Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Syrian unrest: 'Many deaths' as army attacks Hama
The Syrian army has begun an assault on the city of Hama in northern Syria, with residents saying that dozens of people have been killed.
The BBC 31 July 2011

Hama has been in a state of revolt and virtually besieged for the past month.

Locals said more than 20 people were killed in "intense gunfire" after forces moved in from several sides.

The army is signalling that it will not tolerate large-scale unrest ahead of the month of Ramadan, when protests are expected to grow, correspondents say.

Syria has seen more than four months of protests against the authoritarian four-decade rule of President Bashar al-Assad's Baath party.

China rail crash families accept compensation as Beijing moves to silence furore
Ten families agree to £87,000 compensation as death toll mounts
Tania Branigan in Beijing
The Observer, Sunday 31 July 2011
Relatives bereaved by China's high-speed rail crash have accepted compensation after the government doubled its original offer, as authorities tried to silence the furore over the disaster. Ten families have agreed to the deal – 915,000 yuan (£87,000) per victim – the state news agency reported. The death toll is now 40, with another 190 injured.

Other relatives say the compensation is insufficient and that the ministry of railways, which has apologised for last weekend's disaster, should take more responsibility. "Our deceased relatives were in the prime of their lives; they have children and senior parents to support," said Chen Engfen. He said he would not accept less than £141,000.

Kenya is on the brink of its own disaster
While the situation in Somalia deteriorates, millions of its neighbours are at risk of malnutrition
By Emily Dugan Sunday, 31 July 2011
The small harness hanging from the branch of an acacia tree looks much like the baby swings used to cradle infants around the world. But slumped against its straps is no bouncing, chubby toddler. Instead, there lies the listless frame of a child brought close to death by hunger.

The harness is hooked to a set of makeshift scales – and the weight reading for two-and-a-half year-old Ekure Nachukuli signals a grim future if she is not helped quickly. At 12.5kg, with spindly arms, belly protruding and every upper rib showing, she is in a state of severe malnutrition.

Europe's Right-Wing Populists Find Allies in Israel
Islamophobic parties in Europe have established a tight network, stretching from Italy to Finland. But recently, they have extended their feelers to Israeli conservatives, enjoying a warm reception from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. Some in Israel believe that the populists are Europe's future.

By Charles Hawley
Anders Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto is nothing if not thorough. Pages and pages of text outline in excruciating detail the ideological underpinnings of his worldview -- one which led him to kill 76 people in two terrible attacks in Norway last week.

It is a document which has led many to question Breivik's sanity. But it has also, due to its myriad citations and significant borrowing from several anti-immigration, Islamophobic blogs, highlighted the deeply entwined network of right-wing populist groups and parties across Europe -- from the Front National in France to Vlaams Belang in Belgium to the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).

Nuclear regulator asked utility to push nuclear power in public forum

2011/07/31

In 2006, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency asked a utility to manipulate public opinion in favor of nuclear power at a public forum, a fresh example of collusion between the nuclear watchdog and electric power companies.

The Shikoku Electric Power Co. admitted NISA asked it to mobilize residents to attend the June 2006 public hearing in Ikata, Ehime Prefecture, home to Shikoku Electric's Ikata nuclear power plant, the industry ministry said July 29.

Campaign puts Mexico teachers union leader back in spotlight
Elba Esther Gordillo is courted by nearly every political party because of the 1.5 million votes she controls. She says her true cause is Mexico, but scandal dogs her.
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times
July 31, 2011
Reporting from Mexico City— The most powerful woman in Mexico carries $5,000 Hermes purses and can make or break a presidency.

She's head of the nation's principal teachers union, the largest syndicate in Latin America, and once gave Hummers as gifts to loyal teachers.

Elba Esther Gordillo commands the patronage of more than 1.5 million teachers, and in election years, that means more than 1.5 million votes. Almost every political party courts her.

Random Japan

DIAMOND DUST
Sho Darvish, the younger brother of Nippon Ham Fighters ace Yu Darvish, was arrested twice in June—once for marijuana possession and again for assaulting a 19-year-old woman. So much for weed mellowing you out…
Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki saw his string of ten straight MLB All-Star Game appearances come to an end when he finished seventh in fan voting among American League outfielders. He still picked up over 2.5 million votes.
A renegade cat delayed a BayStars vs. Hiroshima Carp ballgame at Yokohama Stadium when it got on the field and had to be chased off by security.
Golfer Tiger Woods may have philandered away millions in endorsement contacts in the U.S. but he’s still big in Japan. Woods is the new face of Kowa, a Japanese muscle balm.
The heat is on once again and the Japan Football Association has decided to allow sports drinks, as well as your standard water, on the sidelines at soccer games to prevent heatstroke. Some stadiums, however, have a water-only policy in effect, worried that a little Pocari Sweat might kill the grass.
A 17-year-old boy scout with Japanese roots from Utah delivered soccer balls, uniforms and whistles to students affected by the March 11 earthquake/tsunami. Perhaps more suited to Sudan than Japan, but a good deed nonetheless.

