Gun violence flares up across US in bloody Fourth of July weekend

• At least 80 people shot in Chicago, 14 fatally, over holiday

• Chicago police superintendent puts blame on lax gun laws

theguardian.com, Lauren Gambino in New York, Monday 7 July 2014

A man is wheeled on a stretcher after being shot in the leg on Chicago's
South Side this weekend. Photograph: Alex Wroblewski/AP

A spate of violence over Fourth of July weekend left more than a dozen people dead and scores injured in several US cities.

In Chicago, more than 80 people were shot over the extended weekend, 14 fatally, according to the Chicago Tribune, which aims to track every shooting in the city.

"It's Groundhog Day in Chicago," said Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy at a press conference on Monday, in which he called the level of violence over the weekend "unacceptable".

McCarthy said the department's strategy for combating gun violence over holiday weekends appeared to work Thursday through Saturday, but failed on Sunday when more than 20 people were shot, leaving four dead.

In the 84 hours between mid-afternoon Thursday and early Monday morning, at least 82 people were shot, the Tribune reported.

McCarthy said eight of the incidents involved police being threatened or returning fire. Two teenage boys aged 14 and 16 were shot dead by police, the Tribune reported. All incidents involving police are being independently investigated, as is standard procedure.

The city is all too familiar with the ravages of gun violence. During last year’s Fourth of July weekend, shootings in Chicago left at least 12 people dead and more than 70 injured over the four-day holiday weekend, according to local reports at the time.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a long-time advocate of tougher gun laws, has called gun violence the city’s most urgent problem. But despite having some of the nation's strictest gun laws and a mayor who has made the issue a priority, gun violence continues to devastate Chicago.

"The number of shootings and murders that took place over the holiday weekend is simply unacceptable, and points out that we still have work to do," Emanuel said in a statement on Monday. "The solution does not just include policing."

McCarthy blamed the persistent violence in part on lax gun laws, especially in neighboring states, and said harsher punishments for people who commit gun crimes are needed.

"It all comes down to guns," he said. "There's too many guns coming in and too little punishment going out."

In Indianapolis, Indiana, two police officers died in separate incidents following a bloody Saturday morning in which seven people were shot, police said.

Indianapolis metropolitan police department officer Perry Renn was shot and killed during a gunfight on Saturday night and a police officer in Gary, Indiana, identified as Jeffrey Westerfield, was found shot dead in his car by a passing motorist on Sunday morning, the Indianapolis Star reported.

The seven victims shot in Broad Ripple, an area of the city known for its nightlife, were between the ages of 23 and 28, according to a police report.

Meanwhile in Texas, four people were shot and several more injured after a man opened fire inside an arena filled with thousands fans attending the Houston Caribbean Festival on Saturday morning, police said.

Police said a fight broke out on the floor and at least one person pulled a gun and began shooting. The shooter hit four people, including a 16-year-old who suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Several people were injured after the crowd panicked and rushed to exit the venue.

Authorities are asking eyewitnesses to come forward with more information.

In New York City, 12 people were shot, three fatally, in an overnight burst of gun violence that took place Saturday night and Sunday morning, the New York Post reported.

In St Louis, Missouri, three people were killed and several more injured in a series of shootings that took place across the city over the holiday weekend, the StLouis Post-Dispatch reported.

Eduard Shevardnadze: A Soviet-Georgian life of global importance

As Gorbachev’s foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze helped end the Cold War and helped bring about German reunification. He died at age 86.

 Deutsche Welle, 7 July 2014

The appointment of Georgian party leader Edward Shevardnadze as Soviet foreign minister in July 1985 surprised many at the time. The 57-year-old did not have any experience with regard to foreign policy. He had quickly made his career within the party and as a civil servant in Georgia. As Georgia's Communist Party leader, he had strong ties with the KGB and had made a name for himself in the fight against corruption and favoritism in the Soviet republic. He was a perfect match for Mikhail Gorbachev, who had only been in office as general secretary of the Soviet Union's Communist Party for a few months himself.

Not only did both Gorbachev and Shevardnadze hail from the Caucasus, where they had been acquainted with one another since the early 1960s, but both also shared the vision of giving an ailing Soviet Union dominated by corruption and mismanagement a new economic perspective.

In the mid-1980s, the stagnating Soviet economy was threatening the legitimacy of the communist regime and the ideology of victorious socialism. In order to improve living standards amongst the grumbling population, both men aimed to divert resources from arms and heavy industries into consumption. But they needed a policy of detente in the conflict between East and West, in particular with the US.

