Israel Palestine

Hamas leader: We will accept a Palestinian state within 1967 lines Haaretz — Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshal says the Islamic militant group is ready to accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines, according to an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Friday. "We along with other Palestinian factions in consensus agreed upon accepting a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines," Meshal told the Wall Street Journal, adding "this is the national program. This is our program. This is a position we stand by and respect." click to read complete article

Hamas Chief Outlines Terms for Talks on Arab-Israeli Peace Wall Street Journal — The chief of Palestinian militant group Hamas said his organization is prepared to cooperate with the U.S. in promoting a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict if the White House can secure an Israeli settlement freeze and a lifting of the economic and military blockade of the Gaza Strip. Khaled Meshaal, 53 years old, said in a 90-minute interview at Hamas's Syrian headquarters that his political party and military wing would commit to an immediate reciprocal cease-fire with Israel, as well as a prisoner swap that would return Hamas fighters for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. click to read complete article

As US wades in, Israel to let Gaza get some cement Reuters — Israel will allow some cement into the Gaza Strip for reconstruction, officials said on Wednesday, signalling flexibility on a blockade as Washington intensified efforts to broker peacemaking with the Palestinians. After Hamas Islamists seized Gaza in 2007, Israel curbed imports that it said could be used to make arms or bunkers. The lack of cement and steel has been especially felt since Israel's December-January offensive, which devastated the coastal strip. click to read complete article

Nigeria Attacks

Army lays siege to Nigerian 'Taliban' in bid to crush rebels Guardian UK — Government forces were closing in on the stronghold of a group dubbed the "Nigerian Taliban" last night after four days of violence that have left more than 200 dead and sent 4,000 fleeing their homes in the north of the country. Around 100 women including mothers with newborn babies were freed by troops after being held hostage for almost a week by the Islamist sect Boko Haram, which is militating for sharia law and opposes modern education. click to read complete article

Scores Die as Fighters Battle Nigerian Police New York Times — Scores have been killed in clashes between the police and members of a fundamentalist Islamic sect in towns across northern Nigeria, a predominantly Muslim region that for years has had regular and often bloody outbreaks of sectarian unrest. An obscure group opposed to Western education appears to be at the root of the current troubles. The Nigerian police accused it of attacks on police stations in at least two states on Sunday and Monday. click to read complete article

Nigerian Islamists flee city as army overruns base: military Agence France Presse — Members of a Nigerian Islamist fundamentalist sect fled the northern city of Maiduguri on Wednesday after the military overran their base, an army commander said. The news came just hours after the army announced that another thousand soldiers had been sent to the region to reinforce troops battling sect members after four days of deadly clashes. click to read complete article

Palin quits

Sarah Palin leaving governor's post amid confusion, criticism L.A. Times — Up here in Alaska, wildlife metaphors tend to be as abundant as their flesh-and-blood counterparts, and Gov. Sarah Palin has helped herself to them generously in explaining why she's stepping down today, barely halfway through her term. She didn't want the state to be stuck with a "lame duck" chief executive, she said. She could hang around the Statehouse and go with the flow, she allowed, but "only dead fish go with the flow." click to read complete article

Palin's Next Step Is Still a Mystery Wall Street Journal — Sarah Palin will enter uncharted political waters when she leaves the Alaska stage Sunday. Now the question is whether she will go on to become a viable presidential candidate in 2012, after having quit her governor's job with 18 months left in her term. Or will Ms. Palin instead choose to parlay her popularity among conservatives to become a power broker in the Republican Party, or quit politics altogether to cash in on her fame with books and TV contracts? click to read complete article

Three reasons Palin’s move might be about money Christian Science Monitor — Many Americans are still confused about the sudden resignation of Gov. Sarah Palin, who will leave her post at a picnic in Fairbanks today. But one clear message has emerged, say friends and foes of the former vice presidential candidate: It is, at least partly, about the money. No. 1: Legal bills – the personal costs It’s about a personal legal bill that the governor says has exceeded $500,000 to fight a barrage of more than 20 ethics charges. click to read complete article

School Reform

Obama's $4 Billion Education Prize: Incentive or Bribe? The Atlantic — President Obama announced a new education initiative today that sets aside a pool of $4 billion to reward states for improving their school systems. The theme of his speech was twofold: We need better teachers, and we need better standards. We need to find better teachers by using data from student achievement to highlight effective teachers. And we need better standards to keep some states (ahem, Mississippi) from setting their education bar so low that they gut the word "standard" of all meaning. One of the commonly lamented problems with No Child Left Behind is that the law tells states: Set a standard, any standard, and we'll reward you if your students pass it. The law encouraged states to set the a low bar. That's why Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says he stands behind the national standard -- as hard as it might be to get all 50 states on board. click to read complete article

Obama May Disqualify Some States From School Grants Bloomberg — States barring the use of student- achievement data to help set teacher pay would be ineligible for $4.35 billion in education stimulus funds under guidelines proposed by President Barack Obama today. The measure would disqualify states such as California, New York and Wisconsin from applying for the grants unless they change laws excluding student-performance data from evaluations of teachers and principals. click to read complete article

