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Lebanon faces humanitarian crisis More than half a million people have been displaced in Lebanon as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continues into its second week. Efforts are underway to open a safe corridor to allow aid shipments to be sent to Lebanon. Israel attack Red Cross ambulances on rescue mission Six ambulance workers and their patients were wounded when Israeli missiles struck Red Cross ambulances on a rescue mission in south Lebanon. The Lebanese Red Cross demanded that Israel guaranteed their safety through the United Nations or the International Red Cross.

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Doha round of trade talks suspended after negotiations fail The Doha round of trade negotiations have been suspended indefinitely following the failure of a conference of key nations to reach agreement on the contentious issue of farm trade.

Wikipedia Current Events
The Interstate Abortion Bill, or Bill S.403, was a bill passed by the United States Senate, 65-34, that it is illegal for non-parents, including clergy and grandparents, to take a minor to another state, that allows a minor to have a abortion without parental consent. They can still can go cross-state, if the minor has parental consent. Typhoon Kaemi hits Taiwan with 119 kilometre winds, injuring four people. The landfall in Jinjiang, Fujian 4 hours later prompts the evacuation of more than 500,000 residents in Fujian and Zhejiang, where Typhoon Bilis claimed 612 lives. The Israeli army has been accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in an operation in northern Gaza. According to the Israeli human rights group, B'tselem, six civilians including two minors were subjected to the illegal tactic during an incursion into the town of Beit Hanoun last week Clashes between Georgian troops and rebels erupt in the Kodori Gorge, Abkhazia. Interfax Israeli army radio reports that Israeli Army chief of staff Dan Halutz has given the order to the air force to destroy 10 multi-storey buildings in the Dahaya district (of Beirut) in response to every rocket fired on Haifa," As of Sunday the ratio of reported deaths was more than 17:1. Four UN peacekeepers die after, being, acording to the United Nations, shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery, and a rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble. "I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by IDF of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement from Rome. US-based Human Rights Watch says Israel has used cluster bombs in civilian areas during its assault on Lebanon. A missile fired by Israel, has hit a house in Lebanon; seven civilians confirmed dead. Israel says it will keep control over an area in southern Lebanon until an international force can be deployed.

Scandal Appeals see Lazio and Fiorentine reinstated back into Serie A
The results of the appeals in the massive Italian football match-fixing scandal have today been announced by the Italian federal court. All four clubs involved saw their original punishments reduced.

Juventus origiginally were relegated to Serie B with a thirty-point deduction. Their appeal still sees them in Italian football's second division, but with their points deduction almost halved to seventeen. They will still have their last two Scudettos stripped off them and the 2005-06 title will not be assigned to anyone. They will also have to play three games behind closed doors.

AC Milan will remain in Serie A and with their points deduction reduced from fifteen to just eight. They will play one match behind closed doors. However, importantly, they have been reinstated into the Champions League, but will have to play in the third qualifying round.

Fiorentina and Lazio have been reinstated into Serie A, having been demoted into Serie B originally. However, both clubs have had their points deductions increased, in Fiorentina's case the deduction was twelve points and Lazio will start the season with -11 points having originally had a seven-point penalty. Both clubs will not be allowed to play in European competitions next season and will have stadium bans. Fiorentina must play three games behind closed doors and for Lazio it's two.

Other consequences

The appeals mean that of the original relegated trio, only Lecce and Treviso have actually gone down, with Messina staying up to make way for Juve's demotion.

The European qualifying places have now been reworked. Internazionale and Roma will compete in the UEFA Champions League group stages, while Chievo will join AC Milan in the third qualifying round. Palermo, Livorno and Parma will be in the UEFA Cup next season.

Reactions

Juventus have stated that they willnot accept their fate and will now try to re-appeal, possibly via civil courts. Chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli said in a statement: ""We absolutely cannot accept this sentence. For this reason we have decided to push our case in every possible forum."

Fiorentina could also appeal via the civil courts and owner Diego Della Valle stated: "It's the first step. We haven't done anything and we will go down every avenue to clear our name."

Lazio chairman Claudio Lotito was also angry despite his club being restored into Serie A. He said: "I'm not satisfied at all. Lazio has not broken any rule. The fact that we will not be taking part in the Uefa Cup is not in line with the truth."

AC Milan were the only club to show any form of relief at their punishment being reduced. "For a club that asked for a complete annulment (of the tribunal's sentence) it cannot be considered a victory," said their lawyer Leandro Cantamessa.

"But bearing in mind the tribunal's sentence, which was like being in front of a firing squad, this is much better." After being asked if the club would, like the other three, re-appeal in the civil course, he replied: "I don't know. We'll see. We are in the Champions League, otherwise I would not even be moderately happy".

