Where Obama failed on forging peace in the Middle East
By Scott Wilson, Sunday, July 15, 12:57 PM
It was their first meeting with the new president, and the dozen or so Jewish leaders picked to attend had made an agreement among themselves: No arguing – either with each other or their host.
The pledge would be hard to keep.
Five weeks earlier, President Obama had traveled to Cairo to ask for a “new beginning” between his government and an Islamic world angry about the United States’ wars in two Muslim nations and its perceived favoritism toward Israel. Now, he was calling in these influential Jewish leaders to explain his thinking on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Libor scandal – the net widens
Former Barclays’ employees could also be questioned by parliamentary banking inquiry
MARK LEFTLY SUNDAY 15 JULY 2012
MPs and peers are understood to be concerned about revelations from the Financial Services Authority that many of those involved in fixing the Libor rate used to work at Barclays, which was fined £291m for its involvement and saw its chief executive, Bob Diamond, quit earlier this month.
Libor is the average interest rate at which banks say they would lend to each other. It is set through regular submissions to the British Bankers’ Association and forms the basis of lending rates the world over, so if one or more of the banks change their submissions the average moves, altering the market.
Indian campaign confronts fear of baby girls
Dowries are being blamed for female foeticide.
Helen Pidd July 15, 2012
ELSEWHERE it would have been front-page news: a couple on the run after being caught trying to bury their newborn baby girl alive. But in India, where there are now 914 girls for every 1000 boys, the case last week in Dausa, Rajasthan, warranted just 300 cursory words on an inside page.
”Yet another incident of apathy towards the girl child,” said the Deccan Herald.
Call it apathy, call it attempted murder. The fact is, said Zaheer Abbas, ”most Indians are preoccupied with trying to eat two meals a day” – and not fretting about how the country’s sex ratio has become the worst since independence in 1947.
African Union urges speedy transition in coup-wracked Mali
African leaders on Saturday called for a speedier political transition in Mali where the interim government is struggling to tackle Islamist militants holding the vast desert north.
Sapa-AFP | 15 7月, 2012 08:23
sThe leaders of Sudan and South Sudan, grappling with long-running disputes over oil and their common border, were seen to shake hands after private talks, their first meeting since fighting between the two countries ended.
The African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) called for the “effective dissolution” of Mali’s former junta and an end to their “unacceptable interference” in the transitional process.
Wikipedia: Meet the men and women who write the articles
Now in its 11th year, Wikipedia is one of the most popular sites on the internet and has revolutionised the way humans across the world access information.
The system of sites holds 22 million articles in 282 languages. Individual language Wikipedias range in size from four million articles for English down to Fijian, Chamorro, Akan, Xhosa and others with fewer than 150.
The pages are written and maintained by a force of 85,000 volunteers across the world, and hundreds of the most die-hard Wikipedians gathered in Washington DC this week for the annual Wikimania conference.
Haiti earthquake camps clearing out; problems now become hidden
Many Haitians displaced by the 2010 earthquake are moving to crowded homes or slums. Others fare better with a rental subsidy, but it’s temporary.
By Allyn Gaestel, Los Angeles Times
July 15, 2012PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Facing the crumpled remnants of the national palace, an expansive plaza is punctuated by trees, benches and statues of Haitian heroes. Students read in the shade, women gossip, children play soccer.
This serene picture in Port-au-Prince’s central square might seem ordinary, but it is not. After a massive earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital on Jan. 12, 2010, about 5,000 displaced people took shelter on the square, turning it into a crowded and dangerous new neighborhood.
Now, 2 1/2 years later, the plaza known as Champs de Mars has been cleared, save for a few straggling tents.
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