St. Cyril & St. Methodius DayCzech Republic, Slovakia - July 5

The Canonization process was much more relaxed in the decades following Cyril'sdeath than today. Cyril was regarded by his disciples as a saint following his death.His following spread among the nations he evangelized and subsequently to thewider Christian Church, resulting inthe renown of his holiness, alongwith that of his brother Methodius.There were calls for Cyril's canon-ization by the crowds lining theRoman streets during his funeralprocession. Their first appearancein a papal document is GrandeMunus by Leo XIII in 1880. Thebrothers are known as the "Apos-tles of the Slavs" and are stillhighly regarded by both RomanCatholic and Orthodox Christians.Sts Cyril and Methodius' feast dayis currently celebrated on 14 Feb-ruary in the Roman CatholicChurch (to coincide with the dateof St Cyril's death); on 11 May inthe Eastern Orthodox Church(though note that for Eastern Or-thodox Churches still on the JulianCalendar or 'old calendar' this is 24May according to the Gregoriancalendar); and on 7 July accordingto the old sanctoral calendar thatexisted before the revisions of theSecond Vatican Council. The cele-bration also commemorates the in-troduction of literacy and thepreaching of the gospels in theSlavonic language by the brothers.The brothers were declared "Pa-trons of Europe" in 1980. According to old Bulgarian chronicles, the day of the holy brothers used to be cel-ebrated ecclesiastically as early as 11th century. The first recorded secular cele-bration of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Day as the "Day of the Bulgarian script",as it is traditionally accepted by Bulgarian science, was held in the town of Plovdivon 11 May 1851, when a local Bulgarian school was named "Saints Cyril andMethodius," both acts on initiative of the prominent Bulgarian enlightener NaydenGerov, although an Armenian traveller mentioned his visit at "celebration of theBulgarian script" in the town of Shumen on 22 May 1803. The day is now celebrated as a public holiday in the following countries: In Bulgaria it is celebrated on 24 May and is known as the "BulgarianEducation and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day" (Bulgarian: Ден на българ-ската просвета и култура и на славянската писменост), a national holiday cel-ebrating Bulgarian culture andliterature as well as the alphabet. It is also knownas "Alphabet, Culture, and Education Day" (Bulgarian: Ден на азбуката, културатаи просвещението). SS Cyril and Methodius are patrons of the National Library ofBulgaria. A monument of them is present in front of the library. SS Cyril and Method-ius are the most celebrated saints in the Bulgarian Orthodox church, and icons oftwo brothers can be found in every church. In the Republic of Macedonia, it is celebrated on 24 May and is knownas the "Saints Cyril and Methodius, Slavonic Enlighteners' Day" (Macedonian: Св.Кирил и Методиј, Ден на словенските просветители), a national holiday. TheGovernment of the Republic of Macedonia took the decision for the statute of na-tional holiday in October 2006 and Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia passeda corresponding law at the beginning of 2007. Before that it was celebrated only inthe schools. It is also known as the day of the "Solun Brothers" (Macedonian: Со-лунските браќа).In the Czech lands and Slovakia, the two brothers were originally commemoratedon 9 March, but Pope Pius IX changed this date to 5 July for several reasons.Today, "Sts Cyril and Methodius Day" is a national holiday in the Czech Republicand Slovakia. In the Czech Republic it is celebrated on 5 July as "Slavic MissionariesCyril and Methodius Day" (Czech: Den slovanských věrozvěstů Cyrila a Metoděje). In Slovakia it is celebrated on 5 July as "St. Cyril and Metod Day" (Slo-vak: Sviatok svätého Cyrila a Metoda). In Russia, it is celebrated on 24 May and is known as the "Slavonic Lit-erature and Culture Day" (Russian: День славянской письменности и культуры),celebrating Slavonic culture and literature as well as the alphabet. Its celebrationis ecclesiastical (11 May on the Church's Julian calendar), and it is not a publicholiday in Russia.The saints' feast day is celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church on 11 May andby the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion on 14 February as"Saints Cyril and Methodius Day". The Lutheran Churches commemorate the twosaints either on 14 February or 11 May.Other commemorationThe national library of Bulgaria in Sofia, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skop-jein the Republic of Macedonia, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of VelikoTarnovo in Bulgaria and in Trnava, Slovakia bear the name of the two saints. Inthe United States, SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan,bears their name.St. Cyril Peak and St. Methodius Peak in the Tangra Mountains on Livingston Is-land, South Shetland Islands in Antarctica are named for the brothers.Saint Cyril's remains are interred in a shrine-chapel within the Basilica di SanClemente in Rome. The chapel holds a Madonna by Sassoferrato.The Basilica of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Danville, Pennsylvania (the only RomanCatholic basilica dedicated to SS. Cyril and Methodius in the world) is the Mother-house chapel of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a Roman Catholicwomen'sreligious community of pontifical rite dedicated to apostolic works of ecumenism,education, evangelization, and elder care.

I n d e p e n d e n c e D a yU S - J u l y 4

"Fourth of July" redirects here. For the date, see July 4. For other uses, see 4th of July (disambiguation).Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoptionof the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. IndependenceDay is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family re-unions, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government,and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the national day of the United States.BackgroundDuring the American Revolution, the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776,when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June byRichard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence,a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principalauthor. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written tohis wife Abigail:The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be cel-ebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance,by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports,guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.Adams's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown onthe much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approvedin a closed session of Congress. Historians have long disputed whether Congress actually signed the Declaration of In-dependence on July 4, even though Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and BenjaminFranklin all later wrote that they had signed it on that day. Most historians have concludedthat the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776,and not on July 4 as is commonly believed. In a remarkable coincidence, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the only signersof the Declaration of Independence later to serve as Presidents of the United States,died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.Although not a signer of the Declaration of Independence, James Monroe, the Fifth Pres-ident of the United States, died on July 4, 1831. Calvin Coolidge, the Thirtieth President,was born on July 4, 1872, and thus was the only President to be born on IndependenceDay.Observance In 1777, thirteen gunshots were fired, once at morning and again as eveningfell, on July 4 inBristol, Rhode Island. Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary in amanner a modern American would find quite familiar: an official dinner for the ContinentalCongress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews,and fireworks. Ships were decked with red, white, and blue bunting. In 1778, General George Washington marked July 4 with a double ration ofrum for his soldiers and an artillery salute. Across the Atlantic Ocean, ambassadors JohnAdams and Benjamin Franklin held a dinner for their fellow Americans in Paris, France. In 1779, July 4 fell on a Sunday. The holiday was celebrated on Monday, July5. In 1781, the Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislatureto recognize July 4 as a state celebration. In 1783, Moravians in Salem, North Carolina, held a celebration of July 4 witha challenging music program assembled by Johann Friedrich Peter. This work was titled"The Psalm of Joy". In 1791 the first recorded use of the name "Independence Day" occurred. In 1820 the first Fourth of July celebration was held in Eastport, Maine which remains the largest in the state. In 1870, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees. In 1938, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday.CustomsIndependence Day is a national holiday marked by patriotic displays. Similar to other summer-themed events, IndependenceDay celebrations often take place outdoors. Independence Day is a federal holiday, so all non-essential federal institutions (likethe postal service and federal courts) are closed on that day. Many politicians make it a point on this day to appear at a publicevent to praise the nation's heritage, laws, history, society, and people.Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue and take advantage of the day offand, in some years, long weekend to gather with relatives. Decorations (e.g., streamers, balloons, and clothing) are generallycolored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag. Parades often are in the morning, while fireworks displays occurin the evening at such places as parks, fairgrounds, or town squares.Independence Day fireworks are often accompanied by patriotic songs such as the national anthem "The Star-Spangled Ban-ner", "God Bless America", "America the Beautiful", "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", "This Land Is Your Land", "Stars and StripesForever", and, regionally, "Yankee Doodle" in northeastern states and "Dixie" in southern states. Some of the lyrics recall imagesof the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812.Firework shows are held in many states, and many fireworks are sold for personal use or as an alternative to a public show.Safety concerns have led some states to ban fireworks or limit the sizes and types allowed. Illicit traffic transfers many fireworksfrom less restrictive states.A salute of one gun for each state in the United States, called a “salute to the union,” is fired on Independence Day at noon byany capable military base. In 2009, New York City had the largest fireworks display in the country, with over 22 tons of pyrotechnics exploded. Other majordisplays are in Chicago onLake Michigan; in San Diego over Mission Bay; in Boston on the Charles River; in St. Louis on theMississippi River; in San Francisco over the San Francisco Bay; and on the National Mall in Washington, D.C..During the annual Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival, Detroit, Michigan hosts one of the world's largest fireworksdisplays, over the Detroit River, to celebrate Independence Day in conjunction with Windsor, Ontario's celebration of CanadaDay.While the official observance always falls on July 4th, participation levels may vary according to which day of the week the 4thfalls on. If the holiday falls in the middle of the week, some fireworks displays and celebrations may take place during the week-end for convenience, again, varying by region.The first week of July is typically one of the busiest American travel periods of the year, as many people utilize the holiday forextended vacation trips.Unique or historical celebrations Held since 1785, the Bristol Fourth of July Parade in Bristol, Rhode Island is the oldest continuous IndependenceDay celebration in the United States. Since 1912, the Rebild Society, a Danish-American friendship organization, has held a July 4thweekend festival thatserves as a homecoming for Danish-Americans in the Rebild section of Denmark. Since 1916, Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York Citysupposedly started as a wayto settle a dispute among four immigrants as to who was the most patriotic. Since 1959, the International Freedom Festival is jointly held in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario during thelast week of June each year as a mutual celebration of Independence Day and Canada Day (July 1). It culminates in a largefireworks display over the Detroit River. Numerous major and minor league baseball games are played on Independence Day. The famous Macy's fireworks display usually held over the East River in New York City has been televised nationwideon NBC since 1976. In 2009, the fireworks display was returned to the Hudson River for the first time since 2000 to commem-orate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of that river. Since 1970, the annual 10 kilometer Peachtree Road Race is held in Atlanta, Georgia. The Boston Pops Orchestra has hosted a music and fireworks show over the Charles River Esplanade called the"Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular" annually since 1973. The event was broadcast nationally from 1987 until 2002 on theA&E Network, and has aired since 2003 on CBS. On the Capitol lawn in Washington, D.C., “A Capitol Fourth,” a free concert, precedes the fireworks and attracts overhalf a million people annually.

Anniversary of the Corona-tion of King MindaugasL i t h u a n i a - J u l y 6

Mindaugas (ca. 1200 – fall1263) was the first knownGrand Duke of Lithuaniaand the only King of Lithua-nia. Little is known of hisorigins, early life, or rise topower; he is mentioned ina 1219 treaty as an elderduke, and in 1236 as theleader of all the Lithuani-ans. The contemporaryand modern sources dis-cussing his ascent mentionstrategic marriages alongwith banishment or murderof his rivals. He extendedhis domain into regionssoutheast of Lithuaniaproper during the 1230sand 1240s. In 1250 or1251, during the course ofinternal power struggles,he was baptised as a Roman Catholic; this actionenabled him to establish an alliance with the Livon-ian Order, a long-standing antagonist of the Lithua-nians. During the summer of 1253 he was crownedKing of Lithuania, ruling between 300,000 and400,000 subjects.While his ten-year reign was marked by variousstate-building accomplishments, Mindaugas's con-flicts with relatives and other dukes continued, andSamogitia (western Lithuania) strongly resisted thealliance's rule. His gains in the southeast were chal-lenged by the Tatars. He broke peace with theLivonian Order in 1261, possibly renouncing Chris-tianity, and was assassinated in 1263 by hisnephew Treniota and another rival, Duke Dauman-tas. His three immediate successors were assassi-nated as well. The disorder was not resolved untilTraidenis gained the title of Grand Duke ca. 1270.Although his reputation was unsettled during thefollowing centuries and his descendants were notnotable, he gained standing during the 19th and20th centuries. Mindaugas was the only King ofLithuania; while most of the Lithuanian GrandDukes from Jogaila onward also reigned as Kingsof Poland, the titles remained separate. Now gen-erally considered the founder of the Lithuanianstate, he is also now credited with stopping the ad-vance of the Tatars towards the Baltic Sea, estab-lishing international recognition of Lithuania, andturning it towards Western civilization. In the 1990sthe historian Edvardas Gudavičius published re-search supporting an exact coronation date – July6, 1253. This day is now an official national holiday,Statehood Day.

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INTERNATIONAL

SPECIAL FOCUSHUNGARIAN BULLETINHungary in step with ChinaThe Great Plain & theGreat WallThe two-day visit was the first by a Chi-nese leader since 1987, when Hungarywas still a communist dictatorship. Orbánsaid after private talks and the signing ofthe deals: “I consider today to be an ex-tremely important milestone and successfor Hungary's renewal.”Wen said China plans to purchase an un-specified amount of Hungarian sovereigndebt - this slightly less than three yearsafter Hungary became the first EU countryto require an international rescue and justone year after Orbán's newly elected gov-ernment cut its ties with the InternationalMonetary Fund. Furthermore, Wen an-nounced that the Chinese state investmentbank will put up a EUR 1 billion loan tosupport joint ventures between Chineseand Hungarian firms.

Dozen deals signed dur-ing visit– Chemical firm BorsodChem, in the de-prived northeast, signed a USD 1.1 billionfinancing deal with the Bank of China. Thefirm has been fully controlled by China'sWanhua Industrial Group since February. – Chinese air-transport group HNA signeda strategic cooperation deal with MagyarTõketársaság Zrt (Hungarian Capital Com-pany Zrt). – The president of the Chinese Chamber

of Commerce, Wan Jifei, signed a dealwith Hungarian magnate and head of theNational Association of Entrepreneurs andEmployers (VOSZ) Sándor Demján to setup a bilateral business council.

Making connectionsOther deals signed covered air and watertransport, mutual cultural endeavours andagreement on fostering closer ties be-tween China's Ministry of Commerce andits Hungarian equivalent, as well as coop-eration in logistics and development inHungary and the region.

Transport linksAn unspecified deal on railway and trans-port development was signed by Ministerfor National Development Tamás Fellegi.The minister spoke during a recent visit toChina of the possible participation of theChina Railway Construction Corporation indeveloping and modernising Hungary's railnetwork.

Jobs going placesFellegi also inked a deal with technologycompany Hanwua over its planned Euro-pean logistics hub development in Hun-gary. The centre could employ some3,000. In terms of new facilities, a deal wassigned over China's CANYI New Lightingsetting up a European light-bulb productioncentre in Hungary, and the central city ofSzolnok will get a citric acid factory capa-ble of producing 60,000 tonnes a year.