New Thinking

Over the following five years, Shevardnadze wrote world history as Gorbachev's foreign minister through what would later become known as his policy of "new thinking." His and Gorbachev's names will forever be associated with the disarmament treaty with the US, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the non-intervention in the peaceful revolutions in East-Central Europe.

Germans will forever see Eduard Shevardnadze - just like Mikhail Gorbachev - as one of the fathers of German reunification. In his position as the Soviet Union's representative in the two plus four negotiations, he helped realize Germany's reunification against the resistance of many old-style Soviet communists and army generals in Moscow. In the end, Shevardnadze became one of the leading figures in ending the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union, which brought him much international acclaim.

Shevardnadze and Gorbachev (center)

But in December 1990, Shevardnadze announced his resignation from the position of Soviet foreign minister. He warned of a looming dictatorship in what was a protest against those forces resisting further reforms in the Soviet Union and fighting against the breakup of the Communist regime.

He continued working within in Gorbachev's political sphere, but the coup against Gorbachev in August 1991 and the breakup of the Soviet Union in December ended Shevardnadze's role in Moscow.

Returning home

Leaving Moscow did not mean Eduard Shevardnadze's political career was over, however. He returned to Georgia, which was in a bad shape politically and economically, to take over power in the Caucasian republic that had just become independent from the Soviet Union.

Elections in the fall of 1992 brought him a landslide victory. Over the following ten years - he was President of Georgia from 1995 onwards - he managed to stabilize the country, despite the secessions of the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

But his political course in Georgia was not to be crowned with a happy ending. In his last years as the country's president, Shevardnadze ultimately put the brakes on Georgia's breakthrough as a democracy and market economy. He seemed to be more actively engaged in securing his own stay in power through favoritism and corruption than in developing Georgia as a rule-of-law state. When there was voter fraud in the parliamentary elections in November 2003, mass rallies led Georgia toward the so-called Rose Revolution. It was an inglorious end to his term in office, but at least power was handed over peacefully, without any bloodshed.

When Shevardnadze stepped down on November 23rd, 2003, his political era ended in Georgia, and he left politics for good.

Shevardnadze then started writing his memoirs. "Democracy was my biggest goal," he told DW in an interview on the occasion of the launch of his autobiography.

Eduard Shevardnadze achieved only a part of that goal. His crucial achievements as Soviet foreign minister are now overshadowed by the abrupt end of his political career as an ageing president who clung to power for too long.

Merkel describes latest allegations of US spying on Germany as "serious"

Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed concern about reports that a German intelligence officer worked as a double agent for the United States. Bilateral ties had already been strained by reports of snooping by the NSA.

Deutsche Welle, 7 July 2014

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Beijing on Monday, the chancellor said that if the reports that an employee of Germany's BND intelligence service passed information on to a US contact proved to be true, it would be a "serious case."

Merkel added that she would regard this as "a clear contradiction as to what I regard as trusting cooperation between agencies and partners."

According to the DPA news agency, the employee in question, a 31-year-old man who was arrested last Wednesday, has admitted to passing on more than 200 documents to US intelligence agencies in return for a total of 25,000 euros ($34,000) over a period of two years.

The BND has said the documents that were passed on contained no sensitive information.

Case under investigation

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, meanwhile, rejected opposition calls for Berlin to expel the US ambassador to Germany. Steinmeier told reporters at a press conference in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, than no further action would be taken until the results of an investigation into the matter were known.

On Friday, the German foreign office called in the US ambassador to express Berlin's displeasure.

Whatever the ambassador told foreign office officials does not appear to have satisfied them, as the controversy showed no sign of dying down by Monday morning.

"I expect now for everyone to assist in the speedy clarification of the accusations, and quick and clear statements, also by the US," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in comments published in Monday's edition of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper.

On Sunday, even German President Joachim Gauck, whose role is largely ceremonial, weighed in on the issue.

"If it really is the case that a service has been using an employee from our service in this way, we have to say: 'That is enough'," the former Protestant pastor and human rights campaigner in the former communist East Germany said.

There has still been no official comment on the issue from the United States.

"We continue to decline comment," Caitlin Hayden, spokesman for the US National Security Council said on Sunday.

NSA hangover

The allegations against the BND employee come with bilateral relations between Germany and the US still strained over revelations by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.

