World News

Washington Post | Tajikistan’s authoritarian leader has approved a law barring minors from praying in mosques as his secular government seeks to minimize the rising influence of Islam in the Central Asian nation.

Daily Telegraph | Assistant police commissioner Mark Murdoch did not confirm whether the 18-year-old girl was a victim of an extortion attempt - instead he said police were still unsure what they were dealing with.  "We don't know what we are dealing with...we are working very hard to find out exactly what it is, and equally important, what it isn't," Mr Murdoch said.

NPR | The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad continued its bloody offensive against protesters today. On Sunday, government forces shelled the city of Hama and human rights groups said there were as many as 142 people dead.

Russia Today | Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in seven cities across Israel, and their social slogans are rapidly being replaced by the calls for the government to step down. The biggest rally is underway in Tel Aviv with around 150,000 people having gathered at the "Tahrir Square of Israel." Police have arrested several activists who were blocking roads in the centre of Tel Aviv, calling for Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to quit over government policies.

The International Herald Tribune | Mubashir shot the girls after their brother said two of them were in a relationship. He told police officials that he had killed his daughters because they were both “without honour”. The man said his daughters Sameena, 14, and Razia, 16, were in a relationship with college boys from the neighbourhood and the sisters had helped each other

Mondoweiss | Why should the Palestinian people be forced to languish yet another year — or even one more day — under foreign occupation? They should not and they must not. This is the time to end the Israeli occupation. This is the time for Palestine’s independence.

The Guardian | Interviewed on a popular radio show, Francesco Speroni, a leading member of the Northern League, the junior partner in Berlusconi's conservative coalition, said: "Breivik's ideas are in defence of western civilisation."

BBC | Israel is suing a group of Bedouin in the Negev desert for the costs of demolishing their village each time they rebuild it.  The claim for more than $500,000 in damages was lodged at an Israeli court on Tuesday.  Israel's justice ministry says the aim is to "maintain the rule of law and the public purse".

Alternet | Approximately 30,000 protesters marched in Tel Aviv last night, with social justice activists blocking central streets and chants of "Mubarak. Assad. Netanyahu" filling the air.  Tel Aviv police arrested 42 activists, which is an extremely rare number, "if not unprecedented," according to +972 Magazine, which has been closely following the circumstances surrounding the sudden rise of Israel's progressive left.

Antiwar | On Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at the Ministry of Interior conference hall in Tehran, newly elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a program, reportedly attended by thousands, titled "The World Without Zionism."

Spiegel | Beate Greithanner, a dairy farmer, is barefoot as she walks up the lush meadows of the Doblberg, a mountain in Bavaria set against a backdrop of snow-capped Alpine peaks. She stops and points to a hole in the ground. "This is where the cow was grazing," she says. "Suddenly she fell in, up to her hips."

Express | Two of Britain’s leading former police officers are wanted for questioning over allegations that they withheld crucial evidence about the car crash which killed Princess Diana.  A French judge wants to ask ex-Yard chief Lord Condon and Sir David Veness why they failed to disclose the existence of a note in which she predicted her assassination.

Daily Mail | Two ambulance crews arrived at the scene within five minutes and a paramedic on a bicycle also attended, according to a spokeswoman.  'Sadly the patient had died,' she added.  In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: 'Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square NW1 shortly before 16.05hrs today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased.

Montreal Gazette | Saying they must battle a "wave of repression" that is sweeping the province, students took the Montreal police force to task on Monday for turning student protesters into criminals with the recent arrests of four activists months after a demonstration against tuition-fee hikes.

Cracked.com | We live in a culture that doesn't exactly value anonymity. It's difficult to grab lunch at a drive-through without having to check in on at least three social media sites, for example.  To get an idea of how much things have changed, there are some people who have become world-famous icons, but whose names no one knows. We only know them as ...

Human Rights Watch | The Knesset passed the "Bill for Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel Through Boycott - 2011" by a vote of 47 to 38 late in the evening of July 11, 2011. It was proposed by a member of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud party. The law threatens lawsuits and damages, and could strip human rights and civil society groups of their tax-exempt status, forcing them to shut down. That would violate their right to freedom of association and expression, Human Rights Watch said.

New York Times | Critics and civil rights groups denounced the new law as antidemocratic and a flagrant assault on the freedom of expression and protest. The law’s defenders said it was a necessary tool in Israel’s fight against what they called its global delegitimization.

