1....] The encounters on the lane reveal just how much understanding and compassion can be gained if people have a safe space in which to interact. But safe spaces are lacking in India and many other cities around the world, and so people spin apart into polarized groups.
By Ian Taylor in Vilnius, guardian.co.uk, July 5, 2013
First talks to soothe transatlantic tensions to be restricted to data privacy and Prism programme after Britain and Sweden's veto
Britain has blocked the first crucial talks on intelligence and espionage between European officials and their American counterparts since the NSA surveillance scandal erupted.
[....] Today’s law enforcement wiretap is far more likely to be on a “portable device,” most likely a cellphone, according to a new report by federal court administrators.
And for the first time, the report noted, U.S. law enforcement has encountered encryption schemes that prevented investigators from understanding the messages they’d intercepted.
By David Agren, Christian Science Monitor, July 5, 2013
As other Canadian mayors suffer scandal, Naheed Nenshi is wildly popular in this western city.
Calgary, Alberta - In Canadian eyes, Calgary has not exactly been synonymous with cosmopolitanism. Located some 200 miles north of Montana, the western city has long been condescended to by eastern elites in metropolitan cities like Toronto and Montreal, who cringed at its cowboy heritage, oil corporations, and conservative politics.
By Daoud Kuttab, Palestine Pulse @ AL-Monitor.com, July 3, 2013
[....] Whatever the truth regarding Hamas’ involvement or lack thereof, perceptions in the streets and squares of Egypt put the Hamas movement in the same corner with Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Because of this, now that Morsi has fallen, one of the first groups to pay the price will be Hamas.
By Allan Woods & Wendy Gillis, Toronto Star, July 2, 2013
Police say two Canadians who were inspired by Al Qaeda and adopted techniques similar to the Boston Marathon bombers, have been arrested in a thwarted plot to attack the British Columbia legislature on Canada Day.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide truck bomber followed by heavily armed men stormed a NATO supplier's compound Tuesday in Kabul, prompting a gunbattle that left a dozen people dead in the latest Taliban attack on a high-profile target in the Afghan capital.
The bold strikes have signalled the Islamic militant movement has no plans to suspend its campaign of violence even though they have agreed to embark on a U.S.-led peace process.
By Qassim Abdul Zahra, Associated Press, July 2, 2013
BAGHDAD — Insurgents unleashed a new wave of attacks on Tuesday in Iraq, killing at least 49 people [.....] Also, seven militants were killed.There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks, mostly car bombs in Shiite areas. Al-Qaida's Iraq branch, which has been gaining strength in recent months, frequently targets Shiites, security forces and civil servants
By Gene Demby, Code Switch @ npr.org, July 1, 2012
[.....] But it turns out cracker's roots go back even further than the 17th century. All the way back to the age of Shakespeare, at least.
"The meaning of the word has changed a lot over the last four centuries," said Dana Ste. Claire, a Florida historian and anthropologist who studies, er, crackers. (He literally wrote the book on them.)
A military judge on Monday allowed prosecutors in the Bradley Manning trial to use a WikiLeaks “most wanted" list as evidence against the Army private who revealed secret documents to the world.
By Joseph Goldstein, New York Times, June 28/29, 2013
The number of homicides on record in New York City has dropped significantly during the first half of the year — to 154 from 202 in the same period last year — surprising even police officials who have long been accustomed to trumpeting declining crime rates in the city.
In the first 178 days of 2013, the city averaged less than a murder a day, the first time the police can recall that happening for any sustained period. The latest numbers were recorded through Thursday.
Leader Given 2 Days to Satisfy Protestors or Face Takeover
By David D. Kirkpatrick, Kareem Fahim and Ben Hubbard, New York Times, 30 minutes ago
In a statement read on state television Monday, the head of the Egyptian military, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said the mass demonstrations over the weekend reflected an “unprecedented” expression of popular anger.
YARNELL, Ariz. — Gusty, hot winds blew an Arizona blaze out of control Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 30 years.
The “hotshot” firefighters were forced to deploy their emergency fire shelters — tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and heat — when they were caught near the central Arizona town of Yarnell [....]
By Shane Harris & Noah Shachtman, Op-ed @ ForeignPolicy.com, June 28, 2013
Usually, the Obama administration and the Pentagon do their bureaucratic knife fighting in private. Not so in the latest investigation of a national security leak.