Among the allegations were that the NSA not only conducted mass surveillance on German citizens, but also hacked into Chancellor Merkel's cellular phone.

pfd/tj (dpa, Reuters)

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Saudi human rights activist sentenced to 15 years in prison

Saudi human rights activist Walid Abu al-Khair has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on sedition charges. He's the founder of Monitor Human Rights in Saudi Arabia.

Deutsche Welle, 6 July 2014

The Saudi court in Jeddah also banned al-Khair on Sunday from travelling outside of the ultraconservative kingdom for an additional 15 years and slapped him with a 200,000 riyal ($53,300) fine. His websites were also shut down.

He was convicted on charges of breaking allegiance to King Abdullah, disrespecting authorities, and creating an unauthorized association. Al-Khair has been under house arrest since April 16.

"Walid does not recognize the legitimacy of this court, refuses to accept its verdict and has no intention to appeal," al-Khair's wife, Samar Badawi, told the AFP news agency.

According to Badawi, her husband faces other charges for setting up the group Monitor Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRS) without a permit. She says that al-Khair sought a permit, but received no response from the authorities. Afterward, he set up an MHRS Facebook page which has attracted thousands of followers.

The lawyer has been critical of Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism law, which critics say is used as a pretext to stiffle political dissent. Under the law, terrorism is defined as any act that "disturbs public order, shakes the security of society, or subjects its national unity to danger, or obstructs the primary system of rule or harms the reputation of state."

'Prisoner of conscience'

In October, al-Khair was sentenced to three months in jail for signing a petition in 2011 against the imprisonment of a group of activists demanding political reform. That same month, he was briefly detained and then released on bail after setting up an unauthorized meeting of activists.

In 2012, Saudi authorities banned al-Khair from traveling to the United States, where he was supposed to attend a forum at the State Department.

The London-based human rights group Amnesty International has called for al-Khair's immediate release.

"He is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately and unconditionally," said Amnesty's Said Boumedouha, calling al-Khair's detention "a worrying example of how Saudi Arabian authorities are abusing the justice system to silence peaceful dissent."

slk/hc (AFP, Reuters)

Angela Merkel greatest leader in Europe, says Hillary Clinton

Former secretary of state says US ready for female leader and she will decide on presidential run by early next year

theguardian.com, Reuters in Berlin, Sunday 6 July 2014

Hillary Clinton in Berlin. Photograph: Oliver Lang/AFP/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton has called Angela Merkel "the greatest leader in Europe" during a visit to Berlin and said it was high time America had a female leader too – though without confirming that she would seek the job.

In an appearance at a Berlin theatre on Sunday to promote her book Hard Choices, the former US secretary of state also referred to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, as a "tough customer with a pretty thin skin".

Clinton is widely expected to run for the White House in 2016 and has cited Merkel, the German chancellor, as a good argument for the US having a female president soon.

"I think we are ready for a woman to break through the glass ceiling," Clinton said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that she would decide whether to run for president "at the end of this year or early next year".

Clinton joked at the Schiller Theatre about her and Merkel's shared taste for trouser suits, and voiced admiration for the chancellor's leadership during the eurozone debt crisis.

"I say in the book I think she is the greatest leader in Europe, I think she is a great leader globally, I think she carried Europe on her shoulders and it wasn't easy," she said.

Watch a recent Guardian interview with Hillary Clinton

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Commentary: Beijing, Berlin getting closer despite geographical distance

Xi calls for "no more stirs" on Korean Peninsula

English.news.cn, 2014-07-03, Editor: Tang Danlu

SEOUL, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Thursday all parties concerned to refrain from creating more stirs on the Korean Peninsula as many uncertainties are still existing.

"All parties concerned should jointly and properly manage and control the situation, avoid causing tension, prevent the situation from losing control, and creating no more stirs," he said during talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Xi told Park that China upholds an objective and impartial position on the Korean Peninsula issue, and is firmly committed to pushing for a nuclear-free Peninsula, maintaining the peace and stability on the Peninsula, and resolving the issue through dialogue and consultation.

"We hold that the concerns of all sides should be treated in a balanced way, and a synchronized and equivalent method should be sought to bring the nuclear issue on Korean peninsula into a sustainable, irreversible and effective settlement process," said Xi.