Man's romantic e-mail goes worldwide
A man has said he has "no regrets" after a romantic e-mail he sent to a woman ended up circulating around the world.

Joseph Dobbie, who is in his late 30s and lives in Berkshire, told Kate Winsall in the e-mail: "If I am twice as lucky as I dare to hope, you will find this note charming."

After reading the letter, Ms Winsall forwarded the email to her sister, who then sent it on to her friends.

In the message, which contained five hundred and sixteen words, Mr Dobbie commented on how Ms Winsall's smile made "time stand still", going on to say this is the "freshest of my memories". He also said sorry for being drunk at the party the pair met, and he asked Ms Winsall out for a coffee at London's Tate Modern.

Due to the email, Mr Dobbie has received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from people as far away as Australia, America and South Africa. He has also revealed that he has changed his phone numbers as a result of the situation: "It got to the point where if I hung up either phone they would just ring again," he said.

Mr Dobbie, who runs a web-design company, has said he wrote the note in the hope of meeting someone who would be thankful for such an effort. "My mother uses an expression 'it's cool to be cruel these days' and I just don't want that in my life," he said.

He said Ms Winsall had been touched by the email, and she also apologised for its universal circulation. "I stood a chance with Kate. Now thereâs no way she will say yes," Mr Dobbie said.

Doha round of trade talks suspended after negotiations fail
The director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pascal Lamy, suspended negotiations in the Doha round of trade talks on Monday, after a meeting of six "core" negotiators India, Brazil, the United States, European Union, Japan and Australia in Geneva failed to make any headway in reconciling differences over agricultural trade liberalisation. The US wanted cuts in import tariffs for farm products, which were rejected by EU, Japan and India, who asked for cuts in agricultural subsidies.

Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, told the Financial Times: "If the US continues to demand dollar-for-dollar compensation in market access [cutting tariffs] for reducing domestic support, no one in the developing world will ever buy that and the EU will not either." Brazil also identified the US stand on subsidies as the reason the talks failed.

Susan Schwab, the US trade representative, said that the other countries sought exemptions from tariff cuts for a wide range of goods and that such exemptions would defeat the object of the talks - to expand trade. "As we went through the layers of loopholes . . . we discovered that a couple of our trading partners were more interested in loopholes than market access," she said.

The Indian Commerce and Industries Minister, Kamal Nath said that developing countries could not allow their subsistence farmers to lose their livelihood and food security to provide market access to agricultural products from developed countries.

Many reasons attributed

The major agricultural exporters US, Australia and initially Brazil called for reductions in import tariffs on farm goods, saying that this will benefit the poor by reducing the price of food items and will expand markets for farmers everywhere. Developing countries such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines, which have millions of poor farmers, countered that cheap imports would drive the vulnerable farmers out of their livelihood. Their call for more tariff protection was also supported by developed nations in the EU and Japan, who also sought cuts on agricultural subsidies paid by the US to its farmers, saying that such subsidies distort prices and undercut their domestic producers unfairly.

Officials involved in the negotiations told the Financial Times that there wasn't sufficient pressure by exporters either to overcome the protectionist lobby. The upcoming congressional elections in the US have been cited by some as one of the reasons the US is holding firm on not cutting subsidies further. The unpopularity of the talks in many developing nations has also been cited as a reason negotiators from such countries preferred the talks to fail.

Peter Draper, a research fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs told the South African Business day, "The question is whether it is brinkmanship underpinned by major powers' negotiating tactics that has led to the breakdown or genuine irreconcilable differences. If it is the former, then the question will be for how long the negotiations will be suspended."

Reactions

Oxfam, the NGO working on aid and development, which had earlier supported the talks but later withdrew it after the subsidy-cuts it sought appeared to be unlikely, blamed the US and EU for not cutting subsidies while demanding developing countries to open their markets. Saying that any delay has "enormous costs", it called for the US and EU to make fundamental changes to their offers.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions said the suspension of talks was an opportunity for developing nations to negotiate a better deal, adding that no-deal was better than the deal on the table.

The Australian National Farmers Federation expressed disappointment, saying that the suspension has cost Australian farmers $1.5 billion in potential new markets.

The US Farm Bureau said that it was not prepared to give additional ground until Europe offers more concessions, and that farmers will now try to lock in subsidies.

Among U.S. business groups, John J. Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, an association of the chief executives of 160 of the biggest U.S. companies, said American negotiators were prepared to open markets if others did the same, and that Europe and other countries "surrendered to protectionist measures".

What is the Doha round

The Doha "development" round of talks, named after Doha, the capital city of Qatar, where it was inaugurated in November 2001, focuses heavily on creating a fair system of trade for the benefit of developing countries, in particular for trade in agricultural products.

