Death of 3 Muslims spurs public outrage: Police in Britain's second largest city Birmingham face public outrage after suspicious death of three Muslim men that were run down by a car when trying to protect their fellow community members during the persisting unrest. Birmingham Asian community decided to defend their properties during the angry protests after the police appeared to have lost control over the climbing violence. The police in the city have announced a murder inquiry into the incident that took place early on Wednesday and have arrested a man suspected of killing the three men. Witnesses said the three were hit by a speeding car outside a mosque in the Winson Green area of the city. One of them died on the scene and the two others died after they were transported to a hospital. The men were apparently members of an 80-strong group that were tasked with patrolling Dudley Road throughout Tuesday night for fear of unrest affecting their community members due to the failure of police to contain the raging violence. Reports indicate that some 200 people from Birmingham's Asian community held a vigil outside the hospital where the victims were taken for treatment. The police said they are working on the incident as a triple murder investigation and have so far arrested a 32-year-old man in connection with the case, adding that they are tracing other people likely to have been involved in the apparent hit-and-run case. [PressTV]

State Department's Zionist puppet spokeswoman Victoria Nuland asks China why it needs an aircraft carrier, which Nuland calls "equipment."

"We would welcome any kind of explanation that China would like to give for needing this kind of equipment," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters when asked whether the carrier would raise regional tensions.

[Wayne Madsen:] Hey Nuland, why don't you ask your master country Israel why it needs 400 nuclear weapons? Nuland is married to neocon gnome Robert Kagan.

KABUL — The Taliban insisted Thursday that the fighters who shot down a US helicopter, killing 38 troops in Afghanistan, were still alive, despite a US announcement that they had been killed. - US General John Allen, commander of the NATO-led international force in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that those responsible for the biggest single loss of American life in the 10-year war had been killed in an air strike. But Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP: "This is not true. After seeing the enemy statement, we contacted the mujahed (fighter) who shot down the helicopter and he's not dead. He's busy conducting jihad elsewhere in the country." Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, Mujahid said four "ordinary" Taliban fighters had been killed in the US air strike but that they had not been the ones who shot down the helicopter. He also said the fighter responsible had since left Wardak province, where the crash took place in the restive district of Sayd Abad.

Bill Van Auken: US "retaliation" in Afghanistan in wake of helicopter downing - The Pentagon claimed Wednesday to have killed the resistance fighters responsible for last week’s downing of a helicopter that resulted in the worst US losses to date in the decade-old war in Afghanistan.

AWIP: US helicopter shot down in Taliban trap: Afghan official

La mission de l'UNICEF est de défendre les droits des enfants, d'aider à répondre à leurs besoins essentiels et de leur donner davantage d'opportunités de s'épanouir pleinement. À cette fin, l'UNICEF s'appuie sur les dispositions et les principes de la Convention relative aux droits de l'enfant. S'inspirant de différents systèmes juridiques et traditions culturelles, la Convention est un ensemble de normes et d'obligations universellement acceptées et non négociables. Ces normes fondamentales-que l'on appelle aussi les droits de l'homme-définissent des droits et des libertés essentiels que les gouvernements doivent respecter. Elles se fondent sur le respect de la dignité et de la valeur de chaque individu, indépendamment de sa race, de sa couleur, de son sexe, de sa langue, de sa religion, de ses opinions, de son origine, de sa fortune, de sa naissance ou de ses facultés, et s'appliquent donc à chaque être humain, partout dans le monde. Ces droits sont assortis de l'obligation, à la fois pour les gouvernements et les individus, de ne pas empiéter sur les droits des autres. Ces normes sont à la fois interdépendantes et indivisibles; on ne peut pas garantir certains droits en laissant de côté-ou en sacrifiant-d'autres droits. UNICEF: La Convention relative aux droits de l'enfant

Look at what france is doing in Libya! - UNICEF's mission is to defend the rights of children, to help meet their basic needs and give them more opportunities to reach their full potential. To this end, UNICEF supported the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Inspired by different legal systems and cultural traditions, the Convention is a set of standards and obligations universally accepted and non-negotiable. These basic standards-also called human-rights define the rights and freedoms essential that governments must respect. They are based on respect for the dignity and worth of every individual, regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion, opinion, origin, of his fortune, of his birth or of his faculties, and therefore apply to every human being everywhere. These rights are accompanied by an obligation, both for governments and individuals not to infringe on the rights of others. These standards are both interdependent and indivisible, we can not guarantee certain rights in ignoring or sacrificing other rights.