China positively evaluates the proposal of a "Korean Peninsula trust-building process" raised by Park and supports the improvement of relations between the north and the south to realize reconciliation and cooperation and ultimately achieve independent peaceful reunification, Xi said.

Park said South Korea hopes to build south-north mutual trust through the "Korean Peninsula trust-building process," push for reconciliation between the two sides and safeguard peace on the Peninsula.

South Korea spoke highly of China's efforts to promoting peace and talks, and is willing to enhance cooperation with China to achieve the goal of denuclearization on the Peninsula and boosting peace, stability and prosperity in Northeast Asia, she said.

Xi arrived here Thursday for a two-day state visit to South Korea, his first trip to the Asian neighbor since he took office last year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L, front) and his wife Peng Liyuan (R, front)

 inspect an honor guard upon their arrival in Seoul, capital of South Korea, July 3,

 2014. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Seoul Thursday for a two-day

state visit to South Korea. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

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Zwarte Piet is a negative stereotype: court orders parade rethink

DutchNews.nl, Thursday 03 July 2014

The 'new look' Piet (right) was widely ridiculed. Photo: Nos

Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan has been told by a court in the capital to reconsider the licensing of the Sinterklaas parade through the city last year, which became mired in controversy because of the Zwarte Piet character.

The administrative court says the mayor has six weeks to look again at the decision to allow the parade to go ahead last year and determine if the correct one was taken.

The administrative court said in its ruling the Zwarte Piet character a negative stereotype which is insulting to black people and the mayor must decide which interest is more important: that of black Amsterdammers or society in general, news agency ANP reported.

Racist

Critics of Zwarte Piet – played by white people in blackface make-up – went to court last year in an effort to have the parade halted, arguing Sinterklaas’s servant is racist.  That request was rejected by the courts, resulting in an appeal to the administrative court. 

Van der Laan is already in talks with both the pro and anti Piet lobby about this year’s parade. Earlier this year, the Dutch folklore institute recommended making changes to Zwarte Piet's appearance but did not suggest removing the blackface make-up.

The court's ruling has no implications for Sinterklaas parades in the rest of the country, Nos television said.

Opponents of the Zwarte Piet character said the court's verdict was an important victory. 'The court has said Zwarte Piet is racist. You have to eradicate racism and the Dutch state has a role in this,' said Barryl Biekman, chairman of the national slavery heritage platform.

Children

Social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher, who in charge of integration issues, said the Sinterklaas celebrations should be a party which everyone enjoys.

Sinterklaas is a children’s event and should remain so, he said. But it is also subject to change, he said. ‘We used to sing ‘who is naughty gets a switch’ and that has changed,’ the minister said.

But Asscher declined to comment on the court case, saying it is up to Amsterdam city council.

Asscher is due to meet Verene Shepherd, the UN official who last year criticised the Zwarte Piet tradition, later on Thursday.

UN advisor Verene Shepherd (with sunglasses and colored

scarf) in slavery memorial (NOS)

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Kryon Q&A

Question: I’m a black woman who enjoys your teachings tremendously. It seems that there aren’t a lot of black people involved in these discussions. Is this true, and is there a reason for this? Is it cultural? Or am I wrong in this assumption?

Answer: Dear one, yes. If you’re speaking about black Americans, you’re right. It’s cultural. There are two basic reasons you won’t find many blacks in metaphysics in your culture: The first one is that in your land, your race is a minority with a history of oppression. This has created a very strong spiritual support base. Almost from birth, most of you have been exposed to very high church and spiritual support and a feeling of belonging and sticking together. There are few groups that have this kind of support and prayer base. So spiritually, you don’t look around much for answers other than what you have already learned about the love of God. This works for you and is honored.

The second reason is perhaps politically incorrect in your culture to speak of, but Kryon is not of your culture. Many of you are in survival mode due to sustained second-class citizenship you experience from birth. This causes despair, poverty, and a shift to crime among many due to despondency over life and a need to survive in a system that does not honor you. When a Human is consumed with survival in a difficult environment, they don’t have time or a desire for introspection or a search to better themselves spiritually. All their time is spent spinning within the challenges they have, many of which they assume to be their plight, many of which they have created themselves.

The sadness here is that if they did look within, they would find the tools to co-create a life outside of survival, and start processes that honors their endeavors and their lives. Blessed are those with life challenges, as so many of the minorities have, but who have decided to increase their spiritual knowledge as a solution, instead of trying to force-manipulate the reality of the cultural situation.