Successive rounds of negotiations have failed to produce agreements on key issues such as cuts on subsidies and tariffs. In a ministerial meeting in Cancun in 2003, developing countries, forming about two-thirds of the WTO members let the meetings fail rather than agreeing to a compromise. In 2004, the US came up with an offer to cut subsidies along with a demand that others cut tariffs. The previous two summits, the Group of Eight nations, passed declarations expressing commitment to the talks and calling for a deal.

The congressional authority of the US President to negotiate an agreement on trade, the Trade Promotion Authority, expires by the middle of next year. The amount of work needed to complete an agreement before that meant that the end of this month was effectively a deadline for a framework agreement.

Parallels to the Uruguay round

The previous Uruguay round of talks were also suspended in 1990 after disagreements. The director-general of the WTO's forerunner, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Arthur Dunkel then worked with member nations to produce the Dunkel draft, which eventually lead to a final agreement in 1994.

Future of the Doha round

The suspended talks can only be revived by a consensus among the WTO's 149 members. The EU trading commissioner Peter Mandelson said that there were little short or medium term prospects of the talks restarting. Mark Vaile, Australian deputy prime minister and trade minister, said he would not accept superficial or partial reforms in the Doha round. The Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath that there was little ground for convergence on the core issues in the Doha round as of now.

The US trade representative Susan Schwab said that she would push the Doha agenda in regional trade meetings and with individual countries. She also said that she did not expect to use the current TPA, which expires in mid-2007 to enact a Doha round agreement. The Financial Times reports that it is unlikely that the US Congress will renew the authority, again dimming prospects of a near-term agreement.

Repercussions of the failure

The WTO director-general, Pascal Lamy said the failure of the negotiations sent a "strong negative signal for the future of the world economy amidst the danger of a resurgence of protectionism".

The South African chief negotiator Xavier Carim called the failed talks a "serious setback" and pointed to the "huge" opportunity cost it implies, particularly for developing countries. A World Bank study in 2005 estimated that global free trade in agriculture would generate gains of US $287 billion, of which $86 billion will accrue to developing countries.

Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner said that formulating the EU trade policy going ahead will begin by the end of August. Australia and Japan have said that they will focus on bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. A Japanese foreign ministry official, speaking to the Mainichi Daily News, and Hilton Zunckel, trade adviser to developing countries, speaking to Business Day said that many other WTO members would focus on bilateral and regional trade agreements.

Jewel in King Tut's necklace created by possible asteroid impact
A jewel that once belonged to King Tutankhamen of ancient Egypt is believed to have been created by an exploding meteorite entering Earth's atmosphere "hugely bigger in energy than the atomic [bomb] tests," said geophysicist John Wasson. The explosion was "Ten thousand times more powerful," added Wasson.

The Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority says the jewel is composed of 98% silica or glass, making it the purest jewel of its kind on the planet and can only be found in a certain area of the Sahara Desert.

Wasson also says the impact that created the jewel can be compared to the "Tunguska event" that occurred in Tunguska, Siberia in 1908 causing at least 80 million trees to be flattened, but left no visible impact crater.

"When the thought came to me that it required a hot sky, I thought immediately of the Tunguska event," said Wasson.

The event was recreated by a computer simulation. The results of the simulation reveal that the impact of a meteorite or an event similar to Tunguska could have been the cause of the formation and heating the ground up to nearly 1,800 degrees Celsius causing a thin layer of glass to form on the Earth's surface at the site of an impact.

Researchers also added that events like this are likely to happen at least every 100 years or so. Wasson says there are likely to be more impacts; it's "just a matter of when."

New Zealand man arrested for murdering teacher
A 23-year-old Tokoroa man has been arrested for the murder of a school teacher, Lois Dear. Dear's body was found on July 16 (Sunday) in her classroom at Strathmore Primary School, one day before term three of the New Zealand primary school year was to start.

The accused murderer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested on Monday night at a camp and appeared in court today.

A large crowd of media personnel and onlookers gathered outside the packed courtroom. Twenty to thirty people had to remain outside. Many of the people who had gathered outside the courtroom abused the accused man as he walked to the courtroom. One said "You'll never make sentencing." Armed police also were deployed to protect the alleged murderer.

One person, who did not want to be named, said she "had come to let people know who had been arrested." She shouted the name out as the accused walked by.

The accused was remanded and is to appear back in court next week.

Murray Kendrick, principal of Strathmore Primary School, said that he "knew an arrest was imminent, and is relieved it has happened so quickly."

Police are not ruling out anyone else taking part in the murder.

California students continue struggle with Exit Exam in classrooms, courtroom
Class of 2006 students who have so far failed to conquer the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) will continue the struggle today in classrooms across the state, and also in a San Francisco courtroom.

