How Palestinian Bloggers Cover Protests in Their Own Villages

As the cycle of protests goes on, Palestinian videographers and live bloggers produce footage of great immediacy and pointed perspective

I stumbled into Kamel Qadummi during a demonstration at his village, Kafr Qaddum, a few months ago. With his laptop in one hand and a small camera in the other, he was running straight into the cloud of tear gas, breathless. Unlike the foreign photojournalists, he didn’t have a gas mask, yet he was determined to film the events and webcast them live.

Watching him filming evoked many questions that have been gnawing at me lately.

For the past few years, I’ve been documenting stories of Palestinian villagers across the West Bank. I usually try to avoid photographing the weekly demonstrations. Can I possibly add anything significant to the ever expanding archive of protest imagery? All sides involved — Palestinians, Israeli soldiers and media correspondents — have years of experience in this repeated activity that has come to resemble a kind of ritual. Documented by numerous photographers and filmmakers who sometimes outnumber the actual protesters, the events and the images of them repeat themselves in a tragic cycle.

Tokyo Faces Fresh Tensions Over Disputed Territories

Island Territories Off Nation's Coast Are Challenged Anew by South Korea, Russia and China

Tokyo is facing escalating tensions on three fronts, as South Korea, Russia and China make fresh challenges to claims over island territories off the shores of Japan.

On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, speaking on the eve of Seoul's celebration of liberation from Japan at the end of World War II, criticized Japanese handling of the countries' historic and territorial grievances, tying it to Japan's imperial past. In a speech Wednesday, Mr. Lee again urged Tokyo to resolve some of the controversies that still linger from the colonial era but didn't mention specific territorial disputes.

Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea on Friday and suggested it might ask the International Court of Justice to settle the possession dispute after Mr. Lee made a visit Friday to a set of South Korea-controlled islets that Japan also claims. The islets, called Liancourt Rocks by the U.S. and other countries, are named Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Japan on alert as pro-China group nears disputed isles

TOKYO: Japan's coastguard stepped up security Wednesday in waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea as a group of pro-Beijing activists sailed towards the chain.

"We are on high alert so as to prevent them from entering Japanese territorial waters or landing on the islands, while exercising caution to avoid a possible collision," said a local official of the Japan Coast Guard.

A group of 14 pro-China activists from Hong Kong and Macau set sail on a Chinese-flagged fishing boat from Hong Kong on Sunday, heading towards the disputed islands.

The activists, who belong to a group called the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, had said they would be joined at sea by two other vessels, one each from Taiwan and Xiamen city in southern China.

They said the move was aimed at countering a plan by a group of Japanese lawmakers to visit the disputed islands, known as Diaoyu in China but controlled by Tokyo, which calls them Senkaku.

But the meet-up from Taiwan was aborted after four Taiwanese activists cancelled their voyage.

The activists were due to reach the islands on Wednesday, the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II and as Tokyo is embroiled in an increasingly bitter spat with South Korea over another archipelago.

"Our boat is about 50 nautical miles from the Diaoyu islands," the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands chairman Chan Miu-tak told AFP in Hong Kong.

"Two Japanese coastguard ships are following us closely," said Chan, who was not part of the 14-member team.

The Japanese coastguard official said he could not confirm the claim.

"I haven't received a report that the activists have crossed the median line," the territorial border claimed by Japan, he said. China does not recognise the border.

     

 The pro-China group has made repeated attempts to reach the islands, but apart from one successful foray in 1996 they have been blocked by Japanese patrol vessels.

The uninhabited outcrops were the scene of a particularly nasty confrontation in late 2010 when Japan arrested a Chinese trawlerman who had rammed two of its coastguard vessels.

Tensions spiked in April after controversial Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said his city intended to buy the islands from their private Japanese owner.

- AFP/wm

Cambodia ‘needs casinos for protection’

Phnom Penh -Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday said allowing the construction of a spate of border casinos was part of a “secret strategy” to protect the country's territory from its neighbours.