Obama chides California for not using test scores to evaluate teachers L.A. Times — President Obama singled out California on Friday for failing to use education data to distinguish poor teachers from good ones, a situation that his administration said must change for the state to receive competitive, federal school dollars. Obama's comments echo recent criticisms by his Education secretary, Arne Duncan, who warned that states that bar the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers, as California does, are risking those funds. In an announcement Friday at the Education Department in Washington, Obama and Duncan said the "Race to the Top" awards will be allocated to school districts that institute reforms using data-driven analysis, among other things. click to read complete article

Afghanistan

Afghan war in interest of US, UK: Biden Zee News India — The war in Afghanistan is in the interests of the US and the UK, US Vice President Joe Biden has said in an interview. While talking to BBC's Jonathan Beale, Biden maintained that Afghan war is “worth the effort we are making and the sacrifice that is being felt". click to read complete article

More troops will die in Afghanistan, says Joe Biden Guardian UK — More British and American troops will die in Afghanistan, but the war against the Taliban is in the national interests of both countries, the US vice-president, Joe Biden, said today. Speaking in the deadliest month for British troops since the US-led invasion in 2001, Biden insisted that the current offensive against the Taliban in Helmand province was worth the effort and was a "prerequisite" to get the country ready for presidential elections next month. click to read complete article

The Afghanistan industry Guardian UK — For ordinary Afghans, the west is part of the machinery of corruption that thrives on the conflict When the Taliban arrived in a village in Farah in May, the village elders approached them and asked them to leave. They told the Taliban that if the fighters stayed, the foreigners would bomb their village. The Taliban said: "We are fighting and dying for Islam and so should you. Why should you be spared death? Is your blood redder than ours?" click to read complete article

Senate Gun Bill

Senate Rejects Republican Bid to Loosen Weapon Laws Bloomberg — The U.S. Senate defeated a Republican bid to expand gun ownership rights by letting people carry concealed weapons across state lines. The Senate voted 58-39 for the proposal by John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, two votes short of the 60 needed. It would have allowed truck drivers, salespeople and anyone else permitted to carry concealed weapons to take them into any of the 48 states that allow hidden firearms. click to read complete article

Democrats Defeat Concealed Weapons Amendment Washington Post — By the narrowest of margins, the Senate's liberal bloc of Democrats defeated an amendment that would have allowed gun owners to carry their weapons across state lines without regard for stricter laws in many jurisdictions, giving preference to states with looser standards. In a 58-39 vote, supporters of the looser gun law -- including all but two Republicans and 20 Democrats -- fell two votes short of the 60 they needed under Senate rules to approve the measure. The amendment, sponsored by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), showed the bitter divisions among a Democratic caucus that now holds 60 seats, many of whom got to the Senate by winning in conservative states as they proudly supported gun rights. It also divided the party's leadership, as Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), campaigning for re-election in 2010, sided with gun rights supporters. His top lieutenants, Sens. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), led the push against the measure. click to read complete article

Senate vote on concealed weapons proves again there is no 2nd amendment right to own a gun L.A. Examiner — The Senate by a 58-39 vote, defeated a bill that would have made concealed weapons permits in one state valid in other states. The bill needed 60 votes to pass. But the fact that there was even a vote at all proves beyond a doubt that the 2nd amendment has nothing to do with an individual's right to own or carry a gun. A point I've been making for quite some time. click to read complete article

U.S. Sanctions on North Korea

U.N. Slaps Sanctions on North Korean Firms, Individuals NTI — The U.N. Security Council yesterday released its much-anticipated list of North Korean firms and individuals to be sanctioned for their role in aiding the nation's nuclear and missile activities, the Wall Street Journal reported (see GSN, July 16). The new blacklist covers five people and five companies. "We are pleased with the new international sanctions agreed upon today in response to North Korea's nuclear tests and recent missile activity," said Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "These new designations ... will serve to constrain North Korea from engaging in transactions or activities that could fund its WMD or proliferation activities." click to read complete article

US urges N. Korea to return to dialogue Iran Press TV — The United State calls on North Korea to return to the six-party talks, saying it is still "not too late" to resume the frozen talks on nuclear disarmament. "We think it's important to send a collective message to North Korea that it's not too late and that we still wish them to return to the six-party talks and to hold responsible negotiations," Kurt Campbell, US Assistant Secretary of State, was quoted by Kyodo News as saying on Friday. click to read complete article

New Sanctions Against North Korea: Too Little, Too Late? Fox News — Is the United Nations doing anything to stop North Korea? Well, there is news tonight, the U.N. imposing new sanctions against five North Korean companies involved in the country's nuclear program. In addition, give North Korean individuals now face a travel ban and have had their assets frozen. And there is more. Two types of materials used in ballistic missile parts are now banned from being sold in North Korea. Do these sanctions matter to the North Koreans? click to read complete article