You Tube: Ivan Watson Reports on NATO's killings in Majer near Zlitan (August 10, 2011)
You Tube: Majera, Zleetin's region, 09.08.2011 MASSACRE
You Tube: NATO Murders Continue in Libya, Aug 2011 (Graphic)
AWIP: Killing civilians part of US-NATO war strategy in Libya
Madison Ruppert: As Libyan rebels are falling apart at the seams, Gaddafi regime remains unfazed by NATO campaign

Google admits handing over European user data to US intelligence agencies, most likely in violation of European Union data protection laws. - Gordon Frazer, Microsoft UK's managing director, made news headlines some weeks ago when he admitted that Microsoft can be compelled to share data with the US government regardless of where it is hosted in the world. At the center of this problem is the USA PATRIOT ACT, which states that companies incorporated in the United States must hand over data administered by their foreign subsidiaries if requested. Not only that, but they can be forced to keep quiet about it in order to avoid exposing active investigations and alert those targeted by the probes. This situation poses a serious problem for companies like Microsoft, Google or Amazon, which offer cloud services around the world, because their subsidiaries must also respect local laws.

Der Spiegel: Data Mining You to Death - Does Google Know Too Much?

Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different, and not in a good way: Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish.

“We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behavior in every way, and some work on compassion and it’s the same story,” he said. “Lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”

Unlike the rich, lower class people have to depend on others for survival, Keltner argued. So they learn “prosocial behaviors.” They read people better, empathize more with others, and they give more to those in need.

The Israeli regime has approved the construction of 1,600 new illegal settlement homes in East al-Quds (Jerusalem). - The settlement units will be built in the neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo in occupied Palestinian territories, AFP reported on Thursday. Tel Aviv also plans to authorize the building of another 2,700 illegal housing units in the occupied land within “a couple of days,” according to Israeli officials. The regime claims the construction has been endorsed because of the "economic crisis" in Israel.

Israelis have been protesting against rising housing prices and social inequalities since mid-July. The protesters demand a new taxation system (lower indirect taxes, higher direct taxes), free education and childcare, an end to the privatization of state-owned companies and more investment in social housing and public transport. Israel occupied East al-Quds alongside the West Bank in 1967 and later annexed both territories. The international community has refused to recognize either of the moves. In September 2010, the Israeli regime resumed the expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian territories after a 10-month partial freeze, prompting the Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders to break off the US-sponsored talks with Tel Aviv that had resumed after a lengthy stalemate.

Over 148 million acres of farmland in Africa have been purchased by Western hedge funds in the last three years--an area larger than California. Often times in famine areas, food is being exported for profit the same time its being imported by aid organizations.

The reports say the purchased land is often used to produce export commodities -- including biofuels, cut flowers and specialized foods -- and are displacing millions of Africans from fertile farmland. Researchers say they reviewed the contracts and found clauses that allow foreign companies to keep exporting as much as 80 percent of what is grown on the acquired land, even if the host country is experiencing food shortages. Lead researcher Anuradha Mittal told Here and Now's Robin Young, "The companies boast they can make a profit even without growing anything on the land," because of the way the contracts are written."With the collapse of the housing market, there is a drive for the new commodity to invest in, Mittal said. "These hedge funds are promising returns of 25 to 40 percent." Mittal called this the new investment bubble.

European stocks jumped, as the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index rebounded from its lowest level in more than two years. U.S. futures rose, while Asian shares retreated. - Societe Generale SA soared 7.5 percent after yesterday plunging the most since 2008. Salzgitter AG (SZG), Germany’s second- biggest steelmaker, surged 10 percent after reporting that it swung to a profit in the first half. Alcatel-Lucent SA jumped 3.3 percent, while Ericsson AB rose 1.7 percent after Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) reported profit that beat estimates as the company reined in expenses.

The Stoxx 600 rallied 1.6 percent to 227.11 at 8:21 a.m. in London, rebounding from its lowest level since July 2009. MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4 percent, paring an earlier loss of as much as 2.4 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in September advanced 1.6 percent. The benchmark gauge for U.S. equities sank 4.4 percent yesterday. The Stoxx 600 has slumped 22 percent from this year’s peak on February 17. The VStoxx Index, which measures the cost of insuring against a loss in the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, yesterday rose 6.7 percent to its highest level since May 2010, extending its longest climb on record to 11 days.

Of the 267 companies in the Stoxx 600 that have reported earnings since July 11, 46 percent have missed analysts’ estimates for per-share profit, more than the 44 percent that have beaten projections. Societe Generale (GLE), France’s biggest bank, jumped 7.5 percent to 23.84 euros after yesterday slumping 15 percent.

[Editor's Comment:] Let's not fool ourselves. - The US national debt is such that no matter what "rebound" there is it could not, not ever enable us to service the 15 trillion dollars ($15.000.000.000.000,oo) we owe. This is a mathematical impossibility. Printing more money will solve nothing. - Remember the Weimar republic? Hyperinflation led to "Das Dritte Reich" and Nazi-Germany came apart a few years later. A similar fate now awaits the US. There's no way whatever to stop it. It will happen.