Hungary's Ambassador Hands Over EUPresidency to Polish Counterpart in Sofia(Google News) Bul-garia has made a hugestep towards itsSchengen accession,said Hungarian Am-bassador Judith Langat Thursday's cere-mony for the symbolichandover of the EU ro-tating presidency toPolish counterpartLeszek Hensel.Poland takes over theEU Council's six-month rotating presi-dency on July 1, 2011.On Jan. 1, 2012 thepresidency will betaken over by Den-mark and, after sixmonths by Cyprus.The Hungarian Am-bassador remindedThursday of the situa-tion when her countryhad taken over the ro-tating presidency,stressing that the gov-ernment had managedto deal with the chal-lenges through coop-

eration and a flexiblepolicy.The problems Europefaces are identical tothe problems plaguingHungary, Lang ex-plained, adding thatthe country had man-aged to summon 99%support for the pro-posed economicmeasures, at the sametime preserving na-tional priorities like thetargeted return togrowth levels and abudget stability.Lang dwelled exhaus-tively on the Danubestrategy, which she de-fined as a positive ini-tiative with asubstantially improvedresource managementand coordination.In her words, the suc-cess of the Danubestrategy depends onits implementation.The Polish Ambassa-dor to Bulgaria pre-

sented the new "ex-tremely positive" logo,which said was a sym-bol of the natural dis-position of all Poles.He called for payingspecial attention to thesituation in the Euro-zone and on the finan-cial markets, addingthat Poland was readyto be brave in thename of European val-ues.Hensel summarizedthe approach and thepriorities of Poland asthe new EU head inthree words- growth,security and trans-parency.He vowed to press forthe expansion of thecapacity of EU's War-saw-based agency forexternal border secu-rity, Frontex, which hesaid would allow toovercome the existingchallenges.

Opel Announces It Will Launch a FuelCell Vehicle in 2015

(Google News)07/1/11 During a re-cent visit of Hungar-ian Prime Ministerand EU CouncilChairman ViktorOrbán to Opelaimed at learningabout the company’sstrategy for sustain-able mobility, the au-tomaker quietlyrevealed plans tolaunch a fuel cell vehi-cle by 2015. Opel is

hard at work downsiz-ing its engines and put-ting its first electric carson the road this year,

but the more dra-matic move to fuelcells is a sign thatGM Europe is tak-ing a shift to greenvehicles seriously.During Prime Min-ister Orbán’s tourof the facilities,Opel also con-firmed it is invest-

ing 11 billion Euros (16billion USD) in severalelectric models it willrelease in 2014.

RUSSIAN BULLETIN

Russian sailboat Palladaset for internationaltrans-Pacific expedition(PR) The Russian sailing vessel Pal-lada sets off on Friday from Vladi-vostok in Russia's Far East for anover three-month international trans-Pacific xpedition, a spokesman forthe Far Eastern State TechnicalFisheries University, which owns thevessel, said. The expedition is dedi-cated to the 50th anniversary of YuryGagarin's first space flight and to the270th anniversary of discovery ofthe Russian America by Russianseafarers."The new expedition of the Palladawill last over three months. Theroute of the sailboat stretches alongthe coast of North America, thelands that were discovered by Russ-ian seamen in the middle of the 17th

century and which are Alaska andthe Aleutian Islands. The sailboatwith cadets onboard will pay visits toports of the United States, Canadaand Japan," the spokesman said.Russian President DmitryMedvedev, who paid a visit to Vladi-vostok on Thursday, also visited thePallada and met with the cadets andthe crew of the vessel. The three-mast Pallada is listed in the Guin-ness Book of Records as the fastestsailing vessel in the world, with aspeed exceeding 18 knots. The sail-ing ship, the winner of many interna-tional festivals and races, hasperformed over 100 internationaltrips over 13 years. It has also beenvisited by many famous people, in-cludingJackie Chan and ArnoldSchwarzenegger.

Medvedev to meet NATO's Rasmussen in Sochi (PR) Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedev plans tohold a personal meeting withNATO Secretary General An-ders Fogh Rasmussen inSochi, Dmitry Rogozin, Rus-sia's NATO envoy, said on Fri-day. "A personal meeting ofthe NATO Secretary Generaland the Russian president will

take place," Rogozin said.The Russian Black Sea resortcity of Sochi will host an offsitesession of the Russia-NATOCouncil on July 4, the Kremlinpress service said late lastmonth. Rogozin said NATOrepresentatives are expectedto arrive to Sochi late on July3. Russia is expected to dis-

cuss with the alliance agree-ments made during theNATO-Russia Council summitin Lisbon in November 2010on the European missileshield cooperation. NATO in-sists the shield should havetwo independent systems thatexchange information, whileRussia favors a joint system

with full-scale interoperability.The NATO-Russia Councilwas established in 2002. Itprovides bilateral cooperationand consultations on currentsecurity problems, includingthe fight against terrorism,Afghanistan cooperation, mis-sile defense, and non-prolifer-ation of weapons.

Putin arrives in Yekaterinburgto attend United Russia con-

ference(PR) Russian Prime Minister VladimirPutin has arrived in the Urals city ofYekaterinburg, where he is expectedto attend a regional conference of theruling United Russia party. The forumthat opened on Wednesday is dedi-cated to working out a developmentstrategy for the Urals Federal Districtfor the next ten years. The event willfor the first time also gather membersof the All-Russia People's Front, a

new association that analysts sayPutin created in a bid to head off apotentially damaging poor showing byUnited Russia at the December elec-tions. Putin announced the formationof the People's Front in early May,saying it would broaden United Rus-sia's electoral base with "non-partypeople," including trade unions,NGOs, business associations andyouth groups.

FM Sergey Lavrov Speaks to Acting Head of theRepublic of Yemen , VP Abd-Rabbu Mansour Al-

Hadi by TelephoneA telephone conversation tookplace on June 29 between Minis-ter of Foreign Affairs of the Russ-ian Federation Sergey Lavrovand Yemen’s Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Al-Hadi, actinghead of the Yemeni state. Duringtheir conversation Lavrov and Al-Hadi discussed in detail the situ-ation in the Republic of Yemen,characterized in recent months

by tension and by confrontationbetween different political forces.The Russian side expressed itssupport for efforts to launch a di-alogue that would nsurea return to normalcy in the coun-try and kick-start an in-depth dis-cussion on ways to reform thepolitical, social, and economic lifeof Yemeni society. Lavrov em-phasized in this connection that

the Russian Federation will beeady to identify itself with the de-cisions about overcoming thenegative consequences of thecrisis that Yemeni political forcesthemselves will reach on thebasis of national consensus. TheRussian side reaffirmed its sup-port for the steps to facilitate sta-bilizing the situation in the RYthat are being undertaken by

GCC member countries, otherstates and the UN.Al-Hadi, for his part, thanked theRussian Federation for its consis-tent policy to preserve the unity,sovereignty and territorial in-tegrity of Yemen in favor of re-solving the problems facing theRY through peaceful means andwithin the constitutional frame-work.

PICTURE NEWS

(Online) June 30, 2011. An Indian girl covers herself with her mother's sariduring heavy rains on a street in the northern hill station town of Dharm-sala, India.

(Online) June 28, 2011. Libyan women in the town of Bani,about 125 miles (200 km) southeast of Tripoli offer up pro–Muammar Gaddafi chants as they attend a weapons-trainingsession.

(Online) July 1, 2011 “supertrees” in Singapore, the GlastonburyFestival heats up, the Mounties perform a ceremony, protests inAthens, military exercises in Iran, a car bomb explodes in Thailand,Chinese communism celebrates 90 years, and extreme weatheracross the world.

(Online) June 24, 2010. A horse rider takes part in the tradi-tional San Juan festival in the town of Ciutadella on theBalearic Island of Menorca.

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B i r t h d a y o f Q u e e n S o n j aN O RWAY - J u l y 4

Queen Sonja of Norway (née Sonja Haraldsen, born 4 July 1937) is the wife ofKing Harald V of Norway.Prior to marriageSonja was born in Oslo on 4 July 1937 as the daughter of clothing merchant KarlAugust Haraldsen (1889–1959) and Dagny Ulrichsen (1898–1994). Queen Sonja grew up in the district of Vinderen in Oslo and completed her lowersecondary schooling in 1954. She received a diploma in dressmaking and tailoringat the Oslo Vocational School, as well as a diploma from École Professionelle desJeunes Filles in Lausanne, Switzerland. There, she studied accounting, fashiondesign, and social science. She returned to Norway for further studies and received an undergraduate degree(French,English and Art History) from the University of Oslo. As Crown Princess of NorwayShe became engaged to then Crown Prince Harald in March 1968. They had beendating for nine years, although this had been kept secret because of opposition toher non-royal status. The Crown Prince made it clear to his father, King Olav V,that he would remain unmarried for life unless he could marry her. This would ineffect have put an end to the rule of his family and probably to the monarchy inNorway, as he was the sole heir to the throne. Faced with having to choose oneof his relatives from the Danish Royal Family, the Dukes of Schleswig-Holsteinoreven the Grand Dukes of Oldenburg as his new heir in place of his son, Olav Vconsulted the government for advice and the result was that the couple were wedon 29 August 1968, at Oslo Domkirke in Oslo. She thus acquired the style of RoyalHighness and the title of Crown Princess of Norway. Immediately after the wedding, the new Crown Princess began to carry out herroyal duties, traveling extensively in Norway and abroad. In 1972 she was involvedin establishing Princess Märtha Louise’s Fund, which provides assistance to dis-abled children in Norway. She has taken active part in large-scale initiatives toraise funds for international refugees and spent time in the 1970s visiting Vietnamese boat refugees in Malaysia. From 1987 to 1990, Crown Princess Sonja served as Vice President of the Norwegian Red Cross. She was responsible for theorganisation’s international activities. She took part in a Red Cross delegation to Botswana and Zimbabwe in 1989.The Queen Sonja International Music CompetitionThe then-Crown Princess Sonja established this music competition in 1988. It was originally for pianists, but in 1995 the com-petition became only for singers. The jury consists of diverse authoritative figures in opera and the winners receive a cashamount and prestigious engagements at Norwegian music institutions. As QueenFollowing the death of King Olav V on 17 January 1991, Sonja became Norway's first queen consort in 53 years. Queen Sonjaaccompanied King Harald V when he swore his oath to uphold the Constitution in the Storting on 21 January 1991. It was thefirst time in 69 years that a Norwegian queen had been present in the Storting. Queen Sonja has accompanied the King to theformal opening of the fall session of the Storting and the reading of the Speech from the Throne since his accession. In accordance with their own wishes, the King and Queen were consecrated in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 23 June1991. Following the consecration, the King and Queen conducted a 10-day tour of Southern Norway. In 1992, the entire RoyalFamily conducted a 22-day tour of Norway’s four northernmost counties. The Queen accompanies the King on official state visits abroad. She acts as the hostess when foreign heads of state officiallyvisit Norway. The Queen has also given lectures on Norway as a tourist destination on several occasions during official statevisits abroad. In 2005, Queen Sonja became the first queen ever to visit Antarctica. The Queen was there to open the Norwegian Trollresearch station in the country's Antarctic dependency, Queen Maud Land. The Queen flew in on one of the Royal NorwegianAir Force's C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, landing at Troll airfield. The Queen is appointed a Rear Admiral in the Royal Norwegian Navy and a Brigadier in the Norwegian army. She has under-gone a basic officer training course and has participated in exercises.Queen Sonja’s School AwardQueen Sonja’s School Award was established in 2006 and is awarded to schools who have "demonstrated excellence in its ef-forts to promote inclusion and equality".

Queen Sonja in Stavanger 2007

I n d e p e n d e n c e D a y - A L G E R I A - J u l y 5July 5 is celebrated in Algeria as Independence Day, in remembrance of actual independence from France in 1962. After being taken by theFrench in 1830, Algeria remained under France's control for 132 years. History of Independence Day in Algeria. The French invaded Algiers in1830 and slowly started to take over the whole territory of Algeria. The first years of French occupation were violent and, combined with epidemicdiseases, the population of Algeria declined by one third from 1830 to 1872. During these years, many French citizens immigrated to Algeria tocolonize the lands and create farms. In the early 1900s, General Guilain Denoeux managed to conquer the last Tuareg in West Africa. Algeriawas already a part of France, and settlers took over the country coming from France, Spain, Malta, and Italy, building up farms along the coast ofAlgeria. Most of the native population of Algeria was taken away from their lands and deprived of schooling. In 1954, the Algerian NationalLiberation Front started the Algerian War of Independence against the French. In 1958, President Charles de Gaulle gave Algerians the choiceof whether to gain independence or to remain as a French territory. Independence won by a landslide, and Algeria became independent on July5, 1962, while over one million Algerians tried to escape to France. Algeria's Independence Day Traditions, Customs and Activities IndependenceDay in Algeria is marked by the diversity of cultural influences in the Algerian society. It is a day that is celebrated with passion. Algerians take tothe streets and attend celebrations wearing the national color of green. There are military parades in Algiers. Concerts and cultural events are or-ganized in the national stadium. In recent years, Algerians still celebrate Independence Day as one of the most important days on their calendar.

