Mutassim Billah Qadhafi is 34 years old and the National Security Advisor to Libya, a job given to him by this dad, the uh, legendary Moammar Qadhafi. According to Spiegel, "Officially, Qadhafi has eight children, although there is speculation that there may be more." Mutassim — pictured above with Secretary Clinton — is the youngest son. His big brother Mohammed is chairman of the Libyan Olympic Committee. The second son, Saif, is rumored to be the one who will succeed his father. When Saif showed up at University in Geneva, he arrived with four bodyguards and two Bengali tigers, and was like "what?"

Third son Saadi (above) is a failed football player who flunked a drug test. Spiegel says, "Today he invests in European football clubs and the film industry, and occasionally launches into a public tirade against Israel."

Mutassim has a little sister, Aisha, "known at home by her nickname 'Libya's Claudia Schiffer.'" She's awfully pretty:


Aisha is a lawyer and was on the defense team when Saddam Hussein was in court.

No one seems to know much about the other kids.

Anyway, back to Mutassim — also known as "Hannibal." He and his heavily pregnant wife were arrested in Geneva, Switzerland in 2008 on charges of making threats and assaulting their domestic staff. In 2005, he was in a "scuffle" at a hotel in Paris where he reportedly "beat a woman and brandished a handgun." According to this blog which follows "Hannibal" closely, he also had a "violent incident" in Copenhagen in 2005; in 2004 in Paris, Mutassim "drove down the Champs Elysees at 140kph in his black Porsche in the middle of the night. Once stopped, his thuggish bodyguards attacked French police & destroyed a police transmitter." In 2003 Mutassim was involved in a brawl in Rome which sent 6 photographers to the hospital. In Rome in 2001, he was "escorted to the airport" after a hotel fight in which he "attacked Italian police with a fire extinguisher." Oh, and in 2001 in Sardinia, Mutassim was thrown out of a club for yelling at the waiters, so he "blocked the entrance to a disco with his Lamborghini." Later, he blasted music aboard his 70-ft yacht the Che Guevara.

All in all, as seen wearing a bright red shirt in this 2005 picture with his brother Saadi and an Italian movie producer, Mutassim seems like an exciting guy with whom you'd rather be friends than enemies.

Diplomatic Ice Age Between Libya and Switzerland [Spiegel]
Hussein Defense Will be Joined by a Qaddafi [NY Times]

Government Protests Behavior Of Qaddafi's Son [NY Times]
"Hannibal" Motassim Bilal Gaddafi - Another Belt and Coat Hanger [Justice Will Be Served]

Wax writes:

Violence against women is the fastest-growing crime in India, a recent study concluded. Every 26 minutes a woman is molested, every 34 minutes a rape takes place, and every 43 minutes a woman is kidnapped, according to the Home Ministry's National Crime Records Bureau.

Women's groups claim only a small percentage of rapes are reported. Interestingly enough, as India celebrates 60 years of independence, Time magazine takes a look at some of the people who are leading the country into its next six decades. And naturally, some of them are women: Mayawati, the politician from the "untouchable" caste; Sunita Narain, an environmentalist; Sonia Gandhi, a popular, Italian-born Catholic who married into a famous family; and Aishwarya Rai, the biggest Bollywood star.

Do successful women in the public eye make it easier or harder for "ordinary" women like Gitanjali Chaudhry (who wants to finish school and be a lawyer, but sometimes stays home when the harassment gets too bad) to find success? Will the male backlash create an atmosphere in which women just give up? And how many males in India are like 21-year-old Raja Kumar, who says, in the Post: "I was never really taught how to act around a girl. I thought teasing was the way to get them to notice me."

In India, New Opportunities for Women Draw Anger and Abuse From Men [Washington Post]
India's Most Influential [Time]

Earlier: Big Deals
Indian Woman Producing Change And Controversy In Equal Amounts

This little "Lolita" is terrifying, yet sweet. Blue contacts? Check. Orangey-yellow hair? Check. Childlike innocence? Sure.

This is the "gothic" look, obviously. The point is to resemble the doll — right down to the contact lenses!

Here are some contact lens options. The bat design seems perfect for making your parents sigh, "I just don't understand."

The kids hit the street dressed to kill play.

Don't you applaud their ability to commit? Aren't you amazed by the time and effort they put in to getting dressed? I feel really really lazy in comparison. I am wearing elastic-waist track pants.

What, what??????

Imagine a conversation that goes like this: "Honey, I bought you some pants with a ruffled loin cloth attached." "Aw, sweetie, you're the best."

LOL at his pant cuffs.

At least he has the decency to look embarrassed about those shoes.

I could maybe get behind the dresses, and possibly consider the tights, but honestly? They lost me at the bonnets.

Related: Gothic Lolita

Now that the Beckhams are on U.S. shores, one UK paper scouted out some of the California soccer players' wives and found, sadly, that they were "stay-at-home girls who dress in 'ordinary clothes.'" But in Britain, being a WAG is a life goal. A Big Brother contestant said, "I want to be a WAG. You can get a career from there." The WAGs spend money, get photographed and splashed throughout the pages of tabloids. One reader admits, "It's quite pathetic we like looking at their pictures just because they are married to someone famous." As the paper points out, we don't really have WAGs here — but Lindsay, Paris and Britney are our equivalent. We're not sure which is worse. Also, since Posh has left her gaggle of WAGs behind, is "Kate" Holmes really an satisfying replacement?
WAGs: They Score! [WaPo]