Stats


45
Percent of children in Fukushima Prefecture surveyed in late March who experienced thyroid exposure to radiation, officials of the Nuclear Safety Commission said

104
Indonesian nurses and caregivers who arrived in Japan for work in July as part of a health professionals program started in 2008

¥2 trillion
A second extra budget for fiscal 2011, approved by the cabinet of PM Naoto Kan, to finance relief work after the earthquake and tsunami in March

51
Percent of respondents to a Mainichi Shimbun poll who do not want nuclear reactors taken out of operation to be restarted

74.6 million
Expected travelers to domestic and overseas destinations between July 15 and August 31, according to an estimate by JTB, marking a 2.8 percent drop from a year earlier

DOG DAYS
Japanese hot dog-eating king Takeru Kobayashi set up his own personal wolf-down event on a New York rooftop while Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest took place on Coney Island across town. Joey Chestnut won Nathan’s event for the fifth time, powering down 62 dogs, while in Manhattan Kobayashi pounded back 69.

Kobayashi, a former six-time Nathan’s champ, has been banned from the competition since 2010 for refusing to sign a contract with Major League Eating, the sport’s governing body. Last year, he stormed the stage and had to be subdued, “thus officially making this the stupidest controversy in the history of everything,” as Rick Chandler of NBC Sports’ Off the Bench website aptly wrote.

Another Kobayashi, Formula One driver Kamui Kobayashi, also found himself in hot water, and it had nothing to do with boiling wieners. Sauber’s Kobayashi was accused by a couple of other drivers of dangerous driving at the Canadian Grand Prix, a charge he vehemently denied.

Orders for traditional Japanese fans uchiwa are way up this year with people looking for ways to stay cool while saving energy.

In Sendai, meanwhile, bug sprays and fly-swatters are flying off shelves as the summer heat has turned waste piles into insect magnets.

Twitter Bites Her

In The

Having Issues Over

Undies

Golfer

Driving The Wrong Way

Hamaoka to get seawalls of 18 meters
¥100 billion plan to make nuclear plant safe from huge tsunami
Kyodo
NAGOYA — Chubu Electric Power Co. said Friday it will build seawalls as high as 18 meters at its Hamaoka nuclear plant to protect the facility from tsunami.

Chubu Electric will spend ¥100 billion in total to build the seawalls, the facility's first, and take other measures against tsunami at the power plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, which was taken out of operation in May at the request of the government. Construction of the seawalls will begin next month.

Previously, Chubu Electric planned to build seawalls at least 12 meters high based on its estimate that the maximum height of tsunami triggered by a potentially massive earthquake would be around 8 meters.

Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Cops: Norway gunman claims he acted alone
92 died in Friday attacks by anti-immigration zealot
msnbc.com staff and news service reports

A right-wing zealot who admitted to bomb and gun attacks in Norway that killed 92 people on Friday claims he acted alone, Norway's police said on Sunday.
"He has admitted to the facts of both the bombing and the shooting, although he's not admitting criminal guilt,'' acting police chief Sveinung Sponheim told a news conference about detained suspect Anders Behring Breivik.
"He says that he was alone but the police must verify everything that he said. Some of the witness statements from the island (shootings) have made us unsure of whether there was one or more shooters.''

Al-Shabaab's stranglehold on Somalia

JASON STRAZIUSO DADAAB, KENYA - Jul 24 2011
The needs of those in Somalia's expanding famine zone are extraordinary, prompting parents to sweep up their small children and start a dangerous walk that can last days or weeks -- one that many die on. Livestock have perished, and crops no longer grow after consecutive rains failed to fall in south-central Somalia.

The journey is so long and so perilous that few Somalis are eager to return to their war-torn homeland, a facet of the dual crisis of the Somalia conflict and Horn of Africa famine that has Kenyan officials -- who are only reluctantly accepting more refugees -- in a bind.

Escape from Azamgarh
Security agencies call it a "terror hub". But Azamgarh's children simply see it as the place they want to leave. Shobhan Saxena travels to the eastern UP town where education is the only way out
Shobhan Saxena, TNN | Jul 24, 2011
It's a sodden morning. As rain comes down in thick sheets, the road quickly turns into a muddy track. Drains clogged with garbage are overflowing on dug-up streets. A bunch of travellers, whose jeep is stuck in mud, sit under a tree for shelter. The town's bus stand is slowly sinking into a pool of sludge. The sprawling campus of the main college is empty and the schools are shut. The mosques, too, are desolate. The shops are open but there are no customers. In cubbyhole boxes near the bus stand, men sit amid their unsold goods. It seems the whole of Azamgarh has retreated into a shell to save itself from the downpour.
Azamgarh town has a population of two lakh. It has just two main roads, which run parallel to each other and are connected by a maze of narrow alleys and streets.

Germany divided again as Europe grapples with euro bailout plan
Greece has been saved from bankruptcy again but it has brought fears about the cost to European unity and the burden it will place on Germany's taxpayers.

By Harriet Alexander, in Berlin8:00AM BST 24 Jul 2011
It was a crucial decision for the European Union, desperately needed to stave off once again the complete collapse of confidence in Greece - and with it the ruination of the euro.
In a deal struck privately between Germany and France, and then endorsed by other members of the euro-zone, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed that private sector banks would pick up a share of the cost of the latest Greek bailout - a plan at first hailed in Germany as a triumph for the determined Mrs Merkel.

Unraveling Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel
As drug smugglers from the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico sent a never-ending stream of cocaine across the border and into a vast U.S. distribution web in Los Angeles, DEA agents were watching and listening.
By Richard Marosi
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 24, 2011
Reporting from Calexico, Calif.— Never lose track of the load.