New US tax act will help China anti-graft campaign

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-07-02

A FATCA illustration. (Internet photo)

The United States has signed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with 86 countries to prevent tax evasion by American citizens and is now looking to draft an agreement with China. If successful, this would help Beijing as it cracks down on corrupt government officials, reports the Shanghai-based China Business News.

According to the draft, the US and China will reciprocally share all account information held by domestic residents in both countries.

The FATCA is a US federal law that requires citizens, including individuals who live outside the country, to report their financial accounts held outside of the US and requires foreign financial institutions to report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about their US clients. Congress enacted FATCA to make it more difficult for US taxpayers to conceal assets held in offshore accounts and shell corporations, and thus recover federal tax revenue that would otherwise be lost.

After checks, the reporter found on the website of the US Department of the Treasury that China has been named on the list of countries having basically reached an agreement with the US on FATCA. According to the agreement, all financial accounts opened by Chinese residents in US financial institutions have become transparent to the Chinese government.

Once China and the US officially sign the FATCA, it will be very dangerous for those hoping to hide their assets in the US banking system, said one unnamed senior executive at an asset management company.

Such a development could gain ground unexpectedly on anti-corruption maneuvers. Jay Nanavati, an adviser at US law firm BakerHostetler, said in an article that the FATCA will complement the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) to jointly shape a unique anti-corruption combination.

Although the FCPA can crack down on the bribing of US firms in foreign countries, if it is not US firms doing so, other competitors will step in to take illegal advantage, thus causing unfair competition for US enterprises, Nanavati said.

The FATCA's reciprocal model will give foreign countries the account information of its citizens in their US accounts. Foreign residents will have more difficulty using their US accounts to transfer illegal assets, thus restricting their corrupt behavior and giving US enterprises a more fair and clean business environment overseas, he said.

It will be very easy for the Chinese government to utilize the information to crack down corrupt government officials, Nanavati said.

While the Chinese government tends to cooperate with the US in cracking down on tax evasion and corruption, the Hong Kong government has adopted a more cautious attitude, preferring to seek agreements first from the clients being checked to hand over the account information, and getting limited information provided by the IRS should the clients decline, one report said, citing a related Hong Kong official.

Vatican gives official backing to exorcists

Head of International Association of Exorcists says Vatican approval is cause for joy for those who suffer demons

The Guardian, Associated Press in Vatican City, Wednesday 2 July 2014

Pope Francis speaks frequently about the devil. Photograph:
Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Exorcists now have an extra weapon in their fight against evil – the official backing of the Catholic church. The Vatican has formally recognised the International Association of Exorcists, a group of 250 priests in 30 countries who liberate the faithful from demons.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported this week that the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy had approved the organisation's statutes and recognised the group under canon law.

More than his predecessors, Pope Francis speaks frequently about the devil, and last year was seen placing his hands on the head of a man supposedly possessed by four demons in what exorcists said was a prayer of liberation from Satan.

The head of the association, the Rev Francesco Bamonte, said the Vatican approval was cause for joy. "Exorcism is a form of charity that benefits those who suffer," he told L'Osservatore.

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"Recalibration of Dark & Light"–  Feb 25, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The Energy of Recalibration

We wish to continue the series that we are calling, "The Recalibration of All Things". We have given you information in the past about the recalibration of the planet, of humanity and even of the Universe. Now we speak of the recalibration of dark and light and what it means to you.

So before I begin, I must define what I mean by dark and light and then I will also define what I mean by the new 2012 energy. When I speak about dark and light to you, what do you think about? I'll tell you what many are trained to think about: They're trained to think about evil and good and bad. They're trying to put these things in the appropriate boxes where they were taught they belong using linear thinking. They will turn to the mythology that taught them about an entity with a tail trying to capture your soul and other mysterious entities around that work for that main evil entity.

So I will tell you again: The entity that is after your soul is mythology, dear ones. It doesn't exist in your reality. But you might say, "Wait a minute, Kryon. Are you telling me evil doesn't exist?" No, dear ones, I didn't say that. What I'm telling you is that all the darkness on this planet has come from Human Beings. You don't need to assign energy to a mythological creature to have evil on the earth. The darkest of the dark can be created by the Humans if they choose to do that. Dark power can be created because Humans are powerful and can manifest it. Darkness is not that hard to manifest.