Some of the nearly one in ten members of the Class of 2006 who still havenât passed the CAHSEE weeks after their scheduled graduations, including dozens from James Logan High Schoolâs Class of 2006, will get another crack at it starting today at high schools around the state, when schools administer an additional last chance two-day test, added to the testing schedule in April in response to the number of seniors who still hadnât passed.

Meanwhile, Californiaâs First District Appellate Court of California this morning will begin hearing arguments in a lawsuit that aims to prohibit the state from requiring students to pass the test, and force it to give them the diplomas they currently lack.

According to testing statistics released by the California Department of Education, 1,759 California seniors passed the test when they took it in May, the last time the test was administered, bringing the total percentage of last yearâs seniors to pass the test to an estimated 90.8 percent, or 396,201 of 436,374 members of the Class of 2006.

However, that number does not include over 22,000 special education students who were not required to pass the test this year.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack OâConnell, who wrote the law which required students to pass the test when he was a state legislator, expressed muted pleasure at the results, which indicate a narrowing of the âachievement gapâ between racial groups. "While I will not be satisfied until all California students are successful in gaining the skills measured by the exit exam, I am pleased that the achievement gap is narrowing," OâConnell said. "It is clear that all students are working hard to gain the critical skills necessary for a diploma and for survival in todayâs global economy. I credit the exit exam for focusing both students and schools on meeting this challenge. We need to sustain this effort until the achievement gap is erased completely."

âEighty-five percent of Hispanic students in the Class of 2006 have passed the test, with 19.7 percent passing during the junior year and nearly 11 percent passing in their senior year,â according to a statement released by OâConnell. âBy comparison, 11.5 percent of white students passed as juniors and 4.1 percent of white students passed as seniors. Eighty-three percent of African American students have passed the test, with 20.6 percent passing as juniors and 12 percent passing as seniors.â

About 70 seniors at James Logan High School, mostly minorities and those who are learning English, had to take the May test.

OâConnell said that the estimated 40,173 students who havenât passed the test should not give up trying to get a high school diploma or more education: "I urge these students to continue to work in summer school, take a fifth year of high school, or study in adult school or community college to acquire those important skills in English and math," OâConnell said. "This exam benefits students who are still struggling by focusing them on areas they need to strengthen so they can have more successful futures.

The last chance to pass the 2006 test begins this morning, as seniors and adult school students begin taking the English/Language Arts portion of the CAHSEE. Tomorrow, the Mathematics portion of the test will be administered. The summer administration of the test starting today was added to the testing schedule in April, in response to requests from school districts around the state.

In the court case against the test, the California Court of Appeals will hear argument at 9:30 a.m. at 350 McAllister in San Francisco.

In court, Arturo Gonzalez, lead attorney in the case, Valenzuela vs. O'Connell, named for Liliana Valenzuela, a Richmond High School student, will try to convince the First Appellate Court of California to uphold a Superior Court judgeâs May ruling blocking the state's use of the test, on the grounds that itâs use as a graduation requirement was unconstitutional because poor and minority students don't have access to equal educational resources, and therefore don't have equal protection under the law.

The judge, Robert Freedman of Alameda County, issued an injunction against the use of the test, briefly giving hope of graduation without passing to thousands of students statewide, but OâConnell appealed to the state Supreme Court and they stayed the judgeâs injunction, allowing the state to order schools to deny diplomas to those who hadnât passed the test. The Supreme Court also ordered the First District Appellate Court to hear the case, which the court scheduled for today.

"If the appellate court affirms the injunction, then any student who has passed all of his or her required courses will receive a high school diploma,â Gonzalez said in an e-mail to the James Logan Courier.

The two-day exam tests students on middle school level math and algebra and ninth and 10th grade-level English. Students take the test for the first time as sophomores, again as juniors if they didnât pass it as 10th graders, and several times as seniors if needed.

Today in History
811 - Bulgarian forces led by Krum defeated a Byzantine invasion in the Battle of Pliska, killed Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I and severely wounded his son and co-emperor Staurakios.

1139 - After a victory over the Almoravid Moors in the Battle of Ourique, Afonso the Conqueror was proclaimed the first king of an independent Portugal.

1822 - Jose de San Martin met with Simon Bolivar in Guayaquil to plan for the future of South America.

1887 - L. L. Zamenhof published Unua Libro, the first publication to describe Esperanto, a constructed international language.

1953 - Fidel Castro led an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution.

July 26 is Independence Day in Liberia (1847) and Maldives (1965)

Quote of the Day

"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature."
~ George Bernard Shaw

Word of the Day

surreptitiously; adv

In a surreptitious manner; stealthily, furtively.

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