It was drilled into everybody who worked for Carlos “Charlie” Cuevas. His drivers, lookouts, stash house operators, dispatchers -- they all knew. When a shipment was on the move, a pair of eyes had to move with it.

Cuevas had just sent a crew of seven men to the border crossing at Calexico, Calif. The load they were tracking was cocaine, concealed in a custom-made compartment inside a blue 2003 Honda Accord.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's 'last stories' will appear in English at last
Collection of innovative short stories reveals that the Russian writer was still experimenting in his final years
Dalya Alberge
The Observer, Sunday 24 July 2011
A collection of nine short stories by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, described by scholars as ranking alongside his best work, is to be published in English for the first time. In one of the publishing events of the autumn, the collection will appear under the title Apricot Jam and Other Stories, fulfilling a long-held desire of the author that the work be available to the English-speaking world.

The collection reveals that Solzhenitsyn was still experimenting with literary form towards the end of his life. Eight of the stories have two parts, which are conceived as pairs. Daniel J. Mahoney, a Solzhenitsyn scholar, said:

Random Japan

GOING DIGITAL
A communications ministry survey revealed that, for the first time in 29 years, the number of landline phone subscriptions fell below 40 million.

At the same time, the “penetration rate” of mobile phones in Japan has reached 96.8 percent.
It was reported that the communications ministry has set up 160 temporary call centers in 44 prefectures around the country to help people deal with the changeover from analog to digital terrestrial TV broadcasting, scheduled for July 24.

Meanwhile, sales of flat-panel TVs are skyrocketing ahead of the changeover. Stores are reporting sales 250 percent higher than a year ago.

Other hot items this summer include electric fans, whose sales have jumped 4.5-fold compared to last year.

Stats


¥1,200
Average amount of daily spending money Japanese wives give their husbands, according to a survey by Shinsei Financial Co.

29
Years since the allowance given to salarymen was so low

570,000
Female millionaires in Japan, according to a survey by wealth management consultancy Capgemin

GOING GA-GA

A class action lawsuit filed in the US claims that Lady Gaga failed to donate proceeds of her “relief wristband” to victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The suit also alleges that the singer “charged buyers an excessive $3.99 for shipping within the United States, against the actual cost of only 50 cents.”

Japan and the US have agreed not to use the word “burden” in official documents when referring to US military bases in Okinawa. The term has been ditched in favor of the more neutral-sounding “impact.”

Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto praised UNESCO’s decision to name the Ogasawara Island chain as a World Heritage site, saying, “It brings us great joy.”

Yes We're Liars

But That's OK

License

I Don't Need No Stinking License

Google Has Many Uses

Like Planing Robberies

Volunteers wanted more than ever for disaster areas

2011/07/15
Four months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, volunteers are still desperately needed in the hardest-hit areas for jobs ranging from clearing debris from homes to delivering relief materials and food.

About 483,000 volunteers have helped reconstruction in disaster-hit prefectures in the three and a half months since the March 11 disaster, compared with 1.17 million volunteers who pitched in over the same period after the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.

The Japan National Council of Social Welfare surveyed the number of volunteers in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures between March 11 and June 26.

Oslo explosion

Oslo Police: Say the explosion was caused by a bomb.

1610: Ella Mork in Oslo "I was at home, just half a kilometre away when I heard the noise. At first, I thought it was thunder, but then I thought it was a little too loud. I was on my way out and when I arrived at the scene, there was shattered glass everywhere and buildings on fire."

1607: Olaf Furniss, a reporter in the city, says: "There was a huge blast. All the windows have been blown out from one of the main government buildings, it's a sort of big skyscraper.
"And that's where the prime minister's office is, one of the main newspapers is based there, and a lot of other government buildings.
"The whole area has been damaged, there's windows blown out in about a 1km radius, a lot of shock. And I can hear a lot of ambulance and police activity as well."
1606: US-based news broadcaster ABC is quoting US government sources as saying the explosion was caused by "a massive vehicle bomb".
1601: There are dramatic pictures on the front page of NRK's website - the public broadcaster reporting that one person has been killed in the blast.

Fault Lines Outsourced: Clinical trials overseas

As US pharmaceutical companies move their operations abroad, India has become a testing ground for trial medicines.

Instead of testing trial medicines on Americans, more and more of these tests are being carried out on poor people in faraway places. Russia, China, Brazil, Poland, Uganda and Romania are all hot spots for what is called clinical research or clinical trials.

Now employing CROs - or clinical research organisations - the industry is big business, worth as much as $30bn today.

One country has experienced a boom like no other in this industry - India. Spoken English, an established medical infrastructure, welcoming attitudes toward foreign industry and, most importantly, legions of poor, illiterate test subjects that are willing to try out new drugs have transformed the Indian landscape into a massive testing ground for pharmaceuticals.

Fault Lines' Zeina Awad travels to India to see what the clinical research practices look like on the ground. What role are the US regulatory bodies playing in overseeing the trials? Are participants aware that they are taking part in a clinical trial? Is the testing being held up against international ethical standards?

BARRIERS TO COVERAGE: High hurdles blocked reporting of Fukushima nuclear accident

The Asahi Shinbun today published an article demonstrating efforts by the Japanese government and TEPCO to impede reporting on the accident at the Daiichi-Fukushima nuclear power plant after the the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Japan claims to be bastion of free speech and a free press yet there a press clubs which prevent such rights from achieving full bloom.