Human Rights Watch | (Washington, DC) - Overwhelming evidence of torture by the Bush administration obliges President Barack Obama to order a criminal investigation into allegations of detainee abuse authorized by former President George W. Bush and other senior officials, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Obama administration has failed to meet US obligations under the Convention against Torture -- to investigate acts of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, Human Rights Watch said.

Guardian | Iraqi children talk to a British serviceman in Basra: the court ruled that as an occupying force, the UK had a responsibilty to investigate abuse claims.  Britain was an occupying power after the invasion of Iraq and failed to carry out effective investigations into the killing of civilians, the European court of human rights has ruled.

Guardian | When Greek authorities prevented the US ship the Audacity of Hope leaving its port in Athens this week, they dealt a blow to a group of brave and principled Americans who were trying to carry thousands of letters from US citizens to those who wait on Gaza's shores.

Reuters | The demonstration, which included secular political parties and human rights groups, came days after Islamists attacked a movie audience and smashed the doors of a cinema to protest against the film "No God, No Master" by Tunisian-French director Nadia El-Fani, an outspoken critic of political Islam.

Middle East Monitor | A bold ruling by South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dismissed all complaints relating to a radio advert which called for a boycott of Israel and compared the Zionist state to Apartheid South Africa. The ruling referred to a message broadcast on South African Broadcasting Company's station 5fm by the lead guitarist of Faithless in support of the South African Artists Against Apartheid collective.

Foreign Policy | Since the first few Julian Assange-saturated months of 2011, the U.S. media have largely moved on to Arab revolutions and other sex scandals. But WikiLeaks has continued releasing embassy cables -- fewer than 16,000 of the more than 250,000 have been published so far.

Reuters | Nasser Abul, a Kuwaiti Shi'ite Muslim, was arrested for posting criticisms of the Sunni Muslim ruling families in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and Lawrence al-Rashidi posted defamatory comments of Kuwait's emir, he said.

Al Jazeera | The captain of a US ship bound for Gaza has been arrested by Greek authorities for a felony after being brought before a prosecutor, activists have told Al Jazeera.  The boat, which is part of a Freedom Flotilla aiming to break Israel's blockage of the Palestinian territory, set sail on Friday from the Greek port of Perama was towed back to shore by the Greek coast guard.

This is Devon | The Masons have transformed what they described as a derelict four-acre plot into a haven of self-sufficiency boasting a 400 sq m allotment, a polytunnel and greenhouses to grow fruit and vegetables, chickens for egg production and an orchard they have regenerated by planting around 14 new apple trees of various species.

Jerusalem Post | The Israel Navy is gearing up to stop a flotilla that plans to run the blockade of the Gaza Strip this week, amid predictions that violence will be minimal after Turkey’s IHH organization – behind the Mavi Marmara last year – withdrew from the initiative.

Haaretz | The Palestinian Authority officially announced Sunday its intention to turn to the United Nations in September in an effort to attain recognition of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders.  The announcement came at the conclusion of a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, who urged the world to support the Palestinians in this endeavor.

CNN | An Egyptian executive accused of sexually abusing an employee at a luxury hotel in New York pleaded guilty Friday to sex abuse in the third degree and will also face a $5 million lawsuit tied to the case, his attorney said.  Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Omar, 74, the chairman of a salt company who once headed an Egyptian bank, had originally been charged with sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, forcible touching and harassment

New Zealand Stuff | Police said they had started a criminal investigation into the activities of Patrick O'Brien after he wrote to Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias and former Police Commissioner Howard Broad, saying he was racked with guilt after carrying a "dreadful secret" for more than 30 years.

BBC | "The chamber convicts Pauline Nyiramasuhuko of conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, extermination, rape, persecution and... violence to life and outrages upon personal dignity," read the ruling by the trial's three judges.

Think Progress | Earlier this week, Apple announced that it would pull an iPhone app published by a group of Palestinian activists calling for a third intifada (Arabic for uprising). The banning of the app came after complaints from the Israeli government and allied activists. In explaining the decision, an Apple spokesman said it violated “the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people” — likely because it protested Israeli policies and helped organize protests against that country’s military presence.

Russia Today | The US Department of Homeland Security wants free access to credit card details, phone numbers and the home addresses of all transatlantic passengers as part of its anti-terror measures. The Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreement that is under scrutiny is said to serve this purpose.