“I don't like casinos, but the biggest goal for giving permission to build casinos is to protect the border,” he told parliament during a five-hour speech addressing border demarcation issues with Vietnam.

“One can remove border markers, but one can't remove five-storey hotels. Don't be stupid,” Hun Sen said, in response to opposition criticism that the gambling dens were harmful to the country.

Cambodia's border with Vietnam and Thailand is dotted with dozens of casinos and accompanying hotels catering mostly to foreign gamblers since Cambodians are not legally allowed to gamble.

Court to weigh ‘like’-click speech

[Washington Post]

Daniel Ray Carter Jr. logged on to Facebook and did what millions do each day: He “liked” a page by clicking the site’s thumbs-up icon.

The problem was that the page was for a candidate who was challenging his boss, the sheriff of Hampton, Va.

That simple mouse click, Carter says, caused the sheriff to fire him from his job as a deputy and put him at the center of an emerging First Amendment debate over that digital seal of approval: Is liking something on Facebook protected free speech?

Carter filed a lawsuit claiming that his First Amendment rights had been violated, and his case has reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.

Wallenda walk pumps up the crowds in A.C.

ATLANTIC CITY - This town would be the last place looking to minimize risk.

So, unlike Niagara Falls, Atlantic City required no safety harness for the intrepid Nik Wallenda as he walked, on a sandy wire 100 feet above the beach, the 1,300 feet from one casino, the Atlantic Club, to another, the Tropicana.

"You are the master," a spectator in the crowd that police estimated at 100,000 people shouted up at him about halfway through the 27-minute walk.

Wallenda, 33, dressed in a red shirt and black cargo shorts, pumped his fist in response, gripping his balancing pole with one hand.

And it was masterful. Both stunt and performance art, the walk was thrilling and serene, intimate and communal. Wallenda made sure to honor his high-wire-walking ancestors as well as his ultimate purpose: to promote both Atlantic City and the Wallenda Family Experience show, which opens Sunday at the Tropicana.

Body ID'd as missing La. college student

LAFAYETTE, La. – Investigators have identified the body discovered this week in Evangeline Parish as that of Mickey Shunick, a 21-year-old college student who had been missing since May.

Dental and medical records were used to help identify remains as those of Shunick, according to Keith Talamo of the Lafayette Parish coroner's office.

It could be two to four weeks before investigators are able to determine a cause of death, he said

Lafayette Police Department spokesman Paul Mouton said there will be no further comment on the Shunick investigation at this time.

Shunick, a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, disappeared May 19 around 2 a.m. as she rode her bicycle home from a friend's house in downtown Lafayette.

Sikh community: 'Grief shared is grief halved

Investigators are still searching for a motive in the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin earlier this week. A spokesperson for Milwaukee's Sikh community said they 'are overwhelmed by the response' by mourners from around the country.

(Reuters) The Wisconsin Sikh temple where six worshippers were gunned down by a white supremacist reopened its doors on Thursday, as mourners from around the country converged on Oak Creek ahead of a public wake and private funerals.

Thousands are expected to attend Friday's wake at Oak Creek High School, where the bodies of the six victims will lie in repose, according to local Sikh leaders. Among those expected to attend were Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Attorney General Eric Holder.

Sands China Deals Scrutinized

U.S. Investigators and Board Inquiry Examine Real-Estate Payment, Team Sponsorship, Ferry Deal

In the fall of 2007, during the Chinese ambassador's tour of the U.S., one stop was Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s LVS -0.35% Venetian casino, where he helped celebrate the announcement of a planned Adelson Center for U.S.-China Enterprise in Beijing. Guests dined on shark fin soup and other Chinese delicacies.

Associated Press

Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson and his wife look at a model of the Sands Cotai in Macau.

The Center—funded by Sands and named after the Sands CEO—was designed to help small and medium-size U.S. businesses break into the Chinese market. It never opened, although it was under development for 18 months.
It is now under scrutiny by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the company's audit committee for possible violations of antibribery laws, according to company documents and people familiar with the inquiries.