An article from the March 13 edition pointed to an explosion at the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 plant as well as the possibility of a core meltdown after cooling functions were lost. The article was partly based on interviews with experts.

However, TEPCO and the central government refused to acknowledge that a core meltdown had occurred, saying that information from within the core was unavailable.

It was only in late May, more than two months after the nuclear accident, that TEPCO finally admitted to the possibility of a core meltdown based on data retrieved from the central control room at the nuclear plant.

Due to doubts about the reliability of the announcements made by TEPCO officials, Asahi reporters continued to contact current and retired TEPCO employees in the nuclear energy sector to get a better picture of the story.

What emerged from those interviews were questions about the safety design of the Fukushima No. 1 plant. That led to concerns about problems with the equipment at the plant as well as to the possibility that a lax forecast about what could occur during emergencies led to an expansion of the damage to the plant from the quake and tsunami.

Random Japan

GOTTA BOUNCE
After winning 10 straight national trampoline championships, 27-year-old Haruka Hirota decided to retire from the sport due to a rule change regarding how much time the athletes spend in the air.

Former Livedoor boss Takafumi Horie decided to go out in style, sporting a Mohawk haircut and wearing a T-shirt bearing the phrase “Go To Jail” as he began his prison sentence for fraud.

Forty-year-old tennis queen Kimiko Date Krumm gave Venus Williams a run for her money at Wimbledon, before finally bowing out 6-7 (6), 6-3, 8-6 in nearly three hours in the second round.
In Sapporo, four “Super Grandmas” aged between 75 and 88 set a world record in the 400-meter medley for swimmers with a combined age between 320 and 359 years. Their combined age was 322 years and they shaved a full 40 seconds off the record.

Doara, the popular mascot of the Chunichi Dragons baseball club, was sent down to the minor leagues to work on his flips after a few mishaps.

Yoshie Soma, a 69-year-old special adviser to the president of Kobe University, was named one of the “most distinguished women in chemistry and chemical engineering in the world” by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. She discovered a copper carbonyl catalyst in the 1960s that has been used in paint for cars and the bottom of ships.

Stats

300
People who responded when ex-engineer Yasuteru Yamada called for elderly “suicide corps” volunteers to help quell the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant

358,000
Foreign visitors to Japan in May, down 50.4 percent and the second largest year-on-year decline, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization

11
Prefectural governors, out of 47, who said nuclear power plants should be abolished or reduced in the future, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey

31
Governors polled who would not commit, choosing “none of the above” or not answering the question at all

KIDS TODAY

A 3-year-old girl in Osaka got behind the wheel of her mom’s Porsche SUV and drove into a supermarket, slightly injuring a woman.

The 17-year-old son of Yomiuri Giants slugger Alex Ramirez is pitching in a Kansai independent league this season. Young Alexander Ramirez says his goal is to strike out his old man one day.

Nineteen-year-old golf sensation Ryo Ishikawa had a few problems recently with his driving… in a car, that is. It was discovered that Ryo had been driving on an invalid international permit. He “humbly apologized,” bowed several times, and all was forgiven.

Certificates allowing free use of some highways in northern Japan were being advertised on the Yahoo Japan Auction website. The certificates were apparently issued by the mayor of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, and were intended for disaster victims.

France decided to destroy green tea leaves imported from Shizuoka “after detecting radioactive cesium at more than double the European Union’s limit.”

Headline of the Week: “Japan research team shows black hole at center of galaxy built of many black holes” (courtesy of the Mainichi Daily News).

Nippon Ham Fighters ace Yu Darvish uncorked a wild pitch as his scoreless innings streak came to an end in a 2-1 loss to the Hanshin Tigers. Darvish had tossed 46 innings without giving up a run.

Meanwhile, Chunichi Dragons reliever Hitoki Iwase set a new NPB saves record when he closed out the 287th game of his long and illustrious career.

The, “Atsui, nes?” were flying on June 22, the summer solstice, as the temperature hit 35 C or higher in 13 locations throughout Japan.

Bad Blood

Explains His Stupidity

Make Sure Your Lies

Are Happy Lies

Hey! I'm Busy

I Can't Possibly Stop

Kan under fire from his own team
Cabinet gets apology for flip-flop on reactor restart
By MASAMI ITO
Staff writer
Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologized to his Cabinet on Friday morning over the confusion he caused by his sudden order that "stress tests" be conducted on all nuclear power plants in Japan.

During a closed meeting with Cabinet ministers, various participants expressed dissatisfaction with Kan, who is now intent on holding the safety tests before now-idled reactors are restarted.

The administration scrambled to unify its policy and is expected to announce new safety guidelines, including the stress tests, as early as possible.

101 East An Ocean Divide

The Pacific Islands can appear like an idyllic palm-fringed paradise. But many of these tiny and isolated countries are struggling to survive, facing weak governance, unemployment and faltering economies.

They also face a health crisis - obesity. Until the mid-20th century, most Pacific islanders survived on a diet of fish, fruit and vegetables. But with globalisation and a more sedentary lifestyle, today the Pacific is home to eight of the 10 fattest countries on earth.

On this edition of 101 East, we ask: What is the future of the islands of the South Pacific

Who Gave Away Pakistan's Nuclear Secrets

In 2004 A.Q. Khan the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb was convicted of selling nuclear information needed to construct bombs to among others North Korea, Libya and Iran. Public out cry in Pakistan led granting A.Q. Khan a pardon.

