Huffington Post: James Cameron, Environmental Group To Plant One Million Trees, Half In Haiti
Earth Day Network is enlisting groups in 15 countries to plant 1 million trees this year with "Avatar" movie director James Cameron and Twentieth Century Fox.
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In the U.S., trees will be planted in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles to improve air quality and urban animal habitats.
Tree plantings in such places as Mexico, Canada and Spain will be focused on reforestation of depleted areas.
Other efforts tie in with both development and environmental improvements. In Haiti, the U.S.-based Trees for the Future will work with farmers to plant about 500,000 fruit trees and other native species to provide economic benefits. That makes Haiti one of the largest sites.
CNN: UN chief visits flood-stricken Pakistan as cholera concerns loom
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Sunday with Pakistan's president, and both men urged the international community to step up efforts to help the millions affected by flooding in Pakistan.
Ban, who arrived in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and President Asif Ali Zardari held talks before visiting some of the areas affected by floodwaters responsible for nearly 1,400 deaths.
"I am here ... to share my sympathy and solidarity of the United Nations together with the people and government of Pakistan," Ban said. "I am here also to urge the world community to speed up their assistance to Pakistani people."
He said he has visited scenes of natural disasters worldwide, but has seen "nothing like this. The scale of the disaster is so large -- so many people and in so many places, in so much need."
MSNBC: Petraeus cites Bush-era shortcomings in Afghanistan
U.S. military leaders inherited a faulty strategy for the war in Afghanistan at the end of the Bush administration and are still working to "refine the concepts," the U.S. commander said in an interview airing Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press."
In his first interview since taking over as head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus told NBC’s David Gregory that when "a lot of us came out of Iraq in late 2008 and started looking intently at Afghanistan, we realized that we did not have the organizations that are required for the conduct and the comprehensive civil/military counterinsurgency campaign."
In the interview, which was conducted last week in Kabul and aired Sunday, Petraeus did not specifically criticize former President George W. Bush, who promoted him to head of U.S. Central Command in April 2008. But the timetable he described left little doubt that he believed the Bush administration inadequately laid the groundwork for integrating Afghan leaders into the allied military structure.
Guardian: David Kelly death inquest may be reopened
The attorney general is considering re-opening the inquest into the death of government scientist David Kelly, it has emerged.
A spokesman for Dominic Grieve, who has the power to go to the high court and ask for a new inquest, said he was reviewing the case in light of fresh calls for the weapon inspector's death to be investigated.
"He remains concerned about this matter and is considering how to take it forward with his ministerial colleagues," said the spokesman.
The move comes after nine experts, including Michael Powers, a QC and former coroner, and Julian Blon, a professor of intensive care medicine, called for a full inquest into Kelly's death saying the official finding – haemorrhage from the severed artery – was "extremely unlikely".
New York Times: China Passes Japan as Second-Largest Economy
After three decades of spectacular growth, China passed Japan in the second quarter to become the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States, according to government figures released early Monday.
Workers Let Go by China’s Banks Putting Up Fight (August 16, 2010) The milestone, though anticipated for some time, is the most striking evidence yet that China’s ascendance is for real and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.
The recognition came early Monday, when Tokyo said that Japan’s economy was valued at about $1.28 trillion in the second quarter, slightly below China’s $1.33 trillion. Japan’s economy grew 0.4 percent in the quarter, Tokyo said, substantially less than forecast. That weakness suggests that China’s economy will race past Japan’s for the full year.
Experts say unseating Japan — and in recent years passing Germany, France and Great Britain — underscores China’s growing clout and bolsters forecasts that China will pass the United States as the world’s biggest economy as early as 2030. America’s gross domestic product was about $14 trillion in 2009.
Reuters: Police fear higher Sinai migrant death toll
Smugglers may have killed as many as 10 African migrants in an armed battle near the Egyptian-Israeli border last week and dozens more could be lost in the desert, Egyptian security sources said on Sunday.
The Sinai peninsula is a major transit route for African migrants and refugees seeking work or asylum in Israel. It also is used by smugglers to ferry narcotics and weapons into Israel and a range of goods into the besieged Gaza Strip.
At least four migrants were killed on Friday after they stole weapons from smugglers who had been holding them for ransom and tried to escape. Egyptian police later gunned down at least two more migrants trying to cross the border.
Egyptian police suspect the death toll among the migrants may be as high as 10 following Friday's shooting, with more bodies still to be discovered, a security source who asked not to be named said.