Obama's continues to show Olympic pride

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN)—President Obama continued to show his Olympic spirit with an unannounced stop at the U.S. Olympic Training Facility here on Thursday where he said he “couldn’t be prouder” of all U.S. Olympic and Paralympics athletes.

He also took time out to congratulate the U.S. women’s soccer and water polo teams for their gold medals.

 
“We have to give a special shout out to the women’s soccer team today avenging the loss in the World Cup,” Obama said.
The USA beat Japan 2-1 in the Olympic final at London’s Wembley Stadium. As the president toured the facility, a television in the background showed the medal ceremony.
During his tour, he met with future U.S. Olympic and Paralympics hopefuls with stops in two different gymnasiums filled with young athletes training for sports such as wrestling and pentathlon. In the wrestling gym, he had to remove his shoes in order to walk on the mats. As he put his shoes back on, he noted “No holes in my socks. My grandmother would be proud,” he joked.

Jet lands on Antarctic ice in rescue

AUSTRALIA has broken new ground in the history of human interaction with Antarctica after successfully air lifting a sick American expeditioner from an iceshelf runway in minus 35 degrees and at twilight. 

 
A medical retrieval team coordinated by the Hobart-based Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) today arrived home after successfully retrieving the American from a hastily cleared runway of compacted snow at McMurdo station.
AAD's Hobart-based Airbus A319 went to the American's aid after a request by the United States National Science Foundation, successfully airlifting the patient to Christchurch yesterday.
Pilot of the AAD's A319 passenger plane, Garry Studd, said the rescue on Thursday involved what is thought to be the earliest winter landing of such a large wheeled jet aircraft in Antarctica.
Good weather and a two-hour window of twilight allowed the operation to proceed smoothly and after an hour on the iceshelf runway the A319 left for Christchurch, New Zealand, arriving about 7.10pm last night.

4 Decades on, U.S. Starts Cleanup of Agent Orange in Vietnam

DA NANG, Vietnam — In the tropical climate of central Vietnam, weeds and shrubs seem to grow everywhere — except here.

Forty years after the United States stopped spraying herbicides in the jungles of Southeast Asia in the hopes of denying cover to Vietcong fighters and North Vietnamese troops, an air base here is one of about two dozen former American sites that remain polluted with an especially toxic strain of dioxin, the chemical contaminant in Agent Orange that has been linked to cancers, birth defects and other diseases.

On Thursday, after years of rebuffing Vietnamese requests for assistance in a cleanup, the United States inaugurated its first major effort to address the environmental effects of the long war.

“This morning we celebrate a milestone in our bilateral relationship,” David B. Shear, the American ambassador to Vietnam, said at a ceremony attended by senior officers of the Vietnamese military. “We’re cleaning up this mess.”

Hun Sen, Cambodia Prime Minister, Marathon Speech Lasts 5 Hours On National TV

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- He's no Castro or Chavez, but Asia's longest serving ruler has set what appears to be a personal record for longest public speech: 5 hours and 20 minutes.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen spoke to the lower house of parliament in a nationally televised speech Thursday that was mandatory viewing for civil servants.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said he believed it was Hun Sen's longest speech in 27 years as prime minister.
Hun Sen, 61, spoke without taking breaks – or questions – mostly on sensitive border disputes with Vietnam. He blamed France, the former colonial ruler of both countries, for not clearly demarcating the border.
Politicians often use the border issue to stir nationalism and garner support, and Hun Sen is seeking re-election in 2013.
His speech was far from the lengthiest among world leaders. Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro frequently made five-hour speeches outdoors in the hot Caribbean sun in his heyday.
And Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez spoke for nine hours in his state-of-the-nation speech in January.

Christchurch is one of the best places in the world

Christchurch (Christchurch) will be a safe, modern, green city, is one of the best places in the world of the coming generation of livable and work.

- Christchurch City Mayor Parker said Christchurch, New Zealand last year was the earthquake hit, the city government said on Monday the reconstruction blueprint, the city is smaller, downtown Convention Center, stadiums, performing arts Museum , as well as better green spaces, giving the university campus feel.