On 5 February 2004, the day after Khan's televised confession, President Musharraf pardoned him. However, Khan remained under house arrest.[34]
The United States imposed no sanctions following the confession and pardon. U.S. officials said that in the War on Terrorism, it was not their goal to denounce or imprison people but "to get results." Sanctions on Pakistan or demands for an independent investigation of the Pakistan Armed Forces might have led to restrictions on or the loss of use of Pakistan Armed Forces bases needed by United States and NATO troops in Afghanistan. "It's just another case where you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," a U.S. government official explained.[citation needed] The U.S. also refrained from applying further direct pressure on Pakistan to disclose more about Khan's activities due to a strategic calculation that such pressure might topple President Musharraf.

In the last several days its been revealed that Pakistani generals may have been involved in the selling of these secrets.

The story of the world's worst case of nuclear smuggling took a new twist on Thursday when documents surfaced appearing to implicate two former Pakistani generals in the sale of uranium enrichment technology to North Korea in return for millions of dollars in cash and jewels handed over in a canvas bag and cardboard boxes of fruit.

The source of the documents is AQ Khan, who confessed in 2004 to selling parts and instructions for the use of high-speed centrifuges in enriching uranium to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

A.Q. Khan provided a letter written in English which can be read here

This is the letter purportedly written by Jon Byong Ho, a longtime confidante of the father and son who have ruled North Korea since 1948. Jon is an inside player who rarely travels and his signed documents have been seen by few officials outside North Korea, making it impossible to authenticate the letter with complete certainty.

But U.S. officials confirm that he long directed North Korea’s defense procurement and nuclear weapons efforts, putting him in a position to know the events the letter depicts.

Who really controls Pakistan? Is it the military or is it the intelligence services?

Some Western> intelligence officials and other experts have said that they think the letter is authentic and that it offers confirmation of a transaction they have long suspected but could never prove. Pakistani officials, including those named as recipients of the cash, have called the letter a fake. Khan, whom some in his country have hailed as a national hero, is at odds with many Pakistani officials, who have said he acted alone in selling nuclear secrets

Adm Mullen: Pakistan 'sanctioned Saleem Shahzad murder'

When Asia Times on Line South Asia correspondent Saleem Shahzad was killed many suspected that Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence(ISI) was complicit in the murder after he had published a story about al-Qaeda infiltration in Pakistan's navy.

Shahzad had reported that the military's relations to such groups were not based simply on their utility. Directing them into strategic directions may have been the approach of senior commanders, but younger officers recruited into the military over the years have had ideological affinities. This has dire potential consequences for the region and for Pakistan itself.

The New York Times reported in its July 7 edition that evidence existed tying the (ISI) to Shahzad's death.

New classified intelligence obtained before the May 29 disappearance of the journalist, Saleem Shahzad, 40, from the capital, Islamabad, and after the discovery of his mortally wounded body, showed that senior officials of the spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, directed the attack on him in an effort to silence criticism, two senior administration officials said.

The intelligence, which several administration officials said they believed was reliable and conclusive, showed that the actions of the ISI, as it is known, were “barbaric and unacceptable,” one of the officials said. They would not disclose further details about the intelligence.

Today Admiral Mike Mullen Chairman of America's Joint Chiefs of Staff implied that the Pakistani government played a role in the death of Mr. Shahzad.

Pakistan's government "sanctioned" the killing of journalist Saleem Shahzad, the top officer in the US military, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said.

But he said he could not confirm if the country's powerful intelligence agency, the ISI, was involved.

The Pakistani government called the statement "extremely irresponsible". The ISI has denied any involvement.

China Loves That Paranoia

China has blocked internet references to retired leader Jiang Zemin after rumours circulated that he had died.

Jiang also means river and internet searches for that word have returned a warning the search is illegal.

Rumours that 84-year-old Jiang Zemin was dead or dying resurfaced after he failed to appear at a key Communist Party event on Friday.

The censorship has prompted people to create cryptic postings about the man who led China for a dozen years.

Web censors have deleted domestic blog posts about Mr Jiang, blocked foreign media reports about his state of health and removed references to him from the country's Weibo microblogging service.

Jiang Zemin Dead and Loving It

This just in Jiang Zemin is still dead

Random Japan

BREAK OUT THE PARTY HATS
A Guinness World Record was set in Toyama when 1,566 people got together to play a game of tag.

JAXA’s unmanned probe Hayabusa, which spent five years collecting samples from a space rock named Itokawa, has been certified by Guinness “as the first spacecraft to have brought back materials from an asteroid.”

Meanwhile, a team of researchers from Tohoku University and NEC Corp announced that they have developed the world’s first “large-scale integrated circuit that requires no standby power.”

Last year was the first time since 2001 that the number of suicides in Japan fell below 32,000, according to the National Police Agency.

People in their 70s killed themselves at a lower rate in 2010 compared to a year ago, but folks in their 20s and 30s committed suicide more frequently.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso joined Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing to kick off the inaugural Japanese Film and TV Week, which aims to “promote cultural exchanges between young people from the two countries.”

According to London-based human resources firm ECA, Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world for expats, followed by Oslo, Nagoya, Stavanger (Norway), Yokohama, Zurich, Luanda (Angola), Kobe and Bern.

The Japanese, apparently, have not been drowning their sorrows in booze following the March 11 quake: beer shipments in May were the lowest on record.