Eino Leino DayFINLAND - July 6

Eino Leino, originally Armas Einar Leopold Lönnbohm, was agreat Finnish poet and novelist, inspired by Finnish nature andcultural inheritance. His major work Helkavirsiä "Whit songs",(1903-1916), was based on the Kalevala. Eino Leino was born on 06.07-1878 in Paltamo, near Kajaani.His father, Anders Lönnbohm, was a surveyor, his mother AnnaEmilia (Kyrenius) came from a priest and officer's family. EinoLeino grew up as the youngest son in a family of ten children.He was already writing poems at the age of 10 and was encour-aged by his older brother Kasimir Leino, who too was a poet. In1890, at the age of twelve, Eino Leino's poem Kajaanin linna, "The castle of Kajaani", was published in Hämeen sanomat-newspaper. At the same time Kasimir gave his brother the writ-ers name Eino Leino. Eino Leino's father died when Eino Leinowas 10 years old and the death of his mother five years laterhad a deep influence on his moods which is clearly expressedin his poems. Eino Leino translated Runeberg's texts intoFinnish when he was only sixteen, and later on also translatedDante and German poetry to Finnish. His first actual collectionof poems, Maaliskuun lauluja, " The songs of March", was pub-lished in 1896, when he was 18 years old.Eino Leino first studied in Kajaani, Oulu and afterwards inHämeenlinna from where he graduated with good results in1895. He matriculated at The University of Helsinki but failedan important scholar examination which would have assuredan indigent student governmental support. This was a setbackfor the student, but not for the poet. In Helsinki he was intro-duced to leading personalities in the field of culture by hisbrother Kasimir. He was discussing highly topical cultural hap-penings and political development with persons such as EeroErkko, Juhani Aho, Arvid Järnefelt, Jean Sibelius, Akseli Gallén,Pekka Halonen and Otto Manninen. He became a neo-romanticlike most of the intellectual leaders at that time. In 1898 Eino Leino edited a magazine Nykyaika with his brotherKasimir, with the purpose of influencing Finnish cultural life bybringing European literature to the hands of ordinary people.When economical problems became insuperable in 1899, afree-minded magazine was suppressed and Eino Leino washeavily in debt.Between the years 1899-1905 he worked as a critic and jour-nalist on the newspaper Päivälehti and afterwards on HelsinginSanomat as a theatre critic and satirical feuilletonist. Writing tonewspapers was his personal tool to communicate with people.In the beginning of his career, he was highly praised by the crit-ics, but the more he was writing satires and openly targeted themoney-, and power hungry members of the elite, the more en-emies he earned for himself and the tide turned against him. Eino Leino wasn't very lucky in his love life which is shown inhis poems. Eino Leino was married three times. With his firstwife Freya Schoulz, he had a daughter Eya, but the marriagewas basically over after one year, when he fell in love with ayoung poetess L. Onerva. Together with her Eino Leino, disap-pointed at his ungrateful fatherland, left Finland in 1908 plan-ning to stay abroad for years. They ended up in Rome whereLeino focused on translating Dante's Divine comedy. In Finlandhis works didn't have a favorable reception, which hurt an al-ready sensitive poet. After a cold winter in Rome, Leino returned to Finland. His re-turn after eight months, rather than years as he had said, wasembarrassing. Already in Rome Leino had adopted the bo-hemian role, and back in Finland he was hiding behind a walk-ing stick, brimmed hat and cape, which became his trademark.Society was no longer the same, and Leino devoted himself tohis poetry and completely stopped working in regular offices.Nevertheless he still took part in social discussions and was aregular visitor in restaurants such as Kämppi, Catani and Kap-peli in Helsinki. Eino Leino made a successful comeback in 1912, after havingheld poetry evenings around Finland to clear his reputation. In1913, just a week before his true love L. Onerva got marriedwith the young composer Leevi Madetoja, Leino married hissecond wife Aino Kajanus, a young harpist. Once again after afew months Eino Leino's married life was over. The Bohemianlife style was in his blood and he couldn't bear the chains mid-dle-class life brought with it.In December 1915 Eino Leino published his weekly newspaperSunnuntai. This period of his life was very creative and hestarted to show an interest in politics again, also another biglove of his life, Aino Kallas, a Finnish writer, came into his life.This relationship lasted from 1916-1919, and was a big scandalbecause she was married to an Estonian diplomat.The Finnish Civil War (1917-1918) caused Leino great confu-sion-whether be a monarchist or a republican. After the war,caused by his excessive consumption of alcohol, his sense ofreality blurred from time to time and the combination of his rageof creation and self-destruction started to show signs. In spring1921 Eino Leino traveled to Estonia together with an Estonianpoet Gustav Suits and his Finnish wife Aino. The reception therewas splendid, he was celebrated as a great poet, and large au-diences turned out to listen to him which was a great contrastto how things where in Finland.After his trip to Estonia, Leino lived together with Aino Suits untilhe met Hanna Laitinen, who became his third wife. Even thoughthis relationship did not last longer than a few days, they werelegally married until Leino died on 10th of January 1926 in Tu-usula, at the age of 47. The last years of his life were spent invarious rest homes but he still visited his friends often. Thedeath of this poet was an unexpected shock for the Finnish peo-ple, who had already forgotten him. Over the years Eino Leinohas become the greatest national poet of Finland, although hewas rejected during his lifetime.Eino Leino's literary production includes 32 collections ofpoems, 25 plays, 25 prose works, 16 translations and 1 screen-play.The statue of Eino Leino is erected in Esplanadi Park which liesbetween the market square and Mannerheimintie in Helsinki.

J o h n H u s s D a yC z e c h R e p u b l i c - J u l y 6

Jan Hus (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjan ˈɦus] ; c. 1369 – 6 July 1415), often referred to inEnglish as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, andmaster at Charles University in Prague. He is said to have influenced the reformation.He is famed for having been burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines oftheCatholic Church, including those on ecclesiology (the branch of theology concernedwith the nature, constitution and functions of the Church) the Eucharist (the most im-portant Christian sacrament) and other theological topics. Hus was a key predecessorto the Protestant movement of the 16th century, and his teachings had a strong influ-ence on the states of Europe, most immediately in the approval for the existence of areformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on MartinLuther himself.Between 1420 and 1431, the Hussite forces defeated five consecutive papal crusade-sagainst followers of Hus. Their defense and rebellion against Roman Catholics be-came known as the Hussite Wars.

Early lifeHus was born in Husinec, Kingdom of Bohemia in 1369. He traveled to Prague at anearly age where he supported himself by singing and serving in churches. His conductwas positive and his commitment to his studies was remarkable.In 1393, Hus earned a degree of Bachelor of Arts from the University of Prague andhe earned his master's degree in 1396. In 1400, he was ordained as a priest and be-came rector of the university in 1402–03. He was appointed a preacher at the newlybuilt Bethlehem chapel around the same time. Hus was a strong advocate for theCzechs, and therefore the Realists, and he was influenced by the writings of JohnWycliffe. Although many works of Wycliffe were proscribed in 1403 by the church, Hustranslated Trialogus into Czech and helped to distribute it.

CareerHus took an active role in the movement for reform in the church by attacking the morals of clergy, episcopate, and papacy from hispulpit. Archbishop Zbyněk Zajíc was lenient with Hus and appointed him as preacher to the biennial synod. On June 24, 1405, PopeInnocent VII, however, directed the archbishop to counter the heretical teachings of Wycliffe, especially the doctrine of impanation inthe Eucharist. The archbishop complied by issuing a synodal decree against Wycliffe as well as any further attacks on the clergy.In 1406, a document was brought by two Bohemian students to Prague bearing the seal of the University of Oxford and eulogizingWycliffe. Hus proudly read the document from his pulpit. Zbyněk received a letter from Pope Gregory XII, in 1408, stating that thechurch in Rome had been informed of Wycliffe's heretical words and King Wenceslaus's sympathies for non-conformists. This promptedthe king and the university to clear themselves of heretical suspicion. All writings of Wycliffe were ordered surrendered to the arch-diocesan chancery for correction and Hus obeyed declaring that he condemned the errors in these writings.

Papal schismThe University of Prague around 1408 was being torn apart by the ongoing papal schism, in which Pope Gregory XII and Avignon PopeBenedict XIII both laid claim to the papacy. King Wenceslaus felt Pope Gregory XII might interfere with his plans to be crowned HolyRoman Emperor; thus, he renounced Gregory and ordered his prelates to observe a strict neutrality toward both popes, and said heexpected the same of the university. Archbishop Zajíc remained faithful to Gregory. At the university,only the "Bohemian nation" (one of four voting blocs), with Hus as its leader and spokesman, avowedneutrality.

Kutná HoraAt the instigation of Hus and other Bohemian leaders, King Wenceslaus issued a decree (while in thecity of Kutná Hora) that the Bohemian nation should now have three votes (instead of one) in all affairsof the university, while the foreign nations (Bavarian, Saxon, and Polish) should have only one vote. Asa consequence, somewhere between five thousand and twenty thousand foreign doctors, masters, andstudents left the university in 1409. This exodus resulted in the founding of the University of Leipzig,among others. Thus, Prague university lost its international importance and became only a Czechschool. The emigrants also spread news of the Bohemian "heresies" throughout the rest of Europe.Archbishop Zajíc became isolated and Hus was at the height of his fame. He became a rector of theCzech university, and enjoyed the favor of the court. At around this time, the doctrinal views of the Eng-lish theologian, John Wycliffe were becoming increasingly influential.

Alexander V becomes AntipopeIn 1409, in an attempt to end the papal schism, the Council of Pisa met to elect a new pope. This didnot succeed, and the pope they elected, Alexander V, did not end loyalty to the other two popes. The Roman Catholic Church now con-siders Alexander V an antipope. Hus, his followers, and Wenceslaus transferred their allegiance to Alexander V. Under pressure fromKing Wenceslaus, Archbishop Zajíc did the same. Zajíc then brought his complaints before Alexander V's Papal See, accusing theWycliffites of ecclesiastical disturbances.

Excommunication of HusAlexander V issued his papal bull of 20 December 1409, which empowered the Archbishop to proceed against Wycliffism. All books ofWycliffe were to be given up, his doctrines revoked, and free preaching discontinued. After the publication of the bull in 1410, Hus ap-pealed before Alexander V, but in vain. All books and valuable manuscripts of Wycliffe were burned, and Alexander V excommunicatedHus and his adherents. Riots ensued in parts of Bohemia. The government took the side of Hus, and the power of his adherents in-creased from day to day. Hus continued to preach in the Bethlehem Chapel. The churches of the city were put under the ban, and theinterdict was pronounced against Prague, but without result.

IndulgencesArchbishop Zajíc died in 1411, and with his death the religious movement in Bohemia entered a new phase, where the disputes con-cerning indulgences assumed great importance.

Crusade against NaplesAntipope John XXIII succeeded Pope Alexander V after his death in 1410. In 1411, John XXIII issued a crusade against King Ladislausof Naples, the protector of Gregory XII. This crusade was preached in Prague as well, and preachers of indulgences urged people tocrowd the churches and give their offerings. This developed a traffic in indulgences that to some were a sign of the corruption of thechurch.

Condemnation of indulgences and CrusadeHus spoke out against indulgences, but he could not carry with him the men of the university. In 1412, a dispute took place, on whichoccasion Hus delivered his address Quaestio magistri Johannis Hus de indulgentiis. It was taken literallyfrom the last chapter of Wycliffe's book, De ecclesia, and his treatise, De absolutione a pena et culpa. Thepamphlet stated that no pope or bishop had the right to take up thesword in the name of the Church; heshould pray for his enemies and bless those that curse him; man obtains forgiveness of sins by true re-pentance, not money. The doctors of the theological faculty replied, but without success. A few days after-ward, some of Hus' followers, led by Vok Voksa z Valdštejna, burnt the Papal bulls. Hus, they said, shouldbe obeyed rather than the Church, which they considered a fraudulent mob of adulterers and Simonists.

ResponseIn response, three men from the lower classes who openly called the indulgences a fraud were beheaded.They were later considered the first martyrs of the Hussite Church. In the meantime, the faculty had con-demned the forty-five articles and added several other theses, deemed heretical, which had originatedwith Hus. The king forbade the teaching of these articles, but neither Hus nor the university complied withthe ruling, requesting that the articles should be first proven to be un-scriptural. The tumults at Prague hadstirred up a sensation; papal legates and Archbishop Albik tried to persuade Hus to give up his oppositionto the papal bulls, and the king made an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the two parties.

Attempts at reconciliationThe king made efforts to harmonize the opposing parties. In 1412, he convoked the heads of his kingdom for a consultation and, attheir suggestion, ordered a synod to be held at Český Brod on 2 February 1412. It did not take place there, but in the palace of thearchbishops at Prague, in order to exclude Hus from participation. Propositions were made to restore peace in the Church, with Husrequiring that Bohemia should have the same freedom in regard to ecclesiastical affairs as other countries and that approbation andcondemnation should therefore be announced only with the permission of the state power. This is wholly the doctrine of Wycliffe (Ser-mones, iii. 519, etc.).There followed treatises from both parties, but no harmony was obtained. "Even if I should stand before the stake which has been pre-pared for me", Hus wrote at the time, "I would never accept the recommendation of the theological faculty." The synod did not produceany results, but the King ordered a commission to continue the work of reconciliation. The doctors of the university demanded approvalof their conception of the Church, according to which the Pope is the head, the Cardinals are the body of the Church from Hus and hisfollowers. Hus protested vigorously. The Hussite party seems to have made a great effort toward reconciliation. To the article that theRoman Church must be obeyed, they added only "so far as every pious Christian is bound". Stanislav ze Znojma and Štěpán Pálečprotested against this addition and left the convention; they were exiled by the king, with two others.

Writings of Hus and WycliffeOf the writings occasioned by these controversies, those of Hus on the Church, entitled De Ecclesia, were written in 1413 and havebeen most frequently quoted and admired or criticized, and yet their first ten chapters are but an epitome of Wycliffe's work of the sametitle, and the following chapters are but an abstract of another of Wycliffe's works (De potentate papae) on the power of the pope.Wycliffe had written his book to oppose the common, but mistaken (from a Catholic point of view) position that the Church consistedonly of the clergy, and Hus now found himself making the same point. He wrote his work at the castle of one of his protectors in KozíHrádek, and sent it to Prague, where it was publicly read in the Bethlehem chapel. It was answered by Stanislav ze Znojma and Pálečwith treatises of the same title. After the most vehement opponents of Hus had left Prague, his adherents occupied the whole ground.Hus wrote his treatises and preached in the neighborhood of Kozí Hrádek. Bohemian Wyclifism was carried into Poland, Hungary,Croatia, and Austria. In January 1413, a general council assembled in Rome which condemned the writings of Wycliffe and orderedthem to be burned.

Council of ConstanceTo put an end to the papal schism and to take up the long desired reform of the Church, a general council was convened for 1 November1414, at Konstanz (Constance). Sigismund of Hungary, brother of Wenceslaus, and heir to the Bohemian crown, was anxious to putan end to religious dissension within the church; Hus likewise was willing to make an end of all dissensions and agreed to go to Con-stance, under Sigismund's promise of safe passage.

Imprisonment and preparations for trialIt is unknown whether Hus knew what his fate would be, but he made his will before setting out. He started on his journey on 11 October1414; on 3 November 1414, he arrived at Constance, and on the following day, the bulletins on the church doors announced that Michalz Německého Broduwould be opposing Hus. In the beginning, Hus was at liberty, living at the house of a widow, but, after a few weeks,his opponents succeeded in imprisoning him, on the strength of a rumor — more than likely spread by themselves — that he intendedto flee. He was first brought into the residence of a canon and then, on 8 December 1414, into the dungeon of the Dominican monastery.Sigismund was greatly angered, as the guarantor of Hus' safety, and threatened the prelates with dismissal; however, the prelates con-vinced him that he could not be bound by promises to a heretic.On 4 December 1414, Antipope John XXIII had entrusted a committee of three bishops with a preliminary investigation against Hus.As was common practice, witnesses for the prosecution were heard, but Hus was not allowed an advocate for his defense. His situationbecame worse after the downfall of the antipope, who had left Constance to avoid abdicating. Hus had been the captive of John XXIIIand in constant communication with his friends, but now he was delivered to the Archbishop of Constance and brought to his castle,Gottlieben on the Rhine. Here he remained for 73 days, separated from his friends, chained day and night, poorly fed, and ill.

