Slams Idea of Probing West Bank "on Principle".

The UN appointed a panel of three experts to conduct a fact-finding mission on how settlements, illegal under international law, impact the Palestinian civilians living under Israeli occupation. Israeli official statements blasted the panel as inherently flawed, insisting that any investigation of Israel would have to be “biased” and that the UN should focus its investigations exclusively on “non-democratic countries.”

Israel had severed all ties with the human rights council months ago when the notion was initially raised. The probe is expected to focus only on the occupation’s impact on Palestinians and not its legality, since there seems to be no real question that the occupation is illegal and that the construction of settlement in occupied territory is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

At least 21 people were killed today and three others wounded when US drones attacked a house in Datta Khel, North Waziristan Agency today. The strike destroyed the home, with six missiles being fired at it. - Officials were quick to label everyone slain as “suspects” and said that four of the people in the house were believed to be “foreigners.” The strike sparked panic across the area, and drones are reportedly still looming overhead. As usual none of the victims have been named. It is the first strike since Pakistan reopened the border to occupied Afghanistan earlier this week, and the deadliest single attack in months. The border was closed in November to protest US attacks on Pakistani military bases, which killed 24 soldiers. It reopened after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finally agreed to apologize for the killings.

AWIP: Drone strike kills ten in South Waziristan (Pakistan)
AWIP: US Drone Strikes Kill Eight People in North Waziristan (Pakistan)

Officially recession ended in mid-2009. Unofficially things are much worse now than then and heading south. Political Washington bears full responsibility. Instead of dealing responsibly with crisis conditions, bipartisan complicity turned hard times into worse ones. Expect voters to be unforgiving in November.

In June, America added 80,000 jobs. U-3 unemployment remained at 8.2%. Based on 1980 calculations, it tops 22%. Most jobs created are part-time, low-pay temp ones. The nation's manufacturing base largely exists offshore. So do many high-pay service jobs. Expectations were missed for the fourth straight month. Typically at this stage of the economic cycle, around a quarter million monthly jobs are created. Moreover, 36 months after an alleged recovery, U-3 unemployment is 3.6% below the pre-recession high.

Patrick Martin: US jobs report for June shows continued economic stagnation - While the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2 percent, June was the 40th consecutive month with the jobless rate at 8 percent or above, the longest such period since the Great Depression of the 1930s. When discouraged workers and those working part-time who want full-time work are included, the jobless rate for June rises to 14.9 percent, down only marginally from the all-time high of 17.4 percent in October 2009 and nearly double the rate in 2007.

Officer says instability in Syria could ignite violent confrontation with the Lebanese army, says 'Goldstone report will pale in comparison to what will be here next time.' - Six years after the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, the IDF is saying openly that Israel is preparing for another Lebanon war. The commander of the IDF's 91st Division, Brigardier-General Hertzi Halevy told journalists on Thursday, "We understand that there is more than one factor, whether this is Lebanese, or whether it will come from somewhere else, that can ignite the border here." The 91st Division, part of the Northern Command, and responsible for the front with Lebanon, sees developments in Syria as one of the factors that could upset the calm that has prevailed in the region since the war. The collapse of the Syrian regime may also bring with it an increase in Jihadi or Hezbollah operatives, who may try to carry out targeted attacks in the area.

Photo: A Starstreak high velocity missile system, which could play a role in providing air security during the Olympics, is manned by members of the British Royal Artillery during a media demo in southeast London in May 2012. British residents living near London's Olympic Park launched legal action Thursday over government plans to station surface-to-air missiles on the roof of their rented flats. (AFP Photo/Carl Court)

The British government confirmed Tuesday that it had placed missile batteries at six sites around London in advance of the upcoming Summer Olympics, including atop two apartment buildings where residents had previously expressed reservations about hosting the anti-aircraft weapons.

In addition to the Rapier and High-Velocity missile batteries, the government will also station a Royal Navy helicopter carrier in the River Thames and station Royal Air Force jets and army helicopters nearby. Additional anti-aircraft missile batteries are in place in farmland and hills east and south of London. Residents of the Fred Wigg Tower and the Tower Hamlets, which will host High-Velocity missiles, had expressed concern about the batteries when the government made a test deployment of the missiles atop their buildings in early May. "I'm not sure I can sleep in a house knowing there are missiles on the roof," journalist and Tower Hamlets resident Brian Whelan told ABC News in May.

The Paraguayan government accused Venezuela and other countries to create confusion and neutralise the increasing opposition to the impeachment of constitutional President Fernando Lugo, political and social organisations here. They said that top officials and Parliament members involved in the political trial against Lugo continued attacking Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, alleging that he asked for the Paraguayan armed forces' heads to rebel against the coup d'Etat.

A Bank of England manager [allegedly] stabbed himself to death due to the over-whelming pressure he was under at work, an inquest has heard. - The body of Christopher Dymond, 52, was discovered in a secluded car park in Herongate, Essex, after his family had reported him missing. A post-mortem "revealed" Mr Dymond died from self-inflicted stab wounds to his chest and cuts to his arms.

The controversy over the vote count coming out of Sunday’s elections in Mexico reflects a crisis of leadership in the Mexican ruling class. The “left” faction of the capitalist class has yet to accept the vote count. Its political organ, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) is claiming massive vote rigging jointly carried out by the Institutionalist Revolutionary Party (PRI).