NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - August 07, 2008

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Panel Convicts bin Laden Driver in Split Verdict
Salim Ahmed Hamdan was convicted of one war crime but acquitted of anothercharge, arguably more serious, in the first military trial at Guantánamo Bay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/washington/07gitmo.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-German City Wonders How Green Is Too Green
A town's decision to require solar-heating panels has prompted a debate overecological good citizenship. The ordinance, the first of its kind inGermany, will require solar panels not only on new buildings, which fewerpeople oppose, but also on existing homes that undergo renovations or getnew heating systems or roof repairs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/world/europe/07solar.html?hp

-Editorial: Guilty as Ordered
Now that was a real nail-biter. The court designed by the White House andits Congressional enablers to guarantee convictions of high-profiledetainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba - using evidence obtained by torture andsecret evidence as desired - has held its first trial. It produced ... aguilty verdict.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/opinion/07thu1.html?ref=opinion

-The Energy Drill
While John McCain was never violently opposed to offshore drilling, he hasnow embraced it as if it is not only the solution to our energy problems,but also the key to eternal salvation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/opinion/07collins.html?ref=opinion

-China's Leaders Are Resilient in Face of Change
One Olympic byproduct is an upsurge in patriotism that has bolstered theCommunist Party against criticism.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/sports/olympics/07nationalism.html?hp

-Pakistan Moves to Impeach Musharraf
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's ruling coalition, led by the party of slainformer prime minister Benazir Bhutto, announced on Thursday it would beginimpeachment proceedings against President Pervez Musharraf.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/news-pakistan-politics.html?hp

-Is Obama the End of Black Politics?
Forty-seven years after he last looked out from behind the bars of a SouthCarolina jail cell, locked away for leading a march against segregation inColumbia, James Clyburn occupies a coveted suite of offices on the secondand third floors of the United States Capitol, alongside the speaker and theHouse majority leader. Above his couch hangs a black-and-white photograph ofthe Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking in Charleston, with the boyishClyburn and a group of other men standing behind him onstage. When I visitedClyburn recently, he told me that the photo was taken in 1967, nine monthsbefore King's assassination, when rumors of violence were swirling, andsomewhere on the side of the room a photographer's floodlight had just comecrashing down unexpectedly. At the moment the photo was taken, everyonepictured has reflexively jerked their heads in the direction of the sound,with the notable exception of King himself, who remains in profile, staringstraight ahead at his audience. Clyburn prizes that photo. It tells thestory, he says, of a man who knew his fate but who, quite literally, refusedto flinch.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/magazine/10politics-t.html

-Family's Donations to McCain Raise Questions
The Jordanian business partner of a prominent Florida businessman, who hasraised more than $500,000 for Senator John McCain, appears to be at thecenter of a cluster of questionable donations to his presidential campaign.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/us/politics/07mccain.html


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Activists Pierce China's Security Apparatus
Intense effort to block protests that would mar Olympic Games challenged byforeigners bent on diverting attention to a wide variety of issues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080700555.html?hpid=topnews

-Obama Too Soft for Some
Democratic strategists worry candidate hasn't hit back hard enough inresponse to McCain's attac
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/06/AR2008080603707.html?hpid=topnews

-Power Grab
Venezuela's Hugo Chávez launches a new attack on his country's freedoms. ONLY NINE months ago, Venezuela's voters rejected President Hugo Chávez'sproposed rewrite of the Venezuelan constitution. In addition to making Mr.Chávez de facto president for life, the changes would have given him thepower to supplant locally elected governors with his own appointees, disposeof the reserves of the central bank and, perhaps most ominously, create anew "Bolivarian Militia" answerable not to the Venezuelan army's chain ofcommand but directly to him. The defeat, followed soon after by embarrassingrevelations of his support for Marxist guerrillas in Colombia, seemed tohave a chastening effect on the Venezuelan strongman. He withdrew aprovocative domestic spying plan and even called on the Colombian guerrillasto make peace.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/06/AR2008080602793.html

-Video link: In China, a New Architectural Identity
A robust economy and massive population migration are fueling a buildingboom across the country. But what the rash of new structures says aboutchanging Chinese society may be as important as the buildings themselves.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/interactives/chinabuildings/index.html?hpid=artslot

-The Olympic Battle to Watch
So the Olympics in Beijing are not just a battle between athletes but abattle between systems, huh? So it's not just shot-putters and crew jocks,bicyclists and divers, sprinters and ping pong paddlers. It's democraticcapitalism (US) vs. authoritarian capitalism (THEM). It's war by any othermeans, huh?
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/pomfretschina/2008/08/the_battle_of_the_titans.html