TrialOn 5 June 1415, he was tried for the first time, and for that purpose was transferred to a Franciscanmonastery, where he spent the lastweeks of his life. He declared himself willing to recant if his errors should be proven to him from the Bible. Hus conceded his venerationof Wycliffe, and said that he could only wish his soul might some time attain unto that place where Wycliffe's was. On the other hand,he denied having defended Wycliffe's doctrine of The Lord's Supper or the forty-five articles; he had only opposed their summary con-demnation. King Wenceslaus admonished him to deliver himself up to the mercy of the Council, as he did not desire to protect a heretic.At the last trial, on 8 June 1415, there were read to him thirty-nine sentences, twenty-six of which had been excerpted from his bookon the Church, seven from his treatise against Páleč, and six from that against Stanislav ze Znojma. The danger of some of these doc-trines to worldly power was explained to the emperor to incite him against Hus. Hus again declared himself willing to submit if he couldbe convinced of errors. He desired only a fair trial and more time to explain the reasons for his views. If his reasons and Bible texts didnot suffice, he would be glad to be instructed. This declaration was considered an unconditional surrender, and he was asked to con-fess:1. that he had erred in the theses which he had hitherto maintained;2. that he renounced them for the future;3. that he recanted them; and4. that he declared the opposite of these sentences.He asked to be exempted from recanting doctrines which he had never taught; others, which the assembly considered erroneous, hewas not willing to revoke; to act differently would be against hisconscience. These words found no favourable reception. After the trialon 8 June, several other attempts were purportedly made to induce him to recant, which he resisted.

CondemnationThe condemnation took place on 6 July 1415, in the presence of the assembly of the Council in the Cathedral. After the High Mass andLiturgy, Hus was led into the church. The Bishop of Lodi delivered an oration on the duty of eradicating heresy; then some theses ofHus and Wycliffe and a report of his trial were read.

Refusals to recantAn Italian prelate pronounced the sentence of condemnation upon Hus and his writings. Hus protested, saying that even at this hourhe did not wish anything, but to be convinced from Holy Scripture. He fell upon his knees and asked God with a low voice to forgive allhis enemies. Then followed his degradation — he was enrobed in priestly vestments and again asked to recant; again he refused. Withcurses his ornaments were taken from him, his priestly tonsure was destroyed, and the sentence was pronounced that the Church haddeprived him of all rights and delivered him to the secular powers. Then a high paper hat was put upon his head, with the inscription"Haeresiarcha" (meaning the leader of a heretical movement). Hus was led away to the stake under a strong guard of armed men. Atthe place of execution he knelt down, spread out his hands, and prayed aloud. Some of the people asked that a confessorshould begiven to him, but one priest exclaimed that a heretic should neither be heard nor given a confessor.

ExecutionThe executioners undressed Hus and tied his hands behind his back with ropes, and bound his neck with a chain to a stake aroundwhich wood and straw had been piled up so that it covered him to the neck. At the last moment, the imperial marshal, Von Pappenheim,in the presence of the Count Palatine, asked him to recant and thus save his own life, but Hus declined with the words "God is mywitness that the things charged against me I never preached. In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached,drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today." He was then burned at the stake, and his ashesthrown into the Rhine.Anecdotally, it has been claimed that the executors had some problems scaling up the fire. An old woman came closer to the bonfireand threw a relatively small amount of brushwood on it. Hus, seeing it, then said, "Sancta Simplicitas!" (Holy Simplicity!) This sentence'sCzech equivalent ("svatá prostota!", or, in vocative form "svatá prostoto!") is still used to comment upon a stupid action.

AftermathHus' scholarship and teachingsHus left only a few reformatory writings in the proper sense of the word, most of his works being polemical treatises against Stanislavze Znojma and Štěpán Páleč. He translated the Trialogus, and was very familiar with his works on the body of the Lord, on the Church,on the power of the pope, and especially with his sermons. There are reasons to suppose that Wycliffe's doctrine of the Lord's Supperhad spread to Prague as early as 1399, with strong evidence that students returning from England had brought the work back withthem. It gained an even wider circulation after it had been prohibited in 1403, and Hus preached and taught it, although it is possiblethat he simply repeated it without advocating it. But the doctrine was seized eagerly by the radical party, the Taborites, who made it thecentral point of their system. According to their book, the Church is not that hierarchy which is generally designated as Church; theChurch is the entire body of those who from eternity have been predestined for salvation. Christ, not the pope, is its head. It is no articleof faith that one must obey the pope to be saved. Neither internal membership in the Church nor churchly offices and dignities are asurety that the persons in question are members of the true Church.To some, Hus' efforts were predominantly designed to rid the Church of its ethical abuses, rather than a campaign of sweeping theo-logical change. To others, the seeds of the reformation are clear in Hus' and Wycliffe's writings. In explaining the plight of the averageChristian in Bohemia, Hus wrote, “One pays for confession, for mass, for the sacrament, for indulgences, for churching a woman, fora blessing, for burials, for funeral services and prayers. The very last penny which an old woman has hidden in her bundle for fear ofthieves or robbery will not be saved. The villainous priest will grab it.” (Macek, 16) After Hus' death, his followers, then known asHussites, split off into several groups including the Utraquists, Taborites and Orphans. Nearly six centuries later in 1999, Pope JohnPaul II expressed "deep regret for the cruel death inflicted" on Hus. Cardinal Miloslav Vlk of the Czech Republic was instrumental incrafting John Paul II's statement.

LegacyHus was a key contributor to Protestantism, whose teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe and on Martin Luther him-self. The Hussite Wars resulted in the Basel Compacts which allowed for a reformed church in the Kingdom of Bohemia—almost acentury before such developments would take place in the Lutheran Reformation. Hus' extensive writings earn him a prominent placein Czech literary history. He is also responsible for introducing the use of diacritics (especially the háček) into Czech spelling in orderto represent each sound by a single symbol. Today, the Jan Hus Memorial can be seen at the Prague Old Town Square (CzechStaroměstské náměstí).A church and a theatre in Manhattan, located at 351 East 74th Street, are named for Hus: respectively the Jan Hus Presbyterian Churchand the Jan Hus Playhouse. Although the church and theatre share a single building and management, the Playhouse's productionsare usually non-religious or non-denominational.A statue to Jan Hus was erected in the Union Cemetery in Bohemia, New York (on Long Island) by Czech immigrants to the New Yorkarea in 1893. The statue was the first memorial in the United States to honor a foreign-born person.The John Hus Moravian Church, located at 153 Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.

Jan Hus at the stake

Equestrian statue of theHussite leader Jan Žižkain Prague.

Independence DaySOLOMON ISLAND-July 7

Solomon Islands (/ˈsɒləmən ˈaɪləndz/) is a sovereignstate in Oceania, east ofPapua New Guinea, consistingof nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land massof 28,400 square kilometres (10,965 square miles). Thecapital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadal-canal. The nation of the Solomon Islands is a memberof the Commonwealth of Nations.The Solomon Islands are believed to have been inhab-ited by Melanesian people for many thousands of years.Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendaña discovered theislands in 1568 and named them Islas Salomon. TheUnited Kingdom established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in 1893. In the SecondWorld War there was fierce fighting between the Americans and the Japanese in the SolomonIslands campaign of 1942–45, including the Battle of Guadalcanal.Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence two years later. The Solomon Is-lands is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of the Solomon Islands, at present ElizabethII, as the head of state. Danny Philip is the tenth and current Prime Minister of the Solomon Is-lands. He was elected on August 2010.

NameThe country's official name, as established in the Constitution of Solomon Islands and as usedby government as well as by the country's press, is "Solomon Islands", with no definite article.Its name is thus reflected in international organisations such as Regional Assistance Missionto Solomon Islands. In other English-speaking countries, however, the definite article is oftenadded.

HistoryIt is believed that Papuan speaking settlers began to arrive around 30,000 BC. Austrone-sianspeakers arrived c. 4000 BC also bringing cultural elements such as the outrigger canoe.It is between 1200 and 800 BC that the ancestors of the Polynesians, the Lapita people, arrivedfrom the Bismarck Archipelago with their characteristic ceramics. The first European to visitthe islands was the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, coming from Peru in 1568.The people of Solomon Islands were notorious for headhunting and cannibalism before thearrival of the Europeans.Missionaries began visiting the Solomons in the mid-19th century. They made little progress at first, because"blackbirding" (the often brutal recruitment of labourersfor the sugar plantations in Queensland and Fiji) led toa series of reprisals and massacres. The evils of thelabour trade prompted the United Kingdom to declarea protectorate over the southern Solomons in June1893. This was the basis of the British Solomon IslandsProtectorate.In 1898 and 1899, more outlying islands were added tothe protectorate; in 1900 the remainder of the archipel-ago, an area previously under German jurisdiction, wastransferred to British administration apart from the is-lands of Buka and Bougainville, which remained underGerman administration as part of German New Guinea.Traditional trade and social intercourse between thewestern Solomon Islands of Mono and Alu (the Short-lands) and the traditional societies in the south ofBougainville, however, continued without hindrance.Under the protectorate, missionaries settled in the Solomons, converting most of the populationto Christianity. In the early 20th century, several British and Australian firms began large-scalecoconut planting. Economic growth was slow, however, and the islanders benefited little.

Second World WarWith the outbreak of the Second World War, most planters and traders were evacuated to Aus-tralia, and most cultivation ceased. Some of the most intense fighting of the war occurred inthe Solomons. The most significant of the Allied Forces' operations against the Japanese Im-perial Forces was launched on August 7, 1942, with simultaneous naval bombardments andamphibious landings on the Florida Islands at Tulagi and Red Beach on Guadalcanal.The Battle of Guadalcanal became an important and bloody campaign fought in the PacificWar as the Allies began to repulse Japanese expansion. Of strategic importance during thewar were the coast watchers operating in remote locations, often on Japanese held islands,providing early warning and intelligence of Japanese naval, army and aircraft movements dur-ing the campaign.Sergeant-Major Jacob Vouza was a notable coast watcher who after capture refused to divulgeAllied information in spite of interrogation and torture by Japanese Imperial forces. He wasawarded a Silver Star by the Americans. Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana would benoted by National Geographic for being the first to find the shipwrecked John F. Kennedy andhis crew of the PT-109. They suggested using a coconut to write a rescue message for deliveryby dugout canoe, which was later kept on his desk when he became the president of the UnitedStates.The Solomon Islands was one of the major staging areas of the South Pacific and was hometo the famous VMF-214 "Black Sheep" Squadron commanded by Major Greg "Pappy" Boy-ington. The Slot was a name for New Georgia Sound, when it was used by the Tokyo Expressto supply the Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal. Of more than 36,000 Japanese on Guadal-canal, about 26,000 were killed or missing, 9,000 died of disease, and 1,000 were captured.

IndependenceLocal councils were established in the 1950s as the is-lands stabilised from the aftermath of the SecondWorld War. A new constitution was established in 1970and elections were held, although the constitution wascontested and a new one was created in 1974. In 1973the first oil price shock occurred, the increased cost ofrunning a colony became apparent to British adminis-trators.Following the independence of neighbouring PapuaNew Guinea from Australia in 1975, the Solomon Is-lands gained self government in 1976. Independencewas granted on 7 July 1978. The first Prime Ministerwas Sir Peter Kenilorea, and the Solomon Islands re-tained the Monarchy.

Civil WarCommonly referred to as the tensions or the ethnic tension, the initial civil unrest was mainlycharacterised by fighting between the Isatabu Freedom Movement (also known as the Guadal-canal Revolutionary Army) and the Malaita Eagle Force (as well as the Marau Eagle Force).(Although much of the conflict was between Guales and Malaitans, Kabutaulaka (2001) andDinnen (2002) argue that the 'ethnic conflict' label is an oversimplification.In late 1998, militants on the island of Guadalcanal commenced and had a campaign of intim-idation and violence towards Malaitan settlers. During the next year, thousands of Malaitansfled back to Malaita or to the capital, Honiara (which, although situated on Guadalcanal, is pre-dominantly populated by Malaitans and Solomon Islanders from other provinces). In 1999, theMalaita Eagle Force (MEF) was established in re-sponse.The reformist government of Bartholomew Ulufa'alustruggled to respond to the complexities of this evolvingconflict. In late 1999, the government declared a fourmonth state of emergency. There were also a numberof attempts at reconciliation ceremonies but to no avail.He also requested assistance from Australia and NewZealand in 1999 but this was rejected.In June 2000, Ulufa'alu was kidnapped by militia mem-bers of the MEF who felt that although he was a Malai-tan, he was not doing enough to protect their interests.Ulufa'alu subsequently resigned in exchange for his re-lease. Manasseh Sogavare, who had earlier been Fi-nance Minister in Ulufa'alu's government but hadsubsequently joined the opposition, was elected asPrime Minister by 23-21 over Rev. Leslie Boseto. How-ever Sogavare's election was immediately shrouded incontroversy because six MPs (thought to be supporters of Boseto) were unable to attend par-liament for the crucial vote (Moore 2004, n.5 on p. 174).In October 2000, the Townsville Peace Agreement, was signed by the Malaita Eagle Force,elements of the IFM and the Solomon Islands Government. This was closely followed by theMarau Peace agreement in February 2001, signed by the Marau Eagle Force, the IsatabuFreedom Movement, the Guadalcanal Provincial Government and the Solomon Islands Gov-ernment. However, a key Guale militant leader,Harold Keke, refused to sign the Agreement,causing a split with the Guale groups. Subsequently, Guale signatories to the Agreement ledby Andrew Te'e joined with the Malaitan-dominated police to form the 'Joint Operations Force'.During the next two years the conflict moved to the Weathercoast of Guadalcanal as the JointOperations unsuccessfully attempted to capture Keke and his group.New elections in December 2001 brought Sir Allan Kemakeza into the Prime Minister's chairwith the support of his People's Alliance Party and also the Association of Independent Mem-bers. Law and order deteriorated as the nature of the conflict shifted: there was continuing vi-olence on the Weathercoast while militants in Honiara increasingly turned their attention tocrime and extortion. The Department of Finance would often be surrounded by armed menwhen funding was due to arrive. In December 2002, Finance Minister Laurie Chan resignedafter being forced at gunpoint to sign a cheque made out to some of the militants. Conflict alsobroke out in Western Province between locals and Malaitan settlers. Renegade members ofthe Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) were invited in as a protection force but ended upcausing as much trouble as they prevented.The prevailing atmosphere of lawlessness, widespread extortion and ineffective policeprompted a formal request by the Solomon Islands Government for outside help. With thecountry bankrupt and the capital in chaos, the request was unanimously supported in Parlia-ment.In July 2003, Australian and Pacific Island police and troops arrived in the Solomon Islandsunder the auspices of the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands(RAMSI). A sizable international security contingent of 2,200 police and troops, led by Australiaand New Zealand, and with representatives from about 20 other Pacific nations began arrivingthe next month under Operation Helpem Fren. Since this time some commentators have con-sidered the country a failed state. However, other academics argue that rather than being a'failed state', it is an unformed state: a state that never consolidated after decades since inde-pendence.In April 2006, allegations that the newly elected Prime Minister Snyder Rini had used bribesfrom Chinese businessmen to buy the votes of members of Parliament led to mass rioting inthe capital Honiara. A deep underlying resentment against the minority Chinese business com-munity led to much of Chinatown in the city being destroyed. Tensions had also been increasedby the belief that large sums of money were being exported to China. China sent charteredaircraft to evacuate hundreds of Chinese who fled to avoid the riots. Evacuation of Australianand British citizens was on a much smaller scale. Further Australian, New Zealand and Fijianpolice and troops were dispatched to try to quell the unrest. Rini eventually resigned beforefacing a motion of no-confidence in Parliament, and Parliament elected Manasseh Sogavareas Prime Minister.

