Chinese Premier: US-China Common Interests Outweigh Differences

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says there are "thousands" of reasons for U.S.-China relations to move forward. Speaking at dinner of American and Chinese businessmen in New York Wednesday, Mr. Wen said he believes all disputes between the two superpowers about trade will be resolved.

A smiling Wen Jiabao took the podium at the Waldorf Astoria hotel and told the audience that he is an optimist about relations between the two nations.

He said he "fully believes that all the disputes and differences in China-U.S. trade at the moment will be resolved. And after the settlement of these problems, the China-U.S. relationship will take a further step forward and be taken onto [a] higher plain."

Mr. Wen, who is in New York for the annual meetings of the United Nations, said the China-U.S. relationship "enjoys a bright future, because common interests between our two countries far outweigh our differences."

Eid protests hit Indian Kashmir

Prayers marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan have erupted into anti-India demonstrations in Indian-ruled Kashmir as unrest continues in the troubled province.

Tens of thousands of Muslims, mostly young men, chanted "Go India, go back" and "We want freedom" as they assembled in the main city of Srinagar on Saturday to offer prayers on the festival of Eid al-Fitr.
"The protests are a form of referendum showing that Kashmiris want freedom from India," said leading separatist and key Muslim cleric Umar Farooq, as riot police were deployed across Srinagar in a bid to keep a lid on tensions.

Fla. pastor set on holding Sept. 11 Koran burn

The leader of a Florida church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy said yesterday that he was determined to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday despite pressure from the White House, religious leaders, and others to call it off.

Pastor Terry Jones said at a news conference that he has received a lot of encouragement, with supporters mailing copies of the Islamic holy text to his Gainesville church of about 50 followers. He proclaimed in July that he would stage “International Burn a Koran Day’’ to mark the ninth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“As of right now, we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing,’’ Jones said.

Jones said he has received more than 100 death threats and has started carrying a .40-caliber pistol since announcing his plan to burn the book Muslims consider the word of God. Jones, 58, was flanked by an armed escort yesterday.

General David Petraeus, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, took the rare step of a military leader taking a position on a domestic matter when he warned in an e-mail to the Associated Press that “images of the burning of a Koran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence.’’

BP Says Transocean, Halliburton Have to Share Blame for Gulf Rig Explosion

BP Plc, facing billions of dollars in damages and penalties for causing the largest U.S. oil spill, says its investigation shows other companies made mistakes that led to the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion.

BP managers had direct involvement in just one of the eight judgment errors and equipment failures that led to the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, according to the company’s internal investigation. The explosion killed 11 workers and spewed crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico for almost three months.

The London-based company also plans to submit the report to a joint U.S. Coast Guard-Interior Department investigative panel that is scheduled to hold public hearings on the catastrophe Oct. 4 to 8 in Louisiana.

‘Fatally Flawed’ Well

“BP is happy to slice up blame, as long as they get the smallest piece,” U.S. Representative Edward Markey, head of the U.S. House Energy and Environment Subcommittee, said in an e-mailed statement.

Transocean said BP’s report concealed Macondo’s “fatally flawed” design, which “set the stage” for the explosion. The Switzerland-based driller cited a series of cost-savings decisions by BP that added risk, including a design that cut the number of barriers to gas flow.

Taslima Nasrin's visa extended by a year

The government has extended the visa of controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin by another year from August this year, shifting from its earlier stand of asking her to leave the country and apply afresh to stay in the country.

The 47-year-old doctor-turned writer, who will be celebrating her birthday on August 25, is also trying for a permanent residency in the country. Her visa is valid till August 16 and has been extended by another year, official sources said.

Her application for granting a permanent residency in the country has been hanging in balance for years together.

Earlier, the government had said that Taslima's visa cannot be extended beyond August 16, 2010, as her travel document had been issued under the category (miscellaneous).

Taslima, a Swedish passport-holder, had sought visa under the miscellaneous category in 2005 and it has since been extended initially for a year and later for six months. The visa under this category cannot be extended beyond five years.

Jennifer Freeman

Jennifer Freeman is like a breath of fresh air in the jazz community. Available to win over any group or corporate event with her smooth and melodic voice. Need a great performance Artist for your function? Make Jennifer Freeman your choice. Promo Reel filmed edited and produced by Wali Rashidi. of United Media productions.

Jennifer Freeman, (TMZ) — NBA veteran Earl Watson filed for divorce from his wife Jennifer Freeman – citing the “My Wife and Kids” actress attacked him in a night attack … and bit him savagely on his chest until it bled.

According to legal papers filed last week in County Superior Court, Watson says things went wrong on August 1 … when Jennifer received a suspicious text message at 11pm and Earl decides to review your phone.

Watson – who played with the Indiana Pacers last season – says his wife was furious that he took the phone and responded by hitting “hard twice in the face with his open right hand.”

Wyclef Jean is expected to announce run for Haiti president

Singer Wyclef Jean is about to announce his candidacy for president of earthquake-ravaged Haiti, the former head of the country's Chamber of Deputies said Tuesday.

His strict parents opened up a church and wanted nothing more than for young Jean to make the most of a free education he never would have received had his family not moved from Haiti. But Jean only wanted to make it in music.

"If it didn’t have an educational component, our parents weren’t interested," said Jean’s brother, Samuel. "But Clef would sneak out of the house to go to dance clubs and perform or go to open mic events to sing or to rap. You couldn’t stop him."

Armed with his aspirations, Jean would go on to become the Grammy-winning leader of the hip-hop group The Fugees, an always-in-demand music producer and philanthropist.

Rumors have swirled for months that Jean would run for president. The singer has always been careful not to rule out a run for the office and recorded a song "If I was President."