However, we have told you before that the light/dark balance of the planet is what is at hand. Those who carry light in the dark room will not have darkness around them, for the definition of darkness is the absence of light. But if there are only a few who carry the match, there's going to be a lot of darkness. So you are subject to that, for you will walk around in whatever light balance is created by humanity.

You might call it a system. All of life is affected - all of it - by the light and dark balance of where humanity decides to place this balance. The definition of dark and light has to do with the Human consciousness balance, since it is the Human Being who creates dark and light for the planet. It's a concept. So this is the subject of this message: What is the new balance of the earth energy going to mean to you, personally, today?

Second definition: The 2012 energy is a marker, a seeming perception of a time frame that you have now passed and are well into, which gives a confluence of energy permission to change reality. The earth, being Gaia, begins to shift with you and for you, and the energy of the planet moves into areas that it never has before.  …”

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon, who is Lucifer, and what was the purpose of the Luciferian rebellion?

Answer: We know this will disappoint many and enrage many more, but there is no such thing as the devil, and there never was a real Lucifer. These were all metaphoric stories to help you understand yourselves. The darkest energy on the planet comes from the Human Being as a result of free choice. Even the added metaphoric story of Adam and Eve should have given you that information. Free choice meant that a Human could chose darkness even in the garden of light. It's what "duality" is capable of.

For those who don't believe this and would rather think that there are those who are after your soul, you still have free choice to think as you wish. But it will also keep you from seeing your magnificence within the love of God, as you base your reality in fear of dark entities.

We have given you a full discussion of dark and light several times.

Editor's note: Please see Kryon's most recent discussion of dark and light: [http://www.kryon.com/k_chaneldelmar03.html]

Belgian barrage eventually beats Howard in US goal

Belgium have booked the last ticket to the World Cup quarter-finals, knocking out the USA 2-1 in extra time. Tim Howard played perhaps the game of his life in the US goal, but Belgium ultimately broke the dam.

Deutsche Welle, 2 July 2014

After Ottmar Hitzfeld's Swiss side missed a chance against Argentina, ex-Germany boss Jürgen Klinsmann could not lead the US national team into the last eight. Had either he or Hitzfeld won on Tuesday, they could have become the first German coach to lead a country other than Germany into the quarters.

Belgium stated their intent in Salvador in the very first minute, when Kevin de Bruyne fed teenage striker Divock Origi for a shot on goal. Tim Howard got down low to parry away for a corner. The names changed but the fundamental story stayed the same throughout regulation time. Belgium made markedly more chances than their opponents, but a mixture of profligacy and Howard's heroics kept the game at 0-0 right through until extra-time. Dries Mertens, de Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Marouane Fellaini, even left-back Jan Vertonghen: Howard denied them all at some point in the match as Belgium fired 23 shots at his goal just in regulation time.

Without Howard's heroics between the US posts, Belgium might have
ran away with the game

The US were also forced into an early tactical change when Fabian Johnson went off with a strained hamstring. Yet youngster DeAndre Yedlin came off the bench and managed to fill Johnson's big boots with a standout perfomance.

Marc Wilmots' Belgian side had not scored before the 70th minute all World Cup, but for the first time the Red Devils went the full 90 without finding the net. Chris Wondolowski of the US had a golden chance in stoppage time to provide the winner against the run of play, but blasted wildly over the bar from close in. The officials called Wondolowski back for offside, although replays proved they were mistaken. Thus the striker did FIFA a favor by spurning the chance and neutering any officiating scandal.

Germany vs. Algeria revisited in extra time

Just like the German match against Algeria, which stood 0-0 in regulation time, the favorites struck almost immediately after the restart. Some sloppy play from key US men Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey allowed Belgium to pinch possession and play in de Bruyne in the box.

No Landon Donovan in Brazil for the US,
but did his successor just announce his
arrival?

The Wolfsburg star made no mistake, firing a low placed shot into the far corner, leaving the otherwise exemplary Howard a helpless spectator. The intensive and defensive effort invested by Klinsmann's side started to tell in extra time, and it was only exacerbated by the disappointment of finally conceding.

Belgium's introduction of Romelu Lukaku up front also provided the Red Devils with more late attacking impetus against tired legs. Lukaku forced Howard into two stoppage time saves before scoring Belgium's second, seemingly sealing the match.