Jin Yonghuan event or trigger another round of China-ROK diplomatic friction

Jiang Guiying first correspondent Was arrested, South Korea, the North Korean human rights activists has been expelled, "Jin Yonghuan after returning home, detained in China during the period, had been subjected to" torture ", the Korean government, knowing the matter, but the negative response to

　　After this news spread, sparking criticism of the South Korean media. Now, the Korean government a change of attitude began to actively deal with. Public opinion, China and South Korea a new round of diplomatic friction performed on the future this may cause.

Russia strengthen naval nuclear forces to defend the interests of the Arctic

(North German Intrinsic Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the latest generation of Russian submarines, committed to strengthening the Russian naval nuclear forces, to defend the position of Russia's major maritime power, to defend the interests of Russia in the Arctic.

　　Speech to the naval commanders and government officials in a ceremony held by Putin in Russia's northern city of Severodvinsk shipyard, said: "Russia should maintain the status of the world's leading naval power."

Defense white paper: on the warships cruising in the Pacific increasingly the norm table concerns

The White Paper cited the examples of Chinese warships into the Pacific the implementation of training across the island of Okinawa and Miyako Island, as well as fishery vessel invasion of Okinawa Prefecture Diaoyu Islands (known as Senkaku Islands) near Japanese territorial waters, that China tried to expand in Japan's coastal waters normalization of range of activities and activities in the South China Sea. "

　　　Out of the Pacific (Tokyo, Syndicated news) - Japan 2012 "Defense White Paper" on the Chinese naval fleet increasingly normalized "and expressed concern, it is the first time that complicate the relationship between the Chinese political leaders and military leadership, which Japan crisis management pose a challenge.

No mortgage write-downs for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two U.S. government-backed mortgage financing firms, would not take write-downs of delinquent mortgage, even subsidies offered by the Treasury Department, the companies' regulator announced Tuesday.

Months of analysis showed there would be no clear benefit to taxpayers if the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) were to change its long-standing policy barring the government-owned mortgage financing companies from loan modifications that include debt write-downs, Edward J. DeMarco, acting director of the agency, said at a press conference.

"We concluded the potential benefit was too small and uncertain relative to unknown costs and risks."

The decision came after mounting pressure to change the policy from activist groups and congressional Democrats, who said it could prevent more families from losing their homes to foreclosure.

Months ago, the Treasury offered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as much as 63 cents for every dollar of principal reduction. However, the FHFA was reluctant to take such subsidies, claiming it might encourage defaults among borrowers.

The original purpose of loan forgiveness is to help deeply " underwater" home owners, whose loan-to-value ratios are above 115 percent. But the most recent statistics from Fannie and Freddie showed that 74 percent of deeply underwater borrowers were current as of June 30 last year. It made the Treasury's offer like subsidizing people who can afford to pay.

While the government-sponsored firms might obtain net benefit from mortgage debt write-downs, taxpayers would still lose money as they would fund the program through the Treasury, according to a detailed analysis released by DeMarco.

Fannie Mae and its sibling company Freddie Mac have survived on Treasury aid since September 2008, when they were put under conservatorship by the federal government after suffering from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee about half of all mortgages in the United States, or nearly 31 million home loans. As of year-end 2011, the two companies had sought aid of 187.5 billion U.S. dollars in total from U.S. government.

U.S. stocks mixed before Fed, ECB decisions

U.S. stocks opened mixed on Tuesday as investors awaited major central banks's decisions later this week.

The Federal Reserve started a two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. Investors hoped it would launch further monetary easing policies in the face of the European debt crisis and economic slowdown.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce its monetary policy decisions on Thursday. It is widely expected that the bank will resume its bond purchasing program after ECB President Mario Draghi pledged to save the euro last week.

On the economic front, the U.S. personal income rose 0.5 percent in June, beating previous expectations of a 0.2 percent increase, while consumer spending kept unchanged.

