A year after granting WikiLeaks founder political asylum, Ecuador says it remains committed to finding solution to standoff. ● The Ecuadorean government has stressed its commitment to finding a solution to the standoff over Julian Assange, on the anniversary of the WikiLeaks founder being granted political asylum. The Australian has been living inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London for more than a year as part of his campaign to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sex crimes against two women - claims he denies. Assange fears that if he travels to Sweden he will be forcibly taken to the US to face questioning over documents published by WikiLeaks.

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents. ● Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls. ● The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The top U.S. military officer told American troops in Jordan on Thursday that their mission to help the kingdom contain the fallout from Syria's war would likely last years, as the United States bolsters support for the key regional ally. ● General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed a group of mostly U.S. planners who have arrived over the past several months as America expands assistance that now includes stationing F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missiles there. The U.S. military has roughly 1,000 troops stationed in Jordan. Dempsey told around 100 troops at a facility on the outskirts of Amman that they would be critical in helping anticipate and "shape" events on the ground. His comments came as fears mount over how massive inflows of refugees could undermine the kingdom's stability.

● Clashes erupted across Egypt yesterday in the wake of efforts by the Egyptian military junta to drown protests in blood. Following Wednesday’s massacre, supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi protested and attacked government buildings throughout the country.
● The army ousted Mursi in a July 3 coup aimed at pre-empting developing mass working class protests against Mursi’s reactionary policies and moving back to the type of military-backed dictatorship that existed before the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak. As casualties from Wednesday’s bloodbath mount into the thousands and fighting spreads, the coup is placing Egypt on a path towards civil war and mass upheavals.
● Thousands of relatives of the victims of Wednesday’s massacres flocked to morgues and mosques where the bodies of victims are being held, chanting: “The army and police are one dirty hand!”
● Health Ministry sources reported yesterday that the death toll from Wednesday’s crackdown had risen to 638, with at least 4,200 injured—more than double the initial official figures. These figures, which do not include the bodies of protesters at facilities controlled by Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB), are still substantial underestimates. Reuters reporters counted a further 228 bodies at northeast Cairo’s Al-Imam mosque alone, and the MB has issued estimates that over 2,000 were killed and 10,000 wounded in Wednesday’s crackdown.
● As the death toll rose, Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi issued a statement praising police for their “self-restraint” and justifying the massacre: “The state had to intervene to restore security and peace for Egyptians.”

Antiwar.com: Egypt Junta Defends Massacre as Toll Over 700
PressTV: Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters hold demos in Egypt - VIDEO
Pepe Escobar: ‘Bloodbath that is not a bloodbath': Why Egypt is doomed
Jason Ditz: Obama Cancels Drill, But Signals Continued Support for Egypt Junta
Robert Fisk: Cairo massacre: The Muslim Brotherhood’s silent martyrs lie soaked in blood
Peter Schwarz: German politicians, media defend the Egyptian army

The widow of Michael Hastings confirmed that the investigative journalist was working on a story on CIA Director John Brennan when he was killed in a fiery car crash in June. ● In an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan on August 5, Elise Jordan said that the story on Brennan will appear in an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone. The story apparently relates to Brennan’s role in targeting journalists who were working on government secrets. ● In its report on Hasting’s investigations, San Diego 6 News cited an email from obtained by WikiLeaks, which alleges that “Brennan is behind the witch hunts of investigative journalists” who reveal government secrets. It was an internal communication within Stratfor, a global intelligence company with connections to the US state, with a subject line stating that the message was for internal use only and should not be forwarded. ● The email went on: “There is a specific tasker from the [White House] to go after anyone printing materials negative to the Obama agenda (oh my). Even the FBI is shocked. The Wonder Boys must be in meltdown mode.” ● Hastings died in the early hours of the morning on June 19, when his Mercedes exploded after apparently crashing into a palm tree in Hollywood, California. The vehicle burst into flames and the engine was launched 100 feet down the street. One witness compared the sound coming from the blast to a bomb explosion that shook nearby houses.