaron Upinsky, the president of a writers' union, agreed. "This exhibit is sacrilegious and insulting to the symbols of the Republic and its art," he said, wearing a velvet-and-gold-colored crown at the protest.

Here are some more unbelievable shots from the show:

"Lobster" by Jeff Koons. Photo by Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

"Hanging Heart" by Jeff Koons. Photo by Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

"Ushering In Banality" by Jeff Koons. Photo by Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

Darren Decker/Miss Universe Organization via Getty Images

If no one in Venezuela noticed that the Olympics were over, it was because there is yet a bigger, more strategic game to be won. Care to guess? A soccer match? A local election? President Hugo Chávez trying out for American Idol?

Nice try. As defending champion of the Miss Universe competition, the country is going all out to defend its title.

At the Miss Venezuela pageant, step one toward Miss Universe victory, stakes are high and the training is brutal. The competition's Wikipedia entry claims that preparation for finalists can last up to six months. Rough, says one participant:

"It's like a military school, it is really tough...Apart from the exercise there is the diet, chicken and salad, chicken and salad."

The pageant is a culture, a phenomenon, and a highly rated TV program watched nationwide.

And even for those uninterested in such vain displays, there's politics to boot. The country must have been glowing with pride when neighbor -- and often rival -- Colombia took 2nd place to Venezuela in Miss Universe last year. Rumor also has it that the Colombians have sent pageant candidates to be trained in Venezuela's academies in the past.

The country's newest Miss Venezuela -- upon whose shoulders the dreams of beauty domination will ride -- is set to be crowned next week.

Say it ain't so:

Ireland's drinks industry is suffering from withdrawal with pubs closing at the rate of one a day, as the party years of the Celtic Tiger boom become a blurred memory. The economic downturn allied to a changing drinking culture has led to 400 pubs closing over the past year, according to Michael Patten, chairman of the drinks industry representative body.

(Hat tip: Passport reader Eric Jon Magnuson)