Iran on edge of recession. Will Putin restore USSR? Hominids hunted and ate horses over 500,000 years ago, but it all got a lot more complicated 495,000 years later when the first Bronze-Age Kazakh threw a leg over the back of a wild horse

ABC News - Source of Horse: Shadowy Market Ripe for Exploitation - Hominids hunted and ate the ancestors of the modern horse over 500,000 years ago, but it all got a lot more complicated 495,000 years later when the first Bronze-Age Kazakh threw a leg over the back of a wild horse.

The Telegraph - Chinese environmentalist beaten after calling on official to swim in polluted creek - A Chinese environmentalist was allegedly subjected to a vicious five-hour attack after attempting to draw attention to the putrid state of the country's waterways by challenging a local official to swim in a creek near his home.

The New York Times - As Castro Era Drifts to Close, a New Face Steps In at No. 2 - He may have just taken on the toughest job in Cuba. Rivals at home will try to take him down. Enemies abroad will discredit him. Almost anyone with an interest in Cuba — including American spies and Cuban intelligence officers — will dig through his public and private lives, rummaging for secrets or clues about his plans.

Arab Times - Iran on edge of recession - Tough sanctions on Iran are biting hard, slashing oil revenue and pushing the country close to recession as it seeks ways such as bartering to stay afloat, a US government report said Tuesday.

Information Clearing House - Infantile Conservatism: How is America threatened by Iran? - On Monday, Rubin declared that America's "greatest national security threat is Iran." Do conservatives really believe this?

The Diplomat - The Cold War Meets Taiwan - We had a lively Q&A, as you might expect when debating Taiwan's future amid increasingly forbidding surroundings. First, a young Chinese staffer from the Wilson Center took us tough-on-China types to task for a "Cold War mentality," and for concentrating on the military dimension of cross-strait relations to the exclusion of confidence-building measures.

The Washington Post - Pope Benedict XVI’s future home - The departing pontiff will spend the next few months in his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, as a residence attached to the Mater Ecclesiae monastery is completed.

RIA Novosti - Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, February 28, 2013

Russia Today - Russia's 'gay propaganda' bill fights discrimination - Lavrov - The Foreign Minister said Russia’s draft law banning homosexual propaganda protects the rights of the majority from a group that wants to promote its own value system.

Is it too hard for S.Korea's first female president to be soft on Pyonyang? - In the shadow of North Korea's universally condemned third nuclear test, the inauguration this week of Park Geun-hye, Northeast Asia's first female president, is a momentous event.

New Eastern Europe - Will Putin Restore the USSR? - Vladimir Putin, although already a successful leader, seems to have an ambitious plan for his third term. Its objective is to rebuild as much as possible of the former Soviet superpower.