The Japan Sumo Association agreed to “provisionally pay a salary” to a wrestler named Sokokurai, who was implicated in the recent bout-fixing scandal. The thing we really like about this story is that the Chinese wrestler’s original name is Enhetubuxin.

Stats

31
Percent of Americans who believe that Japan is the United States’ “most important partner in Asia,” according to a Gallup poll commissioned by the Japanese Foreign Ministry

39
Percent who said that China is most important

19.9
Percent of Tokyo-area residents who were unable to return home following the March 11 earthquake, according to a survey by the transport ministry

THE NUTTY NORTH
Executives from Hokkaido Air System admitted that one of their passenger planes came within 4 seconds of hitting the ground while attempting a landing at Okushiri Island last month. (Uh, aren’t you supposed to hit the ground when you land?)

A Sapporo man in his 50s who complained of chest pains died after the ambulance transporting him was directed to the wrong hospital by an emergency center controller.

The Hokkaido Railway Co. is said to be “examining the working conditions” of a train driver who was captured dozing on the job by a passenger with a cellphone camera.

I Belong To

The I Stop For No One Club

He Forgot

His Clothes

Adrift

But Never Lost

Rumored election about political power, not nuclear power, insiders say

BY AKIRA SATO ASAHI SHIMBUN WEEKLY AERA
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has baffled many by continuing to reject growing calls for his immediate resignation. But those who know the prime minister say his stubbornness was expected.

In fact, some say they wouldn't be surprised to see Kan resort to extreme measures to retain the nation's top post, despite indicating on June 2 that he would step down after a certain level of progress was made toward rebuilding after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Thailand opposition wins key election

The party allied to ousted and exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra has won a major victory in Thailand's general election, partial results show.

With most votes counted, outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva conceded victory to his rival, opposition leader Yingluck Shinawatra.

Ms Yingluck, who will become Thailand's first female prime minister, said there was "a lot of hard work ahead".

She is the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a coup in 2006.

With 92% of votes counted, Ms Yingluck's Pheu Thai party had won 260 seats, giving it a majority in the 500-seat parliament.

"It is now clear from the election results so far that the Pheu Thai party has won the election, and the Democrat Party concedes defeat," Mr Abhisit said on national TV.

Six In The Morning

Starvation returns to the Horn of Africa
Drought and war threaten millions with famine, as the refugee camps overflow .
By David Randall, Simon Murphy and Daud Yussuf in Kenya Sunday, 3 July 2011
In the Horn of Africa, unseen as yet by the world's television cameras, a pitiful trek of the hungry is taking place. Tens of thousands of children are walking for weeks across a desiccated landscape to reach refugee camps that are now overflowing. They are being driven there by one of the worst droughts in the region for 60 years which, combined with the war in Somalia and soaring food prices, is threatening a famine that could affect between eight and 10 million people.

The malnourished children, some of whom become separated from their parents on the way, are now arriving at the camps in northern Kenya at a rate of 1,200 every day.

Thailand's redshirts prepare for another poll victory
Rural poor hope for the return of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra after election
Tania Branigan
The Observer, Sunday 3 July 2011
Suk Somboon village turned red in the early hours of Thursday morning, when its 200 residents gathered and chanting monks made offerings. They tied scarlet thread around neighbours' wrists, put up flags along the roadside and erected a metal sign declaring their new status.

"It's a red district anyway. The point is the symbolism," said Kwanchai Praipana, a prominent redshirt leader from Thailand's Udon Thani province. "The aim is to show we want justice, democracy and Thaksin [Shinawatra] to return."

Biofuels land grab in Kenya's Tana Delta fuels talk of war

Jul 03 2011 06:11
Mohamed Abdi (13) points out where his hut used to be. His was the last of the 427 families to leave. "They told us we would be burned out if we didn't go," he said. "They drove machinery round and round the village all day and all night to drive people out. No one understood why, as the village had been there for more than 25 years."

The eviction of the villagers to make way for a sugar cane plantation is part of a wider land grab going on in Kenya's Tana Delta that is not only pushing people off plots they have farmed for generations, stealing their water resources and raising tribal tensions that many fear will escalate into war, but also destroying a unique wetland habitat that is home to hundreds of rare and spectacular birds.

Shelling, militant raids dog thaw with Afghanistan
Days ahead of the start of a drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan, Islamabad and Kabul are locked in fresh acrimony and tension over cross-border raids by militants into Pakistan and firing of mortar rounds.

By Baqir Sajjad Syed | From the Newspaper
The friction is threatening to undermine the recent improvement in relations between the two countries achieved after years of hostility, something that was being billed as this year’s only positive story on the foreign relations front other than revival of peace talks with India, which too have lately run into problems.

President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman Waheed Omar, talking to Dawn from Kabul, accused the Pakistan government of not responding to his country’s concerns about incidents of shelling of Afghan border areas.

As ranks of Mexico's missing swell, families clamor for help

By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers
MEXICO CITY — Gangsters may have claimed the lives of Maria Concepcion Vizarretea's three older brothers, but she doesn't know for sure, and her private agony is part of a larger drama that's unfolding across Mexico.

The brothers disappeared after a bus trip from Oaxaca state in Mexico's south to the northern border city of Matamoros to buy construction equipment. Vizarretea fears that they fell victim to violence by drug and criminal syndicates.