Meanwhile, the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 0.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, topping expectations of a 0.5 percent increase.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 17.56 points, or 0.13 percent, to 13,055.45. The Standard & Poor's 500 was down 0.75 points, or 0.05 percent, to 1,384.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.27 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,950.11.

Italy's police seizes Barclays documents in rates probe

Italian police seized documents from the Milan offices of London-based Barclays bank as part of a probe into the possible manipulation of Euribor lending rates, local media said on Tuesday.

Local prosecutors have opened a criminal probe following complaints filed by consumer associations Adusbef and Federconsumatori that accused the bank for manipulating the Euribor, or Libor's counterpart for euros.

The consumer groups claimed several foreign banks including Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group to have caused an estimated 2.9 billion euros (3.5 billion U.S. dollars) in damages to millions of Italian families.

Last June, Barclays was fined over 450 million U.S. dollars by the U.S. and British authorities for "attempted manipulation of and false reporting concerning Libor and Euribor benchmark interest rates."





Source:Xinhua

Microsoft unveils new personal email service

Microsoft on Tuesday introduced the preview version of Outlook.com, a new free web- based personal email service with features including a cleaner user interface and tight integration with social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

"We think the time is right to reimagine email. So today, we're introducing a preview of Outlook.com," Chris Jones, a Microsoft corporate vice president, wrote in a blog post.

Cambodian PM to address parliament on border issues with Vietnam

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that he would explain at the National Assembly (NA) border issues with Vietnam at the request of Sam Rainsy Party, the country's major opposition party. "I wrote a letter to the NA's president (Heng Samrin) a few weeks ago, saying that I will answer all questions relevant to border issues at the National Assembly's session, but now the president has not set the date for me to explain the issues," he told a graduation ceremony of more than 2,600 students at the Royal University of Law and Economics. "I will spend four hours to answer the question about the border issues. We will clear everything at the National Assembly," he said.

The premier's plan to appear at the National Assembly was unveiled after the opposition party had subsequently accused the current government of national betrayal for ceding land to Vietnam. "It is serious and unacceptable that they call us'traitors', so I need to explain these issues," he said, adding that his upcoming remarks will be televised live in all local TVs if possible.

Cambodia shares a 1,270-km border with Vietnam to the east. To date, about 80 percent of the border demarcation has been completed and the two countries have vowed to fully complete it by the end of this year.

Eurozone jobless rate remains high at 11.2 pct in June

The euro area's unemployment rate remained high at 11.2 percent in June, the statistics office of the European Union (EU) said Tuesday.

The rate was unchanged from that of May, but was higher than a year earlier when the figure stood at 10 percent.

For the wider 27-member EU, the unemployment rate was 10.4 percent in June, the same with the previous month, Eurostat said in a statement.

More cities in US declare bankruptcy

A spate of defaults has occurred in municipalities all over the country

The city of San Bernardino, California, declared bankruptcy on July 10, following similar moves in the past month by Mammoth Lakes and Stockton, also in California.

A fourth city, Compton, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, could be the next city to turn to bankruptcy protection.

City officials announced earlier this month that Compton could run out of money by summer's end, with $3 million in the bank and more than $5 million in bills due, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Before them it was Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Jefferson County, Alabama, and Central Falls, Rhode Island - the list continues.

San Bernardino has burned through its reserves and is out of other ways to pay for its longstanding deficit spending. It faces a deficit of nearly $46 million.

China has over 1 mln multimillionaires: Hurun Report

The latest edition of the Hurun Report issued Tuesday indicated that the number of multimillionaires in China reached 1.02 million as of the end of 2011.

The report said that Chinese individuals with more than 10 million yuan (1.6 million U.S. dollars) broke through the one million mark for the first time.

Early summer and winter, the United States the Internet to see A piece peak season

Pennsylvania Villanova University researchers in statistics Google search trends, Google Trends "Web site, type" porn "," restricted ", with sex-related words, over the past five years, Americans search the erotic map film the behavior of light, season, and every six months there will be the peak of a search. In short, winter and early summer is an American Internet search pornography season, certain seasons of the human sexual activity will be particularly frequent.