Daily Mail | They were among 45 killed when the plane's lights failed in heavy fog and careered into a motorway in north-west Russia before bursting into flames - leading conspiracy theorists to believe it was a deliberate plot to kill the nuclear experts.

The Diplomat | In its short dispatch, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that Ai had been released by Beijing police 'because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes as well as a chronic disease he suffers from.' It added that the police also took into consideration 'the fact that Ai has repeatedly said he is willing to pay the taxes he evaded.'

Palestine Chronicle | The move by the municipality of Petah Tikva, a city close to Tel Aviv, is the latest in a series of separate -- and little discussed -- initiatives from official bodies, rabbis, private organisations and groups of Israeli residents to try to prevent interracial dating and marriage.

Tech Dirt | We already mentioned the attempt by the US to extradite Richard O'Dwyer, a UK student who ran TVShack.net and TVShack.cc, both of which were seized by ICE. Unfortunately, most of the press reports out of the UK lacked details, and I wasn't even entirely sure that an actual attempt at extradition had been made, or if there was just fear on the part of the O'Dwyer family.

Zero Paid | It’s unlikely that when O’Dwyer started TVShack, he imagined that he would face extradition demands from the US. That’s exactly what is happening today. TVShack.net was the original domain for the website. It was a fairly popular website for people to find links to things like TV shows

Ynet News | A Jerusalem rabbinical court recently sentenced a wandering dog to death by stoning. The cruel sentence stemmed from the suspicion that the spirit of a famous secular lawyer, who insulted the court's judges 20 years ago, had been transferred into the dog's body. Several weeks ago, according to the Behadrei Hadarim website, a large dog entered the Monetary Affairs Court near the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim

During the 2011 Vancouver Riot, people were smashing a high-tec mini car with solar panels and etc. A man stops them saying "This is our city, what are you doing?" He gives a good message. They almost fight after

Raw Story | The most well-known hacker group, Anonymous, uploaded a video message to youtube yesterday calling for Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to resign, among other things. It's embedded below.  The video begins with Bernanke saying he is 100% confident of his ability to control the income disparity in the U.S. -- the largest of any industrialized country in the world -- on 60 Minutes.

Independent | In a revelation that is stirring anger on Capitol Hill and among Iraqi officials in Baghdad, the office that was created by the Bush administration to monitor efforts to get Iraq on its feet after the 2003 invasion is saying that $6.6bn (€4.6bn) all delivered in cash, cannot be accounted for.

Independent | Student Alfie Meadows had to have emergency brain surgery from head injuries he received during a tuition fees protest in December. Today the 21-year-old goes to court on charges of violent disorder at the same demonstration, and faces up to five years in prison.

The Nation | The United States, the European Union and the United Nations decided to support Haiti’s recent presidential and parliamentary elections despite believing that the country’s electoral body, “almost certainly in conjunction with President Preval,” had “emasculated the opposition” by unwisely and unjustly excluding the country’s largest party, according to a secret US Embassy cable.

Dutch News | A 96-year-old woman has admitted murdering a man suspected of collaborating with the German occupiers during World War II.  The woman has written to the mayor of Leiden admitting to the murder of Leiden engineer Felix Guljé in March 1946. Guljé was suspected of economic collaboration but found not guilty in court.

Haaretz | Jewish-American actor Leonard Nimony, noted for his portrayal of Mr. Spock in the TV classic Star Trek, has urged Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace agreement based on the two-state solution, warning Americans against the continued and direct effect recent Mideast turmoil could have on their daily lives.

Independent | Children have been going missing from State care and ending up working as sex slaves in brothels for at least three years, leaked US embassy cables reveal.  Health Service Executive (HSE) officials made the shocking admission during a private briefing of diplomats from the American Embassy in Dublin.

This is how some Israelis choose to celebrate the "reunion of Jerusalem", by spitting at Arabs, by standing in front of Mosque and shout loud and clear "Death to Arabs", " Muhammad is dead", " Butcher the Arabs", " I hate all Arabs" and " Listen well you Arabs ! we don't want any making-up ! the refrain will always continue, May your village burn down, May your village burn down !".

Guardian | The former head of Israel's spy service has launched an unprecedented attack on the country's current government, describing it as "irresponsible and reckless", and has praised Arab attempts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Huffington Post | A new report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy argues that the decades-old "global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." The 24-page paper will be released Thursday.