Solomon Island warriors withspears in ornamented warcanoe in 1895

US marines rest in the fieldduring the Guadalcanal Cam-paign in 1942.

The National Parliament build-ing was a gift from the UnitedStates.

Independence DayARGENTINA - July 9

Argentina Independence Day, the 9th of July, is a public hol-iday in Argentina. In Argentina the day is known as the Actade la Declaración de la Independencia Argentina.

HISTORYArgentina was discovered by European explorers in the16th century. Historians have long debated whetherAmerigo Vespucci, Juan Diaz de Solis, Ferdinand Mag-ellan or Sebastian Cabot landed and laid claim to theland.

Argentina was divided into different areas until 1776.Over the next 50 years, the land that came to make upArgentina were gradually reunited. On April 15, 1814, arevolution declared that a General Congress be assem-bled. Representing 15,000 people from each province,a delegate deputies were chosen to meet on March 24,1816. With 33 deputies, the General Congress assem-bled in the city of Tucuman.Argentina’s independence movement began in earneston May 25, 1810, which is celebrated as RevolutionDay. That date marked the beginning of a long, pro-tracted military struggle, fought under the leadership of

the revolutionary and military strategist Gen. José deMartin born in 1778 and who died in 1850. He was re-garded as the father of his country.July 9, 1816 was an important turning point. On this day,the Congress of Tucuman passed a resolution declaringindependence from Spain of the Provincias Unidas deAmerica del Sur which also included Uruguay,Paraguay and Bolivia. Juan Martin de Pueyrredon wasdeclared supreme director.Argentina’s spell under martial rule was finally brokenin 1983. The previous year General Galtieri had at-tempted to divert attention from his governance by in-vading the Falkland Islands in 1982. The resultingdefeat by Britain sealed Galtieri’s fate and he was suc-ceeded by President Carlos Menem who instituted a se-ries of wide-ranging economic reforms, selling offstate-owned industries, and opening up the economyto foreign investors.

TRADITIONS AND ACTIVITIESArgentina is not like the USA in celebrating their Inde-pendence Day. There are political parades in the capitaland the schools are closed but there are not the fire-works and festivities that many other countries observe.On both Independence Day and when RevolutionaryDay, special services are held at the Cathedral in theseries and dramatic performances take place in theColon Theater.

Constitution DayPALAU - July 9

Palau adopted its constitution in1981 and establish a govern-ment based on the goveernmentof the USA. Since 1359, 137Presidents have governedPalau.

HistoryPalau was settled by people wholanded there for over 3000years. During the 15th century,Spain took dominion over theland and took the land undertheir control. In 1977, democracywas restored to Palau.The Republic of Palau is a scat-tered group of islands in thewesternmost part of Micronesia.The country’s territory includes some 340 islands east of the Philippines that stretch out overan area 125 miles in length. The total land area of the islands is 170 square miles. Babeldaob,the largest island, covers 153 square miles.With the entry into force of the Compact of Free Association with the United States. Palau wasthe last Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands territories to gain its independence. Under theCompact, the U.S. will remain responsible for Palau’s defense for 50 years. Otherwise, Palauis a sovereign nation and conducts its own foreign relations. Since independence, Palau hasestablished diplomatic relations with a number of nations, including many of its Pacific neigh-bors. Palau was admitted to the United Nations on December 15, 1994, and has since joinedseveral other international organizations.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIESThe Palau Arts Festival falls on July 9, Constitution Day. Palau is a country rich in tradition andculture. Today, many sites of cultural or historical importance remain intact, reminding modernPalauans of a past long ago, while reinforcing the culture and tradition for future generations.Probably the most noticeable aspect of Palauan culture is the people’s connection with thesea. Traditionally, it was the duty of the family to go to sea to harvest fish and battle againstenemy villages. As the sea was the source of their livelihood, men developed a close relation-ship with the waters of Palau, be-coming versant in the currentsand the phases of the moon andthe behavior of the fish theysought to put on the table.Palauans are a highly sociablepeople. Traditionally, history, loreand knowledge were passeddown through the generationsorally as there was no writtenlanguage until the late 1800′s.Palauans still practice that tradi-tional method, and at the end ofthe day, one can often find pock-ets of Palauans excitingly en-gaged in the telling of the storiesof the more recent past.

"Nothing can be off-limits" in budget: OBAMA(Google News) WASHINGTON —President Barack Obama said Sat-urday that "nothing can be off-lim-its" in the budget debate — eventhough Republicans have said taxincreases are. The president saidevery tax break andfederal programmust come underscrutiny.With an Aug. 2deadline looming toraise the govern-ment borrowinglimit, the presidentused his weeklyradio and Internetaddress to call onCongress to make adeal.He also renewed hiscall for Congress toeliminate some taxbreaks for the well-off as part of any agreement. Re-publicans want deep spendingcuts without any tax increaseswhile Mr. Obama and Democratscall for what they term a "bal-anced" approach. That means onethat also includes new revenue inthe form of higher taxes for some,though Democrats steer clear ofusing phrases like "tax increases"or "higher taxes.""Now, it would be nice if we couldkeep every tax break, but we can'tafford them," President Obamasaid. "Because if we choose tokeep those tax breaks for million-aires and billionaires, or for hedgefund managers and corporate jetowners, or for oil and gas compa-nies pulling in huge profits withoutour help — then we'll have to makeeven deeper cuts somewhereelse."

"Nothing can be off-limits, includingspending in the tax code, particu-larly the loopholes that benefit veryfew individuals and corporations,"the president said.Lawmakers and the administration

are seeking deficit cuts in therange of $2.4 trillion over the com-ing decade to balance a similar in-crease in the debt limit — onethat's large enough to keep thegovernment afloat past the No-vember 2012 election. Currentlythe debt limit is $14.3 trillion, andTreasury Secretary Timothy Geith-ner says it must be raised by Aug.2 to avoid defaulting on the gov-ernment's financial obligations forthe first time in the nation's history.With both sides dug into their posi-tions, it's not clear how compro-mise will be reached, though theSenate canceled its plans to takea July Fourth recess next week inorder to stay in Washington andwork on the problem.President Obama expressed con-fidence a deal could be made andinstead of singling out Republicans

as the barriers to agreement, he di-rected his message to Democratsand Republicans alike."We've got to cut the deficit, but wecan do that while making invest-ments in education, research and

t e c h n o l o g ythat actuallycreate jobs,"the presidentsaid. "We canlive within ourmeans whilestill investingin our future.That's whatwe have to do.And I'm confi-dent that theD e m o c r a t sand Republi-cans in Con-gress can finda way to give

some ground, make some hardchoices, and put their shoulders towheel to get this done."Republicans used their weekly ad-dress to criticize Obama on theeconomy and renew their opposi-tion to tax increases."The president and Democrats inCongress must recognize that theirgame plan is not working. It's timeto acknowledge that more govern-ment and higher taxes is not theanswer to our problem," said Sen.Dan Coats, R-Ind. "It's time forbold action and a new plan to ad-dress our current crisis."Coats said that it was time for thegovernment to "stop spendingmoney we don't have and to enactpolicies that will grow our economyand get Americans back to work."

More airstrikes in western Libya: NATO(Google News) NATO said Satur-day it has begun ramping up itsairstrikes on military targets in thewestern part of Libya, where rebelforces claim a string of advancesthrough territory still largely underMoammar Gadhafi's control.Gadhafi's regime is determined tostand firm against opposition fight-ers moving from southern andeastern fronts toward the capitalTripoli. The rebels have largely so-lidified control over the easternthird of Libya but have struggled topush out of pockets they hold inthe west.NATO's latest comments suggestthe alliance is hoping to tip the bal-ance further in the rebels' favor de-spite threats by Gadhafi to carryout attacks in Europe unless theairstrikes stop.The coalition said it has destroyedmore than 50 military targets in thewest this week. It says it is target-ing government forces in cities andalong "major lines of communica-tion.""We are engaging all military as-sets that are being used to indis-criminately target the civilianpopulation throughout Libya," Lt.Gen. Charles Bouchard, com-mander of NATO's Libya mission,

said in the statement sent Satur-day but dated the previous day.NATO said more than 1.8 millioncivilians are at risk from a buildupof forces loyal to Gadhafi in west-ern cities along the coast and inthe Nafusa mountain range south-west of the capital.Rebels control several Nafusamountain towns and the vital portcity of Misrata. The rest of westernLibya, including the heavily pro-tected capital Tripoli, remain underGadhafi's control.A coalition including France, Britainand the United States began strik-ing Gadhafi's forces under aUnited Nations resolution to pro-tect civilians on March 19, givingthe rebels air support. NATO as-sumed control of the air campaignover Libya on March 31. It is joinedby a number of Arab allies.In recent days, NATO said it hasrepeatedly hit Tripoli and Gharyan,a city at the eastern gateway to theNafusa mountains and on a majorroad to capital. Gharyan sits about50 miles (80 kilometers) south ofTripoli.It also claims to have struck a net-work of tunnels storing militaryequipment about 30 miles (50 kilo-meters) southeast of the capital.

NATO said in a separate statementit struck two armed vehicles Fridaynear Bir al-Ghanam, a town rebelsfrom the mountains have been try-ing to take along a road leading to-ward the capital.Gadhafi threatened Friday to targetEuropean "homes, offices, fami-lies" unless NATO halts its bomb-ing campaign. His defiant audioaddress was played to thousandsof supporters packed into Tripoli'smain square during on of thebiggest pro-government ralliessince the airstrikes began.It's not clear whether Gadhafi canmake good on the threats.In the past, the Libyan leader sup-ported various militant groups, in-cluding the IRA and severalPalestinian factions, while Libyanagents were blamed for attacks inEurope, including a Berlin discobombing in 1986 and the downingof Pan Am Flight 103 over Locker-bie, Scotland, that killed 270 peo-ple, mostly Americans. Libya lateracknowledged responsibility forLockerbie.In recent years, however, Gadhafiwas believed to have severed histies with extremist groups when hemoved to reconcile with Europeand the United States.

Syrian president sacks governor of restive province

(Google News) The Syrian presi-dent sacked the governor of arestive province, a day after tens ofthousands of anti-government pro-testers took to the streets of itscapital.President Bashar al-Assad dis-charged Dr. Ahmad Khaled Abdul-Aziz from his post as governor ofHama province, the third provincialgovernor to be fired since thecountrywide protestsbegan in mid-March.No reason was givenfor the move, re-ported on Saturdayby the state-run Syr-ian Arab NewsAgency.Hama city, the provin-cial capital, has beenthe scene of verylarge demonstrationsand the outpouringsthere have been com-pared to the gather-ings in Cairo's TahrirSquare, where dailydemonstrations ear-lier this year forcedthe removal of Egypt-ian strongman Hosni Mubarak.Security forces withdrew from theHama city center last month andal-Aasi Square has been packedwith protesters calling for thedownfall of the regime, displays ofgrassroots anger that have beengaining momentum in recent days.There have been no recent reportsof violence in Hama, and observersbelieve the government might havebeen allowing the demonstrationsin Hama because of the sensitivi-ties over the city's violent history.The city was the scene of a 1982brutal military crackdown targetingSunni Muslims by the Alawite-dom-inated government of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad's latefather. Thousands were killed.Sunni Muslims are the dominantreligious group in the country andAlawites are an offshoot of Shiite

Islam.Within the past three months, Pres-ident al-Assad discharged the gov-ernors of Daraa and Homs as well.Syria has been wracked withprotests that began in Daraa andtook hold across the country asgovernment forces cracked downon peaceful demonstrations.The number of deaths in the anti-government demonstrations

across Syria on Friday stands at24, according to the Local Coordi-nation Committees, an activistgroup. Most were in the Homs andIdlib regions.Rami Abdelrahman, from the Lon-don-based Syria Observatory forHuman Rights, said more than1,360 civilians and more 340 armyand security forces have died inthe violence.International powers have con-demned and sanctioned the Syriangovernment for its crackdown, andthere has been talk by some ob-servers that the International Crim-inal Court should investigatepossible crimes against humanityby the government.Amid the criticism, Syria has talkedabout reforms and this week per-mitted opposition members to holda meeting.

The government allowed about200 activists and intellectuals, in-cluding some it had previouslyjailed, to hold a conference ondemocratic reform Monday at aDamascus hotel, the first suchgathering permitted by the regime.The dissidents gathered in thehotel ballroom, including severalsignatories of a 2005 declarationthat called for a democratic transi-

tion.On Friday,governmentminders es-corted inter-n a t i o n a ljournalists toanti-govern-m e n tprotests.But reports ofviolent reac-tions top e a c e f u ldemonst ra -tors persist.Mark Toner,U.S. StateDepartmentspokesman,

told reporters on Friday that de-spite a "little flicker of progress" thisweek, there has been a "continuedclampdown by security forces onpeaceful protests."He said the United States wants tosee "dialogue and a transitionprocess" and echoed PresidentBarack Obama's statement that ifal-Assad can't lead a reformprocess, "he should get out of theway."Toner said the United States backsthe "universal human right" ofpeaceful protests and the right offreedom of expression. He said"arbitrary arrests of innocent civil-ians" must end, political prisonersmust be released, state-run mediamust stop incitement, and violencemust end against peaceful protest-ers.

Buried bombs take increasingly deadly toll on Afghancivilians

(Google News) July 2, 201, Buriedbombs killed 30 Afghan civilians ina 48-hour span inthe latest grim illus-tration of the dan-gers faced bynoncombatants asthe season's fightingheats up.Insurgents routinelyseed roads andpathways with IEDs,or improvised explo-sive devices -- theirfavored weaponagainst Westerntroops. But mostoften, those killedand injured by thehidden bombs arecivilians.The latest casual-ties came Saturdayin Zabul province, insouthern Afghanistan, when a vanfilled with travelers struck a road-side bomb. Thirteen people werekilled, including four children andfour women, said a spokesman forthe provincial government.On Friday evening, two separatebombs planted close together killedfour people in the rural Maruf districtof volatile Kandahar province. Onewas apparently triggered by a don-key, and two people riding or lead-ing the animal died in the explosion.Then two more people who rushed

to the rescue were killed by anotherbomb, police said.

