Governors Voice Grave Concerns on Immigration
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: July 11, 2010
BOSTON – In a private meeting with White House officials this weekend, Democratic governors voiced deep anxiety about the Obama administration’s suit against Arizona’s new immigration law, worrying that it could cost a vulnerable Democratic Party in the fall elections.
While the weak economy dominated the official agenda at the summer meeting here of the National Governors Association, concern over immigration policy pervaded the closed-door session between Democratic governors and White House officials and simmered throughout the three-day event.
Too Hollyweird for Hollywood? David Lynch asks fans to help fund his movies
By Arifa Akbar, Arts Correspondent Monday, 12 July 2010
There used to be a time when a filmmaker had a clever idea, took it to a Hollywood studio executive and, by the end of a long lunch, had secured enough money to make their next movie.For lesser known film directors, this process involved a few more begging bowls being taken to a few more financiers and subsidising bodies. But still it usually worked.
But now in the credit crunched climate of tightened belts and attenuated film funds, film-makers are turning to a new model: “crowd funding”.
USA
Historic oil spill fails to produce gains for U.S. environmentalists
By David A. Fahrenthold and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 12, 2010
For environmentalists, the BP oil spill may be disproving the maxim that great tragedies produce great change.
Traditionally, American environmentalism wins its biggest victories after some important piece of American environment is poisoned, exterminated or set on fire. An oil spill and a burning river in 1969 led to new anti-pollution laws in the 1970s. The Exxon Valdez disaster helped create an Earth Day revival in 1990 and sparked a landmark clean-air law.
Canada’s economy can teach the U.S. a thing or two
The United States will probably take years to recover from the global recession and credit crunch, economists say, but its northern neighbor is back in fine shape.
By Don Lee, Los Angeles Times
July 11, 2010 | 8:26 p.m.
Reporting from Washington – –
Whatever else they’ve thought about their much smaller neighbor to the north, Americans have almost never looked to Canada as a role model.Indeed, during the long, bitter push to revamp the U.S. healthcare system, opponents repeatedly warned that, if we weren’t careful, we could end up with a medical system like Canada’s.
But on healthcare, as well as on such critical issues as the deficit, unemployment, immigration and prospering in the global economy, Canada seems to be outperforming the United States. And in doing so, it is offering examples of successful strategies that Americans might consider.
Europe
EU misjudges pensions
The European Union faces the twin challenges of elderly populations and crippling public debt.
By Telegraph View
Published: 7:26AM BST 12 Jul 2010
The European Union faces the twin challenges of elderly populations and crippling public debt. One of the ways of meeting them is to cut the cost of pensions. Last week the Greek parliament approved a bill that will raise the retirement age to 65 for all its workers. Britain, Germany and Spain all intend to increase it still further. The one notable laggard is France, which plans a gradual rise from 60 to 62 by 2018.
The European Commission has been to the fore in pointing out that the demographic profile of Europe makes present arrangements unsustainable; it estimates that by 2060 there will be two people of working age for every EU citizen of 65 or over, compared to a ratio of four to one in 2008. Yet EU institutions are hardly setting a shining example, as our story from Brussels today reveals.
Spain lifts first World Cup, beating Netherlands
Andres Iniesta scored the goal which finally settled the World Cup final. Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0, with the Barcelona man netting late in extra-time, after 90 minutes failed to produce a goal.
WORLD CUP | 11.07.2010
Spain has won its first World Cup, overcoming the Netherlands at Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg. Vicente del Bosque’s team, favorites before the tournament began, confirmed their place at the top of the soccer world, two years after claiming the 2008 European Championship.Andres Iniesta scored the extra-time goal which secured the prize. The Barcelona midfielder collected a pass from Cesc Fabregas and fired a right-foot shot that beat Maarten Stekelenburg in the Dutch goal.
The breakthrough came in the 116th minute of the game. “It’s incredible,” said Iniesta after the match. “There aren’t the words to describe what I am feeling.”
Middle East
Imam arrested for painting Saddam Hussein’s name on mosque
The imam of the main mosque in Saddam Hussein’s former stronghold Tikrit has been arrested for spray-painting the late dictator’s name on the mosque.
Published: 7:00AM BST 12 Jul 2010
Imam Jumaa Issa Addahima “was arrested for writing the name of Saddam Hussein on the wall of the mosque and will be tried on Sunday,” a spokesman for police in the northern province of Salaheddin said.
