Archive - Jul 19, 2014 - Story

With large anti-Israel protests in London, Paris, Brussels, and Madrid, the social media PR blitzkrieg continues between the IDF and Hamas. Palestinian officials claim over 100 civilian deaths in the last 48 hours (and over 330 since Operation Protective Edge began). Israel continues to reference the ongoing bombardment of rockets from Gaza (militants in Gaza have launched 1,663 rockets...The IDF has struck "2,300 terror targets" in Gaza). As LA Times reports, fighting continued above and below ground Saturday as Israeli soldiers have located dozens of shafts dug under homes and green houses leading to 13 tunnels. CNN reports local witnesses saying very 30 seconds to a minute a shell comes down in or around Beit Lahya. Perhaps most fascinating is The IDF claims that their forces have been attacked by explosive-laden "suicide donkeys."

It took Malaysian Airlines two months of media prodding before it finally released the full cargo manifest of the disappeared light MH 370. Following the tragedy of flight MH 17 it took just over a day to get the same information. The full manifest is shown below and aside from several live animals including two dogs, five pigeons and five otherwise unidentified live birds and a 9.4kg "shipment of pot", there is little that draws attention. The full tragic list of 283 tragic passengers who passed away was also just released by Malaysian Airlines.

For Americans, it was like the news from nowhere. Years had passed since reporters bothered to head for the country we invaded and blew a hole through back in 2003, the country once known as Iraq that our occupation drove into a never-ending sectarian nightmare. In 2011, the last U.S. combat troops slipped out of the country, their heads “held high,” as President Obama proclaimed at the time, and Iraq ceased to be news for Americans. With Maliki, it has simply been a different dictator, enjoying even more such support (until these last weeks), and using similarly barbaric tactics against Iraqis. Today, Washington’s policies continue in the same mindless way as more fuel is rushed to the bonfire that is incinerating Iraq.

First the good news: one can now buy an apartment in Hong Kong for the low, low price of under HK$2 million, or HK$1.94 million to be precise which amounts to a measly USD $250,000.  "New flats selling for less than HK$2 million are almost impossible to find in Hong Kong," said Louis Chan Wing-kit, managing director of Centaline Property Agency's residential department

Now the bad news: The unit is about double the size of a prison cell.