-Bush's Drilling Ban: It's Not So Easy
There are some people who would claim that President Bush's announcementabout lifting a presidential ban on drilling in offshore areas currently offlimits has had something to do with the recent drop in oil prices. The othernight, a friend asked me if this was true. The short answer is: no.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/energywire/2008/08/bushs_drilling_ban_its_not_so.html

-The Trail: Obama Muslim Coordinator Resigns
Barack Obama's national Muslim outreach coordinator has resigned amid acontroversy of over his connections to a man who the Justice Departmentnamed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the racketeering trial last year ofseveral alleged Hamas fund-raisers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/06/AR2008080601081.html?hpid=sec-religion


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT: Little hope for U.N. rights council
What a joke! The United Nations' brand new Human Rights Council AdvisoryCommittee held its first session this week in Geneva and -- as unbelievableas it looks -- elected a Cuban official to chair the 18-country group.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/columnists/story/631994.html


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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Paris Punks the Politico
John McCain thought he was taking a nice shot at Barack Obama when hecompared the Democrat to a celebrity-fueled fad akin to Paris Hilton. Ofcourse, just like Paris herself, any mention of the Paris Hilton name isn'tgoing to go away any time soon. Despite what her foes may say, it can besaid Miss P knows how to take a joke-and, more importantly, how to play itoff to her advantage. Witness the brilliance of her hilarious response, onwww.funnyordie.com:
http://www.expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=8/6/08&end=8/8/08#20186


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Inside Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/

-When Universities Run Schools ... Into the Ground
In the 1990s, a number of universities got into the business of runningcharter schools, with compelling plans to match the vast intellectualresources of their faculty with the educational and social service needs ofimpoverished communities. A decade in, the University of South Florida hasgiven up the ghost.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/07/charter

-Facebook Profile Meets Catholic Values (and the Campaign)
It's 2008, and Web 2.0 has been around for a few years. The potential ofonline phenomena to disrupt political campaigns - the ubiquity of activistswith video recorders, say, or the likelihood that even a "private" personalpage will eventually find its way into an opponent's hands - is a fact oflife grasped by most political candidates. And their families.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/07/facebook


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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-China's Olympic Moment
An Enthusiastic China Welcomes the Games
Publics around the world are showing signs of apprehension about China'sgrowing economic power, its role in foreign affairs and the safety of theproducts it exports. But the Chinese people are confident that the 2008Summer Olympics in Beijing will change the way their country is viewed. Readmore

-No Longer in the News, Earthquake Survivors Face a Painful Recovery
Media focus in China turned away weeks ago from the May 12 earthquake to theOlympics, but a journey through the heart of the destruction reveals theimmense task faced by the people of Sichuan, already poor, to recreate theirlives. Read more

-How the World Sees China... And How China Sees Itself
With the Olympic Games beginning, PewResearch.org highlights its most recentChina-related reports, covering Chinese public opinion, religion and mediatrends. Read more

-Celebrity Jeopardy
Obama Fatigue: Half Say They Are Hearing Too Much About Him
While John McCain closed the gap in campaign news coverage last week, BarackObama still enjoyed much more visibility in the eye of the public. But 48%say they've heard too much about the Democratic nominee and a plurality saythey've heard too little about his opponent. Read more

-Spears and Hilton Raise McCain Coverage Even With Obama
A spasm of introspection by the media, amid a wave of accusations that theywere being unfair to the GOP standard bearer, combined with a controversialad to generate equal coverage of the two candidates. Read more

-Online Observations
Search Soars, Challenging Email as a Favorite Internet Activity
The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports on the growing usage ofsearch engines by internet users, and which groups are more likely to usesearch tools. Read more

-Daily Number
6 of 10 - Travel Advisory
Comparing the U.S. Commerce Department's list of most-visited nations in2007 and Pew Global Attitudes surveys reveals that in six of their 10 mostpopular foreign destinations Americans are well-liked; opinion is mixed ornegative in three nations, and ratings are not available for one country.Check back every weekday for another number in the news. Read more


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Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Detroit Mayor Ordered To Jail
Kwame Kilpatrick Violated Terms Of Bond
A judge on Thursday ordered Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to Wayne CountyJail for failing to notify the court of his trip to Canada and violating theterms of his bond. Circuit Court Judge Ronald Giles said he needed to treatKilpatrick as any criminal defendant and immediately sent him to jail,WDIV-TV in Detroit reported. The judge found that the mayor violated theterms of his bond by not informing the court before taking his Canada trip.
http://www.local10.com/news/17120571/detail.html?treets=mia&tml=mia_natlbreak&ts=T&tmi=mia_natlbreak_1_09530308072008

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