The Taliban and other insurgentsoften plant bombs close together, inhopes of killing troops and thenthose who rush to the rescue.The bombings in Zabul and Kanda-har followed another deadlyepisode on Thursday night innearby Nimroz province, a roadsidebomb that killed 13 people and in-jured about three dozen others.Civilians have been dying in recordnumbers as violence ratchets up-ward across Afghanistan. TheUnited Nations said May was the

deadliest month for noncombatantssince it began keeping track five

years ago, with368 civilians killedin war-related vio-lence. That monthcoincided with thestart of the Talibanspring offensive.Military fatalities,too, have beenedging higher.Western troopdeaths -- 65 inJune, accordingto the independ-ent website icasu-alties.org whichtracks combat fa-talities inAfghanistan andIraq -- reachedtheir highest lev-els of the year last

month. Forty-six of those wereAmericans.NATO's International Security Assis-tance Force on Saturday an-nounced the deaths of two moreservice members, one in westernAfghanistan and another a day ear-lier in the south. The NATO force didnot disclose the nationalities in-volved, but Italian media reportssaid Saturday's death was that of anItalian soldier.

Libyan Rebels Accept African Peace Plan(Google News) Libya’s NationalTransitional Council accepted anAfrican Union plan for peace talkswith the government it is battling tooverthrow, saying it paves the wayfor a transition without MuammarQaddafi.The 53-member union yesterdayannounced a plan for a cease- firebetween Libya’s warring parties,coupled with negotiations in theEthiopian capital, Addis Ababa,which will forge a transitional ad-ministration and outline a plan fornew elections. The proposal ex-cludes Qaddafi from the talks.“Not being part of the negotiationsmeans that he’s not going to be partof the future of Libya,” MansourSayf Al-Nasr, the NTC’s represen-tative to France, told reporterstoday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.“The African Union is saying to

Qaddafi ‘That is it’ -- that is the waywe understand it.”The North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-tion has supported the NTC rebelssince March by bombing Qaddafi’sforces, who it said were targetingthe North African nation’s civilianpopulation. Tens of thousands ofrefugees have fled the fighting andthe price of crude oil soared be-cause of the conflict in the countrywith Africa’s biggest oil reserves.NATO’s air strikes and Frenchweapons drops to the rebels flaredthe conflict, while an InternationalCriminal Court arrest warrant forQaddafi, one of his sons, and hismilitary intelligence chief, have un-dermined the prospects of a peace-ful settlement, most African leaderssay.The AU proposal, which came atthe end of a two-day summit in Mal-

abo, also called for internationalpeace keepers to monitor thecease-fire and asked the UnitedNations Security Council to lift afreeze on Libyan assets.Slamming the ICC warrants as dis-criminatory against Africans, AUmembers agreed not to enforcethem and demanded that the Secu-rity Council annuls them. Anamnesty law should also be part ofthe Libyan transition, they said.The TNC, whose representativeswere granted access to the AU con-ference, will need to assess underwhat conditions they can startpulling their fighters back, Al-Nasrsaid.“Surely we won’t have a cease-firebefore certain conditions are met,”he said.

Ochoa: Organized crimethreat to national security andeconomy (PR) Organized criminal activities are threats to the econ-omy and national security and should be dealt with a clear,well-defined and integrated policy, Executive SecretaryPaquito N. Ochoa Jr. said on Tuesday. Ochoa told Strictly Politics in an interview on ANC that thePresidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC)recently reorganized by President Benigno Aquino III underExecutive Order No. 46 is envisioned to combine the re-sources and expertise of various law enforcement agenciesin order to craft solid policies and guidelines against organ-ized crimes. “The seriousness and magnitude of our problems involvingorganized crimes would need strong and resolute actions,”said Ochoa, who now chairs the PAOCC. To illustrate the magnitude and economics of criminal activ-ities by organized syndicates, Ochoa said the illegal drugtrade alone has been estimated to be worth over P300 bil-lion a year, or three times the size of the entire Philippinepharmaceutical industry, which is worth around P100 billion. This crime, taken together with carnapping, illegal gambling,kidnap-for-ransom, human trafficking and smuggling, amongothers, endanger peace and national security, he said. “Organized crime has a huge economic, social, cultural andpolitical impact,” said Ochoa, who also heads of the Cabinetcluster on security, peace and justice. “Organized crime alsothrives in part because of the corruption of our political sys-tem and society. And it feeds this corruption to perpetuateitself.” The Executive Secretary said eliminating these threats re-quire strong policies that are clear and coherent to ensurethat the “room for errors in implementing programs and inenforcing the laws become smaller.” “If law enforcement agencies follow these polices, guide-lines and targets, they will know how to act accordingly,” heexplained.

Ochoa outlined the following proposed programs thePAOCC will prioritize:

• Rationalize the anti-crime programs of law enforcementagencies to eliminate redundancy and maximize govern-ment resources;

• Establish central base crime index to consolidate dataon crime and to better assess resources to be allocated;

• Strengthen existing laws like the Anti Money LaunderingAct to enable prosecution of organized crime elements;

• Link up, coordinate and share resources with the Anti-Terrorism Council and the Philippine Center on Transna-tional Crime (PCTC), which are under the supervision of theOffice of the Executive Secretary;

• Improve prosecution rates;• Direct the special envoy on transnational crime to step

up liaison work and information sharing with other countries;• Strengthen the Witness Protection program;• Address the killings of journalists and political activists;• Enhance police training on exercises and proper legal

procedures and increase performance standards; and• Link Metro Manila CCTV systems.

PAOCC is composed of the secretaries of the Departmentsof Justice, the Interior and Local Government, National De-fense and Foreign Affairs, as well as the national securityadviser, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,director general of the Philippine National Police, directorgeneral of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, di-rector of the National Bureau of Investigation, and the ex-ecutive director of the PCTC.

Israel rejects allegations it sabotaged Gaza flotillaships

FM spokesman callscharges of sabotage'ridiculous'; Turkish po-lice investigation findsthat damage to Irishship was most likely notcaused intentionally.Gaza flotilla Gaza Gaza aid TurkeyIsrael has denied claims it sabo-taged ships trying to breach itsnaval blockade of the Gaza Strip.Activists have accused Israel ofdamaging two ships docked inTurkey and Greece that are part ofa flotilla attempting to reach thePalestinian territory with humanitar-ian aid.Efforts were further stalled Fridaywhen Greece prevented ships fromsailing.Foreign Ministry spokesman YigalPalmor on Saturday dismissed thesabotage charges as "ridiculous," callingthem "sad conspiracy theories."The Turkish daily Hurriyet reportedon Saturday that an investigationby Turkish police into the allegedsabotaging of an Irish ship set to

take part in the flotilla to Gaza re-vealed that the damage to the shipoccurred before it docked inTurkey.Flotilla organizers have claimedthat the ship was docked inTurkey’s territorial waters when thealleged tampering occurred.Hurriyet reported Turkish diplomatsas saying that the investigation re-vealed that the damage done to theship had occurred before it docked,and was most likely not caused in-tentionally.According to an activist, the engineof the Irish vessel was damaged insuch a way that would havecaused the ship to sink in the mid-dle of the ocean and cause fatali-ties.The flotilla spokesman, Dror Feiler,told Army Radio that he has noproof that Israel was responsiblefor the damage, but that Israelwould do everything in its power toprevent the ships from heading toGaza.“I saw the damage and it is clearthat it was done in a planned and

professional way,” he said. “The Is-raeli government is the only onethat could benefit from this.”On Monday, the propeller of theGreek-Swedish ship "Juliano" wasfound broken, and Gaza flotilla or-ganizers said they believed it wasdeliberate sabotage by Israel. Dueto the vandalism, flotilla partici-pants have organized guard dutyrosters for each ship that is due tosail for Gaza.Meanwhile in Greece, the govern-ment issued a statement on Friday,saying that the departure of shipswith Greek and foreign flags fromGreek ports to the maritime area ofGaza has been prohibited. Thestatement explained that this is in abid to prevent a breach of Israel’snaval blockade.The flotilla is set to head towardGaza a little over a year after Israelinaval commandos intercepted an-other pro-Palestinian flotilla on itsway to Gaza. Nine activists died inthe clashes that broke out aftercommandos boarded the MaviMarmara ship.

Texas warns against travel to Mexican border town(Google News)"According to theinformation wehave received,the Zetas areplanning a possi-ble surge in crim-inal activity, suchas robberies, ex-tortions, car-jackings andvehicle theft,s p e c i f i c a l l yagainst U.S. citi-zens," saidSteven McCraw,director of theTexas Depart-ment of PublicSafety, in a pressrelease.

McCraw saidU.S. citizensshould avoidNuevo Laredoduring the Fourthof July holiday.The city isacross the RioGrande riverfrom Laredo,Texas.Texas has previ-ously warnedAmericans abouttravel to Mexicoduring holidaysand other peakvacations times.The latest bul-letin comes justweeks after a

complaint fromMexico's tourismchief RodolfoLopez Negrete,who said someof the warningsare "ludicrous"and "misin-formed."High-profile vio-lence hasstained theimage of Mex-ico's large touristcenters, althoughthe majority of vi-olence tends tohappen awayfrom tourist des-tinations.More than

37,000 peoplehave been killedin Mexico sincelate 2006 whenPresident FelipeCalderon sentthe armed forcesto crush powerfuldrug cartels bat-tling for lucrativesmuggling routesto the UnitedStates.The U.S. StateDepartment says111 Americanswere reportedmurdered inMexico last year,up from 35 in2007.

(Google News) Nairobi, Kenya --U.S. military forces landed in So-malia to retrieve the bodies of deador wounded militants after a U.S.drone strike targeted a group of in-surgents, Somalia's defense minis-ter said Friday.The operation is at least the secondtime U.S. troops have landed in So-malia after a targeted strike, thoughno forces have been stationedthere since shortly after the "BlackHawk Down" battle that left 18Americans dead in 1993.Defense Minister Abdulhakim Mo-hamoud Haji Faqi called on theUnited States to carry out more airstrikes against the al Qaeda-linked

militants, though he admitted thatSomali officials appear not to havebeen informed about the June 23operation near the southern coastaltown of Kismayo beforehand."But we are not complaining aboutthat. Absolutely not. We welcomeit," Faqi said. "We understand theU.S.'s need to quickly act on its in-telligence on the ground," he said.U.S. officials have increased theirwarnings that the threat from So-malia's al-Shabab militant group isgrowing and that militants are de-veloping stronger ties with theYemen-based al Qaeda in the Ara-bian Peninsula.

U.S. retrieves militants hit in So-mali air strike

Monaco celebrates aroyal wedding (GoogleNews) The tiny principality ofMonaco celebrated Friday the be-ginning of festivities for ruler PrinceAlbert, who wedhis South Africanfiancee CharleneWittstock, a for-mer Olympicswimmer.The pair marriedin a civil cere-mony at thepalace Friday af-ternoon, whichwas followed by a picnic outside thepalace and a concert by musicianJean Michel Jarre.A religious ceremony will take placeSaturday, with an official dinner anda fireworks display lined up for laterin the evening.The guest list for the wedding in-cludes heads of state and the richand famous, including French Pres-ident Nicolas Sarkozy, British modelNaomi Campbell, fashion designerGiorgio Armani and British businessmogul Richard Branson. However,the United Kingdom's royal newly-weds -- Prince William and Cather-ine, Duchess of Cambridge --missed it as they are on an officialtour of Canada.Preparations for the lavish eventhave been overshadowed thisweek by a report in the Frenchnews magazine L'Express that Witt-stock was getting cold feet aboutthe wedding after finding her fi-ance's private life was "not as ex-emplary as she imagined."The paper's claims were stronglydenied by the palace as "false alle-gations", intended only "to seriously

damage the image of the Sover-eign, as a result of damaging that ofMiss Wittstock, and bear down onthis happy event."Albert's adviser, Christiane Stahl,told CNN affiliate BFM-TV that the

two were" c o m p l e t e l ydisappointed"by the story.The couple an-nounced theirengagementlast summer,having firstmet at a swim-

ming event in Monaco in 2000.The 53-year-old prince and ruler ofMonaco, the only son of PrincessGrace and the late Prince Rainier,has never married before.Like his 33-year-old fiancee, Albertis also an Olympian, having com-peted in five Olympic WinterGames -- from Calgary in 1988 toSalt Lake City in 2002 -- in bobsled-ding. She swam in the 2000 Syd-ney Olympics.In 2005, Albert publicly acknowl-edged he had fathered a son with aflight attendant, and he has also ac-knowledged a daughter, now in herlate teens.He formally became Monaco's rulerfollowing the death of his father in2005 and has two sisters,Princesses Caroline andStephanie.Monaco, a sovereign principality, isone of the smallest countries in theworld, measuring just under 2square miles. It sits on the FrenchRiviera and is bordered on threesides by France. It has a populationof about 33,000.

Condoleezza Rice helps unveilstatue of Ronald Reagan in

Hungary(Google News) Jun 29, 2011, Budapest - For-mer US Secretary of State Condoleezza Ricejoined Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Hun-garian capital Wednesday to unveil a statue offormer US president Ronald Reagan.In an ironic twist, the statue stands near amonument to the Soviet soldiers who diedwhile 'liberating' Hungary from Nazi occupa-tion at the end of the Second World War.Reagan, who would have turned 100 this year,is widely credited in Hungary and other East-ern European countries for helping bringabout the collapse of the Soviet Union and thecommunist dictatorships it propped up in theregion.Rice's successor, current US Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton, was due to meet Orbanon Thursday during a visit to Budapest for theopening of the Tom Lantos Institute, namedafter the Hungarian-American Democrat con-gressman who died in 2008.

Russian, Belarus, Kazakh PMs tomeet in Moscow mid-July

(PR) The prime ministers of Russia, Belarus andKazakhstan, Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Myas-nikovich and Karim Masimov agreed to hold athree-sided meeting in Moscow on July 12,Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.According to Peskov, Putin held talks by tele-phone with the prime ministers of Belarus andKazakhstan during his working visit to Ulan-Ude.The countries have removed all customs check-points on the borders of the three countries,Peskov said. The diplomats said that after re-moving the checkpoints, Russia, Kazakhstan andBelarus have fulfilled all their bligations on theformation of a common customs space, Peskovadded.

Medvedev to hold APECsummit preparation meet-

ing in Far East(PR) Russian President Dmitry Medvedevwill on Thursday hold a meeting to discusspreparation for an APEC summit in theRussian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok,presidential spokeswoman NatalyaTimakova said. Timakova said the presi-dent will inspect facilities being built for thesummit, including a bridge to the RusskyIsland and a campus of the Far EasternFederal University. The summit prepara-tion program also includes the construc-tion of an international air terminal andtwo five-star hotels, wastewater urifica-tion facilities, as well as modernization ofthe water supply system and the powergrid. Vladivostok will host the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation summit in 2012.