In what seemed like an admission of defeat at the time, Klinsmann brought on US-German Bayern Munich academy star Julian Green as his third and final substitute on the stroke of 105 minutes. Immediately after the extra-time restart, 19-year-old Green volleyed the US back into contention, scoring with practically his first touch of the game. The goal unsettled Belgium and the US started to pour forward, running on adrenaline with the prospect of penaties suddenly revived. But by the skin of their teeth at the end of an exhilarating game, the Belgians were able to hold out to win 2-1.

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US Navy gets its first four-star female admiral

Yahoo – AFP, 2 July 2014

US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus promotes Michelle Howard to the rank

 of admiral, the first woman to hold the rank in the history of the US Navy, on

July 1, 2014 in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/MCC Peter D. Lawlor)

Washington (AFP) - The US Navy has promoted a woman to the rank of a four-star admiral for the first time in its 238-year history, a milestone for females in the American military.

In a ceremony on Tuesday, Michelle Howard was promoted to vice chief of naval operations, the number two job in the service, after having already shattered barriers in previous posts in the navy.

Howard, 54, is known for commanding a counter-piracy task force in the Gulf of Aden that oversaw the 2009 rescue of a commercial cargo ship skipper, Captain Richard Phillips, who was abducted by Somali pirates.

The rescue involving Navy SEALs was later depicted in a film starring Tom Hanks.

"If you don’t believe today was a first, when I called to order four-star shoulder boards for women, they didn't exist," Howard said during her promotion ceremony.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said Howard had earned her promotion through "a brilliant naval career" and hailed it as "an historic first."

"She will bear the burden of a role model and she is ready to bear that very well," said Navy chief Admiral Jonathan Greenert.

Howard has blazed a trail since graduating from the Naval Academy in 1982.

Adm. Michelle Howard lends a hand to US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus

 as he and Wayne Cowles (C), Howard's husband, put four-star shoulder boards on

 her service uniform during her promotion ceremony on July 1, 2014 in Washington, 

DC (AFP Photo/MCC Peter D. Lawlor)

She was the first African-American woman to command an American naval ship in 1999, taking the helm of the USS Rushmore, a dock landing vessel that transports amphibious vehicles.

Although she is the first female four-star admiral in the navy, the US Army and Air Force already have had women serve as four-star officers.

The promotion follows a recent decision by commanders to open up submarines to female officers and allow women to perform some combat jobs that were previously closed to female ground troops.

Since 1993, women have been allowed to serve on warships and fly fighter jets.

Howard was one of a small number of women who attended the US Naval Academy in the early 1980s. But women made up 25 percent of this year's graduating class at the academy, an all-time high.

The promotion ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery's Women in Military Service for America memorial.

Federal judge strikes down Kentucky's gay marriage ban

Prohibition on same-sex couples being wed violates equal protection clause, judge rules, but ruling put on hold temporarily

theguardian.com, Associated Press in Louisville, Kentucky, Tuesday 1 July 2014

Gay marriage bans have been struck down in other states, like
Pennsylvania (above). Photograph: Matt Slocum/AP

A federal judge in Kentucky struck down the state's ban on gay marriage on Tuesday, though the ruling was temporarily put on hold and it was not immediately clear when same-sex couples could be issued marriage licenses.

US district judge John Heyburn in Louisville concluded that the state's prohibition on same-sex couples being wed violates the Equal Protection Clause of the US constitution by treating gay couples differently than straight couples.

Heyburn previously struck down Kentucky's ban on recognizing same-sex marriages from other states and countries, but he put the implementation of that ruling on hold. That decision did not deal with whether Kentucky would have to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Instead, Tuesday's ruling dealt directly with that question.

"Sometimes, by upholding equal rights for a few, courts necessarily must require others to forebear some prior conduct or restrain some personal instinct," Heyburn wrote. "Here, that would not seem to be the case. Assuring equal protection for same-sex couples does not diminish the freedom of others to any degree."

Heyburn noted that every federal court to consider a same-sex marriage ban has found it unconstitutional. The US sixth circuit court of appeals has scheduled arguments on rulings from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee in a single session, on August 6. Although the cases are unique, each deals with whether statewide gay marriage bans violate the constitution.

Kentucky governor Steve Beshear said the state will appeal the decision.

Dan Canon, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said he was excited about the ruling because the day will arrive soon when same-sex couples can get a marriage license in Kentucky, even though the decision was put on hold pending appeals.

"We believe the opinion forcefully lays to rest any notion that Kentucky's anti-marriage laws are based on anything other than discrimination against homosexuals," Canon said.

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