The 37-year-old was born outside Port-au-Prince but left as a child and grew up in Brooklyn.

South Korea launches naval drills despite North Korean warning

SEOUL (AP) – South Korea began naval drills off its west coast Thursday to strengthen its ability to counter any North Korean provocations despite Pyongyang's latest threat to retaliate against Seoul over its war games.

The drills, which follow joint military exercises with the US last month off the east coast, are set to run through Monday and will include exercises in areas near the disputed western sea border with North Korea. They involve about 4,500 South Korean troops, more than 20 ships and submarines, and about 50 aircraft, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Both sets of maneuvers came in response to the deadly March sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea. Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed. The US and South Korea said the drills were to warn the North that further provocations will not be tolerated.

A five-nation team of investigators concluded in May that a North Korean torpedo sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan warship in late March near the Koreas' western maritime border.

North Korea, which denies any involvement in the sinking, warned Tuesday it will "counter the reckless naval firing projected by the group of traitors with strong physical retaliation."

The North had also threatened to respond to the South Korea-US military exercises with "nuclear deterrence" but South Korean military officials said there has been no sign of unusual North Korean military activity.

North Korea routinely issues such threats, especially when the South holds joint military drills with the US. Pyongyang sees the exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion. The US has 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect the longtime Asian ally.

The North's military also warned Tuesday civilian ships to stay away from the sea border — the scene of deadly skirmishes between the two sides in 1999, 2002 and last year.

The western maritime boundary has long been a flash point between the two Koreas because the North does not recognize the border unilaterally drawn by the United Nations at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

South Korea was closely monitoring North Korea's military but spotted no unusual activity Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

US President Barack Obama not invited to Chelsea wedding

USA President Barack Obama was not invited to Chelsea Clinton's nuptials. Chelsea Clinton, 30, is to marry investment banker Marc Mezvinksy, 32, outside a town in New York state this weekend, and tight security measures will be in place to protect her famous parents, Bill and Hillary Clinton.

"I was not invited to the wedding because I think Hillary and Bill, properly, want to keep this thing for Chelsea and her soon-to-be husband," Obama told the ladies of ABC's "The View" on Wednesday.

Asked by Sherri Shepherd if he was attending the wedding set for this weekend, Obama replied: "I am not going. It would be tough enough having one president at a wedding. You don't want two presidents at a wedding," what with all the Secret Service fuss.

At least 20 killed in bombings in southeast Iran

Twin bombings killed at least 20 people outside a mosque in southeastern Iran on Thursday — including members of the powerful Revolutionary Guard — in attacks that came less than a month after Iran hanged the leader of a militant insurgent group in the region.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted the deputy governor of the Sistan-Baluchistan province, Jalal Sayyah, as saying the explosions tore through a crowd of Shiite worshippers near the main mosque in the provincial capital of Zahedan.

The deputy interior minister in charge of security, Ali Abdollahi, told the semiofficial Fars news agency that members of the Revolutionary Guard — the country’s most powerful military force — were killed in the blasts, which appeared to be the work of suicide bombers.

The first blast struck at 9:20 local time (1650GMT), with the second following minutes later, outside the mosque where a group of Shiite worshippers were attending ceremonies marking birthday of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, IRNA said.

The head of the province’s medical emergency department, Fariborz Rashedi, told IRNA at least 20 people were killed and around 100 wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings, but Sistan-Baluchistan is home to the Jundallah insurgency, a Sunni group that has claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed scores in recent years, including five senior Revolutionary Guard commanders last year. In 2009, the group detonated a bomb in a Shiite mosque in Zahedan, killing and wounding more than 120.

Jundallah says it is fighting for the rights of the Sunni Baluch minority, and accuses Iran’s Shiite-dominated government of persecution. Tehran claims Jundallah is behind an insurgency in its southeast that has destabilized the border region with Pakistan.

In June, Iran hanged the group’s leader, Abdulhamid Rigi, in Zahedan after he was found guilty of carrying out attacks against civilians, armed robbery, and engaging in a disinformation campaign against Iran.

His younger brother, Abdulhamid, was executed in May in Iran after being captured in Pakistan in 2008 and extradited to Iran.

The group gained attention six years ago after it launched a campaign of sporadic kidnappings and bombings that killed dozens. The group claims minority Sunni tribes in southeastern Iran suffer discrimination at the hands of Iran’s Shiite leadership.

Iran has accused the U.S. and Britain of supporting Jundallah in an effort to weaken the Iranian government, a charge they deny. Iran also claims the group is linked to al-Qaida, but experts say no evidence of such a link has been found.

Source: http://www.onlinenewstrack.com/2010/07/16/at-least-20-killed-in-bombings-in-southeast-iran/

Oakland shooting verdict sparks riots|| Oakland Riots

Major League Baseball called the Los Angeles Angels last week to warn them about the possibility of riots in Oakland this weekend if a verdict comes down in the case of a transit officer who is on trial for shooting an unarmed man on a train platform.

Prosecutors had wanted Johannes Mehserle convicted of murdering Oscar Grant. So Thursday's lesser verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year's Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.

Oscar Grant was shot in the back while laying face-down on a subway platform. Mehersle dodged the more severe charge of second degree murder.

Mehersle faces a prison sentence of two to four years.

The protesters, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as a racially diverse group, faced off with police, threw rocks and bottles, smashed storefronts and sprayed graffiti on walls that read "Riot for Oscar."

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Stein said in his closing argument that Mehserle let his emotions get the better of him and intended to shoot Grant with the handgun without justification.

Defense attorney Michael Rains contended the shooting was a tragic accident. Mehserle had no motive to shoot Grant, even though he was resisting arrest, the lawyer argued.