Russia to build two Tigercorvettes for Algerian navy

(PR) Russia's United Shipbuiding Corporationand state arms exporter Rosoboronexport havesigned a deal with Algeria to build two new Tigerclass corvettes, the corporation said on Thurs-day. The agreement was signed on the sidelinesof the ongoing International Maritime DefenseShow, IMDS-2011, in St. Petersburg. The bien-nial naval show offers exhibits from 300 compa-nies, including 30 foreign ones. "We have signedtwo agreements together with Rosoboronexportto sell two corvettes to Algeria and three light[Molniya missile] corvettes to a former Soviet re-public," said Roman Trotsenko, head of the ship-building corporation. He said the contractssigned at the show so far were worth $1.3 billionand more contracts were expected before theshow closes on July 3. Russia is exhibiting for thefirst time its newest Steregushchy class (Project20380) corvette, the Soobrazitelny, at the show.The corvette can be deployed to destroy enemysurface ships, submarines and aircraft, and toprovide artillery support for beach landings. Thedemonstration part of the show involves 15 com-bat ships of the Russian Navy and three foreignwarships: German frigate FGS Hamburg, Dutchfrigate HMS Van Amstel and U.S. Navy frigateUSS Carr. The program of the show includes ex-hibition firing from 10 ship artillery mounts anddemonstration flights of aerobatic teams, helicop-ters and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Russian MFA Press and Infor-mation Department Commentin Relation to the Taliban At-tack on the Intercontinental

Hotel in Kabul(PR) We have received withgreat concern the news of theattack by Taliban militants onthe Intercontinental Hotel inKabul, with reports of mostlycivilians killed. We stronglycondemn this terrorist act. Theactions of militants suggestthat the Taliban, while continu-ing to pursue the goal to desta-bilize the situation inAfghanistan and to undermineefforts by the internationalcommunity for post-conflict re-construction in the country, de-spite the statements of someof their leaders, have no re-

gard hatsoever for the realneeds of the Afghan people,who want lasting peace, har-mony and prosperity in an in-dependent, democraticAfghanistan. We presume thatthe international military pres-ences in Afghanistan, actingstrictly under their mandatesissued by the United NationsSecurity Council, together withthe Afghan government willcontinue to give an effectiverebuff to terrorist attacks and toprotect civilians in the contextof long-term stabilization ef-forts in the country.

Displays of fireworks, suchas these over the Washing-ton Monument, take placenationwide

"Saints Cyril and Methodius holding the Cyrillicalphabet," a mural by Bulgarian icon-painter Z.Zograf, 1848, Troyan Monastery

Firma Acta de IndependenciaVenezuela - July 5

HistoryHuman habitation of Venezuela could have commencedat least 15,000 years ago from which periodleaf-shapedtools, together with chopping and plano-convex scrapingimplements, have been found exposed on the high river-ine terraces of the Rio Pedregal in western Venezuela.Late Pleistocene hunting artifacts, including spear tips,have been found at a similar series of sites in northwest-ern Venezuela known as "El Jobo"; according to radiocar-bon dating, these date from 13,000 to 7000 BC. It is not known how many people lived in Venezuela before the Spanish Conquest;it may have been around a million people, and in addition to today's indigenouspeoples included groups such as the Auaké, Caquetio, Mariche and Timoto-cuicas.The number was reduced after the Conquest, mainly through the spread of newdiseases from Europe. 15] There were two main north-south axes of pre-Columbian population, producing maize in the west and manioc in the east. Largeparts of the llanos plains were cultivated through a combination of slash and burnand permanent settled agriculture.ColonizationSpain's colonization of mainland Venezuela started in 1522, establishing its firstpermanent South American settlement in the present-day city of Cumaná. The 16thcentury also saw fitful attempts at German colonization. Native caciques (leaders)such as Guaicaipuro (c. 1530–1568) and Tamanaco (died 1573) attempted to resistSpanish incursions, but the newcomers ultimately subdued them; Tamanaco wasput to death by order of Caracas' founder Diego de Losada. In the 16th century,during the Spanish colonization, indigenous peoples such as many of the Mariches,themselves descendants of the Caribs rejected paganism and embraced RomanCatholicism. Some of the resisting tribes or leaders are commemorated in placenames, includingCaracas, Chacao, and Los Teques. The early colonial settlementsfocussed on the northern coast, but in the mid-18th century the Spanish pushedfurther inland along the Orinoco River. Here the Ye'kuana (then known as theMakiritare) organised serious resistance in 1775 and 1776. Spain's eastern Venezuelan settlements were incorporated into New AndalusiaProvince. Administered by the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo from the early16th century, most of Venezuela became part of the Viceroyalty of New Granadain the early 18th century, and was then reorganized as an autonomous CaptaincyGeneral starting in 1776. The town of Caracas, founded in the central coastal re-gion in 1567, was well-placed to become a key location, being near the coastalport of La Guaira whilst itself being located in a valley in a mountain range, provid-ing defensive strength against pirates and a more fertile and healthy climate.IndependenceAfter a series of unsuccessful uprisings, Venezuela—under the leadership of Fran-cisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan marshal who had fought in the American Revolu-tion and the French Revolution—declared independence on 5 July 1811. Thisbegan the Venezuelan War of Independence. However, a devastating earthquakethat struck Caracas in 1812, together with the rebellion of the Venezuelan llaneros,helped bring down the first Venezuelan republic. A second Venezuelan republic,proclaimed on 7 August 1813, lasted several months before being crushed as well.Sovereignty was only attained after Simón Bolívar, aided by José Antonio Páezand Antonio José de Sucre, won the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821. JoséPrudencio Padilla and Rafael Urdaneta's victory in the Battle of Lake Maracaiboon 24 July 1823, helped seal Venezuelan independence. New Granada's congressgave Bolívar control of the Granadian army; leading it, he liberated several coun-tries and founded Gran Colombia.Sucre, who won many battles for Bolívar, went on to liberate Ecuador and later be-come the second president of Bolivia. Venezuela remained part of Gran Colombiauntil 1830, when a rebellion led by Páez allowed the proclamation of a newly inde-pendent Venezuela; Páez became the first president of the new republic. Twodecades of warfare had cost the lives of between one- fourth and one-third ofVenezuela's population (including perhaps one-half of the white population), whichby 1830 was estimated at about 800,000. The colors of the Venezuelan flag are yellow, blue and red, in that order: the yellowstands for land wealth, the blue for the sea that separates Venezuela from Spain,and the red for the blood shed by the heroes of independence.

Tynwald Day- Isle of Man- July 5.Tynwald Day (Manx: Laa Tinvaal) is the National Day of the Isle of Man, usually occurring on5 July.On this day the Isle's legislature, Tynwald, meets at St John's, insteadof its usual meeting place,Douglas. The session is held partly in theRoyal Chapel of St John the Baptist and partly in the open air on theadjacent Tynwald Hill (an artificial mound). The meeting, the firstrecorded instance of which dates to 1417, is known as MidsummerCourt. It is attended by members of the two branches of Tynwald: theHouse of Keys, and the Legislative Council. The Lieutenant Governor,the representative of the Lord of Mann, presides except on the occa-sions when the Lord or another member of the British Royal Family ispresent.All bills that have received the Royal Assent are promulgated on Tynwald Day; any Act of Tyn-waldwhich is not so promulgated within 18 months of passage ceases to have effect. Otherproceedings include the presentation of petitions and the swearing in of certain public officials.

Tynwald Hill before the Tyn-wald Day proceedings

Mindaugas, as depicted inthe chronicles of Alexan-der Guagnini

John Hus or John Huss

Rock Islands in Palau

José de San Martín, Liberator of Argentina, Chileand Peru

Juan Perón and his influential wife, Eva.

Saba SabaTANZANIA - July 7

Saba Saba Day on July 7 celebrates (among other things)the 1954 founding of the Tanzanian political party, TANU,the Tanganyika African National Union. Saba Saba means"seven seven" in Swahili, the national language of Tanzania(and of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the two countries whoseunion created the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964).Saba Saba also may refer to the Dar es Salaam Interna-tional Trade Fair. The fair is held every year at this date [7/7]in Saba Saba grounds near Kurasini in Dar es Salaam.

PICTURE NEWS

Secretary Clinton meets with Hungarian PrimeMinister Viktor Orban before their bilateral meet-ing at Parliament Thursday, June 30, 2011 in Bu-dapest, Hungary.

Secretary Clinton speaks at the inaugurationceremony for the Tom Lantos Institute, namedafter the Congressman Tom Lantos, a Hungar-ian-born human rights activist and Holocaustsurvivor, in the Upper Chamber of ParliamentThursday, June 30, 2011 in Budapest, Hungary.

Secretary Clinton with Hungarian Foreign Minis-ter Janos Martonyi at the inauguration ceremonyfor the Tom Lantos Institute at the Upper Cham-ber of Parliament Thursday, June 30, 2011 in Bu-dapest, Hungary.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) and First LadyAsma al-Assad in Damascus on June 30, 2011

Civilians have been dying in record numbers as vio-lence ratchets upward across Afghanistan. Above,U.S. medical personnel treat a boy wounded by abomb blast

Bin Laden document trove reveals strain on al-Qaeda(Google News) Toward the endof his decade in hiding, Osamabin Laden was spending asmuch time exchanging mes-sages about al-Qaeda’s strug-gles as he was plotting ways forthe terrorist network to reassertits strength.Over the past year, the al-Qaedaleader fielded e-mails from fol-lowers lamenting the toll beingtaken by CIA drone “explosions”as well as the network’s financialplight, according to U.S. officialswho have completed an exhaus-tive review of the trove of binLaden files collected at his com-pound after the May 2 U.S. raidthat killed him.Bin Laden approved the creationof a counterintelligence unit toroot out traitors and spies, onlyto receive a complaint in mid-2010 from the unit’s leader that itwas losing the “espionage war”and couldn’t function on its paltrybudget.Just months before the ArabSpring took hold, bin Ladenwarned affiliates in Yemen andelsewhere that it was too soon tocreate an Islamic state. TheSaudi native, whose family hadmade its fortune in construction,concluded that there wasn’t

“enough steel” in al-Qaeda’s re-gional support structures to war-rant even tentative steps towardreestablishing the caliphate.Such sober assessments andreferences to setbacks areamong the fine-grained detailsthat U.S. intelligence analystshave gleaned to assemble a newand more nuanced portrait of al-Qaeda and its founder in the af-termath of the raid on binLaden’s compound in the Pak-istani city of Abbottabad.Analysts at the CIA and otheragencies are likely to continueporing over the bin Laden filesfor years. But the multi-agencytask force that was set up to re-view what officials have de-scribed as the largest cache ofterrorism records recovered todate finished its job and was dis-banded last month.“We believe the materials willcontinue to yield new insights onal-Qaeda for years to come,”said a U.S. counterterrorism offi-cial familiar with the task force’swork. “But the task force isdone.”The group produced more than400 intelligence reports in a spanof six weeks and prompted pub-lic warnings of al-Qaeda plots

against trains and other targets.U.S. officials said the findingsalso triggered a small number ofoperations overseas, includingarrests of suspects who arenamed or described in e-mailsthat bin Laden received.But officials said that the mainvalue of the data is in enablinganalysts to construct a morecomprehensive portrait of al-Qaeda and that many of themost recent files found on binLaden’s computers depict an or-ganization beset by mountingproblems even as its leader re-mained singularly focused ondelivering a follow-up to theSept. 11, 2001, strikes.“The trove makes it clear that binLaden’s primary goal — you cancall it an obsession — was to at-tack the U.S. homeland,” said asenior U.S. counterterrorism offi-cial. “He pushed for this everyway he could.”The official was one of severalwho agreed to discuss the con-clusions of the bin Laden taskforce — and provide new detailson specific messages sent andreceived by the al-Qaeda leader— on the condition of anonymity,citing the sensitivity of the sub-ject.

(Google News) July 02, 2011,WASHINGTON - President BarackObama's choice for his next coun-terterrorism chief is Matthew Olsen,a former prosecutor with extensiveexperience in intelligence mattersfor the federal government, theWhite House announced Friday.Olsen, if confirmed by the Senate,would direct the National Countert-errorism Center, an agency born inthe aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001terror attacks on America. Thatagency is charged with analyzingand integrating information gath-ered across the intelligence com-munity and then providingassessments to the president andother senior policymakers."Matt will be a critical part of my na-tional security team as we work totirelessly thwart attacks against ournation and do everything in ourpower to protect the American peo-ple," Obama said a statement.Olsen, 49, currently serves as thegeneral counsel for the NationalSecurity Agency. He has also heldhigh-level roles in overseeing intel-ligence matters at the Justice De-partment and the FBI. From 2009 to2010, Olsen directed the task forcethat, on Obama's orders, reviewedthe intelligence on detainees heldat the Guantanamo Bay prison inCuba.

Olsen would replace Michael Leiter,the former Navy pilot who served inthe director's job under Obama andPresident George W. Bush. Leiterwas leaving on a high note after theintelligence success and covert op-eration by U.S. commandoes inPakistan that led to the killing of al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama binLaden.Leiter, who has worked with Olsenclosely, called him a proven leaderand good friend. "His backgroundand experience in working some ofour country's toughest national se-curity issues make him eminentlyqualified to serve as the center'snext director," Leiter said. "I havethe utmost confidence that Matt willlead the men and women of NCTCwith distinction."Olsen's job would also require himto oversee operational planning forcounterterrorism activities acrossthe federal government.He would report directly to the pres-ident and the director of national in-telligence.Michael Chertoff, who served ashomeland security secretary underBush and has worked with Olsen,called him a smart, dedicated publicservant who would "capably carryon the outstanding work of MikeLeiter" if confirmed by the Senate.

Obama Chooses New Countert-error Chief

PHILIPPINE BULLETIN

(PR) Malacanang assuredthe public on Friday that theDepartment of Labor andEmployment (DOLE) is con-tinuously working with itscounterparts in the Kingdomof Saudi Arabia (KSA) toclarify the ban of Filipinoworkers there before the im-plementation of its new laborpolicy this coming Septem-ber.Deputy PresidentialSpokesperson Abigail Valteissued the assurance as theimplementation of a newabor policy – aptly calledNitagat - in Saudi Arabialooms. Under the new policy, theSaudi government will prior-itize employment of its na-tionals over foreign workersin Saudi-owned firms.“We have been constantly

working with counterparts ofSecretary Baldoz with theKSA officials and we are try-ing to find a viable solution tothe problem,” Valte said. “Nagsalita na kaninangumaga si Secretary Ros-alinda Baldoz and the DOLEis now in constant communi-cation with its counterpartsin KSA. May mga informaldiscussions na and they(DOLE officials) are waitingfor the official notice (fromthe KSA) of the policy to beimplemented,” Valte said inan interview on Friday in

Malacanang. Valte said that the Philippinelabor department wanted toclarify whether the new pol-icy will be intended only fornew applicants. Valte added that Baldoz isnow encouraging affectedOFWs to avail of the “gov-ernment’s alternative liveli-hood packages" back homesuch as food processing,garments, beauty shops orcomputer shops.She said the Aquino admin-istration has already re-leased some P27 million forthe Filipino domestichelpers.