Voice of America: Al-Qaida Leader in Yemen Surrenders
Security officials in Yemen say an al-Qaida leader in the country's north has surrendered to authorities.
The officials said Juman Safian turned himself in on Saturday in the province of al-Jouf. They did not release additional details.
Yemen recently intensified its campaign against the group's local branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, following a series of deadly attacks on government targets.
Earlier this month, al-Qaida threatened to target anyone who supports Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh or what it called the "crusader campaign" by the United States.
Reuters: Armed men kidnap two Darfur peacekeepers
Armed men abducted two U.N.-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region on Saturday in the biggest town Nyala, the mission said.
"Two police advisers...got abducted about 100 metres (yards) from their accommodation in Nyala," UNAMID spokesman Chris Cycmanick said, adding that three gunmen in a car took them away.
An American woman working for the charity Samaritan's Purse was kidnapped almost three months ago near Nyala and remains in captivity.
Abductions of foreign workers in Sudan's violent west began in March 2009, after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur.
Guardian: India offers talks to end Kashmir violence
India's prime minister has appealed to the people of Indian-controlled Kashmir to end violent protests and said his government was ready to hold talks to resolve their long-standing problems.
"The years of violence should now end. Such violence will not benefit anyone," Manmohan Singh said in a speech marking India's Independence Day. "We are ready to talk to every person or group which abjures violence."
Indian-administered Kashmir has been rocked by near-daily protests and clashes with security forces, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people over the past two months. The protesters have set official buildings and vehicles ablaze and government forces have used guns and tear gas in an effort to contain the unrest.
Singh insisted that "Kashmir is an integral part of India", adding that "within this framework, we are ready to move forward in any talks".
AP: Drive-by shooting, bombings kill 7 in Iraq
A drive-by shooting outside a mosque and a series of rush-hour bombings early Sunday killed seven Iraqis and injured 26 more in and around Baghdad, police and health officials said.
Gunmen opened fire on worshippers as they were leaving dawn prayers in town of Jurf al-Sakhr just south of the capital, killing three and wounding one, said Maj. Muthana Khalid, the spokesman for Babil province police.
The 4 a.m. shooting comes in the first week of Ramadan, a holy month of daylight fasting for Muslims.
Hours later, rush-hour bombings across Baghdad hit commuters on their way to work, killing four and injuring at least 16.
Reuters: Afghanistan says finds 1.8 billion barrel oilfield
Afghanistan said on Sunday it had discovered an oilfield with an estimated 1.8 billion barrels in the north of the war-ravaged country, where U.S. and other foreign forces are trying to tame a Taliban-led insurgency.
The discovery of the basin between northern Balkh and Shiberghan provinces was made after a survey conducted by Afghan and international geologists, said Jawad Omar, a spokesman for the ministry of mines.
"I do not know its price in the market. But the initial survey says there are 1.8 billion barrels of oil and I think there will be more than what it is estimated," he told Reuters.
Various estimates of Afghanistan's hidden wealth have been made in recent years, but the challenge of exploiting the resources in a country at war and with little mining infrastructure is daunting for most investors.
New York Times: In Jerusalem, a Barrier Comes Down
The Israeli military on Sunday began dismantling a concrete barrier that protected residents of a once-troubled district on the edge of Jerusalem from Palestinian sniper fire.
At the height of the second intifada, the violent Palestinian uprising that broke out in 2000, the barrier’s tall concrete blocks had shielded the residents of Gilo, most of whom are Jews, from gunmen who took over homes and rooftops in a West Bank village across a ravine.
The makeshift barrier quickly became a symbol of the geographical intimacy of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, and of the precarious nature of life on the seam of the conflict. Its dismantling is giving graphic expression to the calm that now prevails in the area.
In the past only the ravine separated Gilo, built by Israel on land it captured from Jordan in the 1967 war, from the predominantly Christian West Bank village, Beit Jala, and other localities sprawling over the opposite hills near Bethlehem. Within the Jerusalem city limits defined by Israel’s leaders after the war, Gilo is considered by most Israelis to be one of the city’s southern neighborhoods. But most Palestinians consider it a settlement built on occupied land.
BBC: Protesters denounce Google plan for 'two-tier internet'
Around 100 people have rallied outside Google's California offices to protest against controversial proposals to alter how data is treated over the web.
Google and Verizon suggest treating fixed line services differently to wireless and some specialised content.