The Independent: Markets tumble again on both sides of Atlantic amid bank solvency fears
Deutsche Welle: Stock market turmoil rattles fragile European economies
Daily Bail: Bank Of America's Backdoor Bailout - Dumping Mortgage Trash Onto Taxpayers Via Fannie Mae

Albert Camus, one of France’s most revered intellectuals, who died in a mysterious accident in 1960, may have been killed by Soviet intelligence, according to an article in one of Italy’s most reputable newspapers. Camus, a philosopher, novelist and journalist, who won the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature, died on January 4, 1960, during a road trip from Provence to Paris.

An article published last week in one of Italy’s oldest newspapers, Corriere della Sera, claims that the two men may have been killed after Soviet intelligence agents sabotaged Gallimard’s car. The allegation is based on Italian literary scholar Giovanni Catelli, who reportedly unearthed a written testimony by Czechoslovakian author and translator Jan Zábrana. The testimony is included in the Czech-language edition of Zábrana’s personal diary, in which he claims that “a man who knew lots of things and had very informed sources” had told him that Camus’ assassination was “ordered personally” by Dmitri Shepilov, who was the Soviet Union’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1956 to 1957. According to Zábrana, Soviet officials decided to assassinate Camus after the French writer used the worldwide fame he gained through his Nobel Prize success to criticize the November 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary. In several of his articles, Camus personally blamed Shepilov for the invasion and resulting casualties, which he termed “the Shepilov massacres”.

Rupert Murdoch acknowledged for the first time publicly that his son James is not the preferred choice to succeed him as News Corp CEO, at least in the near-term. - In the clearest indication yet that the phone hacking scandal enveloping News Corp's U.K. operations has damaged the succession ambitions of James Murdoch, his father endorsed top lieutenant Chase Carey for the job. "Chase is my partner and if anything happened to me I'm sure he'll get it immediately -- if I went under a bus," the elder Murdoch said in response to a question from a Reuters reporter about succession on the company's quarterly earnings call. Although News Corp has often said that it has a succession plan in place, the company has never explicitly stated who would ascend to the CEO role should Murdoch step down. James Murdoch has to submit a written statement to a parliamentary committee by Thursday responding to accusations that he misrepresented statements in prior testimony.

The Independent: I won't quit: Murdoch brushes off hacking scandal

A group of teenage Norwegian computer hackers are reported to have opened the email correspondence of the mass murderer Anders Breivik and handed the material over to police to assist their investigations. - Members of the group claimed yesterday that they had hacked their way into two of Breivik's email accounts after last month's devastating bomb and shooting attacks which left 77 people dead. The hackers, reported to be led by a 17-year-old named "Frederik", gave the contents of the mails containing details about Breivik's contacts and private life to the freelance Norwegian journalist, Kjetil Stormark, who subsequently handed the material to police. "The mails show some of the activity and contacts made by the perpetrator in the weeks and months leading up to the terror attacks. They also tell a tale about his private life," Mr Stormark said, without giving further detail.

Chris played this song in the funeral to one of the victims of the killings at Norway. He traveled all the way from the US to Norway to show sympathy for the people left behind after this terrible event. He knows how it is. Medina is an amazing singer and and a amazing person. Norway loves you, Chris! [oddvarher]
Chris Medina sang this song today in the funeral of one of the victims of the Norway tragedy. She loved that song. Shows he has a great heart. [ArthurEugene]
Thank you for performing at the funeral of Monica Iselin Didriksen, who was killed in the massacre on Utøya. Norway appreciates you ♥ [iNorwegian]

NRK: Her synger Chris Medina i Monica Iselins begravelse

FRANKFURT — If the European debt crisis were an old ocean survival movie, there would be a scene in which the passengers in the lifeboat realize that they don’t have enough food and water for everyone and that someone needs to go over the side. We’re looking at you, Greece. In fact, that is the sentiment a growing number of reputable economists and other commentators, particularly from fully liquid Germany, have been expressing lately. - Greece, they say, should leave the euro zone for its own good, as well as the Continent’s. Some German economists argue that other members of the 17-nation currency union, like Portugal or even Italy, might need to leave as well. “It is better for all concerned, in particular for Greece, if the country leaves the euro temporarily,” Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the influential Ifo Institute at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, wrote in an essay published two weeks ago. Continuing to throw money at Greece will only reduce incentives for the country to restructure its economy, he and other experts say, while pushing Europe toward a so-called transfer union where the stronger countries are required to prop up the weaker ones. As it turns out, there is no provision in E.U. law for a member to be ejected, according to legal experts. Greece would have to withdraw voluntarily. But if the other countries cut off aid, it might have little choice.