'The veterans' cemetery that America forgot'
Most of the grave markers in the Philippines cemetery have been half-buried for 20 years
By JIM GOMEZ
Walking along the rows of tombstones here offers a glimpse of the wars America has fought and the men and women who waged them.
But most of the grave markers have been half-buried for 20 years, and there is little hope that the volcanic ash obscuring names, dates and epitaphs will be cleared any time soon.
Clark Veterans Cemetery was consigned to oblivion in 1991, when Mount Pinatubo's gigantic eruption forced the U.S. to abandon the sprawling air base surrounding it.

Six In The Morning

China's Communists mull the party's future
The 90th anniversary celebration has some bemoaning the changes time has wrought. Oh, for the days when a man could hang a portrait of Mao above his couch.
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times
Want to know what happens these days within a Chinese Communist Party cell?

Party members at the Jinxin Garden apartments get together once a month to discuss their volunteer projects, like raising money for earthquake victims and preventing neighborhood robberies. Or they plan excursions, such as a trip last week from their southern Beijing suburb to the Olympic stadium for a concert honoring the party's 90th anniversary.
If it sounds as exotic as the Rotary Club, that's precisely the problem. The 90-year milestone, celebrated Friday, prompts the question of how an ideology born out of the class struggles of 19th century Europe can remain relevant in the 21st century. By surviving to the age of 90, is the party a testament to endurance or is it merely old and in the way?

Syria defies Assad with largest protests so far
Regime looks increasingly embattled as security forces open fire on crowds of hundreds of thousands. Khalid Ali reports
Saturday, 2 July 2011
The Syrian regime was looking increasingly isolated yesterday as hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in some of the largest rallies of the uprising, despite an unprecedented attempt by President Bashar al-Assad to reach out to his political opponents.

Marchers massed in city squares up and down the country, facing the bullets of Mr Assad's security forces, with at least nine people reported killed. A video posted on YouTube showed residents from a town in north-west Syria – a region which has been subject to a relentless army operation using tanks, troops and helicopter gunships – chanting "Bashar is a vampire" and holding anti-government placards.

Palestinians trapped in a limbo between an unsustainable present and an uncertain future
The Irish Times - Saturday, July 2, 2011
MICHAEL JANSEN in Ramallah
RAMALLAH HAS grown a forest of white stone-faced high-rises over the past year. The small West Bank town has turned into a bustling but uneasy city. A city waiting for something, anything to happen.

Traffic in the city centre was gridlocked at a sandy junction under construction because a taxi driver decided to leave his car in the middle of the street while he popped into a shop. No policeman was in sight. Like the hooting cars, the peace process is stuck in a jam, and the cars’ Palestinian passengers, longing for an end to the 44-year-old Israeli occupation, are in limbo, confused and frustrated.

End of an era as Germany's compulsory military conscription finishes


Alan Cowell
July 2, 2011

BERLIN: Germany formally discontinued the draft at midnight on Thursday to make way for a smaller army that will draw people such as Johannes Beckert and Steven Stadler, both volunteers signing up for duty at a suburban recruitment centre that once housed the East German military's overseas espionage agency.

The two men are part of a military evolution spanning more than half a century, from rearmament in the divided Germany of the 1950s through to the Cold War, which placed hundreds of thousands of young German soldiers on either side of the Iron Curtain and on to a reunification that was not just geographic and political but also created a single army bonded by conscription.

Editor, journalist freed on bail in Zimbabwe

HARARE, ZIMBABWE
Nevanji Madanhire, editor of the Standard independent weekly, and reporter Patience Nyangove were arrested on Wednesday after they published a story about a minister being detained. They are accused of defaming police after an article in the paper quoted people fearing for the safety of a government minister in police custody.

Nyangove was released on Wednesday and Madanhire was freed late on Thursday, but they were ordered to appear in court early Friday for their official bail release hearing, said defence attorney Linda Cook.

Greece puts halt to Gaza flotilla in a win for Israel
The Greek coastguard escorted a US boat seeking to join the Gaza flotilla back to port and said it will stop all other attempted departures. It looks like a big diplomatic victory for Benjamin Netanyahu.
By Dan Murphy, Staff writer
A boat carrying a contingent of US activists seeking to join a flotilla of protesters against Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip were turned back by armed Greek commandos about 30 miles out of Athens today, in a major blow to the group and an apparent diplomatic victory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


The US boat was carrying about 50 Americans, among them Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein. As of the late evening in Greece, the boat was being detained at a Greek coastguard port.

Last year, a larger effort challenging the Gaza blockade ended in tragedy, when Israeli soldiers killed eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American when they boarded the Mavi Marmara in international waters near Gaza. Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent its Islamist rulers, Hamas, from getting weapons that could be used against Israel.

Thai's Go To The Polls On Sunday

On Sunday Thailand will go to the polls to elect the next Prime Minister which will be its 26th since 1932 ending centuries of rule by an absolute monarchy. In that time there have been 17 constitutions and 18 military coups not all of which have been successful. 2006 saw the Thai military remove former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai party from government.

Sunday’s election will be contested by Yingluck Shinawatra who is the younger sister of Thaksin Shinawatra.