Earlier, PresidentialSpokesperson Edwin Laci-erda said the Labor Depart-ment will be sending a laborattaché to Saudi Arabia to“verify these things." Malacanang is concernedthat the ban could possiblyaffect the Philippine econ-omy, since Saudi Arabia isone of the top destination ofoverseas Filipino workersand the biggest source ofdollar remittances outsidethe United States. As of 2009, Saudi Arabiacontributed 52 percent to theMiddle East deployment andnearly 30 percent to world-wide deployment of Filipinoworkers, according to thePhilippine Overseas Em-ployment Administration.

Palace says DOLE toclarify ban of OFWs in Saudi

ArabiaAquino signs ARMMPolls PostponementAct(PR) President Benigno S. Aquino IIIsigned into law Republic Act 10153,an Act Providing for the Synchro-nization of the Election in the Au-tonomous Region in MuslimMindanao (ARMM) with the Nationaland Local Elections and for otherpurposes. In his speech following the signing ofthe landmark legislative measure onThursday the President stressed thegovernment’s all-out efforts in curb-ing the irregularities in governance inARMM. He also thanked the admin-istration allies in both Houses ofCongress for supporting and push-ing for the passage of the law sayingthat the new measure serves asproof of the cooperation of the leg-islative and executive branches ofgovernment. “Upang mahinto ang mga iregulari-dad sa pamamahala sa ARMM, isin-ulong natin ang pagpapaliban ngARMM elections para isabay nanatin ito sa lokal at pambansang ha-lalan,” the President said. “Maraming salamat po sa ating mgakaalyado sa Senado at Kongreso sapamumuno po ni Senate PresidentJuan Ponce Enrile at HouseSpeaker Sonny Belmonte at sa mgananguna at sumuporta sa pagsulongng batas na ito dahil sa pakikiisa atpagkakaisa ng lehislatura atehekutibo pinagtibay na natinngayon ang repormangmatatanglaw na tunay nademokrasya sa ARMM,” he added. The Chief Executive said that RA10153 also aims to let the real voiceof the people be heard and put a halton the unscrupulous acts of somepolitical clans during elections.“Malinaw ang ating hangarin para

sa ARMM… upang marinig angtunay na saloobin ng taong bayan.Tutuldukan na natin ang pag-hahari-harian ng mga political na angkan napasimuno ng dayaan sa eleksyon,”the President stressed.

He added that a reformativeroadmap for the region will be ap-plied by the Department of Interiorand Local Government (DILG) tomake sure that the rule of law pre-vails during the electoral process inthe region.“Isasakatuparan din ng DILG ang

isang roadmap para sa mga re-porma sa rehiyon, tungo sa tunay nakaunlaran at kapayapaan sa ARMM.Kaakibat po ng repormang electoralna ating isinusulong dito lilinisin natinang voters’ list sa pamamagitan ngmuling pagpapatala ng mga botanteat pagiging modern ng eleksyon,”President Aquino said.The government will also encouragethe participation of civil societygroups that will conduct voters’ edu-cation efforts and will serve aswatchdogs.In simple ceremonies held at the

Rizal Ceremonial Hall of the Mala-canang Palace, President Aquinosigned RA 10153, in the presence ofSenate president Juan Ponce Enrile,Senate Majority Leader VicenteSotto III, House Speaker FelicianoBelmonte Jr., House Majority LeaderNeptali Gonzales II, Executive Sec-retary Paquito Ochoa Jr., and othergovernment officials.In the House of Representatives,

the new measure was principally au-thored by Representative Bai San-dra Sema with Speaker Belmonte,Deputy Speaker Maria Isabelle Cli-maco, Majority Leader Gonzales,among others, as co-authors.At the Senate, Senator Franklin

Drilon was its principal author andsponsor with the following as co-au-thors: Senate President Enrile, Sen-ate President Pro-Tempore JinggoyEstrada, Majority Leader Sotto, Sen-ator Francis Pangilinan, SenatorManuel Lapid, Senator GregorioHonasan, and Senator Antonio Tril-lanes, among others.Apart from upholding the PhilippineConstitution and reflecting the idealsof true democracy, the synchroniza-tion of ARMM elections is a first steptowards ensuring sustainable peaceand stability in the region.It also gives power to the President

to appoint officers-in-charge (OICs)for the regional elective officers fromamong the recommendations sub-mitted by a screening committee.The OICs shall perform the functionspertaining to their respective officesuntil the officials are duly elected.

(PR) Malacanang commended aZamboanga prosecutor for receivingthe United States (US) State Depart-ment’s Global Trafficking in PersonsHero Award. In a statement issued on Wednesday,Presidential Spokesperson EdwinLacierda said they commended Dar-lene Pajarito, Assistant ZamboangaCity Prosecutor, for bagging theaward. “Justice must be done, not onlyswiftly, but successfully. Atty. Pajar-ito’s efforts are proof that with officialsupport, investigatory thoroughnessand zeal, the filing of cases can resultin convictions,” Lacierda said. “Let us keep working together againsthuman trafficking. Government andcivil society, the bureaucracy and thecitizenry, together, can help makesure that no person works under con-ditions or circumstances that areagainst their will,” he said.Lacierda, meanwhile, said PresidentBenigno S. Aquino III will write toUnited States Secretary of StateHillary Clinton to thank her for citingthe Philippines as among the “coun-tries that have made a lot ofprogress” in the global campaignagainst human trafficking.“The President will be writing to US

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tothank her for her encouraging re-marks about the administration’s ef-forts against human trafficking. Theseare of particular significance as theycome from a committed advocate ofliberating persons from the evils ofhuman trafficking,” Lacierda said.

Malacananglauds a Zamboangaprosecutor for bag-ging US State Dep’tGlobal Trafficking inPersons Hero Award

(PR) Malacanang welcomed the an-nouncement by Fitch Ratings upgradingthe country’s credit rating by just onenotch away from its goal of investmentgrade. “We welcome the announcement byFitch Ratings that it has upgraded therating of the Philippines from BB to BB+.This upgrade by Fitch comes after Stan-dard and Poor’s November upgrade andthe upgrade by Moody’s Investors Serv-ice in June,” said PresidentialSpokesperson Edwin Lacierda in hisstatement issued late Thursday.“This is added recognition for the pru-

dence, zero-based budgeting, and tar-geted spending efforts of theadministration to achieve lasting and in-clusive growth,” Lacierda said. Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisimasaid the Fitch upgrade is the 4th positiveratings action in the 11 months of theAquino administration noting that it isunprecedented in Philippine history. “We are now just one notch away fromour goal of investment grade and we willstrive to attain it at the soonest possibletime,” Purisima said.Purisima explained that the Aquino ad-

ministration’s goal is to get an invest-ment grade status that will further lureinvestments into the Philippines andlower its borrowing costs.“This is another affirmation of PresidentAquino’s agenda and leadership, a con-crete and objective vote of confidencethat the Philippines is headed in the rightdirection,” Purisima continued. The Finance Secretary said the Aquinoadministration will continue to push formore reforms that promote fiscal sus-tainability and translate this to inclusivegrowth toward the fulfillment of Presi-dent Aquino’s Social Contract to the Fil-ipino people.Malacanang welcomed last June 15 themove of Moody’s Investors Service inupgrading the Philippines sovereign rat-ing to Ba2 from Ba3 stable outlook say-ing that President Benigno S. Aquino IIIhad successfully implemented its fiscalsustainability program.

Malacanangwelcomes Fitch Rat-

ings upgrade

Russia to buildnuclear aircraftcarrier by 2023

(PR) Russia's United Ship-buiding Corporation andstate arms exporterRosoboronexport havesigned a deal with Algeriato build two new Tigerclass corvettes, the corpo-ration said on Thursday.The agreement wassigned on the sidelines ofthe ongoing International

Maritime Defense Show,IMDS-2011, in St. Peters-burg. The biennial navalshow offers exhibits from300 companies, including30 foreign ones. "We havesigned two agreements to-gether with Rosoboronex-port to sell two corvettes toAlgeria and three light[Molniya missile] corvettesto a former Soviet repub-lic," said Roman Trot-senko, head of theshipbuilding corporation.He said the contracts

signed at the show so farwere worth $1.3 billion andmore contracts were ex-pected before the showcloses on July 3.Russia is exhibiting for thefirst time its newest Stere-gushchy class (Project20380) corvette, the Soo-brazitelny, at the show. Thecorvette can be deployedto destroy enemy surfaceships, submarines and air-craft, and to provide ar-tillery support for beachlandings. The demonstra-

tion part of the show in-volves 15 combat ships ofthe Russian Navy andthree foreign warships:German frigate FGS Ham-burg, Dutch frigate HMSVan Amstel and U.S. Navyfrigate USS Carr. The pro-gram of the show includesexhibition firing from 10ship artillery mounts anddemonstration flights ofaerobatic teams, helicop-ters and unmanned aerialvehicles.

Hungary hosting Aviagen’s suc-cessful Central European semi-

nar(Google News) Aviagen Kft, Aviagen’s Hungar-ian business unit, recently held their 5th seminarfor Central European (CE) Parent Stock cus-tomers. Attended by over 220 guests from 17countries, the successful three-day event con-sisted of a mixture of regional country updates,practical management advice and topical pre-sentations.Country reviews of the CE region, including Hun-gary, Serbia & Bosnia, Romania, Czech & Slo-vakia, Bulgaria and Slovenia & Croatia, given byAviagen’s local representatives, highlighted thecontinued increase in demand for Ross productsin the region.Barrie Fleming, Regional Consultant Veterinar-ian, updated the audience on future develop-ments in use of antibiotics and probiotics.Nutritionist Leonardo Linares’ presentation waswell-received by the audience as it covered thetopical subject of ‘High Feed Costs: Alternatives’.Leonardo evaluated possible ways to decreasecosts by using alternative raw materials to com-bat the challenging rise in feed costs. Santiago Avendano, Director of Global Genetics,gave an insight into the breeding programme forthe next five years, focusing on selection strate-gies for future success. Timea Torma, QA Man-ager, illustrated practical tools to maximisehatchability and chick quality, which included alot of advice available in Aviagen’s series of"How To documents". The Seminar also featured the presentation ofthe Regional Ross PS flock awards, adressingperformance and chick output. The award forbest overall performance went to Martin Hrvatinfrom Jata Emona, Slovenia, who achieved anoutstanding result of 146 chicks to 60 weeks.The audience at this year’s CE Seminar for thefirst time included customers from Georgia,Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. Neil Clark, Area Technical Manager, summarisedthe seminar:” Bringing so many customers to-gether provides a unique atmosphere for sharingexperience and advice. The Seminar was agreat platform to exchange information and worktogether for the future growth of the brand. I amdelighted with the results our customers areachieving and would like to thank them for theircommitment and dedication to the continuedsuccess of Ross in the region.”

Six Azerbaijani boxers reachsemifinal of European champi-

onship in Hungary(Google News) Sat 02July 2011, Six Azerbaijaniboxers passes the quar-terfinal stage successfullyand ensured at leastbronze medals to them-selves.In the weight categorybelow 46 kg Araz Gul-mammadov beat Romania’s Georgian Tudor(13-6). In the semifinal, ARAZ is to come upagainst Ukraine’s Svyatoslav Demkin.Orkhan Aliyev (50 kg) beat Ukraine’s VladislavKutepov (15-9). His next opponent will beRussia’s Yusup Gazzayev.Nasraddin Mammadov (52 kg) made a brilliantvictory over Georgia’s Aleko Lursamanashviliin the quarterfinal by knocking him out in thesecond round. Now Mammadov will come upagainst boxer Danil Shamasutdinov.Nurlan Nagiyev (57 kg) also reached the

semfinal. He beat Israeli Tal Ahronov -16-10.His next opponent will be Ukraine’s ArsenAblayev.Rahil Mammadli (80 kg) beat Irish PatrickGaffei (12-6) and in the semifinal he will comeup against Belarus Vitaliy Khorin.Our super-heavyweight Magomedali Tahirov(over 80 kg) turned stronger than EnglishDaniel Williams – 13-9. In the fight for the finalTahirov is to meet Croatian Matia Hrgovich.

A statue of Ronald Reagan, the 40th presidentof the United States from 1981-89, was unveiled

on Szabadság tér on Wednesday(Google News) PrimeMinister Viktor Orbánsaid at the ceremonythat the Republicanpresident is proof acomplete renewal is in-deed possible, and thatwe can change ourlives, our destiny, ourworld if we are braveenough. “If we accept the re-sponsibility, as Presi-dent Reagan did, ofpronouncing the dis-tinction between goodand evil, then we cansucceed,” Orbán said.He added that in Hun-gary there are still wallsto be torn down “to freeourselves from the pastand turn Hungary into astrong, successful andproud country”.Condoleezza Rice,secretary of state under

the George W. Bushadministration, said at

the ceremony that itcould never again hap-pen that we abandonthose fighting for theirfreedom. “In thissquare, looking at thisstatue, we must swearthat their cause is notlost,” Rice said. “They

are not alone, we standby them.”Listening to broadcastsfrom Radio Free Eu-rope during the 1956Uprising, many free-dom fighters thoughtthat the US would backthem in their fightagainst the Soviets.The cavalry nevercame.President Reagan waspraised for his efforts tobring down commu-nism and the SovietUnion, calling it “the evilempire”. As a Holly-wood actor he is re-membered for his linein the 1942 film KingsRow, “Where’s the restof me?”, after wakingfrom anaesthesia tofind that a sadistic sur-geon has amputatedboth his legs.

(Online) July 1, 2011. A car bomb explodes as a member of aThai bomb squad inspects it in Narathiwat province, south ofBangkok. Police believe Islamist militants are responsible.

(Online) June 30, 2011. Kashmiri Muslims pray as a head priest,unseen, displays a holy relic believed to be hair from the beard ofProphet Mohammed, at the Hazratbal Shrine on the outskirts ofSrinagar, India.

(Online) June 29, 2011. Alex Lopez, center, plays baseball withhis sister Sugey while smoke generated by the Las Conchas firecovers the sky in Espanola, N.M.

(Online) June 25, 2011. A child receives an oral polio vaccinein the Abobo suburb of Abidjan during the opening of the sec-ond national day of polio vaccinations organized by the WorldHealth Organization, UNICEF and Rotary International, amongothers.