This would allow net providers to give priority to certain online traffic.
Protesters outside the famed Googleplex said this would create a "pay-to-play" service and urged Google to live up to its famous motto "don't be evil".
BBC: Obama urges tourism to aid Gulf economy post-spill
President Obama has urged Americans to "come on down and visit" Florida to help revive the economy stricken by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Mr Obama said oil was no longer flowing into the Gulf but "our job is not finished and we are not going anywhere until it is."
The president is visiting Florida with his wife and elder daughter.
On Friday, US incident commander Adm Thad Allen said work would continue to seal the leaking well for good.
MSNBC: Hundreds of PTSD soldiers likely misdiagnosed
At the height of the Iraq war, the Army routinely fired hundreds of soldiers for having a personality disorder when they were more likely suffering from the traumatic stresses of war, discharge data suggests.
Under pressure from Congress and the public, the Army later acknowledged the problem and drastically cut the number of soldiers given the designation. But advocates for veterans say an unknown number of troops still unfairly bear the stigma of a personality disorder, making them ineligible for military health care and other benefits.
"We really have an obligation to go back and make sure troops weren't misdiagnosed," said Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, a clinical psychologist whose nonprofit "Give an Hour" connects troops with volunteer mental health professionals.
Yahoo: 8 dead, 12 hurt at off-road race in Calif. desert
An off-road truck plowed into a crowd and scattered "bodies everywhere" moments after sailing off a jump at a California race Saturday, killing eight people and leaving 12 injured, authorities and witnesses said.
The crash came shortly after the start of the 8 p.m. PDT race called the California 200, said San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman.
Bachman said eight people died and 12 were injured, several of them seriously. Seven ambulances and 10 emergency aircraft responded to the scene. Most of the injured were airlifted from the area to Loma Linda University Medical Center or St. Mary’s Medical Center.
MSNBC: DNA test may cast doubt on executed Texan's guilt
Claude Jones may have been wrongly executed for the 1989 slaying of a liquor store owner in this aptly named Texas town, but no one says he's an angel.
He was a lifelong criminal, with a rap sheet that included a murder conviction for setting fire to a fellow inmate in a Kansas prison. Two eyewitnesses and his accomplices placed him at the liquor store. And even one of Jones' attorneys says the defense had "a devil of a time finding a good character witness."
But there are new questions 10 years after Jones was executed about whether he actually killed 44-year-old Allen Hilzendager while robbing the store, and whether the testimony used to convict him was enough. A judge has ordered DNA testing on a strand of hair that prosecutors used to link Jones to the murder.
It's the second time in a year the guilt of an executed inmate is in doubt in Texas, which has more executions than any other U.S. state.
Washington Post: Congress growing more wary about corruption in Afghanistan, Sen. Kerry says
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), one of the most stalwart backers of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, says Congress is growing increasingly concerned about corruption in that country and that he plans to raise the issue directly with President Hamid Karzai during a visit to Kabul this week.
"The strongest message President Karzai could send is one that elevates the credibility of his government, and that he is to be viewed as a genuine reformer," Kerry said in an interview. "Right now, he is not, and we have to be concerned about this."
The worries have been prompted by a series of congressional, military and independent reports documenting graft and bribery at every level in Afghanistan, problems that have grown worse as the cost of the war has escalated. President Obama raised the corruption issue during an hour-long videoconference with Karzai on Friday, the White House said.
CBS: Alleged 'Craigslist Killer' Found Dead in Cell
Philip Markoff, the Boston University medical student arrested in April and suspected being the "Craigslist killer" has been found dead in his jail cell after an "apparent suicide".
Ed Geary, Deputy Director of External Affairs at the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office in Massachusetts told CBS News Markoff was pronounced dead by medics at 10:17 a.m. Eastern on Sunday.
Markoff was being held at the Nashua Street Jail in Boston.
A statement released by Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis and Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the suspect "was alone in his cell and all evidence collected thus far indicates that he took his own life."
CNN: Zsa Zsa Gabor asks for 'last rites' from priest
Zsa Zsa Gabor asked her husband to call a priest to her hospital bedside "to read her the last rites" Sunday, according to her publicist.
Gabor, 93, is "in very serious condition" at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to her husband, Prince Frederic Von Anhalt.
"It's a sad time for them right now," spokesman John Blanchette said Sunday.
The actress has been hospitalized for most of the past month since breaking her hip in a fall from bed on July 17.