The imam, a former Iraqi soldier under Saddam, was arrested on Thursday on the street outside his home and taken to police headquarters, his family said.
Erected as the Great Saddam Mosque in 2002, the imposing building was renamed the Great Tikrit Mosque after the former president was ousted following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
But the imam rejected the new name, according to a source in his family.
Israeli navy braced for criticism
MONDAY, JULY 12, 2010
An Israeli military report into the deadly raid on a flotilla of aid ships heading for the Gaza Strip is expected to heavily criticise the Israeli navy, but will not call for disciplinary actions against any officers, according to Israeli media.An investigation by an army committee, to be made public on Monday, will reportedly accuse navy officers of failing to sufficiently consider the possibility that they would face resistance when they boarded the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara on May 31.
Asia
Japan’s ruling party takes severe drubbing in upper house election
By David McNeill in Tokyo Monday, 12 July 2010
Japan’s voters have fired a warning shot across the bows of Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s coalition government, slashing its upper-house majority and dealing him a potentially fatal political blow just a month after he took office.With results still coming in from yesterday’s election, exit polls suggest that Mr Kan’s Democratic Party (DPJ) will fall well short of its 54-seat target, even with the help of its coalition partner, the People’s New Party.
The election is the first since the DPJ dramatically ended over half a century of nearly uninterrupted conservative rule last September when it swept the Liberal Democrats from power.
China worries about losing its character(s)
More and more Chinese are realizing they can’t remember exactly how to write a given character.
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times
July 12, 2010
Reporting from Beijing – Texting and typing are replacing the elaborate strokes that make up written Chinese. And when it comes time to jot down a few words, more Chinese are realizing they can’t remember exactly how.For Ma Silang, the long descent into forgetfulness began after he graduated from high school, went off to London for three years to study photography and bought his first computer.
Now the 30-year-old fashion photographer, a native Beijinger, has such difficulty writing in his mother tongue that the other day when he was scribbling a shopping list for himself he suddenly realized that he had forgotten one of two characters that make up the Chinese word for “shampoo.”
Africa
Uganda bomb blasts kill dozens of World Cup spectators
Group linked to al-Qaida suspected of co-ordinating explosions in Kampala, killing at least 64 people and injuring scores
Xan Rice in Nairobi
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 09.28 BST
Co-ordinated explosions killed at least 64 people who were watching the World Cup final in the Ugandan capital Kampala last night.At least one American died in the attacks, which have been blamed on Somali Islamists. The US president, Barack Obama, called the blasts “deplorable and cowardly”.
The first bomb detonated at 10.25pm (8.25pm GMT) at the Ethiopian Village restaurant, which is popular with foreigners, killing 15 people. About 50 minutes later twin blasts then tore through the Lugogo rugby club, where crowds were watching the match on a large television screen, killing 49 people. At least 67 people were wounded.
South Africans want a crime-free World Cup to become everyday life
It is not just visitors who were pleasantly surprised – South Africans themselves no longer fear each other. Daniel Howden reports
Monday, 12 July 2010
It’s a sunny afternoon in Soweto. A gaggle of gossiping ladies are perched on a wall within hailing distance of Nelson Mandela’s former home. The only thing that marks them out from the mix of locals and tourists wandering the length of Vilakazi Street is their navy blue uniforms. The women are police officers from JMPD – the Johannesburg police. They’re chatting because there’s nothing else to do.Last night, the country was overjoyed to see Madiba step out before the final and greet fans, driving across the field of play in a golf cart with his wife, Graca.
Latin America
Former Farc hostage sues Colombia for $6.8m
Ingrid Betancourt, freed from rebel group in 2008, says state removed her bodyguards and failed to stop her being kidnapped
Reuters in Bogota
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 08.25 BST
Colombia’s government took Ingrid Betancourt’s bodyguards away as she was about to drive into a jungle area filled with guerrillas, the former hostage said yesterday, outlining the reasons for her multimillion-dollar demand against the state.The one-time presidential candidate, held in rebel camps from early 2002 to mid 2008 before she was freed in a military rescue, angered Colombians on Friday when it emerged that she is suing the state for $6.8m (£4.5m) in damages.
She played that down in a television interview on Sunday, saying the money was “symbolic”. But she insisted the state failed to protect her while she was running for president.