Yingluck has pursued a corporate career, formerly as managing director of Advanced Info Service (AIS), the country's largest mobile phone operator, and managing director of SC Asset Company, a family-run real-estate firm.
She holds two degrees in politics: bachelors from Chiang Mai in north Thailand, and masters from Kentucky State University in the US.
On paper her experience in politics may seem insufficient but her primary political qualification seems to be her blood relations as the ninth child in a highly political family.

Supporters of Thai Rak Thai are know as Red Shirts who come from the rural north of Thailand occupying the lower rungs of the social economic ladder.

Opposing her is current Prime Minister Abhist Vejjajiva since 2008 upon his appointment to the office.

Distinctly upper-class, Mr Abhisit hails from a wealthy family of Thai-Chinese origin. Both his parents were medical professors.
He was born in the British city of Newcastle in August 1964 and educated at England's top public school, Eton. He then went on to gain a degree in politics, philosophy and economics (PPE) at Oxford University.
Mr Abhisit's support is drawn mainly from southern Thailand and from Bangkok's educated middle-classes. He has had less success in attracting the support of working class and rural Thais.

Mr. Abhisit’s supporters are know as Yellow Shirts

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) (Thai: พันธมิตรประชาชนเพื่อประชาธิปไตย) also called the National Liberation Alliance - กลุ่มพันธมิตรกู้ชาติ, Thai Patriots Network or the Yellow Shirts - เสื้อเหลือง - was originally a coalition of protesters against Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand.[1] Its leaders include media-mogul Sondhi Limthongkul and Major General Chamlong Srimuang. The PAD was a chief player in the Thailand political crisis of 2005 to 2006, the 2008 crisis, and the Cambodian–Thai border stand-off. The PAD consists of mainly of royalist upper and middle-class Bangkokians and Southerners, supported by the conservative factions of the Thai Army, some leaders of Democrat Party, and members of state-enterprise labor unions.[2][3]
The PAD was formed to lead demonstrations against the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. Two days after a military junta's 2006 military coup overthrew Thaksin's government, the PAD voluntarily dissolved after announcing that its goals had been accomplished.[4] The PAD re-established itself after Thaksin-affiliated parties, led by Samak Sundaravej's People's Power Party (PPP), won a plurality in the 2007 general election.

Six In The Morning

Revealed: British government's plan to play down Fukushima
Internal emails seen by Guardian show PR campaign was launched to protect UK nuclear plans after tsunami in Japan
Rob Edwards
guardian.co.uk,

British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and before the extent of the radiation leak was known.

Internal emails seen by the Guardian show how the business and energy departments worked closely behind the scenes with the multinational companies EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse to try to ensure the accident did not derail their plans for a new generation of nuclear stations in the UK.

Read The Emails Here

Extreme weather link 'can no longer be ignored'
Scientists to end 20-year reluctance with study into global warming and exceptional weather events
By Steve Connor, Science Editor Friday, 1 July 2011
Scientists are to end their 20-year reluctance to link climate change with extreme weather – the heavy storms, floods and droughts which often fill news bulletins – as part of a radical departure from a previous equivocal position that many now see as increasingly untenable.

Climate researchers from Britain, the United States and other parts of the world have formed a new international alliance that aims to investigate exceptional weather events to see whether they can be attributable to global warming caused by

Damascus vibrations ripple in Baghdad

By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS - For a variety of overlapping reasons, the situation in Syria is very alarming to Iraqis from every end of the political spectrum.

For starters, approximately 1 million Iraqis currently live in Syria, all of whom fled the mayhem in their country in 2003. They are worried that if security breaks down in Syria, or if the state can no longer accommodate them, they would have to unwillingly return home - where a very uncertain future awaits them.

A country that now has refugees on the border with Turkey will have a hard time absorbing refugees on its own territories - and certainly not Iraqi refugees.

Hu warns Chinese Communist Party
Chinese President Hu Jintao has warned members of the ruling Communist Party that corruption could cost them the support and trust of the people.



Mr Hu made the comments in an address in the Great Hall of the People in the capital, Beijing, marking the 90th anniversary of founding of the party.

He praised its achievements since taking power in 1949, but said members had to be more disciplined than ever.

The party is the biggest in the world, with 80 million members.

In the months leading up to the anniversary, the authorities launched their biggest crackdown against dissidents in almost 20 years.

Germany Approves End to the Nuclear Era
A Revolution for Renewables

Germany's federal parliament, the Bundestag, passed a historic package of laws Thursday that commits the nation -- once and for all -- to a phase-out of nuclear power by 2022. The step is unprecedented in Europe, and it marks the final act in a decades-long political drama that began with a grassroots anti-nuclear movement in the 1970s, which gave rise to the German Green Party.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has led the charge against nuclear power only since March, but the Bundestag this morning voted overwhelmingly to close Germany's remaining nine active plants according to a fixed, 11-year schedule. The vote was 513:79, with eight abstentions. Many of the "no" votes came from the Left Party, which argued for a swifter timeline.

Reluctance to engage in hotel battle raises questions of Afghan preparedness

Alissa Rubin
July 1, 2011
KABUL: Nazir Amini, an Afghan visiting from his home in Germany, had just come back from the buffet with a bowl of ice-cream when he saw two men armed with an AK-47 rifle and a machinegun emerge and start shooting at guests seated around the pool at the Intercontinental Hotel, one of the capital's most fortified buildings.

Women and their children screamed. Chairs tipped backwards. Food slid onto the lawn as people started to run. Mr Amini said he saw police officers running, too, gripping their AK-47s as they raced from the gunmen.