President Obama's summer woes have dragged his approval rating to an all-time low, sinking below 40% for the first time in Gallup's daily tracking poll. - New data posted Sunday shows that 39% of Americans approve of Obama's job performance, while 54% disapprove. Both are the worst numbers of his presidency. Obama's approval rating has hovered in the 40% range for much of 2011, peaking at 53% in the weeks following the raid on Osama bin Laden.

PressTV: Poll: Another recession for US economy

BAGHDAD, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Suicide attackers and car bombs struck cities across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 50 people and wounding scores more in a rash of apparently coordinated assaults carried out by affiliates of al Qaeda, authorities said. - In the worst attack, a roadside bomb followed by a car bomb targeting police killed at least 37 people in Kut, a mainly Shi'ite Muslim city 150 km (95 miles) southeast of the capital Baghdad, police and health officials said. Dhiyauddin Jalil, a director of local provincial health department, said more than 68 people were wounded in the Kut blasts and doctors in the city's main hospital said they were struggling to treat casualties, many with severe burns.

CNN: Bomb blasts rock Iraq, kill 69, wound more than 180

This film and investigation connects the dots and reveals why the Koch brothers are trying to end public education and how their wealth winds up in the hands of Jim Crow. Watch the video, then call David Koch and tell him to stop funding school resegregation now. His number is 212-319-1100.

Interview with Stephen Lendman, writer and radio host, Chicago - Press TV talks with Stephen Lendman, writer and radio host from Chicago who insightfully suggests the riots in a section of London that was met with zero tolerance by the government are being used as a test case for more widespread unrest expected due to the application of austerity that cuts social services. Following is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Daily Mail: Cameron pledges non-military 'national service' for ALL 16-year-olds

Julian Assange: "The looters and rioters who torched Britain’s neighbourhoods are “doing Big Brother” a favour by giving the government more latitude to destroy citizens’ rights and freedoms." - “Great Britain has turned itself into an Orwellian 1984 during the last decade, yet all those cameras and anti-terror laws could not prevent this recent chaos,” he told the Star from England, where he is awaiting the outcome of his appeal against extradition to Sweden, which wants him for questioning in connection with a sexual assault case. British Prime Minister David Cameron touched off a fierce debate Thursday by suggesting that the rioters, who have called up mob attacks through social media and instant messaging, could be shut down in cyberspace.

“When people are using social media for violence we need to stop them,” he told the House of Commons. “We are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”

“The naive public often is ready to sacrifice its privacy, and laws safeguarding basic freedom and rights in exchange for safety, guaranteed by the state,” Assange said. “Now it is clear that governments cannot keep their promises.”

Pakistan gave China access to the previously unknown U.S. "stealth" helicopter that crashed during the commando raid that [allegedly] killed Osama bin Laden in May despite explicit requests from the CIA not to, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The disclosure, if confirmed, is likely to further shake the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, which has been improving slightly after hitting its lowest point in decades following the [alleged] killing of bin Laden. During the raid, one of two modified Blackhawk helicopters, believed to employ unknown stealth capability, malfunctioned and crashed, forcing the commandos to abandon it.

"The U.S. now has information that Pakistan, particularly the ISI, gave access to the Chinese military to the downed helicopter in Abbottabad," the paper quoted a person "in intelligence circles" as saying on its website.

It said Pakistan, which enjoys a close relationship with China, allowed Chinese intelligence officials to take pictures of the crashed aircraft as well as take samples of its special "skin" that allowed the American raid to evade Pakistani radar.

The newest government in the world was designed with help from comments on the internet. God help us all. After Iceland’s economic collapse in 2008, the island nation decided it was time to write a new constitution, this one not based on its parent country of Denmark but rather made from the original ideas of its citizens. Iceland’s small population of 320,000 elected 25 assembly members from 522 ordinary candidates (including lawyers, political science professors, journalists, and many other professions), who in turn opened their process up to the public in an unprecedented fashion. The Constitutional Council was highly active on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr, where they solicited comments and suggestions for the new government. On Friday July 29th, 2011, the Iceland parliament officially received the new constitution, comprised of 114 articles divided into 9 chapters. Set to be reviewed, and then put before vote for ratification by October 1st, the internet-assisted document marks a possible paradigm shift in governing. In the 21st Century, we’re writing our constitutions with social media. The future is a crazy place.

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Norwegian gunman Anders Behring Breivik has been taken back to the island of Utøya for a police reconstruction of the killing of his 69 victims there. Mr Breivik, wearing a bulletproof vest and tethered on a rope, was seen pointing to where he had fired shots. Police later said he showed no remorse. Mr Breivik's attacks on 22 July also killed eight in an Oslo bombing. The 32-year-old far-right extremist admits the killings but denies any criminal guilt.

Flights have been grounded, roads closed and power cuts have plunged vast areas of New Zealand into darkness following the country's heaviest snowfall in decades. Snow and gale force winds have brought the country to a standstill during what forecasters are describing as a once-in-a-lifetime event. Blizzards lashed the South Island before moving onto the more densely populated North Island, with the cold snap predicted to continue until Wednesday. The country's official weather station MetService recorded temperatures as low as minus four degrees Celsius (25 degrees Fahrenheit) in the resort of Queenstown.

Turkey may consider cooperating with international powers in the event they decide to intervene militarily in Syria, according to a report in the Turkish "Hurriyet" newspaper on Saturday. - Turkey has lost its patience with Syria, according to Turkish officials, and Turkish President Abdullah Gul has issued an ultimatum to Syrian President Bashar Assad via Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who visited Syria on Tuesday. According to officials, the Turkish foreign minister made it clear to Assad that in the event that Syrian forces continue to act aggressively against demonstrators Syria will no longer be able to rely on friendship from Turkey. At the first stage, Turkey is expected to withdraw its ambassador from Damascus, following the example of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. The next step Turkey would take is freezing its projects and investments in Syria. Turkey will only take military action against Assad in the event that an international decision to intervene is made.

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