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.